Transform Yourself

Transform Yourself

Practice Book Week 1

Welcome Contract The Fundamentals Week 1 Practice The Yoga of Food Awareness Journal

Transform Yourself Class Schedule Week 1 Monday

Start: End:

Tuesday

Start: End:

Wednesday

Start: End:

Start: End:

On Your Own Personal Practice Asana:

20 minutes Breath Practice: 5 minutes Meditation: 5 minutes

Saturday

On Your Own Personal Practice Asana:

20 minutes Breath Practice: 5 minutes Meditation: 5 minutes

Sunday

Free Day No Formal Practice

Thursday

Friday

Welcome

Welcome to Transform Yourself. This life-changing program has been designed for you to experience partly in the company of like-minded individuals and partly on your own. Each will have its challenges. Each will support authentic transformation.

Here’s the promise. This yogic-based program that you’re set to experience over the next four weeks will provide you with the opportunity to transform yourself. There’s an incredible amount of potential being offered you. To realize it you only have to do two things. First, you have to commit to the daily practices. Then you have to show up and actually do what is presented to you. If you do these, you will not be in the same place at the end of this program. You will discover and experience your body in ways like never before. You will also discover and experience your life and your world in new, eyeopening, and life-changing ways. Remember all that’s being asked is for you to commit to putting the time and energy into the practices and then following through by actually doing the practices.

The core of this program is based on solid, time-proven principles of yoga as expressed and taught through Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. We then add focus and depth to the experience through the application of the principles of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which further support the Yoga Sutra teachings.

Each week you will receive a practice book like this one. It is designed for you to use to stay clear about the themes and practices of each week. In addition, you’ll find recipes for nourishing yogic-style food to integrate into your diet. Also included in the practice books are the on-your-own yoga practices for each week. These are the practices you’ll use on the days you do not meet with the group. Finally, in the back of each practice book, you’ll find space for you to record insights and next steps to take in order to move

your personal transformation into your exterior world.

Now if you’re ready, turn the page to officially begin your personal journey into transformation.

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The Contract Yoga practice effects change when done regularly, over a long period of time, and with much heart.

– The Yoga Sutra

As we move more deeply into our commitment to transformation, more deeply into this yoga program, we consider how the elements of this program support us in our endeavors. To that end, study the contract below. This contract serves to ensure that the space we create within the Transform Yourself program is one of safety and trust. The contract also serves as a tool for you to use to refresh your commitment each time you feel it start to wane. Right now read the contract below. Understand it. Then sign it as a testament to your commitment to the endeavor of creating a yoga practice that becomes the vehicle for your personal transformation.

When we come together for group practice during these next four weeks, we come together to co-create a safe space. This space is necessary in order to have the opportunity to discover and clarify our patterns of being in the world – being with ourselves and being with others. The richness of the potential this offers will be cultivated by your agreeing to the following to the best of your ability: • Attend all of the classes to help create group trust and continuity.

• Arrive five minutes prior to the start of each class.

something he or she has said or experienced.

• When one of participants speaks during class, focus on what he or she says with as much compassion as possible. Remember this is co-created experience. Giving your attention in this way will support clarity on the part of the person speaking.

• If you choose to speak, make sure you’re not interrupting someone else.

• Remember that speaking in this environment is about sharing

• Leave cell phones either turned off or silenced.

your experience. It’s not about offering advice.

• Leave watches in your car or at home.

• Use the restroom before class starts, if possible. If you must go to

• Arrive ready to participate. If you need to eat prior to class, eat lightly and early enough so you do not have a full stomach as you begin practice.

• If you can not or should not perform any of the yoga asanas, make this known before the start of class.

• Do not share the personal content of the Transform Yourself program with anyone other than the participants or the teacher. The importance of absolute confidentiality is key to trust and safety within each class experience.

the restroom during class, do so as quietly as possible, without making eye contact with others on your way to or from the restroom.

• Wear loose clothes in order to avoid tightness at the neck, wrist, waist, and abdomen.

• Commit to your home practice on Fridays and Saturdays. Give it the same priority you give the classes on Monday through Thursday.

• Do not bring up group content anywhere outside the class. This

__________________________________________________ ________________________

includes not asking another participant outside of class time about

Signature

Date

The Fundamentals A yoga asana is that which shows up without strain, without struggle.

– The Yoga Sutra

To speak about yoga – to speak about transformation – we must honor the fundamental need for clarity. If we do not, we run the risk of falling into vague or distorted speech and thought. This is ultimately translated into our actions, into our yoga, and into our transformation. The result keeps us trapped so that our yoga can never be true yoga, our transformation can never be authentic transformation. So we begin today in a different way. We begin by turning a clear eye to some fundamental terms that will set in motion our whole approach to the next four weeks of yoga, our next four weeks of transformation.

Sensation

balance. This leads to an effort on the part of the system to correct

When we think of the word sensation, we tend to think of physical

itself in order to try to restore balance. Unfortunately, it is often the

sensation: pain or itch or burn. However, as we experience the next

case that the continual build-up of toxins in the system hinders or

four weeks with a commitment to spaciousness, consider sensation in

destroys the bodymind’s effort to restore balance.

the same spacious manner. Allow it to refer to physical sensation, but

In yoga, we refer to one of the processes of clearing the

also expand your concept of sensation to include non-physical

bodymind of toxins as tapas. It is a way of generating heat in order

elements: thoughts, emotions, feelings, memories, images in the

to burn away, dissolve, or clear the toxins out of the bodymind.

mind’s eye, sounds in the mind’s ear.

This is one part of the transformation process. Taken alone, it can lead to more imbalance. Experienced in relation to other aspects of

Edge

yoga, tapas becomes an essential and supportive tool for

Edge is a term we use to describe that experience of sensation that

transformation.

is neither too much nor too little. Like sensation, an edge can be a physical experience or a non-physical experience. When moving into a physical edge, you will experience heightened physical sensations.

Moving beyond your physical edge will lead to your experience of pain. Moving into your non-physical edge may lead to an experience that feels other than calm, peaceful, or spacious. Moving past your non-physical edge would be similar to experiencing someone screaming at you while standing six inches in front of you.

Tapas When our bodymind system is filled with toxins, remembering that these can be both physical and non-physical, it is a system out of

Opening Up Instead of Closing Off Opening up instead of closing off refers to an approach to the physical and non-physical elements of yoga that we’ll explore during the Transform Yourself program.

While experiencing the asanas, for example, cultivate the intention of lengthening the muscles of your body and opening up space between its joints rather than compressing or collapsing the muscles and the areas between joints. While experiencing meditation, have the intention of opening up the spaciousness of your mind rather than contracting or closing off or shutting down around the experience.

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Week 1 Effort toward steadiness of mind is yoga practice.

– The Yoga Sutra

As we approach the yoga practices throughout the Transform Yourself program, let’s commit to honoring the intention of each practice – of each asana, of each breath, of each moment. This is how we cultivate authentic transformation. It does take effort. But it is always a fruitful experience.

Each week’s practice is built around two synergistic themes. Each theme builds upon the previous. Each takes us more deeply into our journey of transformation. This week we explore the theme of awareness and the theme of relationship, in particular the relationship we have with our body.

Awareness

our most intimate relationship. And often it is the one we have the

This is the foundational theme of the Transform Yourself program.

least true awareness of. This week we explore this relationship

It points towards the sole intention of yoga practice as laid out in the

experientially, which is very different than exploring it from a place

Yoga Sutra: steadiness of mind. Understanding steadiness as presence

of pure intellect or of thinking that we already know about this

or as awareness, we find that this first theme is at the very heart of

relationship.

the definition of yoga practice. With awareness we are able to effect

As we gain experiential knowledge of our actual relationship

transformation. Without awareness, authentic transformation will

with our body, we also start to find ourselves face-to-face with the

never take place. We will use awareness throughout every step of our

type of relationship we want to have with our body.

yoga practice. We will bring it with us as we reach out and work with

Befriending the body is an essential step to authentic

all the other themes introduced over the next four weeks.

transformation. Without befriending the body, we’ll always have difficulty hearing it speak. We’ll very rarely allow ourselves to

Relationship

listen to it. And we’ll never be able to truly trust its wisdom. The

When we seek to transform ourselves, we are seeking a change in

result? We remain trapped and set ourselves up for much pain and

relationship – with ourselves, with others, and with our world. And

suffering.

so, we approach our yoga practice with steadiness of mind in order to gain awareness about relationship – not intellectual awareness, not interpreted or colored awareness, but actual and experiential awareness of how we show up in relationship.

Befriending the Body This theme opens the beginning of a process – one of coming home to our experience, and in turn, into our body. With our practice this

Yoga Practice: Friday and Saturday Yoga Asana: Sun Salutations 20 minutes Breath Practice:

Deep Breathing 5 minutes

Meditation:

Awareness on Breath 5 minutes

week, we discover much about our relationship with our body. This is 9

The Yoga of Food Bodily purification brings about clarity, happiness, concentration, mastery of the senses, and capacity for self-awareness.

– The Yoga Sutra

Both the type of food we put into our body and the manner in which we ingest it affect our transformation. Through the yoga of food, we’ll learn and apply yogic principles to the way we nourish our bodyminds. Much like the approach to yoga that is presented in the Yoga Sutra, we’ll work with and integrate two different but complementary foci: removal of toxins from our bodymind system and taking in pure, nourishing, and life-sustaining food.

Awareness

Befriending the Body

We begin our work with the yoga of food much like we begin our

Developing and deepening a supportive, nurturing relationship

asana practice this week: with an intention of cultivating awareness.

with our body leads us very naturally to honoring it. This allows for

We’re not being asked to use memory or imagination as we move

the transformation of the choices we make around which foods we

into our work with the yoga of food. Rather we’re being asked to use

put into our body and how we put foods into our body.

our developing skill of awareness and apply it to our actual, in-the-

moment experience each time we put food into our body.

A Word About the Yoga of Food The yoga of food is based on sattvic, or pure, foods. This applies

Relationship

both to the nature of the food itself as well as to the way food is

As we become aware of how relationship is expressed and

prepared and consumed. From a yogic point of view, food serves an

experienced in our lives over the next four weeks, we’ll also discover

important function in our process of transformation. Quite simply,

in-the-moment information about how different foods affect our

it will either support our transformation toward a balanced

bodymind. In essence, we’ll discover much about the many different

bodymind and a joyful life or it will hinder our process of

relationships that exist between our bodymind and the various types

transformation, keeping us swirling in the midst of pain and

of food we take in.

suffering.

The Yoga of Food: Week 1 Notice:

For each day this week, notice your food choices. What do you choose to eat, even when it feels like you have no choice. Notice how much you eat when you eat. Notice how your body physically feels after you eat.

Notice how your mind feels after you eat. Keep a written record of each of these awarenesses.

Eat:

Eat one serving of yogic muesli each day this week. The recipe is on the next page.

Drink:

Drink a glass of panakam at least once per day, each day this week. The recipe is on page 13.

Yogic Muesli Ingredients and directions

ingredients:

•

¼ cup dried muesli (Bob’s Red Mill brand includes: whole grain wheat, date crumbles, sunflower seeds, raisins, whole grain rye, whole grain barley, whole grain oats, whole grain triticale, flaxseed, almonds, and walnuts.)

•

½ cup plain Greek yoghurt

•

¼ cup well chilled water (more or less)

•

3 teaspoons of honey (more or less)

•

In a bowl, add the dry muesli along with the plain Greek yoghurt.

•

Pour half of the well chilled water into the bowl and mix the

directions: ingredients together. Then add the remaining water and stir. If you want your yogic muesli thinner, add more water.

•

Let stand 5 to 7 minutes.

•

Finally mix the honey into the muesli.

•

Eat slowly and mindfully, without reading or watching TV or listening to music. Simply eat and receive all its goodness.

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Panakam Ingredients and directions

ingredients: •

3 good teaspoons of honey (more or less)

•

¼ teaspoon of ground ginger (more or less)

•

1 healthy pinch of ground cardamom

•

½ teaspoon of fresh lime juice

•

1 cup of well chilled sparkling water

•

In a large glass or measuring cup, make a thick paste by stirring

directions: together the honey, ginger, cardamom, and lime juice. Stir until all lumps have dissolved.

•

Stir in the well chilled sparkling water, adding a little at a time to avoid excess foaming.

•

Let the foam settle some, then sip immediately.

•

This is a potent drink, good for digestion, and a real kick-start of energy for afternoons. Drink with caution. Sip slowly, very slowly.

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Awareness Journal

Monday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step: I commit to showing up to tomorrow’s class.

Tuesday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step: I commit to showing up to tomorrow’s class.

Wednesday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step: I commit to showing up to tomorrow’s class.

Thursday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step: I commit to doing my yoga practice on my own tomorrow.

Friday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step: I commit to doing my yoga practice on my own tomorrow.

Saturday

Biggest Awareness: _______________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ How does it show up in my life? _____________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Next Step:

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Transform Yourself

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