Align! Module One Self-Study

Align! Week One Self-Study While this program draws upon the foundational practices of Transform! with some minor tweaks, Align! is much more focused on cultivating a daily practice so that you can begin to integrate these tools and practices into your everyday life. You’ll want to carve out at least 30 minutes a day in addition to the daily guided meditations for these practices, though they do not need to be all at once.

That said, guilt and shame have no place in working to cultivate a daily practice! While being gentle with yourself during this module you should aim to: 1. Locate an ideal place that you can mark as sacred space for your daily meditations and practices. Consider starting an altar somewhere in your home.

2. Practice daily body scanning on your own to establish your baseline vibration (3 minutes) 3. Continue building your Destination Vibration and practice bringing it into a regular nightly meditation (20 minutes) 4. Incorporate dosha balancing yoga poses and breathwork in the Yogic & Ayurvedic Guide to Chakra Balancing into a daily self-care practice. (7 minutes) 5. Set aside a regular time for your self-study journaling prompts throughout the week.

Reading: “Ayurveda: The Science of Life” from Dr. Light Miller’s Ayurvedic Curative Cuisine for Everyone

Journaling Exercises: 1. Keeping in mind your tally on your dosha quiz for deciphering your ratio of Vata (Air), Pitta (Fire) and Kapha (Earth/Water), and reading “Ayurveda: The Science of Life”: • What do you think is your Prakruti (original blueprint)?

• What do you think is/are your primary dosha imbalance(s), or your Vikruti?

• What symptoms do you see showing up in your life physically, energetically, and emotionally?

*Keep in mind that we all exhibit characteristics of each of the doshas, but that generally people will have one or two primary imbalances. It is the ratio of elements that create our unique constitution.

2. Looking over the “Yogic & Ayurvedic Guide to Chakra Balancing”: • Which chakras do you feel might be out of alignment for you? Does the imbalance seem to be based in excess or deficiency? How do you see this manifesting in your life physically, energetically, and emotionally?

• What chakras do you feel are aligned for you? How does this show up in your life physically, energetically, and emotionally?

3. What, if any, overlaps do you see between your Ayurvedic dosha imbalance(s) and your chakra imbalance(s)?

4. What questions do you have about doshas and chakras from this deepened perspective? Bring them to our next group meeting!

Breathwork: Practice 2 types of breathwork practices during the week, noticing how they affect your body and mind. Set a timer to work with each breath for three minutes at a time. Try practicing with them at different points throughout the day: morning, afternoon, and evening.

Ujjayi Breathing: Come into the ujjayi breath by creating a slight constriction at the back of your throat. You can think of the sound of the ocean, or imagine the act of fogging up a mirror. Ujjayi breathwork is often easier to begin with an open mouth, moving into a closed mouth practice over time. This is a full diaphragmatic breath. As you breathe imagine the breath moving through you like a wave.

When to Use: Ujjayi (oo-jay-ee) breath is thought to conquer fear and illness and to steady the mind. The purpose of the ujjayi breath is to bring your awareness to each breath. It aids in opening the throat chakra and opening to a practice of allowing.

Belly to Chest Breathing: Come into a comfortable seat and place one hand on the belly and one hand on the heart. On your next inhale, breathe deeply from the belly up to the chest, with a slight constriction at the back of the throat, holding here until your body wants to release, and slowly exhaling from the chest down to the belly, taking a slightly longer exhale (open or closed mouth).

Inhale to the count of 3 from the belly to the chest and “hold” in the chest, then exhale from the chest down to the belly to the count of 4, releasing all the breath out of the belly. Take a few rounds here and then as you are ready begin to add on time: 3/4; 4/5; 5/6.

When to Use: The deep breathing and slightly longer exhales work to calm the body down by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system.

This is a staple breathwork practice to use whenever you are experiencing anxiety, nervousness, ungroundness, or feeling scattered. It brings Vata and Pitta into balance.

Alternate Nostril Breathing: Come into a comfortable seat and find your dominant hand. Bring your ring and middle finger to the spot between your eyebrows (third eye) and pinky and thumb to either nostril. Begin by pinching the left nostril closed and breathing through the right. Hold the breath between the eyebrows then slowly release the left nostril and

exhale, keeping right nostril closed. Inhale through the left nostril, hold breath between the eyebrows with both nostrils closed, slowly breathe out through the right. Repeat.

When to Use: Alternate Nostril Breathing is a versatile practice that can be used to calm or energize the body depending on how quickly or slowly you practice it. Slow alternate nostril breathing calms and grounds the body, which is good for balancing Vata and Pitta. Fast alternate nostril breathing energizes the body by stoking fire, and is good for balancing Kapha. At either speed it enhances clarity and focus.

Kapalabhati Breathing (Breath of Fire): Come into a comfortable seat and bring both hands to the lower belly. On the exhale, contract your lower abdominal muscles to force the out breath through the nostrils, followed by a passive inhale. If you have trouble isolating this muscle group you can make two fists with the hands to press against the lower abdomen as you exhale. If you are familiar with the Mula Bandha (root lock located at the perineum) you can work on constricting this muscle as you practice kapalabhati breathing.

Beginners will want to start out slowly, gradually increasing speed. The inhale is an automatic “rebound” response to the active exhale. Try taking a round of 25, coming back into a regular breath, and then taking another round of 25. You can increase the speed and number of rounds as you become more familiar with the practice.

When to use: Kapalabhati breathing, or “skull-shining breath” works to energize the body and cleanse the body of toxins. It can be helpful to visualize a clearing out of the skull with each exhale. It increases energy, focus, and stamina. Kapalabhati breathwork can be a very powerful way to start the morning. It is an important practice for balancing Kapha and bringing the energy upward in the body. Pittas will want to be careful not to overdo, and Vatas can find themselves overwhelmed and dizzy by the amount of upward energy it creates in the body.

Chakra Balancing Mantras:

Mantras are sacred sounds (sound, syllable, word, or group of words) that are used to pacify the rational, Ego mind so that you can enter more deeply into concert with your Higher self. Mantras are powerful sound medicine based upon the intentional use of vibration in the body to shift and clear energetic blockages.

This week look over the sounds associated with each chakra in the Yogic & Ayurvedic Guide to Chakra Balancing. These are called Bija Mantras.

“Bija” means “seed” in Sanskrit. When you use the Bija mantras you resonate with the energy of the associated chakra (“wheel of light”).

Practice each sound, noticing how each sound feels in your body, and paying particular attention to how the sounds feel in chakras where you are more blocked.

• • • • • • •

LAM (1st Chakra/Root) VAM (2nd Chakra/Sacral) RAM (3rd Chakra/Solar Plexus) YAM (4th Chakra/Heart) HAM (5th Chakra/Throat) OM (6th Chakra/Third Eye) OM”- (7th Chakra/Crown)

Chakra Balancing Asanas: This week, after considering which chakra imbalances you might be experiencing, choose one or two asanas from the list below and try holding the pose for 3 minutes at the beginning, middle, or end of your day, experimenting with holding the same pose at different times during the day.

1st Root Chakra (Muladhara): Standing Mountain Pose

Child’s Pose Reclined Butterfly Pose Sphinx Pose Knees to Chest 2nd Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana): Reclined Butterfly Happy Baby Open Leg Seated Forward Fold Pigeon Pose Goddess Skandasana Squat 3rd Solar Plexus (Manipura): Uddiyana Bandha (Abdominal Lock) Planks: Full, Forearm, Side Warrior Poses I, II, III Triangle Boat Pose Bow Pose Locust Reverse Table Downward Dog Sways

Cat/Cow Thread the Needle Cobra Pose Puppy Pose Forward Fold with Bind Fish Pose Gate Pose with Backbend Camel Pose Wheel Pose 5th Throat Chakra (Visuddha): Chin lock Bridge Rabbit Pose Plow Pose Shoulderstand 6th Third Eye (Ajña): Warrior III Tree Pose Eagle Pose Dolphin Pose Handstand 7th Crown Chakra (Sahasrara) Seated Meditation Pose Rabbit Pose Dancer Pose Wheel Headstand Handstand

4th Heart Chakra (Anahata):

Further Resources:

Ayurveda Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing, Vasant Lad The Complete Book of Ayurvedic Home Remedies, Vasant Lad Living Ahimsa Diet: Nourishing Love & Life, Maya Tiwari Ayurvedic Curative Cuisine for Everyone, Dr. Light Miller The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook: A Seasonal Guide to Eating and Living Well, Kate O’Donnell

Yoga Chakra Yoga, Anodea Judith Yoga for Wellness, Gary Kraftsow

Chakras Wheels of Life: The Classic Guide to the Chakra System, Anodea Judith Eastern Body, Western Mind: Psychology and the Chakra System as a Path to the Self, Anodea Judith