Daily Schedule for Yoga Practice

“What should be included in our daily yoga practice?”

OR

“How can we start our daily yoga practice?”

This is one of the frequently asked questions in the class from my yoga students and other yoga enthusiasts.

 Most of the yoga practitioners are interested in doing yoga postures or asanas which constitute the third limb of Ashtanga yoga.  Ironically, Sage Pathanjali, the author of Yoga Sutras has not mentioned about physical exercise postures i.e. cultural yogasanas that we are generally practicing, like sun salutation, triangle postures, sarvangasana, sirshasana and so on.  The names of different postures with their values in details have been mentioned in other classical yoga texts like Gheranda Samhita, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and Siva Samhita and in a number of Upanishadic works. 

Gheranda Samhitha states that there are 84, 0000 of yoga positions.  But in our day-to-day life we are not able to perform all these yoga postures.

Classification of Yoga Postures

Before starting to select the postures (asanas) in daily routine, it would be beneficial if we know the important classifications of yoga postures.

The entire yoga postures are mainly divided into two wide spectrums called cultural yoga postures, and meditative yoga postures.Cultural yoga postures are meant for physical movements so as to keep the body flexible, fit, and healthy. Meditative yoga postures are meant for keeping the body still, doing pranayama; thereby helps the mind to settle down and go deep in meditation.

On the basis of starting positions, the yoga postures are divided into four categories viz. standing, sitting, supine, and prone postures. On the basis of body movements, the yogasanas are again divided into upper stretching, side stretching, forward bending, back stretching, twisting, balancing, and inverted postures.

Prerequisites

Yoga ultimately aims liberation; permanent peace and happiness. To achieve this, we must give equal importance to the first two limbs of Ashtanga yoga, known as yama and niyama as we are giving to the exercise portion.

Yama constitute the disciplines like nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, non-covetousness and moral discipline. Niyama constitute the disciplines like cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self study, and surrendering the ego. (The yama-niyama portion requires special attention. Each discipline contains voluminous interpretations. Since it is not our present task, simple translation of the original aphorism is given here)

H.H. Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswathy, founder of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh (Himalayas) states that yama and niyama are the two ethical pillars upon which the entire yoga structure has been built.

Rules & Regulations before starting

• Select a suitable place free from disturbances like noise, dust, mosquitoes etc.
• Fix a time for daily practice and as far as possible try to be punctual with the timing.
• Wear comfortable clothing; neither very loose nor very tight.  The dress should not restrict the smooth body movements.
• Do not wear any sharp-edged ornaments, wrist watch etc.  If not required specs also.
• Clear the bowels before practicing any exercise and take a bath after that.
• There should be minimum four hours time lapse between heavy meals and exercise; two hours duration after taking liquid food.

Traditionally, yoga classes are starting and finishing with peace prayers.  If not interested, either sit silently or listen some soft/melodious music for five minutes before starting.

How to Start

First do some joint movement exercises at least for five to 10 minutes.There are a good number of simple as well as interesting joint movement exercises.

Then do simple yogasanas.Then proceed to intermediate level asanas.Lastly advanced/difficult asanas.

In your daily schedule, you must try to include exercises containing upper stretching, side stretching, twisting, forward bending, back stretching, balancing, and inverted positions. You can select these movements from any one or more than one or all categories mentioned above like standing, sitting, supine, and prone positions. Minimum half an hour practice is required for satisfactory result

Do not do the yogasanas in a hurry or speedy way. Be comfortable with the practice. Normally, there will not be any palpitation, abnormal heartbeat, sweating etc. after the practice; instead we will feel much energized and healthy.

Combination of certain yoga postures will bring outstanding results.For example

• Sarvangasana/Viparitha Karani followed by Supta Vajrasana/Matsyasana/Preliminary Matsyasana.
• Halasana + Paschimotthanasana + Dhanurasana etc.

After inverted postures take sufficient relaxation, i.e., double the time of inverted posture.If Sarvangasana is practicing for three minutes; practice fish posture (matsyasana) for one minute (ratio 3:1)

After all yoga postures do corpse posture (Savasana) for at least 10 minutes. Once in a while practice Yoga Nidra for 30 to 45 minutes.

Next stage is pranayama practice (Breathing exercises). Along with pranayama you can practice suitable mudras and bhandas. For a smooth beginning of pranayama, first do a few rounds of Kapalabhathi Kriya (Yoga purification exercise to clear the nasal passages). General advice is that do not do more than two types of (or maximum three) pranayama techniques at the same sitting. As part of general yoga exercise schedule, you can practice each breathing technique from 1 to 5 minutes.

Finally, practice meditation. There are hundreds and thousands of meditation techniques.What your teacher suggests that you can practice.For deriving good result you have to do meditation for minimum 20 minutes at the same sitting.Great teachers say that duration of meditation should be equal to his/her age. A thirty year old person is supposed to do meditation for 30 minutes; a forty five year old person for forty five minutes.

Conclusion

I hope that now you have a clear idea about your daily yoga schedule. The famous 20 instructions for spiritual life advised by H.H. Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswathy is appended for reference. This will definitely enrich your practice schedule.
Hari Om
Yogacharya Sreekantan