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Surya Namaskar:
Get ready for the Practice in Surya Namaskar early in the morning
after taking bath.
Perform the warming up exercises described in the “A step Ahead to
Excellence”.
Other exercises, if needed, can be practised before the start of SN.
At the beginning perform THREE Surya Namaskar using at least FIFTEEN
minutes.
Take care of the following :
Use all your physical strength to perform each and every Asana.
Surya Mantra and its meaning
Pranavocchar, Bijakahar, Surya Mantra.
The Chakra involved in each Asana.
The parts of body muscles involved in each action.
The type of stretch and strain in the muscles.
The physical posture, the weight and centre of gravity of the body.
Distinctive difference of the Asanas repeated.
The inhaling and exhaling while performing each Asanas.
The aims and objectives in terms of health and body building.
The aims and objectives in terms of preventive treatment.
Waiting for five seconds after attaining the maximum position of
each Asana.
Get the feel of the stretch and strain at the particular part of the
body. The rest of the body should be free of muscle tension.
Relaxing the body muscles after attaining the maximum position in
each Asana.
Total time utilized for each Surya Namaskar.
Listen to the rhythm of breathing.
Gradually, as your practice gathers experience the number of Surya
Namaskar will reach to twelve while the duration of time remains the
same.
Recite the starting and concluding shlokas with dedication. Have
great faith in yourSELF . Get actual physical confirmation that your
physical and psychological ailments are, day by day, being
eliminated.
Receive the feel that your craving for any addiction is on the mode
of regression.
Note:
Refer to “Surya Namaskar in Stages”
Attend at least one Workshop on Surya Namaskar.
Call me at your place to conduct ‘Workshop on Surya Namaskar’.
For ready reference take a printout copy of the E-Book.
Read a book or two on “Surya Namaskar” given in the bibliography.
Take help of E-mail / phone to get your doubts cleared.
You can take care of the time & speed, breathing & rhythm in
performing Surya Namaskar after you have attained 24+1 Surya
Namaskar in thirty minutes.
Surya Darshan :
Use a rough woolen cloth as a mattress to sit on.
Fold it to make a thick, soft, comfortable seat.
(Kambal or Dhabali is better. It’s a bad conductor of heat and keeps
away germs and worms.)
Cover the mattress with a piece of cotton / silk cloth.
(The piece of cloth should cover the inside part of the border of
the mattress. It should not reach to the ground.)
Sit down with crossed legs.
Keep the backbone straight in line.
Be comfortable.
Keep all the muscles loose.
Put your hands on the knees.
If it is yet time to Sunrise, perform ‘Exercise One’ described in “A
Step Ahead to Excellence”.
The vibration that you feel in the palms in the last action of
the ‘Exercise One’ is the cosmic force/energy/vitality in the
muscles and mind. This is the Vigor, the working force behind
voluntary and involuntary actions, physical as well as mental in our
body. This energy is called Pran Shakti / Brahma & Maya / Vishnu &Vaishnavi
/ Purush & Prakruti / Cosmic Energy / Magnetic Poles, or Positive
Negative electrodes. Place the palms on your face with a light
press.
Effect on body: The cosmic energy collected on the fingers is
directly applied onto the face. This is a warming up step for the
muscles on the face to receive the Pran Shakti effectively during
“Surya Darshan”
Try to visualize the delightful image of your mother.
Breathing is as it goes.
Take notice of the exhaling part of breathing.
Focus your attention onto the Anahat Chakra.
Receive the feel of breathing on the middle of the chest.
Illustration: BajarangaBali with HIS chest open, showing the idols
of Lord Rama, Laxman and Seeta in the heart.
Chest: a little puffed up and lifted up too.
Stomach: flat & loose,
Look at the rising-sun constantly for some time (a minute or two)
without closing eyelids.
Revise silently all the information about all the Surya Mantra, one
by one.
Keep the eyes blinking fast for five seconds.
Close the eyes. Try to retain / expand the glow of the Sun in the
inward eye.
Repeat the action if time permits you to.
Take the feel that the glow of the Sun is revitalizing your eye
sight.
Take the feel that the Cosmic Energy is energizing your body, mind
spirit.
The duration of Surya Darshan is 08-10-12 minutes after the Sunrise
and before the Sunset. The span of time varies according to the
season and the altitude of the location.
The glow of the Sun before your inward eye is a delightful
experience. You would simply wait for the next twelve hours to
experience the same during the Surya Darshan at the Sunset.
If you are practicing Sandhya Vidhi in the morning and in the
evening, facing to the sun, in the open, you need not repeat Surya
Darshan. You better incorporate Surya Darshan in Sandhya Vidhi.
Basic suggestions on food habits:
We are what we eat and drink. Food is the only source, other than
the cosmic energy, that gives us energy and keeps us healthy.
Medicines cure diseases and incorrect eating habits create them.
Hence we better control our intake of food. Stomach is the most
misused organ in our body. So, whenever you want to eat give a
thought to what, when, where, how and how much to be eaten.
Following are the basic guidelines useful to develop good food
habits. Of course, old habits die hard. It is not easy to get out of
an old habit in a day or two. So at the beginning decide upon a
target to minimize the intake of unwanted food. Have complete faith
in the Sun God. Keep on practicing the art of Surya Namaskar without
a single break and ensure the success yourself.
Give the first preference to fresh-hot-cooked food and the second
preference to baked food. Avoid the frequent use of fried food and
totally discard bakery food.
If you want to eat food fried in oil / ghee have it, in limited
quantity, at the beginning / in the first course of your meal.
Baked food is good for health in the rainy season.
Take two glass of hot water or a glass of fruit juice after eating
bakery snacks
Eat the cooked food fresh and hot. Vegetarian food is suitably
appropriate to our physical requirements.
Frequent and proportionate use of cow milk, cow buttermilk, cow
butter, cow ghee, in daily food is of great use.
Make use of fresh butter with honey. Use homemade cow ghee made from
fresh cow butter.
It is better to maintain 01: 01 ratio of cooked food to raw food.
Raw / uncooked food can mainly be listed under the heading: – All
types of sprouted beans, dry fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables &
salads.
Always prefer seasonal fruits and vegetables. Seasonal mango is far
better than a tanned mango juice / pulp in the rainy season.
If you have a choice to select from fresh-hot-cooked food and raw
food give your vote to raw food.
The other group of food is dairy food. Make occasional use of milk
product and sweetmeats in your meals.
Minimize the use of sugar and go for honey, gud, raw sugar,
sugarcane juice, dates, etc.
Minimize the use of fast food, readymade food, tanned food, junk
food, cold drinks, hot drinks etc. and take to fresh hot corn soup
and fresh fruit juice.
It is not the food you eat that makes you heavy weight or obese.
Obesity is generally related to indigestion, constipation, hard
bowels and lack of exercise.
Mild laxative once in a month is recommended. The use of castor oil
is the best.
Keep your sweet/heavy/oily/faty food intake balanced with the number
of Surya Namaskar.
Be alert. Keep your eating habits under experiment. Find out the
type of food that does not go with your constitution. Change
accordingly.
Daily planning
Leave the bed as soon as you get out of sleep.
After bath, it’s time for Surya Namaskar, Surya Darshan Pranayam and
Sandhya Vidhi, Pooja etc.
Early morning is the study time.
Memory is sharp and keen at this time.
Learn at least two lines by heart everyday.
Do some reading, writing work every day in the morning.
After Surya Namaskar, wait for 15 to 20 minutes to have breakfast.
(Let the muscles-sells-tissues-tendons-ligaments stretched and
strained and pressed during Surya Namaskar get relieved and relaxed
from tension. You can use Yoga-Nidra to get quick relaxation.)
Routine work school / college / service / occupation / business etc.
In the evening outdoor games. Surya Darshan.
Recreation, entertainment, TV and reading writing also.
After diner study period, reading etc for at least one hour.
Go to bed. While you are awake in the bed revise the days work.
Wherever you realize that you have made a mistake in the form of
act, thought or speech, pledge yourself that you would undo the
wrong deeds by apologizing the concerned person.
The decision to undo the incorrect behaviour grants you sound sleep.
The action “decided & done” awards undivided concentration in
meditation, Surya Darshan and Surya Namaskar. It gives you sound
sleep without any interruptions.
Select any three useful activities of your interest each of half an
hour duration for the next day.
Give a thought to the three activities of the previous day. Have you
worked them out accordingly?
If the answer is NO find out the reasons and try them out again.
If the answer is YES add something more into your planning such as:
specific time, result oriented action(s), duration of time or
increase the difficulty level of the action etc. Keep on expanding
the programme to ensure steady progress.
You must have easily learnt two lines by heart. Now add something
more a stanza, a definition, properties of certain things, phone
numbers, birth days of your dear and near relatives and friends,
proverb, idiom, thought of the day etc.
Revise and repeat the recitation of the previous days. Let the span
of memory gets enlarged.
The information you have learnt by heart works as a hold-all to
encompass all types of memory with confidence.
Revise the persons in contact today, their conversation, incidents,
proposals, advice etc. Look at all these things as the guidelines
for self improvement. Think positively and absorb whatever is
good for your SELF-development.
Relax from head to heel taking away muscle tension, if there is any,
part by part, step by step, slowly. At the same time look at your
breathing (with closed eyes). Submit yourself to sleep. Pray God to
grant a day more to serve His cause in a better manner the next day. |
