Individual Power Practices

At our spiritual retreat activities  we are trying to balance the interests of different group of people. Some need more personal coaching, some prefer to be the part of the group. Both are important and reflect the inner and outer world. Today we would like to focus more on individual practices which you will bring back home and keep doing to empower yourself.

Let’s make a little revision on the topic: “How do we spend our day?”

For the majority of us, the answer will be something like this: I need to complete a lot of tasks and do numerous urgent assignments: both large and small. And we strive all day but do not manage to finish everything in time. In the morning, waking up because of the annoying squeak of the alarm clock, our brain splits with the thought - how not to forget anything! I should get into the harness of my tasks quickly to do as much as possible! Led by this idea, the majority of our contemporaries rush to work having swallowed a cup of coffee with a sandwich without even feeling their flavor. Usually, the race continues long into the night - and tomorrow there is a new tough exhausting marathon!

Wait a minute! Then, where I can find place for my development?

- That’s easy, - you may say, - I guess, now I act not fast enough… I will do it quicker: buy a new car, pick up children from school, I wish there were no traffic jams… I will find the job not so far away, drop extra work, do a quarterly report at last, etc. Then, probably, I will have more free time and my life will change! Though, this is just a misconception! You will have a million more urgent duties. Your dream will be as distant as it is now. What should I do? The fact is that there are things you cannot put off. These concern our health and the development of our individuality. It seems that when you skip one or two days of working on yourself, nothing will happen. However, it will gradually be revealed through health problems, bad mood, and, as a result, difficulties in family life and at work.

Today I start the new life!

Morning practices:

Recommendation #1

When you wake up, take your time and do not jump out of bed and run to the kitchen to make yourself awakening coffee. Try to wake up in a different way. For example, with the help of the Taoist complex "Awakening".

Waking up, gently stretch in bed, point your toes toward you, then pull them back and once more toward you. Slowly do 3-5 cycles of such movements. Rotate feet in the ankle joints - in both directions simultaneously - 3-5 cycles in each direction. Rotate the foot outward, then inward - 3-5 cycles. Stretch again and rotate wrists: 3-5 cycles in each direction.

Then, without lifting your head from the pillow, turn it to the right, then to the left, roll your head over the pillow 3 times in both directions. Stretch once again. Straight arms move to the torso in parallel to the floor, describing a circle, then lift up, put them behind the head, thereby making a circular movement with your hands. Do another 3-5 such circular rotations with your hands in one and then in the other direction. Bend your knees, pull one knee toward the chest with your hands, then the other. Turn to your side and get up slowly.

Recommendation #2

So, how do you feel? Maybe someone can do without coffee now. Moreover, it is much more beneficial to drink water in the morning. Yes, yes, plain water, which it is desirable to prepare the evening before. Drink it slowly, feeling the taste, enjoying every sip of the life-giving moisture (as if you are drinking fresh morning dew). In the meantime, tune in for the coming day: greet the whole world in your thoughts and imagine how your current affairs and plans to be successfully implemented.

Recommendation #3

Now it is time to practice hydrotherapy. Wash your face (preferably with cool water), brush your teeth and take a shower, if you wish, contrast shower (preferable), after that rub yourself thoroughly with a towel, massaging your body!

In order to wake up even more and feel your free breathing, you can do nasal irrigation, in India this procedure is called jala neti. It can be done using a special teapot (see photo below). Although, you can do it much easier using only your palms.

Pour water of room temperature into a glass and dissolve the salt in it (nearly 1/5 teaspoon). This is an approximate proportion - the taste of water should be similar to a tear. Gently pour saline in the palm over the sink and slowly draw water from it into your nose with one nostril, closing the second one with your finger. Water will flow down the pharynx, washing the nasal mucosa.

This practice is very important as it helps to improve nasal breathing and, as a result, blood.