Something I always try to do in my practice. There are times when I have a purpose before, and then sometimes I create it during the practice. Yoga definitely helps us go inward and investigate. What are my needs right now? What do I want? I always start with a meditation before my practice and I ask myself these questions. If I don't have an answer right away, it always comes through. Let your body tell you.
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(From yogajournal.com/daily insight)
Almost everyone who does yoga will tell you that their "energy" feels different after they've practiced. This is no doubt one of the main reasons why we practice: to change our experience of how energy moves in the body. We want more energy; smoother, more even energy; or energy that is quieter and less agitated.
One way to think of organizing a home practice has to do with consciously manipulating two of the main energies in the body, prana and apana. In the ancient teachings of India, prana is believed to exist above the diaphragm and to have a tendency to move upward; it is "masculine energy" and controls the heart and the respiration. Apana, it is said, exists below the diaphragm and has a tendency to move downward; it is "feminine energy" and controls the organs of the abdomen, pelvis, and legs.
Before starting your practice on any given day, first ascertain which energy you want to increase and then practice the appropriate poses to accomplish your goal. For example, inversions increase apana; standing poses stimulate prana. Forward bends quiet both apana and prana, as do supine poses. If you are feeling scattered and fatigued, you may want your practice to increase apana; if you are dull and unenthusiastic, you may want to increase prana.
IN THIS ISSUE
Bringing Your Practice Home
http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/819
Standing Poses
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/finder/browse_categories/standing
Forward Bends
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/finder/browse_categories/forward_bends
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