Maitri, the theme for the month, meaning friendliness; loving-kindness, is about community, about reaching out to others, about Peace, Love, and Joy…


This 20m video – suitable for beginners – stresses the message of maitri, change and balance; and includes dhyana (meditation), Mantra and a few variations of bharmanasana (tabletop/all 4’s) and a reading speaking to this journey of transformation from Paulo Coelho’s The Manual of the Warrior of Light.

Please read below for full health and safety’s, and check out Kayleigh’s channel “Kayleigh. Consciousness with a cockney,” here, and watch her video which inspired me to speak about the reality of Being OK with NOT being OK and find my own voice, here.

HEALTH AND SAFETY’S

– Please do not practice if your are pregnant in your first 12 weeks; and your first eight weeks after giving birth, and make sure to have clearance from your doctor before practicing, please.
– Practice Ahimsa, non-harming, the first of the Yamas (universal moralities); non-harming to yourself, to others, to the world and to animals. So don’t do anything which will cause you or anyone else harm. Listen to your body, how it feels today; and if you feel any new, sharp or shooting pain, come out of what you are doing and take balasana (child’s pose) or savasana (corpse)–these are still active asanas, you are still breathing!

**Props and Health and Safety notes on some of the asanas in these videos:**

Adho Mukha Savasana
– Use blocks under your hands in Adho Mukha Savasana to help create length and space.
– If your heels don’t reach the mat it doesn’t matter, just bend your knees and keep heels lifted. Daily practice will see you progress.
– Cautions: Back and neck injuries – please do not practice inversions (AMS is an inversion.) Further cautions: Avoid inversions if you have high blood pressure.
– Contraindications for Adho Mukha Savasana include hypertension, stroke and heart disease – take it easy (move gently) when coming into the asana and don’t hold for too long.
– For tight hamstrings, bend you knees and lift up your heels in Adho Mukha Savasana (Downward Facing Dog);

Forward folds
– For tight hamstrings, lower back issues or just feeling stiff, you can soften your knees (keeping them slightly bent) for forward folds including Uttanasana in the Namaskar sequence and Dangling (Ragdoll/Baddha Hasta Uttanasana) in warm up sequence.
BEGINNERS sq NOTE: Bend your knees and hold back of your ankles until you can work towards placing your hands flat on the mat (or on blocks) next to your feet.

Cross-legged seated asanas
– Use a folded cloth/eye pillow/folded belt between your knees in cross legged seated asanas (i.e. sukhasana, easy pose) for extra padding. Caution: knees, ankles, hips
– Place blocks/pillow/bolster under your sitting bones to elevate your hips higher than your knees for your dhyana (meditation).

Contact: Please reach out to me, check out my blog for some personal context (https://sarahclairepicton.blog/about/), and touch base via comment below.

Sources and Inspirations: The Manual of the Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho; StewG @ ELSY; Kayleigh; Family