MORNING
There is a saying attributed to the great philosopher-scholar Shao Yong (1011-1077) that remains popular to this today:
“A year’s plan starts with spring.
A day’s plan starts with morning.
A life’s plan starts with diligence.”
Getting up
-Get up early; do not stay in bed too long, the immune system needs dynamic metabolism generated by movement.
-Indian yogis established that the optimum time to practice in the morning is the period at least one hour before the sun rises. That period is named “Brahma muhurta,” “the period of Brahma (the Creator). This is the time when the Yin of the night is culminating, and Yang is born; the union of Yin and Yang generates Creative Energy. You miss the train if you get up with the sunrise or after.
-During “Brahma muhurta” the mind is at its most subtle, clear, and energized
-Two options as soon as you notice you are awakening:
1. Practicing in bed: Without opening your eyes, do a brief Foundation Sequence. Balance the nadis 3 times in each direction and do one or more of the mantras and color spheres at the points. Check how steady are the color spheres for an indication of clarity and stability of mind.
-When you finish the Foundation Sequence, still without opening the eyes, project ahead how you want your day to flow: what state of mind, emotional quality, in detail what emotions when contacting the people, you need to meet that day and level of vitality when ready to go to bed at the end of the day. All these factors will be done activating the corresponding feelings you want, not just the idea of the feelings, begin with the result.
-Another brief practice in bed can be Bone Breathing up from the feet and fingertips
2. The second option is to get out of bed as soon as you notice the sleeping period has come to an end.
-If you don’t feel like getting out of bed, do the fire mantra counting: 4, 3, 2, 1, GET UP!!!
-Difficulty getting out of bed can have many reasons; one of them being not having strong enough goals in life. If you were going on a long holiday, you would get out of bed instantly.
-As soon as you get out of bed do 3 Spinal Cord Breathings to energize the brain and then go and do your toilet.
First practice after the toilet
-Two choices:
-The first is drinking warm to hot lemon water
-Facing east drink a glass of hot water with lemon juice (without sugar or any sweetener) taking small sips. If it is still dark or twilight, visualize the sun being drunk with each sip of the lemon water.
-In Japan, which has the highest longevity in the world, it is customary to drink hot to warm plain or lemon water first thing in the morning for energy and improved digestion. There is some evidence that warm lemon water can stimulate proper stomach acid and bile production.
-Lemon water is drunk first thing in the morning with an empty stomach.
-PRECAUTIONS:
-Drinking warm water first thing in the morning when you aren’t used or have a very delicate digestive system can cause a few minutes of nausea, so it might be a good idea to start slowly with a small amount of lemon water.
-While lemon water is one of the safest drinks you can take, the acids in lemon can eat away at your tooth enamel. To prevent this, after drinking, rinse your mouth with some plain water to make sure the acid from the lemon juice doesn't remain on the teeth.
-Preparing lemon water:
-Heat about half a liter of pure water until it is warm to hot but easy to drink.
-Squeeze the juice of half a lemon if the lemon is big or a full lemon if is small.
-Add the water to the lemon juice and drink it slowly in small sips.
-When all the lemon water has been drunk, rinse the mouth with water.
-Do not eat breakfast until you have urinated the water you have drunk.
-Drink lemon water 3-4 times per week.
-If you have a sensitive digestive system begin with a cup of water and very little lemon juice to see if any discomfort appears.
-If you want to overcome a sugar addiction, keep each sip of lemon water. in the mouth making the tongue well soaked in it. For a week avoid eating sugary things.
-Choosing lemons:
-Choose organic fresh lemons.
-When buying lemons, opt for ones that are fully yellow.
-If the fruit is still green, it isn’t fully ripe.
-Thinner-skinned lemons are juicier.
-Do not use lemons that are old, look dull, wrinkled or excessively hard.
-Storing lemons in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator keeps them fresh much longer than leaving them at room temperature.
-For boosting the power of the lemon water practice, you can add the Sun mantra OM SURYAYA NAMAHA as you take the sips. Feel the Sun going into you as you feel the warm water going down. The fire that heated the water came from the Sun. When done start your warmup sequence.
-The second choice if you do not drink lemon water is to start the warmup sequence with an empty stomach.
The warmup sequence in the morning:
1. In the morning warm up sequence the first priority is oxygenation as the brain is the number one consumer of oxygen.
- To stimulate the lung meridian, form a beak with your fingers and tap the lung points in the space below the clavicles where a sensitive point is found. Tap 50 times or more as you inhale deep through the nose.
- To oxygenate well do the Spinal Cord Breathing with the Lung Sound, paying attention to the pause interval between the inhale and exhale. The pause is an indicator of the level of oxygen in the blood. Deep breathing is done until the pause becomes long.
- Oxygenation counteracts acidity in the blood. Acidity is the ground for infections to develop.
2. Stimulate the lung meridian by swinging the stretched arms all the way to the back and when they swing forward tapping the shoulder on one side and then the other to stimulate the Triple Warmer meridian. You can do the Heart Sound as the arms swing to the back, to help clear congestion in the chest. Do this at least 9 times.
3. Continue by stretching one arm straight up as you inhale and exhaling with the Heart Sound. Without lowering the stretched arm, stretch the other and do the Heart Sound as you exhale.
- As you continue, keep the arms up to check how strong is the lung meridian. If the arms get tired quickly, the lungs are weak and you should from now on, give emphasis to making the lungs strong, otherwise respiratory problems may develop.
4. To increase grounding and activate the liver and kidneys, lower the arms to the sides and with the attention at the soles of the feet; do some shaking with the Liver Sound.
Shake for a while to increase metabolism, blood flow, stimulate the bone marrow, kidneys, liver and open the breath even more.
5. Continue with rocking, the Kidney Sound, and the attention at the feet. The tip of the thumb touches the tip of the index finger to harmonize the hemispheres of the brain
- While rocking check if the mind is steadily silent, that would signify that you are breathing through both nostrils, but your higher percentage of breathing is subtle breath through the central channel.
6. After rocking go back briefly to the Spinal Cord Breathing with the Lung Sound and checking the pause between inhale and exhale.
7. From the Spinal Cord Breathing pass into the circular breathing with the arms moving in a circle as you inhale through the nose and your attention comes up from the earth through the perineum, central channel and out of the crown to the aura.
- As your attention moves up the central channel, welcome the feeling of the mind of abundance coming from the earth, follow with welcoming the energy of change, then the feeling of everything is possible. You can give emphasis to any quality you need more.
- After some time reverse the process and bring the White Light with “A” through the crown and into each cell. Transform every cell into the image of Original Mind you are using.
- After the White Light with “A” follow with the Deep Blue and the feeling of being fully aligned with your highest purpose in life and the state of perfection of health.
8. Continue with the Embracing the Tree position and the circulation of the Microcosmic Orbit outside the body at least 20 times, 20 in the torso and 20 in the Big Orbit. Do it with “A” mantra and White Light.
- At the end place both hands over the navel, return to the cauldron and stay there strengthening the one-pointed mind. Check how stable is your focus. If unstable, do the previous steps much longer and the seated Foundation Sequence to make the mind clearer and steadier.
The morning sequence outlined is just one choice out of infinite combinations you can do with the stretching exercises.
Sitting practice in the morning:
- Clear and sharpen the mind with the Foundation Sequence in its different length:
- With a single mantra for each of the corresponding points and color spheres,
- Adding AUM to each of the individual mantras (AUM LAM + Akash space, AUM VAM, etc.).
- Adding SO HAM (AUM LAM SO HAM + Akash space).
- 50 mantras in the sequence 4 LAM, 6 VAM, 10 RAM, 12 IYAM, 16 HAM, 2 AUM or more.
- There is the great option of finishing one 50 long mantra (AUM LAM SO HAM) sequence and with that Akash, doing a second 50 mantras or even a third sequence.
- The other options for a morning seated practice can be: healing the family, reunion of Yin and Yang organs, Harmonizing the Five Elements, Sexual Energy Recycling, Bone Breathing, etc.
Breakfast:
- Breakfast should be the most important meal of the day; by being active afterwards, metabolism is higher.
- To make breakfast the most nutritious meal of the day, it should have whole grain cereals (quinoa, millet, buckwheat, amaranth, red or black rice or teff) cooked slowly like rice. You can add seaweeds such as a few threads of arame or quick-cooking wakame for mineralization, or a few raw almonds.
- Second choice would be once a week flaked cereals such as oats, rye, or granola. Flaked cereals oxidize quickly after pressing and lack the reproductive energy of whole grains. Unless you have very strong digestive system stay away from muesli mixes which have raw oat flakes and too many dry fruits and nuts. The mix of fruits with carbohydrates generates intestinal fermentation which can give gas, bloating or takes long to digest.
- Boxed cereals are highly processed, loaded with sweeteners, usually sugar, expensive and low in the nutritional scale in comparison to whole grain cereals. Don’t rely on boxed cereals as your main cereal for you or your children.
- Don’t expect your immune system to be strong with just a cup of coffee and a butter toast in the morning. The immune system is the army defending the country. No army can sustain battle for long with a butter toast and a cup of coffee.
- Whatever you eat for breakfast, check it doesn’t make you full, bloated, gives gas, takes long to digest, or makes you hungry an hour after.
- Refrain from eating in between the main meals. One of the causes of the obesity epidemics is insulin resistance from eating often, usually sugary things or too many carbohydrates.
- Try to give at least 6 hours between meals during the day and 12 hours between dinner and breakfast the next day.
