When you know you’re ready to take your dedication to Life even deeper, through yogic application, I recommend a Self commitment to the following challenge. This something you’ll be adding your your daily Yoga Challenge in order to extend and deepen it.
The Deeper Yoga Challenge
Once a week, extend at least one of your sessions to 24 minutes.
Once a fortnight extend at least one of your session to 48 minutes.
Once a month do at least one 72 minute practice.
Depending on your circumstances, you may find there is a day each weekend when you can dedicate yourself and the necessary time to this Deeper Challenge. I am certain you will find this Deeper Challenge to be greatly rewarding. It will affect your life in beautiful ways. It’s simple enough, and yet it does take a stronger commitment. I suggest only taking on this challenge after at least one month of successful daily self-dedication to the 12/24 Minute Yoga Challenge.
Suggested Routines (initially)
I suggest that when first taking on The Deeper Challenge for yourself, you divide your practice up into a similar ratio as your daily routine. For instance, if you are doing the following morning practice session:
- 8 minutes of Yoga Asana
- 2 minutes of Pranayama (conscious breathing exercises)
- 2 minutes of silent sitting meditation
This is a ratio of 8:2:2. Let’s look at this as half the session for yoga asana, and the other half split one way or another between pranayama (breathing) and silent meditation.
With that ratio in mind your 24, 48, and 72 minute sessions may look something like this:
- 16 minutes asana; 4 minutes pranayama; 4 minutes meditation
- 32 minutes asana; 4 − 8 minutes pranayama; 8 − 12 minutes meditation
- 48 minutes asana; 6 − 12 minutes pranayama; 12 − 18 minutes of meditation
A key point for your consideration is how you spend the second half of your extended sessions. Some days you may feel like doing more pranayama, and less meditation. Other times you may be feeling really still after your asana, and after a few minutes of conscious breathing you just want to deepen for as long as you can into the inner silence through meditation. The choice is yours. You are your own master. Follow your inner wisdom.
My recommendation is that once you have utilised these routines over at least three months, you may start to modify them to suit you. Give them fair trail though, and give any new routine you come up with fair trial.
Ready for more?
After you have applied yourself to this Deeper Yoga Challenge consistently for at least 6 months, if you feel you wish to explore even further and to delve even deeper into your yogic self-application I recommend you consult with a Hrdaya Yoga teacher, or any other suitably experienced yoga teacher, in person. I can’t attest to what any other teacher will offer you, but if you’d like to know more about what Hrdaya Yoga will offer you, take a look here.