January is never an easy month. Christmas is over with no prospect of another bank holiday for at least two months; we're plunged into bitterly cold deep winter following the December solstice and although the days are ever-so-slightly beginning to lighten it's literally dark for the best part of the day.
Overcome lethargy and sluggishness
Like so many, I find these short, dark days challenging. If I didn't have to get up for work, it would be so easy to cocoon myself in my quilt and drift off back to sleep. It's this time of year that my sadhana practice comes into its own. Sadhana, or a disciplined and dedicated personal practice, can help keep you committed during the cold, winter months where we're prone to lethargy and sluggishness. For me, at this time of year, it also provides focus at a time when I so often feel like withdrawing following the busy festive season.
I'm about to start teaching a regular in-person weekly Kundalini yoga class again at a gorgeous new space in Northampton: 360° Wellness. Having taught hatha yoga alone for the past four years, I wanted to start the year with a 40-day kundalini yoga meditation to honour myself and this new opportunity to practise.
Notice your natural breath
Called simply Breath Awareness Practise, it's a beautiful starting point for beginners, but also an opportunity to reconnect with the natural breath for more experienced yogis. According to Yogi Bhajan: 'The character of your thoughts and emotions is reflected in the motion and level of energy in your breath. One of the first habits of a yogi is to notice the state of the breath and prana.'
And this gorgeous practise does just this. It encourages you to focus your attention and awareness on the quality, depth and pace of your natural breath. As an indicator of health in both western and eastern medicine, there is so much we can learn from our own observations. So much we can do for ourselves.
I'm on Day 6 of an 11-minute Breath Awareness Practise meditation and already I've experienced a rainbow of emotions (my Day 3 post-mediation journal entry read simply Challenging!). I'll keep you posted on how I'm doing...
For those of you interested in joining me, I've attached a pdf of the meditation below. And if you do try it, let me know how you get on in the comments section below.
Satnam and Happy New Year!
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