Hridaya Yoga Day 2!! My mind was full of thought lastnight but I still managed to sleep having learned to seperate myself from my thoughts. Meditation started at 9am and we went straight into our 7s breathing meditation: at first my mind was quiet and still but as we progressed further my mind wondered further and further. The second meditation involved finding our awareness space and dwelling it which seem to be easy at first but as we continued got harder and harder. After our meditation Jennifer let us straight into Day 2 of Hridaya yoga: starting with our daily warm-ups; head twirls, rapid head twists, head side to sides, shoulder shrugs, hands in the air, torso twists and finish with bend-down to seated squats. We then went into our various yoga poses for the day which involved exploiting the various Chokras (energy channels) and holding these poses for what seemed like 5-10 minutes. Your eyes stay closed in Hridaya yoga and you become very aware of all the sensations in your body, your mind links with your body and there is a freeing from thought. The poses got more difficult and we all had to work very hard to do poses like the abdominal hold and the side fold. The yoga class finished with a guided relaxation by our teacher Jennifer and here I really struggled to keep my mind on my body and dwelled in my thoughts and tiredness. Next was the lecture which was so enthralling I couldn't help but engage myself fully; we talked of Chokras, people's needs and what we seek as human beings. I am once again energized by the teachings, the activities and practices and can feel my life becoming more inclined everyday. It seems that yoga is just the tool we are using to help us find union, happiness and a connectedness with the whole. The day continued with enlightening moments one of which involved jumping into the lake and a freeing of many fears to finding a floating rock - symbolic.... It was freezing tonight and I had to get in bed early and under the covers to try warm-up. Another very strange thing happened after eating dinner: I returned to my room to continue reading on my iPad and there appeared a huge crack across the screen. The worst thing I hadn't dropped it and couldn't understand how this had happened - however the beauty was I let it go as soon as it happened realizing it was already in the past.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Day 2 Hridaya Yoga: new space awareness
- Why yoga? A tool to bring about stillness and union
-