Short targeted yoga practice for energetic boost if you are feeling depleted, disconnected, or jaded

How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Do you feel energized and ready to start your day, or do you feel tired and depleted? Every day, we need sufficient fuel to tackle the challenges of the day, and too often, we fail to recharge our batteries fully with good activities, food, sleep, and experiences. If this pattern continues for a while, it can become a chronic problem, and any one yoga practice will not fix it. You would need to make serious lifestyle changes. But if this tiredness is occasional, you can deal with it through your yoga practice.

In yoga, we use the term Brhmana to describe a type of practice that is meant to build your energy up. The goal of a Brhmana practice is to cultivate and expand your energy, not simply crank it up. This makes it qualitatively different from, let’s say, a cup of coffee.  Caffeine might help you perk up in the morning, but it is usually followed by an energetic dip once it wears off. You need another fix in the afternoon to avoid an afternoon slump. A few quick rounds of Sun Salutations in the morning often have the same effect. They might give you an energetic spike, but then it quickly dissipates. But if you do the same few Sun Salutations while deepening your breath and follow them up with a Brhmana pranayama technique, you have a much better chance of making a lasting impact on your energy. Breathwork is essential for energy management.

This 20-minute yoga practice is designed to give you an energetic boost if you feel tired, depleted, or frazzled. You can do it in the morning or at any point during the day; however, please do not do it too close to bedtime. The entire practice is focused on expanding and deepening your inhalation, which creates a sense of spaciousness and helps build your energy up. It follows this template for a short yoga practice design for energy management.   Give it a try and see how it feels!

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