Waking Energy 7 Timeless Practices Designed to Reboot Your Body and Unleash Your Potential

The second rite connects you more deeply to your emotional life and the seat of your “true mind.”
Physically, the Leg Lift tones and strengthens the deep abdominal and “corset” muscles of your trunk
as well as your glutes and muscles of your back. It also serves to increase flexibility in your
hamstrings and lower back. By raising your head to the chest, you create an extra stimulus to the Solar
Plexus Chakra (manipura) as you stimulate and open the sushumna nadi, your central channel,
distributing that new, life-giving prana throughout your entire subtle body.
1. Use a thick mat to support your spine, and lie down on your back with your legs outstretched
along the floor. Extend your arms down by your sides with your palms pressing flat into the floor
and your fingers close together.
2. Inhale as you raise your head off the floor, gently tucking your chin into your chest with your eyes
focused on your navel.
3. As you lift your head, first draw your knees to your chest, and then extend your legs straight up to
the ceiling with your feet fully flexed. (If possible, let your legs extend over your upper body,
slightly behind your head, but do not bend your knees.)
4. Exhale as you slowly lower your head and your legs down to the floor simultaneously, with your
eyes focusing up at the ceiling and your feet flexed. Protect your lower back by drawing your
navel to your spine and activating your abdominal muscles.
5. As you inhale, press the backs of your arms into the floor, lift your head back to the upright
position, with your eyes focusing on your navel. At the same time, strongly lift your legs back up
to the starting angle, with your abdominals deeply engaged and your feet flexed up to the ceiling.
Tip: As you repeat the movements, develop a rhythmic, moderate pace, inhaling as you lift your head and legs, exhaling as you lower
them. Use the inhalation as a force to lift your head and legs back up, as if they were literally slicing through the air with strength and
energy, like a piston.
Rite Three: Camel
Rite Three opens your solar plexus and heart centers. The Camel is a classic back bend, but
performed in combination with a forward upper-body contraction in a strong, fluid fashion. We begin
life by drawing energy in through the umbilical area. This rite provides an opening and extension, a
powerful lifting and opening of the entire trunk, which is the opposite of a defensive, contractive
stance. By performing this motion, you raise new, conscious, positive energy from the first, second,
and third chakras to the fourth, the Heart Chakra (anahata), where all four chakras become unified
and vibrate together in a heightened and tranquil awareness.
1. Kneel on the floor with your knees under your hips and your toes tucked under in a stretched
position. Keep your body erect.
2. Place your hands on the backs of your legs just under your buttocks.
3. Inhale to prepare. As you exhale, tilt your head and neck forward, tucking your chin against your
chest.
4. Then gently move your head and neck backward as far as possible. At the same time, arch your