Hello,
I am wondering.
What is a good combination of Active exercise including the seven steps of new life for a daily 30 mins practice?
any suggestion?
Thanks
Hello Santo,
This is a good question and one I work with a lot in my own practice. I usually like to do at least 2 hours, but it sometimes does not work out that way.
Here are a few suggestions below. Please keep in mind that your mileage may vary, because everyone is different.
And that, in fact, is my first suggestion: every individual is different, so you need to listen to
YOUR body. Try and feel or intuit what it is you need that day.
If I only have a half hour, sometimes I only will do one or two exercises, say the Breathing of the Universe and (if you wanted to include it), the Seven Steps of New Life.
If you wanted to do a little more, you could do three, for example, Moving of Yin and Yang, Breathing of the Universe, and the 7 Steps.
I have done half hour sets where I do all 7 active exercises each for about 5 minutes, with one or two of them a bit shorter ) e.g. the preperation, Forming of Yin and Yang and Joining of Yin and Yang, might all be just a minute or two).
It is sometimes good to do only one exercise, especially for a shorter or medium set. I have gotten very good results doing just the 7 Steps for a half hour. I have done this for all of the exercises and have gotten good results with all of them, but my favorite ones to do this with (from Level I, anyway) is Harmony of the Universe and 7 Steps. These two have more movement from one leg to another, good breathing, and really feel like the energy is moving around.
If I want a little more meditative practice, I might spend more time in the exercises that are either still or less movement. I might do 10 minutes of Forming of Yin and Yang, maybe maybe 10 minutes of Joining of Yin and Yang and then 10 minutes of 7 Steps of New Life.
These exercises are very modular, flexible, forgiving and effective. The possibilites for how to organize a set are vast. And a lot depends on what it is you need.
If you are looking for a set routine (and even here, it can be very personal), I used to always try to include Moving of Yin and Yang, Breathing of the Universe and Harmony of the Universe in any set of 30 minutes or longer. If you also wanted to do the Seven Steps, then just divide them up into how you want them and make that your routine.
Quite often, if I only have a half hour, I will do only one exercise for 15 minutes and then do Small Universe for 15 minutes. Again, this depends on what your goals and challenges are.
I hope this helps. Helps me!
