Atmanivedana: Experiment Design

I have had an off and on mediation practice for many years now. When I begin meditating I dive fully into it and try to meld it into every aspect of my everyday life, or fully surrender to god. When I am off, I am completely off with little attention paid to this crucial aspect to existence. In order to help me stay more focused and remain on the path I believe having multiple different practices  will ensure I can remain in the proper state of mind for longer, and the addition of a daily asana practice in conjunction with mediations would be a great asset and is the focus of my experiment. Another beneficial aspect to adding a daily asana practice is the fact that it will greatly help with the quality of my mediations because I will not be in as much pain.

To complete this experiment I will add a one hour asana practice every morning before my meditation or pranyama. My asana practice will begin with a joint opening series, and then followed by multiple sun salutations that increase in intensity. I will finish with some twists and inversions – mainly headstand and shoulder stand. I will then take a short savasana before my normal mediation practices.  I will keep a journal and make notes every few hours on the level of attentiveness I feel I give to a particular task. I do not have time to break down everything I do but will try to record my attentiveness for physical labor like tasks as well as some detail about relationships and general well-being. I will also make note of the pain level or length of time that I can meditate pain free seated in the cross legged position.