As I raced through traffic to my yoga class last night, frantically trying to parallel park in the new early darkness I wondered why I was bothering. Shouldn’t I have just gone home and practiced on my own mat with my own company? I know I’m much more disciplined with holding postures when I’m in a class setting, but sometimes it feels like it takes me half of the class to relax after the stressful effort in getting there! Furthermore, at the end of the class it’s a struggle to shut off my mind as I lie in chavasana, thinking of all I have to do when I finally get home.
With all of the stress in most of our lives these days it’s no wonder the state of relaxation is nearing extinction. So what’s a person to do? Well, while we may not be able to control the undulating stock market we can control our reaction to it.
First of all, find the little things that bring you pleasure and help you achieve peace of mind and absolutely commit to doing at least one of them daily. Many people find sitting and meditating calms their mind, but for me, relaxation usually requires being in motion. Yoga in that sense is my moving meditation, as is running at a comfortable pace and swimming laps. But what about when we wake in the middle of the night - our minds racing with worries? For me I know I can’t get up and go running. At that time of night, I don’t even want to get out of bed to do sun salutations in the living room. In these situations I use a simple, but effective breathing technique to calm my mind, relieve tension and ultimately bring me back to sleep. I’ve described the technique below. When I use it at night to fall back asleep, I usually I conk out after 2 breathing cycles, but this breathing technique is equally effective in relieving tension during the day when you’re stuck in traffic or you’re stressing about an important conference call.
Tension-Reducing Breathing Technique - (for Day or Night)
1. First let all of the air out of your mouth
2. Keeping the tongue on the roof of your mouth, inhale through your nose for 4 counts
3. Next, hold your breath, mouth closed for 7 counts
4. Finally, exhale through your mouth with force (should hear loud exhale)
5. Ideally, this exercise should be done 2x day for 4 cycles
6. Increase the cycles to 8 when necessary
Breathe and Be Well,
Carolyn
As I raced through traffic to my yoga class last night, frantically trying to parallel park in the new early darkness I wondered why I was bothering. Shouldn’t I have just gone home and practiced on my own mat with my own company? I know I’m much more disciplined with holding postures when I’m in a class setting, but sometimes it feels like it takes me half of the class to relax after the stressful effort in getting there! Furthermore, at the end of the class it’s a struggle to shut off my mind as I lie in chavasana, thinking of all I have to do when I finally get home.
With all of the stress in most of our lives these days it’s no wonder the state of relaxation is nearing extinction. So what’s a person to do? Well, while we may not be able to control the undulating stock market we can control our reaction to it.
First of all, find the little things that bring you pleasure and help you achieve peace of mind and absolutely commit to doing at least one of them daily. Many people find sitting and meditating calms their mind, but for me, relaxation usually requires being in motion. Yoga in that sense is my moving meditation, as is running at a comfortable pace and swimming laps. But what about when we wake in the middle of the night - our minds racing with worries? For me I know I can’t get up and go running. At that time of night, I don’t even want to get out of bed to do sun salutations in the living room. In these situations I use a simple, but effective breathing technique to calm my mind, relieve tension and ultimately bring me back to sleep. I’ve described the technique below. When I use it at night to fall back asleep, I usually I conk out after 2 breathing cycles, but this breathing technique is equally effective in relieving tension during the day when you’re stuck in traffic or you’re stressing about an important conference call.
Tension-Reducing Breathing Technique - (for Day or Night)
1. First let all of the air out of your mouth
2. Keeping the tongue on the roof of your mouth, inhale through your nose for 4 counts
3. Next, hold your breath, mouth closed for 7 counts
4. Finally, exhale through your mouth with force (should hear loud exhale)
5. Ideally, this exercise should be done 2x day for 4 cycles
6. Increase the cycles to 8 when necessary
Breathe and Be Well,
Carolyn