Keeping Calm with Yoga

Practicing yoga is one of the best ways to quiet your mind and relax deeply.

After enduring a stressful situation, we find that our minds are stressed, our bodies fatigued. Whether the stress is caused by an interaction with another person, or by an event that brings us frustration, anger, or disappointment, the resulting wear and tear on body and mind is undeniable. The best thing we can do is release the emotions formed out of these stressing circumstances, so that we can live happier, more peaceful lives.

Sometimes it is not an acute event or interaction that causes us stress, but merely the daily grind. Get up after too little sleep, get kids ready for school, get self ready for work, fret about what to make for dinner tonight, think about who will drive child A to ballet, which reminds you child A’s friend is having a birthday party for which you have to buy a gift, which reminds you that you promised you would be classroom parent for child B’s class on Thursday, which means you’ll miss the morning at work that day, and did you remember to… AND YOU ARE NOT EVEN AT WORK YET!!!

Yes, life can be hectic. Relaxing and caring for yourself is a MUST. So let me repeat: Practicing yoga is one of the best ways to quiet your mind and relax deeply. Believe it or not, doing yoga exercises is an excellent method for expressing and releasing your emotions. Yoga can certainly be learned in yoga schools or studios. The personal guidance is wonderful, and hopefully you will be able to practice what you have learned on your own at home. More and more workplaces are offering yoga classes, which is brilliant. But let’s face it – not everyone will be comfortable doing yoga will co-workers. (Take for example the downward facing dog pose – hands and feet on floor, butt way up in the air. Just saying.) So for the timid, there happen to be a plethora of great yoga videos out there, and you can learn yoga at home all by yourself. The instruction on many videos is quite thorough. Did you know you can order exercise videos on Netflix? What a great way to try something out!Look for “Hatha” yoga, which tends to be gentle and excellent for relaxation. I know your days are full, but if you can put just a little time into performing yoga exercises, you will reap the benefits. A little every day is a great way to start. Hey, if the video you chose is an hour and you don’t have an hour, just do 15 minutes. It’s better than nothing and you have to start somewhere. Please note, though (little secret here) that one of the most important postures in yoga is always done last, at the end of the practice. It has an unpleasant name (“corpse pose” – sorry), but it is the pose where you just lay there and let go. I know, it sounds like a waste of time to the American mind, but in yoga, this is where the integration of the health benefits occurs. If you are not doing the whole video, do some and then skip to the end to do corpse pose. You can do yoga at any time of the day or night, though traditional yoga teachings say morning is the best time to practice. Let’s face it - your mind is calm, distractions are fewer, and the “off to the races” feeling hasn’t kicked in yet. This makes morning the perfect time for yoga. HOWEVER, life is not perfect is it? So you go do yoga whenever you darn well please – or can.

Yoga For Busy People: Learn More

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