Category Archives: Stress Management

10 Minute Morning Breathing Practice

(Good for beginners or those who are building a practice.)

Purpose: Stimulates energy, clears morning fog, and prepares you for the day.

How to Practice

  1. Find Your Seat (1 min)

Sit comfortably with your spine tall, either on the edge of your bed, on a cushion or in a chair.

Rest your hands on your thighs, palms facing down.

  1. Gentle Centering (2 min)

Close your eyes.

Take 6 deep breaths in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth.

  1. 3-Part Breath (Dirga Pranayama) (3 min)

Inhale first into the belly, then the ribs, then the chest (like filling a glass of water from bottom to top).

Exhale in reverse: chest, ribs, belly.

Keep the breath smooth and steady.

Practice 4 breath-cycles/rounds

  1. Alternate Nostril Breath (Nadi Shodhana) (2 min)

Using your right hand, close your right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through the left.

Close the left nostril with your ring finger, exhale through the right.

Inhale right, close, exhale left. That’s one round.

Continue slowly, 6–8 rounds.

  1. Closing (2 min)

Place both hands over the heart.

Take 6 deep breaths and set a gentle intention for your day.

For a guided audio version, subscribe to our bonus content site.

September Focus – Anxiety Relief

“Pose” of the Week – Cat/Cow Flow

How to Do It:

  • Come to hands and knees with shoulders over wrists and hips over knees.
  • Inhale: arch your back, lifting your chest and tailbone (Cow).
  • Exhale: round your spine, tucking chin and tailbone (Cat).
  • Continue flowing with your breath.

Why It Helps:
This gentle movement synchronizes breath and body, helping to release physical tension while calming the nervous system.

Time: 1–2 minutes

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Renewal

Spring seems like a great time to start back up with my blog posts. This Spring we are all in desperate need of some renewal. So far 2020 has been challenging. We are all experiencing something quite unique for our time. Humanity of course has seen and endured other pandemics but enduring a pandemic in the informational age is filled with easy access to ongoing death tolls and news that makes the calmest of us a little on edge. It is also, however, filled with easy access to all sorts of positive resources. After a week of seeing clients since schools and restaurants were ordered to close I have been able to gather suggestions from clients of things that are helping to keep them renewed and not drained with all the alarming aspects of what they see online. Here are some of the ideas I have heard this past week.

  1. Yoga with Adrien is a continued recommendation from my clients, https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
  2. limiting social media to only an hour a day
  3. Having friends call up and give them the news instead of hearing it on line.
  4. You tube projects
  5. Pinterest projects
  6. Online parties and meetups with friends
  7. Looking up old friends online and catching up.
  8. Starting an Etsy shop
  9. Getting rid of clutter by selling items on Ebay
  10. Online yoga classes and fitness classes that are being offered for free through gyms and places like yoga journal
  11. Online free virtual tours of museums
  12. Replacing 30 minutes of social media time with a podcast
  13. Finding online support groups via NAMI and local hospitals
  14. mindfulness courses and meditation through apps like “Insight Timer” and “Head Space”

This is the current list and I will continue to collect ideas and do a follow up post on this later. As we try to follow guidelines and stay safe, I ask you to take a moment to ground yourself and try to find some positivity for the day. It does appear that this may be a long haul for us and we are going to need some ongoing renewal as we keep moving forward.

Take Care and wishing you peace.