Gratitude All Year Long

We just returned from celebrating Thanksgiving and the 90th birthday of my husband’s grandfather.  It was a nice time just being with family that we don’t get to see very often (and some I had never met before).  We had a good mix of activities, dinners and normal everyday tasks.  Even did a little living room yoga with my nieces…(it’s amazing how flexible 5 and 8 year olds are!)

Thanksgiving and milestone birthdays evoke feelings of nostalgia and gratitude.  Reflecting on past holidays & events, remembering those no longer with us and cherishing the moments and people right before us.  But how do we keep the spirit of gratitude alive all year long and from day to day?   I have a childhood friend who often updates her facebook status with “I am thankful for…” throughout the year.   I love that. It’s a simple thing, but something that keeps gratitude in the forefront…

I looked up “grateful” in the dictionary and found this:

warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received

Many express thanks or gratitude in prayer, in journals or directly to the special people in our life.  But do we live that way everyday? Even in the tough times…when it’s challenging to find something to be grateful for?

I know at times I can be a “glass half empty” person…not seeing the good, and only seeing that which could be better or needs improvement.  There are so many lessons of gratitude that can be learned from a yoga practice.  For me, one important lesson is acceptance.  Accepting what is.  In class, that might mean accepting my physical abilities and limitations or accepting thoughts and concerns as they enter the mind.  In life, it might mean accepting challenges and circumstances before me, or accepting that there are some things that cannot be undone, changed or controlled.   It also means accepting life’s simple, endearing moments and finding gratitude in the good. Not just in November, but all year long.

Yoga and Deer Hunting

The following post is from one of my favorite clients Pat Perry, CEO, trail runner, vegan, yogi and deer hunter…thanks, Pat for sharing with us!

—————————————————————————–

Yoga & Deer Hunting….Most unlikely combination?  Maybe.  Add to that, I am a vegan with the only exception being wild game.  Hence the deer hunting.

I took last Thursday and Friday off work.  My goal was to spend each day alone, sun up to sun down, in my tree stand.  I chose these days because this time of year is peak for deer activity and also because the forecast called for a beautiful fall weekend.  When I say I am in the tree stand all day, what I mean is  I only allow myself an hour or so to come down, stretch, take care of other business in the woods and then climb back up until dark.  Think of an all day drive in your car, only you must sit very, very still and turn off the radio.  At times this can become what I would describe as a sort of meditation.

This last Thursday I climbed down at roughly noon, started stretching a little, and before you knew it, my yoga teacher Heidi – was right there with me, guiding me through an entire routine.  I set my bow and release down, took off my outer layers and my pack and did a solid 50 minutes of yoga.  Then the best part, of course, Savasana.  I laid down in the middle of the forest and closed my eyes.  I heard Heidi’s voice “thoughts will come into your head, let them go.  Relax your jaw”.  I just laid there in the sun, on the leaf covered bare earth, with the breeze blowing through me, I felt like I was moving with the earth and clouds.  Not your stereotypical image of a deer hunter I know.

Then I took a nap.  What an awesome, peaceful, experience.  After waking, I lay there a few more minutes, maybe 15, and then climbed back up the tree where I sat in total bliss until evening.  I guess I’m an enlightened deer hunter.  If I belonged to a hunting club, I would likely be kicked out for life.

Thank you, Heidi.

—————————————————————

Check out Pat’s Blog: www.energycreatesenergy.blogspot.com

Planning ahead for a sane holiday season

It’s starting….Christmas music on the radio…red & green in the stores….last time I checked we hadn’t had Thanksgiving yet…but the holiday cycle seems to turn faster and faster.  This time of year it’s more important than ever to keep the things that keep you sane in your daily and weekly routine.  Maybe that’s yoga, maybe it’s a nightly walk with your furry friend or an early morning run.  Set those dates with yourself as non-negotiable and don’t let the frenzy of activity (thanksgiving dinner shopping, holiday to-do lists) take you off-course.

I had lunch today with my sister. It’s a monthly tradition that we started this past January as a way to make sure that despite the busyness of our lives, we would have an hour each month to reconnect and share a meal together.  Today was our 11th installment of our lunches and I do feel like we’re closer having had this focused, scheduled time.

The same is true of those dates with ourselves — the ones that fill you up, calm you and propel you forward.  More than any other time of year, these last two months are stressful!  We have more demands, more pressures, more activities and more expectations that are placed on us, or that we place on ourselves.  Here are some thoughts on how to keep the crazy out of your holiday season:

Re-think gifts – On my side of the family, we’ve decided to opt out of the gift exchange this year and instead just spend time together celebrating the holidays.  We might go to a Christmas program together or a funny movie…but we’re all at the age where we have all the stuff we need and what we don’t have we can purchase ourselves. Why not just spend some focused time together instead? Another option might be just buying for the kids…

Give back – We all have those melancholy, blue moments at holiday time.  There’s no better cure than to focus your attention on someone else’s need.  Whether you write a check or volunteer at a local shelter, shifting your focus to others can give you a sense of gratitude and peace.

Maintain at least 80% of your Jan-Oct schedule – I know we’re running out of shopping days, have to order the turkey, etc…but if you maintain 80% of your usual schedule of energizing and nurturing activities and rest, I know you’ll be better able to handle and even flourish in the buzz of the season.  So, go for the run,  take 10 minutes of quiet just for you, go to yoga class or boxing or pilates….so that you remain reasonably grounded and peaceful. We just have to be intentional about it…so that it doesn’t get lost…

Introducing our Wellness Junkie Blog

I’ve started a new blog that I’d like to share with you: Wellness Junkie.  I’ve long been a wellness junkie – always up for trying new (or new to me) health and wellness products, services and therapies.  Each week, I’ll share with you a little bit about the topic, my experience with it, and how you can find more about it in your area.

Yes, this is my clever (though not so sneaky) attempt at fully embracing and legitimizing my wellness addiction under the guise of bringing health & wellness information to you.  Rest assured, I do pay for these products and services to maintain my objectivity, but try to take advantage of special offers & discounts when available.

Here are just a few of the recent adventures of the Wellness Junkie:

Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Massage

Cold Stone Therapy for Headaches & Sinus Relief

GYROTONIC® Stretches

Hemp Protein Powder

Have ideas for future wellness junkie adventures & posts OR a wellness product or service you’d like me to try first?  Leave a comment here…thanks!

Securing your mask first: Taking time to care for you

It’s Monday morning and I’ve just returned from a weekend retreat at a nearby monastery.  No agenda-filled women’s retreat or girls’ weekend….I just needed some time by myself to rest, reflect, pray, be still and listen….I immersed myself in my Bible and both classic and contemporary writer’s words. I took in the beauty of turning leaves, stained glass windows and the silence and comfort of an empty cathedral…

So….I’m a little rusty this morning finding the words to describe my experience…maybe they’ll come later or be reserved just for me…I’m still noodling on them, I suppose.

But  I did find a post at Yahweh Yoga that shares how we must get away and do the things we need to take care of ourselves before we can properly, joyfully care for others… Enjoy:

http://yahwehyoga.com/2009/09/04/secure-your-own-mask-first-before-assisting-others/

Checking Your Blackberry While Doing Yoga?

This past weekend, I saw It Might Get Loud, a documentary featuring three guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.  The three come together and discuss the electric guitar, their stories and their music.  While I’m not a musician myself, I married a drummer so we went…plus I’m a big U2 fan, so it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice.

In the movie (which is very enjoyable and worth the ticket), we get to know each of the three artists, their background, personality, etc… Included in The Edge portion, is footage that Bono took of The Edge doing yoga while checking his Blackberry…coining the term “Blackberry Yoga”. While I couldn’t find the actual video footage, the link below shows some pics:

http://www.u2.com/news/title/a-day-in-the-life-of-edge

So before you get any ideas – checking email while doing yoga? Certainly I’m not one of those purists when it comes to yoga. In my classes, we modify like crazy to make yoga work for the actual people in the class and don’t hold up some unattainable standard…however, the intention that often comes from a yoga practice is to get away from distraction, busyness, our to-do lists, our daily chaos.

With that said, most of us don’t have the luxury of regular peaceful hours each day to step out of our crazy and into the serene, reflective peace that yoga can offer. We’re doing good somedays just to get everyone out of the house with the same color of socks, pay the vehicle registration on time, remember to thaw the chicken out so that dinner is a possibility by 6…so I’m definitely not going to judge The Edge’s yoga…or anyone else’s.

That’s why I love yoga. It’s moldable, adaptable…it can be whatever we need it to be.  If my brain is on hyper-speed because I need to process email, maybe yoga and the blackberry can co-exist in the same hour.  I wouldn’t recommend it all the time….but sometimes we just have to make it work for us. We have to start somewhere.

If you’re putting off starting a yoga practice or trying that neighborhood class because you’re waiting for a less stressful or hectic week – guess what? It’s never going to come… Yoga can fit into the nooks and crannies of our lives and should….start with 10 minutes…20 minutes…maybe one class or one dvd….and yes, your Blackberry can come if has to… eventually you’ll want to leave it behind and enjoy your yoga.

Yoga in the Classroom

I’ve been thinking more about yoga in school – not just in gym class but integrated throughout the school day: morning stretches to wake the students up, breathing techniques to calm the mind and reduce anxiety or excess energy, and concentration exercises to help with focus or preparing for a test. Yoga can be very helpful to students to counter the stress of school.

Here are a few simple exercises that kids could do at their desk and even better that teachers could guide the class through:

3-part breath:  Sit tall with feet flat on the floor.  Close your eyes and notice your breath. Breathe in and out through the nose with the lips sealed. Often, just paying attention to how you breathe allows the breath to slow down and it calms us.  A great image for kids (& adults) is blowing up a balloon.  As you inhale, the belly and ribcage expands and the chest lifts (think of filling the balloon with air).  As you exhale, we feel the air gently, slowly release out and the belly draws back toward the spine (as if you were slowly letting the air out of a balloon).  Continue for 6-8 breaths.

Letting go of mental chatter: As we’re breathing our 3-part breath, anxious thoughts or worries may surface – especially if we’re getting ready for a test.  Different images work for different people. Here are a couple of examples:  Imagine that each thought is coming into your mind on a cloud – you see the thought, but you let it pass right by you….as if the clouds were moving in, and moving out of the sky (your mind).  Picture in your mind a sunny cloudless day…allowing your mind to be still and calm.  Another example (sometimes more popular with boys) is that of cars passing by you on the street.  We’re standing on the corner and watching as our thoughts are passing by us in cars…we see them come to us and we watch them drive past…but we’re not getting into the car and hanging on to that thought.  These mental pictures teach us that we don’t have to be held hostage to our thoughts.  We can choose how we react to them.  And, as a way to relieve stress, we’re practicing acknowledging those thoughts without going down a “rabbit hole” of thoughts, worries, plans with them. We’re training our mind to be still, calm and relaxed when we want it to be.

Tree Pose: Balance poses are wonderful to improve concentration & focus. You can’t mult-task and balance. It doesn’t work.  Balances also teach us to become comfortable in the flux of things.  When we stand on one foot, that standing foot/ankle is moving and adjusting to the pose.  We’re usually not able to stand perfectly still.  This is a helpful lesson for kids in the learning  process of knowing some things and having more to learn.  It’s especially helpful for kids with type A/perfectionist tendencies (I’m speaking from experience).

Standing tall and evenly on both feet, begin to shift your weight to one side, keeping the hips square (no sassy hips).  Find something to look at that’s not moving.  In a classroom, it may be good to have the students look to the outer edges of the room to minimize distractions from fellow students. Keeping your eyes focused on your object, lift the balancing foot to be at the arch of the standing foot, the shin or inner thigh.  Avoid putting any pressure on the knee cap.  The balancing toes should be towards the floor with the balancing knee turned out to the side. Arms can be out at your side to help balance or in prayer hands at your heart.  Breathe….keeping facial muscles relaxed. It’s ok to bring the foot down and try again… Reverse to the other side.

Note for teachers: balance poses can create competitiveness in the classroom.  Try to encourage students to focus on their bodies, how they feel doing the pose and not on what their neighbor is doing.  Everyone’s balance changes every day – so it’s good to tell students that so that they are not discouraged.

For morning stretches, check out this previous post.

For yoga stretches to calm kids down and burn off energy, try this one.

Other resources:

Great article on yoga in the classroom and great results on test-taking, concentration: CNN Article

Step-by-step manual for K-12 Teachers on yoga in the classroom: Yoga in the Classroom

Yoga for Kids: Stretches to Burn off Energy & Calm Kids Down

My friend and client Jocelyn asked me for a 10-15 minute yoga routine for 4-7 year olds… something to maybe calm them down, burn off some energy and keep the parents or nannies sane… so, Jocelyn, thank you for the request (I love requests as I sometimes have blogger’s block) and here goes:

Start with activity (with kids, you wouldn’t want to start with sitting still & breathing — start with the most active thing first and save the quiet, reflective time for the end):

• 4-6 Full Flows or Sun Salutations – everyone has their own version. In a YogaXoga class, we follow this guide: Mountain Pose, Swan Dive to Forward Fold, Low Lunge, Downward Dog, Plank, Modified Crocodile (or Chatturanga) for kids, Cobra/Up Dog, Downward Dog, Low Lunge, Forward Fold, Mountain Pose.  Repeat 4-6 times alternating which leg steps back in the lunge.
• Pick just a couple standing poses: Triangle or Extended Side Angle are ones that kiddos can do and feel successful. They’re not too complicated.  Other options once your kiddos know a few poses is to take turns letting each one of them teach the rest of you their favorite pose. Hold each pose for 3-5 breaths.
• Move on to balance: Balance poses require concentration…be sure to take the competition out of the room by saying things like, “just do your best today” or “turn and look away from the group” to avoid that competitiveness.

• Balancing Mountain: Standing in Mountain pose, have them pretend that they are tall trees….focusing their eyes on something, have them balance on their tippy-toes – the tree is growing taller….encourage them to draw their belly toward their spine — keeping a strong tree and balancing as long as they can comfortably.
• Eagle: Another great pose for concentration…guide them with the arms first. Start by holding up both forearms like goalposts and stacking the right elbow on top of the left and draw the shoulders down. Next, shift your weight into the right side and cross the left foot over (like Gene Kelly).  Then, we’ll sink back into the right leg, bending the knee and squeezing the inner thighs together. Overtime, lifting the left foot from the floor or wrapping the left leg around the right. Reverse to the other side.
• Calming Stretches:  Butterfly is a great stretch – drawing the soles of your feet together and holding onto the ankles… you can also practice a slow, steady breath here to calm the kids.  As they inhale they draw the knees up towards them and as they exhale, they release them.  Have them think about the breath being more important than the movement of their legs – so that their movement really matches their breath. You can do this with other poses too — where they can focus on their breath and move with it (Full Flows, Cat/Cow).  For Straddle Fold, you might pretend that you are all in the kitchen making something — encourage each child to share what’s for dinner today in their kitchen. From a seated position, legs in a V, have the kids “stir their pot in one direction and then the other, circling their upper body forward towards the floor and around in a circle. Continue for 4 circles each way.

• Alternative Nostril Breathing – this breath is great for sinuses and allergies but also wonderful to improve concentration and focus (great for older kids before tests).  Start in a comfortable seated position. Using one hand, close off the right nostril and breathe in through the left side. Switch and close off the left nostril and breathe out through the right side.  Breathe in on the right, switch and out the left.  Continue for 6-8 breaths and then breathe normally for 4 more breaths. To make it more fun — you might have the kids think about climbing a mountain or going up the stairs at their house and then realizing they forgot something and had to go back down…up and down – breathing in and out….
• Bridge Pose – All inversions are great for calming the mind and nervous system.  For Bridge pose, have everyone lie on their backs with knees bent.  With arms by their side, they’ll inhale and lift their hips up toward the ceiling and exhale to lower the hips again. Have them move with their breath a few times, getting used the movement and trying to time their breath to match their movement. Some may want to hold their Bridge, drawing shoulders underneath them…Stay for 4-6 breaths and rest.
• Breathing & Relaxation – Have the kids find a comfortable position lying the floor (usually on their backs) with one hand on their belly.  Have them feel their inhale as their belly lifts and their exhale as the belly lowers.  Have them try to make their breaths move in slow motion.  You might try a visualization here — having them close their eyes and imagine their favorite room in their house or favorite vacation…have them fill in all the details of that place and just rest quietly.  For 4-7 year olds, you might want to start with just 2-3 minutes of quiet, rest time and work up to 4-6 minutes.  2 minutes can be awfully long at first.

Yoga for the Runner, Walker, Cyclist

Forward moving, repetitive activities like running, walking, biking are great forms of exercise. We can get the cardio workout we need while building strength in large muscle groups, namely our legs.  But, like anything, we need balance in the body. That’s where yoga comes in. Yoga helps with these activities in many ways.

First, with yoga we can stretch the overworked, sometimes overdeveloped muscles such as the quadriceps and hamstrings. This will bring balance to the body and help avoid injury.  Second, yoga is an all-direction endeavor. We’re moving side to side, front to back and all around. This is helpful to counter the forward moving direction of running, walking and cycling. Finally, yoga brings about better body awareness and concentration. When we’re in the “zone” of our favorite exercise, it’s important to be very aware of our bodies – how we’re feeling…so that we can ease back or rest when we need to and avoid an injury. Yoga teaches us that the “no pain, no gain” theory is outdated and dangerous.

Try these hamstring stretches after your next run, walk or ride while your muscles are still warm:

Seated Forward Fold:  With this one, you may want to place a pillow or rolled mat under your hips if it’s uncomfortable for you to hinge forward.

Seated Forward Fold

Start with bent knees and hinge at the hips, continuing to look out past your toes.  If your back feels tight, bent the knees. Hold for 6-8 breaths.

Downward Dog: this is a great pose for the entire body, but here we’re focused on the backs of the legs – hamstrings, calves and achilles tendon.  Start from all 4’s.  Curl the toes and lift the knees off the mat.  Draw your shoulders back toward the middle of your mat and spread your hands wide and evenly into the floor.

Downward Dog

Think about lifting your hips up toward the ceiling and sinking your heels toward the floor. Hold and breathe for 4-6 breaths, coming down to child’s pose to rest.

Real Yoga Stories: Yoga and Hiking

The following post is from one of my long-time yoga clients, Joe Potter.  On our summer trip to Estes Park, we had an opportunity to visit with Joe during his preparations for Long’s Peak. Take a look at his story:

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 5 years. I was 60 years old this year and my ambition was to climb Long’s Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. I hiked 83 miles in 10 hikes in the Park over a 3 week span this summer culminating in my successfully reaching the summit of Long’s.

I know my yoga practice helped me in several ways on my most challenging hikes. The terrain on my three hardest hikes, including Long’s, included large boulders. Keeping my balance was a challenge. I’ve noticed that even taking a week or two off from my regular weekly yoga can affect my balance. I know my yoga training helped me to keep my balance better as I climbed over large and sometimes unsteady boulders.

There’s one part of the Long’s hike that is called the “trough.” This section of the hike is a non-technical, but vertical climb of 1000 feet. The flexibility of my body, especially the flexibility of my hamstrings and calves were a great aid to me as I spanned the distance from one foothold and handhold to the next one. I was used to stretching that far with strength in our poses.

And finally I know I benefitted from the habit of centering that is such a key part of the yoga practice. Completing Long’s and the 3 other most difficult prepatory hikes were the hardest things I ever physically accomplished in my life. On each of those hikes, our rest stops were so important. And there were times, my body was just saying, no more. There’s no more fuel in the tank. But then I would center myself. I concentrated on my breathing and the present moment, again a technique practiced throughout every yoga class. I was able to touch a reserve of energy and focus that enabled me to take the next steps necessary. Beyond the physical help yoga gave me, this was the greatest benefit in helping me achieve my goal.