Feeling restless the whole day. Between working on Digital Marketing and house chores, I am not able to stop and simply enjoy my Sunday. I know the best I can do to calm down my frantic mind is to do yoga. So I roll out my yoga mat in the bedroom filled with warm and lazy afternoon light and sit down in Sukhasana. I set my Insight Timer app for 1 hour with 2-minute interval bells and the last bell set to 10 minutes before the end to cue in final Shavasana time.
I meditated for maybe 10 minutes in the beginning. Love starting my practice with Sukhasana (easy sitting pose), observing my breath, easing into the practice, centering on my inner self, telling all my problems to wait outside the yoga room. Trying to let go or at least take it a little easier with each breath. And it works. When I am ready, I slowly transition into my first standing asana of the day - the Tree Pose. It is also one of my favorite balancing poses. Perfect for slowing down and stilling the fluctuations of the mind as you balance body weight on one leg.
I hold each asana for roughly 2 minutes, that’s probably about 15-20 breaths for me. I used to count them to get a sense of time. But that takes mental effort and might distract from the practice itself. So now with the timer and automated interval bells, there is no need to count breaths. I am able to focus more on being in the present moment and observing the sensations in my body. My thoughts jump from fear to anger, from inner critic (what the heck am I doing with my life) to feeling self righteous (that's my life I can mess it up any way I want.) But I patiently return my mind back to the practice every time I realize it wandered away.
Noteworthy today: I felt there was some more room for movement when I was in Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) today and went a little deeper. It felt really good, like my body softened and released a piece of accumulated stress. Something I don’t recall happening for a while now. Good sign. My ex basically called me a walking “Chernobyl” the other day, so glad I found a way to release stress without exploding.
All in all, this week I practiced for 5 days out of 7. I can tell I feel better after each practice.
A piece of wisdom from my ex: There’s only a one letter difference between RAGE and RAVE. You choose.
My Anti-Stress Yoga Routine from today:
- Easy Pose (Sukhasana)
- Standing Half Forward Bend (Ardha Uttanasana)
- Tree Pose (Vrikshasana)
- Rest - Quick Shavasana
- Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)
- Rest - Quick Shavasana
- Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)
- Final Shavasana - 10 minutes
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