My latest post on MindBodyGreen
For many of us, the end of summer can mean an end of a relaxed pace of life. Whether we are going back to work or back to school or simply returning to busier routines, there can be an underlying sense of worry due to these new pressures.
Unfortunately, worry is often accompanied by anxiety, fear, and stress. These emotions trigger out flight-or-flight response, so that we sleep less, take shallow breaths, digest poorly, and react from an overall cranky place.
Ease or disease; we’re equipped to handle both. The one we give more attention to will get stronger, like a muscle…
I am not going to tell you that there is a magic wand to make worry go away, but you can adopt strategies to bring your mind under control, which is what the entire system of yoga is about. This should not be underestimated since the mind is responsible for conjuring the worry up in the first place.
Here are 7 ways you can cultivate yoga mind and become a peaceful warrior instead of a nervous worrier:
1. Try putting first things first rather than attacking everything at once.
2. Practice patience and LETTING GO and LETTING GOD with one thing.
3. Try to balance out the go go go with a bit of go with the flow. A restorative yoga pose is a great beginning.
4. Visualize your worries as hecklers at the comedy show, and try to use their lines to improve your material 🙂
5. Practice yoga not to escape, but to help illuminate the way.
6. Meet yourself where you are on your mat by adding a yoga prop so there is a sense of honoring yourself.
7. We neutralize stress as it comes up…this does not mean sweeping things under the rug, perhaps by learning to use the breath as a tool for managing the emotions.
Why not take a moment now to bring your palms together in front of the heart, into Atmanjali Mudra (gesture of prayer)? Affirm that you are grateful for this moment and connect with your heartbeat and the rhythm of your relaxed breathing.
Feel it as a moment of peace, harmony, balance, repose, and the heart’s desire. As a result, you may feel more clear and rested so you may want to do it more often…
Let me know how it goes.
Rana Waxman is a registered yoga therapist ERYT-500, with 20 years of teaching experience. Rana is a freelance writer and social media expert in addition to leading yoga workshops internationally and teaching alignment focused private and group Yoga Lessons in Hoboken and Jersey City NJ.
