This song has been on one of my yoga instructor’s playlists all summer—and in my head (in a good way!) for just as long.
From the first strum of Alexi Murdoch’s guitar in that first downward-facing dog of the day, I can feel the stress just slide off of my body. Ahhh . . . the beauty of deep, slow, complete breaths.
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© 2010 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making space in my busy day for more deep inhales and exhales.
My summer has been quiet but rich in simple pleasures. Soft-serve cones with rainbow sprinkles, outdoor yoga sessions, mini golf, sunrise walks and sunset runs, dramatic skies, leisurely seafood feasts, afternoons reading on the patio, quality time on park benches, fresh raspberries in my lemonade, sunbeam naps with my old cat, lush flowers beckoning me to stop and sniff. The list is long, but I’ve downloaded each and every sensation of the season.
“Gathering the colors,” one of my yoga instructors called it, referring to the children’s storybook, Frederick. The book is about a little field mouse who knows how valuable it is to have a harvest of vibrant, enjoyable memories to draw from that can help you get through more challenging times that inevitably lie ahead.
So, from here on out–and until further notice–I’m committed to focusing on everything that’s bright and living and lush in experience. Such as:
“Supplies,” Frederick calls them. Even more essential than a scarf and gloves for this New England girl, I say.
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© 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making the space–mentally and physically–to live happily ever after. (Photo taken in the Boston Public Garden during my summer staycation)
It came out of nowhere as the workday neared its end. One minute I was making progress on my to-do list; the next I was in complete meltdown mode. Inconsolable, indefatigable, petulant. I needed a time out–or a miniature Milky Way Midnight.
I called my boyfriend at home and explained, with all the ration I could muster, that I did not want to grill seafood for dinner, nor did I want to eat any vegetables. I did not want to go to the grocery store, cook dinner, or pick up something ready-made. I was hungry and just wanted dinner to appear without either of us having to cook. I blamed it all on my lunch: a lovely pocket sandwich filled with a homemade bean dip, sprouts, cucumber, red pepper, carrots, avocado, and tomato. And now I had bacon on the brain. Or maybe an ice cream sundae.
Somehow, I made it to the grocery store. I staggered through the aisles, managed to run over my own foot with the cart, and left the store with an odd assortment of food, including a few mozzarella sticks from the prepared foods counter–which I ate before even leaving the parking lot.
Once home, I collapsed on the couch and ate slices of Swiss cheese and Sun Chips while watching that awful show about the Kardashian sisters on E! I didn’t feel any better. I puttered around upstairs. I hovered over Andrew. I hovered over the cat. Finally, at my wit’s end, I cleared a space in our spare room, swung my legs up the wall, and closed my eyes.
Twenty minutes later I reemerged, a whole new Holly. It wasn’t long before I was in the kitchen running a knife through some fresh herbs and zesting a lemon for this delightful lemon spaghetti dish (how I managed to pick up parsley and cream in my state of mind earlier, I do not know).
So, did I learn any lessons while in my self-imposed time out? Glad you asked!
While a Milky Way Midnight (or 17) would have been delightful for a moment, what I was really craving most were a few slow, deep breaths. With all systems a go, go, go–and a to-do list that was growing by the hour–I had flat-out forgotten to pay attention to myself.
Viparita karani (a.k.a. legs up the wall, one of my favorite yoga poses) has a magical way of soothing my nervous system and draining tension from my limbs. Lying still and with my eyes closed, the deep breaths I needed a few hours earlier suddenly flowed easily. No fancy props needed (though they’re nice), this pose is completely worth you clearing a place along the wall and giving it a try at home.
With your eyes closed and nothing to do and nowhere else to be, use your breath to sweep away whatever it is that’s cluttering your mind or weighing you down. Feel your chest rise and fall as you recharge your mental batteries, breathing in just as deeply as you let go on the out breath. Maybe you even choose a short little mantra to repeat to yourself, letting it absorb into your psyche with each inhale annd exhale.
If the logistics (i.e., working in an office) get in the way of you being able to slide your leg up the wall, just work with the breath component of this pose. Even if it means you have to hide out in a bathroom stall. Save the chocolate for another time when you can truly enjoy it. For now, just find your breath . . . perhaps for the first time today.
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© 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making the space–mentally and physically–to live happily ever after. Ahhh, the power of positive thinking and deep breaths. (Photo credit: Debra McClinton)
Today is my birthday–my 35th birthday. And while I so easily could have fallen into the this is the year I’ll lose those 10 pounds, or drink my greens, or query the editor of this or that magazine, or dabble with retinols game of cat-and-mouse that I like to play with myself, I decided not to go that route. At least not decidedly so. I kept it simple. Instead, I took the day off from work and hit up a morning yoga class at Exhale with one of my new favorite teachers, Taryn Toomey. Breathing seemed like the right thing to aspire to.
And breathe we did.
In order to help us harness our focus this chilly and gray Monday morning, she had us incorporate a mantra into our flow–a sequence of phrases repeated over and over in our head, with each inhale and each exhale. A meditation in motion. The point being that, with repetition, our thoughts will become our reality and we can create our own positive state of happiness and well-being. A pretty good gift to myself, if I do say so.
Taryn started us out with her mantra, and then encouraged us to let it morph into whatever shape naturally occurred. Over the next 75 minutes, I fell in love with these words. So much so that I jotted them down on the only paper I had–my cup of tea–and brought it home with me.
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© 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making the space–both mentally and physically–to live happily ever after.
