When it's Time to Relax

In these times, we are all finding it more and more difficult to find or make time to relax. Many more of my students are coming to class requesting more shoulder stretches and stress relief poses. As this economy continues to challenge all of us and the many worries of life weigh on our shoulders, it's important to carve out time to relax. Yoga is one way.

The practice of Asanas (yoga poses) is actually a preparation of the body, mind and soul for meditation. Each teacher creates a series of poses in a particular order to ready the body to relax and open the door to meditation. In class or in home practice, we might notice ourselves "in the moment" in a pose, when we are just thinking about our breathing or where a knee is pointing, contracting the pelvic floor and relaxing the shoulders. All of this is meditative itself, because our minds and bodies are existing in that moment. We are living each experience of that pose and the time in that pose. We are taking time to not only do a pose and to breathe in the pose, but to breathe deeply into our bodies. Not an easy task in our fast-paced society.

Over the course of the day, when stress sets in, we tend to slow our breath and take shallow or staccato breaths. This may seem to be less strenuous on the body, but we are actually taking in less oxygen and releasing less toxins. In class, you may notice that sometimes I will mention the bottom of our lungs and taking the breath all the way down. How many times a day do you catch yourself actually using your whole lungs to breathe?

So how can we learn to relax? Taking a yoga class once or twice a week is a great start. Incorporating yoga into life at home is even more helpful. Using yoga breath during those moments when we catch ourselves holding our breath or shallow breathing is great too. Starting on the path to meditation is a wonderful way to alleviate stress and to relax. There are many different paths to meditate and each person has one or more different ones that get them there. In my class, you may have noticed I often use guided imagery for relaxation and meditation. It is possibly the path or least resistance to get one's mind to accept the peace and tranquility of meditation.

Guided imagery is when someone guides you through peaceful images to direct your mind so that all other thoughts will fall to the side and your body, mind and soul can relax. When the mind is focused on one thing, and the person being guided is listening carefully to follow the path or instructions, the mind becomes a follower rather than a leader. This usually results in relaxation and, with practice, meditation.

Other ways to relax are listening to music, exercise, reading a good piece of fiction or poetry or taking a nature walk. All of these are very "in the moment" activities and direct your mind on the task at hand rather than all your worries and to-do lists of the day or week. Find your moments or make them. It is recommended that we meditate (or relax) a minimum of 10 minutes a day to feel the benefits in our lives.

If you want to learn more about meditation or just want to relax, visit one of my classes any Thursday night at 7:45pm at 275 90th Street or specifically come to the Meditation/Healing Circle class on Monday 9/28 at 7:45pm at 275 90th Street.