6 Ways Yoga Can Relieve Seasonal Stress

Stop and breathe. Simply taking a moment to consciously breathe can alter your nervous system. Try to breath into your belly which will help to release the diaphragm.  You can do this any time any where any time during the holiday season when you are feeling tense or anxious.   (The hard part is often remembering to do it!).  Here are six common breathing mistakes and how to spot habits that aren't maximizing the benefits of the 'life force' - oxygen in the body.  

Enter the yoga pose called "Instant Maui"  This marvelous creation is Judith Lasater's - the preeminent restorative yoga teacher in the US.   You lie on the floor on your back and place your calves on the seat of a chair.  You may need to raise the level of the chair if your calves are not parallel to the floor.  You can do this with blankets or towels.   The thighs should be perpendicular to the floor so that you have 90% angles at your hips and knees.  You can place a blanket or soft pillow under your head and, if you have one, a sandbag over your shins.  And a blanket over all of you. The restorative pose got its moniker because it "instantly transports you to Maui."   Well, it does feel pretty good.   

Listen to music.   I'd avoid the carols that pervade the stores and go for something different, different melodies that will catch your attention. Classical or opera can alter your brain waves (See Oliver Saks terrific new book, Musicophilia :Tales of Music and the Brain). Really listen to the music and don't just play music as background noise.   Be mindful and try to limit the multitasking.  See if you notice your breath altering to match the rhythm of the music. (This is why you might want to try calmer music).  

Put your legs up the wall.  This yoga pose, also known as Vaparita Karani, is terrific to do after shopping.  The action of inverting the legs improves the circulation.  Don't worry if you're hamstrings are too tight that you can't get your butt to the wall.  Just move your butt away from the wall.   Also, if you don't have a yoga bolster, you can use stacked towels or even have the whole torso flat on the floor and still benefit from the pose.  Yoga Journal offers a picture and complete instructions.  

Enjoy a guided meditation.  At busy times like these, meditation can be challenging as lists of things to do dance as rambunctiously as sugar-plums in a child's head on the night before Christmas.  One solution is to try a guided meditation which can help you keep your focus.  Here's awhole page of free guided meditation that range from five mintues to an hour and guided by Tara Brach of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. 

Place a roll under your upper back. This is a modification of savasana or corpse pose, which you can read about here.   The roll (which can be a blanket or a towel) goes under your back at the base of your scapula.    The purpose is to counteract the forward curvature of the upper back and to open the front torso for the breath to move freely in and out of the body. The diameter of the roll depends on what you can tolerate.  If the pain of unfolding your back muscles is too intense, try a smaller roll. 

January Class Schedule Being Formulated

Well, it was just terrific to see some of the regulars in the free holiday classes this month. And I'm looking forward to returning to a regular schedule in January.

When you're making your list and checking it twice, give some thought to when you'd like to come to yoga. The schedule is being formulated so email me and let me know when you'd like to come and I'll schedule a class. Please send first and second choices. And if you've got a friend or two, and you've got a time you'd like to come, I'll do my best to accommodate.

Classes will begin the week of January 21st, 2008. Here is nilambu's proposed schedule of classes. Do not hesitate to contact me with feedback or suggestions or requests.  I will adjust if at all possible. Flexibility and responsiveness is an advantage of a small studio!  

A Healthy Chocolate Mousse!

When I was a little girl, I liked chocolate mousse so much that once a New York City restaurant owner presented me with the entire serving bowl.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

Rebecca Mohning MS, RD, LD of Expert Nutrition offers a healthy spin on that classic holiday treat - using natural sweeteners.  I've been working with Rebecca to help me manage my medical condition, and I can recommend her services and her chocolate mousse.  

Chocolate Tofu Mousse
Ingredients:
    1 package of silken tofu (16oz)
    10 oz chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
    3 tablespoons maple syrup or aguave nectar
    3-4 TB soy milk or to appropriate consistency
    optional: graham cracker crust

Directions:
Blend tofu in food processor (or blender) just until smooth.  Melt chips over double boiler.  Add maple syrup to melted chocolate and combine.  Put chocolate & syrup blend into processor and mix with tofu until creamy.  Optional: put into a graham cracker crust.  Chill.  Top with fruit.

Serves: 6

Enjoy!

Simplify Your Holidays with New Dreams

In nilambu's holiday yoga classes this month, we focused our thoughts on the third yama of Patanjali which is asteya. Most often translated as "not stealing," the principle encompasses more. Misappropriation, waste, hoarding are other aspects of asteya. And not only of things, but time, emotional resources, energy.

This desire usually arises out of a sense of deprivation. Donna Farhi suggests we "relate to others from the vantage point of abundance rather than neediness." There are many ways to do this - ask someone if they have time to talk before you launch into a tirade, offer the gift of your time and energy or be full of thought when selecting your gifts to signify your love - so that they signify love and are not simply an obligation.

For more ideas, I suggest a great web site, New American Dream. This month they feature a 24 page guide on how to simplify your holidays and make them more meaningful.   The suggestions are very

helpful and it's not too late to implement some!   All you have to do is register and it's free!  

What Stress Does Inside & How to Keep Your Cool

Talk of the Nation featured a terrific 24 minute discussion on holiday stress.  "Health experts discuss the effects that stress can have on your health, and offer some suggestions for keeping your cool during this frantically festive season."  

Doctors from the Mayo Clinic and from NIH give the best explanation I've ever heard that accounts for what happens in the body physically when we are under stress.   And they reveal the latest scientific data on how to help temper the adverse effects.   The Mayo doctor even has a "Stress Blog" !!  And get this, the first caller to the program was a yoga teacher who offers a yogic breathing technique!  

Among the suggestion are expected ones – exercise (even just 20 minutes).  But others are a bit unusual like how to trick your brain into thinking you’re more in control they you are.

Find out what the doctors thought…..You can listen to the NPR segment here.  And check out the Mayo Stress Blog here.  Too busy to listen to a 24 minute radio segment right now?  Well, Beliefnet.com also has a 10 minute mindfulness guided meditation you can do right at your desk!