Om for the Holidays - Yoga to Reduce Holiday Stress

Feeling off balance is common, especially during the holidays. With all the pressure to shop, cook, spend and socialize it is easy to feel stretched beyond your limits. It can be difficult to enjoy the special times with friends and family and miss out on the true nature and genuine spirit of the holiday season when you’re feeling overwhelmed. Yoga is becoming a popular means of stress management and physical relaxation. By taking a yogic approach to the holidays you can find a sense of stability, nurture your own spirit, and create a happier family holiday.

If you have a regular yoga practice, you will appreciate moving and breathing to your favorite asana. For those of you who have never tried a yoga class, this is your time to experience this ancient system of mind, body and spirit connection.

When you find yourself thinking, “I don’t have time for yoga.” Think again, and carve out one hour a week just for you. By taking time to do yoga you will feel relaxed, yet invigorated and ready to face the commitments ahead.

This Holiday Season, give yourself the gift of health, well being, balance and more.

Gratitude Quotes for Thanksgiving

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way. ~ Wayne Dyer

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~ Marcel Proust

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful. ~Buddha

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. ~Cicero

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John F Kennedy

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Namaste’ is an expression of connection and deep gratitude. I end every class saying Namaste’ and enjoy the feeling of connection to the class, and beyond. Gratitude and giving thanks is the core of mindfulness and yoga practice. As Thanksgiving approaches I’m reminded of the meaning of Namaste’ and of the practice of gratitude.

Cultivating a practice of thankfulness and gratitude can lead to a greater connection to life. Gratitude is a way of looking at things. Gratitude can teach you to look at the full spectrum of life, from the highs to the lows.

Gratitude doesn’t have to be limited to a yoga practice. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for family and friends to gather and reflect on the blessings in life. After the pie, and sweet potatoes, after the family, continue the tradition and set aside 5 minutes each day, and reflect on what you are thankful for everyday.

For everything we give Thanks.

Namaste’ and Happy Thanksgiving

Wisdom from Ane Pema Chodron, a Tibetan Buddhist Teacher

When we start out on a spiritual path we often have ideals we think we're supposed to live up to. We feel we're supposed to be better than we are in some way. But with this practice you take yourself completely as you are. Then ironically, taking in pain - breathing it in for yourself and all others in the same boat as you are - heightens your awareness of exactly where you're stuck.

Pigeon Pose/ Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

Pigeon Pose/ Eka Pada Rajakapotasana;
Type of pose: Hip opener, Backbend
Benefits: Stretches the thighs, groins, back, and psoas. Opens the chest and shoulders.

Pigeon Pose, my favorite pose. I want to do it every class, but realize not everyone shares my enthusiasm. People love it or hate it. This evening while doing a Yin Sequence, gentle, long held, forward and back bends, I fell asleep doing pigeon pose. A sudden noise startled me awake and out of a dream! I was dreaming about a local Italian restaurant, dreaming about spinach ravioli while lying in pigeon pose! Crazy I know especially for the people with tight hips, or knees and find pigeon uncomfortable and painful.

Why do some poses feel so good to one person and can be so difficult for another? Why do we prefer one over the other? For me I practice the ones I’m good at. Anatomically speaking, my hips are flexible, therefore pigeon is easy for me to come in and out of and I do it often. So often I fall asleep and dream about ravioli! Not very ‘yogic’ but still very funny!

Namaste’

Vatayanasana

Warning this pose isn’t for everyone.

Vatayanasana – Means a ‘horse’ because the pose resembles that of a horses face.

From Light on Yoga B.K.S Iyengar “In this pose the hip joints receive proper circulation of the blood and minor deformity in the hips and thighs is corrected. The pose is also good for stiffness in the sacroiliac region.”

Yoga with my kids is often spontaneous, on the living room floor, among homework folders, pillows and our large black cat Sky. I’m not sure how it starts but I’m always thrilled when it does. We break out the book Light on Yoga by B.K.S Iyengar and the boys LOVE to try some of the advanced poses. They each take turns thumbing through the book and find the most complicated and each take a turn. It’s fun, its funny and one of my favorite times with the boys.

They remind me of the fun in yoga; that it’s ok to fall or stumble in a balance, to take risks, to laugh and to be ok with where I am with out judgment. They remind me of the true bliss of being in the moment.

Above is a picture of my middle son helping with a Yoga Kids Class and being in his favorite pose Horse Pose. Remember this pose isn’t for everyone! But enjoy your pose with sheer joy and think about what you can learn from your kids.

Namaste’