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3 Playful Practices to Make Life Fun Again

July 20, 2017 by Jessica 2 Comments

Remember when summer used to be fun?

As a kid, summer loomed large as you approached the end of the school year. Three months of endless sun, long days, trips to the beach, and nonstop fun awaited.

It was the greatest time of the year. You counted down the days, waiting with barely contained excitement for the final bell to ring.

Yet somehow along the way to adulthood, you lost that joy.

Yeah, you (sometimes) take a vacation to help you unwind. But by the end of the planning, the travel, the stress, and making your way back home again… you need a vacation to recover from your vacation.

Sound familiar?

Well, I propose a shift — in the way we think, act, and set our intentions. Let’s make summer fun again.

Heck, let’s make life fun again!

It all starts with bringing a little playfulness back into your life. And what better way to start than on your yoga mat?

While yes – yoga is good for you, helps relieve stress, and all the other benefits it brings – you probably tend to turn your practice into a chore. Something you should do. Something to cross off your to do list.

Starting today, give yourself permission to let go of the “should”. To be more playful. And to make summer (and life) more fun.

Let’s look at some practices that will make your inner kid happy.

1. Hissing Breath II (Sitkari Pranayama)

Did you make animal noises when you were little? Maybe mooing like a cow. Or snorting like a piglet?

Let’s channel that inner child, and play with a breathing practice where you can hiss like a snake.

This pose is really good for helping you to cool down on hot summer days. Seriously — the air constricts around the teeth as it enters the mouth, making it feel cooler to the body.

And pretending like you’re a snake might make you feel silly — or even get a case of the giggles. If that’s the case, you’re doing it right.

How to do it:

Release your tongue back toward the top of the mouth (out of the way of your teeth). Smile big, letting the lips come apart and the teeth meet firmly.

Inhale through the teeth, which will make the “hissing” sound referenced in the name, and exhale through the nose.

Repeat 3 times, or for as long as feels comfortable.

Health note: if you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately and return your breath to normal.

2. Kshepana Mudra (Letting Go Gesture)

You might recognize this mudra as the hand position from Warrior I or certain variations on standing side bends. I’ve heard quite a few teachers say something like “bring your hands into temple” to describe this particular gesture.

This mudra is intended to help you let go of feelings of stress or negativity, with the ultimate goal of finding a state of pure joy.

Pure joy! Can’t beat that, right?

Some people even claim that using the mudra before public speaking has helped them get rid of stage fright.

How to do it:

Bring your hands together into prayer. Interlock the fingers, and then release your index fingers so they’re pointing upward.

You can hold this position at chest level, or raise your arms overhead (like in Warrior I).

You can use this mudra while sitting or standing, or incorporate it into other yoga poses.

3. Playful Practice (“Playfulasana”)

Yeah, yeah. So “playfulasana” isn’t really a thing… but maybe it should be.

I would offer that you have the opportunity – every time you step on your mat – to bring an intention to be playful. To allow the corners of your mouth to rise as you sit in meditation. To let yourself have fun instead of taking the poses so seriously.

There are so many poses derived from nature:

Tree pose — pretend like you’re a tree, swaying in the breeze. Rooting down through the standing leg, with your branches spreading wide.
Cat and cow warmup — sway your back like a cow, and maybe even chew your cud. Arch your back like a stretching cat.
Lion’s pose (and lion’s breath) — stick your tongue out and roar!

And other poses just waiting for you to channel the kid inside:

Warrior III — be superman (or woman), flying over your hometown with your cape stretched out behind you.
Happy baby — grab those feet and think what it would be like to be all roly-poly and experiencing everything for the first time.
Or grab a partner and go do some acro yoga. Or arial yoga with silks.

Whatever you do, make sure it’s fun! See if you can sit your inner critic in a corner for a while, and just let your body do what it wants.

Start with poses and things you know, and then let the exploration begin.

Before you know it, your yoga practice might even be something you look forward to, instead of yet another task to complete in your already-busy day.

Go ahead… Play!

It’s summer. The time of the year when the temperature gets hot and the days can be lazy and long.

How can you make the most of what’s left of July and August? How can you bring more fun back into your life?

And how do you play in your life or your work — do you make separate time, or do you try to integrate both at the same time? Let me know in the comments!

3 Powerful Practices to Help You Clean & Detox Your Body

May 30, 2017 by Jessica 1 Comment

Spring cleaning: it’s not just for houses.

I don’t know about you, but when spring rolls around I often feel all kinds of clogged up and sticky from my winter hibernation. This feeling usually means there’s a bunch of junk stored up in my body that needs to get the heck out!

If you feel sluggish or tired all the time, spring may be a good time to consider some internal cleansing — and what better time than when the weather is starting to warm up and your natural tendency is to get more active!

While you may be aware that you can detox through what you eat and drink, did you know you can also help your body to naturally detoxify through breath and movement?

Let’s take a look at three potent practices that will help you support your body’s natural detoxification processes.

1. Kapalabhati (Skull Shining Breath)

Unlike some of the gentle breathing practices we’ve covered in this 3 Practices series, Kapalabhati is pretty intense. It really gets the oxygen flowing through your veins, stimulates the digestive organs, and can even help clear up sinus congestion. (Keep some tissues handy when you’re doing this one.)

How to do it:

Kapalabhati is rapid abdominal breathing. The exhalation is forceful, and the inhale that follows is automatic.

It may be helpful to place your right hand on your lower abdomen, so you can feel the muscles contract in toward the spine.

Step 1: Sit up comfortably, with a long neutral spine. To exhale, snap in (aka quickly contract) the abdomen. This will push air out through the nostrils.

Step 2: Relax the abdomen, and allow the inhalation to occur naturally. (You won’t have to actively draw breath back in to the lungs.)

Step 3: Continue this pattern of forceful contraction of the abdomen and relaxation for a total of 10 breaths. Aim for one exhalation per second if you’re new to this pranayama practice.

Step 4: Exhale completely, pulling the abdomen in. Then inhale a full, 3-part breath.

Step 5: Return the breath to a normal pattern, and observe how you feel. Can you sense the extra oxygen starting to circulate through your system? You may feel slightly tingly or more alert.

Step 6 [optional]: You may want to repeat this cycle two more times, for a total of 3 cycles of 10 breaths each. Start with short sessions, and work your way up as you get more comfortable with the practice.

By pulling lots of oxygen-rich air into your lungs, you end up circulating extra oxygen into the blood stream. And all that oxygen helps your body not only efficiently absorb vitamins, but also boosts white blood cell production.

You can find more info here.

Health note: if you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately and return your breath to normal. And you may want to be especially careful to give yourself enough time after you eat to do this one — intense contractions of the lower abdominal muscles plus a full stomach may equal disaster. Just sayin’…

2. Karana Mudra (Instrument Gesture)

In Sanskrit, karana means “instrument” — not like a guitar or saxophone, but rather a tool that we use to help us complete a particular action. In this case, the mudra itself is an instrument that we can use to help purify the physical body.

In plain English, it helps us to detoxify by strengthening both the urinary and kidney energy lines in the body.

This particular mudra reminds me of the “rock on” gesture, and a little bit of that heavy metal intensity could be called for, depending on how much crap you feel like you need to clear out.

How to do it:

You can practice this mudra any way that’s comfortable — sitting, standing, laying down. This mudra is practiced with only the right hand, so keep your left hand gently unengaged somewhere that’s comfortable.

Bend the middle and ring fingers of your right hand down toward your palm, and press down on both fingernails with the pad of your right thumb. Allow the index and pinky fingers to remain extended, and slightly relaxed. Hold this gesture for as long as feels comfortable.

For more information, take a look at this mudra in the book Mudras for Modern Life.

3. Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Spinal Twist)

Twists are one of the best ways to detoxify the body. By bringing gentle compression to the internal organs, you begin to squeeze out old blood and lymph — and when you release the twist, the resulting flow of freshly oxygenated blood back into the cells flushes out anything that’s been loosened up.

Your lymphatic system is one of the main drainage systems that helps your body get rid of all the stuff it doesn’t want anymore — dead cells, unused nutrients and plasma, and toxins. And most of our circulatory systems come with a built-in pump. The heart circulates blood, the lungs circulate oxygen, the digestive system pushes food through…

But the lymphatic system doesn’t have a pump. It relies on you to keep the lymph moving through. That’s where practices like dry brushing, deep breathing, and legs up the wall come in — as well as bendy, twisty yoga poses.

While any twists that you might take will be beneficial, Ardha Matsyendrasana is particularly good for you because it also brings compression into the lymph nodes that are located in the area at the front of the hips.

How to do it:

Find a comfortable seated posture with your legs stretched out in front of you. It can be helpful to sit up on the edge of a blanket, especially if you have tight hips or hamstrings.

Draw your right knee in toward your chest, with the sole of the foot on the floor next to your outstretched left leg. Then step the right foot across your left leg.

Either take hold of the base of the right knee with your left hand, or wrap the crease of the left elbow around the raised knee, to bring yourself into the twist. Place the right hand behind your back, and turn the gaze gently over the right shoulder.

You can either leave the left leg outstretched, or draw it back toward the hip (as pictured here).

Breathe deeply, imagining drawing the breath up and down the length of the spine — from the base of the spine up to the top of the head on the inhale, and allowing the exhale to release back down the length of the spine. Stay here for at least a few breaths, or as long as the twist feels comfortable.

To release out of the pose, bring the gaze back to center and then release the left arm. Untwist, and consider taking a counter-twist in the opposite direction to release the spine.

Then repeat on the opposite side.

This pose helps to balance not only the digestive and lymphatic systems, but also the immune, nervous, muscular, and skeletal systems. It’s balancing for all three Ayurvedic doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha), and activates all five of the elements in the body (earth, water, fire, air, and ether).

Health note: it’s good to remember that detoxification may make you feel worse before you feel better. As your body is processing and getting rid of all the stuff you’re moving out, you may feel a little gross — these reactions vary from person to person.

But if you stay well hydrated and make sure to get enough rest, you’ll be back to feeling great before you know it. And you might even feel better than you have in a long time!

Let that shit go…

While January 1st may be the traditional start to our new year, the spring season is really when a lot of folks get motivated to make changes, to declare “out with the old, in with the new” — and your desire to detox may be no different.

By implementing the practices in this post, you’ll be well on your way to supporting your body systems as they do just what they’re meant to do.

So take one (or all three) of these practices and give your body a break. You deserve it!

Want to put “detox through movement” into practice? Join my online yoga mailing list and you’ll be the first to hear about new yoga classes and workshops.

3 Simple Practices to Help You Relax & Recharge

March 23, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Life.

It’s both wonderful and awful. Happy and sad. Amazing and painful. All at the same time.

And so often in our go-go-go modern world, it’s just plain stressful. Even if everything you’re doing is something you want to do, and your schedule is full of “hell yes” it can still be hard to come down from the daily rush.

You spend so much time actively doing things that you often forget that you also need to balance it with just being. You expend a lot of energy and activate your sympathetic nervous system…

But how often do you focus on turning inward and activating your parasympathetic nervous system? That’s the one that helps you slow down, and encourages your physical body to rest and digest.

Today, let’s look at three simple practices that will help you tap into your own personal relaxation machine.

1. 4-7-8 Breathing (Relaxing Breath)

Pioneered by Dr Andrew Weil, the name of this breath pretty much covers how to practice it.

Your breathing is a huge key to controlling what goes on in both your body and your mind. Dr Weil claims that it fosters almost immediate relaxation in the body (and even that it can help you fall asleep within 60 seconds — individual results may vary).

How to do it:

Step 1: Sit in a comfortable upright position. Place the tip of your tongue on the ridge directly behind your top front teeth.

Step 2: Exhale completely through an open mouth, allowing the breath to make a sound. (You’ll be exhaling around your tongue, which may feel a little weird at first, but go with it.)

Step 3: Close your mouth and inhale through your nose for a count of 4.

Step 4: Hold your breath for a count of 7.

Step 5: Open your mouth and exhale audibly for a count of 8 (still exhaling around your tongue).

Step 6: Repeat the cycle 3 more times (for a total of 4 breaths).

Then close your eyes and return the breath to normal. You may notice that even after just a few of these breaths that your heart rate slows and your body starts to feel more relaxed.

Health note: if you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately and return your breath to normal.

You can find more info here.

2. Jnana Mudra (Wisdom Gesture)

So far in this series, you’ve learned the Chin mudra and the Sukham mudra.

This week, we’ll look at another calming mudra, or hand gesture. This mudra is very similar to the Chin mudra, except that the hands end up palms down for a more grounding experience.

Jnana Mudra is great for helping you contain your energy or get calm and grounded.

How to do it:

Join the tip of each index finger with the thumb of that same hand, forming a circle.

Rest the inside of each wrist on your knees with the fingers and palms facing down.

Hold this mudra for as long as it feels comfortable.

You can find more info here.

3. Reclining Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana)

This pose may be a little bit challenging if your hips are tight, but with some modifications it can be downright delicious for most people — and incredibly relaxing.

It’s great for balancing the lymphatic, eliminatory, urinary, reproductive, muscular, and skeletal systems, as well as helping to calm down the physical body and the mind.

How to do it:

Lay on your back and draw the soles of your feet together and toward your buttocks. If you have tight hips, or there’s any kind of resistance coming from anywhere in your hips or legs, roll up a blanket (or use a pillow) under each knee to relieve any discomfort.

This is a pose where it’s good to find your edge, and then back off.

The arms can be outstretched along the body with the palms up, or resting comfortably on the abdomen. Tune in to what your body is asking for, and do that.

Spend at least a couple of minutes here, allowing the hips and leg muscles to begin to release. If you give it 3-5 minutes, you’ll often reach a point where any tightness begins to release and allow you to sink a little bit deeper.

When you’re ready to come out of the pose, take hold of your knees and draw them gently together. It might feel good to roll around on your back or make some circles with your knees to help the lower back release and work out any stickiness from holding the pose.

From stressed and spun out… to relaxed and restored

No matter what the world throws at you, yoga offers you many tools to help balance out the stress of being human in this day and age.

So get back out there and keep doing your amazing work.

But remember to balance out the hustle with some relaxation. Like the battery in your phone, after heavy use you need to be recharged!

How do you relax and unwind after a stressful day or week? Can you incorporate any of these practices into your unwinding? Let me know in the comments!

3 Calming Practices for When the World Doesn’t Make Any Fucking Sense

January 31, 2017 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Some days.

Or maybe it’s more like some weeks… months… even years…

When it seems like life is spiraling out of control. Things are moving too fast. You barely know how to hold on for the ride, much less figure out where you want to go. Or how you’re going to get there.

On the other hand, maybe you have your shit together. But the world? Not so much.

So when life throws you lemons, or coal, or loads of steaming poo… there are a few things you can do to help slow down what’s going on inside your head.

Now, you may be tempted to put all your focus on fixing the world.

But that’s step 2.

Before you can calm down the world, let’s start with you.

1. Deep Three-Part Breathing (Deergha Swasam)

Your mom may have taught you something about breathing when you were little. “When you’re angry take a deep breath and count to 10 before you say something you might regret.”

Here’s another way to approach it: take 10 deep breaths.

Your breathing is the key to controlling both your body and your mind.

This breathing practice can be done whenever, wherever. Sitting at your desk, driving in your car, riding on the bus, laying down. Even on a beach, in a suit. Like that dude…

How to do it:

Step 1: Start by taking a slow, deep breath all the way down into your lower abdomen. Exhale fully, squeezing the air out of your lungs. Take another breath or two this way.

Step 2: Extend your inhale to include filling up your lower abdomen and into your lower ribcage. Exhale fully, and take another breath or two like this.

Step 3: Then extend your inhale to fill up your lower abdomen, ribs, and into your chest. Imagine the air filling you up from bottom to top, like water filling up a pitcher. With a deep enough breath, you might even feel your collarbones rise. Exhale fully, and take another breath or two.

After taking those breaths, you may feel like you’ve had enough. If so, return your breath to normal.

You can increase the number of breaths – as well as the length of the inhalations and exhalations – as you become more comfortable with the practice.

Health note: if you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately and return your breath to normal.

2. Sukham Mudra (Stress Relief Gesture)

The last mudra you learned was the Chin mudra.

This week, we’ll take a look at another calming mudra, or hand gesture. No, not that kind of hand gesture… 😉

Sukham mudra is great for helping you survive (and maybe even thrive) in your fast-paced life. By taking a few minutes to slow down during your day, it can help you reduce your overall stress levels.

How to do it:

Bring the tip of your right thumb to meet the ends of your middle and little fingers. Then use the thumb of your left hand to press into the nail of your little finger.

Best practiced sitting down with your eyes closed, hold this mudra for at least a couple of minutes.

You can find more info here.

3. Legs Up The Wall (Viparita Karani)

This pose is quite possibly one of my favorites.

I usually end my day with this pose when I’ve been on my feet a lot, when I’m traveling, or when my to do list is pressing a little too insistently into my brain.

It’s not only great for relieving tired legs and feet, but also for helping with insomnia (especially when you can’t sleep because your brain won’t turn off). Reversing the pull of gravity on your circulatory and lymphatic systems is very beneficial; the lymphatic system doesn’t have its own pump, and most of the time the blood in your legs is fighting against gravity.

So turn your world upside down every once in a while. It’s good for more than a change in perspective.

How to do it:

There are a few options for this one.

I personally like laying in bed with my feet up the wall at the head of the bed. You can also lay on the floor if you’d like a more solid surface under your upper body.

You can even put a blanket or bolster under your buttocks or hips if it feels good, taking care to be gentle with your lower back.

Getting into and out of the pose is pretty simple. Sit down sideways next to the wall with one hip close to the wall. Lay down on your side, and then swing your feet up the wall as you roll onto your back.

Adjust the distance between your buttocks and the wall to get comfortable. You may need to bend your knees a little bit to get comfy.

Stay here for anywhere between 5 to 20 minutes. Admittedly, I’ve fallen asleep like this — it just makes your legs a little tingly when you wake up and realize your legs are still above your head.

When you release your legs, be sure to pause for a couple of breaths with your legs on the floor before you get up.

Health note: there are a few health conditions that contraindicate doing any kind of inversion. As always, check with your doc before engaging in physical activity.

4. Yoga Nidra

Extra bonus time!

What good super-relaxing routine would be complete without talking about Yoga Nidra?

I won’t go into too much detail here, since I wrote an entire post about it. Just know that this deep relaxation technique can do some pretty amazing things. If you’ve had one of those days (or weeks) where you feel like you just can’t take it any more, carve out 20 minutes and go through a session.

It’s easy, and the stress relieving benefits are pretty magical.

Make the transition from AAAAH! to ahhhh…

The world may be (more than) a little crazy, but that doesn’t mean you have to be.

Just imagine, a world where other people are freaking out and you’re calm, cool, and collected.

With a little bit of mindfulness and movement, you can take the first steps to getting there.

So go ahead — pick one of these stress-relieving techniques. (Or all of the above!)

And the next time you feel like you’re about to flip your shit, stop… and give one of these a try.

Are you already using stress relieving strategies? If so, how’s it going? If not, which of the techniques in this post are you going to try? Let me know in the comments!

3 Easy Practices to Overcome Stress and Anxiety

July 7, 2016 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Stress.

It’s something we all deal with on a daily basis.

It’s true that a little bit of stress can be a good thing…

But did you realize that being under stress constantly can start to do some pretty terrible things to your body?

Headaches. Fatigue. Problems sleeping. Feeling overwhelmed or angry. Depression…

The good news is that there are ways to minimize the impact that stress has on us.

Even better, there are techniques that are super simple, require no special equipment, and won’t take up a lot of time.

Want to learn more?

Read on for three simple ways to give yourself a mini vacation from everyday stress.

1. Balanced Breathing (Sama Vritti)

This is a simple breathing practice that absolutely anyone can do. Practicing this breathing technique will help calm your nervous system and focus your mind.

How to do it:

Sit comfortably (or lie down for a more relaxing practice). Close your eyes, and bring your awareness to your breath — don’t change anything yet, and just observe the natural pattern of your inhalations and exhalations.

When you are ready to start, inhale to the count of 4, and then exhale to the count of 4. Each inhalation and exhalation should be the same length. Take a few rounds of this even breathing (or more) until you feel your body begin to relax and your mind begin to settle.

You can increase the length of the inhalations and exhalations as you become more comfortable with the practice. Note: if you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately and return your breath to normal.

2. Chin Mudra (Unrestricted Consciousness Gesture)

The most common hand gesture used in meditation, the Chin Mudra is also wonderful for inviting calmness.

How to do it:

Come into a comfortable seated position. Touch the tip of the thumb to the tip of the index finger, and keep the other fingers unbent and relaxed. Rest the back of your hands on your thighs.

Hold the mudra for at least a few minutes while you sit quietly. Observe the pattern of your breathing — you can pair this with Balanced Breathing to save time.

3. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

An incredibly revitalizing pose, Child’s Pose is perfect for when you simply need a break from the rest of the world. The posture supports you as you move your attention inward, and helps to connect with your body’s innate ability to restore itself.

How to do it:

Begin in table position, with your hips stacked above your knees. Draw the big toes together and sink your buttocks back toward your heels — you can keep your knees separated wide, or close together, whichever is most comfortable for you.

Your forehead will rest comfortably on the mat (or floor). Your arms can be outstretched (keep them relaxed), stacked under your forehead, or wrapped around your legs — again, whatever is most comfortable for you.

Hold the pose for at least a few minutes, while imagining bringing the breath into the sides and the back of the lungs. Follow the pattern of your breathing if your mind starts to wander.

Be Less Affected By Stress

Just imagine what your life could be like if you could kick stress to the curb.

More energy. Less pain. Better sleep. Increased motivation. A healthier, more focused you.

It’s as simple as starting to incorporate a few easy stress relieving techniques into your day.

So go ahead — pick one! (Or two, or all three!)

The next time you feel like you’re about to blow your top, stop… and give one of these a try.

Are you already using stress relieving techniques? If so, how’s it going? If not, which of the 3 in this post are you going to try? Let me know in the comments!