Would you like five more “micro-yoga”practices to weave into your day? You can add them to the many ways to move your body/mind/breath as provided in articles on this blog over the last few years.

I’ve adapted a great motto from my students, physical therapist, and chiropractic colleagues:

Motion is Your Lotion.

My hope for you, once again, dear reader, is to inspire you to move, breathe, meditate, and be creative!

There are articles on this blog providing you stress management and yoga,  yoga for tight hamstrings, and this one to support balance. Additionally pregnant women can safely enjoy this sequence if getting to class is a challenge.

So Get Unstuck-from your chair and mental habits

By now you’ve heard  that “sitting is the new smoking”.  According to Dr. James A. Levine writing for the Mayo Clinic, a sedentary life can increase our risk for diseases such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and even a shortened life span.

Isolated “exercise” sessions when the remainder of the day is sedentary  do not really offset the risks of too much sitting. (Learn more here.) This doesn’t imply that working out is useless, it simply means we must consciously move in as many novel ways as we can throughout our day.

Essentially: if you only stand at a  standing work station , or only sit or only exercise three hours per week, you may be overlooking the potential to keep yourself healthier.

I whole-heartedly  concur with blogger Zack Arnold  that movement is the answer; not necessarily standing vs sitting.

Keep your mind/body refreshed, guessing, adjusting!

Palette of Yoga

Perhaps as a child you climbed ropes, hung upside down on the monkey bars, rode your bike, swam, ran, skipped, walked, hopped.  I don’t expect us to replicate all of those motions from when we were ten years old!

Yoga  does provide us with a palette of holistic practices to create and sustain a healthy mind/body. We commit to our classes to stay motivated, to learn from our teacher, to be part of a community. You may have other reasons you attend class.

The yogis tell us that steady and regular practice  will reap the greatest benefit to our body/minds.

Yet, for our personal yoga to take hold, it is not always practical  to be on a “yoga mat” six times per week to integrate yoga into your life.  And of course yoga is not limited to the physical although that is often the entree to deeper study.

Refresh your Body/Mind with Novelty

Here are five ways to bring novel and fun moves into your life as well as to still the mind when you aren’t in class.

Get up from the chair and move these ways

My handsome model Norm demonstrates easy lunges at the wall; in this case the pillar on the porch. Notice how shoulders stay over hips. Back leg is in extension; stretching out muscles that are flexed from a great deal of sitting.

Whether you are seated or standing, you can open and close the joints of your fingers. Move the tissues and prevent issues!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breathe throughout; you don’t have to get too fussy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use a strap to facilitate a nice side stretch and shoulder opener.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We would love to see you in class; my students are great and welcome you! Click here for more information about upcoming classes and my full teaching schedule.