Can You Find Balance During the Holidays?

Every year when this time of year rolls around I say, next year I am going to start shopping earlier, I am going to purge on food and goodies less, not let the stressful shoppers add jet fuel to the already stressful ship flying through the holidays. Well, once again this idea has seemed to fail, or at least the priority fell by the wayside for one more year. Do you feel your days are crazed and the rushing around has up-heaved your inner balance and feeling of stability? How can we regain this balance and inner peace during such crazy times of the year?

Adding more grounding poses to our practice will aid in bringing us to a more rooted, and stabilized being. While you are in these poses, or any pose for that matter breath from the ground into the body through the rooted body parts. (ex. try breathing through your hands in down dog) Hold these poses for 5-10 breaths or so, moving slowly and deliberately, using your core for stabilization focusing on establishing a solid foundation prior to flowing into the next pose.  For example when flowing into Virabidrasana I (warrior I), bring the foot between the hands, and root down the back foot. Breath into this foundation, establishing your core engagement, maybe bringing the hands alongside the ears while keeping the chest glued to the thigh. With this strong foundation of the feet and core engagement, on a long inhale slowly lift the chest off the thigh, reaching the hands towards the sky. On your next exhale feel the feet rooting into the mat. Inhale, isometrically pulling the heels of your feet towards each other. While hugging in towards center breath into this pose. How can you find a peace and relaxation in this active pose? Can you keep the feet grounding while extending the arms towards the sky? Are you able to get the quality of Tadasana (mountain pose) in this Virabidrasana I? Meaning the feeling of stability, comfort, ease and rootedness. Now continue to flow through your practice in this mindful manner and see how stable and balanced you feel.

If you only have a few minutes: simply take your shoes and socks off, pressing your feet into the ground, maybe massaging them one at a time. Just by removing the barrier between our feet and the ground can be such a revelation in feeling inner stability, comfort and ease.

Happy Holidays! I hope you may stay balanced through this season.
Namaste