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Take a few moments throughout your day to notice the quality of your breath and what it says about the state of your sympatheticnervous system. If you find yourself holding your breath or taking short, restrictive breaths at any point, relax your body, take three full deep breaths, and notice how it makes you feel. Additional content: Why bother with breath handout |
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Get settled in a comfortable seated position and close your eyes. Notice how your body feels, the flow of your breath, and then take a mental note of the state of your mind. Then bring your attention to the right side of your body toward the bottom of the ribcage. This is where your liver is. Take few breaths focusing on that area and then imagine your liver smiling. Continue to smile with your liver for five minutes. Additional content: Short uplifting yoga practice |
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Figure out what kind of things make you laugh. Do you like cartoons? Comedy shows? Funny books? Funny friends? Be sure to get your dose of laughter from those sources every day and don’t hold back on your reactions — laugh like you mean it! Additional content: Yoga humor |
Additional content: Superwoman warm-up – yoga practice This short yoga practice uses expansive, open body positions, some simple balancing postures and stable Superwoman stance to help you cultivate a sense of powerful presence. Let’s try to do this 7-minute movement practice every day this week to see how it affects your outlook. |
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Every day write down three specific good things that just happened and express gratitude for them. Make those things different every day. You can make it a solitary activity, or you can include other members of your family by asking them to share three things they are grateful for at dinner time, for example. Additional content: Gratitude yoga practice |
  Master your Zorro circle
Identify an area of your life where you are struggling or feel overwhelmed. I Draw a small circle and write the problem in the middle of it. Then draw a bigger circle around it — this is your circle of control (the Zorro circle). What do you have control over in this situation? Write those things down within the circle. What don’t you have control over? Write those things down outside of the circle. How can you master your Zorro circle? Additional content: Sample Zorro Circle |
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Identify a habit that is not serving you well. It can be a habit in any area of your life (health, wellness, work, relationships, fun, etc.). What would you like to replace it with? What concrete steps can you take to make the old behavior harder and the new behavior easier to do? Take those steps to set yourself up for success and engage in the new behavior for a week. Additional content: How to build a habit of consistent and meaningful home yoga practice (blog post) |
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Take a deep breath and then exhale slowly as you make a long low-pitch one-tone M sound. Continue to breathe like that and focus on the vibration in your throat and around the ears as you hum. Repeat for 12 breaths. Additional content: Video of humming and chanting |
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Mismatching the movements of your hands and/or feet is a good brain exercise that promotes coordination and cooperation between the two brain hemispheres.Place your right hand on your belly and your left hand on your head. Breathe comfortably and start rubbing your belly while patting your head. Do it for two to three minutes, and then switch sides. Additional content: Right/left brain integration practice |
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Pick a line from a poem, a phrase, a quote, or a mantra. Mentally say part of it as you inhale and part of it as you exhale. (For a short quote, repeat the whole thing on inhale and the whole thing on exhale.) For example, IN (say mentally): “This, too, shall pass.” EX: (say mentally): “This, too, shall pass.” Repeat it for at least 12 breaths and see if the negative pattern that runs through your mind is replaced by something positive. Additional content: Video of humming and chanting |
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Create a soundtrack for your day. How do you want to feel? Choose songs from your collection or any online streaming service to create a playlist of songs that give you the feeling you are looking for. Play it during the day and see if it has an impact on how you feel. Additional content: sample “My Happy Place” playlist (Spotify) + blog post about effects of sound |
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Additional content: Big picture practice (movement + meditation) This 25-minute movement + meditation practice invites you to step back, loosen the grip a bit and envision what kind of feeling you want your life to give you. It invites you to identify the relationships and activities that already give you that feeling and emphasize them in your life. |
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Additional content: Yoga series for butt discomfort and hip tension In this six-week yoga series you will focus on releasing chronic muscle contraction and restoring balanced relationships between different muscles that move and support the hips. |
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For “householders,” regular pranayama is the most important part of the yoga practice. Include pranayama in every yoga practice you do. It can range from deep conscious breathing to specific pranayama techniques. Take at least 12 breaths with your chosen technique. Additional content: Quick pick-me-up practice for an afternoon slump |
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Hand gestures can be used to evoke specific meaning, and in yoga, those gestures are called “mudras.” Each mudra represents a “core quality.” Joseph and Lilian Le Page write: “These qualities are reflections of our deeper spiritual essence, which is already present as a potential, ready to be awakened. Mudras function as energetic keys that unlock those qualities.” Additional content: Letting go go worry, finding inner peace practice (using Ksepana mudra) |
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After you finish your yoga practice, take few moments to write down the main idea of the practice and whether or not it met your current needs. What seemed most effective? What didn’t work at all? What changes would you make to make it more effective? Additional content: sample pages from Personal Yoga Practice Journal |
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Additional content: Fill your heart with light practice This short yoga practice evokes the image of sunlight and uses a line from the song Light and Day by The Polyphonic Spree as a chant. It invites you to “Follow the day and reach for the sun!” This practice is useful any time you feel guarded or timid. It will energize your body, help you breathe deeper and encourage you to be a bit more open and courageous. |
Hum for mental clarity (bee breath)
