Too Busy to Breathe? 5 Easy Tips to Incorporate Yoga into a Busy Day

Yoga / By



Regular contemporary life is quite hectic, and the mind, body, and spirit go through various spins just trying to keep up. While we’re running amuck, tending to chores, and fulfilling our duties, we have a tendency to fall out of sync with ourselves, which eventually results in a deterioration of our health and well-being.

The truth is that we all need a support system in the form of something that can help us keep running and remain healthy even on our busiest days. Yoga has been helping people for centuries to achieve complete balance in the body, mind, and spirit. The science of yoga is universal and does not require a specific time, place, or schedule in order for practitioners to benefit. You can make it your most reliable companion, even on the busiest of days. All yoga needs is the right mindset. Here are five ways you can incorporate yoga into your hectic schedule and achieve greater balance, harmony, and wellness.

1. Begin the Morning with Sun Salutations

If you snooze in the morning, then you shall lose the day! True to these words, yoga demands commitment, but in return, it will be your constant supporter, even through your worst days. The first step to incorporating yoga into a busy lifestyle is adjusting your body clock so that it is in line with the daily cycle. As a yogi, it is essential to function in harmony with the energy cycle of the sun. This means getting 6-8 hours of sleep, along with ensuring that the wake-up time is at or before the sunrise. Turn off the lights and put away your electronics by 11pm, so you can wake up feeling fresh and active just before the sun begins to shine its first rays. Begin your day with 10 minutes of Sun Salutations, which can have the same effect as a 45-minute workout. Through Surya Namaskar, you not only pay homage to the ultimate source of power (the Sun) but also start your day off prioritizing your mind, body, and spirit.

2. Practice Yogic Breaths On-the-Go

Breath is the source of life. Yoga explains how breath is directly linked to the health and wellness of the entire body and mind – this pranayama breathing technique can be performed anytime and anywhere. All you have to do is breathe into the full capacity of the lungs, retain the breath for a few seconds, and gently breathe out through the nostrils. This is recognized as Simple Relaxation Yoga Breathing. This process of breathwork not only clears any channel blockages in the body and mind, but also ensures that impurities are flushed out from the body in the form of carbon dioxide. If you want to kick it up a notch, there are a few other yogic breathing techniques that you can try, such as Alternate Nostril Breathing, Sudarshan Kriya, Sheetali Breath, or Kapalbhati.

3. Embrace an Ayurvedic Diet Regimen

Ayurveda, the sister science of yoga, has a significant role to play in sustaining a yogic lifestyle. Our body is composed of different doshas (constitutions) that directly influence our physical and mental behavioral patterns. Maintaining a dietary discipline according to the body constitution is crucial for gaining the maximum results from your yoga practice. If you are unsure about your dosha, then seek the help of an Ayurveda expert, and begin to incorporate the suggested personalized diet that they will recommend.

4. Take Yoga Breaks

If you’re too busy to roll out the yoga mat and perform a full routine, this doesn’t mean you can’t practice yoga! If you are devoted and in need, then the science shall accompany you wherever you go. Take a few minutes in the car, at work, at your desk, or in the kitchen to practice some Chair Yoga. Try the Seated Spinal Twist, Cat/Cow Pose, Seated Camel Pose, Seated Forward Bend, Seated Tree Pose, or any other poses that you can perform comfortably and in the space of a few minutes. These poses are simple, restorative, and highly effective in keeping the circulation of energy up and running through the entire body from head to toe.

5. Conclude the Day with a 10-Minute Meditation

Now that you are all set to doze off, invest in a few minutes of guided meditation and self-reflection. This can be done by lying down in a supine position, and gently reminiscing about the gifts of life with gratitude while embracing any disparity with positivity. This will help you sleep better, as the practice puts both the mind and the body in a peaceful state.

The first step to welcoming yoga into your life is a resolution. The rest will follow.

By Manmohan Singh. Full article originally posted on ArtofLiving.com

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Preventative Care

 

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A preventative approach to maintaining the body assists in maintaining a healthy lifestyle for years to come. Maintenance-wise, our car requires regular tune-ups and yearly maintenance. Why don’t we tune up our bodies?

 

In addition to regular check-ups with a physician, Ayurveda emphasizes a holistic, self-care approach to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Ayurveda’s emphasis on preventative healing measures are decidedly effective and teach ways for practitioners to deal with issues before they begin.

 

According to Ayurveda, there are six stages of ill health. They begin with imbalance and gradually increase to disease. Like weeding, Ayurveda emphasizes clearing the flower bed before the weeds take over.

 

The preventative Ayurvedic approach is built on four pillars: food, lifestyle, rejuvenators & supplements.

 

When a person is in poor health, they are in need of a different approach that is meant to address imbalances with holistic healing practices and balancing supplements. Skilled practitioners of Ayurveda use pulse assessment to determine which specific supplements, food and lifestyle practices will restore balance.

 

Balance through Ayurveda improves a person’s health, energy, and youthful vitality.

 

The four keys to a healthy lifestyle:

1. FOOD

Whether you are a vata, pitta or kapha person, the most important element for maintaining balance is following the diet that suits your constitution. A healthy person who knows his natural constitution will be able to follow a diet best suited for maintaining balance. A person in poor health can learn what sort of dietary changes will help restore balance.

 

What we eat goes to our stomach, which is like the root of our system. Like a tree, which derives its nutrients and energy from its root system, humans derive their nutrients and energy from what is put into the stomach. From our stomach, our entire body is nourished. As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Finding the right diet, based on our constitution, is the first and most important step in attaining a healthy lifestyle.

 

food_idli_broccoli-web-healthy-lifestyle
Idli is such a nutritious meal because it is actually a complete protein and the fermenting process involved in preparation stimulates digestion.

2. LIFESTYLE

Finding a recommended lifestyle routine is vital to maintaining balance and correcting disparity. After food, lifestyle comes as the most important way to stay in balance. A healthy lifestyle includes:
• A routine of health
• Waking and sleeping at regular times
• Going out for regular exercise, according to your constitution
• Self-massage with suitable oils
• Centering yourself with a few minutes of stillness and meditation
• Light yoga

 

product_ayurveda_chyawanprash_healthy-lifestyle
Chyawanprash is one such rejuvenator used in Ayurveda, especially during the colder seasons.

3. REJUVENATORS

Rejuvenators, rasayana, are a variety of ancient supplements that promote the rejuvenation of the body and the maintenance of a young, vital, dynamic and energetic self. Rejuvenators work to make the body feel young and refreshed. Rejuvenators are not simply food, they are powerful solutions to problems that ail many of us — solutions to whatever upsets balance and health. Concerning the many factors that upset balance and health, there are equally as many rejuvenators to combat these problems.

 

4. NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS

There are many traditional Ayurvedic herbal supplements that are used in a variety of ways. They include spices in our food and herbs that promote detoxification of the body. Choosing the right herbal supplements is a matter of understanding both one’s constitution and one’s imbalance. Whether in need of detoxification or wanting to combat stress, lethargy, or poor digestion, Ayurveda has numerous herbal supplements to help promote longevity and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

 

Now you’re set knowing the four key tools of Ayurveda. These tools can be used with a knowledge of your nature to make choices that lead to greater balance and health.

 

Find out more about how Ayurveda can help maintain a healthy lifestyle through simple, natural methods with Ayurveda 101: Vibrant Health with the Science of Life.

ayurveda guide download

 

Interested in learning more about programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here.

 

Yoga Retreat Catalog for NC

Exploring Wisdom: John Osborne on Finding More Silence

Silence / By

Silence

In a world that seems to get noisier every year, more and more of us are looking for a greater experience of silence in our lives. Although prayer and meditation have always been seen as traditionally effective methods of deepening silence, there are other ways to find it in the midst of a busy daily routine. Most of them are available to each of us if we know where to look for them.

Seeking Out Silence

Traditional forms of physical exercise, particularly yoga and martial arts (Tai Chi etc.) in addition to stretching and strengthening the body, have the added effect of bringing the body and mind into a state of balance and stillness which can open us up to an inner experience of silence . Introductory classes can be easily found these days in local fitness and community centers.

Various forms of music have been found to create more brain coherence, which in turn allows the mind to drop into its deepest, most silent state. These might include traditional forms of chant, choral, devotional or classical music. Experiencing that music performed live seems to have an even stronger effect.

Reading books that are uplifting or in which you find knowledge or insight can help the mind settle. While one part of the mind is engaged, another is freed to rest or quietly observe. Likewise writing, especially in a journal or to someone you feel connected with, can empty our mind of thoughts and feelings, allowing it to experience more of its deeper more silent nature.

Wearing earplugs when socially appropriate or listening to white noise or nature sounds through headphones may allow a level of interior silence to rise within us, especially in noisy work or public environments.

“I only went for a walk and finally concluded to say out ’til sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
– John Muir

Walking in Nature helps many people to tune into a deeper level of silence …. In the words of of the naturalist John Muir, “I only went for a walk and finally concluded to stay out ’til sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” Even for those of us who live in an urban area, a few minutes walking in a park or on a walking path can ground us and return us to that deeper experience… running or jogging also works in this way for some people.

See if you can find places where others have sought silence and go there to sit, even for a few moments. Look for public gardens, parks, churches, temples or even libraries if they have quiet reading areas. I recently found a great deal of silence in the middle of an art museum. And finally…

Create your own silent space… find a few minutes or hours each week when you can turn off your cell phone and the TV, shut your door and see what it feels like not to talk or listen to outside sounds for an extended period. Start modestly with maybe 30 or 60 minutes of silence on a weekend day, then see if you can schedule it to be a regular part of your weekly routine, and gradually build up the time you’re able to devote to the practice.

Why Silence?

Why do we have to work at developing an experience of silence? In earlier days silence was a much greater part of everyone’s daily experience. Before electricity, telephones and televisions, many people’s home hours were filled with silence and in agrarian societies daily work was often solitary and and at least intermittently silent. It is only in the past 100 years that the noise level of our common experience has begun to rise dramatically. To balance out all the noise and activity in today’s environment we may have to cultivate some silence in order to lower stress levels and give ourselves a chance to rest and recharge.

Scientists have discovered that brain wave activity radically changes in silence. The parts of the brain that govern creativity and inspiration become enlivened, and the areas of our nervous system that get overstimulated by stress and outside stimulae have a chance to rest, de-stress and recharge. Silence isn’t just an outer experience. There is actually a deep level of our own consciousness which is always silent. Nurturing that level of our inner life and restoring a balance between silence and activity in our consciousness can deliver great rewards on the level of body, mind and spirit.

Go inward and find your silence at one of our Silent Retreats. 

Interested in learning more about programs at the Art of Living Retreat Center? Check out our annual catalog here.

 

Yoga Retreat Catalog for NC