Yoga moments
THE CALM OF YOGA CAN BE FOUND IN JUST A FEW QUIET MINUTES – AND YOU DON’T EVEN NEED A MAT
Most of us are now wise to the fact that yoga is about more than bending our bodies into pretty shapes or balancing on our heads. Distilled to its simplest essence, a yoga practice is about connecting body and breath and allowing ourselves to be completely present in the moment. When we do this, we find that we can let go of worries and give our busy minds a rest. It is bliss and we all need it now more than ever.
But when we identify a practice that makes us feel better, it’s all too easy to set unrealistic targets to move for an hour a day or to go to multiple yoga classes a week and then to beat ourselves up if we don’t or can’t achieve it. This pattern of thinking can be quite harmful. The truth is that we don’t need to set aside aeons of time to practise yoga. The real magic happens when we find ways to incorporate it into our everyday life and existing routine – at home, at work, on a commute, wherever we are. It takes minutes, not hours, to breathe better, move more mindfully and to take a moment to check in with ourselves.
The following yoga ‘micro practices’ – each of which take just a few minutes – are little nuggets of wellness that can help us feel good every day. No mat needed. Just you, your body and your breath. Simple.
Feeling anxious? Try a seated breathing practice for releasing worries
Find a comfortable place to sit, be it at a desk, on a bus or a train ( but not while driving a car). Uncross your legs so you feel balanced in the hips and either close your eyes or just soften your gaze. Take a little mental check-in with yourself by noticing how you feel today and any emotions that come up. Then pay attention to your physical body. Notice your shoulders and your jaw, two places where we often hold a lot of tension. See if you can drop the shoulders and soften around the jaw and mouth. Then begin to gently shape the breath. Inhale through your nose and allow your belly to fill up like a big balloon. As you exhale through the nose, let your belly soften down and find a sense of the naval moving towards the spine. Take ten deep expansive breaths like this, trying to keep your attention on your breath, and once you have finished, take that same mental check-in again. Notice how you feel now? Has anything shifted?
This is a simple practice, but an effective one.
In need of a good night’s sleep? Try a pre-bedtime pyjama sequence
Get into your favourite PJs, put on your softest socks and climb onto your bed. Start in a tabletop position on all fours, hands underneath shoulders, knees hip distance apart. Close your eyes, listen to your breath and start to sway side to side. Connect your breath and movement, so try inhaling as the hips sway towards the left and exhaling as the hips sway towards the right. Then try rocking forwards and backwards – same thing, move with the breath: inhale forwards, exhale back. Start to make some circles with the hips, imagining that you have giant pencils attached to your hip bones and you are drawing big circles on the bed. Make sure you take the circles both clockwise and anticlockwise. Be free! Let the movement feel really organic and keep that connection to your breath.
You can try dropping the belly for one circle and then arching the back for the next one. Try making a figure of eight movement or drawing spirals – whatever feels good. When you’ve had enough, roll onto your back, hug your knees to your chest and have a roll around, taking small circles and massaging out the lower back. Now you’re ready for bed. »
“Micro yoga takes just a few minutes and is like little nuggets of wellness that help us feel good every day.”
Feeling lacklustre? Try a standing warrior flow for energising
This can be done anywhere. Take the feet about a leg’s width apart. Turn the right toes out 90 degrees and turn the left toes inwards about 45 degrees. Bend the right knee and lift the arms up to shoulder height. This is your warrior 2 pose. It is an empowering pose. But rather than staying in the static pose, which can feel a bit rigid, try this simple warrior 2 flow. Take a big inhale and start to straighten your legs and reach your arms up high. As you exhale, bend your front knee again, lower the arms back to shoulder height and sink back down into your warrior 2 pose. Same thing again - a big inhale lifts you up, legs straighten, arms reach up towards the sky and the exhale softens you back down into the pose as you bend the front knee again. Do five on the right, then switch legs and take five on the left. Feel like you’re riding the wave of the breath, allowing it to lead the movement rather than the mind.
A bit tight in the back and shoulders? Try a kitchen counter downward dog to ease tension
This dreamy pose can be done whilst the kettle boils. Stand facing the kitchen counter and place your hands on its surface, shoulder distance apart. Feet are hip distance apart. Hold onto the counter or table top and start to walk the feet backwards until your body is in an L shape, hinged from the hips. Keep some softness in the knees. If you’ve done yoga before, this is basically a standing Downward Dog variation. Keep the neck long, remembering it’s an extension of the spine. Hold for a few deep breaths, seeing if you can find length along the sides of the body. When ready, slowly walk the few steps back towards the counter and stand up.
In need of some mental refreshment? Try an outdoor listening meditation
This works in the garden, in a local park or out on the street. Often people think meditation is about clearing every single thought from your head. Emptying our minds completely is pretty much impossible. Instead, by focusing on the sounds around us, we can get a bit of space from our thoughts and ground ourselves in the present moment. This exercise involves going outside and simply taking a few moments to walk and listen.
Leave your phone and your headphones at home and notice every single sound you can hear, mentally noting each one before moving onto the next. It might be the cadence of a bird’s song, the ocean-like sound of your own breath, the laughter of a neighbour or wind blowing through a tree’s leaves. Just notice them all. Each time you’ve mentally acknowledged one sound, move on to the next. After a few minutes, stop and notice how you feel.
Feeling exhausted? Try a supported child’s pose for radical rest
Radical because we are so bad at allowing ourselves to pause and this is something that needs to change. Rest is vital and it’s not a crime to stop. Resting is a true act of self care and one that we can model for our children, friends or colleagues. Find a quiet space, grab a thick blanket or a cushion or two and roll it into a fat sausage shape. Kneel down, ideally on something soft – a rug, carpet or even your bed. Place the padding in between your knees (vertically not horizontally) and fold your torso over it. You can bring your big toes to touch one another and turn your head to one side, so you are resting on your ear. Either reach your hands forward with palms down or bring them alongside your body – whichever feels better for you. This is child’s pose. Rest for a few minutes and listen to the sound of your breath. Give yourself permission to be right here, in the moment.
Yoga: