Work & Rest

What does a typical day look like for you: out of bed, rush through breakfast (piece of toast and slurp of coffee), feed the kids, drive them to school, off to work for a full day of meetings and deadlines, pick up the kids, run to the grocery store, prepare a quick meal at home, watch the evening news, then off to bed. Then you get to get up the next day and do it all over again....right?

With this type of daily routine, you may start to feel you’re running on empty. How do you regain the energy you need to get through each busy day? Are you eating enough? spending enough time with your family? spending enough time with yourself?

With a busy schedule like this, one sure prescription is rest....Yes, rest! Sit down....relax.....take a nap...sleep 8 hours a night. Are you offering yourself these luxuries?

In the yoga practice, we move through a series of poses. We bring stress, tension, and sensation to the body. At the end of the practice, what is the one pose that is always performed? Savasana. Corpse Pose. This is the time to rest, relax, and acknowledge the hard work you have put into the last 50-80 minutes. One intention of the yoga practice is to work through the tension and stresses of the body so that you can sit and meditate without bodily distractions.

Perform this yoga sequence at home to practice the gift of rest at the end of your hard work.

Start in Mountain Pose and perform 5 to 10 Sun Salutations. This may take some time to do. You will generate heat in your body, muscle fatigue perhaps, and even sweat. After your flow, come to Corpse Pose and remain here for at least 10 minutes. Give your body (and breath) an opportunity to find ease and relaxation.

Remember this sequence as you walk through your daily routines. Find times throughout the day to take at least 3-5 minutes of rest time: take a walk outside, sit still in your office, doing a breathing meditation in your car before picking up the kids, go to bed early and get at least 8 hours of sleep. Your body, mind, and spirit will appreciate the gift of rest.

Namaste.