One of the many reasons why I love blogging is because it gives you the ability to speak your mind freely in a creative and fun way! But with the day-to-day busyness of life, the stress of work and the overall lack of time, it can be difficult to sit down and start to write. Thanks to the wonderful writer, biker and yogi expert, Lynette Chiang, I was able to learn some tips to help you relax and write with an open mind!
First things first, your breathing. Lynette taught us a breathing technique that might sound a little scary to the person sitting next to you, but it really did help to relax the body. How to do it: Sit down on the floor with either your legs straight in front of you or crossed; let your hands rest on your knees and sit up straight. The breathing technique is called Darth Vader, and you literally sound just like him when you practice this technique. Take a deep breathe in and as you breathe out try to push all the air out of your mouth. Once you've inhaled and exhaled a few times simply let your lips touch slightly and continue to breathe as you did before (this is when you'll sound like Darth Vader), this is the technique that you should follow throughout each yoga pose.
Once you've mastered your breathing you can then open your senses (which will allow you to write and blog better!). This tip is called the Heather Sellers prep.
- Ground yourself in a chair with your hands on your knees and a soft gaze
- Relax the back and front of your body and do Darth Vader breath 3x
- Sight: slow 360-degree eye roll- what do you see? Try and locate the farthest points your eyes can see.
- Smell: long and soft inhale and exhale. What do you smell?
- Taste: lick your lips (try to determine what you're tasting)
- Sound: listen intently to see what you hear
- Touch: without moving, try to feel your feet on the floor, your hands on your knees.
- Half salutation: Squat down as if you are sitting in a chair, slowly sweep your arms up towards the ceiling, bend backwards slightly. Next, fold forward over your knees and then press up into a flat back position (5x)
- Runners lung: Step your right foot forward, open and twist to the right. Repeat on the other side
- 360 wrist rotation: While seated, put your hands into prayer position right between your chest, raise them up with your elbows touching. Next invert your palms and push your hands forwards. Repeat the process backwards (Pull hands back, under then up)
- Side of the neck stretch: grab your left hand behind your back and pull it, tilt your head to the right and repeat this on the other side.
- Cat- cow: hands on your knees, arch your back forward then slowly push it back to arch in the opposite direction.
Hope these tips help you whether you're writing, working, or just trying to relax!
Xx!
Kelsley
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