Life Hacks for Your #YogaAllDay Resolution
The making of a New Year's resolution is an opportune time to get in sync with all those lovely Instagram yogis who tout a life of #YogaAllDay. Using just a few simple life hacks, you too could feel that "namaste" magic 24/7, without permanent residency at an ashram.
#SamastitihiAllDay
Make those awkward water cooler chats a bit more awkward. Instead of merely standing, stand in samastitihi (this also works in line at the grocery store, or Starbucks, or anywhere else you find yourself still on two feet). Practice patience and awareness by grounding through your toes and heels, lengthening your spine, and gently engaging your core.
Recognize that no time is wasted, if you're actively accomplishing something -- even something as simplistically elegant as this version of mountain pose. Feel the stress of mundane moments roll off your shoulders.
Breathe deep.
We all know that counting to 10 helps to diffuse an emotional situation, but what if it's one of those days when you just can't quite make it to 10? Instead, when you start to feel the tightness of despair in your chest, breathe in one slow, deep breath.
Pay attention to the way your ribs rise and expand, and slowly exhale. Then get back to dealing with whatever it was that put you in that place.
Throw your hands up.
Reach your hands all the way towards the heavens, middle finger to the ceiling, and imagine yourself not so much in the cubicle, but as an NBA player perhaps, or a monster (for extra giggles). This will instantly relieve tension in the shoulders and neck.
Join the Anti-Desk Club.
This isn't the Illuminati, but there are some additional poses you could practice right at your office desk, or home office desk to take a true break from the humdrum, and wear and tear of an eight hour day.
Post your resolution.
Create a one-pointed focus of your entire day by posting your New Year's resolution -- or your New Year's affirmation -- somewhere it is readily visible. Remember, everything you do supports you in reaching that goal, sometimes you just have to reframe your thinking to realize it.
Open your mind to recognizing how, even the "setbacks are setups for a comeback," as they say! Post that note to self in multiple places, at work, at home, as a phone screensaver...
DISTRICTiYOGA is an E-RYT 500 YACEP located in Washington, D.C. She often uses “namaste” as the first word uttered to students at the beginning of class, as well as the last. She began mindful yogic studies some 20 years ago in elementary school and began teaching formally in 2008.