Our culture heralds and promotes the fast paced life. We are immersed in the need to be busy accomplishing projects, making agendas, setting up projects, achieving goals, slaying the dragon, multi-tasking, and multiplying our lives with detail. I believe that our culture values performance and we base our lives and identities on our performances.
We also know that stress is also part of our culture and that it can kill us if not directed appropriately. We have been visiting this subject this month and have discussed that Stress reduction is not a luxury but rather a necessity. Stress wreaks havoc on our mind, body and spirit.
Think about the oil light that goes on in your car. Our cars are expensive investments we make. Wouldn’t you want to do the small thing to maintain and service your car now then having to deal with the consequences of an expensive repair later? Too often we treat our cars better than ourselves. We have warning signs of stress until something catastrophic happens and then we are incapacitated for a time that I am sure is always inconvenient for us.
One of the many “tune-ups “ we can do for ourselves is to participate in a “slow activity.” Slow activities are just what they sound like. Think of some things that require that you pace yourself.
Slow activities can reduce your stress and blood pressure while improving your body’s ability to regulate sugar. It improves mindfulness and mental focus. The first step is to clear some room in your life. That might mean looking at your priorities and realigning them.
In an article “Stressed Out” by Natural Health it refers to it as the 4D’s. Delete: Ask yourself if your task is necessary, if not, don’t do it. Delay: Reschedule a chore for a more appropriate time when you have all the information or time and energy to concentrate on it. Diminish: Create a short cut or do less when it is really doesn’t matter. Delegate: Turn tasks over to others who are willing and want to help.
Clearing the schedule to include gardening, a nap, a break in your day to walk around the park, quilting, painting, eating slowly, meditating are to name a few. Of course yoga also falls into this category. Slow yoga is restorative or yin yoga practices.
As you practice yoga focus on systematically disengaging from your hectic pace and concentrate on opening your body in a nurturing, caring way. If you find your mind becoming overactive, consider what is driving you today to feel anxious. Ask yourself what is the most important purpose of my day? Then be still and listen to the answer.
Following is the link to the picture and an article with more details about restorative yoga. Relax and Renew is the name of the book by Judith Lassiter and the system of restorative yoga for which Shelly is certified.
