I hope that you have all had good summers and managed to get some relaxing time off work. A holiday, either staying at
Seated spinal twist – good for the kidneys & digestive system
home or going away, can be just the energy boost we need to see us through the busy-ness of Autumn and into the Festive season (sorry!). In my final Holiday themed blog I’m thinking about how to maximise on that wonderful post holiday feeling.
It always seems a shame to me, that I go away, rest and re-energise, then hit the ground running, straight back into work. In an ideal world, I’d like a few days to ease myself back into work mode, but it never seems to happen quite like that! So, the best I can do is try to stay grounded, be discerning about how I spend my time and hang on to the relaxed feeling for as long as possible.
My post holiday yoga practice always includes a balance, to help me settle, contain my energy and keep me in the here and now. Tree posture is my favourite. After working with this posture I find that I am able to make more positive choices as to what needs my attention and what I can let go of. Plus, it gives me the clarity and focus needed to get on with the job in hand quickly and efficiently.
For sequences, I flit between the grounding, quiet energy of the Earth Sequence (privthi namaskar) and the stronger, more dynamic energy of Sun Sequence (surya namaskar) depending on what I feel I need. By standing quietly in the mountain pose (Tadasana) before starting your yoga practice you can tune into your natural rhythms and needs, and you will know instinctively how your body needs to move – try it for yourself and prove me wrong!
Following my yoga practice I always do a relaxation, just to make sure that I’m not brining back the tension that I “worked” so hard at releasing (!), before moving into some breathing and meditation practice. At the moment I am enjoying doing 3 rounds of 10 Kappalbhati breath, to give my digestion a cleansing boost (just on the off chance that I might have over indulged through the summer!), then 10 rounds of alternate nostril breathing to bring balance and clarity. This provides the prefect lead into sitting silently.
We naturally rest more on holiday and take time to rejuvenate, relaxations and meditation when we are back at home are a great way of maintaining the health benefits we experience after a holiday. Use your post holiday yoga practice and quiet time to think about what it was about your break that you really enjoyed or you felt contributed to your feeling of wellbeing. Can you bring these elements, even in some small way, into your every day life? For me, I always appreciate turning my phone / email off and just picking my messages up once a day. I also like having some time to myself to either read, be creative or to simply be, losing that compulsion to always be something “productive”. These are qualities that I am going to try to introduce into my Autumn life.
Holidays are also a fantastic time to tune into your soul, make plans for the future and be creative. Use your post holiday quiet time to make sure you stay on track with these plans. Quiet time is never, ever wasted time.
Take care, until next time. Ix