Most of these summer days, the sky tips our faces upward and it feels good to remember just how small we stand amongst all this wonder.
Read moreMonday Mantra: Playful
The following piece was written by Brianna Goodman, copy and features editor for MindBodyBrew. Brianna teaches yoga with The Perri Institute for Mind and Body in New York City. She currently attends Fordham University, where she is pursuing a degree in English and Creative Writing, with a minor in Communications.
“It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.” -Thomas Aquinas
School's out for the summer, and the city's playgrounds are bustling with children celebrating their freedom. One doesn't have to walk far to hear the sounds of children laughing, singing, and calling excitedly to one another. Mimicking a child's boundless energy might seem tiresome to an over-worked, over-scheduled adult--but are there moments throughout our day when we too can step back from our work, call a friend, grab a game, and relish some time of laughter and play?
Can we also find ways to be playful in our yoga practice? Moments when our practice can become a little less than serious? When we catch ourselves furrowing our eyebrows in a high lunge, or holding our breath in a tricky arm balance, can we take a deep breath, laugh quietly to ourselves, and find a greater sense of ease in this instance of play?
What playful summer activities do you incorporate into your week? How do you find moments of laughter in your yoga practice?
-Brianna Goodman
Photo by BMiz
Monday Mantra: Sun
The following piece was written by Brianna Goodman, copy and features editor for MindBodyBrew. Brianna teaches yoga with The Perri Institute for Mind and Body in New York City. She currently attends Fordham University, where she is pursuing a degree in English and Creative Writing, with a minor in Communications.
"The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." -Galileo Galilei
It’s a busy time of year. Whether you’re a student preparing for exams, a performer in the midst of performance season, or an employee structuring your upcoming summer schedule, this time of year is typically bursting with obligations and opportunities. With so many commitments calling our names, it can be easy to move through each task without taking a moment to confirm that we’re actually breathing.
Now that the warmer weather is (hopefully) here to stay, perhaps it’s time to take a cue from the sun. Can we, like the sun, give each individual task our fullest attention—whether that task is as simple as ripening grapes, or as complex as keeping the entire solar system in check? Can we find ways to be present in the busiest of schedules, and find moments to pause, breathe, and be mindful of the activity we’re engaging in?
No task is too small to merit mindfulness. Whether we are brushing our teeth or typing our final essays, we can still approach each task with equal focus, and equal presence.
Can you find moments in your daily routine to check in with your breath? In the spaces between one task and the next, can you take a moment to focus and reconnect with your mind and body?
-Brianna Goodman
Photograph by Dawn Ellner
'Tis the Season to be...Overloaded?
In the month of December, New York City might as well be called the North Pole—partly because of the frigid temperatures, but mostly because you can’t turn a corner without seeing pictures of Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, or a Christmas tree. You can’t walk by a store without hearing songs of chestnuts and jingle bells, nor open a magazine without spotting a holiday guilt guide—and don’t even try to ride the subway without seeing at least three or four holiday cups from Starbucks. I love the holidays, and I’d be lying if I said that I don’t walk down Fifth Avenue every year to take pictures of the decorated windows (because I do… every year). But even if your holiday cheer rivals that of Clark Griswald's, you still might find yourself wondering:
Isn’t this all a little bit over the top
?
Not only are we striving to bake cookies, buy presents, host holiday parties, attend holiday parties, decorate our homes, watch holiday movies, listen to holiday music, attend holiday performances and book travel out of town, but we are also still required to finish our exams, get work shifts covered, cover the shifts of others, pay our rent, pay our bills, find a cat sitter, etc. While I find all of these holiday activities very appealing, I’m always disappointed to find that cramming “holiday to-dos” into my everyday to-do list is not only rather impossible, but also rather stressful.
The holidays are, theoretically, a time to relax—but it isn't revolutionary to suggest that they’re actually not that relaxing. To me, there are few things more anxiety-inducing than spending a Saturday afternoon in a packed Union Square, avoiding pointy elbows as I attempt to squeeze into a booth at the holiday market. There are also few things more difficult than trying to write a literary theory paper while listening to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. I’m being hyperbolic, of course, as these problems are about as traumatizing as spilling water down your jeans. But this holiday season I’ve come to realize that some of our—or at least my—holiday practices are actually quite silly. Maybe instead of running around like a snowman with its head cut off, determined to cross off every “holiday cheer to-do” I possibly can, I should take a moment to sit down, take a breath, and simplify.
New York is always overstimulating, but around the holidays it becomes even more so. It’s important, then, to find moments throughout the day to reground, recharge, and breathe. Meditation is a great place to start. It feels especially challenging to sit down and meditate when our minds are jingle bell-rocking in all sorts of directions (note: a key symptom of holiday-overstimulation is the inclusion of corny holiday references in written work), but taking ten minutes a day to focus on your breath can be incredibly effective in counteracting sensory-overload. Another activity that I’ve been working into my daily routine this holiday season came to me from Twyla Tharp’s book,
The Creative Habit.
She writes:
“When I listen to music, I don’t multitask; I simply listen. Part of it is my job: I listen to music to see if I can dance to it. But another part is simple courtesy to the composer. I listen with the same intensity the composer exerted to string the notes together. I’d expect the same from anyone watching my work. I certainly wouldn’t approve if someone read a book while my dancers were performing."
When I first read this three years ago, I was struck by it—I couldn’t remember the last time that I had
just
listened to music, without also trying to read, cook, clean, ride the subway, etc. It seems like there is always music going on in the background of our lives, whether we’re shopping, eating out, riding an elevator, grabbing a drink, riding in a taxi, watching a movie, or whatever else. This is true during this time of year as well, only the kinds of music we hear seem to be universally limited to the “holiday” genre. It’s been three years since I first read Tharp’s words, and I still find music humming in the background in moments when it should be the focus of my undivided attention. For someone whose career—dancer—relies on the ability to listen to and communicate with music, this is shameful. So this holiday season, I’m taking Tharp’s advice, and I’m setting aside at least one song a day to listen to without any distractions. No cruising Facebook, no reorganizing my bookshelves, and no online shopping for my parents’ Christmas gifts: just listening. Not only am I hearing new things in pieces of music with which I swore I was familiar, but I’m also counteracting some of that multi-tasking holiday mania.
This practice of listening to music may not appeal to you, but perhaps you can start to discover which things you’ve been cooking on the back burner that should not only be on the front burner, but should also be on the only burner turned on. Last year, in a workshop with Rebecca Dietzel at the Perri Institute, Rebecca told us that our brains can only truly focus on two things at once—I believe it. As soon as we start adding task number three and task number four into the mix, our ability to complete all of our tasks starts to suffer. Writing a paper while blasting holiday tunes and checking the clock every two minutes to make sure the cookies in the oven don’t burn is perhaps not the most productive way to get these tasks accomplished. Neither is writing this blog post while your two-year-old neighbor bangs on the wall but hey, some things are out of our control.
So take some time this season, both on and off your mat, to pick one task, one point of focus, and stick to it. I’m convinced it won’t intrude upon the holiday cheer; in fact, I’m convinced it will enhance it.
-Brianna Goodman
Take a Summer Pause and Pose
What is it about the days of August that make us feel like summer is ending?
Everyone starts small-talking about how quickly it all went by. Every year right around August 15th, we feel a shift in the light and air. I often wonder if this has something to do with our many years of back-to-school programming; do we will it to happen because we remember school is around the corner, or do we notice it happening through the changes our senses pick up?
These last days of August always make me think of packed lunches with handwritten notes from my Mum, bright yellow school buses, and the scent of new school supplies.
But wait! Why do we rush?
After all, summer doesn’t officially end until the third week in September. We have plenty of time yet to spend playing. Summer slows us down so we can find clarity before flying into fall mode. Have you found clarity on anything you were milling over after spring’s fury of new beginnings? If not, you may want to spend a beautiful sunset or two with those thoughts and see what clears away for you to make space for a rich harvest.
What will you do to celebrate and eek out every ounce of this season’s goodness? Walks, meals outside, daytrips to the beach, BBQ grilling: summer fun does have to eventually end to make room for fall adventures, but don’t pack it up before it’s ready to go!
I suggest a low-to-the-ground, Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall Pose) to reap the benefits of relaxation during these last summer days. Rest your legs up the wall and lean back into the supportive earth. We will all be greeting the earth soon with fall’s new energy, but for now, why not kick your feet up in the air with cooling summer spirit?
Viparita Karani is calling to me these days, and I hope you enjoy practicing it as well. Here are some tips for practicing Viparita Karani so you can spend some quality time there:
1. Fold up a yoga blanket or use a yoga block and place it underneath your pelvis for the support and comfort of your sacrum while you recline.
2. Imagine your tailbone tipping slightly off the end of either prop to get good prop placement.
3. Take a yoga strap and belt it around the middle of your thighs (not your knees!), not too tightly.
4. Make sure your legs fall in line with each hip.
5. It might take a few adjustments to wiggle in close enough to the wall to create an L shape, but once you get there let the wall and the earth hold you up. Notice if you are still trying to hold up your legs or are gripping your shoulders. Let them go and you’ll find support for both!
6 Lie back for several minutes while practicing easy, natural breathing.
7. Take your time coming out of the pose by rolling to your right side and carrying your calm with you as you come upright.
I hope you like my personal sketchbook interpretation of the posture!
- TaraMarie Perri