Here are a few quick fixes to help relieve stress with yoga this year:

Breath deep!

While you are in traffic, at the Mall, dealing with family gatherings just stop and take a deep breath. Try breathing in the nose and out the mouth. See if you can breath in to the count of just 3 at first.  From there move it up to 5 or 8 counts.  Feel the way your body and your mind with just release with this simple technique.

Check out a yoga class that is close by your home or office.

Having a qualified teacher guide you and help you thru breathwork and poses make all the difference. When you sign up for a class, you will probably get more yoga done during an hour than you would on your own.  There will be no distractions that normally get in your way. At my studio, we are doing a 4-week series just to focus on yoga poses that will help with stress. One of those poses is legs up the wall (as we call it).  All you do is sit sideways against a wall. turn and put your legs up the wall and straighten out your upper body.  Your body will be in the shape of a L.

Put an eyebag or a washcloth on your eyes to tune out the light.

If you are comfortable, stay there for 3 to 5 minutes (15 minutes is the best!).  It is a wonderful way to “decompress”.

So it IS the season to be jolly!  Enjoy your holiday season STRESSFREE!

So here is the key:  top of the arm bones back/lowertips of the shouldblades in!

Usually we all bend forward to read, type on the computor, take care of children and loved ones. The very top of the arm bone (at the shoulder) usually goes forward from the above activities. Try facing a wall and take your right arm out to the side, palm up, and press the little finger part of the hand into the wall.  Take the top of the arm bone back as you turn your body away from the wall.  Feel the lower tip of your shoulder blade moving into your back. Then when you are doing backbends, etc. see if you can keep this action.  Hopefully, this will help to heal your pain in the wrist!

We are here to tell you that is not true if done with proper instruction!!

When the spine is in a backbend, the spine moves into the body; therefore, bulging disk can find relief.  Also, if you learn how to go up in a backbend using the back plane of your body, it will feel like you are just floating up with ease. Hard to believe? Joyce Savitz will be teaching a 2-hour workshop this coming May. Check it out! You will be amazed. There have been some recent articles in Yoga Journal about backbends. After experiencing what “using the back plane of the body” you will understand on a deeper level what is being taught by fellow Anusara Teachers such as Desiree Rumbaugh (wrote the most recent article in Yoga Journal on backbends).