The challenge of the ZZZs

So if you're like me and go into energy save during the winter... well you can avoid total hibernation!
Here's a few good tricks to keep your energy up and help you stay on track:

Join challenges
No matter what your practise is it's always good to join a challenge and motivate yourself by keeping the day count and just sticking to it. I'm currently doing the Yoga Camp challenge with yoga with Adriene. A Hatha yoga experience, and this one has a bit more elements of mental wellness than her previous "30 days of yoga" challenge (which I also highly recommend!)

Get by with a little help from your friends

When it gets tough it might feel like a failure (IT IS NEVER) to ask your friends for help. Actually it is a very strong thing to do and when your friends know where you're at and what's going on it will be much easier for them to help you. We don't have to be so goddamned independent all the time! So ask for advice, ask for support, ask for a bit of cheerleading or gentle reminders. Or better yet... why not join a challenge together?

Seize the day

Carpe diem might sound like a massive cliché, yet as the days become shorter it becomes all the more important to get outside and gather as much sun as you can. Even when it's cloudy it's still brighter outside than indoors. Also the fresh air will do you good. In our family the outdoor minimum limit is at least 30 minutes per day, something I am grateful for today.

Recharge

During the wintertime it's easy to be *yawn* a chronic sleepy head. So one way to go about it is of course to sleep more. This however does not work for me, in fact it makes me more sleepy. A bunch of other options might be

Cold showers. Yep you heard me. A brilliant way to wake the body up and although it might not feel too inviting on cold days it actually gets your circulation up and you will be less cold afterwards. I've written a little more about hydrotherapy in a previous post.

Power naps. If you're feeling sleepy, set your alarm and give yourself a good powernap. I usually feel better and more alert if I'm surrendering to a couple of zzz rather than forcing myself to stay awake.

Keep doing what energises you! When winter comes (and it will, as Snow so eagerly points out) it might be tempting to cancel everything and stay under a blanket. I advice you not to. By keep going you will let your body (and brain) know who's the boss. And by doing what you set out to do you will get a kick of "YES I DID IT" and coming home afterwards to a cup of tea and the blanket will be all the more rewarding.

Play. Ok, I'm sure some of you are feeling a bit of resistance with thoughts of playing being just for kids but I assure you that getting your sillies and giggles up will boost you in so many ways. So invest time and energy in having fun, because it will give so much back.

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When it's evening, weekend or you just feel like watching something there's a brilliant korean film I saw yesterday. It was both visually and emotionally beautiful as well as fun and the right kind of weird (for me atleast.) 

Kimssi Pyoryugi (2009)

in english known as The castaway on the moon.

That's all I had for now, but I'm sure you will find your way to power up during the winter. 

Get out there. 

Do good. 

Reward yourself. 

And see you later!

Saint on wheels

Yoganidrasana - flex and focus!

Mathematician, philosopher, political activist and more. 

At work I ended up in a discussion with two "overbenders" and found myself annoyed with myself for not being a prezel... then I remembered the journey I've done so far. From clumsy stiff to decent foldable me. Although I do want to take it up a knotch. Been practicing a little bit while watching tv, reading and so on. Today I found a tutorial which I think will make it all the more pleasant and fun. Here it goes. Sleeping baby - yoganidrasana. Looking forward to being able to relax into it.

Yoganidrasana how to with Kino KinoMacGregor.

Apart from that, even though I haven't updated the yoga has been going on every single day and I'm keeping a (home made from an old water color picture) journal upon it with day, time, location and what was done and if there was any special sensation to it.

Today I did math break yoga. I would study 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break to do some asanas in the shadow of the apple tree. Repeat. Of course mimimize surrounding distractions. I like to time things. 20 minutes. GO!!!

Tomorrow a sister will visit, I'm seeing an old friend from waaay back and hopefully there will be some glutenfree rhubarb/ginger/apple muffins going on. To celebrate the day I'm also taking it from trikonasana (triangle) to ardha chandrasana (half moon). Know what I'm sayin'? 

If not, here's what's what. And that's that. Peace!

My grandfather's style - Hatha yoga

There are six main branches of yoga and there's constantly fresh twigs sprouting out. If you haven't decided which style of yoga suits you the best it might be overwhelming even to decide WHERE TO BEGIN? My dad once mentioned that my grandfather did yoga. The other day I found out it was Hatha yoga... maybe you're thinking "Ha whaa?" and frankly it wasn't that clear for me either, even though the word wasn't new to me.

Like Einstein said (or it is said he said, you never know with internet quotes)
The only thing you really need to know is the location of the library... unless you have wifi, which I in most cases do not. So I went there and found Hathayoga by Ulrica Norberg. Beautiful.

ABOUT HATHA

Where's it from? It is the youngest of the six main branches of yoga and like the others it originates from the oldest form of yoga - Tantra yoga, which the Indian philosophy about energy.

What's it about? The name Hatha means powerful and comes from the sanskrit words "Ha" meaning sun and "Tha" meaning moon. Well isn't that kind of the same as jinyang? Yes, exactly! It's about balance between the power of the sun and the moon: feminine/masculine, closed/open, light/darkness and so on. 

That's so Hatha! What's typical for this yoga style is the physical focus, joined together with the emphasis on the breath (pranayama) in harmony with the movements (asanas). This sets it apart from most other of the major yoga branches since it it's more like a workout, which I think is a perfect transit for the westerners to go from regular gym sessions to yoga lessons, without being overwhelmed by all the spiritual talk, chants and visualisations. It's about being present. Welcome!

What can it do for you? The breathing technique (pranayama) is said to have a cleansing effect as well as building up your immune system while the movements (asanas) help to build strength, flexibility and balance. If you want to feel like you've really done a workout after the yoga then this is the style for you. You will also find this is a perfect way to exercise self control of the mind and body which is beneficial for you in all stages and pages of life.

Rainbows on the moon

My very first oil painting! Just playing around with it.