This blog is dedicated to my niece and all students from all walks of life.
May you all be free of stress.
During my time in school I wasn't very interested in learning math skills or science. The teachers that I had tried their BEST to engage ALL of us into the math or science or whatever skill that was being taught. Remember the example of the train going down one track at a certain mile/hour and the other coming at another mph, which one will get there first?
Who's going to end up a train conductor?
Who's going to end up a train conductor? Not a lot of kids. That question was a real one on a TEST! The other thing about school was I saw the transformation from learning to better one self and become an educated citizen to a test machine. Things have changed and teachers sure are changing their approaches nowadays. THANK YOU TEACHERS!
I saw the district take arts away while I was in elementary school. Soon after that I was one of the first round of students to become the testing machines that the state of Florida thought would be a great idea to measure how us kids were learning. From second grade on we literally began to learn for almost 200 days out of the year how to take a TEST. REALLY?!
I love learning, don't get me wrong I am a life long learner and am thankful for all of my school teachers and those who are struggling NOW to be a teacher. Taking a test is stressful and when your whole learning for 12 years is about taking a test just imagine how stressed you are, everyday. It adds up.
...just imagine how stressed you are, everyday. It adds up.
This may not be you. You may not be in school any more and your glad about that fact, but as we get older there comes different stressors. Paying bills, keeping a roof over our head, and food in our bellies. Right?
So to all of my friends who are reading this and you noticed you got stressed just by reading it here are some poses for YOU! When you are studying, writing a report, or filing taxes try one of these go to poses to help reduce the stress and drop back into your body and the present moment.
1. #4 (Seated):
I have given this pose in the a recent blog post. Check it out here. So why do I keep giving this pose? One when we live in a chair culture our seat muscles get either tensed up or our back does. Our bodies weren't designed to sit in stillness all day. This hip opener opens up our outer hip rotator muscles, decompresses the lower back, and moves blood from the hip region to the heart.
2. Dangle (using a chair):
I love a good back stretch. When we are sitting at our desks studying or working on our deductions for taxes, sometimes we get too much in our heads. I like a forward fold as it calms the nervous system, releases any tension from the head and neck and decompresses the lower back.
3. Resting Eyes:
I am not sure if there is a real yogic name for this, but this is what it feels like. I am resting my eyes in the palms of my hands. This is very beneficial to calm the nervous system, relax the eyes (especially if looking at a computer all day), and calms any mind chatter.
So here it is just 3 out of an infinite amount poses that might work for your everyday stress relieving practice. These are some of my go to's when I need to find, quickly, peace and calm. Stress is not just a onetime thing, stress is small tension that get held within the body that take time to show their power (either by you getting run down, sick, injured, chaos in you thoughts, or short tempered). As I mentioned earlier in the blog school was a stressor for me. Now I have tools like yoga, dance and TRE to find balance and equilibrium in my daily life.
To be free is our human right, but it comes at the cost of effort. So work on your stress by befriending it. Study and know what stresses you out and what calms you down. If you tend to lean towards vices, notice that. Also meet yourself with compassion. This is not easy to change our ways and to care for this body we inhabit.
To all those students struggling through school: Your almost done! Once you have begun the time will fly. Find peace NOW with little things and the rest will follow.
What is your stress reliever? Let me know in the comments below.