Taking time for breath

During my lunch break today I must have heated and reheated my lunch 3 separate times while poking through emails, printing out invoices, poking around the internet, and playing on Facebook. And squirming around in my chair, hunched with stress and back pain.

I decided to try one of Kripalu's Audio Yoga Breaks for a little mindfulness to break up the day. How do I feel? Is this how I want to feel? I listened to Yoga Taps with Danny Arguetty. It was about 4 and a half minutes long, and guided me through a standing sort of soft pummeling of my body, working through the limbs, belly, butt, back, etc. as a way to increase circulation, stretch a little, and just step out of the stress of the day for a few minutes. It was great! I felt calmer, less tense, more awake, and more present in my day. I think I might start doing that when I hit my 2pm slump.

Kripalu has about a dozen of these 'breaks' posted on their site. Try one and let me know what you think.

Taking a breath

Sleep has been hard to come by for the past few weeks. A combination of reluctance to head towards rest time, mental and physical distractions including endless self improvement, impossible perfection standards, and a midnight visit from a bat have kept me from getting more than 5 hours of sleep at a stretch. I am tired exhausted. I am starting to resemble an after image. I have not been able to quiet my mind because I haven't taken the time for myself to make it possible.

I've managed to read a lot of books during this time, but my knitting has suffered a great deal - mainly becuase I don't trust myself to knit when I'm tired and not drop stitches, make mistakes, or switch directions in the middle of a row, as I did during my knitting group a few weeks ago!

Starting to practice yoga more, even if it's for 5 minutes. It helps me center and quiet my mind, this ambitious beast clamoring to outdo Wonder Woman by sheer volume of accomplishments. I end up with a pile of started projects, but nothing to show for my spinning wheels. I know what to do, I just need to think I am valuable enough to take care of and spend the time. 

Last week I read this on PlanetYoga:

"Waking up this morning, I smile, 24 brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion."-Thich Nhat Hanh

Meditation for today: sit comfortably tall, close your eyes, listen softly to your normal breath. Smile.