Just ONE Minute
Have you been incorporating 5 minutes of calm in your morning? Been practicing your 1 minute breathing? If so, how have you been feeling? Hopefully a little calmer? Are you able to stop in moments of stress and redirect? If not, just keep practicing and try adding this week’s lesson to your arsenal.
I know some of you prioritize exercise. Or at least you WANT to prioritize it and just do it whenever you can. This week I want to encourage you to add just 1 minute of breathing to the end of each workout. Just one minute and you’ll leave your workout session (whatever it is) feeling stronger, more centered and ready to face the rest of your day.
It really happens. Just try it if you don’t believe me.
Why is this the case? It’s simply the way your body works. First, stress begins and ends with your breath. When you get stressed or overwhelmed, you’ll start holding your breath. Then you begin to tense your muscles. Soon you feel worse. If you slow down your breathing, your body will start to relax, your mind will stop racing and you can move forward in a calmer matter.
A great way to begin is to add a short savasana to your workout. This is the yoga pose that ends almost every yoga practice. It’s often also called rest pose or corpse pose. To do it, simply lay down on your back, legs and arms naturally turned up and out, close your eyes and breathe in and out deeply. Allow your body to relax into the ground, feel your muscles loosen as you breathe. Don’t think about what you need to do next, simply relax and breathe. Sit up slowly and move on with the rest of your day.
If you aren’t at a place where you can lay down, you can still do the breathing and relaxation in a sitting position, the rest just won’t be quite as deep.
Seriously give this a try this week – one minute at the end of EVERY workout. Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Don’t forget to sign up for Erin Stutland’s FREE Say It, Sweat It, Get It Challenge – it started yesterday (and the first day was so fun!) but you can still get in – check it out HERE.
And join me on Facebook Thursday at 2:30 EST where I’ll share another favorite breathing exercise/ easy meditation and a terrific way to use RC after a good workout!
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