One of the questions I get asked most frequently is 'what breathing do YOU do when you're stressed?' 

I don't even need to think about it anymore.  The answer is always clear: Alternate Nostril Breathing, or Nadi Shodhana.  

If you've never tried it, it can be quite powerful.  This pranayama practice slows your breathing down, it lowers your heart rate, it syncs both hemispheres of the brain and it purifies the energy channels in your body.  And, most importantly, it REDUCES stress and anxiety!

Sound amazing?  It is!  But it is definitely a practice.  Before you try this at home kids, start with some deep breaths through your nose.  Then for 30 seconds at a time practice the alternate nostril breathing.  Eventually build yourself up to 5 minutes.  You'll feel instantly blissed out! Once you're comfortable with the belly breathing, you can give this a go. 

Here's how to start:

Sit upright in a comfortable seated position, begin deep belly breathing through your nose.  Allow your brain to quiet down and rest your attention on the breath

Press your right nostril closed with your thumb and inhale through your left nostril.  Once you've taken a full inhale, gently exhale through your left nostril

After your exhale, close the left nostril with your ring and pinky finger.  Inhale through your right nostril.  The exhale through the right nostril.  

That's one cycle.  You can repeat for 30 seconds, and again, work your way up from there!  Once you've completed a few cycles of breath, release the nose completely and enjoy breathing normally. Begin to notice any subtle changes.  

This will be one of your most powerful 'stress-less' tools!  Have it handy in times of challenge and when you feel anxiety creep up!

xo b

My class theme this week has been Totally Tapas.  I created a flow that focused, quite literally, on heat.  The heat we create physically AND mentally. I felt it was appropriate after talking with someone about her journey with anxiety.  

I think the most important thing I've ever shared with my students and clients is that we don't lose our anxious tendencies overnight. We weren't born anxious.  We didn't come into this world with OCD and phobias.  It took time for us to create them through our perceptions and experiences.  The same is true for us to heal from anxiety.  It takes time.  There are so many times I see people have monumental breakthroughs, only to feel they are "cured" and then they slide right back into old patterns- which in turn cause the same anxieties to arise.  I know it gets frustrating when we find relief through yoga, breathing, EFT, etc. and it doesn't stick around that long.  Healing from anxiety is literally a practice, just like yoga.  There's no such thing as a "cure" because anxiety is an emotion. Just like happiness and anger.  We don't just eliminate it.  We learn how to work through it.  Similar to when we step on the mat in yoga.  Perhaps you're being challenged with a tough sequence full of poses that you struggle through.  You don't just step off your mat and leave, right?  At least I hope you don't!  You find a way to make the pose work for you!  Maybe you modify it or even just sit it out and take a child's pose.  Whatever it is, you figure it out.  And you go back again the next day, or the day after that. You keep working, practicing, and opening up new experiences.  I remember when I used to find headstand traumatizingly scary!  Now I love it!  It took patience, perserverence and commitment to get to that place.  Same with anxiety.  We will constantly be challenged along the way.  We just have to remember to stick through it and find a way to cope.  

So a tapas themed practice really called to my soul this week.  Tapas is the Sanskrit word for heat.  In yogic philosophy it is the fire that burns within us.  It is our self control, our focus, our drive, our discipline.  It is the discipline that we need to obtain a goal when we are faced with struggles along the way.  

So tap into your Tapas this week.  Identify your challenges and open up the space within you to have the discipline and mindfulness to keep pushing through.  Whether kicking into handstand or conquering a fear, you have the power within you to make it through! 

xo b


photo cred
https://www.google.com/search?q=handstand&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uSqAUe-WHqaT0QGgnYDQDg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#imgrc=BynKu219vE0doM%3A%3BGnUIE-hqXBinFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2010%252F07%252Fhandstand.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.yogirose.com%252F%253Fp%253D30%3B333%3B500

A few days ago I took a road trip with my husband.  For most people, this scenario is rather uneventful, but for me it's always been a sort of milestone.  Back when I was battling anxiety, traveling often caused me to soar off the deep end.  I would constantly cancel plans with people, avoid driving out of my way and shun trips just so I wouldn't have to face the travel.  Even if it was a half hour away, it used to cause me to launch into panic attack mode.  

I was creative in finding ways to cope (before I actually took time to find a healthy way to handle things).  I OD'd on immodium and pepto pills 'just in case' my stomach acted up.  I would change my diet to basic light carbs and eliminate anything out of the ordinary - and I definitely wouldn't eat out for at least 3 days before the trip so I was in full control of what went into my stomach.  I also developed another unhealthy obsession that I was convinced would help... I practically eliminated all liquids from my diet.  I dehydrated myself just so I wouldn't have to use the bathroom.  I also eliminated coffee and caffeine to avoid possible stomach issues, even though I drank those things nearly every day and never had a problem.  If I was traveling in the morning, I stopped eating and drinking the afternoon prior.  And no food or drinks would pass my lips if I was traveling at night.  I used to drive people nuts with my rules.  But, I believed it would help me.  And even if it didn't physically make a difference, it mentally made a difference in my anxiety.  

So as I was traveling on this last trip, I realized that I was looking forward to grabbing a cup of java on the road.  I also no longer worry about medicine or bathroom pit stops.  I drank two full glasses of water that morning to stay hydrated and we even left super early in the AM- which used to be a big NO NO for me because early mornings were my most anxious and I never did ANYTHING in early mornings that could potentially cause me more stress.  Right before we were heading back home, we had dinner with friends.  At a restaurant.  I smiled to myself reflecting on my journey and how far I've really come.  

It definitely wasn't a quick trip to get here, but it was absolutely worth it.  I know sometimes when we're in the middle of this struggle it feels like we'll never see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Sometimes we don't even remember what it feels like to have our stressors become neutral.  But they do.  And I fully believe in celebrating each and every step along the way.  

Just like traveling... it's all about the journey! 

xo b

So excited to share some yogic stress busting techniques with GirlieGirlArmy!  

Check the article out here: http://girliegirlarmy.com/wellness-2/20130315/mind-over-matter-3-tips-for-mentally-letting-go-of-anxiety/

Try one out today! 

xo b

I often preach the benefits of yoga and exercise in helping us to alleviate anxiety and stress.  Sometimes a good sweat session and stretch on the mat can clear the mind and rid the body of tension.  But what's not often mentioned is the power of our diets.  I've touched on it before, but I wanted to drill home the point that diet does play a major contributing factor in how we feel.  And it definitely plays a role in how we feel when we are dealing with anxiety.  Here's a few important tips to consider the next time you pull up a chair at the kitchen table:

1. Transition to a more plant-friendly diet 
Eating a more plant-based diet creates more harmony inside your body.  It decreases inflammation and helps ward off illnesses, aches and pains that may cause us to stress about our health. With our bodies performing at optimal health, we can alleviate stress. 


2. Eat hormone-free food
if you do choose to keep meat and dairy in your diet, try to choose hormone free.  Excess hormones that you consume from meat and dairy can create a hormonal imbalance within you and affect mental health. 


3. Ditch the caffeine, sugar and other stimulants 
Caffeine and sugar can sometimes cause anxious symptoms similar to those we feel when dealing with panic.  The jitters, racing heart and excess energy cause us to feel like we're having a panic attack even when we're not. Swap out the coffee for herbal tea and get your sweet fix with some fresh fruit.  

4. Take your vitamins
Add supplements to your diet and eat a variety of leafy greens.  Vitamin deficiencies cause stress, anxiety and depression.  Take a walk and enjoy some vitamin D courtesy of the sun and make sure to take include niacin your diet (a B vitamin that helps combat depression). I also like to add Maca powder, an adaptogen, to my smoothies to help keep me calm, cool and collected! 
 
5. Eat foods that support your body functions and organs
Try things like coconut oil, nuts and sea vegetables to maintain thyroid health.  Thyroid conditions have been linked to anxiety, as well as depression. Try blueberries and salmon to keep a healthy heart and make sure to stay hydrated and keep your blood sugar in check to avoid feeling dizzy or lightheaded, which also sometimes mimics anxious symptoms.  

Here's to your health!

xo b 
 

I watched a documentary today called Stress- The Silent Killer.  Of course, the title grabbed my attention right away!  It’s about a researcher that goes to Kenya and studies the stress response in baboons in order to find out more information, on a cellular level, as to what happens to humans during a stress response. 

Let’s break it down a little bit.  If you don’t know what a stress response is, it’s what people often refer to as our ‘fight or flight’ response.  It’s what animals and people use as a way to save their lives if they sense immediate danger; immediate danger being anything from a possible animal attack to a mugging.  Real life-or-death type stuff!  What actually happens during this response?  There are two hormones that work with the stress response and those are adrenaline and glucocorticoids (which comes from the adrenal glands).  These are the backbones of our stress response.  This response is meant to help us survive and our body begins to focus on the basics.  Our lungs work overtime to get more oxygen, the heart races to get the oxygen through the body and muscles are able to respond instantly.  Every other body function becomes secondary.  However, the trouble is that this response may kick in for you at times when you’re not actually in immediate danger.  Maybe you’re about to give a presentation to a new work client or get on a plane.  These situations, while they may cause some nerves, are not the kind of situations that warrant a full-blown stress response.  And it seems more and more people are now experiencing this stress response in their daily lives. This response now comes on due to psychological fears and we are lacking the ability to effectively turn it off! 

And here’s another interesting tidbit- our “rank” in life can be a factor in how much stress we have in our lives.  After discovering that the rank of a baboon in the hierarchy of its clan directly affected the amount of stress it had, a study was then conducted on humans and found a similar link.  The lower “rank” or position we have in our jobs, the more stress we feel.  The higher we are, the less stress.

So now we know what stress is and what it looks like and feels like in our bodies.  But what happens when we overstress and don’t shut off our stress response?  What about the affects we don’t immediately feel?  Here’s where all our stress-related illnesses come in.  High blood pressure, ulcers, migraines, stomachaches… you name it.  Because, as you know now, when our stress response is kickin’ it in high gear, few other body functions are running as scheduled.  And that includes our immune system.  It also includes our cardiovascular system.  You can actually see the impacts of stress on our internal systems!  And mentally, stress makes us miserable.  Under stress, we become irritable, tired and forgetful. 

So what started out as something built in to protect us, has now developed into something that (when not controlled) can hurt us. 

This documentary was really interesting.  We all know stress is bad when it’s overwhelming, but it’s so powerful to understand exactly what it’s doing to our bodies and minds.  Check it out to learn more about their stress findings and the long-term impacts it can have in our lives if we don’t start to work on it now.

Xo b