For many of us, the day doesn’t seem to stop until the minute our head hits the pillow at night. In that precious moment, we think our refuge has finally arrived but we close our eyes and sleep couldn’t seem farther away. Our mind won’t stop chattering. The aches in our body feel more vivid than ever. We start to wonder just how long it will take to fall asleep or whether we’ll get a good night’s sleep at all. This common scenario is a symptom of our body stuck in the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight mode. We need this part of our nervous system as it gives us the adrenaline we need to survive in the world – which these days is more about waiting in lines, dealing with traffic, meeting deadlines, paying our bills, getting the children to school than fighting off an attack from a tiger. However, when it comes to falling asleep, we need our body to switch to our parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and repair mode. In an ideal scenario, our bodies can easily switch back and forth between the two modes, the way we can flick a light on and off. Because
Maybe this year your New Year’s resolution focused more on the mind and soul than on hitting the gym. Maybe your goal is to become more connected with yourself, rather than connected to your cell phone. Or maybe it is to be more mindful and experience each and every moment to the fullest. If that sounds like you, then you probably also noticed that it’s much, much easier said than done. Being mindful and achieving self-awareness and an inner calmness can be one of the most challenging things we work on, especially with so much going on around us. Two Yoga Medicine instructors were able to weigh in on this subject for us to help guide us down our own personal paths of enlightenment. Yoga Medicine instructor Dana Diament says mindfulness is the practice of noticing your thoughts or sensations in any given moment. “Because it can be done anywhere and at any time of day, simple mindfulness practices can be incorporated into your everyday life in just a few minutes,” she said. Yoga Medicine instructor Kaitlyn Hochart says you should start small when it comes to finding your meditation practice, and make sure to head outside. Dana’s tips: How to practice mindfulness Tip #1 Notice your