Want to change your life? Small steps lead to big changes. Life happens day by day, moment by moment. Make your life a beautiful one.

Here are my favorite ways to re-balance, find my center, and move forward from a peaceful place rather than from a place of reaction.

1. Close your eyes and slowly take an in breath while counting to 8.  Hold it for a count of 2 and then release for a count of 8.  This immediately calms your nervous system.  When we shallow breath, the meridian points around the collar bones are activated and stimulate our fight or flight response.  Shallow breathing is a primal response to danger.  Back in the day we needed to stimulate this spot for the subsequent adrenaline shot so we could respond to danger quickly;  now it merely exhausts our already depleted adrenal system.

2. Focus your eyes on the farthest point from which you’re sitting, driving or standing.  Notice every detail of the distant object you’re seeing.  This practice gives your eyes, as well as your brain, a break by disrupting your focus and relieving eye stress.

3. Put one hand on your heart and feel it’s rhythmic beating.  Take your other hand and place it over your stomach while slowly making circles.  This may sound silly, but will immediately calm your nervous system.

4. Light a candle and burn some incense or sage to clear the energy of your surroundings, then close your eyes or watch the candle for 5 minutes.  5 minutes out of your current mode can make  a dramatic difference in the rest of your day.

5.Use your Mala beads for another purpose.  Gratitude!  Close your eyes while you hold them and one by one as you move the beads in between your fingers to the next one; verbalize what you’re grateful for in your life.  After sitting and saying 108 gratitude’s, you will feel as though you’ve had a glass of wine or a sedative.  It’s crazy how well this works.  If you have the time, repeat #4 above while doing this practice.

6. Dial the radio station to a classical station.  Classical music has been proven by science to raise levels of serotonin in the brain.  Serotonin positively shocks the brain into a better state.   Classical music not your thing?  The sounds of Crystal and Tibetan Singing bowls have the same effect on the brain.

http://www.creation-songs.com/bowls.php OR http://www.classicalforums.com/articles/Music_Brain.html

7. Consider restorative yoga poses. Restorative postures held 5 minutes or longer trigger the Parasympathetic Nervous System which is responsible for bringing the response system (read: Stress!) back into balance.  Active relaxation poses such as Supported Child’s Pose~balasana,  Legs up the wall pose~Virparita Karani, or Supported Forward Fold~Paschimottanasana are all excellent and easy poses to do regardless of your flexibility.

8. Get a long hug from someone close to you.  I’m talking about the complete release and surrender into another’s arms sort of hug.  Physical human contact, skin to skin, produces another calming brain hormone called Oxytocin.

9. Love a pet. Studies have shown that stroking your dog or cat reduces your blood pressure and brings a sense of calm and well being to your brain.  They love it and you will love how you feel.

10. Ask a friend for help.  When someone asks us for help we feel honored and appreciated.  Give a friend the gift of asking; then accepting.  Call a friend, tell them you feel overwhelmed and just want to receive some support and reassurance that everything is going to be okay.  Choose that one friend wisely, you know the one that lends positive support….and accept it.   We all need a little help once in a while and it reminds us that we’re not in this crazy, wonderful world alone.

xo

supported forward fold picture by dorestorativeyoga.blogspot.com, hug from http://www.balkanfile.com, mala beads by http://www.explorergirls.com, feature image by http://www.nabuzz.com, candle by http://www.candlefind.com

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