5 New Year's Self Care Techniques by Cynthia Land, LMT, RYT

At the beginning of every year many of us make obligatory resolutions, often abandoned within days of making them.  Today I offer you a set of somewhat yoga related self care items you can easily drop into your existing wake-up routine. They will help you feel refreshed and ready to face the day.  For the most part, they're easy to do and don't require you to purchase a lot of expensive equipment such as you might need with exercise regimes.  Give them a try. What do you have to lose but the parts of you you didn't want anyhow?  

• Lemon Water

By the time you get to my age, there's a chance you're already drinking water with your handful of supplements and/or medications.  Warm lemon water jump starts your digestive system by moving the sludge of the previous night out of your digestive tract and infusing you with a big hit of vitamin C.  The writer in this link doesn't mention it, but I have personally found that a big cup of warm water in the morning gives peristalsis a kick and might just help you run a little smoother if you know what I mean. 

• Skin Brushing 

This is one of those techniques that sounds uncomfortable but is really quite nice.  One of the first times I experienced skin brushing was at a waterfront hydrotherapy spa near Seattle.   The practitioner gently brushed my skin with a boar bristle brush and prepared me for a deep cleanse of my pores in a sauna.  It was amazing!  I now do this for myself and I love the way it makes my skin come alive. Remember, your skin is your body's biggest organ. I also know I'm helping slough off heaps of dead skin.  Yay!  Skin brushing isn't for everyone.  If you have eczema, psoriasis or just sensitive skin, you might not benefit from this technique.  

Banyan Botanicals image

• Abhyanga (self massage)

Skin brushing is often followed by a shower, but I recommend abhyanga or self massage.  If you think your skin feels soft after the skin brushing, get on your warm massage oil, hop in a warm/hot shower to open up those skin pores and then see how soft your skin is!  I was using heaps of body butter to just barely not feel as though my skin wasn't going to break off from dryness.  When I do these two techniques together my skin is happy, happy, happy.  The video above also notes that you can get oils mixed for your dosha.  I just use sesame oil but am thinking I might add a drop or two of rosemary or verbena to soothe my doshas.  

• Five minutes of pranayama 

https://www.givinghandsreiki.com

I suspect this will be the hardest one for folks to add, next to the last one but it really sets the tone for your day.  Pranayama is the breathing exercise that determines the setting on your energy.  If you need more energy, pranayama. If you need calmer energy, pranayama. If you need more uplifting energy, pranayama.  Just five minutes a day can really make a difference as you head into meditation and into your day. Don't take my word for it, try it for yourself.  There are many different kinds of breathing exercises, be sure to check with your teacher to find the one that is right for you.  

• Meditation

Ah yes, if you are a yogi, all roads lead to meditation.  If you really want to be calmer and have more serenity this year meditation must be included somewhere.  I was reminded recently that meditation doesn't always mean sitting with your eyes closed.  Some people meditate while walking (Thich Naht Hahn), some even come to a place of peace by jogging or swimming.  However you get there, eke out a space in your daily life to soak in it. 

image from pinterest

Some would include neti pot in this list and that would be excellent.  Personally, I do nasal cleansing at the end of the day. Give one or all of these recommendations a try for 30 days and see what you notice.  And remember that meditation can start at five minutes and work up to something longer.  The important part is regularity.  The only way you'll notice a change is if you do these things regularly.  Let me know what you find!

I'll Meet You At The Footbridge ~ by Grace Augustine

   

photo: SunnySkyz

Caitlyn climbed upon my lap and snaked her little arms around my neck.  It made me smile to know my great-grandchildren loved spending time with us.

“Tell me again, how you and great grandpa met,” she pleaded.

I pulled her little nine-year-old body closer to me for a hug and kissed her temple.  She knew this story frontwards and backwards, but always had to have me retell it whenever she visited.

“Well, Catie, I wasn’t very good at picking out boys to date. After four years of high school and four years of college, I’d had countless boys that were just terrible.”

Catie nodded her head.

“That’s when you asked great great grandma to fix you up, right?”

I snickered silently at that sentence.  Yes, that is when I had to be fixed up with a date.

“Yes, Catie. My mom and I sat at the kitchen table discussing boys and how most of my friends were married and having children. Then there was me…”

“Yeah, but, you were beautiful, Oma Marie. You still are.”

“Oh, child, thank you. Now, do you want me to finish this story, or are you going to tell it to me?”

“I’ll shut up, Oma Marie,” the little poppet affirmed.

“My mom worked at a factory with a lot of other people. There were some young men there, one in particular, who wasn’t having any luck with dating. So, my mom asked him if he would like to come to dinner. I was mortified! But, I’m the one who told her to find me someone to marry.”

Catie laughed at that. She opened her mouth but shut it quickly.

“Your Opa Mark knocked on the door of our home and, of course, my mom made me answer the door. There he stood, all six-foot-six of him, dressed to the nines. No words came out of my mouth. I just stared at him. He probably thought I was the biggest loser he’d ever met.  My mom yelled at me to invite him to come in, so I did.

“The dining room table was filled with food, and my two sisters and mom and dad. After dinner, mom suggested that Mark and I go in the living room and get to know each other. We spent the next three hours talking and laughing. When it was time for him to leave, I walked with him to the door. He kissed my cheek and asked when he could see me again.”

I tear up every time I tell this story to sweet Caitlyn. I hugged her closer to me as I thought of my darling, Mark. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. I constantly thank my mother in Heaven for introducing us.

“This is where Opa Mark asks you to meet him at the bridge, right?” Caitlyn’s head bobbed, as did her curls.

“Yes, honey, this is where Opa Mark and I met at the bridge. Every time we met, we met at the bridge before we went out on our dates. Three months into our relationship, Opa Mark asked me to marry him and I said yes. Each year on our anniversary, we walk the length of that bridge and remember that special night. Tomorrow, we will be married fifty-five years.”

“Oma Marie! That’s a very long time! I wonder if my Momma will pick my husband.”

“Oh, Catie, you have years before you have to worry about that. Enjoy your time growing up. When it’s time for that special boy in your life, I’m sure you will have many knocking on your door.”

“But, I don’t want many. I just want one. I want one that is as special as Opa Mark,” Catie stated. “You love Opa Mark a whole lot, don’t you?”

“I love Opa Mark with all of who I am, honey.”

“Are you going to the bridge tomorrow? Can I come?”

I smiled down at my oldest great grandchild. She was so much like her grandmother and her mother with a bit of me mixed in there for good measure.

“Yes, Opa Mark and I will walk down that bridge tomorrow. We must do that. It’s tradition. And, Catie, no, you can’t go with us tomorrow. But, whatcha say to us doing it another day? We’ll get ice cream.”

Catie’s eyes grew large at the thought of ice cream. Again, her arms were around my neck and she kissed my cheek.

“I love you Oma Marie, and I love the bridge, too.”

Where Does Time Go? ~ by Grace Augustine

 

photo: Wikipedia

November 4th at 2 am we turn back the clocks to standard time. I've never really seen the validity in this, and I'm sure the scientific ones who read this will be more than happy to enlighten me.  And...I would welcome that, please and thank you.

I have an issue with time. There, I admitted it. The adage of time passes more quickly the older we become holds so true.

Personal photo

How on earth can this sweet little baby boy be 36 years old?  How can my other son be 32 and in a different state miles from me? A much more pressing question is...how did I get to be this old?

photo: NY Post

It seems like only yesterday that I was watching the boys playing in the park, taking them to T-ball games, basketball, baseball. Then I blinked...

photo: wixi

I blinked...no longer was I on the T-ball field, but at the high school sports complex watching baseball and football games and walking the field every Friday night doing football stats.  

I blinked again and they were moving the tassel from one side of their mortarboard to the other, shaking the hands of the Board of Education members and accepting their first diploma.  Then it was off to college and away from home...away from ME.  Sigh.

 photo: CAC

For some reading this, your kids married and now have kids of their own. Again, you are playing chauffeur to school related events, only as a grandparent this time. Then, it happens...those grandchildren grow up and go to college, live their own lives...THEN...

photo: daily express

EMPTY NEST SYNDROME!!!  This is usually the phase when couples sit across the room from each other wondering what happened. You have your interests, he has his. Every once in a while you come together and do something...or you could be that couple who does everything together and wondered when this stage of your life would happen...you're FREE! Typing that tongue in cheek.  :) 

Then, divorce happens, death of a spouse happens, physical disabilities happen and you are at a crossroads, yet again. (see a pattern here? C.H.A.N.G.E.)

Again, I'm back to my original topic--time...time passing so quickly that you wake up one morning and your hair is showing some silver (or you color it to make it go away), your "fine lines" are deeper, those pesky chin hairs (ladies' you KNOW what I'm talking about!) find a way of becoming coarse and annoying with roots to your toes when you try to tweeze them...and you wonder... where did this week go?  Where did this month go?  Where did this year go? 

Really...where DID this year go?

The only thing I can do is embrace it...embrace the change, regardless of how much I may hate my looks in the mirror, how much I hate the decreased mobility, the aches and pains, the extra pounds that seem to have miraculously turned into batwings overnight...

And, I Breathe...I breathe in life and live every moment like it was the last one. 

Be kind to those around you, because you might be the last voice or face they hear or see.