Five Poses a Day: Yoga for Jet lag
This sequence will help you feel relaxed and restored after long periods of sitting, traveling, and crossing time zones. It can be completed in fifteen to twenty minutes. Or, add a few of your favorite poses and take some extra breaths to create a longer practice.
Five Poses a Day with Romi: Yoga for Jet Lag from Romi on Vimeo.
This video was filmed in the wilderness in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Utilize these postures to feel more present with yourself and create a feeling of inner balance and calm. This sequence can be completed in fifteen to twenty minutes. Or, add a few of your favorite poses or take some extra breaths in each posture to create a longer practice.
To stay in touch with us about Romi’s upcoming 2018 Yoga Safari in the Okavango Delta, email us at romicumes@gmail.com or call (805) 448-4111
Five Poses a Day with Romi: Yoga for Centering from Romi on Vimeo.
Happy Friday!
I have many clients and friends that want to start practicing yoga, meditating, or exercising more, but find the process daunting or unapproachable. Even though I have been practicing and teaching yoga for many years, I can relate and often find it challenging to simply get on the mat. One thing I find extremely helpful with this yoga/exercise quandary, is to simply commit to five postures. That’s right FIVE POSTURES or simple exercises. We can all make time to do five poses and by setting the intention to just do five, we usually end up wanting more and extending the practice. Doing five poses a day is not overwhelming and only takes fifteen to twenty five minutes, depending on how fast you work through the sequence and how many variations you add.
Today is a new moon and a new time to commit to taking care of your body, mind, and spirit. Here’s a sequence that can help you jump start your day and motivate your self-care practice.
Pose 1: PLANK 10-20 breaths if done without variations. With variations, 5-10 breaths each
(Variation 1 and 2 Pictured below)
Additional Pose/Rest: Child’s Pose or Wide Knee Child’s Pose
POSE 2: Low Lunge with Rhomboid Squeeze
5-10 breaths holding lunge. 10-20 shoulder/rhomboid squeeze reps (pulse and squeeze shoulder blades together behind you, keeping hands active)
Variation 1: Gentle twisting low lunge (left arm not visible in photo and can reach above head to activate psoas/hip flexor stretch)
Pose 3: Side Stretch with Hip Opener; keep feet and arms active (both sides, 5-15 breaths)
Variation 1: Side Stretch with Hip Opener and Neck Release
Pose 4: Knee to Chest (both sides, 5-15 breaths)
Pose 5: Spinal Twist (both sides, 5-15 breaths)
Have a beautiful day!
-Romi
Have you been struggling with another person lately? Perhaps a friend, lover, business partner, or family member? If this is the case, it may support you to look at the polarity present in the situation. When we can see “other” as our mirror for personal growth, we evoke the potential to explore deeply hidden, vulnerable parts of ourselves.
Sitting comfortably, ask yourself some of these questions:
Do you find yourself longing for something that you believe only another person can provide?
When you have this longing, does it seem to take you away from yourself? Ie: your own inner strength, calm, motivation, and creativity?
Have you judged yourself lately? Was it necessary?
Have you vilified someone recently because you yourself are not happy?
Did you cast your energy outward – towards another – because what you really desire is to be more settled within?
If any of the above seems true for you, try this meditation. You only need 10-15 minutes.
Consider how you might be abandoning a part of yourself. For example, what have you wanted to fill by another? Try not to get too heady about it in terms of long-winded thoughts and sentences, but rather tune into some simple needs/desires, as well as a place in your body where you feel any kind of lack, or emptiness. Notice whatever sensations that may arise. Breathe.
As you are tuning into those sensations, feel your breath and visualize giving energy back to yourself. If there is an area in the body where you feel a void? Notice that area, keep your attention there and breathe. As you do this, various thoughts may arise that are connected to any of the above questions. As you tune in, keep exploring how you can feed yourself in some significant way. What are you denying yourself by wishing others would provide it for you? Remember, other human beings are crucial for our development, so this is not about being so independent that you don’t need others. What we are tuning into here is how not to seek outside ourselves for much of the inner power, love, and creativity we are able to cultivate within.
From a place of inner peace and expansion, supported by things like yoga, nature, and meditation, we are more capable of giving to others, and receiving what they have to offer us. Sit for a bit, and see what wisdom your body-mind provides.
Much love and Happy Holidays,
-Romi
