Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Bringing Our Yoga Off the Mat: @Work (Part 2)

I try to bring my yoga spirit off my mat and to work-- in my one short month of blogging, this is already my second post about it!  I need peace and serenity when working with 85 pre-pubescent 7th graders. They're CRAZY!  (Sometimes I wish I could have peace and serenity pumped through my veins directly via IV!)

But alas, we need things to help us find that peace in the work place.  I find it in the moments I take to breath and say a prayer in my mind. Sometimes I find it in the smiles on my students' faces when they understand something new-- or their laughter! I don't even care if they're laughing at me (which they do...a lot), their laughter is a gentle reminder of pure peace. It makes me happy.

How do you find it? Are you sitting hunched over a computer all day, destroying your wrists, shoulders, and back? How can you straighten out? Are you in a cubicle surrounded by the sounds, sights, and sometimes smells of others wanting to escape...or scream...or both? How do you drown out those distractions for even three short minutes to regroup?  Sometimes I wish it was as simple as biting into a peppermint patty...but I don't think it is.

The answer is THE LITTLE THINGS!! The small prayer, the smile...or maybe it's the two minutes you take to close your eyes and rub your temples-- the five minutes you take to focus on your breathing and nothing else-- the one minute you take to stand up in your cell...um cubicle...and stretch for the sky!

In the spirit of helping you find little things to pave the path to bringing yoga into your workplace, check out Yoga Journal's Office Yoga series.  They are on day 2, but it's not too late to sign up. It will provide you with a simple yoga pose that is office (and non-yogi) friendly, like today's tadasana (Mountain Pose). It will also provide you with a tip at the bottom to help de-stress your work life.

 Courtesy of Yoga Journal © 2011,

The best part about this is that EVERYONE can benefit, even if you don't consider yourself a "yogi."  Check it out, and sign up-- it could keep you sane!!

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