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7 Tips for Finding Balance During the Holidays

On December 17, 2013 in General by Dana Damara

7 Tips for Finding Balance During the Holidays

The winter season is one that naturally is about going inward … drawing your awareness internally to “hibernate”, to “re-group” and check in with your Self at a deeper level. What’s funny is that all the things that happen around us from a media perspective, tell us otherwise. “Black Friday” and other events that prepare us for the holidays, may actually be causing stress to the body. And I can’t help but wonder if it’s because our bodies naturally want to chill out and rest. Call me crazy …

So I’ve come up with a few ways to find balance during this time of the year that will hopefully bring some steadiness into your perspective while everyone else is whirling around you freaking out because they have to get the last … “thing” on their list.

1. Give yourself quiet time first thing in the morning, before you do anything. I hesitated to call this meditation but truth be told, it is. Sit in silent reverence with your breath and nothing else. Just watch the breath come in and go out. That’s it. This will slow your nervous system down and provide you with countless other benefits.

2. Root down into your feet the minute you step out of bed. Feel the earth under your feet and know that whatever happens today, you are rooted. Enjoy moving slower in the morning and stopping to breathe every now and again.

3. If you have a chance or the time, move on your mat … if only for five minutes. Just move through a few sun salutations, maybe a few heart or hip openers, maybe you’re someone who likes to stand on your head… do that. Move your body … please.

These three things can be done in a total of 20 minutes if you are thinking you don’t have the time… you do. I invite you to do this starting today and then let me know how it works out for you. Beyond that though, here are some other ideas to shift energy during this time of the year:

4. Make a list for your week … not your day. We all have things we have to do daily, I get it. But does that card really have to go out to Aunt Gertrude today? Can it wait until tomorrow?

5. Give up some task that is draining to you. Listen, if you enjoy mailing out holiday cards every year with your photo on it, with a hand written envelope and typed note about your year in a “nutshell”, do it! Just don’t complain about it. Do the things that fill you up, let go of the things that don’t. Period.

6. Spend some time cleaning out a closet, a drawer or a cabinet. A space that is holding energy and stuff you don’t really need anymore. Doing this is cathartic as it makes you realize really how much we hold onto during the year and what we can let go of, creating space for new energy, new clothes, a new relationship perhaps. And then give away whatever it was that was so important to you to someone else who can use it, love it and adore it.

7. Take a breath before committing to a party, event or get together. Ask yourself are you saying yes to something out of obligation or because the event or people fill you up? Be discerning and know that it’s okay to politely say, “No thank you” and not have to justify your response.

Remember time is an illusion so it can’t be “managed”. Only your energy can be managed so do that instead. How do you want to spend your time that will make you feel more balanced and alive? Who fills you up? Don’t do things because you have to, do them because you love to. The holidays are about loving, connecting and being ... not doing, I swear.

By Dana Damara

“My passion on the mat is proper alignment, powerful breath and effortless flow so you feel that off your mat. Your practice becomes sacred space where you arrive to find more meaning, depth, authenticity and integrity in your life."

- Dana Damara: mother, author, yoga instructor, speaker and yogini. Visit www.danadamara.com