Tis the season to… SLOW DOWN!

Tis the season to... SLOW DOWN!

Are you feeling overwhelmed and a little stressed out at this time of year?

This is something that I've noticed a lot with myself and my clients of late and it's got me thinking about why. 

We rarely tune in to the rhythms of our body, maybe we figure a few things out about ourselves in a daily meditation or your yoga practice but we keep 'pushing on' regardless. I'm guilty of this too!

How can we help ourselves not become overwhelmed and burnt out?

Well we can look to nature for guidance. Animals and plants are a great example of rolling with the seasons. It also demonstrates how far out of touch we are with our own nature.

Have you noticed how animals and nature flow with the seasons? 

Animals migrate and hibernate. Plants and trees shed their leaves and reserve their resources for Winter.

We are an animal too. But we don't follow a change in the seasons! We keep going at the same BUSY pace, working out at the same intensity, booking in all of the social events and parties, staying up late stressing about our to-do lists and emails, rushing about trying to get everything organised for the big day!

Is there any wonder we burn out?!

I just received this brilliant email from a Yoga teacher that I really admire called Julie Martin and it made me want to write this email to reach out to you in the hope it connects with you too!

Julie sums it up much better than I can...

"Tis the season to……..SLOW DOWN!

Amongst all the demands of the holiday season, stress from social media to appear like you’ve got it all sorted, further impending lockdowns and everything else in our daily lives, we need to put our self care at the top of the list this month.

Moving towards the winter solstice is a time for introspection. For gathering our energy inwards to fuel ourselves and be reflective instead of focusing on productivity. So my theme this month for the masterclasses is Slow Down. Not only on the mat but off. I invite you to take time for yourself and encourage your loved ones to also reduced the speed of the “doing” and rest in the sensation of being."

So, you could click on the link to Julie's classes or you could consciously start to SLOW DOWN and understand that the daylight hours are less. This influences how you feel, how you eat, how much you want to rest. 

The cold wintery weather means that we are going to be faced with a contrast between cold outside air and dry hot indoors air which can play havoc with your skin, nasal passage and your throat.

These are just a few examples of the challenges we physically and mentally face this Winter. It's vital we connect to ourselves and go a little easier so that we can go with the flow. This will have us flowing through to Spring time in the best possible shape and not feeling burnt out before we get there.

So, remember to SLOW DOWN and go easy on yourself if you don't get everything done on your to-do list this Winter season.

Ash