It is fairly common to put the needs of others ahead of our own, finding our needs moving further away from the top of our list. Most of us are familiar with the instructions from the flight crew on an airplane; first secure your oxygen mask before attending to your children. In daily life we can tend to forget this. We get caught up in the patterns we have created; not even noticing what is taking place. A pattern is just a pattern; we created it and we have the ability to change it.
Our mind body connection helps us to become more mindful to care for ourselves as we begin to notice how our bodies are expressing. What is happening in our minds is directly connected to our bodies. Our thoughts are constantly sending messages to our bodies with information. These messages can cause us to; clench our jaws, tighten our shoulders, stiffen our backs or cramp our legs, just to name a few. These messages are creating patterns which our bodies become familiar, expressing on automatic pilot. We can change our patterns; change our reactions to response as we open our awareness.
We can mindfully choose to redirect our attention on a regular basis, by becoming aware of our body, noticing how it feels. We will then be more aware when our shoulders seem to be moving up into our ears or when our jaw begins to clench.
Here are a few simple things we can do:
Set our intention for the day before we get out of bed as we stretch like a cat taking a few deep breaths, smiling as we connect with our intention.
Notice how our body feels, set a parameter for noticing how it feels when we are relaxed, focused and clear, so we that can redirect our attention once we notice a physical change.
Take two deep breaths every hour, after completing a task, a series of phone calls or as we notice our body tensing, focus on 2 deep breaths and just feel it.
Stand up and stretch like a cat every hour, especially when sitting for long periods of time, march in place for 20 steps with arms swinging.
Drink lots of fresh pure water, this not only keeps us hydrated, but will nudge our bodies to get up every so often.
Take a 30 second vacation with Lois, We can all find 30 seconds for ourselves, these 3 second videos guide us to take 2 deeps breaths becoming instantly calm and relaxed.
Smile into our breath, our cells will smile right back, and those around us will smile too.
~ Lois Kramer-Perez, CHt. is a Certified Feng Shui Practitioner & Educator working with people creating healthy abundant lifestyles embracing the feng shui principles for people, places and things. Visit loiskramerperez.com to view Lois’ videos. Lois would love to hear from you, contact her at lois@loiskramerperez.com | 201.906.5767.