Your ‘5 a day’ nourishing yoga poses

By Lindsey Porter, Smart Works Edinburgh volunteer and owner of www.yoganuu.com

For the 5^th and final article on our theme of ‘5 a day’ to enhance your wellbeing – find here 5 yoga poses I suggest building into your daily routine. It may be helpful to get into this new positive habit by asking yourself the following, ‘What needs to be true for you to undertake these recommended stretches/positions so that you can nourish yourself inside and out regularly?’ And then seek to make those adjustments. And although some of the pics I’ve shown here are doing yoga outdoors please feel able to take your yoga wherever you feel comfortable.

“Yoga adds years to your life and life to your years.”

Suppleness of the spine. Back bends & forward bends.
A spine that can flex will literally stand you well in life and especially into your senior years. It’s never too soon or too late to start. Begin gently though and listen to your body. A great place to start is first thing in the morning, come on to all fours on the floor, making sure your shoulders, elbows and wrists are stacked over each other for good alignment and the same with the hips over knees. From here as you exhale flex your spine by arching it up, whilst drawing your abdomen in towards your back ribs, dropping the head and neck down. Move into a neutral flat-back position and then dip your back down so that your pelvis tilts up and your head, chin and gaze tilt upwards too. Once you feel comfortable doing this you can explore and deepen your spinal postures, such as into wheel pictured below. There are many great instructions available through google. This short sequence is known as Cat/Cow or Marjariasana pose.

Cow (whilst inhaling)

Cow (whilst inhaling)

Bridge/ wheel pose (Chakrasana)

A breath of fresh air. Pranayama.
Let out the old and bring in the new. A simple deep, full breath in and out can do this. For a good dose of yogic type breathing ensure you fill your lungs and allow your belly to expand and diaphragm round out. This helps expel stale air often trapped in our lower lungs as we typically breathe into the upper part of our chest. Go deeper by exploring Anulom Vilom, an alternative nostril breathing sequence. It’s a simple and effective way to aid awareness of the breath, bring about a sense of calmness as well as balance to your body, mind and spirit.

Alternate nostril breathing (Anulom Vilom)

Change your view. Inversions – head below the heart.                                                             Shake it up a bit. Challenge yourself in new ways often to keep stagnant thoughts, mind and body at bay. A simple putting your head below your heart can help achieve this. This is what any inversion posture does from the yogic headstand to a standing forward fold bringing your head towards your shin or knees. Find at least one you feel comfortable with and go from there. In most cases, when I work with my students, particularly new ones, they come with a fear of headstands. And always they leave with a sense of elation when they have managed in some way to embrace that fear and work on a small or big step in their headstand journey. Please take any inversion step by step to make sure you have the necessary shoulder, neck and core strength to support the depth of your chosen posture.

Headstand (Sirsasana)

A twist in the tail. Turning or rotations of the torso.
The beauty of a twist is the compression it gives to our vital organs aiding activities of digestion, elimination and detoxification. Twisting movements can also be found to help release tension, anxiety and to be energising. Please make sure you are aware of any contraindications and modifications right for you before starting your practice. In particular if you have any spinal challenges, injuries, chronic digestive complaints or are pregnant.

Seated Twist Pose ( Ardha Matsyendrasana )

A moment to pause. Relaxation – meditation, mindfulness.                                                       An equally important part of any yoga practice is the time you take to stop and relax during and at the end of a yoga session. This helps the body to absorb the range of movements. It encourages the mind to find new spaces and to explore what’s there. Relaxation can be a guided visualisation or meditation, a head massage, Yoga Nidra or simply lying quietly, listening to subtle music with an eye bag and blanket over you. Do it regularly, even if for 5 mins a day, for a more peaceful existence.

Relaxation pose (Savasana)

5 yoga poses to do each day. 5 ways to help your mind, body and spirit be at its best. 5 articles to help enhance your daily wellbeing. (Click here to read Part I , Part II , Part III and Part IV)

And lastly, my 5 ways to say thank you for reading and coming on this journey of wellbeing:

1. Sign up to the Yoga~Nu~U newsletter at yoganuu.com and receive your FREE copy of these articles in one handy document.
2. Get an amazing 20% Discount off Asquith eco and ethical Active wear clothing great for yoga. Simply enter ‘YOGANUU20’ online at: asquithlondon.com
3. Join my growing Facebook following at: Yoga~Nu~U to receive wellbeing reminders, information about yoga event and offers.
4. A simple written ‘Thank You’.
5. and lastly please do send your feedback in how you find these articles so that I can review and improve to yoganuu@mail.com

Namaste.

“My yoga. It doesn’t matter if things aren’t perfect. My practice is my time to feel alive, loved and free.”

Lindsey Porter is an accomplished Project Manager in Financial Services who is now running her own business providing WellBeing Retreats, Yoga classes and other therapies and writing articles on topics she’s passionate about. She is an experienced NLP Practitioner, Reiki Master and Holistic Therapist.

Your ‘5 a day’ to more flexibility

By Lindsey Porter, Smart Works Edinburgh volunteer and owner of www.yoganuu.com

Continuing my belief that just as ‘5 a day’ of helpings of fruit and veg helps us to sustain a balanced healthy lifestyle, 5 a day of other activities can also support our greater wellbeing. This article offers 5 ways to help keep flexible. Being able to adapt to whatever comes our way has to be worth thinking about doesn’t it?

As always if you find you do some or all of these things already, then acknowledge the good work you’re doing and spread the word.

1. The short cut and the long way. Allow some room during your life for taking the ‘other path’. Giving yourself permission to view different options on how to get from A to B can help overcome unforeseen obstacles, frustrations and give us a better chance to life with a positive happy mind set.
2. Glass half empty or full? Being able to look at a bad situation and pull out some positives can help keep your mental health in good shape. It can also help avoid the downward spiral of negativity that can appear when we least need it. If you feel stuck in your reaction to things, try asking yourself who’s voice is that talking? By questioning where that comes from, it can free you from experiences of the past that sometimes subconsciously drive our responses. By making the process more conscious this can allow you to release past events, change your reaction and to move on.
3. Flex the body. Yoga is great for encouraging flexibility through your body, muscles, joints and especially suppleness through the spine. We know the ageing process sees joints become stiffer, bones compress and our movement often suffers. Help counteract this process by introducing some regular yoga into your life. A few postures at home or at a class, even keeping it low intensity will help. Benefits can be felt from doing chair yoga. Whatever fits with your lifestyle, make time.
4. Hack through routines. Constrained by time and find it easier to follow the same old routines? Open yourself up to ‘life hacks’ a term used to cover a multitude of suggestions on how to get stuff done in quicker easier way or recycling/using stuff you already have in a cool new way. For example, use an old bottle of suntan lotion to hide your money and keys in when at the beach by cutting across the top then placing the lid back over it. Another example; freeze any past-its-best wine into an ice tray and use for cooking. Add a cube or two into a hotpot or stew! Google ‘life hacks’ and you’ll soon be brimming with new ideas of how to be more flexible with stuff!

5. See flexibility as exploration. I encourage you to make stuff up! There are enough rules, regulations and unwritten rules in life. When you can, embrace your inner rebel and try things in a different way. For example, if you always follow a recipe to the T, allow yourself a cooking experiment where you guess at volumes, add in a few random ingredients from your cupboards and see what happens. You could find some new creations and open your mind up to new possibilities. Last autumn I discovered homemade spicy apple chutney made with Garam Masala spice works a treat!

“Do Yoga so that you can stay flexible enough to kick your own arse if necessary!”

(This blog is part IV of a many part series by author Lindsey Porter. Click here to read Part I , Part II , Part III)

Lindsey Porter is an accomplished Project Manager in Financial Services who is now running her own business providing WellBeing Retreats, Yoga classes and other therapies and writing articles on topics she’s passionate about. She is an experienced NLP Practitioner, Reiki Master and Holistic Therapist.

Your ‘5 a day’ to cultivate a healthy attitude of gratitude

By Lindsey Porter, Smart Works Edinburgh volunteer and owner of www.yoganuu.com

Continuing my belief that just as ‘5 a day’ of helpings of fruit and veg helps us to sustain a balanced healthy lifestyle, 5 a day of other activities can also support our greater wellbeing. Todays article contemplates ways and reminders to bring us into the present and help us cultivate a healthy attitude of gratitude. Why do we care about it? Well it’s thought that being thankful for things starts a chain reaction to happiness as well as a way to heal ourselves.

So to get you started on flexing your gratitude muscles here are 5 things to consider doing on a daily or frequent basis. As always if you find you do some or all of these things already, then acknowledge the good work you’re doing and spread the word.

1. Being grateful for what we don’t have! You might be thinking something like how can I be grateful for not having material wealth, a better job, more patience etc. but here’s the thing what about pausing to be thankful for a whole bunch of things you don’t have that keeps you well. For example and assuming you’re UK based, being grateful we don’t have contaminated dirty water to drink, dangerous wildlife around us, life threatening toxic waste…and you can add more I’m sure.
2. Gratefulness captured. You may have heard of gratitude journals where you write something down everyday that you feel grateful for but how about trying this that I came across – a gratitude jar. Write something down on a slip of paper fold it up and pop into a jar. When you get to the end of week/month/year tip them all out and read them, reflect and allow the bountiful feelings over a period of time wash back over you. If you have others at home why not encourage them to do the same and you could then read each other’s for something different? You can then get as creative as you like with your reminders like make a collage with them!
3. Measuring your gratitude/happiness. Imagine like in the country of Bhutan, situated at the eastern end of the Himalayas we measured nationally our levels of happiness known as GNH (Gross National Happiness). What would be your criteria for measuring it and what score would you give yourself? If you scored yourself low, what actions, even small simples ones, could you take to improve on that number? Bhutan acknowledges even with the measure they are not perfect at providing happiness to citizens but just by outwardly committing to it and becoming more aware it probably makes it better.
4. Reframe, reframe, reframe. Repetitive and perhaps slightly annoying advice but I do believe it can make a big difference in a positive way. Here’s an example you’re in a rush to catch the train to commute to work in the morning, suddenly a car pulls out in front of you and there is an impact. An instant response may be one of frustration and anger at messing up your day but you could also look at it from the point of view that it was fortunate no-one got hurt or suffered physical pain from the accident. And let’s face it, at some point we all make a mindless move in our car. A good reminder is to be more mindful when driving. Become aware of your negative thoughts, stop the downward spiral by pausing and looking to reframe the situation with a positive view on it. It gets easier with practice.
5. Gratitude in action. Similar to one of the points I mentioned in my previous article about Wellbeing, by helping someone else you may find yourself getting something back which can often be a feeling of thankfulness. What could you do? Volunteering your time to help a charity, donating money for needy causes or just giving verbal support to people you know, people you don’t know. Saying a few more ‘thank yous’ during your day. I recently viewed an incredibly moving short clip about a woman’s personal gratitude project – view it at: https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1272551406119048/ 

You may remember in the last article I talked about using a visual activity such as when you see a red traffic light to remind you to stop, pause and in this case, use to think about one thing in life you can be grateful for. I hope we’ve sown some seeds for you to grow a healthy attitude of gratitude. See you next time.

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

(This blog is part III of a many part series by author Lindsey Porter. Click here to read Part I , Part II)

Lindsey Porter is an accomplished Project Manager in Financial Services who is now running her own business providing WellBeing Retreats, Yoga classes and other therapies and writing articles on topics she’s passionate about. She is an experienced NLP Practitioner, Reiki Master and Holistic Therapist.

www.yoganuu.com

Your ‘5 a day’ to enhance your general wellbeing

By Lindsey Porter, Smart Works Edinburgh volunteer and owner of www.yoganuu.com

Continuing my belief that just as ‘5 a day’ of helpings of fruit and veg helps us to sustain a balanced healthy lifestyle, 5 a day of other activities can also support our greater wellbeing. Todays article contemplates a more holistic view on ways to enhance our overall wellbeing to bring us nearer to that mental, physical and spiritual balance.

Here are 5 things you can consider doing on a daily or frequent basis to boost your overall feel good-about-yourself factor. And if you find you do some or all of these things already then acknowledge the good work you’re doing and spread the word.

1. YOGA. Of course this is going to be Number One on my list as a long standing yoga practitioner and teacher! But here’s the thing, when I see new people come to my yoga class and start say things like, ‘I slept so well after last week’s class’, ‘my body feels so much better from the lengthening and stretching, ‘coming to your yoga class helped restore peace at home’ it validates how bringing our focus towards the connection between our body, mind and breath rejuvenates us. I suggest trying out as many different types of yoga as it takes to find a style you love and that will help you eagerly return to your yoga mat to explore and benefit from these connections. Also consider introducing a new daily routine in to your life starting with perhaps just one yoga practice. This will help awaken and prepare your body and mind for the day ahead. For example you could start with a 2 minute hip opener practice, best to do first thing in the morning and you can view my short YOUTube version of it at: http://www.yoganuu.com/be-inspired.html
2. WALKING. Not in any old way but in a focussed way. In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) language we like to call it, mindful walking or walking in another person’s footsteps. The theory is when you would like to perhaps do something in a way you see someone else doing it well or to understand a person’s viewpoint/actions try this approach. Take yourself to a quiet place. Settle your breath, closing your eyes can help and then really start to bring to mind what that person looks like, sounds like and even smells like. Assume what you believe their identity to be and then start to take a few steps in a way that you know or imagine that person would carry themselves. As you continue to walk in this very conscious way you can start to think how that person would look at or approach your situation/challenge whatever it is that’s on your mind. You may find from this exercise you become aware of some fresh perspectives for your specific issue or challenge. When you do, have a go at doing something differently and see what happens. Changing things up and taking a fresh look at something can lead to a better sense of wellbeing in creating a life with a wider approach and more choices.
3. DRINK TEA. So not everyone is a tea drinker and that’s ok. However, whether you drink it regularly or sparingly there is growing support around the health benefits particular types of tea can bring. It’s the high levels of anti oxidants as well as compounds called catechins which are regarded as helping with our concentration and focus. Aj, a friend of mine who I used to work at the same London bank and went trekking in Nepal with back in 1997 (and we definitely savoured our chai tea back then too), co-founded Camellia’s Tea House and is the UK’s first ITEI (International Tea Education Institute) Master Tea Sommelier. There’s a growing range of health and wellness infusions available from health food stores and you can also check out Aj’s amazing range available at: camelliasteahouse.com. Plus, not to be missed is Smart Works Edinburgh’s own Luxury Afternoon Tea, socialising and fundraising event taking place on Friday 20th May, 2016 1.30-4.30pm where you can get your fill of wellbeing in good company. Contact edinburgh@smartworks.org.uk or call 0131 516 7787 for tickets or further information. I’ll be drinking a cup along with you but from our May Scottish Wellbeing Retreat in the remote and tranquil Kinloch Rannoch.                   “Tea is like a hug in a cup.”

4. FIND SOME QUIET TIME. We all know how busy and inundated we are with our to do lists, post it notes or gadgets with reminders going off. At the same time can we honestly justify a good reason for not being able to give ourselves just 5 or 10 minutes in a day. A moment to pause, find some quiet, to zone out and reflect? Some ‘me time’ is a habit worth cultivating and if you need convincing read, listen or watch Andy Puddicombe’s take on how 10 minutes can make all the difference (he has a book ‘Get some HEADspace, phone apps you can get a daily quote from and some TED talks on YOUTube). Over my years working towards some type of ‘meditation’ practice his take on things is getting me the closest. Call it what you want; meditation, me time, mindfulness, or something else, just find a way that gives you a reason to press the pause button long enough to catch your breath, reflect, renew and be able to move on again from a better place.
5. BRING SOME WELLBEING TO SOMEONE ELSE FIRST. Whether you feel connected to your own sense of wellbeing or otherwise, look for ways to bring some wellness into the lives of others and consciously note how you feel in response. It can be the tiniest thing that can make the biggest difference to someone’s day or even their life! For example, you’re stuck at a T junction in a queue due to some temporary traffic lights caused by road works (this seems to happen a lot around my way), suddenly the traffic with the right of way and green light allows you to pull out to merge in turn (letting you avoid a long wait), how does this random act of kindness make you feel? I’m guessing however big or small that feeling, it’s likely to be a positive one. Some refer to it as the law of the universe, karma, where what you give out you receive back or ‘reap what you sow’. Those of you who are already active volunteers may already appreciate the benefits of boosting your own ‘well’ of internal wellness through supporting, encouraging and helping others. I know the Smart Works Edinburgh team certainly appreciates all the hard work and enthusiasm from the volunteer team to make a difference to the clients and their families beyond.

Now you have 5 simple and useful tools, whether as new suggestions or reaffirmations of what you already do. Next try this: attach one or all of these ways of enhancing your wellbeing to a simple ‘trigger’. This will act as a reminder to focus on and acknowledge one to five of your ‘5 a day’. For example, using a traffic analogy, every time you’re in a vehicle and are stopped or see a red traffic light let this be a reminder to focus on what you’re doing about nourishing your wellbeing today. Let me know how you get on… and watch this space for the next 5 a day topic encouraging us towards a better life.

“Create a life that feels good on the inside not one that just looks good on the outside.”

(This blog is part II of a many part series by author Lindsey Porter. Click here to read Part I)

Lindsey Porter is an accomplished Project Manager in Financial Services who is now running her own business providing Well Being Retreats, Yoga classes and other therapies. She is an experienced NLP Practitioner, Reiki Master and Holistic Therapist.