January has arrived, the first month of the calendar year, fresh and full of possibility. This is also a core winter month in the Northern Hemisphere, known for being the coldest period due to the earth's tilt away from the sun. Even after the return of light on the winter solstice, there is a thermal lag as nature takes its time (months) to rewarm. Winter is a time for rest, renewal, and recharging after the holidays. Finding rituals that sustain and support during the colder months can be helpful in navigating the balance of effort and ease. In general, slowing down in winter conserves energy and resources. Due to decreased temperatures in winter, the body works harder to maintain warmth causing faster fatigue. Our natural circadian rhythms shift as the sun sets earlier increasing our need for cozy comforts and sleep. Winter often brings a lack of motivation due to decreased sunlight which can affect our mood. Some people experience the "winter blues", a potential sign of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Healthy lifestyles build resilience and discerning what is best day to day is a personal decision. Listening to what your body, heart, and mind need is a good place to start. Be gentle with yourself, seek out help as needed. To help shift your mindset and boost energy levels, move your body, exercise, get outside for a walk when the sun is shining, find ways to increase natural light in your home, and add moments of rest into your day.
Since September, I've been sharing monthly movement challenges which combine a functional movement pattern and a yoga pose to inspire those who are looking to stay active and find new challenges in movement patterns. For January, I'm sharing Mountain pose and Sit to Stands, a fundamental movement of daily independence. Mountain Pose, or Tadasana (tada = mountain, asana = seat/pose) is a standing, upright yoga pose that builds body awareness and serves as a base for many other yoga postures. Grounding into your feet with earth energy represents the unshakeable nature of a mountain. The lower body's strong, steady base allows the upper body to reach towards the sky, creating expansive awareness and a receptive, open heart.
The Sit to Stand exercise is a bodyweight movement (essentially a squat) of rising up from a sitting position to a standing position without the use of your hands strengthening the core and lower body muscles. As a nurse, I have performed the 30 second Chair Stand Test (also known as Sit to Stand) with many of my patients as a clinical assessment used to measure lower body strength and fall risk. I've combined this movement with mountain pose as it is a natural progression of where you land once you are standing up. From a sitting position, the action of pressing down through the feet, hinging forward with the hips, and lifting yourself up is an indicator of health and longevity. To perform this exercise, count how many times you can move from a full Sit to Stand in 30 seconds without using your hands. Normal values vary with age, gender, and medical history. You can read more about the specifics of this assessment and the scoring averages of the Chair Stand assessment on the CDC/STEADI resource page. Be gentle with yourself, if you find that moving from a sitting position to a standing position without the use of your hands is challenging, start where you are. Use your hands to push off your thighs or chair seat to get up. If you practice this exercise consistently, your core stability and muscles (glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves) will get stronger.
For increased challenge and strength progression, try adding a weight as you move from sitting to standing mountain pose.
My previous 'Movement Challenges' start here. As each month passes, this collection of yoga poses and functional movements are slowly growing, allowing creative opportunity to tie them together for a short, daily, mobility routine.
This winter, I'm prioritizing moments of rest into my days. Start simple, listen to a guided meditation, enjoy a warm cup of tea, sit quietly with a sweet pup, or practice Savasana (Corpse Pose). Time is always a factor when adding more things into your day, but even 5, 10, or 20 minutes of rest can make a big difference for your nervous system. Rest allows our body to heal, repair, and strengthen. Rest decreases mental and emotional stress, preventing burnout and overwhelm. Rest is true self care, a reconnection with what we truly need.
Wednesday Chair Yoga (10a-10:45a) at the Melrose YMCA.
Thursday Mat Yoga (8:45a-9:45a) + Chair Yoga (10:15a-11a) at the Milano Senior Center.
FREE yoga videos on YouTube
FREE guided meditations on Insight Timer
"Instead of perfection, focus on progress. Instead of having something done perfectly, focus on just getting it done. From there, you can edit, build, grow, and develop it to exactly what your vision is. But if you don't get started, you'll never arrive."
Over the holidays I read 'The Mountain Is You' by Brianna Wiest. This inspiring book of self discovery uses the metaphor of a mountain as being the obstacle between who you are and who you want to be. It's a guide, much like a compass, to help identify your own self sabotaging behaviors (procrastination, unhealthy habits, etc.) that are preventing you from finding your true north. Strategies are discussed to help manage and transform these internal mountains into paths of transformation and inner peace. I filled my journal with many notes and quotes from this book, it continues to be a resource for the inevitable ups and downs life throws our way.
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