Can’t find a photo in the free media library of chair yoga but anyway….
I finally made it back to our yoga class after weeks of virus and feeling very ill. I was shocked at how tired it made me feel. I think I’ve lost muscle strength and did most of the poses on the chair. My balance has got worse so I clung on to the back of the chair for support for standing poses.
Yoga relaxation was good tonight, we had to imagine a place only we knew to be our secret retreat to rest our minds and bodies. I chose a place far back in my memories. I won’t say where, but I have got an ideal place to visit in my mind.
Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and hygiene.
I have to admit that I seem to be persuing self neglect instead although not self loathing thankfully. I do try to look after myself but things have been difficult and care takes energy and effort. I often think I should do things, but I don’t always have the wish to do them. When you have problems to deal with its hard to find the enthusiasm to keep going and do more.
One good thing I have done recently is to go back to yoga class which I had missed for several weeks due to injuring my toes. That has helped a bit. I have found that it has slightly helped me to relax.
I try to meditate at yoga, but I often lose the imagery and fall asleep instead! Somehow the words of different visualisations deeply relax me. Luckily I’ve never had to be woken up, and usually I wake up as soon as the teacher tells us to bring some movement back to our bodies.
I was also given advice about using the word ‘the’ to take your mind off your worries. Basically thinking the word ‘the’ over and over has no context, you can’t attach other ideas onto it. So as I say you lose the worries and you can relax.
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
I’m not good at yoga, and I only do chair yoga once a week, but I think it helps me a bit mentally as well as physically. I can do standing poses and balances with the aid of a chair. I can’t get up and down from the floor, so sitting on the chair gives me support as I try and adapt the poses.
My physical problems make it hard to bend and twist without feeling dizzy, so I have to try and keep my balance and not over extend the positions I try and achieve. Problems with my arm mean I struggle to extend it. That’s why I like yoga, what we do is not competitive but collaborative. That too means a lot to me.
The yoga class happens before choir practice, and I’m sure that has a good impact on my mental health. Sometimes I don’t go because I’m not feeling well or feel down. But I’m trying to do the best I can. Life can be difficult so it’s worth trying to find something to do that helps.
What strategies do you use to increase comfort in your daily life?
I’m not good at yoga, I’m not very flexible anymore. So I use a chair for most of the positions we do in class.
I have to use the chair for balances too, I just cannot manage to stand up and balance on one leg. But overall I think its slowly helping my mobility. I don’t feel like I will ever be able to do some of the poses, but at least I try.
I think yoga is about doing the best you can, and trying to get to a calm state of mind in the process. I have to admit I have not studied the teachings behind the practice, but if it lowers my blood pressure and helps me to gain some lost movement, even if only to a slight extent, then I’m all for it.
I ache after classes but I think as I have kept going I have been able to feel more comfortable physically, and it might be helping me mentally.
I don’t like the idea of ‘exercise’ style of yoga, where people force themselves into position and use heated rooms, I think there is more to it than that. What next? Boxing yoga? No thanks.
You have to relax and unwind sometimes. But it can be difficult. Those that know me will understand that I use art to relax me. I draw or sketch. But the problem is that I can already be too wound up to begin drawing. Sometimes I will try and do some breathing exercises, six breaths in, hold for three, six out, hold for three. I do that for a few minutes to calm my breath. I learnt it from yoga class.
My worst situation for unwinding is when I go to bed. I suffer from various health issues and try various techniques to relax. Breathing, or trying to see a golden healing light when I close my eyes. The imagined light enters your head as you breathe in and descends to your feet, then as you breathe out it travels back up and out of your head. It’s hard to describe, but it sometimes works. Imagination is a good thing, learning to control thoughts. I’m hoping it might help my insomnia, even if it’s only a slight improvement….
Other times I just look at my phone. It’s really bad I know, but I go into my own little world and ignore the rest of it. I switch off my mind to my hubbys voice sometimes. I think its rude of me, but I feel cocooned and detached from worries. Maybe not the best thing to do.
The painting of the governor is an example of my work, where I spent hours painting it, concentrating until my hands and shoulders ached. Mentally unwound, but perhaps physically the opposite!
First chair yoga. I can’t get down (or up) off the floor, but I’m trying to do the yoga positions as well as I can to improve my mobility. I can’t lift both my arms above my head, and I do go very wobbly if I try to do a balance, but I do my best. Yoga gradually helps you stretch and move and I hope will build my core strength. I would never do ‘hot’ yoga, I’m trying to find a bit of enlightenment not strong exercise.
After a break I joined in singing with Loud Mouth Women choir. We are learning music from the 1950’s, a sea shanty, a Samoan call and response and a new song for the coronation, so it was very varied. Good also to see three new choir members, I hope they enjoyed it. We may be doing a gig soon, watch this space. X
A foil wrapped chocolate Easter bunny that we had for our yoga class chocolate meditation. You unwrap the chocolate, smell it, look at it and notice it’s shape and texture, then put the chocolate in your mouth without chewing it. Finally you chew it and notice how the texture changes. The process of slowly looking at, and tasting it gives you time to understand how lovely the chocolate was, and without just eating in a greedy or hungry way. You are exploring your senses. We also did yoga postures and breathing. It was a simple relaxing evening class.
I started out today at the Factory Floor at Spode singing with our choir and another choir. We were with the Boat Band who played cajun music first. Two of the band are our choir leaders. We sang before lunch was served and then again afterwards. It was great fun.
Then I went home for a rest, but I decided I felt well enough to go to yoga class. I haven’t Bern for a couple of weeks. I do chair yoga because I can’t get down on the floor and I can’t do inverted postures. My blood pressure is too high for that. Even so I felt tired afterwards, but it made me realise I have got over the cough and chest infection I’ve had for a few weeks.
Straight after yoga I sang with the other choir I am in. Each song was fun. I felt my voice getting clearer and I was able to hold notes I hadn’t been able to last week. We are learning some new songs and I was pleased that I could hear the tunes and pick them up. I had a really good day. I hope it carries on like this. X
At my old yoga class from twenty years ago, we used to meditate about a golden healing light that you could conjour up to relax and help heal aches and pains. Recently I remembered this, so when I am trying to sleep and struggling to stop circular and intrusive thoughts, I close my eyes and try and notice the flow of blood in the back of my eye. Sometimes I catch sight of a sparkly gold light flowing in waves across my vision. I don’t exactly know what it is, I think it’s linked to my pulse, but it’s definitely a visual thing, not imagined. I then think the words ‘golden healing light’ over and over as I watch the waves of light wafting across my vision. I don’t know if this would be of any help to anyone, but it’s an interesting phenomenon.
Mallaband-Brown 