Yoga Lounge

Yoga Lounge

Top Tips For Creating Everyday Balance

Leading a balanced, healthy life means eating a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, enough relaxation time and enough exercise. Studies have shown that stress is quite literally a killer – so here are some suggestions to help you incorporate a little peace into your daily routine.

Develop a daily yoga practice

This is not only an effective, but also a cost-effective way to improve your health and reduce stress. If you haven’t done yoga before, find a good class to attend at least once a week. You should be paying around $10 – $20 for this.

Create a space at home in which you can burn some relaxing or revitalising essential oils (lavender is my favourite) and do some yoga poses each morning. A yoga mat is great but not essential, so all you really need is yourself and some comfortable clothes to move around in.

My favourite new website is myyogaonline.com . For under $15 a month you have unlimited access to hundreds and hundreds of yoga and pilates classes. If you’ve been doing yoga for a while you could ditch the classes and just do this to save yourself a few dollars. I love it (even if my partner finds it hilarious to tease me while I’m striking poses in our teeny weeny lounge room)!

Or, treat yourself to The Yoga Deck (amazon.com). This fantastic set of cards has a range of breathing, meditation, stretching and full yoga poses for you to try. The beauty of it is that you can do one or two of the cards for a short session, or twenty of them to keep you busy for an hour or more.

Learn to belly breathe

Lately I’ve been learning to breathe. Yep, sounds pretty basic doesn’t it? However, I found that I hardly ever exhaled fully and without realising it I was shortening my breath whenever I felt under pressure. This in turn causes stress and anxiety levels to rise. So when you’re feeling stressed, try this great little exercise:

* exhale completely, really pushing the breath out, starting at your tummy and ending by emptying your lungs. You should see your tummy going in as you exhale.

* breathe in for a slow count of four, starting from your belly (you should see your belly move outwards) and ending by filling your lungs.

* breathe out for a slow count of eight, emptying from your belly right up through your lungs.

* Repeat at least five times.

This exercise has the power to dramatically calm me down and the best bit is – you can do it any time, any where and nobody has to know!

Ditch the caffeine Seriously.

You don’t need it. I promise. Caffeine raises your heart rate temporarily which can make you feel jittery and will only make you more stressed. If you are tired, you are tired and guzzling caffeine can’t make you function more effectively. Try getting some sleep instead! Oh and substitute it with decaffeinated green tea – which has amazing anti-cancer properties.

Make a big deal out of bedtime

If you have trouble sleeping, try making a fuss about bedtime. No, I don’t mean in the manner of a seven-year-old… I mean, have a warm bath – try Be Genki’s wonderful Tranquility Bath and Shower Oil. Make yourself a cup of warm milk and honey and turn off the TV. TV is stimulating and can lead to an over-stimulated brain at bed time, so try reading a book instead for an hour before bed. Burn some relaxing essential oils while you’re at it. You’ll drift off into a peaceful and restful sleep feeling totally pampered.

Try incorporating these simple actions into your week at least some of the time and notice the difference.

About the Author

Passionate about skincare and beauty, Kate was horrified when she found out about the toxic chemicals lurking in her favourite products. A passionate desire to educate others on how to make safer choices led to the birth of Ikigai, the Organic & Natural Skincare Boutique.

Byron Bay Yoga Lounge