Listen, I get it. Life's busy. Sometimes, the kids are lots of work, work is work, marriage feels like work, driving here and there is a brain-drain, dinner and cleanup is work, bedtime is a circus---sometime even just picking your next Netflix binge seems like a daunting task. 

And yet, if you know me at all, you know I don't buy into the idea it's "just the way it is". A huge hell no to that, thank-you very much. The purpose of life isn't to hold on so tightly to ideas like you've got to "play hard" for big rewards. The purpose of life is to surrender the control and embrace joy through making peace with your mind. This peace takes place when we enjoy the pace of our lives. 

So how do you know when you've really hit your peak point of overdrive and stress? How will you know when you've truly hit your limit?
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2.)We all know sleep is crazy important--scientifically proven actually. There's a saying in the Sleep Consultant world, "sleep begets sleep". And the same holds true with sleepless nights feeding into more of that. If anyone has ever seen an overtired baby or toddler you know the outcomes of tired kids--it gets messy. So, why do we think it's any different for us? Lack of sleep, for instance, makes it infinitely harder to: 
-make decisions (in the yoga world, we might say, harder to listen/trust to your intuitive voice) 
-follow instructions 
-feel connected to your body 
-ascertain what emotions are tied to reality and what are just part of the muddle

Remember what I just said about sleepless nights? Well, its no wonder you aren't able to hold much weight in the emotional control arena. It's hard on the mind and the body to be dealing with on-going overwhelm and stress. You might have coping methods you use (deep breathing, massage, etc) but that's not going to always help when the stress takes an emotional toll everyday. Coping methods are good, but won't solve the problem. 

If this one resonates with you, you might find yourself:
-crying often, something without warning or reason
-yelling and acting out anger with family or partners or even strangers
-feeling emotionally drained or numb 

When we are in overwhelm or dealing with long-term stress, we tend to forget about our own needs, especially since we often feel like our lives are a series of putting out fires or constantly having to be "on". Losing our self-care practices (because, I mean, there are only so many hours in a day? Right?) means that we tend to let our most basic needs come last, when in fact they are most important during stressful times. Self-care means different things to many people--but at its core, it means you are taking care of your whole being, the mind, body and soul. 

​99% of the time, when I ask someone about their meditation practise it's usually met with the same response: 
"I don't do it as often as I should"
"I have one, but I can't seem to shut the mind off."
"I can't get into it, but I know I need to work on turning off the stressy thoughts"
"It's something I should get better at."

So you see a theme here? 

No matter what your practise is, our automatic response is to beat ourselves up over it. Our mind chatter is about
-not doing enough
-not doing it right
-not being good enough at it

Can we just hold up a hot second here? I sense we are missing the point of it all. Meditation isn't about
-stopping the mind
-doing it for hours at a time
-throwing our hands up when it "doesn't work"

Meditation is about getting into the body, creating more space between thoughts and become more and more at ease with the thoughts that do show up (because they will!). 

If you're finding you meditation practise tough, or you want to get started with one, check out the video I created in my FbGroup. Here's the quick low-down on what I shared:

Meditation is made waaaay easier if we drop the stories around what it's suppose to feel like (inner peace all the time), look like (sitting up, cross-legged), and sound like (quiet and peaceful). Because here's the #truthbomb we all need to hear: Meditation isn't always easy! Sometimes the mind buzzes, sometimes it doesn't. And when we can still be okay with the buzz and stop "trying" to fight the mind, everything become infinitely easier!

Try these simple tweaks to your practise and see how it works: 

​-Jump up and down, shake, so whatever you can to move the body for a quick minute before laying down. This gets you into the body, making it easier to be there and not in your head.

-Set an intention (not a goal!) for your practise, give the mind some words or phrases to focus on for when it wanders (because it will!) i.e. "I connect with joy and calm". "Let go"

-Stop placing so much meaning and judgement on the thoughts that do come up. This is the art of unattachment and a critical piece of the puzzle to letting go of stress and tuning into more inner peace. When we judge our thoughts, we often make them "wrong" and want to stop having them. Instead of "I shouldn't be feeling this...I don't want to feel this"...just try noticing it, say to yourself.. "Hmmm, interesting, I'm noticing I'm feeling ___" This recognizes this, but doesn't make it wrong. 

-And, of course, stay connected to the breath. This is you anchor point of consistency to rely on. To give that busy mind something to focus on, count outloud or in your head an inhale for a count of 4 and an exhale for a count of 8. This helps practise the art of letting go of twice as much as we let in--decluttering the mind and body. 

-Allow your meditation to be shorter rather than longer. Of course, we want to eventually get to a longer session, but for now even just 10 minutes is a great start. Less is more. 

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At the end of the day, we can embrace our own practise when we let go of the obstacles our minds creates around the whole thing. Meditation is a place to learn to be quiet--our lives are busy, so understand it will take time to unravel from that. 

Much love, 
Namaste

When it comes to yoga and children, be playful and fun. Remember that there is no "right" or "wrong" way for them to enjoy the poses. Anything goes, but remember to avoid headstands because their neck muscles haven't developed enough to make it safe. 

For the moms out there that want to get a better sense of mindfulness for themselves so that they can share this powerful practise with their children join me here for some great tips, free trainings and chats. 
xo Namaste