Be Well & Relax

We understand that life gets busy and that stress can come in many different forms. Sometimes it’s hard to find the time to relax and practice self-care but it is important to give yourself a moment to calm your mind. We have teamed up with our resident yoga instructor, Deacon Carpenter of Well Sonoma to provide wellness guidance.

Below we highlight breathing exercises to reduce stress, calm the mind and bring clarity. We also cover evening rituals for better sleep and lowered anxiety and deeply relaxing yoga poses to calm and clear the mind before bed.

Pranayama

Definition: Breathing exercises to reduce stress, calm the mind and bring clarity.
Yogic breathing (Pranayama) is one of the most effective and easy ways to calm your mind, take you out of Fight, Flight or Freeze (sympathetic nervous system response) and allows you to rest & digest (parasympathetic nervous system response).
Here are examples of yogic breathing exercises (pranayama) that you can use daily:
  • Deep Belly Breathing: Takes you out of Flight, Fight or Freeze into Rest & Digest, oxygenates the blood more effectively, brings oxygen in the lower lobes of the lungs and relaxes the psoas muscle.
  • Alternative Nostril breathing (Nadi Shodhana): This technique helps to align the left and right hemispheres of the brain, lowers heart rate and improves lung function
  • Cooling Breath (Sheetali Breathing): This technique helps to cool emotions, mitigate anger and reduce blood pressure
  • Ocean Breath (Ujjayi Breath): This technique helps to balance and calm the physiology, increases oxygenation and builds heat to help clear and tone the lungs

 

Slumber Time

Evening rituals for better sleep and lowered anxiety + Deeply relaxing yoga poses to calm and clear the mind before bed 
Following a bedtime ritual for good sleep hygiene is just as important as your own personal hygiene! In fact, many will argue that not having good rest and peaceful sleep will disrupt our digestion, impact our emotional wellbeing, negatively impact our relationships and even start the process to deeper seated illnesses.
Here are simple and easy to follow rituals to have great rest and a good night’s sleep, and what to do when you wake up between midnight at 2 am!
  • Eating a lighter evening meal
  • Disconnecting from all screens
  • Foot and head massage using stress-relieving oils
  • Breathing rituals
  • Restorative yoga poses
      • Reclining butterfly
      • Legs up the wall / on the bed
      • Supported child’s pose
  • Using the Calm App, Insight Timer, Relax Melodies, or Headspace App

Sleepy Time Playlist:

If you like to listen to calm ambient music while falling asleep click below to listen to a specially curated playlist created by Deacon.

Click Here To Listen

 

1. Aveda Stress-Fix Body Lotion

2. Yoga Bolster Cushion

3. Nidra Oil

4. Relax Restorative Eye Pillow

5. Cork Yoga Blocks

6. Aveda Stress-Fix Composition Oil

Breathing Exercises Video:

Slumber Time Video:

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