December: When your bib melts and you feel like blowing up
Hi there!
I woke to the alarm at 6:30am this morning raring to go up the mountain for my first day of my snowboarding season. Only to find that my new bib had been left near the heater overnight and, well, it melted. I was devastated and truth be told, still am. I know it’s just material but I’d waited 4 years for the right one to come along and couldn’t believe my luck in snagging it as part of Burtons Black Friday deal.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt such an explosion of anger, especially over something so small. But I couldn’t seem to put a cap on it. All of the small things that had started to annoy me this morning as well had turned into gigantic frustrations. It started to feel like my quickened breath was like a gust of wind on this fire spreading it to every fiber of my being.
But then my pranayama practice raised its hand and in a very patient voice it said, ‘Hey you- remember me? I’m right here.’ Well, I didn’t actually hear any voices BUT I think you get my jist.
So I asked for 10mins of silence from the other half as we made our way to the mountain and dove into the work.
Like an asana practice, there can be a sequence for pranayama. That’s what I’m experiencing anyhow. Here’s the sequence if you ever find yourself about to erupt, I honestly felt 10x better afterwards.
Close your eyes or keep them open, notice the breath
Start to count the length of the inhale and then the exhale
Unclench your hands, maybe soften the tension in your neck
Add in a pause between each inhale and exhale
Build a count into Sama Vritti (box breath - even counts for the inhale, the pause at the top, the exhale and the pause at the bottom. Start with the count of 4 and build up from there)
Close it off with Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing - here’s a tutorial)
A pranayama practice doesn’t have to be complicated or be like the sequence above. It could simply be just noticing the breath and maybe redirecting it or extending it. Although techniques are incredibly helpful, why not try and make one up yourself? Listen to your body - see what comes up. Notice how it feels. It all helps. There’s no wasted effort.
