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So far Morag Scally has created 52 blog entries.

Keeping Flexible

yoga-poses-cat-cow-back-stretch-pose

When presented with a sore back, increasing stress, blocked sinuses or digestive troubles, an easy self-help remedy is to combine two simple yoga poses. The Cat and the Cow Pose. Follow these instructions to relieve early pain. If pain continues after a few days, give us a call for your free consultation at Indigo Spring.

  1. Begin on your hands and knees with wrists directly under shoulders and knees directly under hips. This will protect your joints.
  2. Inhale as you drop your belly slowly towards the mat, lift your head and chest to the sky and look up. This is the Cow Pose.
  3. Draw your shoulders down away from your ears.
  4. As you exhale draw your navel towards your spine and round your back towards the sky. This is the Cat Pose.
  5. Release the crown of your head towards the floor.
  6. Inhale into Cow Pose. Exhale into Cat Pose.
  7. Repeat 10 times and sit back upright.

Notes:

  • Work within your own flexibility and move slowly.
  • If wrists hurt, place forearms on floor.
  • If knees hurt, place blanket beneath them.
  • Practice the Cat Cow Spinal Curl in the morning, when you’ve been sitting for a long time, or as a warm up before exercise.

Enjoy!

Keeping Flexible2017-02-07T17:15:55+00:00

3 Minute Breathing Space

Time for resolutions? Well possibly, but for me it’s about really making time for yourself. Not just when we hit a difficult point but throughout the days and the weeks. Each time I sit down to reflect, the most fundamental of practices comes to the forefront. Just Breathe. So here is one of my favourite easy techniques shared by my good friend @jillyoga.

3 minute breathing space.

Take a moment to find a comfortable place to sit. Bring your awareness into your breathing. And as you exhale, close your eyes. Bring your awareness into your body. Allow your muscles to begin to relax. Starting at your feet and scanning up the whole of your body. Noticing as you do if you are holding any tension anywhere. And just seeing if you can let go any of that tension. Just a little.

Become aware of your breathing. Notice the inhalation, and the exhalation. Not changing it in any way. Just noticing. Is it deep or shallow? Short or long? Feel the breath in your abdomen, expanding as the breathe comes in, and falling back as the breath goes out. The breath is our connection to the body, to mindfulness, becoming present. If you want to you could introduce counting. Counting 2 or 3 on the inhalation and 2 or 3 on the exhalation. There’s no right way to feel. No control. Just allowing the breath to breathe itself. The whole body breathing, from the inside out. And then letting go of the breathing, not even trying to breathe. Allowing the mind to do exactly what it wants to do. Just allowing the body to be just the way it wants to be.

Coming home to your body. To this moment. Remembering the stillness we seek, doesn’t come from because the world is quiet or the mind is still . Stillness is nourished when we allow things to be just the way they are, in this moment. Moment by moment.

I found it useful to imagine this exercise as an hourglass shape. Suggested by Mark Williams and Danny Penman in their Mindfulness book.

The wide opening at the top is like the first stage of the breathing space. Becoming Aware and gently acknowledging whatever is entering and leaving awareness. It allows you to notice whether you are caught in the Doing mode of life and if so helping you to shift to the Being mode.

The second step is like the narrowing of the hourglass. Focusing attention on one specific area and observing rather than influencing. Focus on the breath moving in the lower abdomen, focus on the physical sensation and gently coax your mind back to the breath when it wanders.

The third step is the broadening base of the hourglass as you open your awareness. Here you gently and firmly affirm yourself in the world.

3 Minute Breathing Space2017-02-07T17:20:55+00:00
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