Exercise and sleep pattern
Six areas to embrace during quarantine . Episode IV . Exercise & Sleep Patterns
Exercise
Although you’re probably deprived of your regular exercise practice in a gym, studio, or park, and you may be missing contact with nature, you still need to exercise while you’re quarantined. This makes me think of the Netflix documentary, called «El Pepe», which is based on the life of Pepe Mujica, former president of Uruguay. While the narrator asked about his life in prison before becoming president, the first thing Pepe mentioned was this: «I started my days in my dungeon, which was about 100 square feet, walking from side to side and back and forth, until I got tired.» He spent seven years there, without being permitted even to read books.
See this as an inspiration and realize that there is a lot you can do at home. I would recommend three things:
• Move, move, dance.
• Create a routine.
• Raise the bar of your practice every day.
Of course, as I am a Yoga teacher, I would strongly recommend the practice of Yoga. It not only provides a stimulating and balanced exercise for your body, but also a great way to calm your mind and appease your emotions. And you can practice it within two square feet. I’ve developed online classes that you can take. You can find the necessary information in the following link. If you are interested and have financial problems, please contact me and I will grant you access to these classes based on donations.
Sleeping
Sleep is the best way to heal our physical body. It heals our mind, the intellectual center, and heals our heart as an emotional center. It is an unconscious process, but currently many people are having trouble sleeping. The reality is that sleep is a result: If you expand your consciousness, eat consciously, control your stress, work on your emotions, and exercise, your sleep will improve.
But, at this historic period of transition and difficulty, your sleeping might still suffer. So, try to work on creating a daily routine, go to sleep by 10:30pm, and decrease the amount of food eaten at dinner. It is also important to slow down your activity after sunset and participate in relaxing activities. Listening to soft music, reading, taking a hot bath with salts, getting a massage with sesame oil, or drinking a glass of milk with sweet cookies, are some of the pleasures we can give ourselves to gently ease into our preparation to sleep.
It may also be helpful to modify our definition of sleep. Sleeping is simply a different state of consciousness, so you may benefit from exploring sleep as a connection to the unconscious. Exercises such as recapitulation or reviewing our body awareness can help a lot at bedtime. We can help you with such practices, especially through Ayurvedic inquiries, please follow this link.
I hope that you found these suggestions helpful. I can further guide you through a more healthful quarantine if you contact me. Wishing you a safe, healthy and reflective time.