Don't resist your current experience

If you keep resisting your current experience, you inhibit your ability to fully align to your authentic energy. You aren't really in this experience, you are somewhere else.

Since starting this community I have been grounded in the belief that wellbeing is a unique journey, and self-discovery for each individual is essential. What works for me will not always work for you, which is why I believe we should experiment with many different practices to find what we each individually can engage with the most.

In my own journey, I have also discovered that some wellbeing practices work for me during certain times and some practices don't, so it also depends on where you are in your life and how open you are to each practice at that time.

So, this week is short and sweet:

I discovered a very simple practice that you can do whenever you’re at home and need to re-calibrate.

I have genuinely just learned this new practice this week and I have been trying to do this every evening (after I put the kids to bed) for 10 minutes and I have already noticed a subtle shift.

Legs up the wall pose (or Viparita Karani) activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which stimulates the relaxation response of our mind and body. 

Viparita Karani calms your nerves, releases stress and tension, and maintains balance. The regular practice of the Viparita Karani pose can influence the body’s self-healing ability.

Your experiment for this week → put your legs up on the wall horizontally for 10-20 mins a way.

Here is the science-backed research on how this benefits your wellbeing:

• Improved circulation: this inversion pose improves venous drainage and lymphatic fluid movement by reversing gravity’s effects. A leg up the wall yoga pose is helpful in people who have low blood pressure levels, edema in the legs and feet, or chronic venous insufficiency.

• Improved sleep / relaxation: as above can help calm the parasympathetic nervous system, making it a valuable tool for stress reduction and anxiety management.

• Reduced leg fatigue and cramps: It is the best remedy to reduce the build-up tension and soothe muscle cramps, leg fatigue and soreness. The Viparita Karani pose helps in pelvic muscle relaxation and relieves menstrual cramps.

• Improved Posture: The posture can encourage better alignment of the spine and pelvis, which may help with posture-related issues and reduce lower back discomfort.

• Helps headaches: The root cause of migraine and other headaches is tension. Performing the legs up the wall pose helps improve blood circulation in your head and relaxes the neck and back muscles.

• Relieves tension in hamstrings and lower back: this pose gently stretches hamstrings, glutes, hips and spine and releases tension from the lower back. It reduces the curve of the lumbar spins and relieves tightness in the lumbar region. With regular practice you will notice improvement in back pain and flexibility.

Sending you all much love,

Meg

@hapehaven