Five Holiday Stress Tips

Holydays can be stressful, even for an enlightened jolly lama like myself. Who doesn’t have an in-law that drives you mad or a schedule which burns the candle at both ends?

There are countless little tools, tricks and techniques to help us learn to relax, de-stress, and be more present and wakeful in the moment.
Experiment and find your own.

1. Cut yourself some slack, and relax. Give yourself some compassion and kindness. Don’t strive for perfection; even the Liberty Bell has a crack.
2. Take a breath, take a break. Give yourself the gift of time and space, at some time during the holiday, or even every day. If you’re stressed out even a short breath-long break will help. Call it a mini-meditation, or instant breathe-a-prayer. An instant American meditation. BREATHE, RELAX, FOCUS, CENTER AND SMILE.
3. Connect with nature. Talk a walk, or just look out the window now and then during a busy day. Listen to the rain, contemplate a body of water or a river or waterfall, or the sound of the waves, and dissolve into ineffable presence.
4. Clench and unclench your hands and feet (soles and toes) a few times, then breathe out and relax. This is one of the best modern desk-yoga, commuter-yoga or airplane-seat-yoga techniques. All the ancient masters practiced it. 🙂
5. Try the ancient White Swan meditation. Here’s how it goes…Say, chant, or just think to yourself the ancient Vedic mantra “So ham”. Say So on the outbreath, and Ham on the inbreath, and dissolve all the tension and nervous energy. Rest in the embrace of the white swan of innate spirit’s soft, downy, wings. (Hamsa means white swan in sanskrit.)