Be Kind, Please Unwind

Remember the sticker on the old VHS tapes we rented from the video store?  “Be Kind, Please Rewind”  Phrases get stuck in my head and tend to rattle around.  Usually they roll around and jumble up with other ideas.  This morning “Be Kind, Please UN-wind” floated to the surface and demanded attention.  Sure, kind of funny, but so what?

Somewhere in between my morning coffee and leaving the house for yoga class, it occurred to me, that really was a cute thought.  Since Boo woke me up at 6:30 this morning (guess she knew I was going to need more time!) I had the extra time to put together some little paper pouches with “Be Kind, Please Unwind” and a tea bag for each of my yoga students.

It is not that any of my students need to be reminded to be kind to others… I am blessed to have a class full of sweet, thoughtful and generous ladies and gentlemen…. My goal was to remind them to be kind to themselves.

We are all busy.  There is always something that needs to be done.  All too often we put off doing something nice for ourselves because we are so busy doing something for someone/something else.  Who are we kidding?  I like having the laundry folded, but that really isn’t a gift to myself!  Does having folded laundry make me a nicer/happier/better person?  Will I remember to smile and be friendlier to others because I dusted all the knickknacks (where did all those come from anyway?)? Umm…. probably not.  How about if I took an extra 20 minutes in the tub and read a few chapters in my latest book?  Maybe if I sat on the front porch with a glass of wine and watched Boo play in the leaves?  Am I getting anything accomplished?  No.  Maybe? Yes.  Twenty minutes of “me” time.  Time that is all mine… mine all glorious mine…. to do something completely useless and tremendously valuable all at the same time.

Taking time out to do something that is completely for yourself is good for the body, mind and spirit…. its good for the whole world too!  Don’t believe me that painting your toenails that gorgeous shade of red you’ve been drooling over will help promote world peace?  Did it make you happy?  Yes?  Then it counts!

How many times have you rushed through the grocery store, zoomed through the gas stations, barreled through your day with your list of to-do’s rolling around in your head?  Were you smiling?  When the lady at the check-out asked you how you were today did you say “fine” or did you smile and say “great” (all the while thinking about how adorable your new pedicure looked inside your shoes?  Did you smile at the man next to you at the gas pump?  Wave to the kids in the back of the school bus?

Doing little things (or big things!) that are special to you is important.  You never know what kind of day that kid on the school bus is having…. maybe your wave will be one of the little bright spots in his day.  Maybe that man at the gas station really needed a smile…. You just never know.  Having a “happiness reserve” built up in yourself helps you to spread happiness to others.  So, yes… painted toenails, long soaks in the tub and cups of hot tea really do promote world peace.  So please be sure to do your part.  Be Kind, Please Unwind.

Yoga Pose of the Week:  Threading the Needle – SUCIRANDHRASANA

This is another one of those poses that wasn’t named the name that I thought it was named. I am notoriously bad at remembering the names… even worse at remembering the Sanskrit names, but this time even YogaJournal.com couldn’t give me an answer.  Yoga Journal says THIS is Sucirandhrasana or Eye of the Needle pose.  Does the name really matter?  Not as far as I am concerned, but I just want to mention to you (so if you ever go to a class where the teacher is big on names, you won’t be surprised to hear things called something different).

I searched twists on Google until I found the following examples:

Description from YogaBasics.com

Description from Roxdoesyoga.com

Video from Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr

Yoga Homework: 

Drink your tea and take at least twenty minutes to do something that is for you and the Universe.  Be Kind, Please Unwind.