Tossing and Turning

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I’m wearing lots of different hats this week!

A Show of Hands: De-Stress

People handle stress in different ways.  My main stress-reliever, working out, has been yanked away from me due to my knee injury.  I start physical therapy on Wednesday, and I can’t wait!  It’s not exactly a gym, but it will do.  The stress ball just isn’t cutting it.

“De-Stress”–Graphite and Watercolor

What’s Your Mantra?

Yesterday, my massage therapist, who I think of as a true healer, came over to work on my uncomfortably tight lower back.  After she inspected my sacral region, her questions shifted to my mental and emotional health.  As the chaos of the previous weekend spilled out, I started to make the connection.  A large part of my discomfort had been brought on by stress.  She asked if I was still practicing yoga, to which I proudly replied ‘yes,’ but then she asked me a question I wasn’t prepared for: “What’s your mantra?”  Suddenly, I was a kid in school who hadn’t done her homework.  I didn’t have a mantra. I wasn’t even sure what a mantra was, or what I was supposed to do with one. Luckily, my therapist is a great teacher, too.  By the end of our 60 minute session, my pain was gone, I had a mantra, and I knew how to use it.  At least once a day—and any time I feel stressed—I am to breathe in deeply while thinking “I am at peace,” then exhale slowly while silently reciting “My creativity flows freely.”  I am confident that my new mantra will help my body and mind to function more efficiently and peacefully.  I think of it as a decadent piece of dark chocolate that I can pull out of my pocket any time I need a little something to take the edge off—only it’s calorie-free. Namaste.

“Namaste”–Pen and Watercolor–from my sketchbook