Hi Space Makers,
I’d like to invite you to take a really deep breath and kind of shake your arms out a little while you breathe out. And now I’d like to invite you to do that a couple of more times.
Ok, now that we’ve already done one small, silly, helpful thing for ourselves, let’s do another.
As you go through your various tasks today, I would like you to sing from time to time and see if helps you to release any of the internal and ambient stress that we all seem to accumulate this time of year.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a good singer for this to work – as someone who sings with more enthusiasm than skill, I assure you that any level of singing ability is absolutely fine here.
You can sing in the kitchen, in the car, with other people, or wherever the heck you’d like.
You can pick a seasonal tune, pick a ditty you find especially enjoyable or you could give one of these ’10 Happiest Songs’ a try (with the caveat that while there is some science behind those song choices, they are also not very diverse, culturally or otherwise.)
And if you can’t quite bring yourself to sing aloud, maybe dial it back to humming which is also helpful in relieving stress.
No matter what kind of noises you are making today, tuneful, silly, or otherwise*, I wish you ease and self-kindness as you make space for yourself in your day.
And here are today’s suggested practices. As always, these are just here to save you the trouble of seeking them out, if you have your own plans for movement, meditation, or other space-making today, please proceed with those.
Our suggested movement practice for today is 6 Minute NIA Dance Break with Myrna Weinman from Nia Technique. This movements in this video are slow and deliberate so it is pretty easy to pick things up as you go.
And our mindfulness practice for today is this 10 Minute Mindfulness Drawing Meditation: Easy Art Tutorial For Relaxation and Self Care from Artfully, Mindfully.
*There are those who suggest that screaming into the void is the way to go but that’s a bit hard on the voice so proceed with caution on that one.
