All of us at Joyful Heart a thrilled to introduce a recurring feature on the Joyful Heart Blog. One of our fearless Board members, Sukey, also is the co-creator of The Well Daily, a daily email and blog focused on all things related to yoga, meditation, nutrition and wellness. Sukey and her team have generously offered to share their wisdom and insights with our audience each week. So look forward to recurring posts every Wednesday.

Hi Friends,

Jen G., the Well Daily's resident yoga goddess, shows us this simple way to bring more peace into our lives. I thought you would appreciate it as much as I did.

xoxo,

Sukey

Meditation is a difficult practice, and life's distractions often make it a challenge to focus.  When you want to relax or de-stress, controlled breathing is a great solution—you don’t even need a yoga mat. It’s called Pranayama, one of the 8 limbs of yoga, and although it sounds very obvious to breathe, sometimes it’s easy to allow the breath to become erratic or short, especially when you are in a stimulating or even chaotic environment.

One example of Pranayama is equal breathing, a breath exercise you can do anywhere. Whether you’re rushing from one place to another, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic or your mind is just racing with all that you have to do, Sama Vritti can help you to relax, focus and be present in 4 simple steps.

1. Either come into a comfortable seat or a comfortable standing position where you can lengthen your spine and relax your shoulders.
2. Close your eyes or gaze softly downwards, and have your mouth closed so that your lips are gently touching each other.
3. Take a slow inhale through your nose that lasts for the count of 3.
4. Exhale slowly through your nose for the whole count of 3.

Continue even inhales and exhales, counting your breath. Feel free to make the count higher to lengthen your breathing, just make sure that your exhale is as long as your inhale. You could even begin with a count of 3 and move up to counts of 4, 5, 6 and so on; work up to the longest breath and then begin to shorten the breath length from a count of 6 to 5 to 4, visualizing a pyramid in your mind.

The Well Wisdom: Pranayama is one of the eight "limbs" or practices that comprise the Hatha Yoga system. Asana—the physical postures practiced in most yoga classes—is another limb in this ancient system for living a healthy and fulfilling life.