Ashley Di's Mindful Musings

4 ways to turbo charge your self care practice into a self love practice.

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Sat, 05 Feb 2022 02:13:48 GMT

It's the month for romance and superficial notions of love surround us. But what if we stepped back from the commercialism of Valentines Day and focused on self love and healing our own hearts first?

Have you seen the tired mother posts on social media of a freshly showered mother often captioned with something like “Finally took a shower. #selfcare”? I have seen this all too often.

Unfortunately we live in a world where women’s needs are often put on the back burner. Women get conditioned to believe that basic hygiene is considered self care and that we should feel #blessed to get the opportunity to squeeze a shower into our day.

You and I both know women deserve more than this and while self care has taken on more importance in our society in recent years. It has been defined incorrectly as meeting basic needs like hygiene, healthful eating and getting enough sleep. On top of this I have seen self care often confused with self love too.

It's the constant watering down of what women deserve or should strive for that just pisses me off. All women are worthy of a life that includes self care and self love no matter what stage of their life or what pressures exist.

So now that we have my rant out of the way let's talk about what self love is and how by amping up your self care practices you can move into a life of more love!

The way I see it is that self care is the bare minimum in which we should be practicing, and I am not including basic needs in this definition. I am talking things like your exercise practices, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, taking a relaxing bath, going for a walk, chatting with a friend, really whatever practices or activities make you feel good. Generally speaking, self care can be defined as the actions you take to make yourself feel good.

Self love can be defined as “an appreciation of one's own worth or virtue”(1). Which seems like a simple concept but how do we actually practice this? Particularly if we are starting from a place of depletion.

We can practice it in small shifts in the way we do things and by shifting our internal dialogue. Below I share 4 ways to push your self care practices into self love overdrive.

1. Get extravagant

Think of your self care practices now and see if you can amp them up. Add some extravagant touches to your relaxing baths, add your favorite music to your yoga practice, burn incense while you meditate. Take what you already do and add to it to make it even more special to you.

2. Open your heart space

Now this involves turning to your body to help your mind. No doubt you have heard about the mind-body connection in wellness circles but how does it actually work?

The chakras are a great place to start this exploration and you may have heard them mentioned in a yoga class at some point. The chakras are energy centers within our bodies, there are many of them but 7 main ones and each corresponds to a different area of the body and has different characteristics, you can see them below.

When it comes to self love we can work with a few of these chakras but to keep things simple here we will discuss the Heart Chakra. It probably comes as no surprise to you that the heart chakra is the center for love. If your heart chakra is unbalanced you may find it hard to feel love for yourself or others. Working with your heart chakra in a self love practice is a great way to bring it into a more balanced state.

Physically opening up the heart space is an accessible and simple way to work with the heart chakra. One way to do this is through movement, specifically in yoga there are many poses that physically open up this area like back bends.

Another way to open up through the heart is through your breath practice. Focusing on the heart space and envisioning a light growing in this space with each breath is a powerful visualization technique. Try my self love meditation that uses this technique below.

3. Practice loving touch

Loving touch is the act of touching your own body in a way that expresses love for yourself. This can be through self massage or just in the way you move your body. For instance, if you need to use your hand to move your leg into a yoga pose do it mindfully, gently and with loving thoughts rather than negative thoughts about why your leg might not reach that place on its own. Touch your belly and move it around to find comfort in a forward folding pose. Practice touching yourself kindly, gently and with love, give your body gratitude for it is able to give you.

4. Use loving affirmations

Affirmations may seem silly to you at first and trust me they seemed ridiculous to me at first too but stay with me here. While you may say an affirmation to yourself and think “Damn, I definitely don’t believe that about myself”. It’s power lies in its repetition.

You already know that if you repeat an action you will get better at doing it. You know that if you repeat a word or phrase enough you will remember it. Affirmations work the same way, the more repetition the more your mind will believe it and your body will remember it.

Here are some examples of some self love affirmations to use but it can be helpful to get creative and come up with your own.

I am worthy of my own love.
My body is beautiful just the way it is.
My body is my home, I am loved here.
My body is a magnificent vessel through which I channel love for all beings.
I have enough love in my heart to give myself and others.
I am proud of who I am.
I accept myself for everything I am.
I am who I am and that is enough.

If you are trying to come up with your own and struggling I recommend imagining that you are saying it to your best friend and then apply it to yourself. Quite often we are much more kind and loving to those around us than we are to ourselves.

Now I know some of these practices may not resonate with everyone, just take what you like and leave the rest. But, I do encourage you to think up your own self love boosters and try and incorporate them in your life as often as you can. I would love to hear from you about how you are improving your self love and brining more love into your daily life, join me in the comments below!

3 Reasons You Should Try Walking Meditation

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 21:06:52 GMT

Do you feel restless in seated meditation? Struggle to calm your mind? Walking meditation can help with that and more!

I've said it before and I will say it again... meditation is for everyone! If you are a skeptic stay with me here because, while meditation is for everyone, not every meditation style will work for everyone.

Yes there is more than one way to meditate! The options you have within meditation are so varied that I can almost guarantee that you will find a style that you love or at least feel comfortable with.

The style of meditation I want to address in this blog today is walking meditation. I know some people may say "well I already go for walks" but that is not what i am talking about.

Walking meditation is the act of slowing down and allowing the feedback of feet touching the earth to focus and calm the mind. No music or podcasts in your ears, leave the dog at home; just you, your feet and the earth. Slow your walking right down and pay attention to all that you feel.

The idea is to bring your mind into the present moment which can be difficult when you are in a seated meditation and the mind has ample opportunity to run off to your to do list. Giving your mind something simple to do during your meditation will allow you to keep those intrusive thoughts at bay and focus on the present.

So, why is a walking meditation so beneficial when compared to other styles? Here are 3 reasons why I find it so good.

Moving the body gets you into your body

The simple act of moving your body with mindful intention will get you feeling deeper into your body. When we are not in our body we can feel anxious, ungrounded and distracted. Taking mindful steps at a slower than usual pace can help you come back home to your body, your vessel that carries you everywhere you go. Your body is your one constant and is therefore your home. Try and treat it like a home and a place that is your refuge.

Ignite the senses to get present

Using the senses is a great way to focus the mind on the present moment. In a walking meditation the obvious one would be the feet touching the ground: focus on the heel coming into first contact, your weight shifting over it as you roll through the middle of the foot, to the ball and toes. Reflect on the support the earth gives you and how sturdy it is. You can also use your other senses to notice the environment around you, can you smell wild flowers? is the sun warm on your skin? is there a breeze?

Each one of these inquiries will draw your mind into the present moment and keep it there allowing a calmness to wash over you.

Using simple repetitive matras/affirmations to bring intention to your walk and day

Because you are walking during this meditation you have a built in beat to work with in each step. Use the repetitive nature of your steps to chant (silently or out loud) an affirmation or mantra. This can not only give your mind something to focus on it can set your intentions firmly in every step. There are a few ways you can do this, using each step to say each word. Here are some suggestions:

Joy, joy, joy, peace, peace, peace
Arrived, home, arrived, home
Here, here, here, now, now, now

The options here are truly endless and down to your creativity. The thing I love the most about using a word with each step is that it forces you to slow down and stay in an even rhythm. This is a great trick if you have a tendency to rush from place to place.

If you have read this far and are thinking "okay, I want to try this!" then you are in luck because I have a free guided walking meditation you can try below right now!

3 Ways to Create a Less Stressful and More Mindful Christmas

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 20:25:14 GMT

This time of year can be tough for a lot of us for a lot of reasons. Read on as I talk about what I struggle with this time of year and how I turn some of the mayhem into mindfulness and calm my nervous system.

If you have been following my blog for a while you would know that I am from Australia and live in California, which means all my family is over 7,000 miles (11,000km) away. So, Christmas time is a quiet time for us here in San Diego and while we have our little family to celebrate with we miss the big family get togethers that we would be a part of if we were home. There is envy in my heart when I speak with my family as they all talk about their Christmas plans together, my mind plays the "but if" game thinking about how nice it would be if I could just buy a plane ticket and join them. I feel it taking my attention away from my present moment and enjoyment at spending Christmas as our little unit. I wan't to be present here in the life I have now not playing the wishing game because when we constantly wish for things to be different it is hard to appreciate what we have. So how do I come back to the present and enjoy the life I have? I turn to mindfulness, the practice of being at one with the present moment, slowing down and enjoying the little things.

Talking with my friends about family at this time of year I am also reminded that not everyone has great memories of magical childhood Christmases and can experience a lot of stress and anxiety around this time of year. The mindfulness practices that I employ this time of year are ones that apply to any type of stress, so if you are dreading Christmas this year because of rough relationships, loss or anxiety give these practices a go and create some of your own memories.

1. Moving away from consumerism and into community

Support small businesses and shop local and small this season. Small businesses have taken a massive hit these last two years, especially creatives like myself. With craft markets few and far between this festive season, what should be our most lucrative time of year has left us feeling stressed and defeated. Please try to resist the urge to shop amazon and other big businesses and make someones family smile with your purchase. Bonus you'll get better customer service a personalized experioence and most probably a much better product (that doesn't victimize vulnerable populations). I guarantee you will come out of this season feeling so much better about your purchases if you make this small change.

2. Creating the atmosphere you want.
Holiday decor is everywhere, and the pressure to have that perfectly instagramable home is real! But you know what matters more? Connecting with your space. Yep, sounds easy right? Well it's okay if it isn't easy, maybe the perfectly decorated home is just too stressful for you to upkeep. Maybe money is tight and you can't afford all those expensive decorations. Or maybe you find it hard to connect with the commercial "fast fashion" of holiday decor. Well here are a few things you can do to create that atmosphere you want without visiting Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

Scent
You'll notice I always come back to scents when creating a mindful space. This is because the sense of smell is one of the most powerful senses when it comes to evoking memories. And for me at Christmas it is all about the festive smells. If you love Christmas time try some of the following scents to get you feeling festive, you'll notice that most of these have warming properties which is perfect for a winter Christmas:

Spices: Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg, All spice, Ginger
Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage
Plants: Cedar, Juniper, Pine
Fruit: Orange, lemon, apple

These earthy, warming scents work with the root and sacral chakra which are very important chakras to work on balancing as we enter the new year, particularly if you are the kind of person who likes to set new year intentions. Having your lower chakras in balance gives you a great foundation to build on as you cultivate new growth.

If, however, you struggle with this time of year and the scents listed above do not bring happy memories try going the opposite direction with more floral scents that work with your heart chakra. While I like to advocate that you work with your lower chakras first, jumping straight to the heart chakra can give you that sense of calm and nurturing you may need over the holidays. Try rose, jasmine or ylang ylang.

When it comes to scents I always suggest burning or diffusing pure natural versions. Essential oils in a burner or diffuser, burning incense or burning the dried plant itself. Using synthetic fragrances can disrupt the endocrine system and make you susceptible to illness.

Mindful Decor
I love creating my own decor accents, you may have seen my scrappy tassels in my last blog post. At Christmas craft is king (or queen) for me! My absolute favorite craft is to create my orange pomander each year. A pomander is an orange that has been decorated with spices like cloves, cinnamon and star anise. Note how this decor incorporates the scents I listed above? That is not a coincidence. They smell delightful and are so easy and fun to make. Check out my tutorial for you below to make your own. As with many of my crafts I always encourage you to make it your own and add whatever adornments you like. You can even add the tassel craft from my last blog post to the bottom if you like. I always like to create with multiple purpose so I can limit my waste and make the most of my crafts. And bonus! Its a kid friendly craft too (just make sure you do the knife work).

I hope you enjoy this fun mindful craft and that perhaps it becomes a new tradition for your family.

3. Focus on the simple moments and breathe

If you have ever noticed how fast you do things and never truly enjoy the little things then this one is for you. Find a moment in your day where you are doing something simple like making a cup of coffee or maybe adjusting some Christmas ornaments your toddler decided to rearrange. Slow the task right down, direct all your attention to it and practice deep breathing. The deep breaths will help slow your body and mind down re-regulating your nervous system and help you quiet that mind chatter. Try this practice with your child or someone in your family and see how it helps you to foster a small moment of connection in an otherwise busy day.

Well I hope these 3 tricks help you to destress this festive season and connect to yourself and others. Drop me a comment below and let me know how they helped you.

Happy Holidays!

3 Steps to Calm Motherhood Overwhelm

Tue, 11 May 2021 21:03:32 GMT

How I find my way back to mindfulness as a mother who is touched out, exhausted and never has a moment to herself.

I struggle with motherhood... a lot... and often. It's the constant waking up in the middle of the night (yes totally normal for a toddler), tantrums, frustrations, potty learning, refusal to eat anything, demanding every snack in the cupboard, water in the 'vessel of the day' (a fun guessing game whilst being screamed at), the guilt of sitting down at the computer to work while I sit him in front of the tv, the thoughts of inadequacy as I wonder if I should be taking him outside to play more, socialise more, more vitamin D!!! The list could go on for days and I am guessing if you are a mother too you probably have a similar mile long list buzzing around in your head. Well you are certainly not alone there, I sit with you in frustration and solitude. I sit with it because I know that this society will not have it any other way, every where you turn you are bombarded by images of "perfect" mothers, unsolicited advice, judgement of your choices and sometimes even shame and disappointment. So how do we navigate this environment while raising tiny humans in a way that doesn't see us crumble under its mighty weight? I am not sure I have an answer for you but what I do have is ways to ground myself, practices to help me turn inward to a place of intuition and knowing and tools to keep mothering in a way that is authentic to who I am.

1. Breathe

Yeah I know, you've heard this one before but hear me out. First take your focus away from stressors, look at an artwork on your wall, something in nature, a burning candle etc. Take three deep cleansing breaths, in through the nose and sigh out through the mouth with an emphasis on releasing tension in your body on the exhale.

2. Connect with your child

Find something that you can connect with your child on, ask simple questions like:

Would you like to practice your breath with me?
Can you find something that is the color red/yellow/blue/etc?
Can you find me something soft to squeeze?
Tell me about what you are doing?

I find that simple action based questions can help calm a moment while your child has to focus their attention on something else. While this may only be a moment, it can be that moment you use to catch your own breath too. Note this will not work during a meltdown nor can I guarantee it will work at all (toddlers are mysterious like that) but it can give you a chance to regroup and your child a moment of connection.

3. Connect with yourself.

Once you feel the energy has calmed around you pick one of your 5 senses and find something that ignites that sense and brings you pleasure. Place a hand on your heart, close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply then spend a few moments indulging in the pleasure of your chosen sense. Here are a few ideas:

sip on your favorite drink or eat your favorite food
smell your favorite essential oil
hold something smooth/furry/soft etc in your hands and run your fingers over it (a pet works well here)
listen to some soothing sounds

Whatever you choose take the time to focus fully on the simple act you are performing and notice the pleasure you find here.

Doing these few small things when I am feeling overwhelmed or in chaos can make all the difference in how the rest of my day plays out. I find that if I stay on the chaos and stress train then my reactions to what should be minor stressors can be out of proportion. It is almost like pressing reset on the day and who doesn't love a second chance?!

Why I Hate New Year's Resolutions and the 3 Things I Do Instead

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 20:15:43 GMT

It's been years since I set any New Years resolutions and for good reason. I hate them! They make me feel like crap! Read on to hear about what I do instead and why i think you should drop the resolutions too.

It's mid January and those lofty New Year's resolutions you set two weeks ago are starting to slip and not seem so important anymore. You may start hating on yourself when you let them slip a little and start to resent setting them anyway. That New Year's feeling of optimism is long gone and now you are left feeling defeated and maybe even a little worse about yourself. I know that feeling well!

So a few years ago I asked myself why I keep putting myself through all that? They never worked anyway and always left me feeling like a failure. So I stopped. I did nothing. But that didn't sit right either.

As we turn over a new year you can't help but be flooded with feelings of possibility for a year ahead, the slate wiped clean so to speak. It's all around you! The discounted gym memberships, chants of "New Year, New You!", diet's and detoxes at every turn on social media, not to mention all the questions of what resolutions you have set, or my current pet hate "What is your word for 2021?". (cue eye-roll here).

Yep I said what I said! I hate this new trend of picking a word to live up to for a whole year. It seems to float around the yoga and wellness circles in place of resolutions, touted as a more self loving, kind way to enter the new year. So we have gone from lofty, specific and often hard to reach goals (ie. setting yourself up for disappointment) to totally a totally vague and arbitrary word that you are supposed to live up to for 365 days (damn near impossible to attain something that is not defined at all)!

By now you are probably thinking I sound like a total cynic, but hear me out. While both these New Year tactics may work for some I know for a fact some of you are still with me, so whats the alternative? I can't claim to know the magic combination of things to give you hope in the new year and success in the following 365 days. But I can tell you what has felt better for me. So here are my 3 New Years rituals.

1. Pause

Yep that's it. I never set intentions on January 1st, I wait. Sounds simple enough but it can be so easy to get caught up in the New Year's hype and let that hope and excitement for the new year creep in and have you slip back onto the resolution rollercoaster. I find that waiting a couple of weeks allows me to get clearer about what I want for this year, it also allows me to get realistic. It's not that I do nothing those first two weeks, I do plenty of thinking but I give myself time for clarity.

2. Setting Intentions

This is where I put pen to paper and actually write down all the things I want for the year. I focus less on quantitative goals (weight loss, money earned etc) and more on how success feels like, the feelings I want to cultivate along the way. So if my goal is health related I focus on how I would feel when I reach that "success point" like energised, comfortable in my skin etc. This has two benefits. Firstly, it keeps me from setting number based goals which if not met make me feel like crap. Secondly, it allows me to celebrate little wins along the way without having to think about how far away I am from my end goal which can take the joy right out of a celebration.

When writing your intentions down I here are some tips:

Put on some calming music, light a candle, close the door. Setting the right vibe for you to think and write can make all the difference.
Get out the paper and colored pens. Let your inner child help you and get creative, having something fun and colorful to refer back to will help keep the hope and excitement alive.
Get specific but not too specific. What I mean by that is set those specific goals but try not to attach ultra specific numbers to them. For example if you want to earn more money in 2021, try setting goals as tasks like asking for a raise, finding new client leads, undertaking a course to gain more skills, etc.
Attach feelings to each of them, how do you hope to feel as you work on these things and then also as you reach points of success.

3. Reflect and Pivot!!

This is one of the most important parts of my New Year Ritual, although it generally happens much later in the year, it is important to keep in mind as you set your intentions. Shit happens! Things change! Jeez just look at last year. Sometimes you have to PIVOT!!!!

This is something that I have learnt well as a military spouse, how to redirect when the proverbial rug is pulled out from under you. Know that it is okay to let go of a goal or intention if it is not serving you. Knowing this can also help in setting your original goals because it allows you to dream of all the possibilities without restraint, because you know that you can revisit them and nothing is set in stone. This also helps when some months have passed and you haven't made progress on something, revisiting and inquiring why something hasn't moved along can be very clarifying. You may wish to amend to simply get rid of an intention or two if things have changed.

...and that's it!

I hope some of this lands with you and helps you get off the resolution rollercoaster and feeling a little more optimistic about what 2021 has in store for us.

3 Ways to Find Calm in COVID and the Fall and Winter Seasons

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 17:12:47 GMT

It has been a rough year battling the coronavirus and it is shaping up to be an interesting festive season. So I am sharing 3 ways that I bring more calm to my life in stressful times.

Fall and Winter are seasons that lend themselves well to a slower pace and a more inward turning lifestyle. However with these seasons coinciding with the holiday season in the Northern Hemisphere you may find yourself in a struggle between mind and body, mind wants to race while your body wants to slow down. This year we have been given what I am looking at as an opportunity in the COVID crisis. With many states experiencing spikes in case rates and instituting more restrictions I invite you to use this forced slow down as an opportunity to allow your mind to meet your body in its slower state. Focus on the moments that allow you to slow down and nurture yourself and your loved ones.

When I think of my favorite things about Fall (Autumn for my fellow Aussies) and Winter, the things that spring to mind are cold, quiet mornings with a hot coffee and cozy pyjamas, open fires with toasted marshmallows, fondu night with my family (don't forget the mulled wine) and fun layered clothes. Now back home in Australia I usually get to enjoy all these things in the middle of the year, distanced from the chaos that is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. In my Southern Californian home however the chaotic summer is followed by an almost non-existent Fall "pause" before being thrust into Halloween (which seems to happen for a whole month here instead of the single day back in Aus), then into Thanksgiving and all the commercial nonsense that is Black Friday, then Christmas and its pressure for the perfect family affair and then finally New Year where after all that exhaustion we are supposed to welcome in another year with bold ambition, lofty goals and next to no energy left.

Wow, that got a little grim didn't it?

So with the change in pace this year I invite you to channel some of my Aussie winter serenity, slow it down a bit, find those simple pleasures and pace yourself. As you may guess craft and yoga feature heavily in my self care routine and in todays blog post I will go through a couple of ideas for creating this slowed pace and throw in a mindful project for you also.

1. Create a Mindful Altar

You may already have some mindfulness practices of your own but if you don't and are new to mindfulness check out my previous blog post for an introduction to this practice (you can find that one here ). Fall is a fantastic season for mindfulness as it invokes the senses, Pumpkin Spice anyone? Igniting the senses is an easy way to practice mindfulness and center ourselves in the moment but it can be hard to find the time each day to focus on noticing these things. I find a great way to set myself up to practice this daily is through an altar. An altar is simply a space that you make sacred for yourself with things that make you feel good and invoke good thoughts and tingle the senses. So here is my list of items for a warming fall altar and my reasons behind each choice.

A candle or incense - this is a great way to incorporate the warming fire element in your altar. Try to stick with natural scents and clean burning waxes like coconut wax or beeswax. If you check out the home page you will find my 3 free guided meditations, one of which uses a candle to focus the mind.

Red Jasper Stone - My lovely friend Elise from Gypsy Soul Dreaming recommends this stone due to its "ability to ground and provide great root chakra support. It’s connection to the root also helps stimulate chi or kundalini energy throughout your body". We definitely need as much energy in the body as we can get as we navigate the cooler season and that warm kundalini energy is definitely called for. She also notes that it is helpful for use during meditation so keep reading for my meditation tips and how to use it for this purpose. Click here for Elise's shop

Warming spices - spices like cinnamon and star anise are wonderful to include on your altar in Fall. Due to their earthy properties they will provide a grounding energy and work well to support the root chakra. Cinnamon in particular can be added to a drink of choice to bring that earthy warmth inside the body. Check out the link further down for my fun fall tassel craft that incorporates these spices.

Fall Leaves - Who doesn't love the sound of fall leaves crunching under foot or the sight of a million shades of orange yellow and red that our trees bless us with this time of year? Place a fall leaf on your altar to remind you of these fall feels when you can't get outside to enjoy them.

Anything you like - the final item is up to you and I encourage you to be creative with this one and find something that takes special meaning for you and happy fall memories, this can be anything, a trinket or a photo, there are no rules. For example my altar (pictured above) has a couple of seashells I collected when I was a child, now while seashells aren't exactly fall related they do remind me of spending time with family at the beach around Christmas time (as I mentioned earlier, being from Australia, Christmas at the Beach is what we do) and being so far away from my family at this time of year it helps me to have these little reminders around.

So it is as simple as that! Once you have an altar set up you have a place in your home to go to each day to pause and reflect as you light your candle or incense, rub your jasper between your fingers, smell your spices. Try checking in at your altar each day and see how this changes your mood throughout the week. I also like to use my altar to check in before a yoga practice, in particular I like to light incense before practicing yoga and often use a stone for meditation.

2. Get Creative with Warming Spices

Crafting in the slower months when it feels good to stay inside with a warm drink is a great way to get mindful, particularly if you don't have to leave the house for craft supplies. If you are a regular visitor to my site you will know how much I believe in reducing waste and using sustainable materials so I encourage you to have a look around at what you already have at home and try out my Scrappy Spice Tassel tutorial. Add this tassel to your altar, hang on a doornob or use as a Christmas tree ornament.

Check out this fun Fall Craft - Scrappy Spice Tassel by clicking here .

3. Tailor Your Yoga Practice for Cooler Days

When I do make it to my mat on these cooler days I definitely consider how my body reacts to the colder weather. I am much stiffer in the mornings and take a lot more time to wake up and warm up. So I try to reflect this in my yoga practice. There are a few ways I do this.

First I dress for the cold, sounds simple enough but its something that is easily overlooked particularly if you aren't leaving the house. So that means starting with socks and a sweater on and a blanket to cover my legs as I go though my centering and breath practice. Next my warm ups are much longer, warming up and lubricating the spine are so important to a safe yoga practice so I take extra time doing these movements known as pratapana in the cooler weather to give my body time to create the heat I need (for more on centering, pratapana and savasana see this blog post ).

Once I have started to flow I like to keep the warmth flowing so I focus on breath to movement flows and more active poses (poses that actively engage the muscles), most of these will be standing poses like the warrior series, balances, standing folds. Using more movement and pulsing in and out of these poses to create heat in the start of your practice will open your body up to the deeper floor poses in the tail end of your practice.

My favorite pose for building warmth in the body is Anjaneyasana, Crescent Lunge (sometimes known as high/low lunge). This pose is a great pose for all abilities as it has many opportunities for modification. Its physical benefits include strengthening of the feet, legs, abdominals and shoulders as well as stretching the hips and opening the chest. Non-physical benefits include grounding and opening of the heart, it can also help to stimulate the mind, build concentration and confidence.

Modifications available for this pose are to drop the knee to the floor (grab a pillow or rolled blanket to cushion the knee), you can also use a chair under the thigh to make the full expression of the pose more accessible. There are also many arm variations, which you will see in the video below where I show the modifications.

When getting towards the end of my practice and introducing the more passive poses (poses that don't actively use the muscles), forward folds, back bends, twists and other stretching poses, I like to intermix them with more active poses like boat, bridge or wheel (active) to keep heat in the body.

Once I finish with the active part of my practice I make sure to have that blanket, socks and sweater close by so that when I move into savasana/relaxation, where the body will cool down rapidly, I can retain some heat and not be distracted by being cold. Relaxation and meditation is much more difficult when you are uncomfortable so I like to set myself up for success with all the right tools before I take to my mat. Now if you are like me and find that your mind wanders a lot during relaxation then try pick a stone from your altar and use it as a meditation tool. Place the stone in your hand and run your fingers over it in a repetitive pattern, the act of repetition will help your mind relax by giving it something simple to do.

I am a true believer in doing what feels good in your body and listening to what it needs in the moment. Not all the poses I show you are going to be your jam and that is okay. Make your modifications, use those props and do what feels good to you. Your practice is no ones but yours. And if you would like further guidance from me, including private classes (in person or online) please reach out to me. I would love to work with you and help you find your best yoga.

Stay warm!

Why you love pumpkin spice so much and how to incorporate it into your mindfulness practice

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 04:51:07 GMT

Are you embarrassed to admit to loving pumpkin spice lattes? You aren't "basic", it's science!!

It's okay to admit to liking Pumpkin Spice! It's not "basic", it's science!

Did you know that your sense of smell is the most potent sense to elicit feelings of nostalgia? I bet you have felt it before, passing someone in the street wearing your mothers perfume taking you back to your childhood, the smell of sunscreen to make you think of a beach holiday. Well that PSL is no different and will take you back to, hopefully, fond memories of fall.

When I moved to the US four years ago I soon discovered the overwhelming obsession with fall scents over any other season, and while I don't love them in quite the same strength and quantity as some, I love them none the less. It feels like as soon as the summer days begin to get shorter we are bombarded with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom and star anise in every store we visit. Those marketing people understand the power of nostalgia and they leverage it at any chance they get. So why don't we?

This is one of the reasons that you will notice the sense of smell features a lot in my mindfulness practices. Choosing the right scent for the season, your mood and what you want to feel will set you up for success in your practice.

Scents for Fall

Fall is all about the spices! With the cooler weather approaching you'll be looking to wrap up in soft textural layers to keep warm and the scents you choose should do the same. Spices have very warming properties so can not only help you to warm up physically but they will create a warming presence to your space. Here is a list of warming spices to use as the months cool down, you will notice that many of these will carry over into the winter season well too.

Cinnamon - antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties (1)
Clove - increases blood circulation, making the skin feel warmer
Cardamom - stimulates the lungs loosening and drying congestion, higher core body temperatures (1)
Nutmeg - antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial (3)
Star Anise - relieves symptoms of colds and congestion, muscular aches and pains, and aids digestion (2)
Ginger - well known for treating upset stomachs, nausea, and motion sickness, has antiseptic properties and high levels of antioxidants (1)
Turmeric - anti-inflammatory and to improve blood circulation (1)

Did you notice any of your fall favorites on this list? If you aren't sure about these, for reference, Pumpkin Spice is made up of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves so it is no surprise that this spice blend is so perfect for the cooler months. Full of warming spices that not only taste good but can boost your immune system and keep sickness at bay. So next time you reach for that Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL for the cool kids) take the time to slow down, taste each one of natures healing spice gifts, thank our beautiful earth for growing this bounty for you and best of all you can tell everyone "It's not basic, it's science!... and medicine!"

If you'd like more information on mindfulness practices you can get my 3 go to practices by clicking here or try this fun seasonal DIY craft which uses cinnamon and star anise in mini macrame form by clicking this image below.

References:

1. https://foodal.com/knowledge/herbs-spices/wonderful-warming-spices/

2. https://www.eatthis.com/star-anise/

3. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nutmeg-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_4

3 Tricks to Starting (Or Restarting) Your Yoga Practice

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Mon, 12 Oct 2020 01:04:49 GMT

If you feel intimidated by starting yoga, worried you aren't bendy/thin/strong/flexible/spiritual/etc enough for yoga then this post is for you.

Do poses like this keep you from joining a yoga class?

Do you feel like you can't do yoga because your body doesn't move like this?

I'll let you in on a little secret about my body and its ability to do this pose... it has very little to do with practicing yoga for many years. Did I just say that? Yep!

I have been a dancer ever since I was 5 years old, my body always bent in ways that most peoples didn't. I was doing what I now know as wheel pose most of my childhood on my parents front lawn so it is natural that my body would be able to continue to bend like this in adulthood. And you know what? That doesn't make me "good" at yoga. In fact, it can sometimes have the opposite effect when I allow comparison and competition to take over my mindset. I judge myself on not being as bendy as I was last week or not being the bendiest in class, it's a total yoga vibe killer.

If you've never looked into yoga philosophy you may believe that yoga is all about the pose, how bendy, flexible or strong you are. If you just search yoga on instagram you will no doubt find all the images of thin, athletic, strong and bendy practitioners in all sorts of almost contortionist poses. This can be extremely off putting if you are new to yoga so here are my 3 tricks to get into (or back into) a yoga practice when everything around you is telling you you aren't good enough.

1. Remind yourself that yoga is more than a pose

Did you know there are 8 limbs of yoga and that asana (poses/postures) is only one of them? Yep, there are 7 other limbs of this practice that you can't see in those insta-worthy yoga snaps. I won't dive into them here because I plan to do a deep dive blog series soon but here they are briefly:

Yamas - Five external inquiries and restraints
Niyamas - Five internal inquiries and observances
Asana - Physical postures
Pranayama - Breath techniques
Pratyahara - Withdrawal of senses creating introversion
Dharara - Concentration, study of the mind
Dhyana - Deeper states of focus and meditation
Samadhi - Absorption, pure contemplation, extended meditation

I know it seems like a lot to take in when maybe you were just looking for a stretching and relaxing practice but I promise you that remembering that these exist is one way you can overcome the importance you may be placing on the way your body makes yoga shapes. It's all about perspective and if when you slip into that competitive or comparison mindset reminding yourself that there is more to this than a deeper stretch can help you to be kinder to your body and your self esteem. Another way I like to look at it is that everyone is "good" at yoga and no one is "good" at yoga at the same time. Because yoga is about the journey inwards towards the self and away from all the external comparisons, not even the bendiest practitioners can be perfect all the time.

2. Everyone starts from a different place, find yours and honor it

Life isn't a level playing field and neither are physical practices. If you decided to join a beginner soccer team tomorrow you would find that everyone has a different level of ability, some are faster, some kick harder, or more accurately and some seem to have it all. The only difference in yoga, it's not a competition, there are no opponents, no games to be won or lost. This is why it is often referred to as a personal practice, it is just for you. And because it is just for you it can look however you look. Everyones body is different and that is okay. Your body may feel awful in one pose and brilliant in the next. The trick here is to focus inward and find that part of the pose you can explore from a place of non-judgement.

Yoga is for everybody and EVERY BODY!

3. Try out different classes and teachers

Just because your friend raves over a certain style of yoga or teacher does not mean that style or teacher will be right for you. Yoga is an intensely personal practice and if you want to stick with it for a long time it has to be something that you feel fits with your body and your life. Test out a few different classes and teachers, especially if you don't enjoy your first yoga experience. I also encourage you to try something that feels a little out there to you or try a teacher who has a very different personality to you. My favorite teacher is almost my direct opposite in terms of personality, I have a more masculine grounded energy and she has a more feminine airy energy. When I take her classes I feel so relaxed and more even in my energy levels. But if I do a class with someone who has very grounded energy I tend to feel a bit heavy after class and not as uplifted. So play around with different classes and teachers until you find what it is you need and like. This of course will change and evolve as you move along your yoga journey so don't feel like you need to stick with any style or teacher for any amount of time.

Thats it!

If you try these three tricks I assure you that you'll find more peace and depth in your practice.

If you are looking for a way to dive in without the intimidation of a class setting I invite you to join me on YouTube where you can explore yoga from the comfort of your home.

3 mindset shifts when you hate asking for help.

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 03:53:58 GMT

I hate asking for help but when I know I need it I ask myself these three things to help get around my resistance.

Asking for and receiving help is one area of my life I feel so much resistance in. If you have visited my blog before you may know that I have spent a good part of my life living alone somewhere outside of my home country of Australia. To lead such an exciting life of travel I have had to be very independent and able to find my own way when I am outside my comfort zone. My mother says she even saw this independent streak in me at a very young age in me so it is well and truly ingrained in me. This identity has served me well over the years, I certainly wouldn't have gotten to where I am today by staying in my comfort zone or in well established support systems. But there comes a time in everyones life when they need the help and support of others. I have found this in motherhood more than ever before which has only been compounded by going into business for myself. I find myself getting busier and busier with no end in sight, working for two nonprofits, trying to build a business and be a present mother to my son. Some days something has just got to give. This year I found that the thing is my need to do it all myself. That realisation has come with some fear though, the fear of asking for and receiving help. I have been actively working through this fear for a number of months now and have been using a few questions to prompt the mindset shift I need to feel comfortable asking for and receiving help.

So I invite you to give these a go next time you are in resistance to asking for and receiving help.

What is the worst thing that would happen?

For starters asking for can only garner two possible answers: simply yes or no. If no, is that so awful? Would it have any impact on your relationship? Generally asking for help wont hurt a relationship at all, it may even strengthen it. So, can you ask someone else? If you got a yes then what is the worst that can happen if they do it for you? I guarantee that if you ask yourself this question that the answer, the truthful and probable outcome (put that drama queen crown away), isn't that bad.

For example, I need help with my website, I need to ask my husband to help me with installing a little bit of code. It took me a wasted few hours on the computer to convince myself that I needed help so I asked and I got a yes. Now, when I consider the worst outcome to getting him to do that for me there are a couple of things that come to mind. One is that it won't get done as quickly as I want it to, a slight annoyance but not a huge deal. And second, I wouldn't be able to claim that I did everything on my site which speaks to my inner independent woman (she is a feisty one), no big deal at all.

I encourage you to get truthful with yourself here and dig down past the drama and seek out the real truth in this question.

Why am I resisting?

More truth seeking to be done here. This question really goes to the core of why you struggle asking for and receiving help in the first place. It may seem simple on the surface level like you don't want to bother anyone but often that which sits on the surface is not our real truth. Dig deeper and ask yourself "Why?" again and again until you get to something that feels really true for you.

Here is how those questions go for me sometimes.

Why?...

Because I can and should do it myself.

Why?

Because other people are busy and will be a burden for them to do it.

Why?

Because I am supposed to be independent and capable of doing it all myself. If people don't maintain the idea of me as a wildly independent person then I will have lost something.

Why?

Because I value the praise I get from doing everything myself and not needing anyone. Without my independence I feel less like me.

Once you find your truth you can get to work on it. For me it's an identity thing, being independent is who I am. So, who am I if I am not independent? Who can I be if I get support where and when I need it? Which brings me to the next big and probably most important question.

What do I have to gain?

This is the last question I ask myself on purpose because this is where you get to dream and dream big! If you can ask for and get the help you need when you need it what does that open you up for? More time with your family? More time to spend on the exciting things? More self care? More love? More abundance? More success?

Asking this question last leaves you feeling hopeful and excited about asking for help. When you are excited about the outcome of getting help you will find it easier to push through the resistance of asking for it.

Easier said than done you say?...

Try starting small .

Ask for help with something that is not of great consequence if it isn't done the way you would do it. As you receive that help observe how you feel about it, how do you feel while that person is helping you? This can be uncomfortable, have you ever sat on the sofa while someone cleaned around you? Makes me feel guilty just thinking about it. How do you feel after the task is complete? At least relieved to have it off the to do list I bet. Sit with those feelings and ask your "Why?" again. Trust me this will get easier with time and practice. I view asking for help as a self care practice these days and just as important as boundary setting. But thats a topic for another time and another blog. So I will leave you with this.

You can do anything, but not everything. - David Allen

If you are looking for help and support in yoga, meditation and mindfulness I invite you to check out my new online community on the Patreon platform. There you will find opportunities to connect with me and other likeminded individuals along with many yoga, meditation and mindfulness resources, videos and live classes. Click the button below to join.

How I am getting my community and social fix online.

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Thu, 24 Sep 2020 03:44:53 GMT

Building connections is so important to our mental health and I have decided to take action and bring an engaging and mindful community space to you.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I like my little shell and will crawl into it at any given moment, what they wont tell you is that I need community. When you are fiercely independent like I am most people think you are really resilient and will be okay just working things out yourself. While, yes, I can do everything myself and can happily go through anything without help or support from anyone, I really crave community, not in the sense of huge networks but in tight knit little bundles of real deep connection.

In my life those little bundles of connection have been few and far between and part of that is the life I have lead. Living overseas as an expat and outside of Australia for most of my adult life has seen me move through many communities. Some in which I have forged very close relationships, but as with any long distance relationship, once I move on from the country or state those once bright vibrant friendships fade into a low glimmer, still burning but just in the background of life, to be brought to the surface every now and again with a fond memory. This fading of friendships and community is inevitable when living a transient life. It is imperative to create strong relationships in the location you are living, particularly when you are away from family, these friends become your family. They help you in emergencies, they are there when you go through devastating times, they are who you celebrate with, they care for you and most importantly they are the ones who will notice when something is up. When you then move this support they can give is limited by distance and you loose that community only having to rebuild it again at the next destination. This then takes time and as a military spouse you can forge those connections only to find two months later that they or you are relocating again.

It is because of this lifestyle that I have been thinking about how to create the same sense of community in an online space and COVID has just reinforced this need to me. When all your connections and relationships have to be virtual right now I thought it was a great time to put my idea into practice. But I didn't want to go with the usual social media channels to create this community. Social media, while it has some great qualities, just isn't healthy for us. It is so easy to open up the app looking for connection and find the total opposite after your attention has been grabbed, 30 minutes of scrolling later and you have not only failed to find any connection but have entered some rabbit hole that has left you feeling worse than you started.

So none of that for us! I have decided on the Patreon platform as it allows me to tailor so many options for my patrons. There are a number of tiers to chose from with each including some great content and opportunities to connect with me and other patrons. I am so looking forward to creating some great connections and supporting you further in your mindfulness, meditation and movement journey. Check it out if you are interested in any of the following:

Practical Mindfulness Practices you can fit into your busy life
Meditation Practices that are not intimidating
Accessible Yoga practices that are designed for many body types and abilities
Deep dive yoga asana (pose) resources to help you get the most from your time on the mat
A welcoming community of like minded individuals
Exclusive access to ask me all the yoga, mindfulness, meditation and creativity related questions
Creative projects to inspire and help you create mindful spaces
and so much more!

Click the link below to check out the community!

Those who meditate get angry and stressed out too.

ashleydidesign@gmail.com (Ashley Hernandez) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 21:45:36 GMT

There are many misconceptions associated with meditation, but two have always stood out to me. That you must clear your mind in meditation and that people who meditate don't get stressed.

Read on to find out the truth behind these two common misconceptions about meditation.

So you've tried meditation and yoga and maybe even given mindfulness a whirl but that serene, float on a cloud feeling eludes you. You thought that through these practices you could channel that ethereal being, perched on top of a mountain in total silence, just content with the whole world. But instead you are stuck with this stressed, discontented, uncomfortable, mentally exhausted version of yourself. Time to give up on all this "woo woo" stuff then right? Wrong!

That ethereal being you are imagining perched on top of a mountain is a monk, living in a monastery where all of their needs are met on a daily basis and they have nothing in the world to worry about other than their practice. Do you live on a quiet mountain? Probably not. Does someone else take care of all your needs and the needs of those around you? Again, probably not. You have a job and a family to care of, maybe a pet, a car to maintain, rent, a mortgage, bills to pay, a house to clean, a bank balance to maintain. You have stressors that arise every day that need your attention and there is no avoiding this, unless of course you run away to a monastery. But I am assuming that you don't want to run away because no matter how stressed you get, you built this life and you want to stay in it, albiet with a little less stress and a little more sleep.

So if you don't want a life in a monastery then why do you want to live like a monk? My guess is you don't really but have just bought into the idea of total serenity in meditation. And I don't blame you, I did too! Just google meditation and see what images pop up....

Okay so what should meditation look like in this modern world we live in? And what is the point in it if we can't reach that mountain peak? Well, here comes the best bit, meditation is what you make of it!! There is no right way to do it, no correct amount of time spent in it, no perfect aftermath. And most importantly you don't need to change who you are as a person to embrace this practice. One of my favorite quotes about meditation is by Pema Chödrön, who says "Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw ourselves away and become something better. It's about befriending who we already are."

The most important thing about meditation is that you be patient and kind to yourself. If you find yourself forcing it, you are likely to struggle and are more likely to not return to your practice. However, when you find something that works for you and you are able to return to your practice on a regular basis here are some of the benefits you may notice in your life:

A calmer nervous system
Heightened reflection and awareness
Enhanced feeling of embodiment
Feelings of abundance
Freeing up of creativity
Reduction in blood pressure
Improving symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADD and ADHD (please note that meditation is not a replacement for seeking professional help for this conditions)
Improvements in overall physical health (eg. making healthier food choices, increased motivation and energy, better sleep)
Easier to move the body into a relaxed state
More restful sleep, falling to sleep faster

With all these benefits and more it is easy to see why meditation is such a highly recommended practice. So let's talk about how to get started. There are so many different styles of meditation that you can always find one that suits your personality and how you are feeling in the moment. For example a walking meditation is a great choice when you are restless and can't sit still. A guided meditation is a great place to start a practice because using a guided meditation takes the guess work out of it and allows you to be fully present in the moment. But let's start by busting one of the biggest myths of meditation.

Myth 1: You must clear your mind during meditation.

A common complaint I hear from students is that they can't "clear the mind" or "quiet the mind" which brings me to another misconception about meditation. It is impossible to empty the mind of thoughts, completely impossible. What you are looking for is calmness not emptiness. You will have thoughts float into your mind during your practice and this is part of being a human in the modern world. You can't beat yourself up for having thoughts, what you can do is acknowledge those thoughts and move past them returning your focus to your meditation. While this can sound simple it is often difficult to let the thoughts pass by, particularly if you are in a stressful time of your life. Using a meditation style that uses a focal point will allow you to give your brain a task, having something for your brain to do will make it easier to move past the distracting thoughts that arise during your practice. I refer to this as taming the monkey mind with a banana. The following is a list of meditation styles that uses focal points (the banana) to occupy the brain and may be a good place to get started:

Breath - using the in and out breath as a focal point
Walking - slow pace walking focusing on the sensation of the footsteps on the ground
Mantra/Chanting - repetition of a sacred sound (OM) or phrase out loud, you can use mala beads to count the rounds
Physical Relaxation - Taking the awareness to the body and actively relaxing each part with the breath, start at the feet and move up to the crown.
Guided - using an audio or video of someone leading a meditation
Movement - moving the body in a way that is fluid and natural, whatever feels good to you, focusing on how the body is feeling as it moves.

There are many more styles than these but I recommend you trying a couple of them to find what works for you. Please also contact me if you'd like some personal assistance in finding and developing a good meditation practice.

Myth 2: People who meditate don't get stressed, angry or sad.

I believe this assumption comes from how meditation and yoga is portrayed in the world. All those images of perfectly serene beings seemingly without a care in the world, or perhaps you have met one of those people who seem to float through the room on a cloud and never seems to have any of those "negative" emotions. Well as you can imagine, just like on social media we are rarely shown a persons actual reality this can be the same case in person. It is unlikely that someone you meet will openly express all the emotions they are experiencing, we all wear our public mask. This doesn't mean that these yogis don't experience positive and negative emotions during their life. We all have these emotions it's just a matter of what we do with them and the tools we use to move through them that makes the difference, there is no experience of emotion that is right or wrong, good or bad. It is all part of the human experience.

The "negative" emotions we experience are here for us to explore and move through so that we can grow as people and truly experience the positive ones. If we suppress or numb the negative emotions we will suppress and numb the positive ones too.

Psychology Scholar Tal Ben-Shahar sums this up perfectly:

"...the most successful people in the world, whether it's scientists or artists, are also the people who have failed the most times. It shows that ultimately the happiest people are actually people who allow themselves to experience the full gamut of human emotion, not people who suppress or somehow get rid of painful emotions when they arise... when we give ourselves the permission to be human, the permission to experience the full gamut of human emotion, we open ourselves up to positive emotions as well"

There is no benefit in not experiencing what you are feeling because our emotions need to be felt and expressed in order for us to move through them. Meditation can help with this and you may find that often your meditation practice will bring up some of these emotions within you. If you feel emotion bubbling to the surface while you sit in meditation, my best advice is this: let it happen, let it flow up and move through your body however it wants to. You may shed a tear, smile, laugh, shake or tremble but none of these things are wrong or need to be suppressed. You may also find that different meditation types can help you access different levels of emotion, for me sound bath meditations always crack me wide open from my heart centre. I am not much of an open emoter and am prone to squashing feelings down inside me so when my chakras (particularly my sacral and heart chakras) are worked on with sound vibration all of these come flowing out. The first time I experienced this it was very unsettling but after sitting in the discomfort and reminding myself that no emotion is "bad" I actually now love these meditations and enjoy feeling all of this emotion bubble up, I find it very cathartic. It feels safe for me to let go and let the tears flow if I need to, what was once an unsafe feeling (crying) has become something I actively seek to get relief and work through my struggles.

So in this way meditation can be a great way to access and experience feelings so we can move through them. I encourage you to give some different meditation styles a try and if you feel comfortable I would love to hear what you try and how it makes you feel. If you are looking for some guided meditation videos to get you started just join my mailing list or set up a virtual private guided meditation session with me.

How to keep an abundance mentality when it seems like the world is in scarcity.

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 23:21:17 GMT

with the media peppered with stories of scarcity, public panic and rumors of countrywide shutdowns it is easy to fall into the trap of mob mentality. So how do you keep calm, avoid the panic and still make sure your family's needs are met? It's all about your mindset, are you stuck in scarcity mindset or an abundance mindset?

The majority of the world has been thrusted into a reality none of us had anticipated, yet, here it is requiring us to adapt to our newly found circumstances. Personally, other than community playground closures or mummy and me classes, as a work-at-home mum my days haven't seen minimal change. Trips to the grocery store have become shorter and I now often wait for my husband to get home from work so I can go to the shops alone reducing our potential exposure. While my days remain similar I have certainly been shaken by some of the negative energy floating around. Every time I step into a grocery store I can sense a heavy feeling of unease, and I struggle to find the words to describe it other than a feeling of uncertainty. The shelves are empty, the elderly wandering the aisles with worrisome eyes, and myself wondering how many stores I will have to visit to find what I am looking for (eggs allude me currently), each new store increasing my potential exposure to the virus. I like to believe majority of society cares for one another but more often these past few weeks I have felt myself drifting away from this belief and I begin doubting our collective humanity.

The hoarding of essential items is feeding the mob mentality of scarcity which has me reeling, particularly in a 1st World country with a reputation for excess and waste. I wonder, how can a population go from mindless consumerism to a belief that there isn't enough supplies for everyone? Here in America we literally have toilet paper a click away in our pockets at any hour of the day through our smart phones, yet knowing this, the frenzied mob was made to believe supplies were dwindling. Now there are people with endless stockpiles of essential items while others suffer, begging friends and neighbours to spare a roll. It's downright inhumane!

So how do we step away from this mentality, whether or not we bought into the panic ourselves, and step forward with an abundance mindset? My first step was to reach out to my friends to check if they were lacking essentials and I encourage you to do the same. Then I turned my attention to servicing my local community to include my work as a yoga teacher and my volunteer work, in particular my work for More Than Apples Inc, a nonprofit working to end food insecurity while reducing food waste. If you are looking for a way to help families in need during this crisis I recommend considering donating to More Than Apples, for only a $35 donation, a box of food is given to a family in need. Click below to visit the website to donate.

After shifting my focus for a week and sharing my abundance with my community I can sense my mood shifting. I feel lighter, more energetic and more inspired to create connections with others. I came across a beautiful quote this week while I searching for inspiration and it sums up perfectly the action we need to make to us get through this crisis together rather than as individuals. What seeds will you plant this week?

"We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all"

- Dorothy Day

As I step forward with a renewed sense of calm about the situation we are facing, I want to keep in mind these feelings around the lack of humanity in some members of our community may creep back in. I believe this can be further compounded by the "social distancing" practices recommended to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the recent "shelter in place" order from the Governor of California. When our faith in humanity is wavering the last thing we need is further disconnection. As human beings we naturally crave connection, either from deep connections with our family to the smaller day to day connections with every day strangers. While we can not escape the physical separation of communities right now, its a necessary step to keep immune compromised people safe from this virus and slow the spread, we need to work harder to keep and create those essential emotional connections we often take for granted outside of quarantine.

So I would like to reframe this "social distancing" practice a bit to remind us all that we are not alone, we can still have connection while we quarantine ourselves.

Let's practice physical distancing AND social connection. I believe by doing this we can come out the other end of this a stronger community and kinder, more connected humans.

This thought has called me into action in maintaining and creating connections within my community. I am doing this by providing online guided meditations and yoga classes and will soon be releasing my first mindfulness course. So I invite you to join my community by joining my mailing list, following me on instagram and pinterest. Join one of my live classes or try one of my guided meditations on this site. But most importantly reach out if you need to talk, this crisis is effecting every one of us differently and I would love to assist you navigate it with peace, love and compassion for yourself and those in your community.

Namaste

Turn Christmas Mayhem in Mindfulness

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 16:23:22 GMT

This time of year can be tough for a lot of us for a lot of reasons. Read on as I talk about what I struggle with this time of year and how I turn some of the mayhem into mindfulness and calm my nervous system.

If you have been following my blog for a while you would know that I am from Australia and live in California with my husband and son, which means all my family is over 7,000 miles (11,000km) away. But in addition to this, because my husband is in the military, it also means that his family is 1,300 miles away in Texas (his mother even further away Teaching in Kuwait!). So, Christmas time is a quiet time for us here in San Diego and while we have our little family of 3 to celebrate with we miss the big family get togethers that we would be a part of if we were home. There is envy in my heart when I speak with my family as they all head off on this years Christmas road trip to visit my brother and his little family, my mind play the "but if" game thinking about how nice it would be if I could just buy a plane ticket and join them. I feel it taking my attention away from my present moment and enjoyment at spending Christmas as our little unit. I wan't to be present here in the life I have now not playing the wishing game because when we constantly wish for things to be different it is hard to appreciate what we have. So how do I come back to the present and enjoy the life I have? I turn to mindfulness, the practice of being at one with the present moment, slowing down and enjoying the little things.

Talking with my friends about family at this time of year I am also reminded that not everyone has great memories of magical childhood Christmases and can experience a lot of stress and anxiety around this time of year. The mindfulness practices that I employ this time of year are ones that apply to any type of stress, so if you are dreading Christmas this year because of rough relationships, loss or anxiety give these practices a go and create some of your own memories.

Creating the atmosphere you want.
Holiday decor is everywhere, and the pressure to have that perfectly instagramable home is real! But you know what matters more? Connecting with your space. Yep, sounds easy right? Well it's okay if it isn't easy, maybe the perfectly decorated home is just too stressful for you to upkeep. Maybe money is tight and you can't afford all those expensive decorations. Or maybe you find it hard to connect with the commercial "fast fashion" of holiday decor. Well here are a few things you can do to create that atmosphere you want without visiting Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

Scent
You'll notice I always come back to scents when creating a mindful space. This is because the sense of smell is one of the most powerful senses when it comes to evoking memories. And for me at Christmas it is all about the festive smells. If you love Christmas time try some of the following scents to get you feeling festive, you'll notice that most of these have warming properties which is perfect for a winter Christmas:

Spices: Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg, All spice, Ginger
Herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage
Plants: Cedar, Juniper, Pine
Fruit: Orange, lemon, apple

I hope you enjoy this fun mindful craft and that perhaps it becomes a new tradition for your family. Well, I am off to enjoy more of our family traditions, today we make Tamales! A tradition we have adopted from my husbands family.

Happy Holidays!

Fall into Winter with Mindfulness

Fri, 01 Nov 2019 04:44:25 GMT

Fall and Winter are seasons that lend themselves well to a slower pace and a more inward turning lifestyle. However with so many holidays approaching us in the Northern Hemisphere these times often call for the opposite. So over the next few months on the blog I will be writing about ways to use these seasons to intentionally and mindfully slow down and turn inward.

When I think of my favorite things about Fall (Autumn for my fellow Aussies) and Winter, the things that spring to mind are cold, quiet mornings with a hot coffee and cozy pyjamas, open fires with toasted marshmallows, fondu night with my family (don't forget the mulled wine) and fun layered clothes. Now back home in Australia I get to enjoy all these things in the middle of the year, distanced from the chaos that is Christmas and the New Year. In my Southern Californian home however the chaotic summer is followed by an almost non-existent Fall "pause" before being thrust into Halloween (which seems to happen for a whole month here instead of the single day back in Aus), then into Thanksgiving and all the commercial nonsense that is Black Friday, then Christmas and its pressure for the perfect family affair and then finally New Year where after all that exhaustion we are supposed to welcome in another year with bold ambition, lofty goals and next to no energy left.

Wow, that got a little grim didn't it? I didn't mean to scare you but it is the spooky season after all!

So how do I get my Aussie winter serenity back with all this going on? I try to slow it down a bit, find those simple pleasures and pace myself. As you may guess craft and yoga feature heavily in my self care routine and in todays blog post I will go through a couple of ideas for creating this slowed pace (even if just in your own mind) and throw in a mindful project for you also.

Bringing mindfulness to the season

You may already have some mindfulness practices of your own but if you don't and are new to mindfulness check out my previous blog post for an introduction to this practice (you can find that one here ). Fall is a fantastic season for mindfulness as it envokes the senses, although usually bombarded with all things pumpkin spice, there is so much more than pumpkin spice that fall has to offer us. Igniting the senses is an easy way to practice mindfulness and center ourselves in the moment but it can be hard to find the time each day to focus on noticing these things. I find a great way to set myself up to practice this daily is through an altar. An altar is simply a space that you make sacred for yourself with things that make you feel good an invoke good thoughts and tingle the senses. So here is my list of items for a warming fall altar and my reasons behind each choice.

A candle or incense - this is a great way to incorporate the warming fire element in your altar. Try to stick with natural scents and clean burning waxes like coconut wax or beeswax. If you check out the home page you will find my 3 free guided meditations, one of which uses a candle to focus the mind.

Red Jasper Stone - My lovely friend Elise from Gypsy Soul Dreaming recommends this stone due to its "ability to ground and provide great root chakra support. It’s connection to the root also helps stimulate chi or kundalini energy throughout your body". We definitely need as much energy as we can get as we enter the silly season and that warm kundalini energy is definitely called for. She also notes that it is helpful for use during meditation so keep reading for my meditation tips and how to use it for this purpose. Click here for Elise's shop

Warming spices - spices like cinnamon and star anise are wonderful to include on your altar in Fall. Due to their earthy properties they will provide a grounding energy and work well to support the root chakra. Cinnamon in particular can be added to a drink of choice to bring that earthy warmth inside the body. Check out the link further down for my fun fall tassel craft that incorporates these spices.

Fall Leaves - Who doesn't love the sound of fall leaves crunching under foot or the sight of a million shades of orange yellow and red that our trees bless us with this time of year? Place a fall leaf on your altar to remind you of these fall feels when you can't get outside to enjoy them.

Anything you like - the final item is up to you and I encourage you to be creative with this one and find something that takes special meaning for you and happy fall memories, this can be anything, a trinket or a photo, there are no rules. For example my altar (pictured above) has a couple of seashells I collected when I was a child, now while seashells aren't exactly fall related they do remind me of spending time with family at the beach around Christmas time (as I mentioned earlier, being from Australia, Christmas at the Beach is what we do) and being so far away from my family at this time of year it helps me to have these little reminders around.

Check out this fun Fall Craft - Scrappy Spice Tassel by clicking here .

Yoga for cooler days

When I do make it to my mat on these cooler days I definitely consider how my body reacts to the colder weather. I am much stiffer in the mornings and take a lot more time to wake up and warm up. So I try to reflect this in my yoga practice. There are a few ways I do this.

First I dress for the cold, sounds simple enough but its something that is easily overlooked particularly if you aren't leaving the house. So that means starting with socks and a sweater on and a blanket to cover my legs as I go though my centering and breath practice. Next my warm ups are much longer, warming up and lubricating the spine are so important to a safe yoga practice so I take extra time doing these movements known as pratapana in the cooler weather to give my body time to create the heat I need (for more on centering, pratapana and savasana see my last blog post ).

Once I have started to flow I like to keep the warmth flowing so I focus on breath to movement flows and more active poses (poses that actively engage the muscles), most of these will be standing poses like the warrior series, balances, standing folds. Using more movement and pulsing in and out of these poses to create heat in the start of your practice will open your body up to the deeper floor poses in the tail end of your practice.

My favorite pose for building warmth in the body is Anjaneyasana, Crescent Lunge (sometimes known as high/low lunge). This pose is a great pose for all abilities as it has many opportunities for modification. Its physical benefits include strengthening of the feet, legs, abdominals and shoulders as well as stretching the hips and opening the chest. Non-physical benefits include grounding and opening of the heart, it can also help to stimulate the mind, build concentration and confidence.

When getting towards the end of my practice and introducing the more passive poses (poses that don't actively use the muscles), forward folds, back bends, twists and other stretching poses, I like to intermix them with more active poses like boat, bridge or wheel (active) to keep heat in the body.

Once I finish with the active part of my practice I make sure to have that blanket, socks and sweater close by so that when I move into savasana/relaxation, where the body will cool down rapidly, I can retain some heat and not be distracted by being cold. Relaxation and meditation is much more difficult when you are uncomfortable I like to set myself up for success with all the right tools before I take to my mat. Now if you are like me and find that your mind wanders a lot during relaxation then try pick a stone from your altar and use it as a meditation tool. Place the stone in your hand and run your fingers over it in a repetitive pattern, the act of repetition will help your mind relax by giving it something simple to do.

I am a true believer in doing what feels good in your body and listening to what it needs in the moment. Not all the poses I show you are going to be your jam and that is okay. Make your modifications, use those props and do what feels good to you. Your practice is no ones but yours. And if you would like further guidance from me, including private classes (in person or online) please reach out to me. I would love to work with you and help you find your best yoga.

Stay warm!

The Importance of Centering and Savasana as bookends to your yoga practice

Wed, 18 Sep 2019 00:46:06 GMT

How to make the most of your yoga practice without changing anything about the poses/asanas you do.

You know the feeling, you’ve just managed to squeeze a yoga class into your busy schedule, you were racing just to get to class and you know you’ll be racing after class to get to your next task of the day. You sit in class during the entering and breath practice thinking “come on, let's get to the exercise part”. You breeze through the poses one after another with your mind wandering off to your to do list, calculating the travel time to your next appointment… “If I’m in the car 5 minutes after class I will get there with a few minutes to spare… should I leave class early… should I skip savasana??” and before you realise the teacher has lead you into the final relaxation pose of savasana and its too late to make an early exit. You lie there thinking “I know I should be enjoying this but I have to do this and that, oh and I can’t forget to do this, damn I wish I could write a to do list right now”. And then as quickly as you were lead into relaxation your teacher is guiding you out again… did you even relax… did you even do yoga?? You leave class feeling as stressed and busy as you did when you entered and wonder why you even bothered in the first place.

Sound familiar? I wouldn’t be surprised if it does. It is familiar even to me as a yoga teacher. This never ending business of our modern world and how it creeps its way into our most sacred of practices. So what do we do to counteract this? Well, firstly let's look at centering.

Centering in a class

Centering is the practice at the start of your yoga class where the teacher welcomes you and provides some grounding meditation, guides you through a breath practice, perhaps encourages you to set an intention for the class or sets the scene for a themed class with a quote etc. The purpose of this part of class is to bring the students together as one and allows you time to calm your nervous system from the onslaught of the world beyond the doors, focus on your mind on your body and being present in the moment. We do this to help you get the best out of your yoga class and it is important to not only your experience but the experience of those around you in class. Beginning the movement in a class when everyone has experienced this calming practice allows the class to move as one harmonious energy and produces a wonderful supporting environment to all students. This is why if someone enters class during or after this practice it can actually be very disrupting to the energy in the room.

Centering in a private practice

So how does this centring practice translate at home into your private practice. Well, the list is endless and it is ultimately up to you and what you like but I will start by letting you know what should be in your entering practice every time.

1. Tune In

Firstly coming into stillness to check in with your body is so important in a personal practice because this is your chance to truly listen to what your body needs so you can tailor your practice to suit. You can do this sitting, lying or standing depending on your energy levels or the time of day. For instance try a standing centering practice if you want to do a more energetic practice or to wake up in the morning, try a reclined cantering if you are looking for a more restorative or relaxing practice. Your eyes can remain open (some people with anxiety may even feel calmer keeping eyes open the entire time) or closed, this is all about you being as comfortable as possible.

2. Breath Practice / Pranayama

Second is a breath practice/pranayama, this can be any style of breathing and again will depend on what you want out of your practice. Start by just observing your breath and taking note of how it feels. Is it short and sharp? Is the inhalation longer than the exhalation? Then commence your chosen breath practice. Try alternate nostril breathing to really energise the body or a simple breath in and out through the nose for a 4/4 count for something more relaxing. Do a few rounds of breath and then return to a normal rhythm and keep the mind tuned to how you feel in your body, did the feeling change after this practice?

3. Warm Up / Pratapana

Third is your warm up called pratapana (stoking the fire), engaging the 6 movements of the spine, expansion and contraction, twisting left and right and bending to the left and right. You'll often experience this part of a class as a cat/cow sequence and perhaps some gentle twisting a bending poses. This part of your centering practice is very important as it again allows you to tune into your body and how it feels in the moment while lubricating the joints, raising the body's temperature and getting your whole body ready for movement. You wouldn't run a 5K without warming up and yoga should be no different.

4. Make it your own

Outside of the above three things that I suggest should be a part of every practice you do you can really add anything that you think would enhance your practice. Here is a list of some things you can do:

Chanting - a simple Aum (Om) or a mantra, you can find plenty of them on the internet or you can make one up. Focus on the vibrations in your body not on how your voice sounds (this isn't karaoke).
Light some incense or diffuse essential oils - having a scent in the air to focus on can calm the mind, and the physical process of lighting it can begin to calm you down.
Dim the lights or close the curtains - the instant change in the physical feel of the room can shift your stress levels immediately
Hold a crystal in your hand - sometimes having an object to focus energy into or out of can really help
Use a singing bowl or chimes - creating your own sounds to resonate through your body can be a wonderful calming experience much like chanting.
Intention setting - you may be familiar with this from classes you have attended and you can practice the same thing at home, this intention can be focused on your yoga practice (I will honor my body where it is today and not judge myself) or your entire day (I am an abundant ocean of love and will treat every living being with compassion and kindness).

There are so many more ways to make your centering practice truly yours, be creative and most importantly be yourself. This is your practice and you have control over how you want to feel.

Savasana/Relaxation in your private practice
Did you relate to the scene I painted at the start of this blog post? Savasana got you down? Well if you think it can be hard to relax in a class where you have accountability how hard is it going to be at home? I get it, as a busy mum I totally get it, you have a lot on your plate and it is so tempting to just skip this part and get back to your day isn't it? But I am telling you that you are doing yourself a total disservice if you skip this important part of your practice.

By closing your practice with a relaxation you give the body and mind a chance to absorb all the work you just did. By allowing your body and mind to let go you invite the energy you created during your practice to settle in and revitalise you.

Start your relaxation by getting into a comfortable position, this can be seated or reclined and there are many different variations within these (legs up the wall, knees bent to support the back, using bolsters and pillows etc). Once you are relaxed it is time to check in with the body again, take note of how it feels after your physical practice, take note of how the breath feels now too. You can choose to take a cleansing breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with a sigh which will help to release any tension left in the body. Try using visualisation as a tool to relax the muscles of the body by picturing a wave or wind running over each limb as you use each exhalation to relax a part of the body starting with the feet and ending at the crown of the head. Once you have entered the relaxation you can continue to use visualisation to focus the mind and avoid that chatter brain, although if you find your mind wandering just acknowledge the thought and let it pass, don't beat yourself up for a wandering mind, you are only human in a busy modern world.

As you will not have anyone guiding you out of this relaxation and you may wish to come out of relaxation after a set amount of time a good option is to pick a music track that is the same length, quite often yoga albums will have quite long tracks on them, this way you can gently guide yourself out in a pleasant way rather than setting an alarm.

When you are ready to come out of relaxation begin with lengthening and deepening the breath, then bring some small movement to your body by wiggling your fingers and toes. Gently make any movements you feel called to make. If you are on your back bring your knees to your chest and roll to one side taking a few rounds of breath here to reawaken the body. Gently push yourself up to a seated position where you will close your practice in a similar way to how you began.

Closing your practice
Following relaxation you can choose to begin a meditation practice or to close your practice. I will leave meditation for another blog post but if you are interested in the mean time you can check out my guided meditations by visiting the home page here .

To close your practice return your awareness to your breath and body before reentering the physical world. One final check in before heading back to the busy day. Notice the sensations in your body and how they changed through the course of your practice, notice the breath and how that has changed too. You may wish to take another cleansing breath at this point. This is also a nice opportunity to chant again if you like to do so. If you set an intention at the start of your practice you can revisit it here.

Then finally... and maybe one of the most important parts... thank yourself for coming to your mat by bringing your hands to your heart center in a prayer position (anjali mudra) and bow your head.

Bookending your practice
By entering and leaving your private practice in these ways you really are setting yourself up for a much more enjoyable experience no matter what poses you do in between. I hope you give this a try and you can feel some deep changes in your experience.

I would also love to hear how you go and if you have any questions I would love to answer them for you. So drop me a comment below or send me an email via the contact form.

And if you are looking for someone to help you establish a great home practice I now offer in person and remote (via video chat) private classes, just contact me to find out more.

A Mind Blowing Catalyst for Growth

Fri, 10 May 2019 22:18:15 GMT

Business, Yoga, Chakras, Crystals and the Universe

Have you ever been minding your business going about your life when a realization just slaps you right in the face and you are like “wow, that explains a lot”? I had this happen to me last weekend and I’m talking one of those deeply personal ah ha moments. I usually keep this kind of stuff to myself but in an attempt to force myself to do the work I need to do I’m bringing you all along for the ride. So here it is.

I have been struggling with this little business lately, I’ve been making some amazing connections and getting some great opportunities come my way but I have had virtually no sales. I get so many compliments in every market I do but no sales. I’ve had no one turn up to my workshop either even with a ton of interest. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve gone from being angry at it too just laughing it off as bad luck, some sick joke the universe was playing on my. That was until Friday night at the Art Walk my dear friend Elise (owner and all round badass of Gypsysoul Dreaming, Oceanside CA) asked me if I had something personal to work through, a blockage, that maybe I needed a clearing. I thought hang on maybe... because what else would explain this? It felt like everyone around me was having this success with their creative businesses but I have been stagnant.

I spent the drive home from the Art Walk thinking, actually shouting out loud, “why, when I give so much to so many people, do people find it so hard to give to me?”. I was downright furious! And then, like the universe was shouting back at me, came the question...

Have I closed myself off to receiving?

And there it was, the catalyst for change. That realization that something needed to change, internally, emotionally, mentally. So after an empty yoga class and empty macrame workshop on Saturday morning I started that daunting task of inner work. The first question being, where to start?

Ever since I undertook my yoga teacher training I have been intrigued by the chakras and how we can use these energy centers in so many ways. For those of you who are reading this thinking “what the hell is a chakra?” I will give you a quick run down here. Chakras are defined in Anodea Judith’s book Eastern Body, Western Mind as “a center of organization that receives, assimilates, and expresses life force energy”, they are often referred to as the seven energy centers within the body. When any one of these chakras is out of balance, either excessively or deficiently we can feel and sometimes see it manifest within ourselves both physically and emotionally. Each chakra has a specific location in the body and serves a different purpose. The graphic below gives a brief overview of each one.

You will also see in the next table that each chakra has excessive traits, deficient traits and balanced traits which can give you an idea as to where you are currently with each chakra, it is entirely possible to have some traits from each of these categories. There is a lot of information here which can be daunting so I always like to start at the bottom, the Muladhara (root) chakra, and work my way up one at a time. There are also some suggested ways to help bring balance back to each chakra. While the the first chakra is a logical place to start, I am also starting here intentionally, because the root chakra is about basic survival, our right to be here, and money falls into this category just like food. Now I wont go into detail about our financial situation but after purchasing our first home last year money has definitely become a big stressor in our lives. Ultimately I would love to be able to alleviate that stress a little through success in my little business. So as I navigate my relationship with money through this chakra exploration I will be bringing more grounding postures to my yoga practice, I will get out into nature more, planting my feet on beautiful Mother Earth and taking in her wisdom. I will reconnect with my body through movement and choose grounding affirmations like “I love my body and trust its wisdom” and “I am surrounded with abundance”.

One thing I am very excited to be doing is learning more about crystals and how I can incorporate their use into my every day practices to support this work and growth. Tonight I am off to an introductory class with Elise at GypsySoul Dreaming and I will definitely be writing about what I learn there in another post. But for now wish me luck!!

As I work on each of my chakras over the coming weeks I will be taking notes on my experience, journaling and reporting back on my blog here. If you decide to follow along with me I would love to engage with you about what you are learning or any questions you may have about the chakras or what I am doing for myself.

Now finally a little insight into change, while I have only just chipped the surface with this work I can already feel the shift happening internally. These changes have also manifested themselves into some tangible changes in my business, two of my pieces have sold at GypsySoul Dreaming so far this week. Now you may call that coincidence but I think the universe responds to the changes we make within ourselves and this was its way of giving me that little bit of encouragement that this is the work I need to be doing in my life.

Namaste for now.

Welcome to my blog and welcome to mindfulness

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome to my blog! We are going to chat about lots of interesting stuff here but first a little introduction into mindfulness.

Hi. Welcome to my little corner of the internet and to my first blog post about mindfulness. For those of you who are wondering who I am you can check out my About page on this site but the short version is... My name is Ashley, I am a former Civil Engineer turned Stay At Home Mum (yes... spelt with a “u”), Artist and Yoga Teacher from Australia. I currently live in Southern California with my husband Santiago, our son Dante and dog Chester. We recently bought our first home, a two bedroom townhouse and will be starting to renovate soon (stay tuned for updates on that).

Anyway, enough about who I am and time to talk about why I am writing today. I want to start my blog talking about Mindfulness... yes that buzz word you hear around all the time that perhaps no one has really taken the time to explain to you. So I hope to do that for you today and explain a little about my experiences with mindfulness too.

You may laugh (I do now looking back) but I thought going from the stressful corporate world to a SAHM was going to reduce the stress in my life. Boy was I wrong, becoming a mum and being a military spouse on a single military income brought more stress than I could have ever imagined. Don’t get me wrong, I knew this life was never going to be a walk in the park but never before have I found myself so aware of my actions, expectations and responsibilities. I read somewhere that raising children is the new activism and I couldn’t agree more. The job of raising the next generation to be kind, compassionate, emotionally intelligent, healthy and prepared to be a good citizen of the world is mentally and physically exhausting. Now more than ever I find myself searching for those tiny moments of calm that belong to me as I am all too aware of my need for emotional intelligence too. So here we are... Mindfulness, something that I have been trying... struggling at times... to incorporate into my daily life, and if you aren’t already, something I think you should try too.

Mindfulness itself originated in Buddhism and in the Buddhist teachings is known as Sati. As it relates to yoga it can be linked to Meditation or Dhyana which is the seventh of Patanjali’s Eight Limbed Path (or the eight components of yoga). While this little bit of history may not help you to incorporate mindfulness into your every day I do feel it is important to acknowledge the culture and people from which we have been given this gift. I am sure I will go into more detail about yoga, its origins and its many facets in later blog posts but if you would like more information now please reach out to me and I can direct you to some of my favorite texts.

Now while I don’t necessarily consider Mindfulness and Meditation to be the same thing, there are parallels to be drawn between both practices. Certainly meditation can be a form of mindfulness but I feel mindfulness deserves a separate definition. A definition that I find very clear is that by Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.” Jon Kabat-Zinn

So you may have heard people say similar things to this like “be in the moment” or “get present” and thought “yeah right, because being in a different moment is an option....”. I am right there with you, but what you may not have noticed is where your mind goes when you are going though your day to day life. I know for myself that my mind is rarely focused on the exact task at hand, often I am thinking of all the other things I need to or should be doing. I will sit on my yoga mat and begin a practice whilst thinking about updating my Etsy store or what I should cook for dinner. Okay lets be honest, its almost always about the food, which seems fitting since I call this “monkey mind” (think loud crazy monkey jumping up and down to get your attention and then it doesn’t shut up even after you throw it a banana). I’ll get half way though my practice and start to think I really should stop and get onto those “more important” things instead of indulging on my mat. By the time I push though and give myself a few minutes of Savasana (relaxation) I find that I have gone and wasted what could have been a perfectly blissful yoga practice by feeding that damn monkey a banana. I get up from my mat feeling frustrated, not relaxed at all and more stressed about the rest of the day. Not the point is it?

On the opposite end of the spectrum when I focus my mind on my breathing and the sensations in my body during a yoga practice the time spent on my mat feels very different. I enjoy each pose so much more, I also find myself listening to my body more and following its innate intuition as to what it needs on that day and in that moment. Sometimes that means cutting a practice short and spending extra time in savasana rather than forcing an hour long practice just because that was what I had planned. The point here is that all the “should’s” go out the window along with the bananas and the monkey and I come off my mat feeling relaxed, revived and ready to take on the remainder of the day.

Now practicing mindfulness while doing something like yoga seems to go hand in hand, how is it that we can apply the same principle to our everyday life? Well, the actual act of mindfulness is a simple one, however, it requires everyday practice which is where it gets difficult. Being bombarded with so many tasks, responsibilities and distractions in our modern world I know I tend to run on autopilot most days doing each task with minimal attention and allowing the distractions of what is next on the to-do list or social media to take my mind away or distract me from the task at hand. I find all these distractions make me less efficient in my day and leave me feeling unaccomplished at the end of the day with a myriad of tasks left half done. I have tried to fix this with more to-do lists, more efficient methods, and funnily enough more distractions like watching tv or listening to podcasts while doing the mundane tasks. Writing these down makes me laugh because none of these perceived “fixes” are ever going to change things. This is what we do as modern humans, we try and fix everything with technology. But what if nothing needs to be “fixed” in our lives, what if just using mindfulness in our everyday life and not just in yoga or meditation could help us enjoy our lives more, reduce our stress and even make us more efficient?

I think it can. I am not saying that you’ll end up floating through life on a cloud each day with a serene smile on your face that makes people think “what are they on?”. But I guarantee that you will begin to find more pleasure in the mundane and will be left feeling more relaxed at the end of the day.

So as mindfulness is defined as the practice of fully appreciating the moment you are in and what you are experiencing. Next time you are folding the laundry, washing the car, doing the dishes or making your bed take the time to check in with yourself and how you feel completing and appreciating this task. Maybe remind yourself how lucky you are to have dishes to wash because that means you have food to eat, or notice how nice your bedsheets feel (I know I appreciate a good linen sheet). Check in with your mind and body more fully during your next workout and try to honor exactly what you are feeling (just because you went to the gym for a weights session doesn’t mean you have to do one if you aren’t feeling strong). And most importantly don’t beat yourself up when you find yourself doing something mindlessly, it will happen, you are only human. Like I said earlier this is called a practice because you need to practice it.

Ashley Di's Mindful Musings

4 ways to turbo charge your self care practice into a self love practice.

It's the month for romance and superficial notions of love surround us. But what if we stepped back from the commercialism of Valentines Day and focused on self love and healing our own hearts first?

3 Reasons You Should Try Walking Meditation

Do you feel restless in seated meditation? Struggle to calm your mind? Walking meditation can help with that and more!

Moving the body gets you into your body

Ignite the senses to get present

Using simple repetitive matras/affirmations to bring intention to your walk and day

3 Ways to Create a Less Stressful and More Mindful Christmas

This time of year can be tough for a lot of us for a lot of reasons. Read on as I talk about what I struggle with this time of year and how I turn some of the mayhem into mindfulness and calm my nervous system.

3 Steps to Calm Motherhood Overwhelm

How I find my way back to mindfulness as a mother who is touched out, exhausted and never has a moment to herself.

Why I Hate New Year's Resolutions and the 3 Things I Do Instead

It's been years since I set any New Years resolutions and for good reason. I hate them! They make me feel like crap! Read on to hear about what I do instead and why i think you should drop the resolutions too.

1. Pause

2. Setting Intentions

3. Reflect and Pivot!!

...and that's it!

3 Ways to Find Calm in COVID and the Fall and Winter Seasons

It has been a rough year battling the coronavirus and it is shaping up to be an interesting festive season. So I am sharing 3 ways that I bring more calm to my life in stressful times.

Why you love pumpkin spice so much and how to incorporate it into your mindfulness practice

Are you embarrassed to admit to loving pumpkin spice lattes? You aren't "basic", it's science!!

3 Tricks to Starting (Or Restarting) Your Yoga Practice

If you feel intimidated by starting yoga, worried you aren't bendy/thin/strong/flexible/spiritual/etc enough for yoga then this post is for you.

3 mindset shifts when you hate asking for help.

I hate asking for help but when I know I need it I ask myself these three things to help get around my resistance.

How I am getting my community and social fix online.

Building connections is so important to our mental health and I have decided to take action and bring an engaging and mindful community space to you.

Those who meditate get angry and stressed out too.

There are many misconceptions associated with meditation, but two have always stood out to me. That you must clear your mind in meditation and that people who meditate don't get stressed. Read on to find out the truth behind these two common misconceptions about meditation.

How to keep an abundance mentality when it seems like the world is in scarcity.

Turn Christmas Mayhem in Mindfulness

This time of year can be tough for a lot of us for a lot of reasons. Read on as I talk about what I struggle with this time of year and how I turn some of the mayhem into mindfulness and calm my nervous system.

Fall into Winter with Mindfulness

Bringing mindfulness to the season

Yoga for cooler days

The Importance of Centering and Savasana as bookends to your yoga practice

How to make the most of your yoga practice without changing anything about the poses/asanas you do.

A Mind Blowing Catalyst for Growth

Business, Yoga, Chakras, Crystals and the Universe

Welcome to my blog and welcome to mindfulness

Welcome to my blog! We are going to chat about lots of interesting stuff here but first a little introduction into mindfulness.

There are many misconceptions associated with meditation, but two have always stood out to me. That you must clear your mind in meditation and that people who meditate don't get stressed.

Read on to find out the truth behind these two common misconceptions about meditation.