Care of the Little Things Matters

of patience, practise and routine. I am still working found myself falling into routines that nurture and replenish my body and mind. Otherwise, I can easily slip into fear, doubt, self-loathing which I smother with chocolate cake, croissants and too much coffee followed by the inevitable crash. It’s funny how we turn to the wrong substances when we neglect our own natural cycles. Waking up and doing yoga doesn’t bode well sometimes it just takes a gentle nudge, sometimes a shove and the ‘fwaaap’ of the yoga mat as I unroll it with the crack of a whip. Sometimes the mind wanders too far from the body, we get caught in avenues and the misty swamps of our own thoughts or too long, and this disconnection can leave us feeling tired and weak-boned. Yoga, literally meaning ‘yoke’, is a way of binding the body and mind, like uniting two long-lost friends. In a way it is the same as practising an instrument, learning to crochet, developing a tactile skill where we learn to create a form, in whatever sense of the word. Whether with paint, words, our own bodies. We can paint a different reality for ourselves when coming to these sacred spaces where we drop our to-do list to come to sit with our mind Yoga helps me feel grounded, balanced and whole. It brings me back to the rise and fall of my breath. Suddenly I remember that I am this living, breathing, feelings being. I am alive. Through movement, whether it be dance, going for a walk/ run, we feel this sense of being human again. It is about movement, transferring all this stagnant energy into a movement ritual. Saturated minds can leave us feeling empty, this is when our psyche is most at risk from the attack of negative thoughts. To those reading this, I want you to take a moment to pause. Relax the belly. Take deep breaths into that space you have just created in your abdomen. Feel the rise and fall of your breath. Allow any thoughts to pass, simply play witness. Take two from your mouth with a long, deep, sigh. This is the feeling of release that we get when working with the body. In Western culture, it is so easy to forget this feeling. We are wrapped up and consumed with the doing and getting things done without doing the inner work. I discovered yoga in my younger years, it was a moment that clicked like my body had just realised it has a driver, and that driver was me. Our bodies aren’t slaves, we must care and nurture them inside and out. Drink plenty of water, massage your own feet, rub the area between your brow, and then massage your temples, your neck and shoulders. Wiggle your head, releasing tension from the neck. Take moments of stillness throughout the day. Buy yourself a really comfy pair of socks and a luxurious pair of gloves, drink tea in your favourite without going anywhere. These are all part of the rituals of staying sane in a lockdown. When things feel too much, and you can’t calm your head, write, write and keep writing. Journaling is a way to clear the mind. It helps to do it in the morning. There is something calming and therapeutic about putting pen to paper and simply letting the pen glide across the page. You will be surprised about what comes out. This is a way to ground our thoughts onto the lines of a page. To lay them out and feel their weight. This practice has kept me sane throughout the lockdown and I can’t recommend it enough. World Health Day comes as a reminder to honour our bodies, to take care of ourselves and those around us. It’s not always about our physical health, so much of our modern-day problems come from the mind. With mental health issues sky-rocketing during the pandemic, I believe that mental health awareness will play more of a tribute during this World Health Day. I write this as a reminder to be kind to yourself, because you are doing great. Health isn’t always about spirulina and 5am workouts, it’s about the small things you do each day. I write this as a reminder to be kind to yourself, to slow down, come back to the breath. Spring is in the air, the blossoms are beginning to rise and with days getting longer, things will get easier. I promise.

Nature’s Effect on Your Blood Pressure.

Created for the online learning platform, Lifeology

By Jessika Raisor. Jessika is an educational animator and currently a multimedia specialist at and adults through art and design. You can view her portfolio at www.jessikaraisor.com

Things We’re Loving!

This month our features editor, Grace BalfourHarle is sharing some things she’s been loving. I work full-time, but live by myself at the evenings with things to do is something that I need to do to stay sane. I do a lot of dance classes and teach, as well as volunteering with SYP so I love baking and trying new things. I got really into sourdough bread and bread making during lockdown, but also love making cakes and brownies and suchlike. But sometimes you need downtime in front of so I’d like to share some of the things I’ve been loving this month.

By Grace Balfour-Harle

During lockdown, my work club where we take it in turns to choose a really lovely weekly occurrence, and I have before. Recently we’ve watched Crazy Rich Asians, The Angel’s Share, and Bringing Up Baby. I’ve also binged Wandavision, which was such good TV. I somehow avoided all the spoilers before watching! No idea how I did that! I enjoyed the fact that somehow Marvel managed to do what they do on the big screen in the shorter time constraints of a TV show – although the credits are almost the same length as the episodes! I’m really enjoying the most recent season of Masterchef – I’m such a foodie, so love watching people create some really tasty dishes, even if I’m not able to myself. My current long-watch project is getting through the Star Trek franchise. My boyfriend is a massive Trekkie, so I’m making my way through the gaps of my knowledge).

Watch

degree took some of the fun out of reading for me, I’m rediscovering my love of binging a book. I’m currently reading The Radium Girls by Anthony Horowitz’s The Word is Murder, and Girl A (which is the book from my work’s monthly bookclub). I also recently read Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart, the Booker Prize winner, which was amazing! It’s set in Glasgow in the 80s, and as I’m originally from Glasgow, I loved seeing the references to places I had grown up around. On my current TBR pile, I have the second novel in the High Rise Mysteries series, The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman and Invisible Woman by Caroline Criado Perez. I also love reading us, a magazine for the LGBTQ+ community, and its allies. I subscribe to Dancing Times, which is all about the dance industry, which has

As a dancer, music has been hugely important in my life. I’m not hugely into podcasts or audio books, but music never fails to make me smile. I have really eclectic listening habits though. Being a dance teacher, I as well as lots of musicals, but for something a little different, in the jazz class I help teach, we’re making up a dance together to good songs like I’ve Had The Time Of My Life from Dirty Dancing, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John, or Man! I Feel Like A Woman by Shania Twain. The last one always reminds me of my best friend, Victoria, bands like Fountains of Wayne and Deacon Blue were often played in my house, and still to this day some of my favourites. My choice of music when I’m working has recently been the Bridgerton soundtrack. Because I work with words, the music playing needs to be instrumental, or I’ll get distracted. And Bridgerton is such fun because it’s all instrumental versions of top 40 songs! But country music also does the job too – people like Kasey Chambers, The Shires, Kasey Musgraves, Taylor Swift etc. My choir just did a jazz music week, so Glenn Miller’s In The Mood has been in my head. Does anyone I’ve always been a voracious reader. While I’m still busy, and the remnants of an English else feel like ‘40s jazz music playing totally transports them to a different place, or is it just me? I feel like I’m at a party, or in an old movie. It’s just such a nostalgic feeling. degree took some of the fun out of reading for me, I’m rediscovering my love of binging a book. I’m currently reading The Radium Girls by

Anthony Horowitz’s The Word is Murder, and Girl A (which is the book from my work’s monthly bookclub). I also recently read Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart, the Booker Prize winner, which was amazing! It’s set in Glasgow in the 80s, and as I’m originally from Glasgow, I loved seeing the references to places I had grown up around. On my current TBR pile, I have the second novel in the High Rise Mysteries series, The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman and Invisible

Woman by Caroline Criado Perez. I also love reading us, a magazine for the LGBTQ+ community, and its allies. I subscribe to Dancing Times, which is all about the dance industry, which has obviously taken a hit during the past year with theatres closed.