Salutations a parking ticket solution?

Add a new twist on why to do yoga: it's now being tauted as a way to relieve stress upon receiving the dreaded parking ticket.

The city of Cambridge, Mass., began including a "citation salutation" to its parking tickets as part of a public art project by artist-in-residence Daniel Peltz.

"Peltz envisions '“a reflection on a social situation, the human experience of giving and receiving parking tickets.” '

'"I’m going to get the ticket either way, my only choice really is how I’m going to receive it.”'

This train of thinking could relate to how we react to any situation. Yoga is a method for handling external experiences in a balanced manner and shows us receiving a parking ticket isn't the end of the world, unless we make it that.

So breathe when you receive that parking ticket, or the baby spits up on you, or your co-worker is annoying you, or insert your own negative bullet point here, and watch it more easily flow off your back.

Eagle mudra for more intuition

Mudras, a type of hand gesture, are said to be the first form of prayer before speech. They are also a way of cultivating a specific state of mind.

Try garudasan or eagle mudra to enliven your intuition when you're in need of guidance.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Allergies and Stress: Who knew?

Signs of allergy season began for me this past month but to the extreme. Sinus pressure and headaches were more distracting and disconcerting than ever before, and this past week my chest has felt tight.

Perhaps the ragweed count in Kansas City is at record levels. Had a suspicion it was something to do with me. So what's going on? I asked myself.

Stress!

After researching yoga poses for allergies and asthma due to the tightness in my chest, I found the online Yoga Journal article "Allergy Antidote." It correlates asthma and allergies to stress and how having a more calming yoga practice can help alleviate symptoms.

"Through relaxation, the nervous system basically tells the immune system to hold its fire. Once the immune system backs off, the inflammation and mucus decrease, and symptoms diminish.

Migdow suggests you make de-stressing your immune system a priority by modifying your yoga practice to be less vigorous and much more calming. "For example, avoid Bikram Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga where there is already heat. Instead, practice asanas in a smooth and relaxing way with lots of slow breathing."'

Must admit, I have been giving the pressures in life more power than they deserved, but to have my body reacting to it as allergies. Who knew?

After returning to the Midwest four years ago, I visited an allergist upon having allergy symptoms for the first time in my life. A few tests later only revealed mild allergies and a slight athletic asthma. Took the prescriptions for a while. Once they ran out, I switched to the more holistic nasal rinsing since soon after I became pregnant.


Although now nasal rinsing didn't seem to help as much. Nor did taking several Claritin and Sudafed generics per day.

Next step: relaxation.

The same article mentions these asanas or postures to induce calming and to help reduce allergies and asthma by massaging "various parts of the spine and the thoracic cage and condition the lungs"

• standing poses
• forward bends
• backward bends
• twists
• inversions (shoulderstand and plow) - help "clear the upper respiratory tract and drain secretions from the nose, allowing freshly oxygenated blood to flow into the oral cavity."