Healthy Happy Life Secrets

3 Transformative Work Life Blend Advice Tips

Work life blend includes self-care time taking walks. — Appreciating the changing seasons!

Work life balance can exist. Work life blend is the new norm that comforts because all the boxes aren’t checked with our limited 24 hours a day and we still keep our healthy ways in check.

This article is all about optimizing your busy seasons for your work life balance benefit.

There are definitely seasons when you’re soooo busy and don’t think as clearly as when you’re well rested. It’s hard to be in the moment when you’re on go-go-go mode. Each moment goes by fast and awareness is missed. Focus is instead on task at hand.

And that’s how my life was when I worked in hospitality event planning, and especially holiday seasons when I started work at 9 am and ended around midnight. Co-workers would ask me why I was sending emails at 4 am! And then to start the schedule all over again the next day.

…For a season that’s sustainable, but not year-round.

You probably can relate with some of your endless cycle roles whether it’s as a corporate worker, doing a side hustle, or running a household. That’s all work.

Working 15 hour days means 9 hours is left for sleep and meals. Self-care part of life can end up as a nice-to-have. So can sleep that should be a non-negotiable. But sometimes is a luxury too!

And having little work-life blend becomes depleted energy that affects balance in feeling-thinking moods.

That lifestyle is not sustainable for a healthy or happy lifestyle. And can lead to stress and burnout. But again, okay for living out a season or two as part of life.

…And so is taking an intentional break.

When you’re no longer in a busy season and have rested up, you can find that you have too much free time on your hands. You have more Life than work-life blend, but that life isn’t healthy sustainable either for long periods.

It’s not good to just pass time without purpose that is known to shorten life span.

Time is a balancing act. But it doesn’t need to be a juggle where balls fall and that feels defeating.

You can ease in gracefully and look forward to the changing seasons…

Like, a simple change in work status, family status, or kids growing up can instantly stir up the season in busy or slow down.

But most of us in prime years are in busy seasons or busy from choices we’ve made.

And in the busy work shuffle, juggling free time around family, friends, or fitness can get pushed out (instead of doing push ups). Something has to give in work-life blend (formerly work life balance).

So here are 3 pieces of advice I have for (transforming) better work-life blend.

1.One good way is to END THE BUSY jam-packed schedule.

Simply stop adding one more activity on the agenda. Pause the activity habit stacking. So often, we’ve finished one activity, and the next question is: what’s next?

That doesn’t have to be your automatic way and what may give you the idea that having work-life balance is non-existent… somehow this has become the modern way, giving life balance a bad wrap (because slow down is a dream way off in the distant future)! And thinking all we can do today is work-life blend when we’re missing what’s important to us: our priorities.

In America, we’re in an instant gratification culture, where we’ve also delayed our health and happiness to retirement. That’s a bit backwards. Especially if you ask cultures that have less or choose to live slower paced throughout their lives.

But you can choose what you want. You make your life what it is based on each choice.

Even in your busiest seasons, you can prioritize what you want to achieve, such as spending an hour a day in family activity, meeting for lunch with friends, and spending an hour doing home exercise saving travel time.

Take that same 3-4 hours that instead can easily be spent mindlessly watching television (where the average is 4 hours per day for Americans). That’s to make up for all the busy, depleted energy spent during the day.

Being a night couch potato is the relaxing fix to get some exhausted energy back from the busy cycle we’re on instead of pacing ourselves.

It’s not a healthy, sustainable way to live. And doesn’t guarantee that we’ll be happier today or tomorrow.

So, if you’re on a mission to find more time and balance, one way is taking inventory of the busy that’s not making you happy in your life, and then change up doing those activities that can be as simple as a grinding halt stop.

2. Instead of taking free time to grumble on why we’re not as happy as we can be, we just decide to change up our lives.

…If work is what’s taking up the bulk of your time, then figuring out how you can make a change within 3 months is going to be your best bet.

You don’t want one season to turn into the next.

If the load is too much, reach out for help. Find ways to free up your time so you’re not mired down with the busy and can carve out free time, and also free up headspace time so you can enjoy this moment and be in the moment.

Some ways: delegate at work, ask spouses and loved ones for help, and set expectations.

Often, we add burden on our lives when we could’ve more simply repositioned how we answered or responded differently, so the responsibility isn’t solely ours.

3. Knowing your priorities FIRST, gives you better outcomes. You don’t end up saying yes to everything. You have a direction.

Because every activity you say “yes” to creates your busy life and lack of work-life blend. And if you want time balance back, be mindful and keep track of how often you say “yes” and “no.” Many ideas sound good at the time said or you don’t want to disappoint others, but then you’re compromising and not living your best life you’re called to live.

**And your ways become your habits.**

Finally, if you want good change, be ready to let go.

When you stop clinging to ideas, control, and how things will turn out, something amazing and good things happens. You give yourself the chance to get free from negative emotions about specific situations. And when you let in good energy, that attracts abundance beyond what you or I could’ve come up with.

Have a healthy and balanced week! 🧡

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Mountain Pose Yoga Journey For Kapha Stimulation

Mountain pose yoga is a great way to get you into your daily groove in more ways than one.

Mountain steps are often uneven like these where you can practice your mountain pose yoga at the mountain top. — This is a 340 natural mountain step challenge 🎉

Mountain Pose for starters can be a morning pose to wake up your body. You can do wherever you have a floor or ground to stand on.

Standing tall with hands in the air helps additional blood circulation and Ayurvedic Kapha stimulation especially when you’re in a tired season (that can rob any imbalanced Kapha mind-body of excited feelings).

This article is about how to use Mountain Pose yoga this season, both in yoga and climbing your mountain top or hill.

Yoga Mountain Pose

To get the most out of your yoga Mountain Pose, swoop swan dive arms gracefully down like your arms are eagle spanning wings. And then forward fold your hands to your yoga mat or your ankles grounded on the floor. 🦅

And then weightlessly reverse swan dive your arms back up into the air. That’s a good way to be purposeful in your daily moves.

Mountain Pose yoga can be part of your Vinyasa flow.

It’s a way to finesse your ways as you grow, and is a good metaphor for personal growth moves with intentional motion today.

Repeat your Mountain Pose, but next time, coordinate your deep breaths, with inhales up and exhales down in going up and down your pose. This keeps you purposefully engaged from head to toe.

Remember this Mountain Pose and your breath practice when you’re outdoors on a walk, hike, or journey up a mountain.

This outdoor practice is a great way to get energy flowing when you’re lacking energy, need new calm headspace, or just a ‘lil motivational push. It’s great exercise for your entire body.

And when you challenge yourself to get up a mountain if you’re nearby to one, you’ll get all the mind-body benefits.

If you’re feeling tired, stop and take a sip of water to refuel. Look around at your surroundings in awareness and mindfulness. Maybe do your stretching Tree Pose.

“They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

Mountain climbing is a great way to accompany a mini-sabbatical journey. What’s interesting about each hike, is that there are different trails to choose from.

And every day, each trail is slightly different because the nature elements change… everything from the trees, sky, and ground you walk and rely on with each step.

Changing foliage reminds us that this moment is just a blink.

When you come back around, leaves and twigs have fallen and flowers and fruit change up the scenery.

Selecting a path or trail that suits you is fun. Take the hike that inspires you or sounds inspiring. The first time will always be a surprise. 🎉

Usually people who’ve never been on a trail, listen to what others have told them who have walked the trail. Sometimes it’s better to listen to your heart and nature as guides instead of other’s opinions.

Because we all interpret differently…

One time, I kept hearing the message about how much more difficult a specific trail would be. That reminds me of younger years when we didn’t have info. at our fingertips.

And so I avoided that one as a first-timer, so I could build up.

And then when I actually did the hike, I found it was the easier one than the long winded one. The “strenuous” reputation trail had hundreds of steps at the end, and that’s what was meant by “harder.”

But, steps to me actually shortcut the climb process because it provides interest and variety that keeps present awareness. So fully engaged, that feels like the process is sped up.

Mindful about your uneven steps, you’re already at the top before you know it.

The alternative is to take a longer trail path without a steep incline and as many steps. And that’s where natural Kapha tendencies differ from Vatas.

Know Your Individual Strengths

There’s a general fork in the road in body types.

Kaphas naturally prefer the endurance exercise which means longer courses and duration over steps that is perceived as work.

Vatas prefer the shorter, variety trail with different interest points that doesn’t seem like work.

And Pittas just want the challenge, so either trail is fine as long as there’s a little sprinting up and down the hill that wouldn’t hurt either. 😉

Each of us have our body strengths.

Climbing trails is an individual journey.

And in each season, we’re holding onto an imbalance even if just a smidge that we can course correct on our individual journey.

The first steps are the ones that can be mentally the hardest to get going on. And a part of you might be wondering: is it too late to turn around?

But when you focus on the baby steps of each step, it’s easier. You remove the blocks. And actually that’s what little kids on the trails do on their steps. They enjoy the climbing challenge and play with the immovable Lego blocks.

We need more of that in our everyday, where we look forward to trying a healthy challenge as part of our play.

It’s great natural exercise in the process.

With every step and turn, you can find your balance and appreciate how your body assets work for you.

Having a nudge motivation like seeing the mountain top view helps us get to the goal. The cherry on the top of the mountain doesn’t disappoint. And that’s a general consensus for all…

The ending is predictable. But the getting-there journey is not. The middle changes as you get different perspectives. And the next time, you’ve grown some. So you see life from a different lens and that can help you maneuver this season.

Balancing Kapha On Your Trail

If you’re needing a little push out of a tired mind that can make a tired body, on your trail, look for pops of color like fiery red leaves in autumn. Or berries on trees.

Wear a pop of color on your arm or shoes… (if you’re drawn to the bright or neon colors, that could be why as your body is intuitive). Just a pop of color though because bees are attracted to bright clothing and mountain air. 🐝 We can share the calm space.

Find a pine cone or forest fresh scent. Some natural bug spray scents have lemongrass and rosemary that help to wake up the senses. They’ll keep the certain bugs away and keep you awake.

Take energy food and water. Great snacks are nuts and energy bites. So, ready to get your Mountain pose on? ⛰️

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free Carrot Bread Squares

Course Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour or coconut flour
1/2 cup oats
2 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp honey
1/2 cup raisins and chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/2 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg each (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Mix ingredients and bake on 350°F for about 40 minutes.

Homemade energy squares with: carrots, raisins, coconut, and apple cider vinegar.

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Child Pose Yoga DeStress

Child Pose yoga was something I wish I knew when I was first starting out in corporate work life for stress. I’m young at heart.

But this pose is also called Reclined Hero’s Pose… so your inner child can turn into your hero.

But before that, the adult challenges I started out with were NO fun…☹️

The day in hotel catering where I started was long and full of pressures, stress, and being in go-go-go mode.

The perk was good food and meeting nice people. 🥘 🤩

…But then there were tough office moments that invited in negative energy that would linger into the evening and then the next day where the same triggers started all over again. Maybe you can relate?

Weekends seem to fly by where I was never caught up with rest and completing errands.

There was always more to do, but then the rat race workweek started with Monday. And I couldn’t remember what I did over the weekend. It was like being in Plow Pose but not the yoga kind. I felt hit by a plow catching up with sleep.

The balance in social activities was long forgotten.

If you have a corporate work life, you know exactly what being in the rat race lifestyle means, that’s rarely 9-5.

And I felt no work-life balance in my first work gig in hotel catering that averaged twelve hours a day roundtrip plus some weekends. While I did have hotel management perks of staying overnight on request, but who wants to stay at there work when they can go home and feel like a human again? That’s how I felt. Even if you’re in a fun place, it’s never the same when you’re working and you take your job seriously.

Stress-free life is a foreign concept in those long hour environments where you’re always “on.” Today, we don’t have to be so much like a professional robot, we can leave that to the actual AI robots. 😊

Then, years later I had a WLB epiphany… oh, that’s what work-life balance looks like.

I had an actual 9-5 work life that gave me time balance. But as all things come to an end, moving on and years later, I found other 9-5 work that came with the tradeoff of toxic work environments.

In those roles, I would’ve easily traded fewer hours to work around positive work energy. I carried anxious energy that robbed me of life and enjoyment on my days off during those work seasons, kinda like first job. The Universe was definitely sending me clues. And decades in, I caught on to the recurring patterns like Groundhog Day.

Until once again, I got out of those sometime miserable work seasons… and then I could breathe in the moment and feel calm in mindfulness. I was not thinking of past situations or what could happen in the future. I was living free.

And through years of work trials and tribulations, that’s how I determined self-care, protecting your calm energy, and valuing yourself is most important. Life is too short to live unfulfilled in the process because you have future end goals in mind. There’s a balance because no one is guaranteed tomorrow or their certain plans that goals count on.

Plus, living with prolonged stress is outright damaging to optimal health and longevity.

Relaxing-calm energy is a prescription for mind-body health that we all need.

One way to get your calm energy back sooner rather than later is to reverse the negatives into positives…

And in any “bad” situation, realize in awareness that the situation you’re in today, will one day end.

…Either by you or circumstances beyond your control. So today, what you are gaining in resilience and lessons learned will pay dividends for your future endeavors. And today and in this moment, you can practice this relaxing perspective in Child Pose yoga and these ways:

1) Take deep breaths in and out in your Child Pose. You can do this in the morning and night to help calm. You don’t need to have any certain energy, just a pulse. And if you have pent-up energy, push it out into deep huff and puff breaths onto your yoga mat.

2) Then when you get more time, you can flow into a peaceful walk outside to appreciate calm spaces and surroundings. Like a child, wonder about the trees and all those similar curiosities you had in your earlier days. These days, it’s easy to stop and stare at nature off-balance compared to previous years, and that can stir up some fond nostalgia memories of the happy inner child that are peaceful and innocent.

3) Meditating on daily devotionals is great way to start your morning with positive affirmations and mantras, hopeful Psalm Scriptures, and check in and see what thoughts pop up.

4) Do a few minutes in a productive joyful activity that’s a daily outlet. Maybe you have a personal project you’re working on. When you’re fully immersed, that gets your calm mind-body back.

5) When you go back to your yoga mat, do an active Child’s Pose where your fingers are facing each other and touching, pointed straight ahead on the mat. And also move them with palms down on the floor to about the 2 pm hand dial position. Stay there for a few breaths.

Then move along to 3 pm for a few breaths. And turn your Child Pose into Hare Pose with a rounded back. Looking down and inward, you gain a few more breaths of calm and comfort. And maybe find out what your inner child is needing.

Focus on relaxing muscles and your breath to be in present moment where anxious energy doesn’t exist. That’s all in the past thoughts and uncertain future worry that causes us unnecessary negative sensations. Just focus on this moment.

6) Listen to relaxing music to help put you back into a calm mind-body balance mood. I like to have soft music like Ingrid Michaelson, Ed Sheeran, or Norah Jones upbeat moody tones in the background that won’t put me to sleep. Having seen them all in concert, I can put some surround sound and lights to memory too… and that pleases my inner child.

7) And turn your Child Pose to an upside down Child Pose where you hug your knees. Doesn’t that feel good? If you were like me you grew up in a family that didn’t know how to give hugs and kisses. This hugging Child Pose is a great way to validate your inner child that didn’t get hugs and outward expressions of love.

What pleases your inner child? 👶 Maybe a Plow Pose.

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Relaxing Easy Autumn Bread Recipes to Inspire You

autumn leaves inspires autumn creativity and autumn bread recipes for me that i share in this blog article. — When you blend autumn leaves together, they look like a colorful painting that life is. And that can give you inspiration for expressing creativity and your creative talents! One way I like to stay creative and express creativity is through baking. I share autumn recipe inspiration below that can help YOU find your colors. 🌈

Autumn bread recipes can be comforting for the soul. After baked, the hearty loafs with sweet or savory flavors bring moments of joy and satisfaction.

And creating your own easy autumn bread recipes is easy when you know what to do! You probably already have the few essential bread making ingredients needed in your kitchen cupboard. So you’re already half-way (or more) there to spark your inspiration. 🎨

After you’ve practiced and perfected your foundational bread making skills (aka making progress over perfection), you realize you don’t need “special” recipes to create your own bread masterpiece that will wow your taste buds and friends.

…And that can even be a table centerpiece for a few days, just long enough for you to have that enjoyment factor before it wears off. 😉

The simple things like bread can bring the most joy in this life. 🎉

And with satisfied feelings, bread baking is more an art, than a science experiment with baking measurements (in case that scares you off).

Bread chemistry science happens in the oven, so it’s mostly outta your hands! That can be comforting and take the pressure off.

And below step-by-step, I show you the easiest bread you can make and bake.

Your part is to put your love in your bread dough making process, and not to get mired down with complicated step-by-steps that doesn’t always pan out.

…And I learned this over many self-taught bread lessons. The a-ha is that sticking to the basics pans out every time. And that’s good for balancing Vata where the balance recipe is consistency.

The secret in making good bread is using your calm energy and heart where you enjoy the process. And maybe finding your bread making relaxing place, kinda like the one you find outdoors on a perfect fall day with no clouds in the sky.And then when the clouds roll in, spend time in your kitchen making progress on your bread baking skills. 🥖

Bread Making 101

Starting with pizza dough or crust is one easy way to learn bread making.

Because pizza crust is bread, and even if there’s no or low rise (or you don’t get it exactly right the first time), it usually tastes great. And will get eaten in minutes if you have delicious ingredients as toppings.

Oh, btw, did I mention I was a pizza maker for 4 teenage years, lol?

So in many ways, I got my feet wet with bread baking lessons starting from a young age. And in my more mature weekly recent home baking experiences, my pizza making lessons come inspired from those years.

When I do the bread in the young at heart way, then it works out. And you can do this too with practice.

You need four common ingredients: bread flour, water, salt, and instant yeast.

(Tip: keep the salt and yeast in separate corners of the flour before the dough is formed, as salt can kill the yeast early on).

After breaking down the gluten by kneading and then forming a cohesive dough ball, you can let the dough rest and proof in a covered plastic bowl for a couple hours or longer. That’s proof that even bread need rest! 😁

You will get the hang of the elastic dough texture (like soft Play-doh) after you do it a few times. It becomes some of the easiest baking prep you can do!

Instead of intricately cutting out cookies or delicately icing your cake just right, bread doesn’t need slicing or icing precision. You might add a decorative incision or a glaze at the end, but those take less focused gaze on your part.

You can make rustic and airy bread when feeling a bit Kapha tired because it doesn’t require finesse (for my Great British Baking show friends who like to make cottage loafs). 🎪

The hardest part (if there is one), is remembering to make and prep the dough hours or a day in advance, so the dough has time to proof. You let nature of time do the work.

So here are the easy steps to by pass flops. This is the skinny on what does work for quick bread making wins… and without making skinny bread! 🍞

Learn to Make Inspired French Bread Pizza Crust

Once called “poor man’s bread,” this is actually an American invention that students love. In the public high school cafeteria I ate in, French bread pizza made a debut on certain days kinda like Taco Tuesdays.

With the same 4 ingredients you make pizza crust dough (mentioned above). After proofed, move the dough over to your baking sheet, and shape your dough in an oval or more football shape than a pizza circle.

Use a little bench flour to prevent sticky dough on your hands and the baking sheet.

When you’re about ready to bake and your oven is pre-heated to 350°F/180°C, you can flatten the dough center if you’ll be adding toppings that are wet like tomatoes.

Or make your traditional French bread pizza with cheese and sauce only, and leave the center alone so it can rise in the middle (or the reason why you proofed the dough in the first place).

The trick to airy bread loafs, is to gently handle your dough (kinda like in baking cakes where at times you want to fold in your batter or ingredients like meringue whites, so you don’t flatten and knock out the air you just worked on).BUT, you’re the artisan, so you decide!

And then bake (or be-ake! in Great British Bake Off terms).

Healthy Autumn Bread for Balancing Vata and Kapha

Keeping bread healthy, breads that have light airy pockets like French bread interiors or pita bread will not be as heavy and can melt in the mouth.

Here’s the quick bread breakdown low-down on body science:

When bread first enters our mouths, the breakdown starts as an enzyme called amylase in your mouth that initiates the process. Bread is one of the unique foods that doesn’t have to get to your gut first to start digesting (breakdown).

And it’s also one food, if not chewed well in the mouth, that can sit in your stomach like lead (or at least feel that way).

If you have a Vata sensitive stomach or bloating that’s common, or more a Kapha body who’s trying to lose weight, then not eating as much dense bread like sandwich rolls and fast food buns definitely helps your healthy cause.

Whole grain and sprouted breads are wholesome alternatives that could be a game changer for your heartier and healthier bread life.

3 Sweet A-B-C Healthy Recipes (From Autumn Bread Recipes)

And when you have a sweet tooth, these are some autumn healthy wise tips and healthy recipes that can easily turn into healthy autumn bread recipes.

What I most appreciate about easy autumn bread recipes are the intense hearty flavors. Hearty is anti-inflammatory spices and ingredients. It’s healthy comforting food alongside your meals.

You can sweeten pair with a divine pear and cinnamon duo or add a chai tea flavor twist. And you can turn autumn bread recipes into a bread cake, scone, or muffin recipe with just a few simple tweaks.

And these 3 sweet autumn baking recipes below are the healthy (my fave kind!)… with these ABC’s: apple, banana, or citrus orange. And loaded with other fall healthy spice and vinegar ingredients. And have no shortage of flavor burst wow! 🤩

Fall Apple Bundt Bread Cake with ACV (or pears) are loaded with polyphenols and apple cider vinegar is shown to lower blood sugar levels that’s good for losing weight and reducing risk of diabetes.

Healthy Fall Apple Bundt Cake Recipe

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread – banana and cocoa is loaded with polyphenols. Both will help to put a smile on your face so you don’t have to reach for processed foods and refined sugar sweets that lead to weight gain.

Chocolate Banana Cake Bread Recipe

Orange Scone – orange zest as a sweetner is loaded with Vitamin C and flavanoids. High in fiber and water content, that will help you feel full so you don’t eat other “bad” sweets with refined sugars.

Orange Scone Recipe

And before I leave you this week, I’m sharing some work inspiration from having professionally planned thousands of party menus with Lebanese food stirring up memories because of the pomegranates, that are an in-season autumn fruit. The red rubies are a dazzling pop of color that leave a juicy finish.

What do ya think?

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Feeling-Thinking Mood Balance In Your Practice

Getting your feeling-thinking mood balance this season prevents burnout, staying stuck, or feeling helpless from bouncing back.

And below I share tips to encourage your best mood season ahead.

Where most people don’t think about how their moods affect them. They’re focused on what they’re doing or not doing.

And most working people start their work day thinking about their workday, and not so much how they feel. When they have free-time or their feelings are provoked, that’s when feelings enter the scene.

So, there can be a disconnect between thinking and feeling on any given day. And over time, that can weigh any of us down or turn into heavy moods over a longer season.

But striking more of a balance between both in daily life helps to restore and prevent chronic moods and create space awareness of what’s missing today that needs restoring for a better tomorrow.

And knowing this can be the game changer for your bursts of daily joy and peace vs. disconnected or hopeless feelings.

Yoga is one empowered tool or practice you can use to get into calm feelings and feeling better right away in any moment.

You can get in your peaceful headspace wherever you are.

So, what if you’re well-intended to get on your mat, but you’re not feeling inspired? And no where near Happy Baby!? 👼

That’s a common example of disconnect from feeling-thinking that shows up in moods.

The good news is a thinking-feeling mood balance is something you can work to restore in small baby steps, just like mind-body imbalances. Knowledge and knowing what to do when unrest hits is how to healthy restore.

Simply scooping your body to the floor can start the process.

And if you don’t feel like it because your mind is fighting you or you’re tired, you can decide to just sit or lay back on the mat and see what comes up. It’s your second resting place next to your bed or couch.

Your higher thinking tends to show up when you create the space. So rely on forces outside yourself to kick in when you make just a little scoot effort.

The act of being on a mat or being on your sits bones can do that.

Your “being” is the baby step.

Yoga or your quiet practice is how you can get your deeper insides to awaken from feeling outside sensations or stretching. Sit in silence. Some call this meditation. And others, self-care.

If you rest your palms on your eyes, that can feel nourishing.

Many common stretches without yoga names are yoga poses even if it’s more a gym mat style one than a yoga one. In yoga poses, you’re usually working on multiple muscle groups at one time versus isolated muscle stretching. It’s balancing our muscles.

Yoga includes mind brain muscles where you get to marry thinking and feeling. Thinking because you have to remember which side you’re working on. Your left and rights can get tangled up easily if you’re not focused or tend to have two left feet.

If you don’t stay focused or start daydreaming, you fall out of your pose. Each move is an opportunity to stay present and feel areas and sensations in your body that are tight and tense.

Making Yoga Progress

If you don’t know what pose to begin with, work with common tight body parts first. The hamstrings (back of the upper leg) is one area that can tighten easily for most of us. The back is another. So you can get in a seated position on your mat, and try to reach your toes. Feel the stretch. And do it on each side, separately.

You get more flexible and the stretch feels better as your muscles loosen up if you’re not injured. And that’s the ‘lil accomplishment boost your mind needs to feel encouraged to keep going.

And when you release your tightness over time, you sensitize other parts of your body and start feeling other sensations. The same ones that breathe new life into you.

And that’s when you can mindfully think about and appreciate your body parts that work for you day in and day out.

When you get familiar with how it feels activating a specific muscle or muscle region, you become more in tune and sensitized to your body.

And that leads you to awareness of deeper parts you can’t see like your heart or brain. You can think of how you deeply feel or think at that moment, that btw, would not have been an opportunity had you not gotten in the stretching pose.

Or you can do yoga from a chair If that’s where you spend most your waking hours doing computer work, where you likely got your tight hamstrings in the first place.

Take Anywhere Intention

In yoga anywhere, then you can reap the full mind-body benefits that help to feeling-thinking mood balance restore you. You can mindfully lighten the load and burdens from where you just came from.

And if you look forward to yoga or enter with enthusiasm, that activates growth intention as you operate with healthy intention and your body cooperates in your full range of motion that each pose offers.

You get more healthy intention energy with your open headspace.

You also deepen the connected mind-body benefits of being present and engaged, that lead to:

-relaxation vs. stress undertone (stressful energy)

-joy vs. depressed (if this hits everyday at a certain time, then you want to restore this)

-calm vs. unrest (restlessness is a sign for a need to shift)

-peaceful alignment vs. disconnect (this can show up as two identities that are often affected by moods)

-clarity vs. confusion (feeling stuck or making poor decisions)

And calm, joy, peace, and clarity all help to mood balance.

Blocks To Remove

A repeated ego block could be the veiled blind spot that is not helping you see overall if left unaware. Catching your ego in the act is the way to awareness. You do this by watching your reactions and actions that you internally question whether they’re helpful or hurtful to you and others.

Other blocks could be a misaligned season in your situations. I discovered this in my own block removal seasons when emotions got the best of me from my situations.

Yoga helped me to gain revelations to remove my blocks. When I centered with my deep breaths, I could stay in the moment in those breaths. And that created space and a way to escape from thinking thoughts that caused emotional unrest.

And you can do the same in your life. 🎉

You can get back to your center. In the pause, you can feel good and think good thoughts.

And after you leave your yoga mat or breathing space, you can continue your feeling-thinking mood balancing.

Feeling-Thinking Mood Balance

For some of us, we prefer to feel our way through life over thinking (and over overthinking). Thinking is work. And most the time, worth the time and effort for the positive thought-out results that occur.

And some of us feel more than think. Feeling can be suffocating if we can’t get away from our feelings. And it can be cathartic releasing feelings, so we are aligned with ourselves and don’t hold onto negative energy.

Finding the healthy feeling-thinking mood balance is always the best answer. And when balance is restored:

As a thinker, you know the benefits of noodling out ideas, problem solving, and planning.

As a feeler, you know the benefits of your feelings guiding you, and empathy for helping others and yourself from your feelings first.

Tipping the scales so they’re more feeling-thinking balanced, make a big impact to your daily perspectives and outlook. And that’s everything that matters in life. ⚖️

Getting More Feeling-Thinking Mood Balance

A good way to get more balanced on your thinker-feeler scale is bridging intentions and calming the mind to feeling sensations in the body that help to feel more in life. Yoga was one way already mentioned.

And if yoga is not in your wheelhouse, you can try other quiet practices like taking a nature walk, meditation, or journaling.

Find a solo practice that makes you feel alive.

Those restorative activities are good to time block in.

But where we spend most our time influences us the most.

Such as, those who choose careers in physical labor work or play sports rely on their bodies to work, and they rely on their feelings as to how to move and use their bodies.

They feel the weather impacts for outdoor sports when a ball or a person tackling them collides into them. They feel pain effects lifting or pushing intentionally to activate muscles.

Or those who choose professions that help others like nurses, social workers, and teachers feel for their patients and students.

Then there are those who do office work, behind-the-scenes jobs, data analyze or problem solve for a living. Those are thinking jobs.

One profession is not better than another. We’re all called to do different work.

But whatever you do impacts your feeling-thinking mood balance. And over time if not aligned, you could feel there’s something missing.

#1: To help stay balanced, you could do the opposite feeling-thinking moves when you finish your work, like an office worker plays or coaches sports after work. Or someone who spends time in a kitchen or gym most the day, then works on the computer at night.

You get the feeling of relief as you have an outlet to express more of yourself in feelings or thoughts in your spare time. That’s the healthiest daily restore.

But often situations change on a dime so as soon as you get your rhythm, the beat changes.

I know this all too well when I was constantly adapting to new work situations from hotels, offices, and remote.

When I did corporate work, that was heavy on the thinking. I often felt uninspired that turned into feeling lack of purpose and growth with unhealthy feelings. So I was out of balance.

Until I was able to pivot. Today, my thinking-feeling balance comes from writing, doing yoga, and baking on the weekend. And having those elements baked into my week creates balance so I can do the other purposeful work tasks.

The contrast is I look forward to my work and balanced activities and that create a healthy lifestyle that provides enough sleep, emotional rest, and joy.

And maybe that’s what you need…

And if so, taking a few moments this week for you to consider how much feeling-thinking mood balance you have (and by default, discover the deficit). You’ll gain self-insights and revelations.

When you get awareness and connect the dots, then you can make self-helpful shifts to find your way back to your balance. And those become your better ways.

…And that’s about a decade or two of lessons I had that you can do in a weekend. 😊

Especially when we’re younger, we have times when we’re less aware or de-sensitived because our professional and personal lives are jam packed with being busy.

Leading with activity that’s not helping us grow is an easy way to lose sight of who we’re becoming as time passes, and time is the only asset we know we can’t get back.

From experience, I know those seasons catch up with our mind-body when we look in the mirror one day in present awareness, and wonder who the stranger is staring back at us that we’ve become.

And in intention and wisdom, we can make the change, start the process, and seek the answers we don’t know today.

Like the shift I made from “being busy” in the busy metropolitan culture I grew up around. I learned “being busy” as good for us and made us more important.

And then along with culture shifting away from working all the time, I realized that busy was actually hurting. So I unlearned that way that’s aligned with my value in balance.

I’m not sure that has caught up with most people these days…

And in the upcoming weeks I’ll share my tips and thoughts on work life blend that work life balance has turned into, as I DO believe balance can exist in your prime years!

And especially since we have so many work choices these days, more than when I started and it was expected you went to college.

…And thankfully these days, there are even mental health resources and departments in companies as acknowledgement that personal life can be part of the professional life. And if you do career life your own way, then you choose your tasks and days.

So stay tuned for that! 🌱

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