Staying Mindful Through the Holidays
The holiday time is filled with joy, cheer, and often stress. Here are some ideas of how to stay mindful, present, and moving throughout the holidays and to set a foundation for a strong 2022.
Incorporate Our Jollie Favorites
This beautifully designed poster is more than decor – it’s also great for memory and building a practice. Commit to mastering all 26 poses in 2022! Spend two weeks mastering each pose and add in different breaths to the calendar to make it more complete. By the end of the year you will be doing an entire class on your own!
Another Jollie accessory with double duty! Our An Extra Hand straps make carrying your mat easy and help to assist with flexibility. Stretch before bed using the strap for heart openers or twists.
Get out in nature (weather permitting)! Take pose cards to the park and practice in the open air. Spend 5 minutes connecting with your child (or partner) through their favorite ("yoga") breath in our Breathing Card set.
This is one of those books that becomes more meaningful with every read. Make it a goal to read "Breathe and Be" once a week and work some of the mindfulness from the story into your day.
Without a doubt our mats are the foundation of mindful movement. Keep it out in your living area to remind yourself to take time & space for yourself. We especially enjoy taking our mat outdoors to get some fresh air and movement. Remember to be gentle on yourself and your body as you try to find time for exercise and movement during a busy season.
Make Room for Mindful Movement
Keep a journal for you and your loved ones (they also make holiday memory journals for children) and jot down sweet memories throughout the season.
Pay attention to your body's needs. Looking to calm down at the end of a long day? Try reclined positions such as gentle reclined twists, cat/cow or a simple child's pose.
Looking for more energy to get you through your long to do list? Try heart openers such as camel pose, upward facing dog or a chair pose.
Give Back
Commit to being more grateful and perhaps giving this year. Research has shown the connection between giving & gratitude and we know from our own personal experience this is true – and why we are a mission based company with a 1:1 donation and give back program. Follow our Give Back Program and remember to spread the word! For every mat sold, we donate one to a pediatric cancer patient, and on top of that we donate 5% of our online sales to yoga therapy programs.
We recently had the pleasure of hosting a Gratitude & Giving Yoga Class Kids’ Meals (a wonderful Houston organization that delivers free, healthy meals, year-round to children age 5 or under). The class was based around the book “The Day the Crayons Quit) with themes of seeing the blessings in front of us, recognizing how each and every person has value and talent (just like the crayons in the story do!), and how to give to others who don’t have as much. We went through a Yoga Flow around the colors of the crayons, decorated lunch bags (with crayons of course), filled up the bags with healthy lunch options, and in the end donated 30 lunches for hungry children. Just like the research says, our hearts were full of gratitude at the end of this day of giving.
Interested in "The Day The Crayons Quit" yoga class we did?
Here are the poses by color. We recommend reading the book first, then working your way through all the colors, incorporating movement, sound, and visuals.- Red – Fire Engine (crab walk and make siren sounds)
- Purple – Fire breathing dragon (Lunge with outstretched arms – deep breath in and breathe fire on the exhale)
- Light Brown – Wheat (Mountain pose – use pose card here)
- Gray – Elephant (Forward fold with wide legs, sway arms like a trunk)
- White – Snow Angel
- Black – Beach Ball (tuck and roll back and forth)
- Green – Tree Pose
- Yellow and Orange – Sun (star)
- Blue – Boat
- Pink – Pink Cowboy/girl (horse)
- Peach – Open and Close the crayon box (butterfly)
- Savasana – End your practice thinking about a picture with all of the colors
