Change your shape, to shift your mental state.
The practice of yoga and all the ways we move our breath with our body can shift us from an experience of feeling limited and small to feeling connected and bright. This experience isn’t limited to yoga. It can happen any time of the day, at the gym, on your bike, walking around the block or bouncing around your living room. The cool thing is, it only takes a moment for a mental shift. And moving daily and in small amounts throughout the day, we can keep ourselves from feeling stuck or stagnant. My friend and colleague, Darren Rhodes of Yoga Oasis in Tucson taught me “shapeshift to stateshift”. It’s a concept that is now engrained.
Moving our body with our breath is a clear access point to shifting our mental game. It plays a huge role in how I see myself and the world around me. I’m more positive, connected, light and fun to be around.
Feeling low? Walk.
Feeling heavy? Bounce.
Feeling sad? Breathe.
Feeling agitated? Stretch.
Want to simply stay energized throughout the day? MOVE your breath your body. This concept of moving our breath with our body shifts our overall energy and can be accessed in different ways. Essentially, we want to wake up our prana, which is our vital energy or life force and it moves on the wings of the breath. We can’t live without it. So when we move our breath with our body, we tap into the force that keeps us alive.
I’ve loved moving my body my whole life. I had a time where my main source of movement was solely on my yoga mat. I was practicing and teaching every day. This was fun, but I slowly started feeling stagnant and stuck. I started noticing a deep desire to move my body in different ways, but I had created a lifestyle, an identity and weekly calendar where I was practicing and teaching yoga and working an office job.
From a young age I loved dance and gymnastics and accelerated at sports. I loved anything where hand-eye coordination was involved, so ball sports were fun for me. Moving my body has always been super important, even at the times in my life when I was the least healthy and disconnected, I still moved. Even though I was moving and loved my yoga practice, there was an element that was missing. I needed more dynamic movement. I had been back on my mountain bike and riding with a powerful group of women and even enrolled briefly at a crossfit gym, but I still needed something different.
One day I received a rebounder, which is mini trampoline from a friend. It took me a while, but I brought it to my office and would set a timer for hourly breaks to bounce around. I did it for 3-5 minutes between projects. This was huge for my vital energy at work. I wasn’t doing handstands or sun salutations, I was jumping around in my office. I was so excited about it I even made an announcement at a staff meeting that everyone was invited to come by and jump. I guaranteed it would shift their productivity, put a smile on their face and it would only take 3 minutes.
The rebounder was the ticket. I had been stuck. I needed more fun and play in my life. I still love my yoga practice, being on my bike, bouncing around my living room, throw in the occasional dance party and shaking it up on the rebounder.
Breathing is a serious access point to a fresh mental state and if I don’t participate, things go downhill fast. I know if I start to feel lethargic, mentally foggy, heavy in my body, or tired midday, I need to move. It can be hard for me to peel myself away from projects lately, because I can get so immersed, but it always pays off.
Shapeshift to Stateshift.
Try it.
When you feel stuck or stagnant, integrate some movement. Schedule walking meetings in the middle of the day. If you find yourself procrastinating or resisting a hard project, get outside and swing your arms with your breath. Set a timer to go off once every 2 hours, especially if you work at a desk and get up move for 3-5 minutes. Notice how moving the shape of your body with your breah, shifts the state of your mind.
It doesn’t take long to feel the shift. Schedule a longer approach to moving your body first thing in the morning and integrate short bursts to reset and tap into the reservoir of energy that is within you throughout the day.
Bounce it, shake it, move it, flip it.
By taking 3 minutes minutes, 3 times a day to change the shape of your body in a new and fun way, you can shift the state of your mind. What are you going to do the next time you feel that midday slump? Instead of reaching for coffee or sugar, shapeshift to stateshift and watch your productivity shift along with your mental state and physical energy.
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Rachel Peters is a yoga teacher, yoga health coach, lifestyle and habits expert, easeful living advocate, and lover of wild places. She leads others towards Embodying Ease through a yearlong wellness & lifestyle journey to dissolve perfectionism, embody daily habits that promote mental clarity, overall ease, and deeper connection to life on this wild ride of modern living. Learn MORE today!