Calm lessons

The calm lessons are short and practical: each explains what to do and why it is done that way, shows every step (with a figure of each yoga pose and how long to hold it), and ends with tips. Then you can practise along: the steps are timed, spoken aloud and shown one at a time.

There are four kinds. Yoga: five minutes in your chair, a morning flow on a mat, balance poses, and a slow bedtime sequence. Breathing: belly breathing, the double sigh and alternate-nostril breathing. Everyday calm: naming a strong feeling, tense and release, calming down before you speak, the 20-20-20 break for tired eyes, and worry time. Sleep: small habits for a calmer bedtime.

Move gently and only as far as feels comfortable, and skip anything that hurts. These lessons are a pause, not a treatment: if you have an injury or a health condition, check with a professional first.

Yoga: Gentle stretches in a chair and on a mat, with a figure of every pose.

• Desk yoga in five minutes (5 min): Neck, shoulders, back and wrists, without leaving your chair.
• Morning yoga flow (4 min): Six poses on a mat to wake up the body, about four minutes.
• Balance: tree and warrior (3 min): Two standing poses that ask for steady attention.
• Bedtime yoga (6 min): Four slow, lying-down poses to end the day, about seven minutes.

Breathing: Simple patterns of breath you can use anywhere.

• Belly breathing (2 min): Breathe low and slow, so the belly moves and the shoulders stay still.
• The double sigh (2 min): Two breaths in through the nose, one long sigh out: a quick way to slow down.
• Alternate-nostril breathing (3 min): Breathe through one side of the nose, then the other, slowly.

Everyday calm: For busy days, racing thoughts, big moments and tired eyes.

• Notice it, name it, breathe (2 min): For racing thoughts: name the feeling, find it in the body, breathe with it.
• Tense and release (3 min): Tense each group of muscles, then let it go: progressive muscle relaxation.
• Calm before you speak (2 min): Nerves before a talk, an interview or a call: settle the body, then the voice.
• The 20-20-20 screen break (1 min): Every twenty minutes, look twenty feet away for twenty seconds.
• Worry time (3 min): Give worries a short, fixed time each day, and park them the rest of it.

Sleep: Winding down at the end of the day.

• A calmer bedtime (3 min): Small habits for the hour before sleep, and a breath to fall asleep with.

Related

• Desk yoga in five minutes
• Morning yoga flow
• Balance: tree and warrior
• Bedtime yoga
• Belly breathing
• The double sigh
• Alternate-nostril breathing
• Notice it, name it, breathe
• Tense and release
• Calm before you speak
• The 20-20-20 screen break
• Worry time
• A calmer bedtime
• Meditate

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