My free gift for your nervous system

Happy third Thursday in November! Are you ready for next week? Next month? To thank you for being in my tiny corner of the Internet, I have a gift for your nervous system: a free holiday survival challenge. Every day from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, I will post one small exercise to feel better physically and/or mentally. You’ll get some of my favorite feel-good stretches, breathing exercises, relaxation techniques and mindfulness practices, among them a few tools to navigate stressful social situations. The time commitment: one to five minutes a day.

If you’re a free subscriber to The Overwhelmed Yogi, these posts will arrive each morning in your inbox. You will also find them here on my Substack page.

The goal, for you and me both, is to remember self-care in what can be a draining season — when parents and caregivers especially are called on to give so much to others. If you can do more for yourself, wonderful. You can even stack the exercises I give you on days when you’re able. But no matter how crazy life gets, don’t put your own well-being on hold until January.

Is there a catch to this? No — it is an offering from my heart. Will it be a lot of work for me? Yes. If you’d like to show your support, the best thing you can do is to encourage your friends or family to subscribe to this newsletter so they too can join in.

In the new year, I’ll resume my regular schedule of one post a week, on Thursdays. If you’d rather not receive the challenge emails, no hard feelings if you unsubscribe, and I hope to see you back soon.

And for today… I have for you a five-minute routine to boost your energy, mobility and mood. We’ll explore some of these moves in greater detail during the challenge:

30 seconds shaking

30 seconds standing twist, aka knocking on heaven’s door

30 seconds arm circles

30 seconds body wave

30 seconds standing cat/cow

30 seconds rock & roll — on a folded blanket if needed.

30 seconds Cossack squats, known in yoga as Skandasana — put your hands on the floor or an elevated surface if needed, and you don’t need to go as low as I am here.

30 seconds balancing ankle circles — 15 seconds per side, a few in each direction. Hold onto a wall if needed.

1 minute breath of joy/ physiological sigh — three sharp inhales through the nose followed by an audible exhale out the mouth, with arms swinging.

Please let me know how it goes.