Quick Fix Yoga to Go

On way now...lots of traffic
Running late.....still in conf call
Wait at bar for you
Okay c u there

A car honks, and my girlfriend Mary is brought back to where she is. Texting on her Iphone, swigging a grande skinny vanilla latte, needing to call the housekeeper, glancing at incoming emails on her work Blackberry, worried about having to give a powerpoint tomorrow afternoon that she hasn't even started yet, on the way to meet a friend at an overpriced restaurant in DC.  I know, because I'm sitting in the passenger seat, next to her.

I was in the Apple store at Pentagon City mall today, getting help me with my website.  I'd asked my favorite Apple techie, Lauren, why I kept getting the infamous spinning rainbow of death whenever I opened a certain section.

"Do you have anything else open on the desktop when you are working on your website?"

I laughed, and admitted "I'm usually working on my next book, answering emails, checking in with Facebook, looking at my calender, and almost always have Iphoto open."

She looked at me with that grin which immediately helps me see the simplicity of the solution, and the absurdity that it had never occurred to me before.  "Oh."  I managed, returning a grin.

"Your computer has a finite amount of memory for tasks that it is undertaking.  When it gets close to that threshold, it starts to move things around, to try and get it all done.  That's when you get the spinning rainbow of death.  There's times that it will push through and get it all done.  If you have really overloaded it, it will just keep spinning, and you'll need to shut down and restart."

I just sat staring at her, listening, thinking how we are like that.  We are doing so much, so fast, and don't realize it until there is some kind of warning sign.  And if we don't "get it", we'll continue to have problems, until the day the problem becomes serious.

Stress accounts for 75% of all disease and illness in America.  The vast majority of that stress is chronic stress, which results from our simply not taking better care of ourselves, taking on too much, and going too fast.  This is something we can change immediately, and immediately begin to enjoy positive results.  We can look and feel better in minutes, by simply taking a time out from our crazy, busy lives.

Now, the energy shift, as Mary makes a decision.....

She silences her PDAs, and takes just a few minutes of the remaining drive, before she has to hunt for parking, to relax and center herself, doing the simple 3 Steps of Quick Fix Yoga to Go.

First, tuning into the breath.  Feeling her belly expand on the inhalation, and bellybutton moving back towards the spine on the exhalation.  Nothing else.  Just paying attention to the driving and the breath.  Inhale for 3 counts, hold for 3 counts, exhale for 6 counts.  Using her breath to calm and soothe her mind and emotions.  No more racing.

Next, she evens out the inhalation and exhalation, pairing her breath with simple movement.  Seated "Cat" and "Cow" poses.  Inhale, she pushes the shoulders back and rocks forward on her pubic bone, belly distends.  Both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, she exhales, reversing the curve, and stretching the entire backbody.  She moves rhythmically for a few cycles.

She lets go of the movement, and in her mind's eye and body, gets a sense of a white light surrounding her and her vehicle.  She feels that protective white light expand, as easily as though she is pushing up a "dimmer switch" .

Mary lets go of the exercise, and comes back into the present moment with a smile on her face, looking 10 years younger all of a sudden.  She's still on her way to the restaurant, nothing has changed, but everything has shifted.  She feels like she's taken an hour power nap.  Totally refreshed, mind clear, and no longer racing.  Feeling calm, peaceful, centered, happy.  Okay.  I know, because I'm sitting in the passenger seat next to her.