Many spiritual traditions celebrate holidays of light at the darkest point of winter. From Thanksgiving until New Year’s Day, family and friends gather, prepare special foods, exchange gifts and deepen connections. Yet these festivities are often accom-panied by stress and fatigue. Although your family may gather in joy, you might find yourself facing emotional challenges. You may also find yourself depleted from the ongoing activities and errands, unable to genuinely enjoy the seasonal celebrations.

Yoga offers an effective way to replenish oneself. It is well known as a means of improving strength, flexibility, alignment and body awareness. Yoga reduces chronic tension and promotes feelings of contentment and well being. Yet the benefits of yoga practice can go deeper, providing true recuperation from the physical, emotional and mental strains that are part of the holiday season and of daily life.

Yoga gives detailed attention to the process of relaxation in order to remove fatigue and restore harmony and balance to body, mind and spirit. This unique aspect of yoga is especially important today with people working more and sleeping less than ever before. Physical stillness and mental silence replenish our energies, soothe our nerves and provide deep rest and restoration.

Relaxation may sound simple, but it actually requires practice. Relaxation is different from distraction, entertainment or collapsing on the couch. While these pastimes may provide some temporary relief from a busy schedule, they tend to be unconscious and are not truly recuperative. Relaxation is an art that can be cultivated through daily, attentive practice.

Postures for relaxation include lying on your back, resting your legs on a chair or up the wall, or resting your back on supports. Each of these techniques has a slightly different effect and can be beneficial for different conditions. Lying on your back with your arms and legs loosely extended is the most fundamental relaxation pose (Figure A). To relax your lower back completely, you can rest your calves on a chair (Figure B). For those who stand for long periods or engage in high-impact activities such as running, placing your legs up the wall is of great benefit as it rests your heart and refreshes your legs (Figure C). Lying over folded blankets or a bolster, aligned vertically along the spine, is a gentle way to “open the chest” (Figure D). This position widens the collarbones and allows the shoulders to gently roll towards the floor, an antidote to the slouching posture so common in our culture, especially as we spend more time driving, sitting and using computers.

In these poses, relaxation is encouraged in an orderly and progressive manner by proceeding from the periphery to the core and from the gross to the subtle. Awareness is directed first to the limbs and the torso. Then attention is brought to the face and the relaxation of the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Next, one focuses on awareness of the breath, and finally on the state of the mind. This journey from the outer to the inner being is deeply nourishing and calming to every aspect of body, mind and spirit. The script below can help you begin your practice of deep relaxation combined with refined awareness.

Turn off the ringers on your phones and do your best to be completely undisturbed for ten minutes. Lie down comfortably in one of the positions described above, making sure to keep warm. Cover your eyes with a soft cloth. A quiet environment is ideal, but not crucial, as it is possible for one to relax surrounded by the background noise of everyday life.

Completely let go. Allow the weight of your body to fall into the floor. Notice the way the back of your body touches the floor, and allow the back of your body to soften and spread out to the sides. Relax your arms and legs. Let them become passive and still. Now relax your abdomen and chest. Let your front body fall into your back body, and let your back body fall into the floor. Surrender to gravity and accept the support the floor is giving you.

Bring your attention to your face. Relax all facial features so your face feels soft and expressionless. Relax your eyes and allow them to sink deeply into their sockets. Relax your outer ears and inner ears. Relax your tongue and let it be passive, resting in the bottom of the mouth. Relax your nose and all the air passages. Relax your skin. Let the skin of your whole body be soft and porous.

Now bring your attention to your breath. Let it be soft and subtle. Observe your breath without interfering with it. Let your breath be exactly as it is. There is no need to breathe slowly or deeply. Just let go and watch your breath as you would watch the waves of the ocean. Smooth, soft inhalation and relaxed, effortless exhalation.

Now notice your state of mind. Have you drifted into a sleepy or dull state, or are you distracted, thinking about the past or the future? In either case, gently bring your attention back to your breath. On inhalation, be aware. On exhalation, let go. Let your mind be clear and attentive and surrender all effort.

To conclude your session, gently deepen your breath, roll onto your right side, and then gently roll up to a sitting position. Take a moment to appreciate your opportunity to do this nurturing practice which brings benefit to yourself and to all those around you.

Notice how this sequence moved from the physical body, to the sense organs, to the breath, to the mind. This process of moving from the outer experience to the inner experience allows you to cultivate relaxation as you begin where you are and move into a recuperative state. Now feel free to enjoy the holidays once again!

Karen Allgire, MFA, RYT, has been teaching dance and movement awareness since 1982. She is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor and a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance. With her partner Cliff Berns, Karen co-directs Green Tara Yoga and Healing Arts in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. For information about monthly restorative yoga classes, contact Karen at (216) 382-0592 or info@greentarayoga.com. Visit their web site at www.greentarayoga.com.

Photos by Bob Perkoski, www.perkoski.com.