By JACCI GRUNINGER, MS, C-IAYT
Los Alamos

My telltale sign that I am doing too much is that I can’t keep things organized and I forget things or double book clients/events. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen that often. I appreciate that I have a built in slowing down practice of yoga, breathing and meditation. However, it does happen.

What are your telltale signs that you are too busy? The truth is, most of us have been brought up in a culture of “busy” being the norm. And, if you aren’t, the question asked is, “what’s wrong with you?”. I want people to ask me that question all day – I want to be less busy. I want to break my busy habit. And, these days, I’m less busy than I ever have been and I still want to be less busy. I also want to avoid feeling burned out, burned down and just burned to the ground.

So here are some questions to ask yourself to discover:

• Are you doing too much?
• Do you have time for self-care?
• Do you regularly get colds or feel ill?
• Are you regularly late?
• Do you not have time to exercise or move your body?
• Do you spend time in nature?
• Do you have quiet time?
• Do you self-medicate?
• Do you overeat?
• Do you neglect friends and family?
• Do you feel overwhelmed, anxious or stressed?

If you answered yes, to any of these questions, you might be doing too much. In yogic terms you might be out of balance and have too much rajas energy. Typically, if you have too much rajas energy you would add a bit of tamasic energy (try doing some of the positive things from the question list above) to create more sattva – balance or harmony.

You might also ask yourself these two questions:

1. What is sucking the life out of me right now?
2. Does this activity get me closer to my goals?

Once you have your answers, you can also consider the following:

• If you do or don’t do whatever it is, how will you feel about it in 5 minutes, 5 months, 5 years?
• What is most important right now?

Busyness is what we call a SAMSKARA (rut or habit pattern) in yoga. Next week I’ll share more about Samskaras.

But for now, here are a few ways to help break your busy habit:

• Start small. Everytime you answer the phone smile, when you hang up, take two easy breaths.
• Give yourself short calm breaks. Breathe for 2 minutes, walk down the hallway, put your hand over your heart and say, “I love you,” thank someone for something.
• Change your to-do list. First create a brain dump list that just has lots of stuff on it. Then prioritize – what has to get done and what is most important to you?
• Let go of something. Maybe you don’t have to make cookies for the school bake sale this time, put some unscheduled time in your calendar rather than filling it with to dos.
• Say no. Maybe practice first and again start small.
• Remind yourself that slowing down is important.
• This is about YOU and you living the life you want to live right now, not 10 years from now.

Jacci Gruninger is a Certified Yoga Therapist, Thai Yoga Massage Therapist, Focusing Coach and Facilitated Stretch Practitioner. She regularly helps clients manage the ups and downs of life with yoga, meditation, breathwork, focusing, stretching and bodywork. Her Wellness Center is located at 190 Central Park Square #212. For her current in person and online teaching schedule and information on her other services, visit her website at www.highmountainwellbeing.com.

Courtesy/Jacci Gruninger