3 Ways to Beat Holiday Stress

Handle the heat, difficult people, and other mini-crises

Great food on the grill, cool drinks on the deck, kids running around the yard… and testy Aunt Judy—it’s all part of the summer holiday. The key is enjoying the bright moments while keeping anger or resentment at bay.  Jeanmarie Paolillo, a teacher at YogaWorks in New York City, suggests the following techniques for keeping calm while handling holiday hassles or harangues.


Deal with difficult people
Think about a pose that you really don't enjoy. Maybe it’s Chair (utkatasana), held for a really long time.  “It made me grumpy all the while,” Paolillo says. “But I kept on doing it because I knew there was something inside of me that I needed to learn from this difficult pose that I always wanted to resist.”  The goal is to get past the “vritti”— thoughts that run through your mind, like "I can’t stand this pose" or "Why did I come to class to begin with?" Get past that point and you start learning. “In the same way as Chair teaches us about different parts of the body that need more development, those people or personalities who bother us are meant to teach us as well,” Paolillo says. Let go of judgments such as “Aunt Judy’s incessant talking annoys me” and instead focus on an aspect of Aunt Judy that you can appreciate.

Beat the heat
Sitali breathing is a cooling breath-control, or pranayama, technique. You inhale through the curled tongue, then exhale through the back of the throat so you sound like Darth Vader, or as if you are fogging up a mirror. Here’s the sequence:

1. Sit in a comfortable position.
2. Keep the head level.  Open the mouth and form the lips into an O.
3. Push out the tongue and curl it lengthwise so that its shape resembles a fresh curled leaf about to open.
4. Stretch the curled tongue farther out and draw in air as if drinking through a straw, and fill the lungs completely.  The breath is moistened by passing through the curl of wet tongue.
5. After a full in-breath, withdraw the tongue and close the mouth.
6. Lower the head and tuck the chin to the chest and hold it there.  Hold the breath for 5 to 10 seconds.
7. Exhale a la Darth.


Survive a restless night
The air conditioner breaks in the middle of a sweltering night, or you’re thinking about how you have to attend his mom’s annual July 4th hoedown when you’d rather be going to the beach. Either way you’re tossing and turning, sweating your buns off from anxiety. A few simple stretches you can do in bed may help relieve the "jimmylegs" that often occur when trying to sleep during stress and heat. Use the following “thread the needle” technique before any impending holiday mini-crisis that’s keeping you awake at night.

Lying on your back, bend your left leg, placing the foot on the bed. Cross the right ankle over the left knee, making sure to flex the right foot so that the ankle is not turning in, which protects the ankle, knee, and hip joints. Thread your hands behind the left thigh or, if more flexible, around the front of the left shin. Draw the legs toward you, working your right elbow into the inner right thigh to open the hip more and trying to keep the hips on the bed. Hold for a count of 20.

Release, and then, keeping the left foot on the bed, extend your right foot up toward the ceiling.  Press through the heel and wrap your hands behind the thigh to open the hamstring.  Hold again for a count of 20.

Do these two poses on the other leg.

Roll over to one side for the last pose.  Reach behind you and bend your bottom knee.  Grab hold of the top of the foot, lengthen the tailbone down and work the heel toward your butt.  Hold for a count of 20.  Release the bottom leg and repeat with the top leg.