#LiveWholeHealth

Living busy lives can sometimes mean that we prioritize ourselves last. When we make our lists of activities, chores, work tasks, and family obligations, we often neglect our own self-care. Being able to pause and find a few moments for ourselves may sound like a luxury, but the science behind these mindful pauses is compelling.

Mindful breathing increases the flow of oxygen to your brain and allows your nervous system to promote a state of calmness. As your body experiences this state of calmness, you may learn to quiet your mind.

Visualization—imagining yourself in a specific situation—has a long history of helping people both prepare for challenges and recover from them.

May is National Meditation Month. There are many different types of meditation, including the loving kindness meditation.

Joint mobility is how well a joint can move (like your hip joint). Mobility is an important component to staying healthy, but sometimes our mobility can be limited. An important consideration for any movement exercise is how we listen to our body. Reflecting and bringing awareness to your physical body before, during and after movement activities can help prevent adverse events or injury.

Practicing mindful awareness during the mundane or the uncomfortable moments can help us to slow down and appreciate the joyful ones.

Body scan is taking time to pause, breathe and notice how your body is responding to stress and fear. It can be a helpful and calming solution.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a process of tensing one part of your body at a time and then releasing it, paying attention to the experience of how it feels to “let go.” Doing this practice helps you learn where you carry tension and how to release it, and it’s used to manage stress and anxiety, reduce chronic pain including headaches, decrease blood pressure, and help with digestion.

Want to see how yoga is for everybody? How it can help you to become flexible, balanced and calm? Join yoga instructor (and health and wellness program manager) Mandie Johnson from Central Arkansas VAMC for this 9-minute chair yoga practice.

Periods of incredible change often lead to busy minds--and anxiety and stress. Paced breathing can guide us back to a more balanced state.

Research suggests that compassion interventions benefit our physical and mental health, our ability to manage our emotions and our relationships. 

Mindfulness can help you to be more present in the here and now to live your life more fully, with all its joys and sorrows, successes and challenges.