Category: Relaxation

If you’re looking for something more active, expressive, and exuberant than gentle yoga, take a look at Jurian Hughes’s Let Your Yoga Dance practice. This will get you moving in a much more active way, with some hints of yoga but also a lot of freeform movement. If your best self likes to dance through your days, but is getting bogged down in bad news and worry, this might be right up your street.

If you are interested in more of her classes, she’s offering streaming classes in several flavors throughout the week while so many of us are in lockdown (March/April 2020). They are only $5 each or $50 for an unlimited pass for the month of April, and she’s donating 10% to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

Let’s start this list of relaxation techniques with a classic: some simple, soothing yoga. This is not pretzel-yoga, hot-yoga, or booty-yoga (ye gods, why is that even a thing?) – just gentle stretches, a bit of breath work, and a short chant, which you can skip if you like. Yoga helps free your ribcage and breathe deliberately – both great things any time, but especially if you are trying to calm down and fight respiratory illness.

I’ve taken classes with Jurian Hughes in person, and in this, a recording of her first live-streamed yoga class ever, her personality shines through. She is kind and joyful, without being saccharine-sweet or fluffy. If you want a few minutes to focus on breath, body, and joy, you might really enjoy practicing with her.

If you are interested in more of her classes, she’s offering streaming yoga classes in several flavors throughout the week while so many of us are in lockdown (March/April 2020). They are only $5 each or $50 for an unlimited pass for the month of April, and she’s donating 10% to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.