What do you need?

In this, the busiest time of year for many of us, it is very difficult to give ourselves permission to rest. Unfortunately, rest is what we most need to stay healthy, not only for ourselves, but for those around us.

You see, when we allow ourselves to receive what we need we unconsciously give permission to others to do the same. We have all been in some type of gathering or another where we deny a sneeze or cough until someone else goes first. Or we have resisted going to the restroom until another has left the room and returned, showing us it was safe to leave. By gifting yourself the time to take a yoga class, a nap, a breathing break, or time to smell the designer coffee beans at our favorite cafe’, we in turn gift permission to another to do the same.

If we ourselves are not sane, healthy and happy, what are we knocking ourselves out for? An image? An ideal? An expectation? And to whom do those things truly belong? Probably just you.

So don’t skip your 20 minute sanity routine whether it be meditation, yoga, sitting down with your partner for coffee and kisses, or snuggling with your beloved pet. Everything will be just fine. Just breathe.

Tamara Milliken

Tamara Millken began practicing yoga in 2003, and teaching in 2007. She trained and is 500 hour certified through the Shambhava School of Yoga. She currently teaches Yoga for Healing, Tibetan Heart Yoga, and meditation at the Mellow Monkey Yoga Studio and the Millwood Community Center.