“You cannot change everything around you, but you can create a better world within yourself”

Welcome to 2016! The new year welcomes the opportunity for New Year’s resolutions! What am I doing you ask? Well thanks for asking, my new years resolutions are below. I’m writing them down here this blog is wildly public and I’m all about keeping myself accountable:

• Do my shoulder PT exercises every day
• Learn to do the splits
• Breathe more

Breath more you ask? Yep. As in meditation. Waking up 10 minutes earlier to just sit and be in the present moment–maybe by mindfully drinking a cup of tea–can powerfully set the tone for the day. Meditation is one of the simplest, yet super impactful changes one can make in life to destress and even improve physical health. I regularly attend a group meditation class at YogaOne, but I’m looking to kick up my breath work up a notch and make it more of a daily habit.  I recently read the book Hot Mess to Mindful Mom by Ali Katz and am all inspired to reinvigorate my meditation practice.

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking” – Haruki Murakami

Katz is a certified meditation teacher and mindfulness coach who works in Houston and I love how she presents meditation in such a digestible manner. Despite not being a mother of anything (unless you count watering plants), I thought the book did a good job of breaking down the somewhat mysterious concept into practical ways to incorporate mindfulness into your every day life. Each chapter is filled with pithy quotes that summarize how imperative it is to keep your mental health on point. For example, Katz writes about how just like on an airplane it’s important to put your own oxygen mask on before you help others, in life it’s also important to prioritize your health.

Katz also provides some simple ideas for breath worth and one minute mini-meditations. One tip I found particularly clever was using the time spent at stoplights to do a mini-meditation (instead of checking your phone)–more productive and safer!