Weekend Design & Wellness Project

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ONE ROOM, ONE POSE

REFRESH & RESTORE

5 Steps to Hygge a Room and Restore Your Body

Hygge, (HEW-guh) “is a quality of coziness that makes a person feel content and comfortable. It's also often used as an adjective meaning "cozy or comfortable.” (Merriam Webster)

  1. Choose a room or space in a larger area to clear of any unnecessary items or furniture.

  2. Add the following optional items; a comfortable chair, a blanket, oversized pillow(s), a yoga mat or blanket, a candle, a small table or stool and one object that inspires you or reminds you of a happy moment in your life. Add as many plants with soft leaves to the space as you see fit. The stool can substitute as a table to place your favorite item. The plants can be arranged around the area, act as a barrier if the space is part of a larger area or gathered in one corner. This is for your comfort so there’s no need to follow design rules just this once.

  3. Play calming sounds like; campfire crackling, the ocean, classical music, theta waves or spa music.

  4. Set up your blanket, pillows and yoga mat on the floor to prepare for a restorative yoga or (yin yoga) pose referred to as restorative heart opener

  5. To get into the pose

    • Use a large pillow(s) or blanket(s) and stack them length wise for support in this reclining position. If you have bolster (long round pillow), this is the perfect time to use it.

    • Bend your knees to bring your feet close to your bottom, then open your knees wide to bring the soles of your feet together. (If this is straining, then leave the legs out straight and as wide as comfortable)

    • Lie back on the pillow/blanket pile supporting your spine. Open the arms out to the sides, elbows bent, palms and face up as the chest opens and stretches wide. Relax the shoulders, face and jaw muscles and take a deep breath with a slow complete exhale. Let the whole day, week, month, year, go. It’s the past and you’re right here, right now and that is all that matters.

For more Hygge…

Check out a previous post from 2017

Photo by: Allison Christina @happpyal

Drop Zones

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Photo by Zachary Staines @zaccastravels

Photo by Zachary Staines @zaccastravels

Know Thy Drop Zones

Person walks through the front door after a long day at work, person chucks the keys on a small table by the door, tosses bag on the floor, jacket over a chair and the mail and keys on the counter. On the way to the bathroom, person picks up some toys, balls or random items along the way and piles them on the stairs creating a cluttered tripping hazard.

Baskets! Baskets! Baskets! They come in many shapes, sizes, colors and some have lids.

If you are short on time or come across “lost” items daily, baskets are a perfect solution for drop zones. Place two by the main entrance if there are more than two people living in the home. Place two big baskets in the family room, one for blankets and one for random personal items that gather in the communal spaces. So when a family member yells out, “where’s my _____?” you can say, “retrace your steps and check the baskets, sweetheart, honey, love muffin, ooggebooboo.” At some point they will get it. Give it time. Add a basket at the bottom of the stairs to collect things that found their way to the lower level. This allows you to bring the basket upstair when you have time to replace the items and it reduces the tripping hazards around the house. Baskets are also a life saver when unexpected company stops by for a visit. Your home will always look tidy and your visitors will be unaware of your dirty little secret. Try it.

Michael’s offers 50% off all baskets for most of the year with World Market and Ikea having great selection of baskets and sales throughout the year.

Pre-K Feng Shui

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Feng Shui

means wind and water representing a constant flow.

Here are 3 Pre-K Feng Shui practices for the mind, body and home.

  1. Mind - Watch your words! Eliminate negative words such as “fight” and “beat” something that actually needs to be healed. This includes diseases and physical ailments. We need unity within our bodies in order to heal. Healthy cells work in unison to heal/break down sick cells that are malnourished. Design Change - write down a word you often use that means strength to you, but is actually a negative word. For example, “fight” can be turned into heal. Now write out the transition, fight = heal. Each time you start to say fight, change it to heal. This will take a minute to get used to, but it will make a huge difference.

  2. Body - Surrendering, exhaling and drinking lots of water are the best ways to feng shui the body. To surrender simply means to give up your stresses, anger and grudges to the Universe, God, Buddha, Mohammad, The Overlords, Captain Jack, Nothingness or who ever you talk to when you need help. Give it all over to them, forgive those who have wronged you for you, not for them. Holding onto anger and resentments only creates disruption in your own body and mind. It’s not worth it. Stress and worry sends the body mixed messages and creates imbalances in the adrenal glands. Design Change - Print a picture or take a screenshot on your phone of what your happy place looks like. This could be a beach, a campsite, the mountains, a European city, a Temple, a deserted island with a cooler filled with your favorite snacks and libations. Each time you feel worry, anger, stress or resentment look at this picture and take a deep breath to let go of all that does not serve you.

  3. Home - Add air purifying plants such as, a money tree, bamboo, jade or succulents to every room in the home. Avoid plants with pokey leaves since that adds the energy of hostility to the home. Design Change - Go around the house and add real plant life to as many rooms as possible. Adding paintings or photos of plants also contributes to the serenity of the home minus the air purifying benefits.

    Bonus: Clear the Mind, Body and Home with Palo Santo or “holy wood.” Palo Santo comes from South America and has a long sacred history that is to be cherished and respected. When burning Palo Santo think about the Amazonian shaman who discovered its many healing properties and used it in healing ceremonies. Feel a sense of gratitude for having access to this precious part of history and nature. Be sure to purchase ethically sourced Palo Santo (Bursera Graveolens) wood sticks and essential oil from reputable and environmentally aware companies. Real Palo Santo wood sticks have dark veining and give off a white smoke with a musky, woodsy scent. First, light the Palo Santo wood and allow the flame to burn for 30 seconds, then softly blow it out and enjoy the calming and anti-inflammatory properties of this natural, sacred treasure.

    MIND: Burn in the morning or before meditating to start the day with a clear mind

    BODY: Use the essential oil topically as it has been know to heal joint pain

    HOME: Palo Santo is used to clear negative energy to make space for positive energy. Burn Palo Santo while walking around your home with positive, healing and prosperous intentions.

Note: Palo Santo does not leave hair and fabrics smelling like campfire smoke.

Weekend Design Project

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OR•GAN•I•ZA•TION

Pick a room or a closet that is in need of decluttering. This should take less than one day in order to reserve the other weekend day for rest and creativity.

Time to face the dreaded clutter that haunts and hinders the full use of a space. Here are five steps to climb and conquer Mt. Clutter that has become your room or closet.

  • FACE THE MESS: directly at the combined clutter. Identify a few items that are randomly strewn about. This is an important step as it defuses some of the overwhelm that led this area to get to this point.

  • GROUP LIKE ITEMS: Choose one item and place in on the floor away from direct access to the area. Pick another item and place it somewhere else on the floor unless it is similar to the first item then add to the first pile. Keep repeating this step until the area is empty.

  • CATEGORIZE: Which pile has the largest amount of like items? Think about their function and how you use them in your life. What can you donate or discard? Separate broken items or items that have missing parts that you no longer have. If these items can function, then consider donating the parts you have with a note of the missing pieces.

  • EVALUATE THE EMPTY SPACE: What would be the best use for this space? How could this empty space make your daily life easier? Read previous blog posts, “A Functioning Home” and “Create a Room Layout” to create a plan.

  • PLACING ITEMS: Start placing the larger items and items that are used infrequently to the harder to reach areas if the space is a closet. Place all larger furniture if the space is a room. Look around the house to find furniture that could be better used in the newly decluttered space. This will prevent you from having to spend money on a new piece. It’s okay to use an unconventional piece of furniture if its function better serves you used different from the main use. For example, a rectangular filing cabinet may work better as a bedside table if you like to read, draw or knit in bed.

  • FINISHING TOUCHES: Time to add accessories to the room or make sure the closet has all of the hooks, shelves and access to the most needed items.

  • REST: Take the next day off to relax and feel accomplished that you made your life easier so you can have more time to rest and recharge.

Line Drawing

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Practice Makes Straight Lines

Want to get inexpensive cognitive therapy while enhancing your stick figure making game? It’s kind of a win, win!

Practice drawing a freehand straight line. It takes a while to draw a straight line naturally. Using a straight edge may help to create some muscle memory with the consistency of the lines and with the space between the lines. Slowly start to make freehand lines to see the natural progression and consistency of the lines. Fill up a whole page or an entire sketch book of practice lines.

Drawing lines on paper, doing puzzles and listening to music taps into the cerebral cortex of the brain. Deep within the cerebral cortex is the the hippocampus, or memory center of the brain. The hippocampus stores both long and short term memory along with navigation and spacial awareness. Using the hands to create patterns, words and numbers enhances memory and cognitive function. Activating the hippocampus also effects cortisol levels (belly fat). So grab some pens, pencils or crayons and work on those abs.

Creative, stress-free exercise without the sweat:

  • Make some lines on paper and group five vertical lines together (up & down)

  • Then draw five horizontal lines next to the vertical lines (left to right)

  • Keep going with this pattern or mix it up and do some diagonal lines.

  • Your lines may end up creating a cool pattern that you can upload to society6 and make a few bucks.