A new kind of chair

It was a quiet afternoon in the office with much of Sarah’s team out of the office. It was great to have fewer distractions, but it was almost too quiet. She was to rewrite one segment of a new client’s partnership agreement. It was not a difficult task but had a few nuances that needed special attention.

She’s been up late the night before helping her daughter study for her first ever, 9th grade mid-term exams. It was already 3 pm and she’d lost much of the morning distracted by worrying about her daughter’s exams. Now she could hardly keep her eyes open. The extra cup of coffee had not helped.

The deadline was 5 pm. She was going to be in hot water if she did not get this out today. Wasn’t it Ariana Huffington who fell asleep at her desk, and then smashed her face on her desk? That thought triggered another surge of anxiety. It felt like her body was being sucked into a pool of exhaustion quicksand and her mind was quickly becoming a panic tornado.

Then she remembered chair pose from yoga class last week with Meg. She had said this one pose could wake you up or calm you down. Sarah needed both.

Ok, how did it go? She stood up, oh yeah feet together, knees together, weight in your heels. It was coming back to her. Hands on your hips to start and then lowering down like she was going to sit in an imaginary chair. She could hear Meg’s calm voice “bring your arms up parallel to the floor. Inhale and exhale through the nose. On the inhale, lift your heart into the sternum, from the inside, on the exhale, lower the hips down one more inch.” She could feel her heart pumping.

Then there was some instruction about a beach ball… if only it were beach ball season. She remembered the fun of last summer and smiled. Oh, yeah, it was a big beach ball in between your hands and then lifting it to the sky. Inhale to lift the heart and the ball. Exhale to sink and ground. Her legs started to tingle and strain, but it felt good to have them wake up. Meg usually said 5 long slow breaths, but Sarah had lost count. Meg had also said this was her favorite pose. This was not an easy pose but something did seem to be shifting. Her breath felt steady and calm. A couple more breaths. She could do this.

As she let her arms come down and she straightened her legs the tension in her forehead seemed to dissolve and her whole body relaxed. She stood tall with her arms by her sides. Wait, this was mountain pose. With a few more deep breaths, it felt like the chaos and panic in her head had cleared and her body was alert and ready to work.

She thought about her daughter and remembered tonight they were going to talk about their plans for their summer beach trip and celebrate the completion of her exams. She felt a wave of joy and pride about her daughter’s hard work preparing for her exams. She felt a wave of clarity and determination to get the agreement done. She had an hour and a half. She could do this.

Want to learn more about chair pose? Check out this 8-minute break with Adriene for chair pose.