yoga, sooth frazzled nerves pose

Friday:  Soothe Frazzled Nerves

As another hectic workweek slows to a close, it’s time to downshift — and ramp up your self-care.

Friday’s pose quiets your mind and nervous system, restoring your inner resources so that you can fully enjoy the weekend ahead.

Supported Child’s Pose
What It Does
Releases the muscles in the back, gently opens the hips, boosts your energy.

How to Do It
Set your Zen Timepiece to gong after 5 minutes.  Sit back on your heels with your legs folded under you and the tops of your feet on the floor. Open the knees wide and bend forward at the hips.

Rest your forehead (or your chest) on a pillow or blanket and keep your arms slightly bent. If your buttocks don’t reach your heels, place a blanket under your thighs. Relax and breathe deeply for  5 minutes, until your Zen Yoga Timer gongs.

adapted from Body + Soul, 2010

Zen Timepiece with brass singing bowl, a yoga timer

yoga, clear out the gunk pose

Clear out the Gunk

What if I don’t get this done in time? Why hasn’t she called? Worries have been accumulating — and they’re cluttering your head. Left unchecked, even the tiniest stressors will inhibit your best ideas from coming through.

Treat yourself to a few moments of stillness with this pose, and watch your inspiration re-emerge.

Supported Pigeon
What It Does
Opens the hips and groin, lets go of stress and pent-up emotions, quiets the mind, and promotes emotional release.

How to Do It
Set your Zen Yoga Timer for 5 minutes so the the chime with end your practice in a calm way.  Sitting cross-legged on the floor, swing your left leg around, extending it straight out behind you, tops of the feet and toes against the floor. Fold forward at the hips.

For added support, put a folded blanket or pillow under the right hip. Rest your forehead on a cushion or blanket and relax into the pose 5 minutes until your Zen Timer end with a chime. Repeat with the other leg.

Digital Zen Yoga Timer in Walnut Finish

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

Now & Zen – The Yoga Timer Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

The Zen Yoga Timer and Alarm Clock Store

yoga get grounded pose

Wednesday:  Get Grounded

If a midweek slump has left you out of steam, get back on track by carving out a moment of calm. This easy reclining pose does just that, with an ultra-relaxing stretch that helps you get out of your head.

Supported Goddess
What It Does
Releases tight hips, stretching the groin muscles; connects you to the grounding energy of the root chakra, located at the base of your spine.

How to Do It
Set your Zen Yoga Timer for 5 minutes so that the chime will end your practice peacefully.  Lie on your back with the bottoms of your feet touching and knees splayed to the sides, resting on pillows or rolled blankets. Feel your spine on the floor.

Place your palms on your belly or rest your arms out to the sides, palms up. Let your belly slowly rise and fall with each breath. Remain here for 5 minutes, or however long you like.

adapted from Body + Soul, 2010

Digital Zen Yoga Timers

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

yoga think clearly pose

Tuesday:  Think Clearly

You can feel the stress mounting. Remember to take things slowly and stay loose as you find your rhythm. Use this gentle stretch to help undo back and leg tension and keep you grounded and steady.

Supported Seated Forward Bend
What It Does
Stretches hamstrings and inner thighs, releases tension along the spine. Quiets the mind and promotes focus, stimulates the sixth chakra, which activates intuition and wisdom.

How to Do It
Set your Zen Yoga Timer for 5 minutes so that the calm chime will end your practice.  Sit on a cushion on the floor with your legs extended on either side of a chair. Fold forward at the hips and rest your forehead and arms on the seat of the chair. Take deep, slow breaths through your nose and hold for 5 minutes.

adapted from Body + Soul, 2010

Bamboo Digital Chime Clock, a calming timer and alarm clock made from natural materials like bamboo, walnut, and maple

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

 

(800) 779-6383

seal yoga pose

Monday:  Take a Deep Breath

One minute, you’re enjoying your Sunday coffee, lounging on the sofa. The next, it’s Monday morning and your alarm’s going off. The weekend has come to a screeching halt, but the transition doesn’t have to feel like whiplash. This posture helps you greet your week head on, with a clearer, calmer perspective.

Seal Pose
What It Does
Stretches the belly and aids digestion, restores the curve in the lower back, helps protect the spine from long hours of sitting. 

How to Do It
Lie on your stomach with your legs and feet relaxed. Then, reaching your arms forward along the floor, straighten them just enough to lift your torso into a gentle backbend.

Do not strain or force; this should be a very passive and subtle stretch. Set your Zen Yoga Timer to chime after 5 minutes.  Hold for 3 to 5 breaths, then release. Repeat for 5 minutes or until your Zen Timer ends your practice.

adapted from Body + Soul, 2010

B Tone Digital Zen Yoga Timer in a Bamboo Finish

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, Colorado

(800) 779-6383

set a yoga timer for 5 or 10 minutes each day

Monday is a mind-swirling blur. Tuesday sees a spike in stress levels, and Wednesday requires a Herculean effort just to get out the door. With a schedule as packed as yours, how can you create some bona fide breathing room?

The answer lies in slow, restorative yoga poses that you can do in just 5 to 10 minutes a day.   Be sure to set your Zen Yoga Timer by Now & Zen to chime to end this quick yoga pose.  “When you stay in a pose without exerting muscular effort, the fascia and ligaments, or connective tissues of your body, get a rare chance to stretch,” explains Noel Schroeder, a Boston-area yoga teacher and co-creator of the DVD “Notice Your Experience.” Stretching these supportive tissues also opens pathways of vital energy (known as “nadis” in the yogic tradition, or meridians in Chinese medicine) that run throughout the body.

Schroeder designed the following pose-a-day yoga plan as a powerful antidote to life’s daily stressors. Use it to ease into your day or to undo tension in the evening — or both.

adapted from Body + Soul Magzine, 2010

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga & Meditation Timer.  It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.

Black Lacquer Zen Alarm Clock and Yoga Timer

Now & Zen – Yoga Timer and Meditation Clock Store

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

(800) 779-6383

stillness of being

Geidō refers to the way of the traditional Japanese arts: Noh (theater), kadō (Japanese flower arrangement), shodō  (Japanese calligraphy), Sadō (Japanese tea ceremony), and yakimono (Japanese pottery).  All of these ways carry an ethical and aesthetic connotation and appreciate the process of creation.

To introduce discipline into their training, Japanese warriors followed the example of the arts that systematized practice through prescribed forms called kata – think of the tea ceremony.

adapted from wikipedia.org

Zen Timepiece, a bowl/gong alarm clock and timer in cherry finish

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Full Moon Sumida River, Hiroshige Ukiyo-e

while I walk on
the moon keeps pace beside me
friend in the water

-Masahide-

Bamboo Digital Chime Clock, a meditation timer and alarm clock

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Koson, Small Butterfly And Sunflower - woodblock print

Butterfly

sleeping

on the temple bell.

-Buson-

Zen Timers and Bowl/Gong Alarm Clock, Temple Bell Alarm Clock

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302

Hiroshige, The Moon Over A Waterfall - woodblock print

 

The sage has three treasures

simplicity
patience
compassion

-Basho

Maple Kanji Zen Alarm Clock, progressive chime alarm clock

Now & Zen

1638 Pearl Street

Boulder, CO  80302