Eight tips for short breaks in your everyday life
1st tip: The “valley” pressure point (1 minute)
It doesn’t matter whether you’re standing at the bus stop or sitting in the doctor’s waiting room: This pressure point gives you a mini break anywhere and anytime, and the anger will fly away. You only need your hands for this. The “valley” comes from traditional Chinese medicine, according to which twelve energy channels (meridians) run through our body. Each represents specific parts of the body or feelings that are strengthened or calmed by treating different pressure points.
Here’s how it works: Press your right thumb firmly on the soft spot between your left thumb and forefinger for ten seconds. Pause for two seconds. Repeat the exercise two more times. Then switch sides.
2nd tip: mindful application of lotion (3 minutes)
Use what you do in the bathroom every day anyway – only that you take a little more time for it and hide everything else. It gives you a good feeling to consciously spread the face cream without looking at your cell phone or sitting with your head in the office. This mindfulness exercise will help you get closer to yourself.
Here’s how it works: Close your eyes and follow your feelings with your fingers. Notice your own touch and the gentle curves of your face. If the shopping list comes to mind in between, let the thought move on. The more often you perform this ritual, the more successful you will be.
3rd tip: “Moonlight” yoga (5 minutes)
Even if you have never done yoga in your life, you can beautify the time just before falling asleep with this simple variant. The only thing you need is a place where you feel comfortable (e.g. in the bedroom or living room) as well as a blanket and pillow. They help transfer body weight to the floor so you can let go completely. This was particularly important to Patricia Thielemann, the inventor of ” Moonlight” yoga : she wanted to develop exercises that primarily focus on relaxationis in the foreground, not the correct execution. “Even beginners can learn how to actively relax, experience intimacy and become one with something bigger,” explains the Berliner. The following “butterfly” exercise, for example, brings more inner satisfaction and increased flexibility in the hips.
Here’s how it works: Lie on your back on a folded blanket, your head on a small pillow. Spread your legs and put the soles of your feet together. The knees point outwards. Only pull your feet towards the pool as far as you feel comfortable. Does it pull in the groins? Then support your knees with more pillows. Now think of the little things that made you happy today. Don’t control your breathing, let it happen. Hold the position for about five minutes. Then straighten your legs and slowly straighten up.
4th tip: Matcha meditation (8 minutes)
If you prepare yourself a hot drink in the morning anyway, why not try green matcha tea – then you will experience a calming ceremony and a gentle boost of energy. The famous superfood was used by Buddhist monks as a source of strength before meditation as early as the seventh century . Because matcha contains only half as much caffeine as coffee, but is just as invigorating. It also contains the soothing amino acid L-theanine, which makes you more balanced. Recently, the green power leaves have also been used for detoxifying “detox” treatments, which protect the skin from aggressive free radicals. If you want, you can also mix a soothing face mask from the powder.
This is how it works: Pour 1 teaspoon of matcha powder into a cup with 100 milliliters of boiling water and whip it with a bamboo whisk (chasen) in even movements until it is slightly foamy – it has something meditative about it. For a face mask, mix 1/2 tsp matcha powder with 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tbsp honey and 100 grams quark. Leave on for five minutes, then rinse off with warm water.
5th Tip: Alpha Wave Sounds (10 minutes)
Do you sometimes just want to make yourself comfortable on the sofa in the evening? Do that – and let your thoughts and everything that happened during the day be carried away by gentle melodies . Alpha wave sounds have been proven to affect your brain – more precisely: the fluctuations that occur when your nerve cells communicate with each other via electrical impulses. That frequency is around 38 hertz when you’re feeling rushed – and just 15 hertz when you’re at rest. Music based on alpha waves helps to slow down the beat. “It reduces the vibrations by up to 30 percent, so that we feel much more relaxed afterwards,” says Barbara von den Driesch, President of the Wellness, Beauty and Health Association. V
Here’s how it works: Make yourself comfortable with a cozy blanket and listen to relaxation music based on alpha waves (e.g. “Chorus of Healing”, CD by Dinah Arosa Marker, approx. 17 euros, e.g. in bookstores) . Even ten minutes go a long way. If you have more time, you can of course let the CD run through. The following applies here: a lot helps a lot.
6th tip: do-it-yourself massages (15 minutes)
It’s nice if there’s someone who massages you occasionally – but you’ll be amazed at how much you can do yourself. “If we touch ourselves with our own hands, we activate sensory cells that send signals to our brain via a finely branched nervous system and trigger the formation of feel-good hormones,” explains Irene von Dach, a medical masseuse from Bern. “It helps lift our mood, improve body awareness, and increase our ability to focus .”
Here’s how it works: First, try a facial massage that you really take your time for. To do this, you first heat up some massage oil in a water bath and put it on your fingertips. Then close your eyes and gently drum the entire face . Then place your fingertips on your cheeks and from there begin to draw generous circles around your eyes – past the inner corner, across your forehead and temples. After about five laps, hold the bridge of your nose and apply gentle pressure with your index fingers from the inner corner of your eye. Retrieve one more time. Finally, “stretch out” the entire facial contour, which means short movements with which you start on the forehead just before the hairline and wipe from the inside out. If you have plans later, make sure that no oil gets into your hair, or wash it out later with shampoo. Finally, keep your eyes closed while you feel the relaxation. Then slowly “return to the day”. Tip: You can find more grips in the book “The Art of Far Eastern Facial Massage ” by Marie France Muller and Nhuan Le Quang, Goldmann, 272 pages, 8.95 euros.
7th tip: African feel-good ritual (30 minutes)
Endless expanse, a pristine nature with unique animals: The exotic mixture of Africa makes us dream and helps to get out of familiar routine . You don’t have to go to one of the many spas that are now adding African relaxation rituals to your offer. With a few care products you can bring the savannah directly into your bathroom.
Here’s how it works: First rub the body with a coffee peeling that cleans the skin down to the pores . You can buy this or make it yourself. To do this, mix 3 tablespoons of ground coffee from the kitchen with 3 tablespoons of coconut oil (e.g. available in health food stores) and apply with gentle pressure. Green coffee (also a health food store) contains a particularly large amount of caffeine, which also stimulates blood circulation. Then you climb into the bath water, into which you dribble about 100 ml of marula oil beforehand – a moisturizing body care product made from the fruits of the elephant tree that is popular with South African women. Or you can rinse off the peeling residue with a shower gel containing marula oil (e.g. “African Shower Gel Hair & Body” by Dr. Oldhaver, 200 ml, approx. 11 euros). Finally pureMassage shea butter into still damp skin . Tip: It gets even more atmospheric with African drum sounds, e.g. B. on the CD “The Fantastic Rhythm of Africa – For your Relaxation”, approx. 13 euros, available in bookstores.
8th tip: Wellness with friends (180 minutes)
A conversation with your best friend is a blessing for our soul – and many people would like to have a special person with them when they relax : new surveys of wellness hotels show that around 70 percent of guests share relaxing moments with loved ones and even make new social contacts want. The first spas are therefore creating places of communication that are somewhat reminiscent of the bathhouse culture of ancient Rome, in which social exchange was an integral part.
Here’s how it works: Invite friends over to mix up a smoothing apple mask together. For each person you need 1 grated apple, 2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt, 1 teaspoon honey and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mix everything, apply and wash off after approx. 15 minutes. For masks with more ingredients, agree in advance who will bring what.
