Coping with Constant Chaos

It’s an Emma Goldman kind of a morning.

If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution.

Tell it, Emma!

I need some fun, dammit. All rage and no joy makes Donna a dull and utterly cranked creature.

I need to relax. Dancing would help. It’d be grand but….but…can I dance if I can’t hear the music? Well, sure – I just gotta find something wicked heavy on the bass and drums (so I can feel the reverb). I believe I still have an old stereo system, buried in the basement somewhere, and even some CDs.

This, THIS will be today’s project.

Other ways to calm my fried and flayed nerves?

Deep breathing shit.

Henri Rousseau – The Dream

All you yoga practitioners (and is that simply everyone ‘cept me and Jen?) already know about Yoga Breathing or Pranayama. Pranayama is Sanskrit for breath (AKA life force) restraint or control (techniques). Janice has long been encouraging me to do deep breathing exercises on the regular. It’s been a rock solid, proven way to reduce my prodigious anxiety/stress levels. I should start and end each day with one or two 'o' these. Do I? Emmmmm *cough* not yet.

There’s a whole passel of ways to do this. There’s Nadi Shodhana, Shitali, Ujjayi, Kapalabhati, Dirga and Bahya Pranayama and the list goes on. Given that I’m not a Yoga Queen, I just do the basic, slow and measured deep breath (from the diaphragm) in and out on counts of ten. This is actually something I did back in my music major days. Really. It helped with my flute playing – being able to hold notes longer, play longer passages without taking a breath, etc.

Henri Rousseau – The Sleeping Gypsy

One recently touted technique – the 4-7-8 Method. 4-7-8 refers to the counts when breathing in, holding your breath and then exhaling.

• Sit up straight in a comfortable position.
• Place the tip of your tongue on the ridge of your gums, just behind your upper front teeth.
• Expand your diaphragm and slowly inhale through your nose for a count of 4.
• Hold your breath for another count of 7.
• Open your mouth slightly, keeping your tongue in place, and exhale for 8 counts.
• Repeat this cycle 4 times.

This is supposed to be great for getting me off to Nod. I’ll def give it a go.

This week, today, I’m focusing on getting in a bunch of gym time, doing all my necessary errands, bill paying and house cleaning, finding my stack of old flute music and, yeah, bringing that Victrola up from the basement. Gotta get everything done before Wednesday’s cataract surgery. If I’m remembering right (from the last cataract cutterage) there’s to be no bending over, swimming, heavy lifting or any other strenuous crap for at least a week. Enforced chill-out.  I suppose this'll give me plenty of time to just sit and breathe, eh?

Bustle has a good advice column up entitled 11 Ways To Deal With Your Intense Anxiety Over Trump Being President. Def worth a read.