When people get on your nerves
By Nancy B. Loughlin
Published in News Press March 14, 2017
People get on your nerves when you’re chasing your tail.
Such busyness is when activity and movement consume your life. You’re flying places, driving places, running places. It’s task, task, task instead of purpose, purpose, purpose.
That’s when people get on your last nerve, even people you like. You want to slap your hands over your ears because their voices are nails on a chalkboard, and meetings resemble a convention of squawking chickens. People bump you in stores or hallways, and you want to push back. Your patience has disappeared in check-out lines and while waiting for return phone calls. And, of course, you gift other drivers with your verbal wrath.
You’ve jacked your vata, the Ayurvedic dosha governing air and movement.
Sometimes these busy periods are unavoidable, the natural byproducts of duty and responsibility. But, can you navigate these frantic episodes with serenity, or do you become that Busyness Cyclone, a swirling Tasmanian Devil?
When you feel your vata out of control, try this medicine:
Mountain Pose. Find a quiet space, turn off the lights and your phone, and stand with your back against the wall. Soften the tops of your shoulders, and stretch your arms down your sides. Rotate your thighs inward with your feet about an inch apart.
Take twenty slow breaths.
Sit against the Wall
Step your feet away from the wall, and lower your back until you are in a seated position, your thighs parallel to the floor. Hold for twenty breaths and practice staying strong and steady under stress. Feel your feet grounding into the floor.
Legs up the Wall
Drop to the floor, and swing your legs up the wall with your seat pushing against the wall. You’ll be a giant capital L. Slide a folded blanket under your tailbone, and breathe for twenty breaths.
Be still and warm.
Move to a cross-legged seat, your back supported by the wall. Wrap that blanket around your body, cocoon yourself and visualize the sun behind closed eyes for twenty breaths.
Now, play nice.
