Time Change

Lots of things change this time of year. The weather gets cooler, the leaves change color, our sweaters and jackets come out of storage. Even our internal clocks have to shift to get accustomed to Daylight Savings Time.

Daylight Saving Time is simply turning our clocks back one hour in the Fall and ahead by an hour in the Spring. Does Daylight Saving Time make sense in the 21st Century? Benjamin Franklin, conceived the idea of turning our clocks back in the Spring around 100 years ago as a way to conserve energy and make better use of our time. Good on him. He was ahead of his time.

The Environment

Environmentally, it makes sense to save energy by reducing the artificial light used in the evening hours.

Negative aspects of Daylight Saving Time include compromised health effects like changes in mood, declining sleep quality, drowsiness, headaches and additional stress. A recent study links an increase in heart attack incident during the first three weeks during Spring Daylight Saving Time transition.

Students in a yoga class doing cat and cow poses
Students in a yoga class doing cat and cow poses

Ways To Cope

Here are a few ways yoga can help us all cope with change according to Yoga Journal.

  1. Practice poses that ground you. Standing poses that root your feet into the Earth are a good choice on days you feel energetic. Also, we recommend lots of Child’s Pose, Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose, and forward bends that keep you close to the ground.
  1. Do your yoga practice at the same time every day. Go to the same class every week. Let your asana be a steady and reliable source of comfort.
  1. Stay connected to your breath. Take comfort in the one thing that has always been constant: Your breath.
  1. Know that little shifts will ultimately bring you closer to center. You know that wobbly feeling you get when you’re about to lose your balance in Tree Pose? If you’re like most practitioners the wobbling has gotten less pronounced with practice. You have to experience the shakiness to learn how to stand more steadily. In life, there have to be uncomfortable shifts so that we can learn how to be strong and find our balance.
  1. Take rest. Even when everything around you feels like it’s spinning out of control, a nice, long Savasana is sometimes all you need to remind you that everything is going to be OK.