Ananda leading Wellness for Bloggers session @ BlogHer 11'
When the BlogHer team invited Ananda to lead a Wellness for Bloggers session at the 2011 conference, she got really excited. Why? Because Digital Sisterhood Network promotes self-care and encourages women in social media to unplug from their tech lives and tools each month on Digital Sisterhood Unplugged Sunday, and to use yoga, meditation, Reiki, and other self-care and fitness practices to manage their time online and offline.
Ananda's Session Folder
How the Session Began
Ananda’s Wellness for Bloggers session began on August 5 with several breathing and office yoga exercises. Check out a description of the breathing exercise below. Feel free to try it. Also, click here and listen to her audio blog preview of the session which offers a breathing exercise.
Description of Breathing Exercise:
Finding a comfortable seated position in your chair. Come to the edge of your chair and place your feet flat the floor. Take off your glasses and shoes to relax. Create hip width distance in between your legs. Inhale through your nose and take a deep breath. Exhale through your mouth. Repeat this breathing exercise seven times and keep in mind that when you breathe intentionally and deeply, you invite yourself into the present moment. The more you breathe intentionally and deeply, the more open you become to PEACE. When you have PEACE, you are free to IMAGINE. Your imagination helps you DREAM. Your dreams help you CREATE and INSPIRE others in your blog, business, career, and family.
Takeaways from Breathing Exercise:
- Breathing creates Peace.
- Peace helps you Imagine.
- Your imagination helps you Dream.
- Your dreams help you Create and Inspire.
Wellness for Bloggers class participants doing office yoga and breathing exercises
Photo Credit: TILTE
Journal Paper and Handouts
Wellness for Bloggers session participants journaling about self-care practices
Wellness for Bloggers participants joournaling about self-care practices
The session also included a journaling exercise and a discussion on self-care practices. Participants were asked to take four deep breaths and ask themselves what they need in their life to practice self-care. They were given five minutes to write about their needs. Click here to listen to Ananda’s audio blog recap which includes the seven self-care practices discussed during the session.
How the Session Ended
The session ended with the distribution of a handout (yoga and self-care resources) and a homework assignment. Click here to download a copy of the handout. The homework assignment requested participants to breathe four times, write a six-word memoir that expresses how they felt in the present moment, and tweet the six-word memoir using the #blogher11 hashtag. Here are two tweets that participants shared on Twitter.
Feedback about the Session
Check out TITLE’s blog post and the positive feedback about Ananda’s session from the Twitterverse below.
Office yoga: Sit w/ft apart, hands on lap, inhale, bring shoulders up, hold it, slowly exhale. via
@anandaleeke #blogher11
Great way to start a
#blogher11 session: take off your shoes, close ur eyes & breathe deep. Bravo
@anandaleeke!
yoga begins with breath, so you are always doing yoga. Use this to help move thru your day. via
@anandaleeke #blogher11
More Information and Resources:
If you missed the Wellness for Bloggers session at BlogHer 2011, click here to download Ananda’s handout with resources and tips on how to incorporate breathing exercises, office yoga, and self-care practices into your daily life. You can also watch her office yoga videos (15 to 20 minutes) to get a taste of the class. Click here to watch the videos.
Hire Ananda for a Wellness for Bloggers Session:
Ananda is available to lead a Wellness for Bloggers workshop or office yoga session at your company or organization’s office, retreat, meeting, and conference. Contact kiamshaleeke@yahoo.com or visit her web site’s yoga page for more information.
Digital Sisterhood Network (DSN) 