Break your routine

Saturday: New perspectives

Before you get up, shift your morning regime. If you're usually up at the crack of dawn, try lying in bed, just thinking or with a book. How does it feel to relax like this? If you are a habitual lie-in-bed, set your alarm for dawn and get up with the birds. Prepare to spend the day shifting your perspectives and breaking habits.

Get out and about, trying new things. Be spontaneous. If you usually drive, take a bus, train, or taxi. Don't grab that usual sandwich, treat yourself in a smart restaurant. If you often eat alone, arrange to meet a friend. Then go to at least three shops you would never normally visit. Keep an open mind. In the evening do something you would never usually do: a classical concert, a rock gig; or go salsa dancing. Stay in and pamper yourself; turn off the television (or, if you never watch it, turn it on!). Whatever you do, make sure it is different.

Balancing your Wood element
According to Chinese philosophy, the body is a blend of five elements. The Wood element relates to creativity and expression and if Wood is balanced in your body you will be far more flexible and creative, confident and decisive. Help bring Wood into balance with these simple shiatsu and stretching exercises:

1. Sit on the floor with your legs spread wide apart. Reach down to your left foot, looking at your right foot, feeling the full stretch down your side and legs. Repeat on the other side.
2. Stand up with your feet apart. Let your arms swing loosely from side to side for a few minutes. Feel the air on your arms. Be as loose and relaxed as possible.
3. Lie on your back. Let a friend or partner rotate the joints of your shoulders and hips. Gently and smoothly they should lift your leg or arm and support the shoulder or hip with the other hand. If the joint sticks, gently pull the limb and hold the stretch for a few moments. It should feel good, not painful - don't go beyond what feels comfortable.
4. Stimulate the Wood element in your body with yoga or these stretches every day.

Feel a stone's energyGo out to your garden, a park, or wild place nearby. Look for a stone, one that 'speaks to you'. You'll know it when you find it. Pick it up and sit quietly with it (or sit by it if it's a huge boulder!). Feel it (with your fingers and hands, against your face); smell it; look at it closely; taste it. Get to know it really well. Now imagine you actually ARE that stone. What is it like? Feel the stone's energy. Don't race this exercise - stone energy is not a swift thing, it takes time and patience.

Find out how to keep viewing the world in a new light through the rest of the weekend - and beyond.

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