Introducing... Yo Joan!

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” Mahatma Gandhi

Good day readers! I am so happy to be back as your "Yo Joan" columnist. Back again, but for the first time with the Kane County Chronicle. My "Yo Joan" column ran for 10 years in other area newspapers.  I am an author of several popular books in the subjects of yoga, meditation and massage which continue to be translated into multiple foreign languages. So, I knew we would eventually meet either here or overseas.

When I first started my studies in these fields of fitness, they were considered a fringe element of health care, but that has changed over the years. The question is no longer, “What is yoga?” It is now, “What kind of yoga do you do?” Massage therapy has become a respected profession too – even though it was considered so in other countries for many years before it gained acceptance here in the states.

I eventually became a professor in these disciplines with a Ph.D in education from the University of Illinois Chicago. My dissertation was in “Awareness Studies.” A pretty broad subject, but certainly as our lives become more fragmented and multi-tasked, most of us, myself included, could perhaps benefit from taking that extra deep calming breath and learn a bit more about how to effectively de-clutter the busy mind. After all, self-awareness is an ongoing study. It’s kind of ironic that as we become more interconnected we also can become less connected with our immediate community, or family, or our very self.

So here I come again hoping to “wrap my heart around your little finger” – that’s a Dolly Parton quote. As a musician myself, I particularly enjoy quoting sages of musical ages.

Whether you are reading this digitally with a swipe of your finger or the turn of your crisp paper, my hopes are that you will look and linger on these columns through the weeks and hopefully years ahead. I would enjoy hearing from you too. My contact information is listed at the bottom of this column and I will do my best to respond personally to every letter received.

Every "Yo Joan" column  will have a simple stress reducing exercise. I’ve learned quite a few over the years.

Here’s a simple one to start with:

Exhale twice as long as you inhale.

For example,

Inhale 4 counts  - Exhale 8 counts.

Continue doing this until you feel your stresses residing. No one needs to even know you are doing it. You can do this privately within the confines of your very own breath.

Till the next column, wishing you a week of feeling ever less stressed and ever more blessed.

Joan Budilovsky can be reached at editorial@kcchronicle.com . She is a resident of St. Charles. Her award-winning Yoyoga website is at Yoyoga.com.