Yoga For Rachel Maddow

Dear Rachel Maddow,

Thank you for bringing us the news in a fun and entertaining way. Your smarts and sensibilities have lured me and many others into keeping up with policy, even when it's not election season! You've also inspired me to customize a few emergency health interventions for off-balance politicians like Sarah Palin and George Bush. I don't think they took my advice.

I'm pretty sure you're not into yoga. When your pal Kent Jones brought up yoga day on the White House lawn, I think you even mentioned never having actually seen people doing yoga before. Well, I know you're super busy and retreats to a yoga ashram are pretty unlikely for you. But, along with millions of other folks, I want to make sure you keep a healthy and happy body and mind for a very long time. We need you to keep us in the loop!

I designed this routine to help with eye strain from staring at monitors all day, plus hip and shoulder tightness from hours in a chair. These fixes loosen up tension and keep you feeling great. Yoga practice helps us use what we need and rest what we don't. This lets our batteries recharge faster, and it gets easier to call up more energy when we need to perform again. An added bonus is you don't need to set aside hours of your week to gain the benefits. 5 minutes at work and 10 minutes before bed make a huge difference. You can even try this routine right from your on-air chair during commercial breaks (between tweeting of course).

Eye Massage

Rub your palms together to create a bit of heat. Close your eyes and place the heels of your hands gently on your eyelids so your fingers rest up your forehead. Take 3 deep breaths here, then gently lower your hands and open your eyes. You can try this whenever your eyes feel tired or dry, or whenever you want to de-stress quickly. I also tried this instruction with Blago to distract his attention away from the alluring camera lens. With you the idea is just keeping you happily front and center!

Shoulder Stretch

Lift your right arm straight up. Bend your elbow and place your palm on the center of your back, so your fingers are pointing down. Bend your left elbow so it points straight down, and work your left fingers up your back. If your hands can touch, that's great. Stay here and breathe for 5 breaths. If your hands don't quite touch that's fine too. Open your fingers and press your hands into your back while you gently lift your chest slightly up and back. If Kent is around have him throw you a towel, you can grab that to help join your hands. Make sure to try the other side.

Spine Stretch

Press your hands down on the sides of your chair and lift up your hips. Lift one knee, and then the other. Lift both knees if you can. This also works your stomach a bit, which will keep your spine and back healthy! Stay here for 5 breaths and slowly lower down to sit.

Spine Twist

Reach your left arm straight up, then lower your left hand to your right arm rest. Inhale lift up tall. Exhale twist around to the right. Stay here for 5 breaths and try the other side.

No-one-knows Meditation

This one you can get away with any time. Close your eyes and follow your breath. When you start to think about healthcare reform, try bringing your attention back to your breath. You can do this for 10 seconds or 10 minutes, however long you have. It can also add to the dramatics of coming back from commercial when you open your eyes all refreshed and energized.

Bonus seated position

If you feel like kicking your legs up and sitting cross-legged in your chair it's great for your hips and back, plus that way we get to check out your sneakers!

I hope this routine helps you feel refreshed and keeps you in good health!

Yours truly,

Tara Stiles

Follow Tara Stiles on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tarastiles

Comments

[mbbythesea]

lovely, lovely ...I'm sure Rachel will love it...I like her news delivery style..maybe not 24hrs a day of it like CNN...but an hour is great. It is fun, irreverent and still intelligent and thoughful.

[SharonWantsToTalk]

Go for it Rachael. Cant hurt.

[chadforhope]

Tara rules. Rachel Meadows should be fired. All her face gestures and stacato speech is soooo
annoying. Once in a while they're ok and appropriate... but all the time on every story ridiculous.

[AgentMuu]

she should be fired on the basis of her facial gestures? I imagine you'd want everyone on Fox News fired then, if you want to stay consistent.

[playsindirt]

Tara should have her own show. She's gorgeous, a great yogini, and a natural teacher. Somebody on Bravo give this girl a call.

[Tara Stiles - Huffpost Blogger]

I'm so down with that and have got a few super fun ideas for a show. Any Bravo execs out there? My agent is Will Hobbs at CAA. give him a gingle! :) thanks guys. glad you are liking the easy office routine. I need it too! Have a great day. Tara

[lordmi]

so simple?
Thank You, we should do that.

[sisterdebmac]

I'm gonna start this today, Tara. I practically live in an office chair 15-16 hours a day.

[Tara Stiles - Huffpost Blogger]

15-16 hours! holy cow! remember to take breaks and go for a walk every few hours too! Don't make me come over there and stretch you out!

[fnygy]

While your prescribing yoga for TV personalities - can you give a shout out to Chelsea Handler? I enjoy her show - she's a funny dame - but I almost can't watch her because of the tension you can literally see in her shoulders. This girl needs a down dog more than anybody I've ever seen. She's going to run into back trouble, too - if she hasn't already - because those tight shoulders probably indicate a very tight hip complex, too.

Thanks for the good advice!

[Tara Stiles - Huffpost Blogger]

Wow, Chelsea Handler. She could use some yoga for sure! Putting down all that booze would be a good start though to clearing out the system. Don't know many comedians that are sober, or used to have alcohol or drug problems. Interesting.

[Hopemonger38]

Thanks for your helpful advice.
I'm doing it!

[jkh]

tum Tara!

what I need is to do the yoga AFTER I watch Rache!, although recently, after starting a new anti-depressant, I actually fell asleep during Chris Matthews. What does that tell you?

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

[BOin08]

Rachel is great. She could save MSNBC's prime time hour by swapping slots with Olbermann. Keith saw his affluent audience- the demo that cable news advertisers target- fall by over 50% from Q4 2008 to in Q2 2009. While Keith lost the 24-55 year olds forever, he gained ground with 18-21 year olds. And yet poor Keith still demands to be taken seriously…lol. Rachel will dominate at 8PM, she'll keep Olbermann's 18-30 demo and replace the sober adults Keith chased away. Time to go bro.

[racetoinfinity]

Rachel, take her advice. Yoga not only is good for your body, it's good for your evolution; it helps get you to bodymind, which is a higher integration of body and mind and includes your intuition or vision-logic self - in other words, if you let it, it helps you grow and evolve.

[Tara Stiles - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi Guys! Cool. Just got back from a relaxing day trip to Massachusetts to visit some friends and unwind. Glad you guys like the post. It's for Rachel, and everyone who sits in a chair and works/plays on the computer for too long, which is most of us I am imagining. Have a great Sunday and get some relaxation time in! Tara :)

[skippyB]

Thank You!!! I just took a break from work and did these (achem, for the most part) and loved it! I could do this every day - and I'll be looking for this on Monday. Perfect amount, my shoulders feel better - five stars!

[cinemaven]

I`ve been writing all day and took a short break to stretch and prowl through huffpo... Thanks Tara for posting and reminding me that I can relax and take away the crunchies in my shoulders and back :) Now I can get back to work for an hour and maybe make deadline.

[KindMisica]

Me too I exercised while watching the video. Got some cramps at first (man I'm out of shape! ), but I felt very good afterwards! I'll do these routines again, they seem to help.