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I firmly believe that a holistic approach is the best way to approach decluttering. Rather than focusing solely on the end result of a disorganized life (physical clutter), I advise all clients to include caring for their mental and physical health as part of their decluttering journey.
That’s why in part 5 of our Decluttering Your Life Series, we’ll be talking about meditation and chair yoga exercises to support you along the way.
What Does This Have to Do With Decluttering?
Earlier in this series, we talked about reframing the way we think of organizing – as starting to think of caring for your space as a way of caring for yourself. We want to reframe decluttering as an act of self-care, not as a way to punish yourself. Caring for yourself is just as important as caring for your space and home. They feed into each other.
That’s why decluttering (and maintaining an organized home) is so much easier when you’re taking care of yourself. If you’re running yourself ragged, you won’t have much energy to handle your life and daily tasks, let alone undertaking big organization projects!
Meditation and Chair Yoga Poses to Help You Declutter
Decluttering can be physically and mentally strenuous. You’re bending over, moving boxes, taking out the trash, and engaging in a lot of physical movement. But you’re also letting go of things that no longer serve you and saying goodbye to items that might have a lot of emotional significance.
Gentle Exercise During Breaks
Take breaks often. Pay special attention to how your body feels while you’re decluttering. We hold our emotions in our bodies, so if you feel yourself tensing up, listen to that, even if you don’t notice yourself feeling stressed out. Verywell Fit has a helpful guide on chair yoga poses you can easily do at home to give yourself a quick break mid-session.
Even short periods of moderate exercise can improve our health and boost our mood. Just a quick break to do a few stretches and yoga poses makes our brain release happy chemicals like dopamine and endorphins. Nobody enjoys spending an afternoon decluttering, but by interspersing the endeavor with a few bursts of exercise, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to stay in a comfortable mindset.
Mindfulness and Deep Breathing
Mindfulness is also a valuable tool to keep yourself calm and engaged while decluttering. Focus on deep breathing, especially if you notice yourself starting to get amped up. If you catch your stress levels rising, try this 5 Things Mindfulness Exercise to stay in the present moment:
- Take long, slow, deep breaths.
- Name 5 things you can see around you.
- Name 4 things you can touch.
- Name 3 things you can hear.
- Name 2 things you can smell.
- Name 1 thing you can taste. This can be the inside of your mouth, or you can take a sip of tea or pop a piece of gum in your mouth.
I love this exercise to stay focused while decluttering, but it’s also an effective tool anytime you catch your stress levels climbing.
The better you take care of your mind and body while decluttering, the easier it will become over time to tackle organization projects you might find yourself dreading!
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