Just Relax...

Bonjour mes amies! ;*

Tonight I felt like doing a quick post on something non beauty-related.  No matter if you're in middle school, high school, college, or living the average adult life, it's so easy to get stressed and wound up in all of the craziness of this generation!  Taking moments to relax are so important and will honestly make you appreciate every day a little bit more.  So, as you might've guessed, I'm gonna be giving you some ways to relax :)

• When I'm a bit overwhelmed with school, I like to go make a cup of tea (green tea during the daytime, and Celestial's Sleepytime Tea at night), head into my room and sit on my bed.  While I'm sitting and sipping on my delicious tea, I take a few deep breaths (all through my nose, it makes such a difference!) and try to block out all of the crazy thoughts going through my head.  Sometimes it can be difficult to block so many thoughts so if you're easily distracted like me, put on some headphones and listen to some slow, relaxing music.  The Lumineers, Sleeping At Last, Bon Iver, and Mumford and Sons are some of my favorite bands that always manage to get me relaxed and in a fabulous mood.  Try to avoid texting or going on any social networks until you've finished your tea.  After this 5-10 minute period of time, you should feel very refreshed :)
• If you're looking for some extreme relaxation and have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend doing some yoga!  You can either go and take a class or just do it at home!  If you're unfamiliar with yoga and can't make it to a class, there's a fantastic app I just found called Yoga Studio that has over 100 yoga poses and gives step by step instructions for each one.  It also has a bunch of different pose sequences that you can choose from depending on whether you're at a beginner or intermediate level!  If you can make it to a yoga class though, definitely go for it!  I recently took my very first Bikram yoga class and it was INCREDIBLE!  If you've never heard of Bikram yoga, it is a special combination of yoga poses and breathing exercises and done in a room with a temperature between 110-120 with 40% humidity.  So basically you sweat buckets for 90 minutes but after, you feel absolutely amazing.  Honestly, it does feel a bit like you're dying of heat during the class, but the results make it soooo worth it!  It's also a great workout that doesn't feel like a workout!  It may be a little scary to take a Bikram class so just a regular yoga class will work just as well!
• One of my most favoritest things to do is read!  Reading is also a fabulous way to relax.  Getting lost within the pages of a book is a truly inexplicable feeling and the greatest form of magic in my opinion.  There are so many amazing novels out there and the best way to get away from a stress-filled day is to escape into another world where all of your worries can be set aside for a while.  A couple of my favorite books are the Harry Potter books (obviously), The Divergent trilogy (Divergent and Insurgent. The last one still hasn't come out!), The Night Circus, Delirium, Pandemonium, The Maze Runner, The Fault In Our Stars, The Hunger Games trilogy, and soooo many more!  Curling up with a good book is my favorite form of relaxation :)

I really hope you enjoy these tips!  Feel free to comment telling me about your favorite ways to relax because I'd love to hear them!  I hope you all have a brilliant week and don't forget to take moments to relax :)

XOXO,
Rae <3