When I was young, an uncle of mine would delight in telling us children that Christmas wasn’t really about presents at all. Clutching our gifts from Santa, my cousins and I would stare up at him, uncomprehending. With glee he would impart his wisdom: “Christmas is about the food!”

As an adult I have come to agree with my uncle. If I am not staggering from dinner table to couch for an afternoon of movies and mulled wine, I don’t really feel I’ve celebrated the season. This years lockdown has given me a gift of sorts: time. I have been rooting out old recipies and trying my hand at some of the tastes of home. (I managed a fairly decent mince pie!)

After a few days of this my body usually says “enough”. An excess of eating, effort, and activity over the Christmas period is all part of the fun. It also leaves me feeling a bit frazzled. What I need now is some time to rest and digest. Legs-up-the-wall is a favoured post-meal pose of mine and I can’t beat simple relaxation pose for calming my nervous system – almost like a reset button.

Several of my students have told me that they are much less physically active in their home office. One thing they point to is the lack of interruptions from co-workers. A normal day at work would be punctuated by chats at the coffee machine, moving between meetings, and frequent small interruptions in person or on the phone. The lockdown home office is characterised by sitting in front of a webcam for hours at a time, followed by a few short steps to another part of the house at 5pm. Whatever your physical training routine might be, I am hearing that people are also missing that diversity of sensory stimulation and the mental space to process the days events.

When my own partner emerges from his home office space in the basement it takes him a while to switch his mind to “home-mode”. This has at times led to silly arguments and sometimes he is preoccupied with a work issue long into the evening. As tighter Covid-19 restrictions are introduced in Oslo, and my partner is at home 24/7 again, I have been thinking about the value of ritual. Our daily habits, rhythms, and routines create a framework for moving through our lives. Woven into this framework are rituals. That is, doing things in a certain way that you enjoy and which helps you to thrive.

I have been wondering how to facilitate a nourishing home-practice for students during the coronavirus lockdown without the need to invest in expensive props. Being able to change the shape of the floor or the length of your arms using props makes poses more accessible and comfortable. With many of you now building a home practice, and restrictions on sharing props at the studio, it is time to examine how these tools are most effectively used to enhance your mindful and movement practices.

One of the benefits of going to classes at your local studio is that you get to use a wide variety of props. These can include the basics, such as blocks, blankets, and belts, as well as bolsters, chairs, weighted pillows, therapy balls, buckwheat cushions, and eye masks. When lockdown forced me to begin teaching online, I was suddenly left without these teaching aids. They were locked up in the studio, and I was sitting infront of a Zoom camera.

I recently came across an idea that I had heard before, but had ignored in favour of my cosy bolsters and significant home storage space. That is, that 3 blankets can provide you with all of the support you need during a basic dynamic or restorative practice. The functionality of this simple idea wowed me in a Covid-19 world.