Sangha sessions are community dialogues about interesting, yoga-related and sometimes personal topics. They take place every second week. This week, our Sangha question is:
“What daily habits/routines do you keep aside from yoga?"
What keeps you grounded? What helps you make it through a busy, stressful day? What regularly brings you relaxation and calm?
For the last 4 years I have been striving to formulate a daily routine. It has actually caused me more stress than benefit because aiming for a daily routine that includes everything I’d like to do is not achievable. So, I finally worked out that I feel much better when I let go of ‘daily’ and aim for ‘weekly’.
The only daily practice that I like to keep is setting the dinner table and sitting down to a no-distractions dinner with my fiance 
I try to move my body every day even if it is just getting outside for a walk.
Each day I write down something I am grateful for. Most days I have more than one thing.
I strive to do something creative every day.
That said, I have also become more flexible as I get older… there are many things I would like to do every day, but the realities of working etc. make that impossible. I am now much more forgiving of myself when I miss a few days of my routine because of travel or a crunch time at work. Habits show their value when they are missed because of circumstance.
I walk, usually with a friend, 3 miles a day. Being outdoors, no matter the weather, always seems to complete my day.
Catching up on email when I saw this question.
I rise get refreshed:
Yoga for 1.5 hr.
Walk the dog a couple miles
Wash the body
30 min meditation
Time for the day to begin! 
I walk daily. Twice with my dog and as much as possible in the day. I also keep a sketchbook. I started sketching about 5 years ago following an online course, and now have 44 filled sketchbooks! I find capturing an image in my book really calming and grounding because I need to stand still, observe, and connect in order to do it. Sometimes just looking at my pocket sketchbook comforts me 
Walking my dog once a day. Cardio excercise twice a week. Daily 20’ meditation morning and aternoon
For the last 6 months now I have been trying to write 3 pages every morning of just free flow writing. At first it was work and even a bit stressful and at times I don’t know what to put on the pages. Blank pages staring back at you can be very intimidating, ha ha. But now it is easy and I actually look forward to it. It is a huge release and prepares me with a more ¨clean mind¨ to start my day. After that I do my daily yoga class which is the reward to my writing and the icing on my morning routine cake.
I enjoy learning languages so each day, I use Duolingo for French, Spanish, and German. I am on Day 1372 of daily usage. I am only fluent in English, but I do have basic conversations in French and German with Skype friends who are learning English. I am on Day 157 with Elevate, an app with brain games.
For the past 60 days Ive done yoga every day (woohoo!). I do hope to continue this but feel it may be a better goal to do yoga every 2-3 days.
-drinking green tea, choosing my mantra for the day and later reading newspaper in the train on my way to work
Great, the discussion is itself the more cooler way to express the thoughts of every hectic day. Being a freelance research paper writer it is quite hectic to get a little bit time for relaxation. In that case I do daily mediation before starting my day and also at the end, try to spent at least minimum time with close people, which brings serenity within my inner turmoil.