Self-care is a journey 

As a soul with a body and a CEO who is constantly evolving, I sometimes find that I am faced with juggling many demands and tasks. There is always something to do, or a decision to make, a blog post to write, or an opportunity to meet some new people.  

Value self-care above all else

For me, I value my self-care before my work or my relationships with others.   In fact, I value it so much that I have committed to a daily practice (sadhana) that I do before I connect with the outside world (i.e before I turn on my phone and check for messages and emails). 

Because if I don’t do it first thing and instead I start giving my energy to external tasks then I can find it very difficult to create the space for self-care anywhere in the day, as there is always a pull to something or someone else that requires my attention.  

Daily practice

By doing your daily practice you connect with yourself, you will feel more grounded, have greater self-awareness, improved mental clarity to make decisions and perform tasks, and greater confidence and vitality.

Write a list

It’s a really good idea to write a list of the things that you can do to take care of your own emotional, physical and mental needs.  From there you can design one routine/practice that you might stick to for a week or maybe a month and then you can design another practice, or you can combine 2 or 3 together like I do.  You can have a lot of fun creating your self-care practice.

Be flexible

I would encourage you to allow for flexibility with your routine/practice.  Sometimes stuff happens and we need to adjust to the needs of the moment. If you know that you have an early morning meeting and you won’t be able to do what you had planned to do before work, then you can put in place a contingency plan.  If for example you miss your morning meditation and you are catching public transport throughout the day, then you can use that time on the bus/train to do your meditation.   

Take it a day at a time

The key is to commit to doing at least one act of self-care every day.  The benefits are huge and once you get started I guarantee you will be allowing more time to do your self-care practices.  

Here is a list of my self-care practices:-

• Yoga
• Pranayama
• Meditation 
• Cooking nourishing food 
• Looking for opportunities for incidental exercise throughout the day
• Being in nature
• Taking time away from my phone and computer
• Listening to music that touches my soul
• Being aware of the types of information that I read and watch on social media, Netflix, etc
• Going for a brisk walk
• Giving myself a hug
• Massaging my neck and shoulders
• Giving thanks every day for all my blessings
• Making time to connect with the people that I love

If you have any questions feel free to shout out….

Love Donna xoxo

Your body is the vehicle through which you experience life….one of my teachers, Jana Johnson taught me that every cell in our body has its own consciousness. So, what does that mean? It means that every cell in your body is a living organism that vibrates and responds to energy, and there are millions of them.

Just stop for a minute and ponder this…

How truly incredible and magnificent is your body and yet so often we are so busy being out in the world doing stuff that we take it for granted. We literally abuse it!! I certainly know that I have abused my body in the past and still it showed up for me, my heart continued to beat and my breathe flowed in and out effortlessly.

Self-healing

Our bodies heal themselves all the time. Think about if you have ever had a paper cut, once the bleeding stops, the wound can heal over very quickly and all without you being conscious of it happening. You didn’t do anything, it all happened involuntarily, while you were busy doing something else.

Resilience 

The body is amazingly resilient, with numerous systems that all collaborate and cooperate as one. If one of those systems is not functioning as it meant to, then it will influence all the other systems of the body as well.

For example:

If someone has poor circulation, then the blood flow is reduced. This can often result in conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart conditions.

Similarly, if a person is consistently looking down to look at a screen, or read something, without making a conscious decision to look up and stretch to counterbalance. This movement can result in very tight muscles, which will compress on the nerves and as a result, they could experience headaches or even conditions like frozen shoulder.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space I our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom”

Vicktor Frankl

Why you should love your body

One of the main reasons I encourage you to really love and be grateful for your body is not only because it is a truly magnificent healing machine. But also because being in pain, which is always a signal that something is out of balance within you, creates a barrier to you experiencing stillness and connecting with the deeper parts of yourself.

The problems caused by imbalances

The imbalances can be caused by an emotional experience or even mental anguish and stress. Just think about how you felt when you were most recently stressed.

It is likely that you experienced at least one of these symptoms, your shoulders rose up to be closer to your ears, your jaw tightened, you had a headache, and you may have found yourself clenching your hands more tightly than usual.

Your body remembers

Every experience and thought that you have had in your life is stored in your body. Your emotions are also connected to and stored in your body.

Remember what happened when your favorite sports team or person won an event?

Your arms were raised high above your head in the expression of joy and your jaw was relaxed because you were smiling and expressing your excitement at their victory.

Your body, mind, and soul are intertwined and connected; they cannot be separated from each other. When you think positive thoughts, it affects your body as your muscles will be more relaxed and your soul will be uplifted at the same time and vice versa when you have negative thoughts the opposite happens.

Giving thanks

By giving thanks and gratitude to your body, you are giving thanks and gratitude to all of you, you place yourself in a positive frame of mind and this allows you to approach your day with a sense of optimism about what will transpire moment by moment.

Every day as part of my daily Sadhana practice, that was given to me by Sri Nandanji, an Indian mystic and alchemist as part of Swatantra practice, I meditate on being grateful for this body and it sets the tone for my day.

I am more balanced, and I don’t tend to react to situations or people, as I have space between what is happening and my response.

Beginning to notice

Have you noticed when you have negative thoughts that naturally your body starts to close over, your shoulders are rounded forward and this can leave you feeling sad, helpless and you are vulnerable?

Love, Grace, and Gratitude

Donna x