I am writing this to you from Michigan on a cool but lovely morning. I got back from my travels in Utah and Colorado Friday morning at 3:30am with a full and happy heart. I was beyond blessed to sit with two incredible and unique retreat groups in the mountains of Utah. Together we all learned and grew so much. I too felt parts of myself heal being surrounded by such openminded, raw women.
Friday, I had to head up to school for a survival weekend, learning how to build outdoor shelters, fire without matches or a lighter and identifying edible wild plants. I am approaching the end of my training and look forward to March when i'll have completed my schooling to be a Naturopathic Doctor. Insert singing angels here! :)
I offer this back story to share that it's been a hectic past week, and this is my first morning waking up slowly and having ample time of self care and nourishment. So this morning, I slept until my body naturally woke up. Now, I know that many women do not have this luxury of sleeping in as long as she wants. But I do think that alarm clocks are highly disruptive on our bodies, jolting us awake. So if it's your little one crawling into bed with you or the sun peeking in the window in the early hours, that is a much more nourishing way to wake up.
I sat in my mini living room for a moment as I began to move my body and roll my neck from side to side. I opened one of my favorite books, Womb Wisdom, and read a few pages in there. I gulped plenty of water and did some spinal stretches on the floor.
My self care today was simple: I rested, I sat down with no where to run urgently, I read and then I pulled out my indian flute.
The indian flute has been my most recent love after picking it up in Boulder. The music flows naturally out of me and in my opinion is one of the sweetest sounds I know. So I played for a while, coming back to my breath, allowing my eyes to be closed.
And after these small things, that probably took 15 minutes total, I felt so good. Like, really good. I felt refilled, grounded, calm and full.
Monday's are such a key time to do some form of self care, whether it's 2 minutes or an hour, because for most of us it's a day of work and sometimes chaos. If we take those couple minutes before our day begins to recenter and sit with our breath, our day has the opportunity to be dramatically different.
I personally find that when I start with self care in the morning, I am far less reactive and much more productive. I have started my day calm and I can much easier maintain that state.
So how can you step into a place of more self care in the morning? It could be as simple as stretching, listening to empowering music, reading, practicing yoga, meditating or dancing. It's different for every woman because different things nourish us on a personal level.
I want to hear your favorite self care practices or rituals! Please comment them below!
And if you're interested in learning more about self care, how women live in sync with the moon and how to create sacred space everyday, early bird pricing ends for my 30 Days to a Goddess program in just a couple days! And as a special self care thank you, use coupon code "30off" to save $30 on the program. More information and sign up here.
