13 February, 2018
Most of us know that looking after ourselves is best for our success in life and our happiness. However, unfortunately, many of us are not that good at it.
Often as modern super women, we are so busy organising and rushing around looking after the needs of other’s, within our career, business or family that we forget to consider how our own energy stores will be re stocked.
I created this list because I wanted to illustrate that self care is not all about strict healthy eating and intense fitness regimes, yoga or otherwise.
Self-care for me is actually about creating space where I can feel looked after. A space where I can enjoy my own company and be myself. An emotional buffer zone from the craziness of every day life.
Wellbeing is our original state and a high quality yoga practice will always bring us back to this place of balance. In my experience, it’s taking years. But if all of life is a spiritual practice, and I believe that it is, then I’m more than willing to be patient on the journey.
Here are my best 60 tips for inspiring your own self care – enjoy!
Take a hot bubble bath – pretty standard
Call an old friend for a catch up
Get a cuddle (anyone who’s offering!)
Go for a gentle walk alone
Go for a gentle walk with some whanau, your love
Go to a movie by yourself, buy a choc top
Start the day with meditation
Write a letter to your brother or sister retelling a story about your relationship from the past
Get an early night, i.e. 8pm
Rediscover intimacy – holding hands, slow kissing
Binge on Netflix for an evening
Go for a brisk walk
Go for a walking meditation – as you walk & see things in nature you admire, quietly say to nature “love your work”
Change the bed sheets, pay attention to your hotel corners
Curl up with a hot water bottle, blanket and cup of tea
Commit to 7 days of uninterrupted home yoga practice
Book a holiday for 5 – 6 months time
Pack the kids off to the grand parents for the weekend
If you have modern grand parents who are far too busy, find a babysitter
Invest in a foot spa
Eat chocolate coated ginger and sip peppermint tea
Book a 1 hour Thai massage, ask them to focus on your upper back, hip flexors and feet
On a blue sky day, lay on a picnic blanket and imagine shapes in the clouds
Sleep in
Take a siesta
Making a cross with your body, lie back over a bolster (bolster needs to be underneath bra strap)
Say no to opportunities – create space
Go on a date
For 7 days in a row, commit to doing something you fear every day (here’s some ideas – take a 5 minute cold shower, call someone you feel awkward tension with, turn off social media for a week…)
Follow an 80/20 diet for 1 month. 80% wholefoods, 20% treats.
Become mindful of recurring experiences, relationships and habits
Get a life changing therapist
Cut someone loose that’s been dragging you down
Ring your mum for a chat (if you’re mum has passed, write her a love letter)
Commit to 20 days of hand writing 20 things you’re grateful for
Write a letter to someone you’ve held a grudge with expressing how you feel and offering forgiveness (send it/burn it)
Go to a music festival with people half your age
Go to a dinner party with people double your age
Mentor children to be better, kinder humans
Use a kind voice to speak with yourself, especially when tired and/or stressed
Book a girls only weekend
Clear clutter from your house, one drawer at a time
Start the day with a warm lemon, ginger and honey drink
Follow that with a fresh vegetable juice or green smoothie
Listen to an inspiring pod cast in the TED X application
Sift around on a Sunday afternoon reading newspapers and writing in journals
Bake yourself a cake
Take yourself shopping for a new item of clothing/shoes/earrings
Learn a new language
Write to someone you haven’t seen for a long time but holds a dear space in your heart
Make a photo book of your loved ones
Go horse riding
Read an inspiring book
Take your Dad out for lunch
Visit the memorial for a friend that passed away, tell them about what you’ve been up to, about what their relationship meant
Book a meditation/yoga retreat
Go for a swim at the beach or a lake
Be in nature, preferably in bare feet
At the end of your meditation, ask great questions
Walk in the rain, surrender judgements and just experience the feeling on your skin, as if it was for the first time
If one of your goals is to commit to greater self-care in 2018, then please join us for my new restorative yoga course ‘Zen + Soften’ starting on Thursday the 15th of February, @ Birkdale House, Auckland. Click here for course details and to book your spot.
Love Kate
