By early April, I completed a two week #inalignedselfcare challenge. 

The premise: 

In this era, when all our routines are up-ended and even some of our livelihoods are in question, what do we do to maintain our wellbeing? Do we deal with stress and uncertainty by binging on food, substances, netflix, sleep? When are those things appropriate for “letting go” and relieving stress or when are those things distractions and/or even self-abuse? 

I saw many people starting exercise classes on Zoom and posting on social media about recreating their normal schedules in virtual settings. How amazing is it that we have that technological capability?! To some extent, all of that is necessary right now. I also started offering online classes… However, I have always been uneasy with what has been considered normal for our work schedules and our work-out routines. They sometimes seem based on models for living that are unhealthy and unbalanced for most humans. Why would I want to recreate those patterns? Maybe this upended time is an opportunity to explore other ways of being…

I wanted to provide a space to offer self-care rituals, tips, and routines for our well-being. I was curious what I could offer and what others do to keep centered, their energy balanced, and spirits high. I wanted to bring to the conversation how fitness is only a small part of our self-care (just like “exercise” is only a small part of movement).

Here’s a recap of what I explored:

• Sleep Hygiene

• Juicing (Celery Juice specifically)

• Skin Care & Self Massage (abhyanga)

• Squatty Potty - or movement inducing home environments

• Yogic cleansing techniques such as nauli, trataka, and pranayama

• Sunshine and Nature

• Hot and Cold temperature variations for health

• Earthing and Grounding

• Restorative Exercise

• Community: Friends, family & pets

• Natural Movement and how it puts many self-care elements together

• Gratitude - how viewpoint and attitude affect wellbeing

• Stacking - The concept of putting it all together

• Not overdoing it - ie: Do Less

You can find all the full instagram posts about these things at the end of this blog post!

What I left out:

There’s so much more I could have included in this list such as:

• Intermittent Fasting

• Herbal tonics and remedies

• Tidying

• Nourishing healthy boundaries

• Developing sense of purpose

• and much more…

I think this will be an ongoing conversation, and I will keep adding to the hashtag #inalignedselfcare as I keep adding posts to my Instagram feed.

What I learned:

When I organize my routines around self care, I certainly feel more grounded, energized, purposeful, healthy, secure, and grateful. However, since there’s so many techniques, tips, hacks, routines and rituals out there, it’s easy to approach self-care from the same scheduling mode that has led to so much stress and dysfunction. It could be a full time occupation. There are certainly people who get addicted to life hacks and self care in such a way that they aren’t very functional in society and create more anxiety if anything is out of place (I didn’t get my run in today! This kale isn’t organic! ) So, overdoing it is a possibility.

Here are my tips for developing a self-care regimen:

1. Let it be a playful experiment:
   Curiosity, play, experimentation are good attitudes with which to approach new self-care techniques. Those attitudes will give you permission to keep checking in with yourself by asking How does this feel? Do I like this? Is this for me?

2. Don’t get too strict or serious:
   In the end, it’s all about your well-being and what makes you feel good. If we’re getting too serious, we’re probably also judging ourselves and adding more stress into our lives.

3. Alternate between the long and short term perspectives:
   Creating new habits takes time. So, if it’s not done perfectly right away or if you don’t see the benefit right away, or if you miss a day, remind yourself to take the long term view. Also, if it’s not rewarding in some way in the moment, that may be a sign to re-examine your reason for doing it.

4. Stack Your Life:
   There’s literally no way to do everything for our health, our job, our community, and our pastimes if each is compartmentalized into a separate activity. So, start figuring out how to put them together. Ask what activities can serve multiple purposes. For example, a walk to the market with friends can put together your needs for community, health, nourishment, and a daily chore all in one. I talk about this with Natural Movement which takes care of play, exercise, sunshine, nature, earthing, and community all in one activity. You can also look at how your environment can work better for you: such as how standing desks can give your body more nourishing movements while you are working.

5. Give yourself permission to Do Less:
   Sometimes the most important part of self care is not what you are adding to your life but what you give yourself permission to subtract from it. What is unnecessary and causing unease or dis-ease in your life? Every single self-care technique may be unnecessary for you. Maybe your routine changes over time or cycles throughout the month. But by giving ourselves permission to do less, amazingly, we often will find ourselves doing the things that mean more to us.

What’s Next?

I’m starting a new challenge this week!

#alignedhomemovement

From Wednesday 4/22 through Friday 5/1 we’ll be exploring ways of getting more movement of our bodies in our home environments. This will explore the notion of stacking your life with reimagining your home environment to encourage better use of our bodies throughout our days.

There are other challenges out there such as #furniturefree where people are providing examples of putting more movement in their lives through the decreased use of furniture. This challenge will incorporate that concept, but I’m interested in not only being “free” of furniture, but maybe how you can use your furniture differently.

My one disappointment in the previous challenge was not getting more people to participate. So, this time, I’ve invited some other movement professional friends to join in and if you feel inspired, I hope you will too!

Now without further ado, here’s all the posts from #inalignedselfcare

Self Care Challenge Posts: