Real self CARE habits that changed my lifestyle
You might have already heard me speak about this self-care habit but if you haven't I hope it inspires you to make a change big or small. But use this as a reference or share with someone.
This is one of those articles I write with the hope of starting a movement, as I would love to see more people start CARING MORE about themselves and less about EVERYTHING else going on in their lives.
To be confident to make small or BIG changes in their daily life that will greatly impact their overall well-being. I hope what I share in this article inspires you to make 1 or 2 of these changes, big or small or maybe you do them all. Either way, let me know in the comments if you do because I’d love to hear from my readers how you are enjoying these weekly articles.
But this is an article I should have written years ago as I tell so many people this information and shared on social media about a few of these things but never really sat down to write about why or all the benefits I have received from doing these small or big changes and how they have truly altered my health and lifestyle.
What does SELF-CARE mean?
Cambridge Dictionary defines self-care as:
“the practice of caring for yourself when you are ill or to stop yourself from becoming ill”
The World Health Organization defines self-care as:
“the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health worker.”
So, self-care is about prevention for your overall health and well-being. Since becoming a practising yogi and Yoga Teacher, it has always baffled me how many people DO NOT prioritise their health, from the food they eat to the exercise they don’t do and natural holistic practices available to everyone that people don’t take advantage of or even know about. But then I think about it, and it’s not surprising as I was once caught up in this UNKNOWN trap of being UNAWARE and UNEDUCATED.
However, now I KNOW BETTER, like;
• I know many do not think caring for ourselves (our bodies, our minds, our spirits) should be a priority because it has not been programmed into us as a child, and our society and culture don’t market it to us to care about it. Hence, we never see advertisements encouraging us to wake up to ourselves and CARE MORE! (By the way, this is me giving you… awake up call now because I do CARE!)
• I know there are BILLIONS of dollars being spent on diet campaigns and gym memberships telling us to sign up for these programs even though they know we will fail and keep paying for it.
• I know there are a lot of us who don’t know about natural holistic practices that are available that can help prevent us from going to the doctor. They feel amazing, but we might feel unsure or nervous because we deeply believe in the medical system, even though they don’t have the answers we seek. We don’t know where even to start looking.
REAL SELF CARE for me looks like this:
SMALL but IMPACTFUL changes
Swapping coffee caffeine and drinking Ceremonial Cacao daily. I don’t get afternoon crashes as hard as I would on caffeine. My body feels an awful buzzing feeling if I do drink coffee now, as it’s not used to it. I was never a fan of coffee; it was too confusing to order what kind of coffee to drink in Australia, so I never got into as much and always ordered a mocha or chai latte. I swapped ceremonial cacao in 2019/2020 as the benefits of drinking cacao are much healthier than any other hot beverage in a cafe.
Medicinal Mushrooms I have been taking just as long as I’ve been drinking cacao. I might have started using them before to boost my immune system and gut health to prevent me from getting sick from working at a daycare centre teaching yoga. I’ve tried many different types of mushrooms but have only taken reishi mushrooms for the past three years since becoming pregnant and breastfeeding with Phoenix for its calming and immunity-boosting support. Superfeast is the brand I have been using since 2018 to help my gut health, and my entire family uses it now; even Tony’s parents have seen personal results from using it to help prevent getting common colds. Everyone likes mixing into their coffees in the morning.
(Get $20 off your first order of $100 using my link here if you're interested)A recent small but impactful change in my life is having a SELF-LOVE skincare routine morning and night that only takes less than 5 minutes. I am including this because I have never cared about my skin, especially products for my face, as I have had good skin health (lucky me). Still, I am getting older, and my skin is changing (especially this pregnancy). Still, the skin is the largest organ in the human body, and I have neglected it for years out of pure laziness because it never caused me any issues till now. Also, I don’t particularly appreciate spending too much time fussing over maintaining my skin or hair. But what it has done for me is allow me to SLOW DOWN a routine daily habit and make it a bit more intentional. How has it well? I am a go-go type, but now I take 2-3 deep breaths in and out whilst putting on my morning serum as instructed on the bottles. For REAL, the bottle tells you to breathe as it is the SELF-LOVE ritual, which was one of the reasons I was drawn to this product because it aligned with my values on multiple levels, as it is also eco-friendly. But it helps me relax for 5 minutes in the morning after brushing my teeth and 5 minutes before bed. It tells me we are preparing for the day or rest, and HONESTLY, those few breaths as a new mama have helped me relax and transition my mood into what I need to do more consciously than ever before.
Journaling is a form of self-therapy to LET GO of my feelings or a chance to process my complex thoughts. I will write an article more on this soon as it has been something I have done the longest in my life, and I’ve received so much from just emptying my thoughts, ideas, dreams, anger and love just by writing. It’s free therapy for me, and it can be for you if you get a notebook and start writing, as we all claim we are stressed out at some point during the week but are too busy to do anything about it. But why not just write it down so you can let it go and return to those thoughts later on if you need to reflect on those feelings?
Monthly massage or chiro appointments have been essential for my overall self-care routine for the past 5 years because having someone externally assessing my body for tension or relieving pain or strain in my muscles that I sometimes cannot release with my yoga asana practice. It’s not a luxury spa day that culture has been telling us for years through marketing campaigns. If you do not have someone looking at your body monthly and checking in with how it is feeling, then you should start today so that you understand what is going on so you can prevent injuries and stress and enjoy an hour of “me time”
LIFE CHANGING self-care
1. Not working at a job I wasn’t aligned with being an Executive Assistant to CEO/Managing Directors of Companies and following my passion to build my business/lifestyle that suits my MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT! I'm saying YES to investing in myself vs. letting FEAR of cultural/financial/peer pressures get to me. I quit in 2017 and do not plan to return to a 9-5 career.
2. Meditation - I cannot recommend this more than anything else for someone’s health and well-being FOR MY MIND, BODY, and SPIRIT. There is much scientific proof today that you can reduce your body’s aging process by practising regular meditation. But never mind the proof; it’s FREE, and you can do it ANYWHERE, but so many people STRUGGLE with developing their meditation practice, and I feel it’s because it feels like a chore to most, like it’s something I SHOULD do vs something I want to do and LOVE!
I encourage you to fall in love with meditation the way you would want to fall in love with a romantic partner. After all, you need to create a relationship with your mind to calm it down and find inner peace and tranquillity. A good meditation playlist is how I have managed to fall in love with meditating, as I love music. Here is the one I listen to daily since I am birthing my second baby. I have used the same playlist for 2 years now and sit with Phoenix in the morning and practice together, which he loves doing. You are never too young or old to start learning something new.
3. Asana - physical yoga is one of the only physical exercises I have ever encountered that affects my mind, body and spirit, whereas most only work on the body. Teaching yoga changed my life, but my physical asana practice has educated me more in ways than I can describe in a paragraph. All I will state for now is that I encourage anyone to try different types of yoga until they find the one they love and want to do daily. This is a practice I will for the rest of my life as it has become the way I live my life and it is the best gift I have ever given to my health and overall happiness.
4. Self Education - learning and discovering more holistic practices like
Sound bath - sound healing is a powerful therapy that combines different healing sounds, music, and sound healing instruments to improve our multidimensional well-being by creating a beautiful experience where all layers of our luminous energy field (body, mind, soul, spirit) are awaken
Reiki - energy healing is done by channelling the Universal Life Energy through someone's hands to help you open up to mental or emotional blocks. It allows you to use your abilities to heal yourself in a few sessions.
(Read about my reiki healing experience I had when I was pregnant with Phoenix)
Breathwork - breathing exercises to help relieve stress and improve mental health. I have attended breathwork workshops and sessions in the past, but I have yet to make a routine breathwork practice. I have struggled with allergies and blocked nose issues my whole life, so inhaling through my nose has caused me to fall in love with a specific breathwork practice.
I have made a three-year desensitising journey with hay fever and allergies, but I still have a lot of damage in my nose from the swelling that happens too often, as there is high pollen eight months out of the year. My allergist wants me to see a specialist to have surgery on my nose to open up my airways. I share this with you as sometimes we avoid doing things or putting things off when we hit a road bump in our health. I have not put this off as I have invested thousands of dollars into healing allergies to open my airways. Still, I must be patient and prioritise my body through this pregnancy before focusing on allergies. But I have a clear vision for this issue to recover the damage I unconsciously neglected for years because I didn’t know there were options to cure it until one of my yoga students suggested I see her allergist.
There are many more holistic approaches to help your self-care, but I’ve mentioned ones I have loved experiencing. I encourage you to educate yourself more and ask around, as many practitioners are willing and waiting for more people to support their healing journey.
Biota Harmony in East Victoria Park is a wonderful place to start for anyone interested in learning natural ways of healing. But they host many wellness workshops, and you can learn about Essential Oils and how they can support your health if you are tired of taking tablets. I didn’t mention this, but I will quickly add this now as I use oils as my first aid and prevent the whole family from getting sick. I even use it in cooking or making delicious drinks or chocolate sweets. ***Only use therapeutic-grade essential oils, not the ones from any shop. *** Brands like DoTerra are the ones I have been using for 7 years and know basic knowledge. If you are interested, email me for more info.
So this is where I will conclude this article by stating if something in your health isn’t functioning well, like tension in your neck or lower back issues, then get it checked out by not just the medical systems. I would also encourage you to try some holistic alternatives, as sometimes that’s all it might take to help you improve your overall health with a simple self-care practice. I hope one or a few from above make you consider trying or discovering something new for yourself to help support your mind, body, and spiritual health. But generally, having MORE confidence and knowledge about how to CARE MORE about your health doesn’t have to be costly and can be incorporated into your daily rhythm to feel LIFE-CHANGING impacts.
Thanks for always reading with much gratitude,
Kim