Daily Rituals
How to set yourself up for success.
The days where we are feeling amazing in the body we live in, yes we want that everyday.
I have not always felt confident or even comfortable in this body. Whilst I have always been in relatively good shape, there have been periods of times where I have wanted to actually disappear because it was so uncomfortable to be in it. As the years have rolled on, I have realized that the way I feel about my body is not solely to do with what my body looks like, even though society fooled me into believing my worth and happiness lies in the shape of my body. No, it is primarily tied up in my mental and emotional health and how I relay that with my body. There are many reasons why we may have built up our personal negative association with our bodies, and each and everyone is valid in their experience. However, there is a way out and so I want to share with you my 8 non-negotiables, that I use to give me that amazing body feeling and fast. Due to the fact that negativity is initiated in the mind, each one of these non-negotiable acts creates a different physical sensational experience that jolts you out of the mind and into the body. It is hard to change the negative mind with a negative mind, and that is why the only way to do it is to change the mind with the body.
Water
Within ancient and esoteric philosophies water is heralded for it’s transformative healing powers, and one of most useful power is to cleanse and detox the body physically and energetically. Cold showers are just one of the ways that we can instantaneously change the way we feel in our body; they cleanse the Chakras, strengthen the nervous system and tone the appearance of the skin. Alongside this, they are an amazingly effective way to shift our perspective on things, bring us out of our heads and into our body, and clear negativity in the mind. I believe it all starts with the first action of the day and builds upon there, and so starting the day with a cold shower we have wiped the slate clean. Drinking water first thing in the morning encourages the natural detoxing that happens as we sleep, as well as this it is energizing and allows the body and mind to function properly. Swimming in nature, well do I need say anymore for just how healing and soothing it is. There is a reason that we are all naturally drawn to water, it reminds us of just sacred and special we are and gets rid of all of the shame riddled conditioning of our consumerist society.
Cold Showers
Drinking Water
Swimming in nature
Physical Meditation
Moving and breathing are one of the most powerful ways to bring us out of the neurotic mind and into the presence of our body. Once in the body we have more space to be the observer of the mind and realize just how unnecessarily mean and unhelpful we are being to ourselves. Breath-work is my go-to if I am feeling anxious or self-critical, it is a potent life-hack that can quickly clear the mind and soothe the nervous system, so that we feel calm and capable. Kundalini yoga focuses heavily on breath-work and using repetitive but efficient moving meditations to raise the kundalini energy, align the chakras and clean out the mind. Once there we can find our back to our hearts to offer ourselves love and compassion. Of course strength training builds a sense of inner strength and resilience, we build strong bodies to move us through our lives.
Breath-work
Kundalini Yoga
Strength Training
Play
Laughing actually effects the energy body, opening up the throat chakra, as well as working on the solar plexus and heart chakras. An important part of spiritual healing is learning not to take ourselves too seriously, and so being silly is the greatest way to get us there. Alongside this anything that we create ignites further our ability to create the life that we want to live, it enables us to see ourselves as more than just a clothes horse but a powerful creatrix with something to add to the world. The natural joy of singing and dancing allows us to access the pleasure that can be gained through expressing ourselves with our bodies.
Laughter
Creative exercises
Singing and/or Dancing
Digestion
When we are bloated we feel heavy and depressed. Even though we may not look much different to the external observer, on the inside it can feel very uncomfortable and dissatisfying. Taking care of our gut will not only improve how we feel on the inside, it is also now known to have an effect on our mental health. Fermented food, lots of vegetables, and understanding what our specific gut bacteria likes and doesn’t like will go along way to improving our gut health and therefore how we feel about ourselves. Intermittent fasting, though not suitable for those suffering from eating disorders, for others is a great tool to aid with digestion as the body is given enough time without food to fully digest it. And of course eating slowly and with more mindfulness increases our ability to fully digest our food, here we are also much more likely to eat less.
Gut Health
Fasting
Mindful eating
Self-Nurturing
Sometimes it is hard to find a self-loving bone in our bodies and so we may just have to fake it until we start to de-programme some of the self-negative conditioning that we have got going on. However, if we can learn how to nurture ourselves before we burn out; doing the things that aren’t usually thought of as productive but we personally decide that they feel good and so are necessary for of our well-being, than we may just like ourselves even more. Being able to honor ourselves and what we specifically need, is such a beautiful thing to experience with ourselves. Things like self-massage, taking a new course or calling a friend and asking for their help or guidance.
Self-massage
Studying
Support from others
Sleep Hygiene
“Don’t put a mortgage on tomorrow” - Bold Mama Elle.
How we go to sleep will effect how we sleep, and how we sleep will effect how we feel the next day. Take technology out of the bedroom and turn the WIFI box off. If we sleep with a phone next to our head we are receiving the radio waves as we sleep, which of course will effect how deeply we sleep. Sleep is the place where our minds process the day and the body regenerates and heals, if we don’t sleep we are essentially adding yesterday’s stresses and baggage on top of today’s. We should be making use of those hours before bed and upon waking to be quite, soft and sacred, so that we can center ourselves in the morning and decompress in the evening
Decreasing technology/WiFi exposure
Setting boundaries
Sacred hours
So you may have got to the bottom of this and realized that each action targets how you feel about yourself. Not your body. Because in reality that is what is really going on. Sure our bodies may not look ‘perfect’ and they never will, but it is actually the discord between us and ourselves that we are really dealing with. This is an emotional and mentally disharmony that will not be fixed just by losing weight and or starting a new exercise regime. They will help, but the inner work to cultivate radical self-love and appreciation, is where the real transformation happens towards experience that amazing body feeling. It is a daily commitment, so apply one or all of these actions and notice the inner and outer changes.
Let me know how these help and share your story!