Do you find yourself feeling guilty when you put your feet up for a bit?
I know I used to! Self-care wasn’t part of my vocabulary.
I guess it all depends on how life is portrayed to you when you grow up and what you can see the adults around you doing. I grow up with the feeling that every moment of the day had to be useful, otherwise I wasn’t doing it right.
Looking back, it’s no wondered I developed anxiety!
The lack of a self-care routine can lead to a whole series of unpleasant consequences. As I said before, anxiety can be directly linked to a lack of self-care. The same goes for fatigue, irritability, being constantly distracted, and low self-esteem. You might also find it hard to sleep. And you can become generally dissatisfied with your life and lack seriously in empathy.
Self-care is vital for a healthy and happy life. And yoga can be your first step in the right direction.
And here is why:
Committing to a regular practice
By committing to a regular practice, be it face-to-face or online, you clearly make a decision to put yourself first (at least once a week) and take time for you.
If you constantly push self-care to the very bottom of your list, you probably never get around to it. Booking in for a weekly yoga class will force you to take this time for you. If nothing else, purely because you have paid for it!
Yoga helps you listen to yourself
Have you ever had one of these busy days, when you go from one thing to the other and you only notice how tired you are when you finally sit down??
If self-care isn’t your thing, the likelihood is you don’t listen to your body. You probably don’t really notice when you get tired, tense or hungry.
Yoga allows you the time to connect with your body and to listen to it. You might notice some physical tension and discover how to release it. You may fall asleep during the relaxation and realise how tired you actually are.
These baby steps towards listening to you can feel very uncomfortable at the beginning. But they are gently opening a door to you realising what you need in your life.
If you find that you fall asleep week after week during yoga, it might be time to try and go to bed earlier. Or treat yourself to a nap at the weekend!
Yoga is nurturing and comforting
In a yoga class, I always invite my students to move in a way that is comfortable for them. I suggest they listen to their body and move with their breath.
On a day to day basis, we have trained ourselves to “keep calm and carry on”. How many times a week do you feel stressed and anxious but carry on without trying to identify what the problem is and try and release it?
A yoga class gives you a chance to move at a rhythm that suits you, that feels good for your body and your mind.
Yoga can be a way into a more general change in life
If our self-care isn’t your priority, you might also have a lifestyle that doesn’t exactly serve you. And I’m not talking about munching on some chocolate biscuits from time to time or binge-watching the latest Netflix show at the weekend!
By making you notice your body more, yoga can make you more sensitive to the signals your body is sending you. For example, you might notice that you feel bloated after lunch and start different food combinations that will make you feel better.
I cannot say it often enough. Self-care is one of the pillars to a happy and healthy life. It is a time that we should all take for us and that is non-negotiable.
Yoga can be your first step in that direction.
If you’d like to start taking that time for you, a home yoga practice is a good way to start.
Join me on the 24th October, 9.00am-12.00pm for a workshop that will give you tips on how to start creating a home practice that you can stick to.
Do you go to weekly yoga classes but would like to do more?
Or you'd like to do some yoga at home but don't know where to begin?
In this workshop, I will show you some ideas of yoga routines going from 10-30 minutes that you can then reproduce at home.
I will also talk about the common problems when wanting to start a home practice and suggest some ways to overcome them.
The workshop will also include a full length yoga sequence and relaxation to start and finish the morning.
This event will take place on zoom and the recording will be made available within 24 hours.