Rituals, Routines & Habits
How we can make "self care" more habitual by nature but no less ritualistic in its experience ( a little more on the nature of Yang Shen) .
Reminder of the current sale available for the annual subscription which will include 6 “Yang Shen” workshops! The first workshop is in April (the link already available in previous article, I will include it in the next also) Replays will be offered here for paid subscribers. It comes down to about $70 Aussie dollars which is practically free as I’m sure you’ll agree for a series of online workshops (and all the other bits)
It was important to me to create a cost effective way of working with me and this is it!! x
So this piece below was a little something that I wrote for my dear friend Charmaine in the summers edition of Brooke Blurton’s The House of Wellness
She only recently sent me the image below and in light of my latest conversation about Yang Shen I thought this was timely. Because Yang Shen are the practices that are built into your every day life. They might seem like “self care” type things but only because we have become so estranged from a basic understanding of our own needs.
(and how those needs may change with the changing seasons of the year)
We don’t think twice about brushing our teeth. This is a self care behaviour that has become habit. And there is potential that when we link it with dimming the lights, applying some restorative face oil, maybe taking some magnesium or whatever our wind down sleep routine involves then these behaviours can also become habit. (I didn’t create habit stacking but it is mighty helpful)
So I think it’s important to break down two elements here.
The HABIT in the below article is the planning bit, the writing down of things that need doing including the lush ritual things like baths, nourishing meals and early bedtimes. These are the things that will often be put in the ‘self care’ basket BUT unless we create a habit of anchoring them in our calendar they are much less likely to happen.
The SINGULAR habit of a Sunday checkin/ plan/ conversation what ever you like to call it, establishes all the other things that need to happen in the week. That’s the habit bit, the bit that gets to become done without thinking about it over dinner every Sunday night. TICK ✅
(you may of course put this somewhere else in your week)
The exhaustion from multiple daily moments of executive function that this prevents is worth its weight in gold.
Read on and let me know how you might employ this strategy some where in your week!
Self Care Sundays - Preparing for the week.
I wish I could say that I prepare a ritual bath on Sunday night and let my guides channel the things I need to know for the week ahead. This is the kind of outsourcing I could get behind. But alas!
In reality however the way we prepare for the week ahead in our little house is much more mundane but no less magical.
The key elements are meals, movement, magic and management.
Cooking is my achilles heal so the freezer has always been my best friend.
By Sunday groceries are purchased and meals are prepped or at least written down and we know who is in charge of the meal for which evening. With this we can flow through the week taking traffic delays and extra clients in our stride know that meals are waiting for us. No extra last minute thinking and decision making required!
Sunday evening I decide which days I’m attending a yoga class or doing a work out from home. This helps us support each other to get out the door or to be gently held accountable. Dog walks daily are a non negotiable. I write every tiny thing in my ical! If the calendar tells me I’m doing something I do it.
A candle lit bath, breakfast with the girls and date night all go in the calendar ahead of time. This creates space for togetherness and necessary solitude.
I think most of us are good at scheduling all the technical pieces of our week but it’s so essential to actually write in “have a bath”.
When those alerts popup on our screen it’s like a gift from past you!
My expectations of what I can achieve in a week are usually wildly optimistic, so I make sure I know what the one most essential thing is for each writing and admin day. This goes on the top of the list to try to avoid overwhelm.
In heavily scheduled weeks we might have filled the freezer for a few weeks worth of meals, or planned a long weekend after a big month. Scanning ahead and blocking out down time is so much easier than trying to fit it in when you’re on the verge of breaking.
A brief Sunday check in for the next week sets the intention for a smooth week ahead.
Have you done something like this before? How has it helped?
In my Yang Shen series of workshops I’ll be sharing so many seasonal ways to nourish and support yourself incorporating Traditional Chinese Medicine, Celtic seasonal wisdom and knowledge from my female centric embodiment yoga practice.
I’d love to answer any questions you might have here.
x
Keri