If you’re already practising yoga, you are most likely doing so out of love, and part of your everyday simple self -care practices for your physical and mental well-being.
The fluid movements of yoga like contracting and stretching, in addition to focusing on your breathing, are some of the most beneficial aspects of regular yoga practice.
These components of yoga allow for moments of mindfulness — an awareness of our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations in the present moment.
Mindfulness and yoga are great forms of simple self-care.
But what is self-care and how can you implement it in your yoga practice?
Read on to discover the answers and delve into deeper insight on taking your yoga practice a step further.
What is self-care and why is it important?
Self-care is a term that is thrown around a lot today, so you might be curious about what it entails.
Self-care is best defined as “any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health.”
It’s an easy concept to grasp in theory, but in reality, it’s something we often overlook or put on the back-burner.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you should be no stranger to the concept of self-care.
In my post, 5 Things You Should Never Start, item #5 is “Neglecting your self-care.”
As I described in this post, self-care is linked to self-respect; lose one, and the other starts to slip.
How to practice simple self-care
Self-care practices will look different for everyone depending on where you are in life.
Sometimes, there will be periods of life when just getting out of bed and starting your day seem impossible.
Self-care is essential in those times especially, even if it means merely brushing your teeth twice a day and drinking water.
In the lighter times of life, it’s easier to take self-care up a notch by:
- Getting enough sleep.
- Starting a gratitude journal.
- Exercising regularly.
- Scheduling in time to do the things that make you feel good.
- Dinner dates with your friends.
- Making regular hair and nail appointments.
- Getting a massage to help with pain and muscle tightness.
- Getting tickets to a comedy show to get in a good belly laugh.
- Booking that trip your wanderlust soul has been begging you to go on.
The only way you can craft your personalised self-care routine is by being honest with yourself in regards to the changes you can adapt into your life regularly that will make you feel happy, healthy, and confident.
It should be something that calms and refuels you, not something painfully outside of your comfort zone that you have to force yourself to do.
If you haven’t seen my blog post and video on my daily self-care routine, take a look for some additional ideas and inspiration!
Benefits of practising self-care for your yoga wellness
A simple self-care practice is linked to:
- Improved mood.
- Reduced stress and anxiety.
- Increased capacity to maintain healthy relationships.
Practising self-care also builds our confidence because we put time, energy, and focus into the parts of ourselves, mentally and physically, that need nourishment and healing.
For example, if you’re discovering that you are experiencing depression, stress, and anxiety that will not waiver, self-care for you could be in the form of seeking mental health counselling.
Or, if you’re dealing with physical health issues that hold you back from living fully like unexplained weight gain, adult acne, or hair loss — self-care for you would involve being honest with yourself about these issues and how they make you feel.
From there, you can do some research and even seek professional medical help.
Yoga and Positive Affirmations for self-care
As previously mentioned, regular yoga practice in of itself is a fantastic way to show yourself some TLC. But, are you using your yoga practice to your fullest self-care potential?
If you aren’t using positive affirmations in your yoga practice, you should give it a try!
Our realities are shaped by the stories we constantly tell ourselves in our heads — whether we realise we’re doing it or not.
If you constantly tell yourself that you are unattractive, undeserving, and unloved, you will start to reflect that in everything you do.
Repeating positive affirmations to yourself before, during, and after your yoga practice will start to help you become conscious of what you tell yourself, and will start to transition those thoughts from negative to positive.
Here are Seven Positive Affirmations You Can Use to Boost Your Yoga Practice
I love myself and I am worthy of love from others
I am worthy of good things
I am enough
I am exactly where I need to be
I have the power to choose positive thoughts
Everything I need is within me
I becoming stronger and confident ever day.
If you are new to your yoga practice, be sure to customise your practice in a way that will help you implement poses for self-love by targeting your own unique physical pain points.
For example, many women experience pelvic pain or symptoms of endometriosis and can find pain relief through specific yoga poses through different hip flexors and groin stretches.
What’s Next?
Heading into spring, this is the perfect time to reflect on how you’re currently caring for yourself and to adjust accordingly.
You (yes, YOU) are deserving of love, health, wealth, confidence, and good things.
Let me know in the comments one thing you could do this week, to get started with your own personalised self-care routine and breathe overall wellness into your life!
N.B This post was co-authored with fellow blogger, Karlyn Quinn
Photo by Jared Rice on Unsplash
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