What is self-care?
The World Health Organization defines self-care as
“the ability of individuals, families, and communities to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.”
How mindfulness could make you selfish
A recent article by the BBC News website entitled how mindfulness could make you selfish describes how practicing mindfulness can exaggerate some people’s selfish tendencies. Increasing their inward focus, meant that they were forgetting about others people, and also were less willing to help those in need.
But luckily the same mindfulness practices with different mindsets can have different outcomes.
Tania Singer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, ran a nine-month trial where people did exercises aimed at improving their presence. Things like mindful breathing, and loving-kindness meditations (a meditation is where you deliberately think about your sense of connection with others, including family, friends, and strangers). Participants compassion was seen to increase significantly after performing the loving-kindness meditations and working in a pair. This also brought about the biggest reduction in stress responses.
It is your Intention that matters
So your intention is the key. Why are you doing these self-care practices? If you are following yogic practices of no harm (to yourself and others) your practice will allow you to thrive, flourish and transform.
How to start your self-care practice?
I like to split wellness into the following categories as it helps me see which aspects of my life I am neglecting where I can improve with self-care.
- Physical Wellness
How am I feeling in my body now?EMOTIONAL Wellness
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SPIRITUAL Wellness
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SOCIAL/INTELLECTUAL Wellness
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ENVIRONMENTAL Wellness
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VOCATIONAL Wellness
Then I ask the questions;
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What do I want more of?
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What is holding me back from achieving this?
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What can I do to support myself moving forward?
I like to ask these questions at the end of my yoga practice.
It isn’t about selfish wants. It is about the aspects of your life that are lacking and you need to boost to flourish. But to get to the point of figuring out what you need. Or sometimes would do better with less. You have to be honest with yourself. For this, an embodied approach works well. So for me, I draw on my experience as a Yoga Therapist to take a journey inwards during my yoga practice.
Some self-care tips?
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Get embodied. Do a 15 minute yoga practice every morning or evening.
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After every practice sit and focus on your breath for 2-5 minutes.
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Journal your questions and answers. It is good to keep a record and look back and see patterns.
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Take inspiration from the suggestions below, maybe make your own. I used Canva.
