You know, in the last week I spent $435 on self-care in two seemingly disparate areas of my life.
As a yoga teacher, social worker, and someone who underwent a fair amount of therapy in her youth, I strive to cultivate self-awareness as part of my self-care practice. I also happen to have a partner who relishes self-analysis as much as I do… you can imagine what it is like to be a fly on the wall.
With this proclivity, it sometimes feels like we’ve got life covered. I can talk to my partner. I can do yoga. I can journal. I can cook. I can figure it out. Until… maybe I can’t…or even if I can…I need more.
So, I spent four days in a yoga workshop with senior teacher, Kim Wilcox. I wanted additional training on class sequencing to grow my anatomical knowledge, enhance my creativity, and make me a better teacher. I got all this from the training.
But what’s more is that I also found a new way of practicing that energized me and relieved my chronic back pain–for the whole day.
Kim was my mirror and she didn’t even know it. She reflected back to me some of what I was already feeling in my body, but she also provided me with a framework for moving toward greater health and energy to take care of myself.
The same phenomenon occurred last Wednesday when visited a therapist.
I have been struggling with certain personal relationships for a while and recently started to notice that I was sacrificing my own truth while letting others write the relationship contracts.
Shrinking my own voice has been a common theme in my life (I was doing this 17 years ago too).
I needed an extra boost to push me in the direction of truth. I needed another mirror.
And the truth is that sometimes we cling to unhealthy, but comfortable patterns when we have fear. Fear of change. Fear of discomfort. Fear of someone not loving us. Fear of having to face ourselves.
And even when the right answer is deep within our cells, sometimes it does not always feel clear…and of course, it is that much more difficult to implement it in our attempt to practice self-care.
This is the time when we learn to listen to the voice inside that says she needs support to find clarity.
That support comes in countless ways and we must honor it when we need it.
I live in a country that prides itself on independence—and well, I think sometimes we internalize this concept and take it too far. We are ALL interdependent. I do believe our answers lie within us and at the same time I know the value of having teachers, mentors, therapists, and guides.
One of our greatest strengths as human beings is to be able to ask for help when we need it.
For me, asking for guidance moved me in the direction of creating healthier contracts with my own body and mind, as well as my relationships.
Having support in living my own truth is what allows me to take care of myself and hold space for others.