There is a quiet revolution happening in women’s self care. Women are starting to take radical responsibility in their healing and regeneration. How do we do it? How do we:

Consciously address our self care in the midst of busy lives, work and personal responsibilities?
Refuel, regenerate and recharge on a deep soul level when we are starting to feel depleted?
Focus on ourselves and our own needs without feeling guilty or selfish?

Many of us don’t stop until we’ve given too much, there’s nothing left in the tank and we are starting to feel exhausted, resentful and overwhelmed. We need support to receive. It doesn’t come easily for many of us. Focusing on our self, being self-ish, doesn’t make us selfish. In fact in my experience it has the opposite effect. When we are giving to ourselves, enjoying pleasure, fun, feeling nourished – we feel much more able to give to others.

Do you know the ‘signals’ when your energy is reaching a low ebb and you need to take a break? Funnily enough my car is often a great mirror for me. When I’ve been really busy I’ve started noticing that the fuel gauge in my car has also been on a dangerously low level. This visual cue gives me an immediate nudge to take notice of my own low levels in energy. It’s a reminder that it’s really time to stop and focus on myself. Not to jump to the next thing on my check list of things to do before taking a break. Here are a few really simple suggestions that have helped me and they don’t necessarily take a lot of time:

Sitting away from the computer when you have a cup of tea/coffee/water. Preferable sit somewhere where you can see trees, sky, flowers.
Before jumping out of bed in the morning sit up and take 10 slow deep breathes. This helps to slow you down before your mind fills up too quickly with the things that need doing that day. Close your eyes and slowly inhale through your nose. Gradually fill yourself up from your belly, to your ribs and right up to your upper chest and collar bone. These are known as yoga breathes. Similarly as you exhale breathe out first from your collar bone, upper chest, down to your ribs and finally your belly.

Practice 10 slow breaths as above before you go to sleep at night. Slowing down our breathing also has a slowing down effect on our minds.
Take a ‘awareness walk’ through your local park or around the block. It’s a wonderful opportunity to practice presence. As you’re walking really take in the trees, the houses, any birds that are around.

Lie down flat on the ground. Hands by your side and let your feet drop outwards. You might like to put a cushion under your knees if it is more comfortable for your lower back. Lie down for 5 – 10 minutes.

Put some music on that you really love and can move to. Dance/move to a couple of tracks. That’s usually for about 5 – 10 mins. Consciously move every part of your body. Stretch, shake, shimmy, jump, roll. Whatever takes your fancy.

If you’ve enjoyed these tips you might want to consider taking the plunge of a retreat where you can really get away from it all and time to really focus on where you’re at in life and what your needs are. This could be a day or perhaps the sheer bliss of being away somewhere beautiful for a week! Women all over the world are being drawn together in retreat to be pampered, address their dreams and visions and nourish feminine consciousness in themselves.

I am the co-founder of The Soulful Woman with my colleague Gemma Summers. We regularly offer the most beautiful retreats for pampering and empowerment for women. We have our one day SoulSpa retreat in Sydney and our Essence of Lakshmi Bali Retreats in the beautiful artist town of Ubud. Hope to see you there one day!

Shushann x