Selfcare, is it there?

Selfcare was a term that was once only used to describe when a patient was administering their own medication. Now as we speed away from summer into fall of 2025, SELF-CARE has come to take on so many meanings that we tend to get lost in what caring for the self can actually mean. Also leading to forget how self-care feels when administered in a unique way to each individual on their own. Self-Care isn't one size fits all. 

So how does one care for their own self through self-care???!!

Trial and error. 

1. Prioritize

       * Bust out that journal or a scrap piece of paper. Start making a list ... if you were being your happiest self (not the self others tell us to be) what would you be doing each week, each day, each hour, each  minute? Be honest, be realistic, be vulnerable. Once complete take a look at that list, are you currently focusing your energy on the right things? We only get so much energy in one day, make it count toward your priorities. Self-care is about treating yourself as if you were your happiest self. Start focusing on spending your energy on tasks, people and activities that allow you to feel completely cared for.

2. Want vs. Should 

       *Is your life full of should dos or want tos? Rather than shoulding where you are focusing on "I should be" or "I should do", what about leaning into healthy wants that feel fulfilling in a positive way? Leaning into a "I want" or "I would like to" that makes you the best and happiest version of yourself, not being the version you "should" be. 

3. Yoga

       * Breathe (pranayama) - breath work is free, easy to accomplish and can take only a fraction of time to bring down anxiety and stress while caring for the self. It can be as easy as taking a handful of breath in through the nose, filling the belly, ribs and chest and each long sigh exhale out through the mouth. If the mind begins to wander and needs something to hold on to, box breathing can help by bringing the breath in for 4 counts, retaining for 4 counts, exhaling for 4 counts and again pausing for 4 counts prior to inhaling again. There's a number of breathworks out there to help through the gift of yoga and pranayama. Check out the process here in another post. 

       * Asana - the care in movement is amazing. Just moving in free organic rhythm on your yoga mat with no rhyme or reason can allow you to be present while feeling into parts of the body that are whispering to be extended and opened. Asana practice in yoga can be self-care in so many ways. From movement, to focus, to breath patterns, to reflecting feelings through movement ... just rolling out your yoga mat to begin a practice feels like an open door to self-care. Try it, literally just roll out your yoga mat and lie down in savasana, I promise you'll feel better in yourself and about yourself instantly.  

       * Meditate - it's all about being mindful, about focusing the chatter in the mind to be still. Meditation can look like many things, taking many forms ... piecing together a Lego set can be meditative, swinging in a swing, breath work, dance, kneading bread ... as long as you are completely engaged in the activity with all thoughts and sensations funneling into being present in the moment. You begin to feel the chatter become still while feeling an overwhelming sense of ease and care in the  meditative activity. 

4. Nourish (body, mind, relationships, spirit and senses) 

       * This is where you begin to refresh, restart and reset the way you treat and think about yourself through applying the above three points. Start living in alignment with your priorities, start leaning into wants and do the yoga. Smell amazing scents, eat banana bread, bake bread, hug a person, hug a tree, yell, cry, paint, dance, breathe, sit, nap, shower, bathe, write, sleep, wear a mud mask or don't!! Begin to nourish all parts of the self - body, mind, relationships, spirit and senses. If it helps you can even categorize your priorities into these labels to begin a road map to your journey of self-care. Tackling one priority at a time or one category each month ... It's your unique adventure. Start to research self-care, it's incredible how many different options are out there but also some pretty simple tasks that we tend to forget about while we are "shoulding" all over the place and fulfilling false priority expectations. Be you and care for that YOU. 

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Written by

Brooke Halperin