Day 3: How I Take Care of My Own Body As part of my work, I do a lot of hands-on bodywork. That means I spend hours bending forward, flexing my hips, looking down, and using my shoulders, arms, and hands while taking care of my clients. Basically, my work asks my body to spend a LOT of time in one particular shape. And if I didn’t take care of that regularly, I would feel it pretty quickly. Tight hips. Achy shoulders. A stiff back. Tension through the front of my body. If we repeatedly use our bodies in the same positions without giving them movement in the opposite direction, muscular imbalances and movement restrictions can develop. And if we continually ignore the little aches and signals our body gives us, those patterns can become much harder to change over time. I would much rather take care of my body before it gets to that point. So this is a little sneak peek at the bare minimum of my after-work practice. Because I spend so much of my workday bending forward, I deliberately move my body in the opposite direction: extending my hips, bending backward, opening the front of my body, and moving my shoulders. Take a look at the video. It really doesn’t take that long to give your body some of the movement it has been missing all day. And if you’re not quite sure where to start, go to the 14-Day Hip & Flow Challenge. Work your way through the whole thing, or simply pick one session and do that. As I always say: Do something. ❤️ Five or ten minutes of taking care of your body is still taking care of your body.

Can you see yourself anywhere in this? Or am I the only one? 😄 For a very long time, one of my strongest subconscious needs was to create harmony around me. I needed to make sure everybody was okay. Everybody was taken care of. Nobody was upset. Nobody needed anything from me that I hadn’t already noticed and handled. Because somehow, if everybody around me was okay, then I could be okay. Then I could relax. Well… at least in theory. 😂 Because there was another layer to this. I also had a strong need to validate my existence through doing things really, really well. Accomplish something. Excel at something. Be useful. The more outstanding, the better. And somewhere at the very end of that list was me. After everybody was okay, after the work was done, after I had accomplished enough - IF there was still some time and energy left maybe I would take care of myself. Maybe I would even allow myself to simply enjoy my life for a moment. Except even my hobbies weren’t safe. 😂 Give me a hobby and I could turn it into a competitive sport in no time. I needed to get better at it, master it, compete, finish a race, win something or eventually become a teacher of the damn thing. Congratulations. My hobby is now a job. The physical and internal practices of yoga have taken me on a very long and beautiful journey, and slowly, these parts of me have become quieter. I’m learning what it feels like to take care of myself simply because I am worthy of being cared for. To do something because it feels good. Not because it makes me better. Not because I can teach it. Not because I can accomplish something with it. Not because I’m trying to become some shiny new “better version of myself.” No more of that. I’m okay. And what’s different now is that “I’m okay” is no longer just a nice concept I understand intellectually. I’m experience it.🙌 So, over the next eight weeks, I’m going to share a little of my journey of deliberately making time for myself every day. What you might not be able to see on camera is that even the internal lens through which I practice yoga has changed.

👋New here? Begin with this series first: Freer Hips + Stronger Core = Lower Back Relief https://www.skool.com/yoga-40-7155/classroom/5f78a702?md=49a4469ba9c24df8b78516131e36722b Follow the classes in order, and I’ll guide you from there. P.S. If you feel like saying hello, introduce yourself in the comments and share a few fun things about you: 🍿 Favorite movie 🍝 Favorite food 🎨 Favorite hobby