Lately I’ve been seeing a lot more on Instagram and in the media in general of the advocating for women to engage in more self care. This not only makes me incredibly happy but it’s catching on and becoming a trend to hashtag #selfcaresaturday or #selfcaresunday!! I think that it is great that our culture is heading towards a landscape that encourages women to take better care of themselves!
In honor of the hashtag #SelfCareSunday I decided to do this post on some different ways of coping with anxiety, stress management, and self care inspiration! And I even have a FREE downloadable PDF at the bottom of this page with FIFTEEN different ways to effectively manage stress!! Are you excited yet???
Self Care has notoriously been kept at the bottom of our to do lists for way too long now! As women we often believe that we have to take care of everyone around us, or anyone who asks! And most of the time, we are doing this BEFORE we even take care of ourselves! WE HAVE GOT TO START PUTTING OURSELVES FIRST LADIES! Look at it like this….
If you have ever flown on a plane ANYWHERE you know the whole process they go through about safety and what to do if your oxygen mask falls down, or what do to if you need to use it. They say something along the lines of.. “If you have children with you, you MUST FIRST place your oxygen mask on first, BEFORE putting the mask on your child. Why? Well if you are trying to put your child’s mask on first, and in the process, you pass out, before you even get your child’s mask put on them. NOW WHAT?? Who will take care of your child? NOT YOU!
This is how we need to start looking at our own self care! If we don’t take care of ourselves and rest, relax, take care of our own needs first, we aren’t able to fully and completely take care of others. “You can’t drink from an empty cup.”
If you have a difficult time with putting yourself first, there could be underlying issues related to why you think that you don’t deserve, to have your needs met. There are many numbers of reasons of what could have lead you to feel this way but, it is something that you need to start to explore.
One of the best, and easiest ways to do this is by meditation. Meditation is defined as “a practice where an individual operates or trains the mind or induces a mode of consciousness, either to realize some benefit or for the mind to simply acknowledge its content without becoming identified with that content, or as an end in itself.”
There are various types of meditation, each with different goals, and benefits. The one I most often use is for relaxation.
Research has found that 90% of people with clinical levels of anxiety, experience significant reductions in anxiety when they meditate. According to Neuroscientists, meditation can actually reshape your brain as you continue to meditate, consistently, without your awareness (clearly). AND it helps with stress management by activating the REST & DIGEST part of our nervous system.
Lastly, in 163 DIFFERENT research studies, scientists found that mindfulness meditation has an overall “positive affect on stress and anxiety.”
With all of these Facts about Meditation in mind, I thought it would be helpful AND enjoyable to provide FREE LIVE mini meditation videos on Sunday’s at 5:30 CST in my Smart Lioness Pride Facebook group!! So I asked My good friend Laura Lee Stjernstrom who is the Owner/Founder of LL Yoga Online and she graciously accepted to provide these FREE mini meditation Lives every Sunday out of the goodness of her heart! (And her love of Yoga/meditation/helping people) 🙂
Laura Lee is THE BEST Yoga teacher/instructor I have ever had the pleasure of taking a class from! She is so knowledgable, non-judgmental, and honestly one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever come into contact with. When I learned that she would be providing Yoga Classes ONLINE, I jumped for joy and literally let out a “wooohooooo!!”
Every thing that you do in yoga is beneficial for your body in some way shape or form and Laura Lee is SO GOOD about explaining the benefits of each pose, what the pose does for your health, etc. If you are new to Yoga or exercise in general, YOU CANT go wrong with signing up for an online class with Laura Lee!!
To learn more about Laura Lee’s online yoga classes, you can click here.
( https://www.facebook.com/llstjern/ )
And to Join the Smart Lioness Pride Group for access to our Live Mediation videos
And Finally You can download your PDF with 15 Free PROVEN Stress Reducers
Until Next time,
Be Passionate
Be Brave
Be Unapologetically You!
Hillary the Smart Lioness
