In my practice, I get to take care of a lot of great people. All of you are superheroes in my book. The problem with being a superhero is that sometimes you are so busy saving the world that you don’t take care of yourself. I want to talk about self care.
Frequently, in my office, I hear a member of my practice say that they were feeling “fine” until they lay down on my table. As you know, the gentle touch from Network Care is not creating any pain, but it can often make you aware of tension patterns that you have been blissfully ignoring. “De Nile” is not just a river in Egypt! The less we are “in touch” with our body, the more we are in danger of injury and illness. This will limit our abilities- whether we are a web slinging crime fighter, employee with a deadline looming or a parent taking care of young kids. There is an expression, “you cannot pour from an empty cup”. We need to keep our cup full!
Here are 4 keys:
1. Regular Network Care. Don’t wait for pain to book an appointment! Regular care helps optimize your nervous system and releases stress patterns before they lead to significant problems.
2. Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI). Practicing this daily will help to you to identify your own stress patterns and release them with this gentle breathing technique. Need a refresher on what to do? Click on this picture to see a You tube video.
3. Exercise Regular exercise should include cardio- this can be anything that gets your heart rate up and the blood pumping. It is also important to include an element of stretch and strengthening. Yoga is ideal for this. We offered yoga in our studio before COVID, but are not offering classes at this time as the size of our studio makes distancing a challenge. If you are interested in trying yoga but not sure what to do, I have found an online teacher that I really like. This teacher goes very slowly and breaks things down so you are really doing it properly. I have done “advanced” classes and not felt nearly as much from them as from these beginner classes. These are labelled “classes for men”, as they are more focused on the physical aspect than the spiritual aspect of yoga. I think ladies would appreciate the classes too! If you would like to try a class on You tube, click on the image below:
4. Regular Sleep Our sleep is so important to our body repairing and functioning well. If you have trouble sleeping, make sure have a dark, cool room to sleep in. Turn off electronics well before bed-time and avoid all caffeine in the late afternoon and evening. Have a consistent “lights out” time and consistent getting up time. This allows your body to develop a rhythm. Employing steps 1 to 3 listed above will also help your sleep!
Of course there are many other elements to self care- proper nutrition, hydration, posture, stress reduction, there are many things we can do. Employing the 4 steps described will give you a great start and help increase your awareness of what other areas need to be addressed.
Each of us is a superhero in our own life. We need self care to be our best selves!