I always say at the start of my classes try and practise with kindness to yourself. This is a huge part of selfcare, treating yourself as if you are worth taking care of. It’s hard to do when lots of us now find ourselves working more intensely from home, sharing space in such proximity with other family members and perhaps caring for children at the same time. How do you look after your physical and emotional wellbeing in these extraordinary times.
I find I need to break up my day. Some days are better than others but at times things can become intense and overwhelming. For our mental and physical health, we all need to keep some balance. Carving out some time for self-care to move, reflect and just be is so important.
Here are some of my top tips to try and keep sane and practise some self-care around working and caring for others.
- Start your day by listening to something positive – I listen to a meditation, an affirmation, part of a podcast or audiobook. Something that will set my mindset to positive for the day. I sometimes do this in bed before I get up or on my morning walk if I am short on time.
- Move your body as early as possible – try to take time to move early. I walk the dog for nearly an hour every morning, I need movement and outside green spaces to keep me centred and set me up for the day. It does mean getting up extra early but it sets me up fot the day. If this isn’t possible, then step onto your yoga matt and just gently start to stretch and move even if it’s only for 15 mins. I have a yoga mat rolled out in two rooms and sometimes literally fall out of my bed straight on to the mat!
- Move your workstation around the house – I follow the sun around the house, I start working upstairs before anyone else is up. The sun streams in my bedroom window and I am lucky enough to have a view of trees and birds. Later I move downstairs in my front room. If it’s nice I work in the garden for some of the day even if its with my coat on. I find changing locations works better for me and I’ve always been a sun chaser! It reminds me to move my body and gives me renewed focus once I settle back down to work. I have stacks of yoga blocks around the house and put them under my computer to get it to the right height, but books or whatever you can find will do.
- Movement breaks – make sure when you take your breaks to move your body. There’s so many online classes and apps available to use or do some simple stretching. I grab a yoga strap or dressing gown belt whatever is handy and work on opening my shoulders, chest, and sides of the body. These get tight when sitting at a computer and we carry so much tension in this area. Simple shoulder and neck rolls will do or use door frames and walls to help assist stretches for shoulders and chest.
- Have a rough timetable for your day so that you can work for uninterrupted periods. Schedule in 2-3 short movement breaks, as well as time for lunch. If you do have children at home having a timetable gives everyone clear times of when they will be working on something alone, it may be reading, drawing, or even time on a game do whatever works for your family. Have a clear plan of what the kids can do in that time, set it out the day before, and write it down for them. Don’t be too rigid if it doesn’t always go to plan it’s just a guide but helps get you some headspace to work uninterrupted.
- Set yourself a finish time for work and stick to it where possible. If you are the cook in the evening, try and get your family involved even if it’s just helping mix something or chopping if they are older. Again, I set this on the schedule so its no surprise to be asked to help. It’s also a way for us to come together at the end of the working day to reconnect. It can be good for them to feel they have been part of creating something. If you can’t do this together in the evening, try to do it with them to make lunch if you have children at home. It’s easy to be in the same house and not be connected, it’s so difficult to get teenagers to do anything so if this happens even just ONCE a week you are still winning!
Lastly if you can, take time to sit or lie in stillness with your eyes closed and just breathe some full deep breaths into the belly, even if it’s just for 10 mins. Run a bath if you can and shut the door!! Listen to how your body is feeling and remember that if it’s not been a great day or you are feeling anxious, with every exhale imagine your worries or anxieties floating away out of the top of your head and off in the distance like clouds. Let them go, this time will pass, focus just on the now and remember to act with kindness to yourself.