Most of my adult life has been a roller coaster. I would move from country to country adjusting to one culture and community before dipping out and throwing myself into another cultural learning curve. I worked odd jobs in random countries all around the world to afford my travel lifestyle or I would go back to the USA, put my blinders and knock out a few intense months of working other peculiar jobs to make enough money to leave again. It was always up and down, hello goodbye, all the money or no money. I loved these chapters of my life but my mind, body, and soul needed a more grounded and consistent lifestyle.
My goals for 2020 were to create a life of balance and grounding and to start an online business. I realized the growth I was seeking wasn’t from adventures and juggling cultural adversity anymore. I needed to nourish my own soil and stay planted in one place to allow the flowers to grow.
Fast forward 10 months into the year and I can proudly say intentions for the year are continually being met. Now I live in a community and place that I love more than anything. I have the first 6 months of entrepreneurship under my belt and am making a consistent income. The foundation of my life and this year’s successes are my mindful practices and habits. They are where I seek rejuvenation, connection, and balance.
So I wanted to share with you my current mindful toolbox. My practices have gotten much more consistent this year now that I have transitioned out of being a yoga teacher and have had less external distractions. These are my favorite things to listen to, use, or practice. Some of them I do daily, others just a couple times a week. My intention is that these resources can provide you with a little support and ease in your daily life too.
Solfeggio Frequencies. These are sounds that resonate in different places in the body to promote mind and body health. These Solfeggio frequencies were believed to profoundly affect the conscious and subconscious mind to stimulate healing and promote vitality. I just started getting into these this year. I really like to have them on as background music whenever. Personally, I don’t realize how soothed I am until I turn it off. Then I feel like something has been ripped out from under me. These sounds make me feel really held and calm. Here you can listen to my favorite one.
2. Kundalini Yoga. This practice has become a huge part of my life. I feel that my whole yoga journey orchestrated so I could land in this practice. Kundalini yoga is a practice to help clear the subconscious mind and purify 10 bodies. In this practice, you will have a set of kriyas, mantras, meditations, and pranayama that is practiced for 40 days. This helps to build discipline and consistency along with taking you deep and creating a relationship with each element of your practice. Here is my Kundalini yoga teacher and my set for the 40-day practice.
3. Yoga Nidra. If your mind becomes a tsunami of thoughts right before you are wanting to fall asleep this can help calm your storm. Yoga Nidra is like a suped-up savasana. It is a gradual relaxation for the mind and body to put you into a deep state of ease. At least 2 nights a week I put an eye mask on, lay down in bed, and put this video on to help to clear the day and prepare for a restful night of sleep.
4. Leanna Organics CBD. Before I go to bed or when I come home from work I like to treat myself with a little self-massage using Leanna Organics CBD Slave. My points of tension are always the same. So I put a tiny bit on my neck, shoulders, and forearms and spend 3 or 4 minutes slowing down to nurture these areas. This ointment helps relieve my chronic stress held in the body.
5. Gua Sha Facial Massage. I kept seeing these stone beauty tools all over and they always made me curious. After copywriting for a brand that carried them I had to get one. These tools and facial techniques are from Traditional Chinese Medicine. They help to sculpt, drain lymph, and improve chi flow throughout the face. You will notice a difference in your face after one usage. This is the tutorial I follow when I do self-massage.
6. Pranayama Meditation. My go-to meditation style is a very simple pranayama meditation where you inhale filling the body with breath from bottom to top and exhale press the air out from top to bottom. I place my focus on the sensation of moving the breath and energy up my and down my spine during this meditation. I like to think of this meditation as one of the best bangs for your buck because you are moving the breath which helps to clear energetic blockages and clearing the mind at the same time. This can be an easy 5 min reset in your day or a 15 min clearing session to prepare your mind for sleep.
7. Sighing. This one is just a reminder to sigh more often. Sighing is a language I am quite fluent in. It truly helps to relieve tension and energy that wants to be expelled from the body. The more you allow it to come through the better you will feel. Additionally, the louder and more frequent you let out a sigh the more comfortable the person next to you will too. If you don’t believe me just experiment with this in your next yoga class.
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