There’s so much talk these days about self-care. You hear about it in every personal- and spiritual-development circle out there… including ours!
So who are we and why is self-care important to us?
We are the Spiral of 12: a group of awakening women from all walks of life joined together on a spiritual journey to heal ourselves, align with our authentic selves, and become who we are here on this Earth to be. We are speaking here as a collective voice wanting to share our experiences as we traverse the various terrains of our journeys hoping we can help others along the way.
As we have seekers from a variety of backgrounds in our group and at different places in our journeys, we thought it would be fun to collaborate on topics and share what we know so we’re starting with self-care.
Practice what you preach, right? Maybe preach what you practice might be more accurate.
“After going through the exercise, it was clear my health was my number one [priority], and an overriding principle became clear to me: I needed to focus on my own foundation — body and soul.” ~Gina
So what IS self-care and why is it so important?
We would simply say that self-care is the act of taking exquisite care of our own needs, filling our own cups, and prioritizing practices that make us feel good in mind, body, and spirit.
Doing things that feel good raises our vibrations so that we attract more of the wonderful things we want into our lives and teaches us to trust our hearts and intuition.
“When I trust myself and follow my heart, it feels like self-care.” ~Suzanne
Self-care helps us to value and create healthy relationships with ourselves and creates positive feelings in our minds and bodies.
As we’re all learning in our group, self-care practices are crucial for wellbeing. We’re a group full of healers, care-takers, energy workers, readers, artists, intuitive, and other professionals and, if we don’t take care of ourselves and our needs first, we have nothing left to give when we want to serve others.
And a negative side effect of not caring for ourselves is if we don’t demonstrate love and care to ourselves, if we don’t prioritize our own needs for nourishment of all kinds, then nobody else will either.
Your outer world — your relationships, environment, job — will reflect how well you prioritize and care for yourself.
“I’ve come to deeply embrace the idea in order to give of myself to others, I first need to give to myself.” ~Gina
The other thing is that, as women, we realize that our self-care needs, and what constitutes self-care for us, can be drastically different than what men need because of our nurturing, cyclical nature. So our list of self-care routines, rituals, and practices will work for men but are reflective of a woman’s natural energetic patterns.
“When I think of my [personal] ‘foundation [work]’, it really is all about self-care.” ~Gina
78 Self-care Practices, Rituals, + Routines
So without further ado, here are 78 ideas for self-care practices, rituals, and routines for you to try to nourish, nurture, and heal yourself from head to toe.
These suggestions are the list we compiled based on all of our own individual practices. We’re working on doing things that feel good and help us to be better versions of ourselves.
These self-care practices help us come back to center, to remember who we are, to love ourselves, to get grounded, and to feel good.
“If it feels good, I want to do more. If it doesn’t, why would I do it?” ~Jacqueline
We hope they work as well for you too!
1.. Make intuitive art (aka make a mess with paint) to express your feelings.
2.. Drink your favorite nourishing beverage.
3.. Play with your animals.
4.. Pull oracle cards for guidance, inspiration, confirmation, and support.
5.. Take time for yourself in the morning after your family has left and before work to drink coffee and stare out the window.
“Staring out the window is like staring at the waves. It’s just being present in the moment — focused but free.” ~Suzanne and Michelle
6.. Go for a hike.
7.. Meditate.
8.. Art Journaling.
9.. Organize a fun activity with your friends.
10.. Let yourself feel your feelings — whatever they are — without filtering or changing them. Just feeling…
“My whole life I’ve been called too sensitive, that business isn’t emotional, too much crying — get over it, and I believed I should be different than I am. It has been this way for me for years. After my breast cancer treatment, I literally cried for a year feeling all the feeling that my body could not and was done with holding. It made a lot of people in my family very uncomfortable. I knew I had to feel them and let them pass through me so I could release them and heal. I literally had moments that I thought my emotions would destroy me and I would never be happy again. A big self-awareness for me around anger was instead of expressing it outward I would punish myself instead of expressing it.” ~Suzanne
11.. Any kind of gentle movement.
“Right now I love my barre 3 streaming workouts because I can easily modify it when I’m not feeling super energized.” ~Kristen
12.. Make your bed daily.
13.. Use essential oils throughout the day and noticing how you feel and how they affect your mood, energy, and emotions.
14.. Eat at the table device- and noise-free.
15.. Take time to plan how and with what you want to nourish yourself so that you don’t get hungry, mood-swingy, and make poor choices.
16.. Honor your body for how much rest you really need.
17.. Make yourself unavailable for decisions when you’re in fear.
18.. Listen to uplifting music and dancing.
19.. Have quiet time for yourself before bed.
20.. Buy new bras and undies.
21.. Align your energy with spirit actions that feel like love and support.
22.. Let go of franticness and choosing FLOW.
23.. Prioritize yourself first.
24.. Take breaks and pauses throughout the day.
25.. Have support (housekeeper, coach, mastermind, family, etc).
26.. Go out for a coffee and peruse the bookstore or fun shop by yourself.
27.. Actually, shower and get dressed when working from home so that you feel like WHO you want to be in this world.
28.. Make art that you love: crocheting, knitting, painting, drawing, collage, decoupage, etc.
29.. Make time to decorate for the holidays so that you enjoy the process and get to enjoy the decorations as well.
30.. Take Epsom salt soaks to relax and replenish yourself.
31.. Journal or write.
32.. Color.
33.. Do a moving meditation.
34.. Say NO when saying yes would sacrifice your health or wellbeing.
35.. Take a non-interrupted hot shower.
36.. Swim with your children and no one else.
37.. Listen to your surroundings and notice all of the dragonflies and butterflies visiting you.
“I have been making small strides in trying to regain me and get back in a better place.” ~Krissy
38.. Take time for good oral and face care.
39.. Practice conscious breathing.
40.. Dry brush and oil your skin.
41.. Chant.
42.. Walk the dog.
43.. Spend time in nature.
44.. Take a bath or soak your feet.
45.. Read a book.
46.. Have conversations with your kids.
47.. Travel for fun
48.. Dance.
49.. Sing.
50.. Play an instrument.
51.. Spend quiet time alone.
52.. Spend time with friends.
53.. Breathe in lights of different colors.
“I imagine breathing it in, up through my crown, down through my root, filling me up and flowing out of me. I see it as sort of a big glowing, starburst-y thing, then I send the light down to the center of the earth, and I receive it from above as it flows through me.
“The different colors mean different things to me: purple for healing, blue for calm, maroon for safety, silver for forgiveness.
“Sometimes after the initial grounding, I send the light out to others. Sometimes I imagine other people around the world doing something similar and, as I breathe in, I’m getting it from those around me and sending it back as I breathe it out.
“Sending calm out to others driving on the road, forgiving myself, forgiving others…
“I love this practice so much because it’s so simple and really personalized — I choose the colors and the meanings. And I can spend as little or as much time as I want on it. Even when I’m feeling pressed for time, I know I can always spare 5 seconds. This practice helps me feel grounded and centered which always has a positive impact on whatever I’m doing, thinking, or feeling.” ~Gina
54.. Try to make everything you do FUN.
55.. Break things down smaller and smaller until they feel the right size to be doable.
56.. Make it a priority to do things in a way that feel good.
57.. Do things that nurture you so that you feel “full.”
“I love this one because it means you get to use your intuition to figure out what nurtures you and fills you up.” ~Jen
58.. Focus on your foundation — the things that make you feel grounded and centered so that you can move forward in your journey.
59.. Eat healthy and nourishing food.
60.. Take a leisurely walk.
61.. Get a massage, acupuncture, or reflexology.
62.. Listen to brainwave entrainment audios to help train your brain.
63.. Listen to uplifting, inspiring, or encouraging podcasts.
64.. Make a vision board visualize what you want to call into your life.
65.. Bring easy-care plants into your home.
66.. Exercise to create a strong and flexible body.
67.. Say affirmations to train your brain to focus on the positive.
68.. Get enough sleep. Your body regenerates during sleep so you literally need your “beauty rest.”
69.. Keep yourself PROPERLY hydrated. This can mean drinking plenty of water or, if you suffer from adrenal fatigue or another imbalance that depletes your minerals, drinking drinks with electrolytes.
70.. Plant flowers and put up bird feeders in your yard to enjoy the liveliness of nature.
71.. Get sunlight on your skin to help enhance your mood and to make vitamin D (make sure to wear sunscreen).
72.. Spend time “earthing” which means touching your bare skin to the bare earth for at least 20 minutes to balance your body and restore your energy.
73.. Sleep in pitch-black darkness to help normalize your circadian rhythm.
74.. Look at yourself in the mirror and say “I love you”… and really mean it.
75.. Have access to good lighting in your indoor spaces.
76.. Smudge yourself.
77.. Do a visualization to open and clear your chakras.
78.. Keep your energy clean by regularly cutting cords and smoothing out your aura.
Making it happen
The key to prioritizing your self-care practices is to start small and make it non-negotiable. If you don’t prioritize yourself, nobody else will either!
Pick something you would like to do, something simple, and make it non-negotiable. It doesn’t have to be daily, but schedule it in your calendar like you would an unbreakable appointment, then show up for yourself and do it.
It can be a small, simple, short act, but anything that feels nourishing to your body, mind, or spirit is a good place to start.
And if you fall off the wagon or miss days, don’t beat yourself up. Just decide to try again and show up for yourself. This is why it’s called a practice.
“I definitely do them [self-care practices] imperfectly, meaning they vary and some things I’m more consistent with than others.” ~Jacqueline
We would love to know what you try and how it works for you, so let us know down below! And if you need some accountability or support, contact us and we’ll support you. We’ve got your back. Now you get the rest (of yourself, that is).
With love,
the Spiral of 12
About the Spiral of 12: We are a group of awakening women from all walks of life joined together on a spiritual journey to heal ourselves, align with our authentic selves, and become who we are here on this Earth to be. We have gathered our diverse backgrounds and experiences into a collective voice to share our message and help others expand, heal, and grow, and most importantly, be the best version of themselves they can be. Our group includes Jacqueline Morasco, Kristin April, Krissy Santiago, Suzanne Armstrong, Heather Rangel, Sandra Wayne, Erin Doherty, Michelle Knox, Kim Schwindt, Gina Chang, Jennifer Blumenthal, and a space we’re holding for our 12th sister. Is it you?
