stress

What is Self-Care?

I planned on writing this blog last week. At that point it was going to be a simple “10 Ways I Self-Care” type blog, but then I woke up this morning needing a little extra care myself. I woke up this morning remembering a dream that seemed to package everything I’ve been focusing away from for a while now. It was a Hey-You-really-need-to-face-things type of dream. So, I woke up facing them and, well, I’m a little low. And that is okay. Because seeing that I don’t feel right is the very first step in self care.

So, what is self-care, anyway? It is remembering that you matter. It is allowing yourself to actually see you and know that you are the most important person on your to-do list. Because if you don’t feel okay, it is extremely difficult to help those around you feel good.

Self-care is allowing yourself to not only know when you don’t feel okay, but it is you allowing yourself to feel that way and then caring for yourself just as you would any other loved one. Allowing yourself time on the couch under a blanket. Taking a mental-health day. Eating that occasional bowl of ice cream.

Picture yourself the last time you lost a relationship or had a very nasty flu. You allowed yourself to self-care during that time. You allowed yourself to feel the feelings or feel the sickness…mainly because those two situations are too painful to fight off, so you just rolled with that punch until you could push yourself back to your daily routine.

That daily routine that you rushed back to is the main reason so many of us are lacking in the self-care area…lacking in the happiness area.

If we are not sobbing or sneezing, we are expected to be at work, clean the house, care for the kids, take care of other family members, make sure everyone around us, except us, is happy. We think we need an excuse to put ourselves first…and we are exhausted.

So how do we self care anyway? Based on this blog post so far, you may think I’m suggesting curling on the couch with a bowl of ice cream at every upset. While you’re catching on…that is not exactly what I mean, as that would not be good for us physically. We self-care according to what we need. So I want you to ask yourself the following questions each day…

First, ask yourself how you are feeling that day. And really listen to yourself. If something is bothering you, take a moment to reflect on why. If life is just too much in that moment, it’s okay to sit with that. It’s okay to feel whatever emotion you have. Hold space for yourself the same way you would for someone else. Process it. Once you process, or if you didn’t have anything to process and started the day good, ask yourself the next question…

What can I do for myself today, whether it be 10 minutes or longer (if time allows), that will bring a smile to my face. Or what can I do for myself that I feel I need. Honestly it is that simple. And to clarify, an ice cream on occasion can be perfect. Just remember that self-care is also caring for our bodies long term, so also try going for walks, drinking teas, sitting in nature, reading a book etc.

This is how that process looked for me today. Note, that I didn’t have to ask myself how I was feeling, because it was one of those days where clearly I knew I needed some extra care. Today is an admin day for me in my business. But because I woke up not feeling so good and having everything come at me last night, I did only what needed to be done. I then asked myself what I needed today. I started under a blanket with a cup of coffee.

As I drank the coffee, I allowed myself to feel what I needed to feel in order to process “life”. By the end of the coffee, I was very inspired to write this post for you. No pun intended, but that cup of coffee helped to refill my cup, and now here I am hopefully helping you to fill yours. Am I back up to my normal spirits at this moment? No. But I am higher than I was this morning. I am also confident that I will be better either today or in a few days, because I will continually ask myself what I need in each moment until I get there. And then I will continue doing small acts of self-care every day after, as I have been doing the past five or so years of being on my self-love journey.

Practice checking in with yourself and allowing yourself to care for you however you need. Remember that it is okay to take care of you first, it truly does help you care for others in a better and more present way.

I have a video linked below infused with Reiki. Use that 35-minute-distance session as some self-care time for you. It is intended to help balance out your emotions and help you to take more steps of self care going forward.

If you find yourself knowing you need to take steps, but not being motivated to do so, I have helped many people like you take those small steps forward into a new and beautiful life. You can schedule with me HERE to get your first step forward if you would like. All coaching is done virtually…so I’m local to you.

Best Vibes Always!

Reiki to Reduce Anxiety

Anxiety is a common reason people come to see me for Reiki and there is a reason for that…it helps! That’s not to say anyone should bypass medical care for anxiety, as Reiki is complimentary. Reiki’s ultimate benefit is stress reduction with a very deep calm; it makes sense that it would help to reduce those feelings with anxiety. It has also helped to calm and quiet the ongoing mind-chatter that sometimes comes with anxiety.

Of course, with all energy work, results are not guaranteed. Reiki works by reducing your stress and then allowing your body to heal in whichever way is best for you. If you suffer from anxiety and medicine alone has not been able to help, give Reiki a try!

BOOK WITH ME

I have created this full 1-hour session of Reiki to help you with anxiety. You can use it during an episode or at any time to try and balance your energy to help prevent an episode. Allow approximately five minutes for the energy of the video to begin bringing calm to your body. If your anxiety is caused from deep emotional scars, click the link above to schedule a one-on-one so I can work deeper and more individually on your energy.

What is Reiki? The Response You’ve Been Looking For.

You are likely here because you have never received Reiki, you are not a practitioner, and you want to know what it actually does…how does it relate to you? Not to worry, I’m not going to go into the whole spiel of what the practitioner does or who the founder was. That is everywhere on the internet, and if I’m not your first stop, it’s what you already know. I’m also not going to spend our time “proving” that it works. There was a 2019 Harvard study that has already done that. Instead, I’m going to tell you what it can, and usually does, do for people…people like you.

Quickly stated, Reiki Therapy helps to provide people with calm, focus, energy, and balance by helping to reduce the stress and emotional blockages that bog us down.

The fact of the matter is that we and everything around us are primarily made of energy. Our feelings and emotions also carry an energy with them. You know this because the moment you are angered or sad, it is not simply an emotion. You literally feel it in your body. On most occasions, with simple agitation or simple sadness…say from watching a sad movie…we feel it and it leaves. However, when something more significant happens, such as a death or loss…or when repeated instances of something small happens, such as emotional abuse from someone close to you, the energy comes in and accumulates. It is stored, typically, in its related chakra. Chakras are the main energy centers in our bodies. Click on my email link below (or HERE) if you want to learn more, I will be doing an article on chakras soon.

When negative energies are stored in our body long enough, we can develop physical issues such as migraines (typically stored in the third-eye chakra), stomach issues (typically stored in the solar plexus chakra), or low back issues (typically stored in the sacral or root chakra). Studies have proven that stress and storing of negative emotions a/k/a negative energy can lead to chronic medical issues. Clearly, long term emotional stress can also lead to anxiety (third-eye), lack of willpower (solar plexus), and feelings of not being safe (root).

The above is what happens when energies are stored. Let’s talk further on how you may have experienced negative energies and also how you have released them. (And if you haven’t felt an instant release, this paragraph will give you a nice tip!) Perhaps you’ve been in a public area such as a store or a bank and you experienced watching an irate customer go a little…off. More than likely, you felt their energy as it raised tension in the room. “The tension in here is thick” is perhaps something that you may have heard or thought…because it was felt. Whether it was their energy that you felt or your energy in response to theirs is irrelevant because it was a change in your energy regardless. Once the situation died down, you likely did one of two things. You carried it with you the next 1 to 10 hours as it gradually dissipated, or you were aware of the calming technique of Deep Breathing and you were able to release that energy much sooner. If you ever feel your energy/tension rise, try taking a deep breath in for 3-5 seconds, hold for 3, then release for 5. That is a releasing of the negative energies and will help to calm you.

Now, let’s talk about how Reiki can help to reduce your stress and what that means for you. The main benefit of Reiki is that it is known to reduce stress. Reiki is a technique that helps to clear current and stagnant energies from your body. Think meditation on steroids where you don’t even need to focus…Reiki does it all for you. The conclusion in the above referenced Harvard Study on Reiki states “The results from this large-scale multisite effectiveness trial suggest that a single session of Reiki improves multiple variables related to physical and psychological health.” More specifically, “Reiki acutely improved physical and psychological symptoms associated with many health conditions, including affect [mood], pain, depression, anxiety, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea, shortness of breath, appetite, and overall well-being.”

In my personal practice, I use the first session to help remove current stressors. With that first session, my clients notice some or all of the following results immediately or within a few days: more energy and/or focus, more calm, less stress, lower anxiety, and better rest. Follow up sessions are used to focus on removing that stagnant energy, the energy that accumulated throughout the client’s life such as childhood or adult traumas, unresolved emotions, etc that has never been cleared. Clients who have received the deeper work have experienced some or all of the following: continued reduction in stress and/or anxiety, emotional release, reduction or removal of chronic pain, better ability to deal with stress, and an overall feeling of lightness.

To sum it up, Reiki is a technique that is known to reduce stress, allowing our bodies to heal* where we need it most. Reiki is a tool that does the clearing, our bodies, in response to that clearing, have more energy to care for us in ways we may have been needing for years.

So what does that mean for you? It means that if you are dealing with excess stress, chronic pain/illness, lack of focus, fatigue, anxiety or other issues, Reiki may be the therapy you have been looking for. Our bodies are 99.99% energy. Science is lagging in how to work with it, but Reiki is a technique that has been around and has been tapped into life’s energy for over one hundred years.

I would love to support you in your journey to less stress through Reiki Therapy and/or Life and Nutrition Coaching. You can set an appointment HERE!

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I look forward to working with you soon!!

About the Author. Sherry is a Reiki Master, Certified Life Coach and Certified Nutrition Coach with the passion of helping people find more calm and happiness in their lives through work in body (nutrition), mind (life choices), and soul (balancing energies).

*Healing is a whole-body process which includes proper body (healthy foods/exercise and medical treatment where necessary), mind (learning coping techniques and therapy where necessary), and soul (energy work such as tai chi, yoga, meditation, Reiki, etc) work. Never replace medical services with Reiki Therapy for medical or mental health issues. In these cases, Reiki Therapy should be used as a complimentary therapy.