Stress Free Self Care: 13 Free Things We All 'Actually' Need

In a world with so many trends, modalities, tools, gadgets, practices, and avenues to support your health, wellness and selfcare... its can sometimes feel overwhelming. And it can become an abundance of appointments, create a stressful list of 'things you need to do', a shame cycle if you don't, stretch you financially and start to feel like health and wellness can only come from external support and sources. 

In this episode, Miranda dives into (even as a studio/gym owner, Holistic Practitioner, Yoga Teacher, and Life Coach herself), 13 FREE, back to basics, simple things you can do to care for self. And how important it is to let your intuition and gut be your guide. To allow pauses, shifts, breaks, and changes in direction. And to remember, you aren't a checklist. You aren't a routine that has to be kept the same and always followed to a T. And your needs are always changing.

We are all built from different cloth, with a different instruction manual that truly is only able to be read from our own inner guidance and wisdom. And in different seasons, we need different things. Sometimes more, and sometimes less. And that its beautiful to get guidance and support through training, other practitioners, and paid for services....but its also to go back to basics to reset.

Lets dive into bringing it back to some simple, free, easy and important things (13 of them to be exact) that are easy to sprinkle in starting today!

Take what you want, leave what you don't. Don't even try take them all in one day, because again, you aren't a to-do list! And...it's all within your reach...in fact, its part of your birth right.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Miranda Lee Podcast. A life fully lived embraces every season, the highs and the lows. Allowing ourselves to love fiercely, feel our feelings, and trust to land softly. This is a heart-led space created for just that. Deep vulnerable conversations, connection, learning to unlearn, become part of a beautiful community while growing and healing right alongside me. Because everything is easier with support and lived experiences shared with the right kind of people. Let's step off autopilot, get a little uncomfortable, take a breath, and dive right in. Welcome back to my podcast. I'm really excited about this episode. I think there's been a really big energy and reminder and invitation this past while for me personally, but also in the people that I support in just allowing ourselves to stop or pause or step back or shift our self-care, health, and wellness and allow ourselves to get back to the basics. We live in a really beautiful chapter where there are so many options and there are so many tools. And there is an answer or an option or a tool for absolutely everything, which is amazing. But sometimes I think, even myself, I get so wound up. I'll find something I like and I lean into it. But then if I lean away or I take a break, there builds up this like shame or guilt or like feeling like I'm doing something wrong or I'm letting myself down. And what I'm not talking about is just being completely dismissive of taking care of yourself. But what I am talking about is just the like, there's so many options and how easy it is to spread yourself thin, to feel like you need to be doing it all, to also the financial piece of needing to pay for all the things, for all the practitioners, for all the modalities, for all the things. And today I want to really just take a moment to dive back into what we really need and thinking about self-care as needing less, getting back to the basics. So I invite you to dive in with me on this episode. A theme that came up a lot, including in my own life, was just a feeling like I'm really hard to take care of. Like my health routine or what I physically need or mentally need or emotionally need is complicated. And I think this is something I've revisited personally in my own life. And it was just a really beautiful reminder, as well as what I needed to support my coaching clients and community in is if you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed or financially stressed or stretched, sorry, to a point in your health or self-care, it's okay to just stop, to take a breath, to check in. Taking care of yourself can be incredibly simple. And I'm really excited to talk about that. And I think it's really important for me to speak from also being a studio owner and a gym owner, someone who runs classes, who has memberships, um, also as a Reiki practitioner, breath work coach, all the holistic practitioner modalities that I support clientele with. Um, I do life and health coaching. Even me, even someone in this profession, I really want to give you permission and my clients, if you need this, to just take a breath. Taking care of yourself doesn't need to feel heavy, complicated, or stressful. In fact, if we are in a place where that is how it's feeling, that's a really great opportunity to just like step back and breathe and do a check-in on these basic things that we're going to talk about today. What I do want to speak to first is just that there are big seasons of healing. And myself even, I lean into all the amazing practitioners I have and I lean into all the tools and the things that I coach and the things that I lead in my studio and I do in my own personal life. And then like this summer, it's okay that I was like, you know what? I'm taking a little break. And I think it's just really important to be reminded that we can have those seasons where we're really invested in being supported and seeing all the people and doing all the things, but there's also value in that step back. And I think what I've learned is it's really important to allow yourself that time to pause and to be like, okay, where is my own wisdom? Like, what have I learned? What do I actually need? Who am I in this moment, in this season? What still aligns with me? And just chill with that and not need to dig deeper or do healing and just like allow yourself to kind of come home and to trust and to lean into your own inner wisdom. Because ultimately, and again, as a studio owner, as a coach, as a practitioner, my like biggest passion is sharing these things so that essentially you're learning and they're just like new little things you can lean into so that I don't have to hold your hand always. And ultimately, my job shouldn't be that I want you to need me all the time. And uh that's something that like I always say to my members, my members too. I don't take offense if you need to take a break from working out, or you need to take a like a sitting out a session of yoga. That is okay. I think it's really important to allow those breaks because sometimes that's where you learn what you really value, what you really need, or you learn something totally new about yourself and what you might need now. So this summer, I really needed this reminder. And though this summer was nothing like what I expected, it was way more chill. It was way more emotional, it was way more coming back to leaning out less, leaning in more, and being reminded that I work with an incredible team of people who, as my practitioners, were also doing the same, taking a little pause, taking a little break. But also, even though they're my practitioners, they're like, no offense that I'm stepping back and being like, yeah, I gotta trust my gut. I gotta sit with myself and understanding how much I've grown and how much I've learned in this past season. As I mentioned in a previous episode, this is my personal journey this summer. And then I'll get into all the really basic things I think are really important for us. But so this summer, I'm so grateful that I was able to connect with my new naturopath. Um, I love her. She's amazing. I love how she can just sit and research and dive into all the things because ultimately the uh the health diagnosis I have doesn't have a lot of answers. However, I also appreciate working with people who will say that yes, your body can heal. Your body wants to heal. It just needs some support. And getting, I went through some blood work. Um, I have an amazing naturopath who gave me some guidance on some herbal support as well as my acupuncturist. I'm feeling so jazzed about this. I get great results back on my blood work. And I'm like leaning into Mediterranean diet, not diet, meal plan, tuned to kind of how I felt called, a little bit adjusted because I'm like, no, I'm gonna follow what I feel is right and my team supports me and such. So then um going another little direction, I find an amazing person to work with my son, and she does some research. And again, when you live with something that's like rare, um sometimes you're just the experiment too, right? And that's kind of my view on it. But so there was guidance about actually, this is what a medical meal plan for this condition suggests. And it was the polar opposite of what I had been doing, what I had been feeling so good about and so convinced, like, yes, this is going to like do some big nerve healing. And oh my gosh, I was so excited about it that when I found out that, like, medically, Western medicine, this was the suggestion. And it was like very specific to some symptoms, and it was not supportive of overall wellness. There was actually weight gain that was likely to happen and like malnutrition from this meal plan. However, it was supportive of some of the symptoms and things that we're trying to avoid. I literally had a fucking meltdown and I like quit my meal plan for a couple days because I felt so defeated. Like I'd been fucking up this last month of following what felt good for me. So I lean into my team because this was just like another practitioner that was doing some research for us. She did not say do this. She was just letting me know about some of the research. Anyways, I sit with myself. Sorry, I reached out to my naturopath, told her kind of what some other stuff had come up, and really just like paused with all these emotions and all this overwhelm and like feeling like I went backwards for the past two months. And I literally had to sit with myself and be like, hey, you have your own blueprint, you don't fit a certain class, you're put in with symptoms. I'm not something that fits in with criteria, I'm not a generalized plan. And I hold so much wisdom for myself. And it was like hilarious to me in a moment that I had almost forgotten. Because sometimes when we're searching for answers or we're trying to heal or get better, we're like reaching for options and reaching for advice and all the things that sometimes we forget to just come home, keep shit simple, make things make sense instead of letting it be really stressful. And I'm so appreciative. I reach out to my team, I do a check-in, and they're all like, you need to follow your gut, follow your intuition, but I think you're on the right path. And yeah, even one of my beautiful girlfriends who's been on here is like, hey, she told me about I'm kind of leaning into like homeopathic medicine. And she was like, hey, just a reminder, don't take a course. Don't go taking a course on homeopathic medicine. This is just start with basics, see what feels good, go from there. And I was like, thank you so much for that reminder because me was already looking at where can I take a course? Where can I learn more? So I'm really grateful for my friends for my team. And but I did. I just needed to let myself step back. And I had to remind myself that it is okay if I stray from maybe what a plan is for a general health practice, or if I shift away from things that typically support me, or change directions a little bit. And I've had to, I've I've been grateful to do up quite a bit of coaching with this this summer because that's definitely been a theme of like feeling overwhelmed with what used to feel like self-care, or what maybe what were practices or appointments or whatever it might be that we're starting to feel heavy and we're starting to feel like, am I failing if I just take a step back? Or like, am I not following through? And it's like, what does your intuition say? And do you just need a break? And do you need to have an explanation, or do you just need to allow a pause? And so that's where we're going to dive into today. I love this analogy and I'm gonna start saying it, but like, I'm not a checklist. I am not a checklist, and my worth is not um valued by how well I followed my checklist of self-care because ultimately every day is different, every single day. And as we move through our day, it might change what we need as well. So I'm not a checklist. I'm like running full fucking tilt with that and supporting my clients with that, which included like lots of my coaching clients took a little step back for the summer from healing sessions and stuff and from their monthly check-ins. Because what if we're just enjoying the season we're in and we're just enjoying the life we're living in the day to day and it just being a little bit more chill. And what if we're just allowing ourselves to receive that? So, um, what I want to remind us so important, and I was reminded of this as I did a little check-in with one of my coaching clients. Something that's really important is like the check-in on your health and wellness. So physical health, emotional health, mental health, spiritual, social, and environmental are your holistic pillars, as well as I like, I like to always include occupational and financial because they do impact our energy and how we move through our day. Those are the things that matter. But we can keep it really simple. And this is where I like to just remind ourselves that like, what are we focusing on? What's like the thing that we're feeling called? Maybe we're really feeling like we just need to focus on our emotional health, or maybe we don't even need to label one, but just remembering like what health is actually made up of, our health and our wellness, and then allowing ourselves to keep it simple. So we are not a system that needs a prescription. Nobody is cut from the same cloth, no one is the same. The answers come from within. It's okay to lean back into the basics we're gonna talk about, the essentials of life. And oh my God, it's okay if they are free. No costing of money. It is okay. I'm gonna say that again. It's okay if all of your self-care is free. Yay! Those seasons are epic as well, and a great season to sometimes learn to trust yourself and to learn that your body knows what it's doing and get back to the fucking basics. So that's what we're going to dive into today. I believe I have 13 basic self-care things, or if you want to call it less self-care. 13 less self-care things to take care of yourself. Okay, we're gonna keep them real simple here. It is okay as we go through if some of these seem ridiculously simple or stupid or like no shit. And it's also okay if you have a moment where you're like, okay, that's so simple, and like I know this, but why do I forget that that's self-care? I saw the first one food and water. It's okay if we just make sure our body is being nourished by eating food and drinking water. That fucking simple. If you are eating food, you're winning. Because for a majority of people, you're not eating enough. So start with just nourishing foods. Start with things that you know your body's able to receive fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, keep it fucking simple. And yes, I am someone who's currently kind of trying to track macros and my carbs and my fats for my health, not for anything weight related, but literally just eat some fucking food and maybe drink some water. Maybe even let yourself have a nice hot cup of tea. I will say stopping and making sure you're eating and drinking is an epic way to bring yourself back just to what it actually means to take care of yourself because it is fueling. And I will also say that for a majority of people, you are either one extreme or the other. And don't blame yourself for either, because I've been all of them. Um, you are either the person that is overly paying attention to your eating, not in a negative way necessarily, but I might be, and that's okay if that's where you're at. Or you are so busy focusing on everything else or everyone else that you are not eating food or drinking water. I, in this week, between getting ready for holidays, between getting some work stuff done, I've been both. I have been the person one day that was really like, okay, make sure I'm eating. And that was my priority all day. And then a day where I'm focusing on work and I really truly hardly ate and hardly drank water. So it's a really good place to start. And I will also say sometimes that alone can be a task for the day. My self-care is making sure I'm eating and drinking. And without that, there's like that needs to be priority. So eating food and drinking water check. Great way place to start. No, it's not free. It's my only one that's not free, but important. Keep it fresh, keep it simple, let it feel good, let it be stuff that comes from the earth to nourish your damn body. Pick some carrots from your garden. Come on, drink some water. Okay, the second one is movement. And don't get all up in your head about what that looks like. Movement can be going for a walk around the block, or going for a bike ride, or doing some stretches that you know, or dancing, going for a hike. Honestly, any literal movement of your body moves energy, creates energy, and is just a really beautiful thing to do to give back to your body. Moving your body. Does it have to be going to a gym? No. Does it have to be participating in something, some class you gotta pay for? No. Does it have to be a membership of videos that you can watch? No. It doesn't have to be on a screen, it doesn't have to be in a group, it can very much be on your own. Just move your down body in a way that feels good. It doesn't have to be aggressive. It can be qi gong. It could be just like a really gentle little stretch or a flow yoga or whatever feels good for you. Dancing, put on some music and dance. Anything to move your body, to get your heart rate up a little bit, to get the muscles moving, to get any stagnant energy just like flowing. And it always gives back in a really beautiful way to the heart. Um, because it is a way of showing love to yourself and to your mind. It doesn't have to be that routine that you've been doing for a chunk of the year. It's okay if you take a quick little break from something that you always do. I'll be really honest, I haven't been doing my kundalini. Um I took a little break from working out for a little bit. I've been doing, I have been doing some dancing, I've been doing lots of tapping, and as I've been moving through my day, I've been doing so much walking around that I'm like, that counts for me. So movement. Again, so simple, so easy, so free movement. Okay, the second one, or the third one, sorry. So important and so free. Sleep. Close your fucking eyes and get some sleep. This one, I think, should almost be second on the list. Before movement, these are not listed in what I think is important because guess what? It depends to you what you feel is most important. However, sleep. My note says just fucking sleep, and I mean it. Sleep in. Go to bed early. Take a nap. Just sleep however that needs. And I will say this is another summer where my intention was get up early, enjoy the morning before the kids get up, get to bed at a decent time so I can get a good sleep and get up early again. Has it looked like that? Abso fucking not. Kind of some days. Other days, no. But guess where I've had to meet myself? Like probably four or five years ago, I had like a run of a year and a half that I was up at 5:30 and I meditated for an hour, or I did some gentle movement. I was up with the sun in the spring and the summer. Did I love it? Absolutely I did. I always find though that I hold myself to this bar. Like I remember how good it felt. But you know what was really awesome this year was getting up, going through my day. Um, I worked in the evenings or we had things going on. The only time I really got to spend a lot of time with my husband was in the evening. We're both tired, so we didn't really do much. We stayed up a little bit later than we should have, but that time I got with him in the evening was really nice. And our morning schedules were so different that it was okay. Um, also, my kids were sleeping in. So me getting up at 6:30, 7 o'clock, I still got my hour to myself. I still got to go outside and have my coffee. I had to remind myself that like it's okay. And then on my holidays, it's okay if I sleep in because you know what? I just wanted some sleep. It's okay that I had a nap in the hammock because guess what? I love it. And so sleep. Get some fucking sleep and close your eyes. And make sure you're getting enough of it. And yes, I do want to be getting to bed earlier the week that the kids were gone. Holy shit, I was in bed by like 8:45, 9 o'clock, and I was like, yes, that is what I want. However, not in that season right now. Sleep. So important. Eight plus hours. See if you can get it. And then also try and just wake up when your body wakes you up. There was one day. Well, there's been many days, but my body at 5:30 was like, Pst, get up. So I did. And I enjoyed like 45 minutes to myself. And then you know what? I was so tired. I went back to bed for a bit. And ooh, shame on me. No, I was tired. And I wanted to get some sleep. And I probably enjoyed some snuggles with my husband. And that matters to me also. So sleep. Okay. Next. I think everyone I'm probably going to be like, this should be at the top of the list. Sunshine. Sunshine. Okay. I am huge about this. I love the sun. I'm really grateful that my skin, my body love the sun. I'm going to stand here. This is a hill that I will die on. The sun is good for us. The sun literally recharges us. Every single thing in nature reaches for the sun, grows in the sun, heals in the sun. Our dogs lay in the sun. Like the sun, it literally charges our battery. Do you have to be smart about it? Yeah, not everyone can sit in the sun all damn day. But enjoy and feel some of that sun. Look up to the sky. Take in that light. Yes, it is so much harder in the winter. And I will say, like, why do you think we struggle in the winter with energy levels? Because we're supposed to be resting more, but because we don't get as much light and sun. So if you're in the summer season while you're listening to this, just get outside, even if it's for like five minutes. That's one thing that I've always trusted my body with. On a coffee break when I was working corporate, I would go outside and get sun for five minutes. Still on my lunch breaks for myself even, I go and sit and eat in the sun. Always, always, always. The sun is literally the thing that allows us to be on this planet, is the thing that allows things to grow. It nourishes us. So get some sun. Open up your freaking blinds to like let that sun shine in. Sunshine charges us. You need to get that. Also, the sun is free. You can soak her up whenever. Okay, this is not on my list, but it should be. Besides sunlight, also moonlight. Tossing that out there, and I just got really super excited. And also, like Miranda Lee, how did you forget about the moon? The moon is also so charging. Yes, I'm the girl that charges her crystals out under the full moon. But also, if you haven't, I challenge you. And I would love to hear, send me a message or send me a comment or something. But when you can go outside, sit and let the moonlight just shine on you. Just like if you were sitting in the sun, suntanning. Close your eyes, feel the sun, and think about receiving what she is giving off. It is epic. And I would love to hear what you feel in your heart or what you hear or what that experience is like for you. Because the moon charges us in a whole other way. And do that too. I can't believe I didn't have that on my list. Sunshine, but also moonshine. Moonlight, not moonshine. Okay, nature. Number five is nature. So huge. So huge. Um, this is something that I think is really important. Well, I think they're all important, but nature, please don't think this means that you have to like drive out to the forest, though it is epic. Um, it doesn't mean you have to drive down to a river, though that is epic. Um, you don't need to go to this great length to get to nature. So this is something that is easier in some seasons, obviously, than others. It is totally free, always. Um, so depending on the season, currently at the time of recording, it's summer. So I will say I'm barefoot like 95% of the time. Um, I went for a massage today and was like, oh my god, I'm so sorry. My feet are probably black. Yep. Barefoot, get barefoot. Everything connects us from our feet. Um, getting your feet on grass or on dirt is so epic. Touch the dirt. Also, the time of year. I used to, it's funny. I used to think it was so gross. My grandma's nails were always like dirty. And I was like, ew, that's so gross. But now I'm like, holy shit, she had the hugest garden and the most massive amount of flowers. That woman was always out in the garden. And now, guess who's that girl? And I'm still like, oh, clean your shit up. But oof, there ain't nothing like feet and hands in the damn dirt. So touch dirt. Um, summer's easier, right? Um, sitting and leaning up against a tree or like feeling that connection piece with nature. There's also this time of year, like there's all the birds. And if you go out to nature, you're more likely to see some animals. So you can certainly lean into that. However, um, as someone who has, I like I can't do physically lots of the things I used to do. I used to snowboard, I used to love going for walks on the island near us with all the hiking trails, trails and stuff. Um, I really struggle in the winter because I have trouble walking in the snow. I've tried snowshoeing. I can't cross-country ski that great anymore. So those were my like get-to-nature things. But now I remind myself, I'll walk outside my house in the winter and look up to the sky. That's nature. And it's like so abundant, so expansive, and so inviting to just connect with. No matter the season, we can always look up to connect. Um, the other thing is just getting outside to get some fresh air. Great way to connect with nature. So good for us. I just read a really awesome um piece about how important it was for there to be like air exchange in-house, which I know it still is, but like how sealed our windows and doors are now, and how we like close our windows in the winter, and how important it is to actually not have that happen. So that because of the amount of carbon dioxide we put off, I'll have to see if I can find it. But getting fresh air is so freaking huge and a great way to connect you with nature. Easy, easy, easy. The other thing is that I've had to lean into is just witnessing nature. So though I might not be able to go and like park my ass in the trees like I used to, I still do try. Um, going for a drive, and I like to just park and witness nature. Roll down my windows, even though it's winter, or um I'll pull up in my Jeep and just open the back door and sit in the back and just take it in. Notice the weather and notice the trees and notice whatever nature is present, and just allow yourself to be and held, be held in that. So important. Watch the birds from your window. Like it's just taking yourself out of your world and allowing you to connect with something so beautiful and become one with it because ultimately we are, no matter where we are, we need to allow ourselves to immerse and connect with nature. It's free, it's so good for your health. It also reminds me just how how simple life is intended to be when you watch a mama bird bring worms to her babies, or you see a deer walking in a field, like holy shit, life is not as crazy, and it's as simple as just taking some time to get back to our world of nature. Okay, I think we're on number six. Good company. Okay, before you get all like it doesn't have to be people, but I want to really emphasize that good company, though it can be good company can be held space with yourself. You could be your own good company by setting like a nice environment or making a nice cup of tea and just like creating an open space for yourself or sitting on your deck or whatever it might be. Um, honestly, a pet can be good company. Surround yourself by whatever it is allows you to just feel at peace, like you don't need to perform, but also like you're sharing space. You could put on a good podcast, and I'll even say, like, this is exactly my why. Create a cozy space. This is free. You can just sit and listen and be held. And I know lots of my listeners have um sent me messages that they talk back to me as I'm talking or or like jump in on interview conversations and say their little piece. So whatever lets you feel like that. My plants, as I mentioned in a podcast this summer, my plants are great company, exceptional company, and I talk to them all the time, also. Um, also a good movie. Why can't a good movie be good company or a book that you're reading, or just making a phone call with a friend, or having someone that you love that feels like home, just be with you. It doesn't have to be going out for dinner, it could be just literally coexisting together, holding space together. So whether that's with the actual other human being or it's with an animal or it's just with whatever presence you create for yourself, good company to just hold space totally free. And in sync with um, good company, I'll go number seven, which is rest. Rest is a self-care practice that I really had to learn to receive. And I think a lot of people do. Resting can feel really uncomfortable if you're someone who has trouble letting tasks go undone, or yeah, if you're just like on a productivity train, rest can be really challenging. What I have learned and what a lot of the people that I work with have learned, and I would love for you to learn this through my experiences versus having to learn them on your own, um, is that rest is ear isn't earned. It's a it's a birthright, it's something that all of us need, just like food and sleep, we need rest. What happens, and this is why, again, I'm like, this should be near the top of the list, but rest is our energy that allows the body to slow and be nourished. If we don't allow our body to rest, to receive rest, what happens is our body will force us to. And so this is where sickness or illness things come up when we don't allow ourselves to rest, not only just when you're tired though, but like keeping that balance of doing things and resting, but not going to the point where we are so exhausted that our body is like, no, and forces us to rest. Rest looks different to everybody, also. And rest doesn't have to be like hours or days of rest. This is something really huge that I have learned. I think it's important that we allow ourselves to find what feels good for rest for us. So in the early chapter of my diagnosis, rest was literal napping. Mentally and emotionally, I was so drained. Um, and so rest was napping. It was napping with my big ass boxer dog, and it filled my damn cup. Um, but it can be also just like cuddling up with a blanket for 10 minutes. Um, it doesn't have to be this huge piece. So the other day, it was a little bit ridiculous. This might not be the best example, but it's very real. I had a really busy day. I was planning on having nothing to do that night. But we got invited to go to a friend of ours who we hadn't visited with for a really long time. And I really wanted to go, but I was also like, oh my God, I planned on just chilling at home. So I got home from what I had been doing that day. And I knew we had like 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave to go meet for supper. And I said to Ellen, You confirm that I'm going, yeah. And he's like, Yep. And did I have to go? No, but I really want to do. Anyways, I literally laid on the couch on my back with like my arms out in like full, just like rest shavasana mode. And I was like, set a timer for seven minutes. And I laid there for seven minutes. And when my seven minutes were up, I got up. But oh, did seven minutes of just really intentional rest ever support my well-being and my health? And I had the most beautiful night following that. So, yes, there would have been a chapter where I would have been like, I'm not going, I'm out. But I think I'm just slowly learning that rest doesn't have to be these huge big pieces. Sometimes they still need to be, but rest can be whatever you need. It can be curling up with a blanket. A blanket can be a beautiful piece of rest. Um, just allowing space to pause, have a hot bath, wear a hot shower, park yourself in the shade, go lay on the grass, like whatever feels good. For some people, even going for a slow walk or a really slow bike that might feel like rest for you. That's okay. Ideally, we want to get to a place, I think, where rest is physical stillness and very intentional awareness that you're pausing. However, start wherever feels good because it needs to feel good for you. And in different chapters of life, the rest button might look and feel a little bit different, and the durations might be a little bit different. Rest. It's not earned, it is your birthright. You have to embrace it, or the body will force you to need to take rest. I also just want to say it might be the same part of your day, it might be a weekend, or it might just be like these little micro breaks. That's a lot of times what mine look like are little micro breaks. Sometimes my rest is also like working on my computer for an hour, setting a timer. Because as you guys know, if you've been listening to this podcast, I run on timers, setting my timer, and then I go outside, I have a big drink of water, and I'll like weed a little section of my flower bed. Not in a like work, work, work and trying to get as much done as I can, but just as a like pausing, doing something soft and gentle and different, and I'm outside, that feels restful for me, and then going back to doing my task. So it doesn't have to be a full checkout, doesn't have to be a long duration, but you can just sprinkle it into your day. And I found honestly, for the most part, rest needs to be integrated into my life that way, but then allowing slower days in general to yeah, get that little bit deeper rest. Or I'll be honest a lot. So the sessions that I lead or the things that I coach, those are really restful, not only for the people that do them or when I attend them, but also for myself as I teach them because it's just the energy. Okay, the next one, I think it's number eight, is peace. This might sound really cliche, but peace is totally free. Um it's one, just like rest, that you need to learn how that feels, what that looks like. Um peace is really beautiful when you can find what it feels like. You might even start self-care by just noticing when you feel at peace or where you are or who you're around or what you're doing, when you feel peace. And then you might also pay attention to when you don't feel at peace. I think a really good place with peace is checking in on your senses, which again are free. Um for me personally, where I am makes a big difference in if I feel at peace or not. Am I saying you're supposed to move through peace all day long? No, but allowing yourself to have peace in your day and in your life, or I will be honest, um, there's lots of things that I have just omitted from my life or excluded from my day because it takes my peace. And so checking in on your senses are huge, uh volume levels, sounds, um, what you see, sense, taste, physical sensations, they're all they all give so much feedback to your nervous system, to your body. And there are sense things that your senses pick up on or will enjoy and will make you feel peaceful. And there will be things that do the absolute opposite. This is a really cool using the senses piece to find. Piece has been really transformational for some of my clients, even those that have like mental health um conditions or things they're working through. So for me, I know that I can kind of be anywhere, but if there is incense, sage, palasanto, something like that burning, I instantly feel more at peace. If a room is quiet or has gentle non-lyrical music playing, as I've mentioned, I feel more at peace. If I am warm, I'm more at peace. I'm so not at peace when I am cold, but that um taste like this was a really big one I leaned into when I was working through some relationship stuff, and I highly recommend. If I'm going to be in a place that I think I might feel a bit uncomfortable, and you can't always say no to those things. I don't think. If I have a warm cup of tea, I will be so much better off, and my body will be more at peace. The warm sensation in my hands, a peppermint tea, there's something about it, and the sensation of drinking it, receiving the warmth. Um, you need to just pay attention to what allows you to feel peace and what also takes or steals your peace. Um, and sometimes it's just saying no to those things and saying yes more to the things that bring you that. Your peace is something that I think it's really important to not give up and to very strongly advocate for and prioritize. What brings you peace, do more of that. What ruins your peace, do less of that or none of it. Um, the next one is breathe or your breath. So breathing is free also. It doesn't need to be a big breathwork practice. But this again, I invite you if this is like if breath is something that when I said it, you were like, oof, I feel called to that. Here's what I invite you to do. Um you don't have to do this, but I've always loved set a timer in the morning to breathe, set a timer in the middle of the day to breathe, and set a timer near the end of the day. I think it's really important that you kind of find where it is in your day that you need to integrate these. But in the morning, um, sorry, breath is a beautiful way to um really manipulate your thoughts and honestly your physiological responses. Your breath allows you to regulate, to activate, to meet yourself wherever you need to be. So I have always loved with breath work um or just doing breath, setting a timer in the morning and doing a mouth breathing. Because typically, I would say most people need to find energy in the morning or support energy. So breathing in through the mouth and then just letting your breath fall away and doing that for whatever feels good and however intense or slow, it really doesn't matter. But inviting in an activating breath. Then in the middle of the day, a lot of times we need to focus on our balance. And so setting a timer for a balanced five-five five breath or a box breath. So inhale for five, exhale for five, or inhale for five, hold for five, exhale five, hold for five. If you breathe at that pace, inhale five, exhale five, you will be breathing at six breaths a minute, which helps to bring you to a nice balanced state. Um, I would recommend probably breathing through your nose if you're trying to regulate, but a five-five breath is something you can always come back to and it's free. And does it have to happen every single day? No, but those are like super easy, simple little check-ins at the end of your day, depending what you're trying to do, because maybe you need energy, then you need to go back to that like big inhale through the mouth if you want, and then just letting the exhale just kind of fall away. But it can be a really great practice to do at the end of your day to just really sink in. And that's where you'll inhale for like five or six breaths, and then exhale for six, seven, eight breaths, whatever feels good for you. Our breath is such a beautiful way to change our thinking patterns, to meet our body, hold space for it, and to help it regulate and come into whatever state you need to meet yourself in. So breath. The cool thing about breath is also your body knows how to do it. It can be fun to play with, breathing through belly or breathing through chest, breathing through nose or mouth. They all kind of signal different things to our body, and we have the control to manipulate them and change them however we want. And it's free, and you've been doing it since this first moment you had on earth, and you'll have that tool with you until the last breath that you take in this journey. So breath work, so epic. The next one is love. Um, love is so huge, and when I say love, I'm going to flip it and have you look in the mirror and let that love first come from yourself. Yeah, love might be a little bit harder, but it's also free and so amazing. And it can start with writing yourself a note or doing something you love or reading something you love or listening to music that you love, anything that brings that feeling of love. Writing out, um, I love the writing yourself a love note, or maybe you're single and you're looking for love, writing a note out to the person that you love, or sitting with all the things in your life that you love and keeping it really simple, or hanging out with somebody that you love, creating love in your life. And certainly, though, I think it's so important always to start by directing that first at yourself because ultimately our love that we have for ourselves is what we then throw to the world. And we can, if we can't receive our own love, it's so much harder to receive love from other people. So start there. Start with whatever will connect you with your heart, whether that's even just putting your hand on your heart and like I've shared before, even saying to yourself three times, I love you, I love you, I love you, and allowing yourself to hear it and receive it. Challenging, yes. It was probably the hardest practice I ever did, and I'd always end up breaking down and having a good cry, and that's okay if that's where you are, where you start. But love, all you need is love. Love can also come from reading a book that maybe talks about self-love or a romance novel or watching a good movie, but just allowing yourself to feel love and allowing yourself to be in that space. Okay, these last three. We got three to go. Gratitude. Gratitude is huge. It's also free, and it's I think a really great place to start in self-love and self-care because it really lays things out for us in our life. It allowing ourselves to stop and notice what we're grateful for, those are typically the little things that end up being life's biggest gifts. It can be if gratitude is new to you, um, and I want to say that like writing out gratitude doesn't mean that everything's gonna be good. But what it does do is really direct your energy into love, what you're already being provided, and how you're already being supported, whether it be big or small. You can start by literally just taking a breath, looking around the space, feeling into your body and noticing what you're grateful for. You can expand it out from there into the relationships you have or the things that you have in your physical life, your health, depending where you're at with that, um, your finances, the home that you're in, or the place that you're living, or the warm blanket that's on. Like it doesn't have to be big. Start really small, start with the things you can physically see in the room or in the space you're in. And then as you get um, as you do it more often, you'll be able to kind of take gratitude a little bit deeper. Gratitude is literally just being grateful for what you have, not what's coming your way, but just where you're at, what you have in this moment, what's keeping you in a good place. And so gratitude is such a beautiful self-care health and wellness practice that is free, very fulfilling, and a great way to start a good relationship too with your headspace and your heart and where you're at in life. I will say that even in some of my hardest chapters, gratitude was something that kept me in the present moment. Gratitude is something that's within your control. And like I said, it can be the simplest things in life that we sometimes don't even notice because we're so caught up on what we're working towards, what we don't have yet, or the negative things that we might be feeling. It's it just really truly brings you back to that. Gratitude is a practice that I think is one of the most important tools that I've taught my kids also to always be grateful. Because when we can allow ourselves to land in a space of gratitude, that allows you to be also content. And when we allow ourselves to be content and okay with exactly where we are, that is when the universe literally opens up doors for you. And so, especially if you're in a hard chapter, or maybe with health and wellness, you're going through a bit of a struggle when I was going through this. And even still, when I have a challenging day, I still come back to being so grateful. And I'm I'm probably a big weirdo, but lots of times I will walk into my like wellness studio and I'm always like, Hi, studio, I'm so grateful for you. Or the other day I literally cried when I was leaving the studio, thanking it for all that it does for me. And I'm the same with my house, and I'm the same with my food. I've had a cry about my food this summer, but just like gratitude truly can just fill you up. And sometimes it's just taking yourself out of your head and out of all the things going on in life, or all of the things that we've put so much pressure or value on when really when we can just be grateful in the moment, everything is good. I'm okay, I am safe, I am loved, I am grateful for that. That can be a really beautiful place to be and a great way to send love and self-care to yourself that costs absolutely nothing. Gratitude, lean in. Okay, second last laugh, have some fucking fun. And in that, don't take yourself so serious. I think sometimes, especially with self-care and how we take care of ourselves. And I need the red light lamp, and I need the oh, I need the massage guns, and I need the appointments and all the things, right? I need to go to the gym, I need to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, you know what you need to do? Chill the fuck out. Don't take yourself so serious and have some fun, um, adventure, some joy. Allow this life right now, this moment right now to be fun. There is so much stress that we create for ourselves just by the thought of the things that we think are important or needed. So let yourself come back, dance, play, be silly, play some good music, whatever you need to do. Um, I always say this in my kundalini practice and in some of my yoga practices. I'll just crack a joke or I'll say, like, hey, don't take yourself too serious, because literally, sometimes we just harness this like hard energy and this like focus and this like, I need to always be on and I need to be doing things right. And sometimes we just need to let that crack wide open, come back to being a kid and being playful and allow yourself to not care what you look like or what you how you're moving or whatever it might be, and just literally have some fun and find some joy and laugh. I love a good comedian. I love being a total dork. I love I don't love movies, but I do like a comedy or a stupid episode of a show, or just to like be silly, dance. Dancing's a really great place to start and just go wild. Um, and yeah, catch how often you take yourself too serious in really ridiculous moments, or how many times maybe someone invites you to be silly and you catch yourself guarding yourself. Let's unlearn the needing to be cool or needing to be so serious. Um, my kids even remind me of this, and I love when they do, but I'm like, oh my God, I'm being so serious. They'll ask me a question. We'll like go around and ask a question or whatever, and I'll start. And mine's like super deep and emotional, and they'll just be like, Really? You had to go deep, hey. And even in one of my soul dive sessions, there was like this really cute question, and oh yeah, I went so deep. And then we went around everybody answering. It was like, I was gonna say this. And it was so like fun and playful, everyone else's answers. And it's okay that I went deep, but even I need that reminder: like, chill the fuck out, have some fun, have a good laugh, don't take yourself too serious. I think it's really cool when we allow ourselves to play and laugh and not take ourselves so serious, how much lighter we are, and you'll notice how much of the hard edge and those protectors are able to just like take a seat and a different version of you that you maybe don't know as well anymore can step forward. And how healing that can be for you. Laughter is so huge, having a good smile, all of that, so friggin' awesome. Okay, lastly. Number 13. It's not gonna be what you think. I'm gonna keep you in suspense. Number 13 is a hug. Hugs are free. Ooh, I'm getting emotional. Hugs are so important. This is a piece that breaks my heart about COVID. Give someone a hug. I even will do giving yourself a hug because there are so many moments in our childhood where what we actually needed was a hug, but maybe what we got was advice or a pat on the back or anything other than a hug, or maybe yeah, a hug. I, if you have been around me, I love a hug. I also think it's totally fine if you don't, but I always am like, you should lean into why you don't like hugs. Hugs are physically healing, there is nothing like a long hug. And I I have probably already said this, but I always tell my son and my daughter, but I think we're all supposed to get like 12 hugs a day or something like that. I can't remember where I got this from. But um, so I try to always start my day with a hug from my husband, a hug from my kids before they go to school. And then my son in particular, I'll be like, How many hugs have you got today? And then it's just like three or four hugs through the evening. Hugs are so huge. They are a way that you get to literally be held. They're often followed by a big sigh. And I'm not talking, I love you, dad, but my dad wasn't hugged a lot, I don't think, as a kid. And he's a hug, pat, pat, pat, three pats on the back. And then you know that your hug is over. And one of my favorite things is he knows is now I'll hold his hugs until it's uncomfortable for him. Um, I love a big ass hug. So if maybe there isn't someone to hug, and hugging yourself isn't cheesy, and I guide this all the time in my like yoga classes or restorative or energy portals, take a blanket, wrap it around your back, hold each corner in one of your hands, wrap it around you like you're almost being swaddled, or just give yourself a big hug, but let yourself feel it. And I know I'm talking about giving yourself a hug, but hugs are so important. Physical touch is so important in feeling supported, feeling embraced, feeling held. Um, and just as I say that, actually, also just allowing yourself to be held can be really huge. And don't dive too deep into this, but literally in restorative yoga, you're being held by the earth. We're always being held by the earth. We're being held by bolsters. If you're laying in bed, you're being held by your bed. If you're laying on your couch, you're being held by your couch. But are you letting yourself like lean in and letting yourself be held? And letting yourself just completely go and surrendering. Such a beautiful self-care practice. So huge. Snag a hug, ask for a hug. I'm always open for a hug. So if you see me around, just be like, I need a hug. Hugs are huge. Um, I would say if you were to ask me what the world needs more, it's hugs. Hugs are and touch. Hugs and touch are where people, and by touch I mean like a touch on the shoulder, especially during healing sessions. That is often what makes someone just crack open because it's like human connection is so epic in our healing and in our health. We physically need that. And so what the world needs most, I would honestly say, is more hugs and more physical support and connection. So those are them. They're all free except for food, but guys, I'm not getting into that. That's out of my hands. Food and water. Eat and drink, move your damn body, whatever that looks like, as soft or as big as that needs to be, as often. Keep it simple, keep it small. You don't need to put it in an app. You just need to do it. Sleep, just close your fucking eyes and get some rest. Um, sunshine, recharge your battery and get some light on your body for however long, even if it's just a moment. Get to nature, whether it's looking up at the sky, getting your feet on the dirt, or actually getting out into the trees where I am headed. I'm quite excited about good company, whether that be your own with pets, with your plants, whatever. Um, a good podcast, Brandoli podcast. Um, rest. It's not earned, it's your birthright. Creating that space to pause, to hold space for yourself, hot baths, peace. Finding what brings this to you and doing more of that. Finding what ruins your peace. I'm doing less of that. Love. Self-love. Write yourself a note. Whatever you need to do. Breathe. Just breathe. Even just being with your breath. Gratitude. Whether it be saying out loud what you're grateful, writing it down, or just being aware as you move through your day of things you're grateful for. Laugh. Have fun. Don't take yourself too serious. And hug or physical touch. These things are all free. They don't require appointments. They won't stretch you financially. They can be integrated into your day with just pure intention. And they can give back so much by just creating the space and allowing yourself to receive and bringing awareness to those things. So wherever you're at in your health journey, wherever you're at with your self-care, our community stretches so far as far as people who are going through diagnoses or treatments to people who are fully healthy, um, living their best health journey. No matter where you land in there, I just want to validate that whether you are on one end of the spectrum or the other in regards to your health journey, that all of us at some point will go through some sort of health struggle. And we will all also feel rewards of a good health journey. And I just want to remind you that it really does come back to things that are free. It comes back to allowing ourselves to receive, and it comes back to not taking, not allowing it to become stressful or overwhelming. And I'll also remind you that it'll be in seasons. I am just taking a short break from a season that I needed to dive into, and I'm so grateful for it. And now I'm just stepping back a little bit, trusting myself, kind of reflecting on what I've learned, really listening to my body, really allowing just rest and non-structure and non-apointments. And then when I feel like I'm ready, I'm gonna dive back into whatever in that moment feels like it'll support me. So I do just really want to let you know like, yes, we love routine, and yes, we love having resources and tools and all the things, but I just think it's so important. Do what you feel like you need now, allow yourself to shift and grow and change, and make sure that we don't put ourselves into a box. Sometimes we openly and excitedly step into a box that fits for a period of time. But even if if typically everyone else would benefit from continuing that, maybe that's not for you. And maybe you want to step out of the box for a little bit and then maybe you step back in. And when I say the box, it's just lots of times with like health stuff, there's like a direction that you should go and consistency and all of those things. But I do just want to say it's okay to really trust yourself, trust your gut, trust your intuition. Um, and the right, I will also say the right people, the right practitioners, they'll all trust you. Um, I'm really grateful. I will eventually maybe share my naturopath. Um, I'm really grateful for her because I came back to her with like, hey, this is what I'm gonna do. This is what feels right. Um, I'm taking a quick little break. I'll revisit you in the next bit when I feel ready to dive into homeopathic, which I'm so excited for. But I'm waiting for that timing moment, which I think I'll be probably when I return home from a from a holiday. But and on the receiving end of that, same with my acupuncturist, I took a little break for a bit and then I was like, okay, I'm ready to dive in full force. And there was no, there should never be a like shame feeling or guilt feeling or like eyes turned at you with judgment, because at the end of the day, we know ourselves, and ultimately we should be leaning into these things for wisdom and new tools and new ideas and to feed us. But if they don't feel nourishing and they instead feel stressful or overwhelming, or you need a break, trust that. So that is my message today. Less self-care, maybe, maybe free wellness and health for a chapter, or maybe you just need to come back to the basics to be reminded of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, um, financial, environmental, occupational. Whatever you feel like you need, prioritize that. Shift, change, allow whatever you need. Keep it free if you need, keep it simple, and know you're not doing anything wrong by trusting you, allowing your roadmap to look different, and for you to maybe even just step off or change or pause for a moment and then redirect or step back on to what you were previously doing. Drop the guilt, drop the seriousness, let yourself have so much fun with it. Ah, remember too to love yourself so fiercely. Such a good place to start. I feel like I need to say, remember to close your fucking eyes and get some sleep, eat some food, drink some water, get in the sun. Ah, all the easy, fun things. Do those. Let it be just juicy and nourishing and all the things. Until we meet again, keep it simple, keep it feeling good, and make sure that you feel at peace with all of it. Sending so much love until we meet again. Peace and love.