The more loving care we give to ourselves, the more we have to give to others. Fill your own cup first and it will flow over. This Valentine's carve some time out to please yourself! We're all short on time so here's a few ideas for relaxation.
1. Valentine's is round the corner and what better time to pause and take some time out for a soothing bath. Throw in some rejuvenating magnesium salts and oils to refresh and renew. Give yourself the gift of Sangfroid read all about it here, loved by men and women for something sensually scented and uplifting for the body and soothing for the skin, smells divine too.
2. Take a walk in nature scientifically proven to increase wellness. Here's a great paper describing why walking for 120 minutes a week improves our sense of wellbeing. Research shows that direct contact with the earth can have positive impact on a number of physiological measures from helping it improve sleep, lowering stress and reducing pain. 'Grounding', research suggests, is pretty crucial to health. Direct physical contact with the earth has antioxidant effects. read my blog on it.
3. Want to increase resilience to stress, reduce anxiety, sharpen attention, increase compassion then meditate for 5 and raise your vibration, feel good now and remind yourself you're the priority in your life. Here's a beautiful 5 minutes meditation here. Here's a great article on the benefit of committing to just 5 minutes a day.
4. Relieve tiredness quickly, try some Yoga Nidra for a 10, 15, 20 minute mental massage. Yoga Nidra translates to Yogic Sleep and is a guided meditation practice taking you to a state of mind in between dream and wakefulness. It's a great way to destress it helps you to reach the state of mind without thoughts. It can help you sleep or take a powerful nap, reducing your stress and anxiety. Here's a brilliant article on it. And a wonderful 10 minute practice here. Give yourself permission to get in bed, pop your headphones on and drift off for some restorative relaxation, guaranteed to leave you feeling refreshed.
Increase focus banish hunger pangs and