"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."
-Audre Lorde, self described "black lesbian feminist mother warrior poet"
Self-Care
Self-care is a very trendy buzzword these days. It evokes images of manicures, bubble baths with a glass of wine, a massage, and shopping sprees.
And while there is nothing wrong with treating yourself, it is often given as the whole solution. The terms self-care industrial complex or wellness industrial complex have been used to describe a whole industry that focuses on individual responsibility to consume things to feel better. This simplistic, individualistic and capitalist lens of "me time" or "treat yo self" is problematic. However instead of throwing away self-care completely as just another trend, I invite you to reclaim it as a radical act. As Audre Lorde said, self-care is self-preservation and it is political. We need self-care to give us energy to do important work to advocate for social justice in the world.
And self-care is not just about the self, it is about community care
It is creating a culture (in our families, in our workplaces, in our neighborhoods) that values support, reflection, slowing down, asking for help, transparency, listening, interconnection. Self-care is not just something you do at home or buy when you have "free time" or make "me time", it is something that can be incorporated into all aspects of our lives. Setting and modeling appropriate boundaries with your coworkers or your family is part of self-care, just as much as taking a yoga class. I love that I can be part of your self-care through my individual, group, and organizational yoga and mindfulness offerings. But this is just part of the self-care realm. How do you infuse it throughout your life? How do you "take it off the mat"? (to use an analogy that yoga is more than just what happens on the mat so is self-care more than just objects or classes)
I invite you to reflect on what self-care is to you and how you might infuse it into your everyday. I also want to share some offerings so that I can be a small part of the larger whole that is self and community care.
Yoga for Stress Relief: A special 4 week series live on Zoom. January 8, 15, 22, 29, 2022.
Yoga therapy: This can be an excellent opportunity to dig deeper into what self-care might look like for you holistically, infused into many areas of your life to create more balance
YouTube videos: I have this one on self-care using concepts from the 8 Limbed Path of Yoga and one on Self-Compassion
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash