Soul Care !

Soul care. Soul care. Soul care.

I can’t speak enough about soul care. In this week's post I’m going to break down my soul care routine, what soul care is, why it’s important , and how you can incorporate it into your life too.

Soul care is one of the most important, if not most important routines of my life.

Soul care, similar to self care but deeper, hitting the soul level making it possible to live the life you crave free of the kind of stress that consumes you, exhaustion, the feeling of being stuck, bondage, irritation, and more. Soul care targets the root of the problems we experience as woman freeing us up to be creative, innovative, loving, caring, friendly, and free. Soul care is bringing awareness to the parts of life that need more nutrients. Soul care is about giving yourself permission to be fully human while pouring life giving gifts into the mind, body, and soul.

All three are connected. There is no detaching one from the other. The soul is who we are when the body ceases to exist. Much of caring for the soul has to do with caring for the mind and body. But is counter-cultural to what we here in culture today: the belief that working more, working harder, wasting more time, more energy will result in more money, more happiness, and more things that in the end don’t truly fulfill us.

Soul care is the action of getting to know the self at its purest level, before the world told you what it expected of you. Getting to know your own soul is a journey within, its learning who you were created to be.

Our culture teaches us to rely on Google before we rely on our own intuition. Because of that, we walk around like zombies agreeing with the world around us, when our deepest desires are in contrast with the external messages we see everyday. Soul care is bringing alignment back to the mind and body.

We are greeted with over 3,000 images of “how to” live per day. Ads, media, magazines, commercials and more are filling our minds with the depiction of the best way to do things.

But I promise you, we have everything we need right inside us.

Images tangle in the mind and convince us we aren’t enough even though the soul knows we are. When the mind and soul are out of alignment it manifests as pain, shame, guilt, fear, or anxiousness, in the physical body. Most people don’t realize there’s a better way to live. And there is nothing more tragic than living a life out of alignment.

Who sees a chiropractor? You know after you get adjusted you feel lighter,more free, and more alive. Because the doctor has helped move your body into physical alignment.

Soul care is the simple and challenging practice of aligning the mind, body, and soul. I call it a practice because no one arrives at perfect alignment. It’s a journey. So, just beginning is a massive success. A practice that asks of you that you just show up and enjoy the ride. Letting go of expectations. We don’t practice soul care to be like those mask wearing religious folk who have perfect families, and perfect lives.

We practice soul care because we’ve come to terms with our own mess, yet we see how that mess is the full human experience and exactly what is meant to be. It is knowing that the body is our home. It desires to move, be filled up, and take up space. The mind is the catalyst for all creativity and innovation. That if we take care of our mind and put to sleep the lies we believe about ourselves, we can then manifest the things we truly crave, desire, and long for.

And that the soul, our eternal home is the greatest gift. It takes care of us, more than we take care of it. But if we fail to recognize who and what the soul really craves, we can’t feed it what it wants.

I believe souls are like thumbprints. None are the same. Which means every soul has its own specific set of DNA.

I also believe that each soul is connected by the simple thread of being a child of God. We come from the same place, and we are all just walking each other home.

Exploring soul care means first identifying what the mind and body crave.

Culture tells us things like:

Women are worth more when they have small bodies, small minds, and quiet voices.

The soul knows:

Women are powerhouses. We were created to take up space, lead with our creativity, and have big opinions.

Soul care, self care, or any attention given to yourself is selfish

This is not the faction Abnegation and we are not all Tris.

You’ve seen Divergent, right?

I don’t know why some religions teach that caring for your self, soul, and appearance is also the existence of selfishness. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, first of all.

And second, every woman knows she’s a better mom, better wife, better boss, better employee, better woman, better human when she’s well fed, well rested, and well cared for. It’s a universal truth. One of the highest forms of torture is depriving someone of sleep. Lack of self care.

Sabbath. We need it.

Sometimes, I just think we need to see other people doing it to give ourselves permission. Here are some of the things I do to take care of my soul. These things are specific to me. Some might work for you, some might not. This combination of things is ever changing, as am I. So when something is no longer serving me, I change it up. There is no right or wrong way to care for yourself. It only matters that you do. I know and surround self with women who practice soul care. These woman are my favorite. There’s a glow and a spark about them that is all consuming. These women; when you meet them, you’ll recognize something different. Their secret, is soul care.

The Body

Movement 

My body craves yoga. I am a yoga teacher, so this speaks for itself. Yoga, the asana (or pose) practice is the best way to get your body moving and feeling great.

For some people it’s running, tennis, dance, whatever. But the body scientifically proven needs movement to be healthy and in alignment.

Water

This one sounds simple because every health magazine tells you to drink water. But I’m not just talking about drinking it. I carry around a bottle to help remind me to drink. Because just like you, I struggle to consume enough H2O. But I mean all water. My body releases tension when I’m near the water. The beach, the bathtub, the shower, a hot tub, or after a nice long drink. Nature, specifically the beach holds more negative ions that your body needs to thrive. Which is why nature's greatest creations attract millions of people per year. We crave it, we need it, we long for it without even knowing why.

Ever noticed how you think better in the shower? Yep, it’s because of the water.

Breath

All my yogis know this to be the truest truth. Breath is the lifeforce. Too many humans walk around with shallow breath. That has to do with posture and unrealistic cultural demands. What’s your body's first reaction when frightened? We curl up in a bawl, tuck our head, shrink our shoulders, look down, etc. all putting pressure on the lungs and chest causing less oxygen to come into the body.

We take on this posture when we spend hours a day looking at our phones and computers.

This is also why they tell you to take deep breaths when you’re crying, or hyperventilating. Because breath in the body heals. Oxygen is to the body, what oil is to a car. It won’t work great without it. The more you give it, the more it gives you.

When I’m teaching yoga, we start practice with deep loud breathing. At first it’s uncomfortable. Because people don’t want to sound weird. But once I get people out of their heads and into their bodies, there is no greater freedom than feeling the body breathe.

Also, all of these things:

-Hot baths

-hot tea

-Alone time

- being with soul friends

- saying no when I need/want to

-saying yes even when I’m scared

- sleep

-turn off the electronics

- coco, rypley, nala. Pets do something for humans that humans can’t do. They are the truest picture of constant unconditional love. Much like a child, but less needy :)

Mid

Read books

I hated reading when I was a child. I’m not sure if my Mom intentional spoke this over me or she just knows things but she told me every day that one day I’d like to read. I swore I wouldn’t. And then I did.

Reading fills the mind with language that isn’t our own. That in itself is a gift.

Music

The soul knows music. I think humans create music but we weren’t the first. I’ve heard musicians say they hear the music in their hearts before it was ever played in a studio. Music is otherworldly. It transcends dimensions. Proof of a spiritual world. Music heals. It’s said that babies hear music in the womb, help heal premature babies, soothe the elderly. Music is an invitation to dance. And I accept any invitation to dance. I just have this feeling we were all meant for music and dancing even if we can’t sing or move to the beat. Women dancing in Africa around a fire is one of my favorite memories. Seeing it happen is powerful.

Meditation

People are scared of meditation. I get it. To be still and quiet with yourself is to get to know your own demons. We like to believe people are either all good, or all bad. When we are all actually just a messy combination of both. Meditation forces us to accept that. And sometimes we just aren’t ready. I always tell people, that’s okay. Meditation isn’t going anywhere. It will always be ready for you.

I meditate in the mornings and evenings and all throughout the day. I think about meditation as a prayer.

Our entire lives are a living prayer whether we acknowledge that or not. What you think about, you attract. Positive or negative. If you meditate on positivity, you’ll attract positivity. The universe is always working to create balance. I’m sure you’ve heard that, for everything that dies, also is something birthed anew.

The mind is a powerful tool. We might as well fill it with all things beautiful.

Soul

Sabbath rest

I’m a product of my generation. We tend to believe and say things like: sleep is for the weak.

Last year I travelled so much I never really knew what city I was in. And yet somehow I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired. I was sleeping 8 hours a night, sometimes even napping. And it turns out you can’t go, go, go for 152 days and sleep for 14 hours and call it rest. The soul needs stillness.

Sigh. I need more hours in the day. Don’t we all. But I’ve found the more rest I give myself, the more I get done. It’s magic, and still amazes me. If I start my day with a slow morning, getting on my mat, and doing all the soul Care things, I actually get everything I need to accomplished.

Once a day, once a week, and once a year mentality. This is my sabbath.

Once a day I check in with myself. I do a full body scan. What do I feel? What are my emotions?

Once a week, I don’t work and I don’t worry. If I feel like cooking, I do. If I don’t, we order in. Once a week, I don’t operate off of “shoulds”. Shockingly, the world won’t stop spinning if Brittany Ross checks out for 24 hours. And that goes for you too.

Once a year. We go on a restful vacation. Sometimes that means a staycation. Sometimes that’s the beach and tons of fun activities. A cabin with a fire and doing literally nothing. Whatever fits your life and lifestyle.

Make time. Save the money. It’s important.

Create

Some things I just know. We were meant for creating. We were created, therefore creating is innately a part of us. I stopped listening to my creativity for several years. Never have I been so lost.

I’ll always remind a woman who says she’s not creative, that she is. It’s apart of our being. We were born with wombs, the very essence of creativity. We create babies; human lives every single day. Life givers. We birth life into almost everything in this world. With our minds and our bodies and our souls.

Even if you aren’t a Pintresty Mom, somewhere within lies a passion for creating. No better time than now to find out what that is.

Give

It is such a joy to be able to give. I know there are so many of you that feel the same way. You wouldn’t believe this, but people often ask me for advice. The answer to most of our hurt is to go find other hurting people and give to them. Whatever breaks your heart, go give there.

For me it’s women and children. The elderly. Tortured animals. Trafficked survivors. Any vulnerable population in the world breaks my heart.

I understand suffering, so I find joy helping people who have suffered too.

Love

The very reason we are here. To love and be loved. So simple. But so complex. If stripped down to our bare bones, we’d know our very being is love. To be known and seen, heard, and loved fills the soul with infinite meaning.

Mind. Body. Soul.

The holy triangle.

Caring for the three is soul care.

I love y’all,

BAR

Ps.... sunsets. All the sunsets.