Five Reasons You Should Learn How To Treat Yourself
Regular self treatment, with stretching, myofascial release, relaxation, meditation, breath work, restorative yoga, or other forms of healing movement or modalities, will catapult you into a healthier mind body spirit and even take you on a journey to realizing your dreams. Treating yourself by using these avenues of self care, sets the intention for self love, one of the most important kinds of love you can give. How many million times have you heard, “You have to take care of yourself before you can take care of others,” and not actually listened? It’s time to listen, because it is your window to peak health and a kick ass life.
“I think we have to love ourselves fiercely. Like a lioness protecting her cub. Like we are are about to be attacked by a marauding gang of thugs…out to make us feel bad about ourselves. … With joy and enthusiasm and entitlement. We have to love ourselves with pride and dignity. … We have to aggressively love ourselves. We have to practically stalk ourselves, that’s how much energy we need to put into this. We really do need to discover our inner Viking and wear our shining armor and love ourselves as bravely as we ever thought possible.” Liz Tuccillo from her book, “How To Be Single.”
Part of self love is treating your body mind and spirit to what it needs for rest, rejuvination, and restoration. Giving yourself the attention you need to fill up your reservoirs, so that you can serve from the overflow is an idea I am getting the hang of. It feels so much better than trying to give from your reserves. When you are functioning with energy left over, you are able to give in a whole new way, and it never feels like a drain.
If you are constantly serving others from a depleted state, you will feel exhausted, resentful, and just plain grumpy, even if you are good at it. Wouldn’t it be nicer to serve from a place of abundant energy? From an overflow of energy, health and vitality? You know it would. Here are a few more reasons to start treating yourself on a regular basis.
1. It is free. Good practitioners cost money and can be invaluable to your healing progression, but let’s face it, not all of us can afford the weekly treatments we desire. Learn how to treat yourself and you will have a cost free way to work on improving things in between sessions!
2. Treating yourself allows you to get in touch with your inner healer and wisdom. It is this inner wisdom that knows what you need, for every aspect of your life. Learning how to get in touch with that intuition and wisdom is a gift you will use for the rest of your life.
3. All self treatment can be a form of body awareness meditation, and that is how you will get in touch with your inner healer. The practice of awareness, in all of its forms is one of the keys, if not the key to healing. You can practice this with any form of self treatment you choose.
4. Regular self treatment will help you reduce stress and probably pain and restriction in the body. Whenever you slow down and get still, practicing awareness with your stretching, yoga, etc…you will begin to shut down the body’s stress response and produce more calming hormones. The more we do this, the better.
5. Spending time with yourself gives you a window to who you are and what you want for your life. Really, it does! When you get in touch with your body and mind in the ways described above, you begin to make space for your soul to speak. Your intuitive voice starts to get louder and become your guide. You start to recognize your fear voice earlier, and know the difference. Self treatment is a path to realizing your dreams!
There are lots of ways to treat your body mind and spirit, some of which are listed at the top. If you do not know how to do yoga, or stretch properly, or have never heard of myofascial release, or learned to meditate, by all means, seek out a mentor who can get you going. There are a multitude of fantastic ways to help yourself. If you hire a guide, make sure they give you all the tips and techniques you need to know to do it on your own.
Even if you have never learned some of the more technical ways to treat your body, you can start with breathing. Most everyone can learn to breathe better, and it is a profound way to begin to get in touch with your inner healer. Even the few moments you spend in a quiet place, getting still, and relaxing into the awareness of your breath will serve you well, and fill you back up.
What will you do to treat yourself today?
Laura Probert, MPT has practiced physical therapy over 20 years. She is the owner of Bodyworks Physical Therapy and the author of “Warrior Love, A Journal To Inspire Your Fiercely Alive Whole Self,” and “Living, Healing and Taekwondo.” Through her brand of physical therapy, her writing and the martial arts, she hopes to inspire people to find their own inner warrior. Find her books and more info about her healing, writing and kicking passions at these sites: [www.bodyworksptonline.com], [www.bewarriorlove.com], [www.facebook.com/warriorlove] She also hosts a writing group on Facebook called When Your Soul Speaks. You can email her at bodyworkspt@comcast.net
