I want to start by saying, I see you. I hold space for you. Everyone is experiencing this differently. There is a lot of solidarity but no one is experiencing what you are experiencing. And that’s the beauty of life. We are taking this day by day, sometimes hour by hour and that is perfectly okay.
I have had experiences in the past where I have spent by myself for long periods of time, and that can be very difficult to handle when you are not comfortable in your own skin. Being comfortable with yourself, being healthy emotionally, is a journey we must all take to have fulfilling lives, so even though it’s scary and challenging, it’s worth it.
Over time, I’ve collected rituals that resonate and have honestly transformed me. Everyone is welcome to see if these rituals resonate with you. I encourage you to keep an open mind and know that this is a good time to love yourself more, so you can take that energy to your everyday life when COVID-19 dissipates.
1. Movement
Movement can be interpreted hundreds of ways. Personally, movement is one of my top two most important restorative rituals. I can feel the difference emotionally and physically when I haven’t incorporated movement in my day. So even though it feels like a big pain in the butt to get off of your butt, our emotional health is counting on us to shake off negative and stagnant energy.
Movement for me during this time is:
- At-home exercises with my yoga mat and some hand weights.
- Being guided by YouTube videoes for exercise routines and yoga sessions.
- Implementing an afternoon dance session. Shake up my body after I’ve been sitting on my computer. This is a new ritual for me, so it’s hard for me to find motivation but I tell myself to dance for one song and then it eventually spills into more songs. Don’t be afraid to be weird and shake up as much as possible, you will feel the results.
- Playing & walking my dog.
2. Meditation
Meditation is my favorite and most restorative rituals. When I embarked on having a meditation practice, I didn’t realize how transformative it would be for me, so I would encourage you to have an open mind about it. Over the years my practice has looked different so I encourage you to show up for meditation in any way that feels comfortable to you and not how you “think” it should be. You can be laying down, you can be sitting up, your eyes can be open. You can meditate for 5 minutes, you can meditate for 10. It’s a transformational practice and can help bring you more clarity and peace of mind. So if starting with 5 minutes in your day is feasible, now is the time to embrace it. Find a time in the day that works for you and go with it. Meditation can look different for you in the future, it can deepen and you can find more growth, so I encourage you to start.
Here are some of my current favorite meditations from Insight Timer.
3. Expression
Becoming more in touch with your emotions and thought processes can give you so much insight into your life and I find that expression helps me immensely. We can be consumed with our thoughts and have narratives run wild in our minds and being able to release these can bring peace of mind and find calm. Forms of expression can have a lot of variety and the ones that resonate the most with me are journaling and voice memos.
Journaling can take many different forms, you can document your day, your feelings, your gratitude, your manifestations and so much more. Put what is going on in your head and heart out. Out on paper, type it out. The energy in your thoughts and mind can be transferred out and can transform into something different. You can have realizations and shifts in thinking. You can see patterns. You can work to fix or strengthen different patterns.
Voice memos are a relatively new ritual for me but I have noticed how much they have helped. I usually do them when I am on a walk by myself. I am walking my dog and “having a conversation on the phone” but in reality, I’m just talking to myself and recording what I’ve been up to lately and what I want to work on in the future. I release any thoughts that I want to think out loud. I say things that I want to say. It’s a release and a practice expressing myself. Do you ever find yourself biting your tongue or suppressing something desperately want to say? Ya, me too. This practice has built up strength in me to say it.
4. Practicing Gratitude
A more diligent gratitude practice has been relatively new for me, but during this time, it can be the most important. Taking time in your day to recognize how you are blessed can translate into energy where you can bless others. Embracing the feeling of gratitude can transform you from within. I didn’t understand feeling gratitude until I started listening to this guided meditation on gratitude. You are encouraged to find gratitude in the many things that we take for granted on a regular basis. Our vision, our ability to move, having obstacles to overcome, having a life, and having breath. When we take time out of our day to feel blessed and know that we are, we can transform that energy into something very powerful in our day.
5. Breath and Present Moment Awareness
This is a practice for me and will continue to be for the rest of my life but when you have more awareness of your breath, you are able to have more awareness of the present moment and that is very important at this time. We can be consumed by anxious thoughts about the future or past and a way to recenter is being aware of your breath and while you are becoming aware of your breath, you can become aware of the present moment. I find myself in anxious moments, where in reality, everything is fine in the current moment, where I should be. Or when I am being challenged and deciding on what I should say next, I find my breath. Find presence. Find gratitude. Come back to the light. We are being challenged mentally constantly at this time and this will help you find peace.
I truly hope this resonates with you and hope you can take these suggestions into your daily life. I know this conversation is definitely a shift in the messages I’ve been sharing lately on the internet, but I am feeling called to help in this way as well. I’d appreciate your feedback in any way and please let me know if you implement any of these rituals. I’m wishing you as much light as possible during this time.
– Christina