Create a movement diary and take inventory on a typical workday of the total hours spent sitting, from the moment you get out of bed in the morning until you go to sleep.  This includes time spent at the dining table, watching tv, your commute, etc.

Remember to approach this self-assessment with honest and kind curiosity; no judgment or trying to fix anything.

Step 2: If possible, find a quiet place to reset

If you are at the workplace and are in a cubicle, see if a meeting room is available and setup for some Constructive Rest:

1. Lie down on the floor with knees bent, feet on the floor
2. Support your head and neck with a folded blanket, beach towel or pillow. The head and neck should be supported in such a way that the sides of the neck feel long, yet comfortable, and the chin is drawing down slightly towards the collar-bones
3. Walk your feet out to either side and bring the knees to touch
4. Place your hands on your belly and close down the eyes to help turn your attention inwards
5. Take 2 – 5 minutes to focus on your body’s natural inhale and exhale pattern
6. Play with equal ratio (1:1) breathing, where the inhale and exhale are of the same duration/count (this breath practice helps to balance the nervous system)

Step 3: Reclaim your seat

Once you have spent some time in Constructive Rest, you are ready to return to your desk with a calm mind and relaxed musculature.  Use that body awareness to reclaim your seat with intention:

1. Find your sitting bones, the two bony protrusions on either cheek just above the hamstrings
2. As you bend your knees, shift your hips back and sit on the edge of your chair, on your sitting bones as opposed to sitting on your sacrum
3. Rather than forcing your spine upright, wedge a pillow between the back of your chair and your spine for support or…
4. Shift your hips back until your spine is supported by the back of your chair (you should still be sitting on your sitting bones)

If you are looking for more strategies on creating optimal well-being in and out of the office for yourself, co-workers or staff, consider scheduling a Define Me Workplace Wellness workshop (such as this one) for your next company event or Lunch n Learn.

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This is your opportunity to try Reiki – one of many subtle body modalities that is known to reduce the stress response, providing relaxation and alignment of the whole system (mind and body and soul).

An in-person session involves the client lying on a massage table, fully clothed, while the practitioner places hands directly on or hovering over different points of the body.  Results typically experienced during and after a session (as told by my clients), may be as follows:

• Decreased pain and/or tension
• Improved inner body awareness
• A sense of being grounded
• More feelings of being calm, at peace
• Less feelings of overwhelm/depression/anxiety

Pay What Feels Best means you pay what feels appropriate for you; no minimum amount required, no obligation.  In fact, payment is discrete with a drop box for you to place your designated amount without the potentially awkward moment of money exchanging hands.

Sessions run in duration anywhere between 30 – 90 minutes.

Distance healing also available upon request.

Contact Michelle to schedule an appointment.

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I really became aware of this issue last week when I finally went to refill my prescription for Eltroxin, medication that helps with my under active thyroid condition that I have had for almost 20 years.  I had let myself go without it from anywhere, I’m guessing, between 4 – 6 weeks.  The impact of my body missing those daily doses is now hitting me with noticeable moments of exhaustion, short-temperedness and just generally being in a fog.

Why tell you this? Well, because my perception is that those of us in the field of health and wellness don’t often talk about our own struggles of maintaining a self-care practice, which then appears like we have it all together and practice what we preach.  While I can’t speak for others, I can say for myself that simply isn’t true.  I, too, can get caught in the trap of feeling that I have to get all those to-do’s checked off first, take care of my family, my clients and my friends needs and also not wanting to miss out on all the summer fun in between.  But doing all of those things first comes at a cost, to the detriment of my own well-being.

So, no words of wisdom except to highlight that we are all susceptible to being too busy for self-care.  The notion of needing to be “good” at it can sometimes do us more harm.  Self-care need not be perfect.  This has been a lesson for me in the importance of awareness, being compassionate to one’s self and gently working towards changing the pattern.  Not engaging in behaviours to be a good role model but finding behaviours that serve YOU best.

And with that, I’m going to honour my body’s needs and take an unusual-for-me midday nap.  Everything else can wait.

The post Being Good at Self-Care appeared first on Define Me Wellness.