Become your Own Best Care-giver!

An on-going theme that I teach in my courses and explore in my own life is how to become your own best care-giver.

A good way to begin to explore this theme is by remembering our own care-givers and becoming aware of our learned and inherited patterns of care-giving and self-care.

​Who were your primary care-givers? Name them. Your mother, father, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, etc. Your list can include blood relatives as well as the special people who showed up for you in your life and cared for you. 

In what ways did you experience their care?  Maybe it was through physical touch, nourishment, humor, coaching or teachable moments.  If your caregivers are still living, consider reaching out to them and expressing gratitude for their care. If they are no longer living, find a way to remember them and inwardly express gratitude.

Was self-care something that was strongly modeled in your family of up-bringing? Did the adults in your life model self-care?  Can you remember how your care-givers cared for themselves and/or reached out for support when they needed it?

How is your self-care? What habits or practices do you regularly engage in to promote your wellbeing? 
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Do you teach self-care to your kids or to the people in your life that you influence?

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These inquiries are important.  Our own personal health evolution requires a strong examination of the habits and patterns that are present in our lineage.  The habits that we learned from our care-givers that are life-affirming, we aim to perpetuate. The habits that we learned from them that are not life-affirming we should release. Yoga is a tool for this process. 

This week, when you go to your mat or your cushion, choose to be curious about your lineage.  Tune in and inquire into the body-mind patterns (postures, emotions, mindsets, etc.) that you inherited or learned.  Begin a conversation with your body, your ancestors and your ancestral lineage.

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Fall is an auspicious season for remembering our ancestors and clarifying and healing our relationships with them.  There are many traditions around the world for remembering our ancestors.  You may choose to create a Day of the Dead altar to remember you ancestors, to celebrate their lives, and to invite their benevolent energy to be present in your life.  Additionally, the Yoga and Ayurveda traditions offer us tarpana. Tarpana is a relationship healing ceremony aimed to help individuals clarify and release constraints from an ancestral relationship and invite healing.  You can read more about tarpana here.

INQUIRY:

What does it take to be your own best care-giver?

How have your learned or not learned to take care of yourself?

Learning self-care involves acknowledging how self-care was modeled or not by your caregivers.  What patterns of self-care or self-neglect have you inherited or learned? This week, notice your patterns and tendencies.