We will now be taking our previously recorded interviews and conversations & making them live so that you can join in on the conversation if you please! I am also wanting to give those of you (membership-goers) the opportunity to hop on a call with me and share your story if that feels right. And this week we'll be kicking things off with fellow community member, Becca Reynolds.
Do note, that unfortunately we are only able to have our call be no more than 40 minutes, but we will be posting follow-up questions & do encourage you to ask questions during as well!
So tune in on Tuesday the 19th at 10 am PST for our live chat with Becca.
*Encouraged but not required: Tea & a cozy blanket.
About our live call with becca, founder of seasonallyme
Becca Reynolds is an herbalist and yoga instructor based in Boise, Idaho.
Seasonally Me is a place to celebrate the growing season through photography, recipes and prose. Seasonally Me is also a place of inquiry. We ask: What season of life am I in? Are my inner and outer expectations congruent with this? In what ways might I gently shift my inner dialogue to allow myself a little more grace?
What Self Care Means to Becca
(And what we’ll be talking about during our call on Tuesday the 19th at 10am PST)
1) Aligning what I choose to do with how I feel/want to feel WITHOUT judging myself for either of these things. What it looks like varies day to day moment to moment.
A teacher of mine says there are five components to self-care:
Expressive - movement/art
2) When it comes to daily self-care taking the words protocol and treatment out of as many lifestyle instructions as possible has helped me tremendously. Not changing the instructions but rather changing my relationship to them. for example -
detox baths --> bath
pt homework --> exercise
medical diet/rules --> food choices
brain breaks --> rest
These names and labels were really helpful while I was learning what i needed to do. These are nonnegotiable in my life. But over time I needed to feel more CHOISE, AUTONOMY and "NORMALCY." My entire life had become medical. It didn't just feel like this--it really was! So by changing the way I talked about these things I began to change my relationship to them.
3) My Lyme treatment introduced me to herbal medicine which eventually led me to study to become an herbalist. It was through these studies that my relationship to self-care really began to change. I stopped resenting all of the companies selling expensive bath salts because I began to understand how these things could be used to support my wellbeing, our wellbeing.
By working with flowers and herbs I realized beauty can be a component to finding wellness. When I couldn't see my own beauty I could find it in the reflection of beauty in nature, in my garden and in the herbal body care products I was creating.
I enjoy the subtle properties of herbal plants. Teas that gently support. Plants - sitting in the garden, gathering flowers, looking at flowers, creating products to share and sell.
Questions for all of us here
What does self-care mean to you? Does this phrase resonate or irritate you? Do you have another phrase you prefer?
Challenges & Obstacles to practicing self-care
What is in your self-care tool kit?