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I’m so excited to share this post with you! I’ve been cultivating a daily practice of self-care for some time now, and I think I finally have it right.

If I honor of my own needs, I’m much better equipped to show up in life as my best self. I used to think this was a selfish idea and would never allow myself time. I’d sneak away for an hour to go to a pilates class or something, but I’d rush back riddled with guilt feeling like I was on the clock (this is obviously post-baby). But thankfully, I’ve realized that this is in no way selfish, it’s actually the exact opposite. Running on empty and not giving myself permission for self-care was only leaving me exhausted, resentful, and burnt out. I believe that the best gift you can give those around you is the gift of honoring yourself and your own needs.

Today, my morning ritual is my lifeline.

My Morning Rituals, aka my Self-Care Practice, consist of doing something every morning for my Mental & Spiritual Health, Internal Health, and Physical Health. And that may look very different from day to day, but that’s okay. Each morning, I check in to see what feels good for my body and what I need. As long as I do one thing in each morning for my mind, body, and soul, I’m good.

Here’s what that looks like for me:

Spiritual & Mental Health: Gratitude Journaling, Free Journaling, TBM Manifestation Practice, Animal Cards, Talk Therapy, Astrology & Meditation

Internal Health: SEED DS-01 Daily Synbiotic, Ritual Prenatal Multi-Vitamin, FLO Gummies, and a Healthy Plant-Based Meal.

Physical Health: A Peloton class, Alo Yoga or Pilates class, a studio Pilates Class via Class Pass, or a walk through the neighborhood listening to a podcast or walking meditation.

Typically my day starts with quick journaling in my Gratitude Journal. Followed by a strong cup of coffee. My goal in the next few months is to wean myself off and switch to matcha, but I’m not quite there yet. I love coffee. I also take my symbiotic from Seed every morning on an empty stomach without fail.

I’d love to say that I hop right into my mediation and manifestation practice, but I do have a five-year-old, who wakes up the minute he hears a creak in the floor. Some mornings I can squeeze in a meditation, others I can’t. I don’t put too much pressure on that, because I want to be fully present for him in the morning.

Once he’s up, it’s making breakfast for him, maybe getting in a quick stretch, and getting him off to preschool.

It’s usually not until he’s off, do I get to settle in and really start my actual Morning Ritual. Once I have some quiet time, I like to start by lighting sustainable Palo Santo, clearing and cleaning my space, and doing a DI (drop-in) from my TBM Practice. DI’s (drop-ins) are a daily practice of prompted journaling, followed by a guided hypnosis mediation. It’s an incredible way to “drop in” and discover what’s present for me that morning, discover a solution or get a healing, and process it. If you’d like me to write a dedicated post about TBM, and go a little more in-depth, please comment below.

The minute I come up from my DI, I love doing my spirit animal cards. My go-to deck is from Kim Krans (I love everything she creates btw), and my favorite spread is the path and the obstacle. I can’t even tell you how spot on this deck is. Whatever is present for me that day or that week, is directly reflected in the animal cards. It’s seriously so magical!

Once I’ve nurtured my mind and my spirit, it’s time for some physical activity. I’ll be honest, I struggle here because I tend to lack consistency. I typically work out in spurts, like I’ll do spin classes for two weeks straight, and then entirely fall off for a month. I also used to work out for completely different reasons. I used to mainly seek validation from my physical appearance, and honestly, as I’m getting a little older and doing a lot of deep work on myself, my motivation has totally shifted. Today, I work out for how it makes me feel, as opposed to how it makes me look. My overall health and well-being, generating endorphins, and moving stagnant energy out of my body, are way more important. I’m not trying to kill myself to be a certain size or punish myself for what I ate last night. Now I check in with myself every morning and ask my body what would actually feel good to me. It’s much more about giving myself a gift than torturing myself like I used to. Some days it may be a high intensity spin class, other days it’s a walk around the neighborhood listening to a guided mediation or a podcast. Others it’s a yoga or barre class in my living room. I think doing one thing too repetitively gets boring mentally and physically.

So there you have it.

It’s not rocket science by any means, but I think the biggest thing challenge here for me has been to give myself permission, listen to what I need, and value myself and my own needs above all, so I can show up as my true authentic self, not the run-down and tired version.

Below are links to some of my favorite Morning Ritual tools.

MANIFESTATION PRACTICE

JOURNALING

Journaling is part of my manifestation practice, but on any days I don’t do a DI, I take at least 15 minutes to journal and check in with myself and how I’m feeling that day. I love a thick blank leather-bound journal for free writing and the Intelligent Change Five Minute Journal for my Gratitude Journaling. Intelligent Change also has a Kid’s Gratitude Journal that I love doing with Coyote.

MEDITATION

I love Alo Moves and Insight Timer’s guided meditations. Alo is more edited, whereas Insight Timer has so many recordings that it can be a bit harder to find one I like.

Get your first month free by clicking the link below

ANIMAL CARDS

SUPPLEMENTS

RITUAL PRE-NATAL ESSENTIAL MULTI-VITAMIN

I love Ritual Vitamins. I started out with their Women’s Multi-Vitamin, but have been loving the Pre-natal lately. And Ritual just launched kids gummies (containing Vitamin D and K2 essential for healthy teeth for little ones).

SEED SYMBIOTIC

I absolutely love Seed DS-01 Daily Symboitic.

I feel like I kept trying different probiotics from Whole Foods, which all made me feel super wonky. I love how DS-01 supports my gut, heart, and skin health. Their product is different because it’s a pre-biotic + pro-biotic. They also ship in bio-degradable packaging which is super important to me.

FLO PMS GUMMIES

I’ve always had pretty intense cramps. These gummies have truly helped ease my symptoms. I’ve also been learning more about cycle syncing from Flo’s founder (more on that to come soon).