Despite one’s busy schedule, it’s always important to do what you can to ensure that you take care of yourself. After all, how can you go about taking care of your family if you don’t take care of yourself? Not doing so can only make things more difficult for you and also end up affecting you and your capacity to be a parent to your children.
So, it’s always good to take some time and do what you can to take care of yourself. Of course, there are tons of different things you can do when it comes to self care. As a matter of fact, some people have self-care routines that are so well-thought out and painstakingly planned. However, you don’t necessarily need to have a routine that’s complex. Sometimes, a simple one is more than enough.
With that in mind, we’ll give you a few ideas on what you can do when you need to take a break. From a simple yoga flow to other activities you can do to treat yourself and take things easy, these suggestions won’t be too complicated to do. What’s more, they’ll still give you that much-needed breather you need after a busy day, week, or what have you.
What’s In a Self-Care Routine?
When it comes to self-care routines, there’s really no one way of going about it. Every person has their own preferences and sees certain things more relaxing and enjoyable than others. What's most important is that it’s a routine that you can stick to and love doing.
Despite all the different possibilities in terms of how your routine can go, there are still some things that you can do that benefits everyone and anyone. For example, exercise is one thing that can benefit a lot of people and help with their self-care. Even picking up something like yoga can already do wonders.
Yoga
Exercise is one of the ways that many people choose to do self-care, and there’s a good reason for that. Some people see it as a way to keep themselves fit. At the same time, it also becomes an avenue where one can let out some stress. If it’s not to let out some stress, it’s also something people can do to help relax. Such is the case for yoga.
Yoga’s been associated with meditation and an activity to help calm oneself down. From the controlled breathing to the stretches, it makes perfect sense how this can help make someone sprinkle a little self-care in their lives. It helps you calm down and just let go while also just putting your body through an entire rejuvenating process of stretching out and letting your body relax, removing any points of stress or just loosening up.
What’s more, getting into yoga is as simple as signing up for a class. You could, for example, choose to sign up for a hatha yoga class—a type of yoga practice that focuses more on poses and the breathing associated with each pose. There’s also vinyasa yoga, which entails you go through an entire sequence of poses—this is something that may be more challenging for beginners.
Of course, you don’t also have to sign up for a class to get some of the self-care benefits of yoga. You can also learn how to do a couple of poses and go through them at any point in the day. That way, you can also build your own routine and get your start from there!
With that in mind, here are some poses you can incorporate in your daily life.
Child’s Pose
One of the most well-known yoga poses is a pose that many people already unknowingly do! Child’s pose is simple, yet already has a lot of benefits. From stretching your neck, through your spine, and all the way down to your hips, this pose can help you release tension and just get a good stretch started. It’s not that hard to do too!
Downward Dog
As the name suggests, it’s a pose that shares a lot in common with a dog. More specifically, it’s a pose that all dogs assume when they stretch and release some stress. What’s more, it’s just as effective with humans as it is with our canine companions. This is because the downward dog helps stretch your back and legs while also building arm, shoulder, and back strength! It’s also very easy to do as well.
Plank Pose
The plank pose is another pose that may be familiar to many because it’s something that many people already do. If you’re looking to add a little strength training and also challenge yourself, this is a perfect pose for you. Even if this looks very simple to do, there’s a lot more effort that goes into pulling this pose off. This pose helps build arm strength and also work out your core (a.k.a. your abs).
Cobra Pose
Another animal-related pose, the cobra is another very simple, yet effective pose to help you loosen up and also get some strength in. The cobra pose helps give your spine, chest, shoulders, and abs a good stretch and help with flexibility. It also helps work your back a bit and make it stronger.
Corpse Pose
If you know anyone that’s done yoga, this might be one of their favorite poses. This is because the corpse pose involves you lying down on your back and just relaxing. Most yoga classes choose to end with this pose as this helps you rest after all that moving and stretching. It also gives you some time to bring your heart rate down and just relax. It’s a good way to tell yourself you deserve some much-needed rest after all those poses.
