Holy Trinity of Wellbeing Rituals
Lent is perfect season to return, reflect, and renew. Tips for recommitting to self-care.
Last week, Ash Wednesday, began the Lenten Season, a 40-day sacred journey when people return to, reflect on, and renew one’s spiritual life. In addition to spirituality, I find Lent to be an auspicious moment to reflect on my holistic wellness routine, and renew vows to daily self-care rituals.
Although this year I didn’t attend mass or receive ashes from a priest, I did partake in a personal Lenten spiritual ceremony with a bucket of fireplace ashes and mallard duck choir. Sacricilous, I know. Please don’t report me to the Michigan dioceses.
More on a DIY spiritual ritual here.
In this article, I share easy ways you can:
Reflect on what habits or foods affect your wellbeing.
Return to (or begin) easy self-care and spirituality rituals.
Renew wellbeing in immunity, digestion, and blissful sleep.
Reflect, Return & Renew
For Christians, the 40 days of Lent is a season of reflection and renewal through observances and spiritual readings that help grow one’s spiritual life. As a child growing up Catholic, it meant going without candy for 40 days. And, abstaining from meat every Friday, which meant enduring meals like creamed asparagus on toast.
Now, weaving my Catholic roots with my personal spirituality rituals, I practice “Rise & Shine”– a 20-minute holy trinity of yoga-ish movements, breathing practices, and silent meditation. Before new day begins and as the sun awakens life on earth, I awaken my body, mind, and spirit. It helps me strategically direct my daily agenda and energy towards the day’s most important tasks.
Pulling from my “Rise & Shine” morning routine, here are three holistic lifestyle tips and self-care rituals to support health and wellbeing during Lent and beyond.
Return
Returning breath to slow, steady rhythm is the easiest and most effective strategy to align in present moment and create a clear, calm, and peaceful mind. Typically, stress is a side effect of worrying about the future or regretting past decisions. Next time stress hijacks your mood, do this:
Close eyes. Place left hand on heart, right hand on belly. Notice quality of breath. Slow it down, if it’s fast. Deepen inhales, if breath is shallow. Expand exhales, if air flow feels narrow. Mindful breathing retunes nervous system to key of E(ase).
Being in the now, free from future frets and past regrets, is how you align with the power of divine, creative potential.
Learn simple, powerful breathing practices (pranayamas) here. As a certified Ayurvedic lifestyle coach, I learned ancient pranayamas from Dr. Vasant Lad of The Ayurvedic Institute.
Reflect
Meditation and prayer usher the mind to seat of your soul- the heart space. At this holy, potent intersection, stressful thoughts and emotions are transformed into creative energy. During the day, the mind’s faculties (logic, reasoning, comparison, and memory) are in action. This mode helps us meet deadlines and complete assignments. However, too much thinking drains and strains, your creative energy and nervous system.
Meditation and prayer, a place of non-action, redirects mind into awareness and stokes the magic of curious reflection. This simple shift also supports a healthy heart and nervous system by lowering blood pressure and regulating emotions.
Renew
Mother Nature renews physical, mental, and creative energy. Right now I’m blessed to be living in a backwoods Northern Michigan cabin, where immersing in nature happens the moment I walk out front door. A 15-minute stress relief snowshoe walk through cedar forest circulates blood and creative ideas. Watching an iceberg flotilla wind down the Betsie River, reminds me to allow little irks and quirks (mine or another’s) to just float away. Listening to the little chickadee choir, helps me harmonize with hope, when minor or major fears threaten me.
When mind begins to lurch, find a nature perch.
Whether in backwoods country or suburban landscape, redirecting your attention to the sky, trees, or birds connects you to nature’s healing benefits. Daily nature time supports steady flow of creative magic at the tip of your pen, paintbrush, or guitar strings.
Opportunity to start and support your daily self-care rituals
Starting this Wednesday, February 24 at 11am ET, I’m hosting a weekly breath meditation class. Calm Down Stress, Rev Up Creativity, is a twenty-minute virtual experience that will lower stress, spark creativity, support strong immunity, balance emotions, improve digestion, and foster blissful sleep. Click for details.