Routines are an important part of daily life — from ensuring we’re properly caffeinated before work to making sure we stay in shape, have clean clothes, etc. But in these surreals days that we have to stay home habits like practicing yoga, cooking in, self-care, and getting enough sleep may take another meaning. We need time to be with our soul to listen and discern all we are moving through. These days can jump-start new habits and set you on a long term wellness plan that reprioritizes the important stuff: sleep, exercise, diet, and the relationship you have with yourself.
“Give yourself a medal, you got out of bed, you’re on your mat. You woke up, you opened your eyes. I am here, I am alive, I am present, I am in my body. Feel what you need to feel but don’t get stuck in it.”
Jen Pastiloff
HOW CAN YOU FIND YOUR FLOW?
SETTING INTENTION
It is a start, but how do you follow through? The answer is this: cultivate a well-crafted, beloved daily ritual, like an inner retreat you take every day.
IF YOU CAN WORRY YOU CAN MEDITATE.
At the beginning of February, I set my intention to start my day with 10 or 20 minutes meditation: sit down and do it in a way that feels really delicious to me. I don’t make it into a chore or a new source of anxiety.
Make your sitting practice delightful, and you’ll find yourself doing it consistently. Wrap yourself in a soft blanket or sweater, sit in a corner you love with belove all around you, and make sure you won’t be disturbed.Sit for 5 minutes or 20 minutes, take a few grounding deep breaths, root your body down to feel the support of the ground and sit up straight. Most important, you can experiment with various meditation styles and types to pick the one you love the best. When your thoughts are moving even a tiny bit slower than normal, as they do when you focus them on the count of your breath or a mantra, you create space for inspiration. Listen to the space between your breath and find your own ‘mantra’
WRITING
Writinig is the most powerful creativity, ritual I know. When you journal or do morning pages or free-writing over time, you’ll begin to hear your own inspiration and inner guidance with incredible clarity. A daily writing practice gives you a place to go every day of your life to deposit your dramas, grudges and resentments, so you become more resilient and less stressed, less anxious. Your thoughts get clearer. You will solve problems with less effort. You will become better and better at spotting opportunities. You’ll soon figure out what Julia Cameron said: “free-writing is like a spiritual windshield”.
AFFIRMATIONS
When we have inner roadblocks in the form of long-practiced limiting, fear-based, doubtful or negative thoughts. I encourage you to practice a set of affirmations that align with positive thoughts and beliefs we need to instill in our mental programming in order to sidestep the inner conflicts and inner roadblocks of negative thinking. The only way to give your new, powerful, positive thoughts a real chance at taking priority over the old ones is to practice the new thoughts intentionally and daily, building an affirmation practice into your daily ritual. If you like you can create a visual board as a reminder. In mine I wrote and paste to my fridge:
I am worthy, I am enough, I am valuable, I am loved, I matter.
MOVEMENT
The movement element of your daily ritual should be a few moments of movement to turn on your chakras, warm your body and start engaging it with the physical world around you as you start your day: a grounding daily ritual is not necessarily the same as your workout or even your yoga practice. I personally love to do: dance as nobody is watching and a brief brisk walk outside. Then I do my yoga practice, a bike ride for the day.
Yoga Holidays and Travel 
2 thoughts on “Daily Rituals to keep you Calm”