‘Mind care’ is at the heart of wellness’, says our founder in this month’s column for Get the Gloss. Here, she shares what she’s learned about ‘shame-flammation’, the supplement she wishes she’d had in menopause and the surprising mental benefits of coffee enemas!
So much of the wellness discussion focuses on skincare and haircare these days, but experience has led me to prioritise what I like to call, ‘mind care’. I believe it’s at the heart of all wellness because without it, we are ungrounded, disconnected, irritable and unable to contribute our best.
We create our lives from our thoughts and attitudes. Maintaining a calm and productive state enables us to achieve much more and to live with purpose. To ensure that our thoughts remain self-fulfilling and that they are our own, requires cultivating a clear, still inner domain, where we consciously endeavour to remain unaffected by external influences. Genuine ‘mind care’ involves inner practices and disciplines that enable us to shine our authentic self into the world.
Here are some of the mind care practices I have found helpful to anchor a calm, beautiful mindset.
1. Create a sacred space
It can be very helpful to create a ‘sacred space’ or somewhere quiet where you know you can be in peace. At home, I have a room where I can shut the door and it’s warm, quiet and comfortable. I have a nice big chair in there and I can play music if I like but I’ve arranged it so everyone knows not to disturb me. I can meditate or just contemplate my next steps or priorities, even reconnect with my inner sense around opportunities in my life and business. A ‘sacred space’ can be organised at home or in a hotel room or even outside just by setting your boundaries, setting up your surroundings, and letting others know. Creating a sacred space is an essential self-loving practice.
My home tends to be quite organised, making it easy for me to find things, especially when on the run. Most things are labelled and put away in their allotted place so I can find things effortlessly. This also means I’m not buying two of everything simply because I can’t find it - it saves time and money!
My bedroom is uncluttered and I don’t have a TV in it so my sleeping space is clear of distraction. I have books by the bed and a journal, plus I take hydration to my room every night so I can drink about a litre of water as soon as I wake, a hydration protocol that helps set the time of the day. I have spring water in a glass with juice of one lime and 1/8 teaspoon of Celtic Sea Salt per litre.
My colour scheme is eggshell white, which I find very soothing. I make sure I have everything I need close at hand so I can support the practices I feel are valuable to my wellbeing.
2. Take some quiet time to go inwards
I meditate daily and make time for quiet reflection. I’ve foundthis guided meditation from my spiritual mentor,Paul Darrol Walsh to be very helpful and I recommend doing it every day for 21 days.
It only takes 30 minutes in the morning or evening and you’ll be amazed at the changes you’ll witness in your capacity to let go of self-limiting habits that lie unnoticed in our cellular memory, and which can often triggering us to re-act (act again) to life. We re-act our past traumas and conditioning, often unable to overcome them or change what seems overwhelming or nonsensical. Meditation offers us the clarity to see all of these narratives unfolding, often enabling us to attract opportunities in order to stop repeating them.
3. Step away from ‘shame-flammation’
I believe in living through a holistic lens, keeping body, emotions, mind and spirit in sync, knowing that they work optimally when they are aligned. An anti-inflammation diet works best for my body. Dr Will Cole’s book Gut Feelings is full of insights on this. I absolutely love his use of the word ‘shame-flammation’, which I can certainly identify with. It’s basically referring to stress-induced inflammation, stemming from chronic worry, anxiety and depression.
As Dr Cole puts it in his bookGut Feelings, shame can put a halt on physical healing: “Studies have even found thatshame can impact your ability to heal from sickness, make healthy choices, and stay healthy overall with some researchers describing shame as ‘insidious, pervasive, and pernicious’.“
When we feel well, we are much more capable of digesting life on life’s terms, and gain valuable meaning and benefit from our experiences; we are more able to shine our unique inner light onto everything we do and be and soThe Super Elixir™ which supports all 11 systems of the body, also plays an instrumental part in my physical wellbeing.
4. Respect the vagus nerve
You can’t have a happy nervous system with an unhappy vagus nerve. Part of loving and respecting our nervous system is knowing how it works. The vagus nerve sits within the parasympathetic (rest, digest and heal) nervous system and dictates everything from our mood and immune response to our heart rate. Think of the vagus nerve as your body’s biggest fan, sweet talking your fight or flight system so you can enjoy greater states of calm and clarity and, in turn, quality of life. It revels in connectedness, regulation and physical health – anything to keep you strong and resilient.
You can make your vagus nerve healthy through conscious breathing, singing, laughing, cold immersion therapy and connectedness. They all appease the vagus nerve and are the cornerstones of good mind care.
Keep reading Elle’s column over atGet the Gloss.