The holidays are upon us! Excited or Worried? Or maybe lost? The true question is what will you make of this holiday season? I don't mean for everybody else I mean for yourself. What will you make of it for you? How will you keep yourself healthy mind, body, and spirit during this holiday season? For some the holidays are an exciting time a time to congregate with peers, loved ones and family members. It is a time to focus on gathering together, embracing the experiences collectively. Holiday time also means, time to make sure that you can keep yourself together, and not get lost in craze of the season. The holidays are a great time for some and for other not so much. So how does one remain emotionally, mentally, and physically fit? I'm here to share a few pointers on how to remain grounded and fit this holiday.
One of the ways I advise others to remain emotionally, mentally, and physically fit through the holiday season is by engaging your 5 senses. It is by no surprise that the holiday months are fill with aromatics. So best things to do in this situation is use this to your advantage. Just think about it if I mention peppermint what is the first thing that comes to mine or the top three things that come to mind? Our brains use our senses to connect us to memories and to connect us to feelings. During this holiday season use all your senses to assist you and feeling more grounded and more connected to yourself and to the moment that you are experiencing.
Let's start with smell:
First Find a scent that makes you smile or makes you feel good every time you think about it
Next find the modality in which you want to smell the scent. Will you use a candle, essential oils or an air freshener? Different smells can connect to an old memory or can help you create a new ones.
Next use this smell in moments of stress or moment where you need a little pick me up.
Finally and the most important piece it stope and take 3 slow deep breaths and with intention come back to the present bringing that ground or happy feeling back with you. Notice how you feel and notice where you feel it the most in your body. It also helps to envision the stress or the worry slowly dissipating from your body.
What we just did was engaged our mind (going back to a memory that makes us feel good), engaged our body (recognizing where we feel this experience in our body. This is often the same place where we feel stress in our body, but it does always have to be). You can also take this smell and add it to a lotion or add it to any base oils to create a relaxing body oil. We engaged our spirit (identifying what is it that really would make us happy about that smell.
Let try one more example and move on to sight:
First find an image of a person , place or thing that makes you feel relaxed, grounded, or calm.
Next find the modality in which you want to display of view this image. Is this something you need as a screen savor on your phone, television or computer? Or maybe it's a photo but you pull.
Next meditate on this image and connect to the feelings that you feel from it. Identify the emotions that come up when looking at this image.
And finally and the most important piece it stop and take 3 slow deep breaths and with intention come back to the present bringing the feelings from that image with you. Notice how you feel and notice where you feel it the most in your body. Envision the stress or the worry slowly disappearing.
Our 5 senses are not only tools that we use to help us navigate and make sense of the world they’re also tools to that sever as time capsules. These time capsules allow us to travel back in time or to a foreseeable future where the stress of the moment do not exist. Amazing, right?! Now it is important to not e that this are temporary tools of relief. Living too much in the future or too much in the past don’t actually keep us from facing the things that are necessary for growth and expansion in our lives. This is what we call disassociating. Disassociating it a coping techniques but when done too much, for too long, we start to lose touch with reality and thus avoid life all together. This is often why sometime some people feel stuck in the past or stuck in the future. So find the balance and this holiday and don’t be afraid to set those Boundaries and say “No.” Let’s fine ways of our entire being whole and healthy.
Now I didn’t go over the other sense but use the format above to help you navigate tapping in your sense and bringing a sense or calmness, peace and clarity to your holiday. Be sure to check our Instagram post on more ways to stay fit during the holidays season. Here's the Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/cestclairholistictherapy/
Peace, Love, and Light!
-Nakita
Namaste
"I honor the spacing you where loving beauty dwells, and when I honor that spacing you, and you in turn honor that's space in me then we are truly in a state of oneness. So From my heart to yours, Namaste."