“Self-care” has been a buzzword as of late, but it’s a lot more than bath bombs and massages. There’s no “quick fix” for self-care. For as important and necessary as it is to practice, it’s essential to figure out long-term solutions that make self-care a habit, not a happenstance.
Casa Tara Retreat is a wellness resort in Mexico, and we are all about making self-care a lifetime ritual. We believe that caring for oneself is maybe the most important thing that you as a human can do. We’d also like to think that we’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out how to make self-care an integral part of day-to-day life, and we’re happy to share our insights. Find out more from Casa Tara Retreat, and look into our luxurious beach resort rooms, yoga retreats, activities, and so much more.
One of the first steps to implementing long-term self-care is recognizing that this needs to be a daily practice. Just as we sleep every night (or try to) and eat every day, self-care is necessary for our overall regulation and management.
Start getting into the habit of setting aside time for yourself every single day. Even if you just use 5-15 minutes coming up with a plan for self-care, it’s setting yourself on the right track for long-term success.
Our bodies are pretty good at knowing what we need, we just don’t always pay attention to them (or know how to). We can tell when we’re tired and need to go to bed, but often push ourselves to stay up later and get more things done. We have a pretty good idea of how we’ll feel after eating two of those office donuts that seem to always be around, but we start to crash around 2 p.m. and eat them as a pick-me-up regardless.
A lot of self-care involves answering the following questions: What does my body need right now? How can I best serve it? Sometimes that’s as simple as drinking more water, other times it’s taking your kiteboard out for a spin before you hit the waves at our wellness resort. Either way, get in the habit of listening to what your body is trying to tell you.
Casa Tara Retreat may seem biased (after all, our wellness resort offers some pretty amazing yoga retreats in Mexico), but yoga is something that every single person should take up. It’s good for your physical, mental, and spiritual health, and virtually everyone who takes a yoga class regularly is glad that they do so.
Meditation and breathing regulation are some of the best and quickest ways to soothe a racing and anxious mind. Yoga teaches all of these things, and has a positive impact on the body (and your pursuits of self-care as a whole) even when you’re off the mat.
A lot of the push for self-care came from realizing that people are overworked and overstressed. Our wellness resort cannot stress enough (no pun intended) the importance of journaling. Writing is an amazing tool for processing emotions and thoughts, and it’s also instrumental for ongoing reflection — a necessary component of growth. Whether you’re taking 10 minutes to write about your day or reflecting on how you’re taking care of yourself, we guarantee you’ll feel better afterwards.
Human connection is why we are all here. We begin to feel worse when we feel isolated — in fact, loneliness has been proven to contribute to heart problems, depression, increased stress, and even changes in the brain.
However, any introvert will tell you that social engagements can be exhausting — though of course, a lot of this comes from being around the wrong (for you) people. Maintaining strong, healthy, authentic relationships with others who you’re close to is an essential piece to the self-care puzzle. And if you are able to build on these connections by escaping to our wellness resort oasis, we think that’s an excellent idea!
With that being said, practicing self-care as an individual is one of the best ways to sustain those human connections. We’d run ourselves to the ground if we were constantly surrounded by people and never setting apart alone time. It’s a balance to strive for — we need human connection for our own wellness, and we need our own wellness to sustain human connections.
There are a number of other self-care habits to put in place for your long-term health and happiness, which we will continue in our next blog. At Casa Tara Retreat, we want everyone to feel their most relaxed, content, and happy at our wellness resort. But we don’t want these feelings of bliss to only be experienced while you stay with us. We want these tips to help you, even when you’re not on vacation in Baja California. Stay tuned for our next blog, and for the ultimate lesson in self-care, book your stay with Casa Tara Retreat!