Top ten tips on how self love can manifest for you during the season of love and beyond.

Here are a few tips to help you towards a more harmonised and  loving relationship with yourself this February and beyond.

1. Journaling: Journaling is great way to release the mind and put things on paper that no one needs to know or see, this practice can help you identify positive and negative behavioural patterns that can help you either compensate or elevate your behaviour.

2. Mediating: One of our favourites self-care tools is mediating at MamaSia, we openly encourage each other to take 5mins a day whilst in the office, for a moment for stillness if things seem a bit to heavy throughout the day. Mediating for 5 mins a day can help clear your mind, whilst improving your mood, as well as boosting brain function, minimise stress. Meditation helps slow down the ageing process and support a healthy digestive system.

3. Yoga: By now we are all sure that most of us have either practiced yoga or we know someone that does, not only can it help improve your self-esteem and digestion practicing yoga everyday for a minimum of 20mins can help improve your overall wellbeing, reduce stress, improve your mood, help with flexibility, reduce high blood pressure and help manage your weight.

4. Breath Work: Our in-house Breath Coach Maame, said she took up breathwork because her yoga teacher would always emphasis on using your breath to get into postures and when she realised the breaths impact being a wellness advocate she wanted to explore Breathing in more depth, she found it even more startling to learn that when you are in  control of your breath you can control how you respond to life as the breath helps to govern our thoughts and feelings as well as managing our digestion, anxiety, hormones plus more. See more details about Maame’s Sessions here

5. Massage: A great way of self-care can be done through physical touch. As we cycle through the season of love this could be the perfect time to get or give a massage to yourself or loved one. Not only does it help with deep relaxation, it also helps with being in touch with your body and the subconscious mind and in that moment you are honouring your body by putting some physical emphasis on it’s need to be rejuvenated and loved. Some other benefits include helping the immune system improve, lowering blood pressure and it helping with circulation, energy and alertness. Why not use our Shea Amethyst which is formulated with lavender essential oil and shea butter, which is great for a relaxing massage. The lavender oil is an excellent aid to combat anxiety, encourage a calm mood and ease insomnia. It is also perfect if you have any cuts or wounds on the skin’s surface and last but not least it is also aphrodisiac, so this is the ideal butter to get a love one in the mood if that is the aim!

6. Socialising: Not only is socialising a great reason to be outdoors and see what is happening in the outer world around us, it also provides us with opportunity to strengthen our brain’s health, it also tells our subconscious mind that we are safe and secure in our surroundings.

7. Affirmations: Positive self- talk is one of the key ways to be kind to yourself and encourage more self – love for you and to others. Hearing the same words in a repetitive sequence will have a positive impact on your mind and wellbeing. The mind has the capabilities to create snapshots of life commonly known as memories, so when we are intentional about what we are saying to ourselves it’s sure to have a positive impact on our wellbeing. Why not write and record some affirmations or download some from YouTube to get you started.

8. Dancing: Dance as if no one is watching and even if they are who cares! Dance is a something that we do naturally when we hear music, and it can be quite liberating. Dancing has been proven to help promote better brain health, reduce depression, improve flexibility, minimise stress and provide a healthier heart, so there’s no excuse to be the one standing against the wall now you know what your dancing shoes can do for your health.

9. Drink more water!: We are made up of 70% of water and so as we release water through perspiration, urinating and all the other bodily functions, its no wonder that we are told to keep hydrated and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. There are so many benefits of drinking water, however here are a few key take-aways for your self-care journey; Water helps eradicate waste from the body, it helps the brain function, it helps maintain a balanced nervous system and protect the spinal cord and other delicate tissues in the body.

10. Sleeping: Well with all these activities you’re going to need to rest and so you can have more time to play when you wake up. When our sleep is improved, we are naturally better to ourselves and others. Getting enough sleep lowers the risk of getting ill or encountering serious health issues like diabetes and heart disease, we are also able to reduce stress and think more clearly and do better at our work or if we are studying.