by Daniel Sannito: We’re faced, every day, with stress, anxiety, and an overwhelming amount of stimuli…
Our bodies, our minds, and our spirits absorb each of our experiences and store all of them in some capacity. With so much tension being held in our space, the commitment to engage in daily practices rooted in compassion, love, tenderness, and gratitude can be pivotal parts of our healing.
What I know to be true in my practice is, when I give myself permission to nurture myself, to take up space in my own schedule, I am telling myself that I am worthy and deserving of care. That level of permission is the first step, it doesn’t have to be a 2 hour long practice each day, 5 or 15 minutes of intentional time is a perfect reminder.
When I’m caught in a web of tasks, calendar events, meetings, and deadlines, I leave little space in my schedule to access this key balance. When I make time for my practice, I’m reminded that no matter what I’m feeling or experiencing each day, no matter how busy my schedule might be, I remain just as worthy of being nurtured.
The power of nurturing your heart comes from a committed practice of embracing where you are without judgement or expectation. A committed practice to uplifting and honoring your own needs because you are worth that. When you embrace the power of nurturing your heart your world can be transformed at every level.
Get Grounded and Greet Your Whole Self
In order to move through this life with mindful intention, we must gain a deep understanding of ourselves. Getting grounded in an intimate knowing of not only who we are but how we are with each experience, we create a steady place to move from.
Setting your foundation within yourself is a great starting point as you embark upon the journey of tending to your heart. The invitation is to create this foundation from a place of curiosity.
Begin by trying these practices to explore what works best for you:
- Come to a seated, or lying down, meditation
- Roll out your mat for an asana practice
- Take a moment to pause, wherever you are, and take a few mindful breaths
Allow these moments of connection to be chances to inquire within. In this space of inquiry, you can learn to honor all of the thoughts, emotions, and feelings, without judgement or any desire to fix. Rooted in this space there is a new connection to your whole self and an understanding that each thought, each emotion, and each feeling is deserving of being seen and honored. With curiosity to learn and connect, you might begin to access more gentleness in all of the ways you hold space for yourself, tending to all pieces of you with compassion.
Allow your foundation to be rooted in compassion to find the steady ground you need as you move into practices that nurture your heart.
Let Each Moment Be an Opportunity to Nurture Yourself
We are able to truly blossom when we move from the fertile grounds of compassion. Our roots grow deep and strengthen with the commitment to a compassionate practice. From this space, we give ourselves full permission to show up exactly as we are in each moment. Knowing that every day is going to be slightly different as new experiences and emotions come can go.
When we show up and connect to ourselves in each new moment, we practice arriving with the intention to understand. Noticing how each experience is infused into our space and learning the messages that are being relayed. Another piece of this process is using the information we received to gently guide us towards the practices that nurture our needs best. Knowing that our needs will change moment to moment we gently become aware of what the highest call might be. Each moment is a new opportunity to understand, a new opportunity to transform how we relate to and connect with ourselves.
Express Gratitude for Every Version of You
The powerful practice of nurturing your heart is sustained and strengthened through gratitude. Specifically the expression of gratitude back towards ourselves. Taking time to receive gratitude from ourselves, we tap into our resilience and honor each phase of our journey. One of the most beautiful things about the practice of gratitude is that it can look any way you need it to on any given day. From journaling, writing a letter to yourself, speaking your gratitude out loud, or even strategically placing sticky notes around the house. This practice is always yours to be created in the way that serves you best.
Gratitude allows us to create a sustained practice that honors each part of the process, especially when we are tending to our hearts. Letting gratitude be felt for all that you have been and done up to this moment. Holding space for gratitude for all that you are in this present moment, as you continue to commit to your practices. And honoring all that you are becoming on this path in the beauty of your evolution.
Connect With Your Heart
As you evolve and create a tender place to land, with compassion, nurturing, and gratitude in mind, always take time to sit with what it feels like to be nurtured by your own heart. Find moments to pause and simply be with yourself. Let these intentional moments be saturated with self-love, a love that exists without condition or limitation.
Notice that when you let yourself be the receiver of your love it’s almost as if a door opens to deeper connection with your heart. In building this deep connection, this is the place where all of our actions, our words, and our thoughts can be created from. The more we nurture our own hearts, the more we are able to extend that same love and care out into the world around us.
Acknowledging the fact that this human experience is full of ups and downs and we will face stress and hardship, we must seek the practices that offer opportunities to truly nurture ourselves. Through these practices of awareness, compassion, and ultimately, love, notice how your world begins to shift. Allow the transformational power of nurturing yourself to radiate into all that surrounds you.
