What gifts are you giving yourself this holiday season?
I am giving myself the gift of several self-vulnerability dates where I carve out time to meditate, reflect, journal, write poetry, and create art (drawings and collages) about the ups, downs, and in-betweens of this year.
This morning, I reflected on my 61st birthday which is fast approaching (December 18th). My reflections took me back to my first trip to Negril, Jamaica with my Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Soror Karla Ray Thompson in December 1992. That trip was really special because I turned 28 on the beach and surrendered to my first Saturn Return (astrology lovers like myself can appreciate this experience).
That trip offered me sacred and safe space to embrace and express self-vulnerability. That experience of telling myself the TRUTH about what I felt, thought, believed, and what was and was not happening in my world was MESSY, SCARY, MAGICAL, OVERWHELMING, and LIBERATING all at the same time. It helped me speak to my heart, listen to myself without judgment, and come home to myself. It marked the beginning of a major shift in how I showed up in my life, relationships, and career. It also laid the foundation for my Thriving Mindfully heart-centered approach to being, living, and serving humanity with my gifts.
Click on the video and listen to the “Thriving Mindfully Theme,” one of the nine spoken word poems on my newly released debut album entitled Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter.
Click the button below to get more information about my album. Buy and download it from Bandcamp, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and other streaming platforms except Amazon and Spotify.
It’s been 33 years since that trip and my heart remains filled with deep gratitude for the gift of self-vulnerability that I continue to give myself and my Thriving Mindfully approach to being, living, and serving humanity with my gifts.
Do you want to learn how to give yourself the gift of self-vulnerability?
Need my coaching support?
GO HERE to sign up to join me for Thriving Mindfully Sundays on December 14th and January 4th from 3:00 p.m. EST to 4:00 p.m. EST via Zoom
I look forward to seeing you at one or both of the Thriving Mindfully Sunday sessions.
This month has me walking down memory lane, giving thanks for, and reflecting on my yoga journey which began 30 years ago with an African American yoga teacher from Detroit who taught the class on a cruise down the Nile that was a part of an African American culture and history tour to Kemet (Egypt) led by author and scholar Anthony Browder.
Twenty years ago, I started my yoga teacher training with Flow Yoga Center in Washington, D.C. and began learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine and the power of acupuncture. I also booked my first acupuncture appointment and began incorporating Traditional Chinese Medicine wisdom and rituals of each season into my life.
Did you know that in Chinese medicine, the autumn season is associated with the lungs and slowing down, reflecting, refueling, focusing on the mind and soul, and release thoughts, beliefs, behavior, emotions, expectations, experiences, stories, and relationships that no longer serve you?
As I’ve slowed down and reflected in my journal and conversations, I have noted what causes me to experience “The Big V” better known as VULNERABILITY and how my responses create stagnation, struggle, and suffering. I’ve also decided to seek and use healthier ways to respond to VULNERABILITY.
So far, my journey down the yellow brick road of VULNERABILITY has taught me that it can be messy, frustrating, uncomfortable AF, and painful. It shows up when I fall back into having to know and control everything; perfectionism caused by my inner critic’s need to pressure me to achieve based on unrealistic expectations (ESPECIALLY LEARNING NEW THINGS ON THE TENNIS COURTS THAT DON’T COME EASY — WATCH VIDEO BELOW); unworthiness born out of comparison, self-criticism, and self-judgment; and the fears of what will happen to the United States in the coming months and years, not having enough financially, and how aging will impact my body.
I am also learning that VULNERABILITY is an invitation to come home to myself and a CHOICE I get to make that can either create stagnation, struggle, and suffering OR softness, strength, and stability. I am choosing softness, strength, and stability!
Watch the video below to learn more about VULNERABILITY as an invitation to come home to yourself.
REFLECTIONS FOR YOU
I’d love to hear your responses to the questions below. Share in the comment section below.
What’s causing you to experience VULNERABILITY in your life, relationships, or career?
How are you responding to your VULNERABILITY?
RESOURCE #1: MUSIC
The energy of this week’s Super Full Moon in Aries is my heart-centered reminder to find and express courage in facing my vulnerabilities by slowing down and coming home to my REAL self with loving kindness, compassion, nonjudgment, patience, and forgiveness. I call that heart-centered awareness, THRIVING MINDFULLY!
Click on the video below to listen to my “Thriving Mindfully” theme song and learn more about heart-centered awareness (album release on November 20th). Garnet Jackson (Garnet Jay), music producer and founder of the London-based Footprint Productions, produced the album!
RESOURCE #2: WATCH VIDEO RECORDING OF THRIVE@WORK WEBINAR & LEARN HOW TO EMRBACE THRIVING MINDFULLY AS AN IMPERFECTIONIST.
NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, AND JANUARY EVENTS
Join me for Thriving Mindfully Sundays on November 30, December 14, and January 4 from 3 p.m. ET to 4 p.m. ET.
Thriving Mindfully Sundays is a series of three virtual community gatherings that will offer you safe space and coaching support to tap into your VULNERABILITY, a lifeline to heart-centered awareness. I call that heart-centered awareness Thriving Mindfully.
During Thriving Mindfully Sundays, you will have an opportunity to:
-Identify and explore what’s making you vulnerable (examples: perfectionism, comparison, unworthiness, self-criticism, self-judgment, unrealistic expectations, aging, grief, health or financial issues, societal or political events, fears, or life/career/relationship changes)
-Learn how to use the five Thriving Mindfully core commitments to embrace your vulnerability and face whatever has caused you to experience stagnation, struggle, and suffering.
-Develop your Thriving Mindfully strategy and plan to soften, strengthen, and stabilize yourself as you step into your next chapter of living.
Need one-on-one support navigating change in your life, relationships, and career?
I currently have space for YOU as a Thriving Mindfully coaching or human design client.
Click here to learn more about my 1:1 Thriving Mindfully as the REAL YOU coaching program and schedule a free 30-minute call to discuss how we can work together.
Go here to learn more about my human design session.
Does your organization or community need a keynote speaker, coach, and/or trainer?
Click here to learn about my mindful living, mindful technology, and mindful creativity services.
FINAL THOUGHTS
May you and your family be safe, peaceful, happy, and free from inner and outer harm.
Love, Ease, Grace, Wisdom, Joy, Health, Abundance, and Quantum Alignment,
On my walk to the tennis courts last week, I had conversations with my inner critic archetype, Broomfield a/k/a Broomie and inner child/little girl archetype, Puf that helped me face self-care sabotage with JOY!
What a juicy conversation we had that reminded me of how powerful JOY is! Watch my latest video to learn what happened.
How do you define JOY?
What does JOY feel and look like in your life?
For me, JOY is a choice to become aware of and rejoice in the JUICY moments that OPEN YOU up from the inside out. The JUICY moments are filled with goodness. When you can make this choice and appreciate and experience your own JOY, you are able to develop the capacity to rejoice in the goodness of others. That’s called sympathetic joy or mudita. It starts first with you.
Here’s some Thriving Mindfully food for thought. I invite you to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Need help practicing self-care and/or facing your self-care sabotage?
Click the buttons below to get my Thriving Mindfully self-care resources and sign up for Thriving Mindfully Mondays and/or my Thriving Mindfully as an Imperfectionist session for the Thrive@Work Series: How to Thrive at Work During Change and Uncertainty this month.
I’ve been writing and publishing my poetry chapbooks, novel, and memoirs since 1992. It’s wild to think that I have been learning and growing as a poet and author for over 30+ years.
Did you know I have written three mindfulness books that reflect aspects of my life journey?
Click the button below to learn about and purchase them online.
–Love’s Troubadours, a self-love and yoga-inspired novel that is based on some parts of my life and imagination –That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir –Digital Sisterhood, a mindful technology memoir
I am currently writing my midlife memoir, Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter and working on the release of my debut spoken word album, “Theresa’s Daughter.”
Contact me (ananda@anandaleeke.com) if you or your organization or book club would like me to speak about or facilitate a book discussion about one of my books.
Astrological retrogrades are all about self-discovery and lessons learned. They invite us to deeply connect with, reflect, and know ourselves from the inside out. They also give us an opportunity to dive deep inside of ourselves and explore how each planet in retrograde and the signs they are transiting impact us.
Mercury Retrograde is one of my favorite astrological retrogrades. It is connected to the fast-moving planet Mercury. Mercury’s energy impacts communication, technology, and travel. For me, Mercury Retrograde is an invitation to slow down, become present, and practice my birthright of mindfulness in how I think, communicate, and connect with myself and others. It happens three or four times each year. When it arrives, it hangs around for approximately three weeks.
A few years ago, I renamed my personal Mercury Retrograde to Mercury Upgrade because I began to appreciate its energy and the lessons I learned that opened my heart up to be more present, well, and the REAL ME. In short, Mercury Upgrade helps me embrace Thriving Mindfully in my life, relationships, and career.
During the early days of the global pandemic in 2020, I began observing and embracing Mercury’s shadow period which happens two weeks before and two weeks after the actual retrograde. I consider the pre and post-shadow periods as my VIP Mini Mercury Upgrades. That means I get approximately 7 whole weeks 3 to 4 times a year to practice mindful self-care as I review and recommit to thinking, communicating, connecting, and using technology in mindful, intentional, and healthy ways.
Last night, I led my Thriving Mindfully Academy’s monthly mindful self-care class that incorporated the May theme of “Strengthen Yourself,” Digital Wellness Month, and Mercury Upgrade (my name for Mercury Retrograde that starts May 10 and ends June 3) into breathing exercises, gentle movement, affirmations, mantra chanting, meditation, and mindful reflection and journaling.
The class gave the Thriving Mindfully Academy members an opportunity to check-in with themselves about:
■how they are using technology
■their struggles with technology (digital distraction, digital overload, social media comparison, digital time overdosing, and tension and tightness in the body)
■stress caused by their use of technology
■one step they can take to practice digital wellness during May and Mercury Retrograde
At the end of the class, I encouraged Thriving Mindfully Academy members to use our self-led Digital Wellness Month Challenge as invitation to take better care of themselves. I also shared my recent reflection on the number of years I have had 24/7/365 access to technology at home. It started in 1996. That means it’s been 26 years. I didn’t realize I needed to practice digital wellness until I experienced digital overload and burnout after publishing my self-love and yoga-inspired novel, Love’s Troubadours. My coach Yael Flusberg brought it to my attention during one of our conversations in 2008. That was a light bulb moment that shined light on making digital wellness a priority.
I am using Digital Wellness Month and Mercury Retrograde to release and forgive my social media comparison habits about my journey as an entrepreneur that have wreaked havoc on my nervous system. It’s a process (fo’ sure)! My mindful self-care practices of deep breathing, meditation, affirmations, tapping, reiki, and yoga are helping me take better care of my nervous system. I am also easing up on the amount of time I spend online and downsizing my social media with indefinite tech breaks on Facebook and Twitter.
If you’re ready to get my coaching support in a safe community as a Thriving Mindfully Academy member, click the button below. Email me at ananda@anandaleeke.com if you have questions.
2020 and 2021 were hard years for many of us due to the COVID-19 pandemic, personal and family health issues, the death of loved ones, racial injustice, remote work and learning, economic challenges, divisive politics, and more.
Perhaps you struggled with the basic decisions required to navigate daily life because each day was filled with new levels of uncertainty and the fear of the unknown.
The uncertainty and the fear of unknown may have created a revolving door of choices that changed how you handled your daily routines.
Keeping up with these choices and changes may have created or increased your stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, and/or physical and mental health issues.
What’s more, you may still face these issues in 2022.
How has it all impacted your life, relationships, and career?
How are you planning to navigate 2022?
Mindful self-care is one of the best ways you can nurture yourself as you navigate 2022.
So what does mindful self-care mean?
Let’s start with understanding mindfulness. Mindfulness is your birthright. That’s right. You were born with it.
Mindfulness is the ability to be aware of what’s happening inside and outside of yourself in the present moment.
Self-care is the act of nurturing your spirit, heart, mind, body, breath, and life in uplifting ways.
Like mindfulness, self-care is also your birthright that helps you outsmart stress when you experience pressure or a situation that exceeds your ability to cope.
Mindful self-care happens when you CHOOSE to pay attention to what’s happening inside and outside yourself in ways that nurture and uplift you.
CHOICE is the key word in your ability to practice mindful self-care.
Every year gives you a choice in how you show up in your life, relationships, and career. You get to exercise these choices monthly, weekly, and daily. Within each day, you get to choose how you show up.
Check out the amount of times you get to exercise your power of choice each year.
-12 months
-52 weeks
-365 days
-8,760 hours
-525,600 minutes
-31,536,000 seconds
That’s a lot of choices, right?
I invite you to use your power of choice to practice my signature mindful self-care exercise called H.U.G. today.
Before you get started, here are a few things you should know.
My self-hugging journey started during the first weeks of the pandemic in March 2020. When I realized I would not be able to see or hug my loved ones in person, I started to panic. Stress and anxiety from the fear of the unknown set in. My eating and sleeping patterns were disrupted. I spent way too much time online. My news consumption was at an all-time high. Every aspect of my well-being was suffering. In addition, my clients were also struggling in similar ways. When I checked in with them, I learned we all shared a common concern: unable to give and receive hugs.
In an effort to nurture myself and support them, I did some research on hugging. I learned that going without hugging for long periods can impact your emotional, mental, and physical well-being. I also learned hugging helps to boost serotonin, the happiness hormone that is produced and spread by neurons in the brain. Feeling more happiness strengthens your well-being.
All of this information inspired me to experiment with self-hugging. That experiment strengthened my well-being and led me to become a self-hug advocate.
Check out the benefits of self-hugging.
Hugging yourself is FREE and takes less than one minute. A self-hug is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
When you hug yourself, your body releases the hormone, oxytocin, the “love hormone.” Oxytocin helps reduce stress and tension by lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body. It also lowers blood pressure, slows the heart rate, and improves moods.
Hugging yourself for 20 seconds or more is a serotonin booster. Serotonin is known as the “feel good” hormone that is produced and spread by neurons in the brain. It helps you feel happy, calm, and confident.
What is H.U.G.and Are You Ready to Choose It?
Over the past two years, I have used my self-hugging journey to develop H.U.G., a one-minute mindful self-care practice that has helped my clients and Thriving Mindfully Academy members nurture themselves and navigate stress no matter what’s happening in the world.
H.U.G. is an acronym for
-Handle
-Uncertainty & the Unknown with
-Grace, Grounding & Gratitude
Now it’s time for you to H.U.G. yourself!
There are many ways to hug yourself. Feel free to use my Thriving Mindfully Academy’s self-hugging tips below.
1) Open your heart and claim your birthright of mindful self-care. Why? Because you have GRACE. That means you don’t have do anything to receive it. You get it just because you are you. When you claim your mindful self-care birthright and allow yourself space to experience GRACE, you are also giving yourself a dose of self-compassion and self-kindness.
2) Take a moment to slow down and breathe deeply. Try 1-3 deep breaths. As you breathe, notice how your breath and body feel. Guess what? You are practicing mindful self-care and living in the present moment. That’s GROUNDING.
3) Give yourself a hug for 20 seconds or more. Breathe deeply as you notice what’s happening in your body during your hug. Feel free to gently rock back and forth while hugging yourself.
4) After you hug yourself, reflect on what you are grateful for. It will lead you to GRATITUDE.
Need more help?
Click on the buttons below to sign up for my FREE webinar on January 19th and January 26th at 8-8:45 PM ET and January 23rd at 4-4:45 PM ET. The same information will be shared in each webinar.
Invite 5 family members and friends to join you. See you in the webinar!
July was a powerful self-care month in the lives of three of my favorite women athletes, Naomi Osaka, a 23-year old Japanese-Haitian American world tennis champion and entrepreneur; Simone Biles, a 24-year old African-American Olympic gymnast; and Simone Manuel, a 24 year-old African-American Olympic swimmer. Each of these women of color have chosen to make their mental health, well-being, and self-care a priority. Watching them put themselves first above their demanding careers and public scrutiny has been a master class in what it means to embrace, embody, and express the radical self-care wisdom of African-American writer, womanist, and civil rights activist Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” I think we can all learn something from these self-care sheroes!
NAOMI OSAKA
Photo Credit: TIME Magazine
After watching Naomi step away from the French Open and withdraw from Wimbledon to prioritize her mental health, I read her essay in TIME and watched her Netflix documentary. Her courage to be vulnerable with herself and willingness to share her vulnerability on the world stage filled my heart with deep gratitude. Gratitude because here is a woman who clearly has her own personal issues (like the rest of us) and is deeply engaged in her own wellness journey, stepping out and shining a light on a topic most of society is hesitant to acknowledge, discuss, and address. In her TIME essay, she writes, “I do hope that people can relate and understand it’s OK to not be OK; and it’s OK to talk about it.”
SIMONE BILES
Photo Credit: Health Magazine
Naomi’s decision to speak openly, honestly, and from her heart inspired Simone Biles (“Simone B.”) when she decided to withdraw from the final individual all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games. During one of her interviews, Simone encouraged other athletes to “put mental health first, because if you don’t, then you’re not going to enjoy your sport and you’re not going to succeed as much as you want to.” She also reassured them, “it’s OK sometimes to even sit out the big competitions to focus on yourself, because it shows how strong of a competitor that you really are, rather than just battle through it.” Her mental health activism stems directly from the deep commitment she has made to herself to get help when needs it. In her most recent interview with Health Magazine, she shares how she uses the support of a psychologist, her family, and her boyfriend to navigate her life and career.
Like Naomi and Simone B., Simone Manuel (“Simone M.), represents a new wave of women of color who are using their global platform to champion mental health, well-being, and self-care as they express their own vulnerability and how they are nurturing themselves. Last year, Glamour Magazine interviewed Simone M. about the importance of mental health. Check out her candid response: “Mental health is so crucial because it contributes to how you navigate through this world and what you think of yourself. I’ve been seeing a sports psychologist since I was 15 and I use that to talk about my experiences as a Black swimmer and a Black woman in this world. I think that it genuinely has helped me be able to handle some of the hardships or the experiences that I’ve dealt with in my life. It’s such a powerful, powerful tool to be able to exercise your mind and strengthen your mind.”
Throughout the interview, she gives an inside look into her self-care which includes two of my favorite mindfulness practices, meditation and journaling. She urges us to resist numbing our feelings. She also reassures us that it’s okay to feel and talk about our emotions and listen to our bodies. I know she was following her own advice when she took a break from training after being diagnosed with overtraining syndrome earlier this year.
THE GEN Z + GEN X CONNECTION
When I look at these three 20-something women who represent my niece Jordan’s Gen Z generation and their self-care journey, I realize we share a similar path. As a 56 year-old African-American woman who sometimes self-identifies as a Gen X member, I remember what it felt like to be an overachieving stressed and time-pressed lawyer and investment banker in my late 20s and early 30s. My self-worth was tied to my career. When my career didn’t produce the success I expected, my mental health and well-being were nonexistent. With the support of my parents, family, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority sisters, Howard University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center classmates, friends, and a therapist, I started to recognize how important it was to ground myself in self-care. It became the foundation for how I currently live my life. It also inspired me to express my creativity as a writer and an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Hospital. In addition, it led me to study and become a certified yoga and meditation teacher, a reiki master and sound healing practitioner, and a digital wellness educator. Today, I am blessed to use my experience and expertise in my work with people of all ages who are struggling with self-care as the Chief Mindfulness Officer of my wellness company, Ananda Leeke Consulting, and the founder of the Thriving Mindfully Community and Academy.
As I closed out July, I decided to write a thank you to letter Naomi, Simone B., and Simone M. for showing up as their REAL selves. Check out what I had to say.
Dear Naomi, Simone B., and Simone M.,
Your courage to stand up, speak your truth from your heart, say HELL NO to society’s hustle culture, and say HELL YES to your mental health, well-being, and self-care has become a powerful gift to all of us Black and Brown women, women of color, all women and girls, and folks on Mother Earth.
You are showing many of us how to declare our self-care independence unapologetically.
Your choice to honor yourself on the global stage is helping some of us see what it means to be vulnerable, loving, kind, gentle, and compassionate with ourselves. When we see you, we are able to look in the mirror and see folks who look just like us claim and practice their birthright of mental health, well-being, and self-care.
Without even knowing it, you are helping us all recommit ourselves to a healthier life mission. One where we are humans being instead of humans doing. One that carves out a public pathway to self-care beyond survival, the very thing Dr. Maya Angelou spoke about in her ancestral wisdom statement: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.”
One last thing! I wrote a poem, “What’s Next: A Lifeline to Stop Doing, Start Being” that expresses what this thank you letter could not. Watch a video of me reading it below.
Deeply grateful,
Ananda
Check out the IG Live conversationI had with Xina Eiland, President of X+PR, co-founder of Unmute, and co-host of the Get Found Get Funded podcast on August 1, 2021, about the impact of Naomi, Simone B., and Simone M.’s decision to prioritize their mental health and self-care.
SELF-CARE SUPPORT FOR READERS
Just in case you need self-care support, I invite you to do three things.
Go here to take my self-care survey (4 easy questions that take less than 5 minutes to answer).
Click here to claim your complimentary membership in my Thriving Mindfully Community, a digital sacred space that inspires you to nurture, transform, and celebrate your life and career.
If you wanna deepen your wellness commitment and expand your personal growth journey with my support, join me for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Master Class on August 4th at 8–9:15 PM ET or August 7th at 1–2:15 PM ET. Click on the links below.
-Buy your ticket here for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Master Class on August 4th at 8–9:15 PM ET
-Buy your ticket here for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Master Class on August 7th at 1–2:15 PM ET
I love Wellness Wednesdays because they give me a chance to check-in with myself and clients on how we are taking care of ourselves. That ‘s why I am reaching out to you today.
How are you doing this week?
How are you starting and ending your days?
What mindful self-care practices are working?
Who or what are getting in your way?
What resources do you need to take better care of yourself?
This week I started my mornings with my personal practice of prayer, meditation, reiki, and yoga. I also had an opportunity to lead two mindfulness meditation sessions at the Nonprofit Technology Network’s virtual conference. During the sessions, I reminded everyone we get 1,440 minutes each day. We can choose to use one or more of these minutes to practice mindful self-care. I encouraged folks to use the Spring Homework (mentioned in the graphic above) to check-in with themselves and recommit to self-care.
Need more support with mindful self-care? Join me for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Spring Virtual Retreat on Saturday, March 27th at 7-9:30 PM ET.
During the virtual retreat, you will:
Practice mindful self-care with deep breathing exercises, a mindfulness meditation with self-touch, and gentle chair yoga
Learn how to align and manage your energy with the wisdom of the Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox, Winter Solstice, New Moon, Full Moon, and crystal therapy
Participate in an intuitive movement exercise and a sound bath meditation that will help you open your heart to release and forgive
Reflect on and journal about what’s working and not working in your life and career, and what’s getting in your way
Set intentions and identify the resources, action steps, and accountability support you need to manifest who you want to be and what you want to manifest in your life and career
Create a self-celebration plan to appreciate your small, medium, and big wins
A Zoom video link will be emailed to you once you register for the online retreat. Get your ticket here:March 27th Retreat at 7-9:30 PM ET.
Can you believe the Spring season begins on March 20th and the first quarter of the this year ends on March 31st?
How are you planning to welcome the new season and second quarter into your life, career, and/or business?
My Spring Self-Care Commitment & Personal Retreat
For me, Spring is about fresh starts, new beginnings, new ideas, and new possibilities. It is a time of rebirth and renewal. I welcome Spring into my life as my second new year. For the past several years, I have used the astrological calendar and moon cycles to create personal retreats during the Spring Equinox, New Moon, and Full Moon. My personal retreats help me rest, restore, and recharge my spirit, heart, mind, and body. They allow me to slow down, become still, breathe deeply, and practice mindful self-care. They also help me recommit to myself by reflecting on how I started the year, exploring the lessons learned, releasing what no longer serves my highest good, setting new intentions, identifying goals, and mapping out action steps for the rest of the year.
One of the things that has been coming up for me in my Spring personal retreat reflections is the need to to invest more time and energy on maintaining a healthy well-being with better boundaries around my sleep and news and social media consumption. Right after the domestic terrorist attacks on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, I started staying up later and later in the evenings to read articles and social media, and watch videos, movies, and live discussions about racial injustice, politics, and the COVID-19 pandemic. That choice was a disaster recipe for my well-being. It increased stress and anxiety levels in my body. It made it harder to sleep peacefully. It chipped away at my happiness.
Recently, I decided to recommit to my well-being with one daily mindful self-care practice this Spring: self-hugging. Why? Because I need more physical touch in my life due to COVID-19 social distancing and quarantining. Going without it for long periods can impact our emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Also, hugging helps boost serotonin, the happiness hormone that is produced and spread by neurons in the brain. Feeling more happiness strengthens our well-being.
Self-Hugging: Why Does It Support Well-Being and Create Happiness?
Hugging yourself is FREE and takes less than five minutes. It offers you an opportunity to practice loving kindness and strengthen your resiliency. A self-hug is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. All you have to do is decide and set an intention to give yourself a hug or hugs on a daily basis. Once you set your intention, take action and watch how your self-hugs turn into acts of self-love and self-empowerment.
When you hug yourself, your body releases the hormone, oxytocin, the “love hormone.” Oxytocin helps reduce stress and tension by lowering cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body. It also lowers blood pressure, slows the heart rate, and improves moods.
Hugging yourself for 20 seconds or more is a serotonin booster. Serotonin is known as the “feel good” hormone that is produced and spread by neurons in the brain. It helps you feel happy, calm, and confident.
Consider following the advice of family therapist Virginia Satir who is famous for saying, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”
Let’s Welcome Spring with More Happiness Through Self-Hugging on March 20th, Spring Equinox and International Day of Happiness
Let’s use the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Happiness Moment Self-Hug Challenge that is rooted in the HUG3 self-care practice. HUG3 is an acronym that stands for:
H: Hold space for yourself with
U: Unconditional Love
G3: Grace, Growth, and Gratitude
6 Self-Hugging Tips
There are many ways to hug yourself. Check out the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s tips below.
Fold your arms around your body. You can fold your arms across your stomach or just below your chest. Do what feels most comfortable.
Take a moment to consider the type of hug you need in the moment. How do you want the hug to feel? Strong, intense, soft or soothing?
Give yourself a nice squeeze with just enough pressure to create the hug experience you need.
Feel free to gently rock back and forth while hugging yourself.
If hugging isn’t your cup of tea, try giving yourself a gentle massage in the areas of your body you feel most comfortable with. You can start with your face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, chest or belly. If it feels good, try the entire body!
Get Started with the Happiness Moment Self-Challenge Today!
Pick one of the challenges below and dive deep into your self-hugging today.
30-Day Self-Hugs: Try 1 hug for 20 seconds per day. Consider giving yourself a hug in the morning before you get out of bed. If the morning doesn’t work, take a mid-day hug break or end your day with a hug before you go to sleep.
60-Day Self-Hugs: Try 4 or more hugs that last 1 minute or more per day. Notice how the increase in hugs makes you feel. If it feels good, add more hugs to your day.
90-Day Self-Hugs: Make hugging a self-care maintenance practice with 8 or more hugs per day.
120-Day Self-Hugs: Take your hug life to the next level of growth with 12 or more hugs per day.
Need More Support?
Join me for the Thriving Mindfully Academy’s Spring Virtual Retreat on March 21st at 2-4:30 PM ET OR March 27th at 7-9:30 PM ET via Zoom.
During the virtual retreat, you will:
Practice mindful self-care with deep breathing exercises, a mindfulness meditation with self-touch, and gentle chair yoga
Learn how to align and manage your energy with the wisdom of the Spring Equinox, New Moon, Full Moon, and crystal therapy
Participate in an intuitive movement exercise and a sound bath meditation that will help you open your heart to release and forgive
Reflect on and journal about what’s working and not working in your life and career, and what’s getting in your way
Set intentions and identify the resources, action steps, and accountability support you need to manifest who you want to be and what you want to manifest in your life and career
Create a self-celebration plan to appreciate your small, medium, and big wins
Click on the links below to buy your tickets today! Give a retreat ticket to a loved one, friend or colleague.
Spring Retreat (1st option) on March 21st at 2-4:30 PM ET
Spring Retreat (2nd option) on March 27th at 7-9:30 PM ET
Last month, I led a training for the Sierra Club that addressed how people can tap into their resilience through a mindful self-care check-in. Since then, I have been reflecting on the ways I struggled emotionally, mentally, and physically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial injustice, economic instability, politics, and the elections in 2020 and the domestic terrorist attack by white supremacists on the U.S. Capitol during the first week of 2021. I remembered the stress and anxiety, and the way they triggered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) moments from living in DC during the first and second Iraqi Wars, Rodney King civil unrest, and 9/11. I thought about the ways I used mindful self-care practices to nurture myself; the support I received from family, friends, and a therapist; and the strength I gained.
My reflections led me to the wisdom of Dr. Maya Angelou, one of my wellness women warriors: “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Dr. Angelou’s wisdom embodies resilience. For me, resilience is my ABILITY and CHOICE to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and bounce back when I overcome adversity, face a challenge or navigate change.
When you hear the word resilience what comes up for you? How do you define it?
My struggles taught me three things about resilience.
1. Resilience is one of our superpowers. We just have to remember to tap into and use it.
2. Mindful self-care practices lay the foundation for resilience. Mindful self-care practices help us release stress, rest, and restore ourselves.
3. We each have a personal and ancestral legacy of resilience. A personal legacy of resilience includes past experiences of overcoming adversity, facing challenges, and coping with change. An ancestral legacy of resilience is the strength of the people in our family, community, and culture who overcame adversity, faced challenges, and navigated change. They are our sheroes, heroes, and theyroes.
This month, I invite you to slow down and reflect on the two questions below.
Think back to one moment in 2020 (or another time in your life) when you overcame adversity, faced a challenge or navigated change. How did it make you stronger?
Pick one person you admire in your family, community or culture for overcoming adversity, facing a challenge or navigating change. What did they teach you?
Do you and/or your business, organization or community need my training or coaching support on resilience, mindfulness or self-care? Contact me at ananda@anandaleeke.com and head on over to Ananda Leeke Consulting to learn how we can work together this year.
Ananda Leeke 