Self-Care

Life unfolds in chapters, each one shaped by change. Children grow and leave home. New towns, new jobs, new relationships appear on the horizon. Some transitions are exhilarating while others feel exhausting. Through it all, the question remains: how do we stay steady?

Self-care. Being mindful of what our body and mind need and caring for ourselves, provides steadiness and stability. October, marked by Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is a time to honor holistic care; body, mind, and spirit. At HYR Intention, we embrace this season as a sacred invitation to turn inward and focus on you.

Self-care includes realizing what you need as well as what you do not.  Autumn is the season of letting go and part of the holistic approach to wellness is allowing release. Letting go doesn’t necessarily mean “getting rid of” but rather a sense of “letting things be as they are” and not influencing but rather softening into accepting and releasing the need to control. As the trees shed their leaves in quiet surrender, so too, can you, let go.

This month, ask yourself:

• What am I holding onto physically, emotionally, energetically that no longer serves me?

• What do I truly need, and what can I gently release?

• Where can I create space for rest, connection, and reflection?

Self-care might include more rest; deeper breathing; more laughter; solitude to sit with discomfort and ask why it’s there. Perhaps, you’ve been neglecting your own health to care for another? Now is the time to prioritize your health and wellness.

Let this season guide you, not with urgency, but with grace. Allow yourself to pause, reflect, investigate, change and take action. Action doesn’t have to be loud or sweeping. Sometimes, the most powerful shift begins with quiet acknowledgement, a moment of awareness. 

Once aware, you can define your second step and commit to it, not for anyone else, but for yourself. This is your season to turn inward. Listen to and honor what you need. Let your actions be rooted in clarity, not urgency. Let them be focused on you.

Three anchors to help us with self-focus are: Saucha, Santosha, Tapas. These philosophical practices offer gentle guidance for this inward journey:

Purity (Saucha): Saucha is the art of cleansing our physical spaces and our inner landscapes. It’s a gathering of the scattered pieces of ourselves, a return to clarity and focus. Through Saucha, we’re invited to cleanse our bodies, our speech, and our thoughts. What clutter, literal or emotional can be released? What needs to be organized, simplified or gently set down?

Contentment (Santosha): Santosha asks us to fall in love with our own lives. This lesson is a quiet reminder that gratitude is our responsibility, not a reaction to perfection. Even amid challenge or change, Santosha encourages us to remain centered, to find peace in what is. It’s not passive. It is powerful. It’s the choice to see beauty in the present moment.

Discipline (Tapas): Tapas is the fire of transformation. It’s the practice of choosing growth through consistency in movement. Prioritizing your asana practice, the poses of yoga, prepares us for introspection during the stillness of savasana, where spirit listens and growth and change occur.

You may already practice Saucha, Santosha, and some form of Tapas today, but are you doing so with intention and consistency?  It is the union of the intentional focus with the consistent practice where true transformation unfolds. These philosophical anchors aren’t just ideas; they’re invitations to live with clarity, contentment, and purposeful discipline. 

If you’re curious to learn more about these and related ideals, I highly recommend a book by Deborah Adele called The Yamas & Niyamas-Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice.

Taking time for yourself is not selfish, but an act of self-love and you are worth the care, reflection and renewal.

Yours truly,

Together, we will practice with consistency and lead with our hearts – intentionally.