Me-time for Your Body
Me-time 101: Self-care in the time of Covid (7 of 11)
Welcome back!
This week let’s put some attention on the body. If you are like me, sometimes you are kind to your body and sometimes you aren’t. And sometimes you forget you even have a body, getting stuck inside your thinking brain. But the body is an amazing vessel and it is communicating with us all the time. Those aches and pains are communicating. That tiredness is communicating. That inability to focus is communicating. That’s why tuning into the body is so important. Treating your body with respect and reverence and gratitude isn’t a bad idea either.
What comes to mind when you think about how you treat your body? What signals is it giving you recently? What if you gave your me-time to your body?
Exercise
Quick, what is the first thing that comes to mind when I say “take care of your body.” I am guessing most of you thought about exercising. Yes! Of course exercise is good for you. Consider this a gentle reminder to exercise ways that you enjoy. If you are a runner, run. A hiker, hike. A snowboarder, then snowboard. But what if you don’t exercise, can’t exercise or don’t like to exercise?
Walk
Then walk. Walk slowly. Walk fast. Walk with a walker if you need one. Just walk. Walking has so many benefits to the body, mind, and spirit. Of course there is the obvious benefit of burning calories. But there is also the benefit to your circulatory system and heart. There is the benefit to your brain - walking literally can help clear your brain through the repetitive left right left right of arms and legs. It also can connect you with nature or with friends or your dog depending on where you go and who you are with.
Walking has been my best and most consistent tool in the toolbox since I was a teenager. I have walked alone, with my dogs, with friends, and with groups. I have walked malls, walked in the woods, and hiked hills and mountains with beautiful views. I have walked in the freezing winters of Green Bay and humid summer heat of Korea and Hong Kong. My absolute favorite places to walk in the most recent years were the catchment between Tai Tam and Stanley and the Tai Tam Country Park in Hong Kong. Such beauty and peace was balm for the soul and good for the body, too.
Nap
In “Nighttime Me-Time” (article 5) we placed our attention on getting a good night’s sleep, but what about daytime sleep? When infants are busy growing, they need a lot of sleep night and day. When my grandpa came home from the field, he would take a 20-minute nap after lunch before heading back out. What about you? Do you like naps? Do you know according to SleepFoundation.org there are several different categories for naps: recovery, prophylactic, appetitive, fulfillment, and essential. Knowing why you are taking a nap can help you determine whether to nap and the best duration and time of day to nap. My grandpa’s 20-minute naps were the perfect length to refresh him before heading back to the field. It was likely an appetitive nap made for boosting his energy and mood going into the second half of his work day. In general a short 20-30 minute nap is recommended to reboot you without interrupting your night’s sleep. However, if you are sick, napping is essential for the healing process and therefore may need to be much longer.
Limit your News Consumption
Strangely enough, your news watching or reading may be interfering with your physical, emotional, and mental health. With everything happening in our world today (Coronavirus, divisive political landscape, war in Ukraine, etc.) and with the 24-hour news cycle, it might be a good idea to take inventory of your news watching and its effects on your health. If you are experiencing stress, anxiety, or irritation that lingers, consider limiting your news consumption.
Limit your News Consumption
Shut off the news playing in the background.
Access only unbiased, quality news sources.
Read or watch only 30 minutes a day.
Mindfully select WHEN to engage with the news.
Do something physically, creatively, or intellectually satisfying afterward to recenter yourself.
Tai chi and Qigong
If you haven’t yet tried tai chi or qigong, please do. These ancient Eastern arts connect the energy of the body (chi or qi - pronounced “chee”) with breath and movement to increase energy and enable the body to heal itself. Movements are slow and intentional (and less complex and difficult than many forms of yoga). You can find practitioners online for free or sign up for classes locally. See Resources for a few of the online practitioners I use.
Acupuncture
While this isn’t free, your body may also benefit from trying acupuncture. If you are feeling out of sorts (ie. having migraines or aches and pains in muscles or joints), then I would suggest trying acupuncture. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medicine which uses very thin needles at specific points in the body to rebalance your qi or chi. It works with the body’s natural healing mechanism. Going to an acupuncturist is quite common and also covered by insurance in Hong Kong. I used this for several months when I was recovering from a frozen shoulder. I actually could feel the energy opening up and flowing, almost like I had suddenly smelled peppermint.
Water wonders
You already know that you “should” drink lots of water. But if you aren’t really doing it, now is the time to begin. I, like many of you, grew up in the era of pop (or “soda,” depending upon your location). Nowadays the favorite flavor seems to be energy drinks. But water is the way to go. And most of the time, it is free out of the tap.
When we moved to Korea I was surprised to realize that few restaurants offered soda. More likely they offered room temperature or warm water in a stainless steel glass for free. That was it. But then I noticed Koreans there were very few Koreans who were overweight. Living in Korea broke me of my 1-soda-per-day habit as well as the “I always order pop when I go to a restaurant” habit. Thank you!
So, if you need to or want to become a water drinker here are a few tips:
Drinking Water Tips
Have a water bottle nearby at all times.
Switch a soda or energy drink for water.
Switch a flavored drink for sparkling water with a lime and sugar or agave to taste. (Over time you can reduce the amount of sweetener so you have a no-calorie fizzy drink.)
But water has value beyond drinking it. For example, a bit of me-time in the water swimming in a pool, lake, or ocean or near the water sitting on a beach can be quite rejuvenating.
If you have money to spend and want to try something interesting, look for a sensory deprivation tank, also known as an isolation tank or float tank.
Also, if you have money to spend and want a new experience, look for a sensory deprivation tank, also known as an isolation tank or float tank. This is a tank of body temperature water with epsom salts to nourish your body and make you float! You can close the lid and lie still in the dark weightlessly floating for up to an hour. I tried this a few times while living in Hong Kong and found it quite relaxing (and not claustrophobic as I had anticipated). Other benefits are muscle relaxation and recovery for athletes, stress and pain reduction, improved creativity and focus, and better sleep.
If you don’t have the time or money to experience a float tank, then remember a bath with epsom salts will also be a great way to spend me-time benefiting your body.
Sound Therapy
A session with singing bowls or a gong is perfect for releasing stress and anxiety without needing to “talk about it” and without anyone touching you.
This is the moment I have been waiting for! I want to introduce you to sound tools that can benefit your body, mind, and spirit: the gong and singing bowls. Most people I know have heard of or even listened to singing bowls; however, few have tried a “gong bath.” But that is now my other passion. (I have been playing my 28” symphonic gong for clients in both Hong Kong and Wisconsin for over a year now.) A session with singing bowls or a gong is perfect for releasing stress and anxiety without needing to “talk about it” and without anyone touching you. The sound waves do the work. Certainly you can find sound samples on various apps or Youtube, but I would highly suggest trying this in person. In person the actual sound waves interact with the cells of your body for healing effects. Aches, pains, headaches, stress, anxiety, depression can all be addressed - at least in part - with sound therapies like this. And it makes a wonderful Me-time experience.
Before you Go
These past few years during the pandemic have been especially hard on our bodies. Certainly we now understand the importance of taking good care of our bodies so that our immune system is as strong as it can be. Good sleep, hydration, and healthy cells are beneficial while stress and anxiety are detrimental to both the psyche and the body. So please take a moment to check in with your own body. Are you doing what you can to take care of it? Are there ways you can use me-time to nurture and nourish your body? And leave a comment if you have other ideas of me-time for your body.
Resources
“5-element qigong practice - full version.” Mimi Kuo-deemer. Youtube.com, 30 October 2013.
“Acupuncture.” Mayo Clinic. Mayoclinic.org, 2022.
"Daily Qigong Routine.” Yoqi Yoga and Qigong. Youtube.com, 1 June 2017.
“Everything you need to know about sensory deprivation tank therapy.” Healthline. Healthline.com, 2022.
Fry, Alexa. “Napping,” Sleep Foundation: A OneCare Media Company. Sleepfoundation.org, 20 January 2022.
Lindberg, Sara, M. Ed. “Is Watching News Bad for Mental Health?” Very Well Mind. Verywellmind.com, 18 May 2020.
“What is Qigong?” Supreme Science Qigong. Qigong.com, 2022.
Next up: Let Nature Nourish You
You can find my other series “Parenting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents” and “Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly” in the archives.
If you like it, share it! Help me reach my goal of 100 subscribers.
Brenda BraykoWriter. Teacher. Gong Player.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com.
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com
These are great tips. It is interesting what you said about news. It is as if everyone realized that the relentless negativity of news consumption is not good for us. I read two newspapers a day, though, but I am a very fast reader.... Maybe I should reduce this... Also, I have never heard anyone describe asanas as complex, but I think some of them are!