SWIHA Blog

‘Tis the season! Holidays are a time of joy and generosity filled with friends and families gathering to celebrate in their own unique ways.

However, it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday hype and forget to be mindful amid the shopping sprees and ample sugar. Today we’re diving in to the Spirit of the Season and sharing some healthy holiday tips to celebrate consciously!

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Healers are highly sensitive, which is why they’re so drawn to dedicating their lives to helping others! 

However, if you’ve been spending a lot of energy focused on the healing of others, you may be pushing through warnings from your own system that something is off.

Signs that you may need to pause and do some S.O.U.L C.A.R.E include:

• Your personal to-do list is a mile long
• You haven’t been sleeping or eating well
• Your schedule is not a reflection of your priorities
• You’ve had limited alone time lately
• Your body is inexplicably ill or in pain
• Your physical space is cluttered and disorganized
• Your emotions have begun calling the shots
• You feel like you’re operating on auto-pilot

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If you’ve watched television in the last 30 years, you’ve likely seen a popular commercial for Calgon bath products in which a woman’s chaotic home life proves to be more than she can handle. In the ad, the woman lunges to answer her ringing phone; meanwhile, her young daughter screams her lungs out as she cuts a frenzied path through the kitchen, the pet dog barks relentlessly, a tipped over houseplant sends soil scattering across the counter, and dinner starts to boil over on the stove.

Exhausted, the woman covers her ears, looks up to the heavens, and pleads, “Calgon, take me away!” The next scene reveals her relaxing in a hot bath, where she melts into a state of deep meditative bliss and leaves behind the domestic woes which had afflicted her mere seconds before. Brilliant marketing aside, the question remains: can a hot bath really soak away your stress and take you to an almost fantasy-like state of being?

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Mathina Ross has always been a healer and philanthropist at heart. Though her background is not necessarily one you would expect from someone who now has a bustling career offering signature massage experiences, throughout her life she has mastered the art of caring for others. In fact, before attending SWIHA and completing our 1000-hour Massage Therapy Program, Mathina cultivated a profoundly rewarding career in cosmetology, in which she chose to specialize working with children who experienced spectrum disorders toward the end. She shares that the work was fulfilling to her soul, yet left her feeling drained. “I loved the work, [however, I] got ‘burned out.’  Given my specialized status, when I chose to move on, my options were very limited.  Prior to specializing, I had worked in hair, skin and nail care, and had been massaging much of the body, so the transition to massage seemed an appropriate one.”

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Self-care is a modern concept that has permeated our culture and intrigued people in many different fields.

What does self-care really mean? According to this article from the University of Kentucky, it includes a regulatory process by which we approach the normal daily functions of our lives. These functions include, but are not limited to, eating, sleeping, exercise, medical care, relaxation or meditation, and journaling. People that are known to exude excellent forms of self-care seem to all have one main thing in common: They do normal things in extraordinary ways. For example, a form of self-care for someone who wants to exercise and move their body may be to hire a coach and train for a marathon. It might also look like combining creative activities into a fitness regimen, such as doing yoga or aerial arts. Another way in which people can practice self-care is by making a certain length of sleep a non-negotiable priority. For the average American, sleep can be a hard thing to come by. According to this article from Entrepreneur.com the most successful entrepreneurs start their days early and have developed a sleep routine that is natural, and consistent. Self-care permeates through every action that we take during our waking and sleeping hours.

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