How can you practice loving yourself?

In the months of Aug & Sept during #empowertoevolve we were excavating some of the deeper layers of the Self…pulling up some of the weeds and examining our subconscious. The path to transformation is not easy, it takes work and practice, but with a great community of support, like the one we share, we are able to find the extra nudge to keep going and the power to hold true to our center. Give yourself a huge hug, right now! Deep gratitude. 😉

I am so rejuvenated and alive, just back from Burning Man. It was an epic celebration. It was my best year yet. I’ve heard this from so many, mainly because as a whole we are raising our consciousness and vibration in profound and beautiful ways.

What Burning Man is to me — Radical Self-Acceptance, Self-Reliance and Self-Love and a great place to share our heart connections! What a powerful experience.

After practicing deep forgiveness and release over the past year, personally, I’m gearing up on all levels (and it seems many of my soul sisters are doing the same #selflovetour #smartselflove), to really empower myself to practice these concepts of the Self. As we enter the more introspective season of Fall/Winter, I am practicing sense withdrawal, Pratyahara. It’s time to hunker down, own my shit and freakin’ LOVE MYSELF!

1. Establish firm grounding that is rooted in YOUR truth. What feels right in your gut, your third chakra? This is your place of empowerment. Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks right now. We are all operating from different levels of awareness and experience. (want to know more about this chakra, you can download my free lower chakra meditation on my website under “meditations”.)

2. Create healthy habits. If you are anything like me, you may find that you have habits that continually pull you off your center. For me, it can be Facebook postings, comparison and competition. Can you give up these habits that pull you out of your center and keep you in a perpetual loop of restlessness about who you are? Or what you are offering? Can you just sit with yourself?

3. Create a friendly relationship with your ego, so that you can maintain your power, have good self-esteem, and ask for your needs to be met while honor others’ needs. This is a great place of balance. If you lack self-confidence (deficiency in 3rd chakra) you probably are seeking outside yourself for validation, acceptance and Facebook likes. If you are overactive in your third chakra, you may have a need to prove yourself or “puff ” your ego and act more forcefully usually to be right!

3. Practice balance. Meditation, yoga and breath work are great practices that can bring us back to center. Watch your path of action daily. If you find yourself caught up in negative emotions, know that this comes from the thought process. It is a story you are telling yourself from the past, or a perceived lack in the future. Get present, that’s where Spirit lives.

4. When it comes to setting healthy boundaries, ask for what you need with clarity and alignment to higher wisdom/Spirit. When you come from a place of real love and ownership of your stuff (vs. victim/blame), then the majority of times your needs will be heard, honored and you will feel good about your decisions because you know its guided by your highest wisdom and Spirit.

5. Practice affirmations. I talk about this all the time. You need to BELIEVE how amazing you are! You are beautiful; you are loved and completely loveable. If you can’t say this in the mirror, then who will reflect it back to you? Remember Stuart Smalley? “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And doggone it, people like me!”

6. Gratitude – Find ways to create gratitude rituals in your life. Go to the mountains and hug a tree. Attend a Kirtan to sing God’s praises. Call people and leave them love messages. Write a letter of appreciation and mail it. Pray. Honor the great things in your life!

Bowing humbly to the Goddess Mother Earth and all her beautiful beings!