Photo taken at Ten Thousand Waves Spa, 10/29/10

It has been a difficult week.  My daughter, a teacher herself, has had an unusual onset of numbness on the left side of her body.  She is undergoing testing and we are confident we will find the cause.  But it reminded me of how important self care is as a teacher.  As an educator, she has been under pressure with pending changes, classroom demands. . . the usual these days.     I asked her if she was feeling stressed because I know stress has shown its mark on me in the past.  She said yes.

When I find myself in a worrisome place – this time about my daughter – I do not function as I normally do.  My response time, my ability to process conversations, the desire to blog – everything is affected.   What to write on my blog?  I pondered yesterday and drew a blank.

Ten Thousand Waves Spa, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Today I woke up and it was there.  Self care.   I need it, my daughter needs it – I think homeschool moms need it, public school teachers need it – we all need it!  So today I am sharing a few things from my Waldorf training which addressed self-care very powerfully.   These work wonders:

•  Walk daily and preferably in the morning before teaching for 20 minutes.  This clears your thoughts and revitalizes your energy.  It also provides a space for intuitive thinking to arise.  TIP:  Be observant of nature as you walk.  Notice the sounds, movements, and other details of nature.  When I first starting doing this in my city neighborhood I was shocked by the volume of urban wildlife.  I even spotted a fox.   In the middle of the city.   Amazing.

• Get as much sleep as possible before midnight.  The prime sleeping time is the hours before midnight.  If you are feeling exhausted by the end of your school day – look to see how much sleep you get before midnight.  Aim for two full hours.  It will take three successive nights of this kind of sleep to restore strength.  (I am a night owl so I am working on this one!)

• Practice ruckschau daily.  This is an evening practice that is very effective in reducing stress.  Before you fall asleep each night, go backwards through your day, and remember all the significant activities (and without judgment!).  Move backwards beginning with going to bed and ending with what you did when you woke up that day.   This clears the mind of stress and worry.  It also opens up the intuitive and helps you to let go of the day.

• Take a detox/de-stressing bath once a week:
  • Cleansing Bath – to detox and clear negative moods
    • 1 cup Epsom salts
    • 1/2 cup baking soda
    • 2 tablespoons of ground ginger
    • Mix together and add to bath water.  Soak in tub for 30 minutes and then rinse.

• • Etheric Bath – to rebuild and revitalize
    • Beat one organic egg into a cup of organic whole milk
    • Pour into a drawn bath.
    • Stir with your hand making lumeise (figure 8) seven times.
    • Cut one lemon under running bath water and squeeze into water.
    • Soak in tub for 15 to 20 minutes.  Rinse.