How are you today? No really, how are you? How are you coping with Lockdown life? Is your life full of self-love?

Despite all that is happening in the world right now, in life, we keep on going, we keep on giving, we keep on sharing, and consequently, we keep on doing, because we want to.

So how much time do we actually focus on self-love? How much time do we spend on ourselves, making sure our "reservoirs" are full? I don't mean sweating it out in a fast-paced online speed cycling class, competing virtually with a room full of strangers. I mean time alone, nurturing, comforting, healing, and giving your mind time to explore meaning, not just what's happened over the last week in your life.

In pre-COVID days we would nurture our relationships with 'date night' or we would meet chums for coffee or a drink. At home, we sit and cuddle our children and read them stories and we comfort them when they cry.  As a result how much time do you spend allowing YOU to emerge, rather than being crushed by all that stuff in life that is crowding YOU out?

The concept of self-love and care is not new. The Hindu sage Patanjali wrote the Yamas, five moral disciplines and restraints to live our life by. Seems like these were sacred values that related to work, play, social interaction, and time on the yoga mat. The first of the Yamas was Ahimsa; be gentle to yourself and all creation.

 Daily Positive Affirmations To Rekindle your Self Love

Here are 3 easy steps to re-kindle your self-love and to work on the relationship with you -

❤Daily affirmations - Do you ever roll out of bed and take a look at yourself with disbelief and say "Who on earth is this looking back at me?!!!" We repeat so many negative observations about ourselves to ourselves that we begin to believe them. Instead, choose a positive affirmation, write it on a post-it note, and put it on the mirror that you will first look at, or you can

Say out loud - "I appreciate who I am."

Repeat in your mind -  "I am at peace with myself."

Tell yourself over and over -  "I deserve to be happy."

Think and therefore believe  - "I am beautiful."

Embrace Your New Happy Feelings And Enjoy Being Content With Yourself.

❤Enjoy your own company with 5 minutes of meditation because meditation is quiet time with yourself and your thoughts. It's a time of self-love and empowerment, where you sit and care for yourself, reducing tension and negative dialogue. Furthermore, your mind can cover an awful lot of things in 5 minutes both positive and negative.  So we have to remember what Patanjali says in the Yoga Sutras, "When disturbed by disturbing thoughts think of the opposite." Meditation is a magical way of slowing down your busy mind and focusing. After all, a good body scan meditation is a good place to start.

Treat Yourself - Do Something You Love And Savour It

❤Whether it be buying yourself a bunch of flowers online or having a long, relaxing bath. Getting out and having a morning walk or curling up with a beautiful book. Whatever it is, do it and do it fully without distraction or guilt (especially without guilt!!). I love all of these things and endeavour to do at least one a day.  After all, these activities are the very essence of self-love.

Life is tough at the moment but you can make it easier by nourishing yourself and ultimately loving who you are. Make sure you include all of your limitations AND your greatness.  So why not start improving your self-love by joining me in my online video yoga and pilates classes at  Tabitha Yoga On Demand

“Click”, I've reset my watch, and the time has changed for winter it makes me think how easy it is to see what is bad about change; the evenings are darker, the weather is getting colder, and we have the whole of winter ahead of us. But without change in your life nothing gets better, nothing grows; no one can fulfill his or her potential without the change that this brings.

Do The Seasons Bring About Change in Your Life?

I tend to enter Autumn in a more reflective state having spent time over the summer doing less teaching and spending more time with my family. It allows me to meditate or just relish the moments we find ourselves in and this gives me space in my head.  My teacher used to say, "Physics doesn’t like vacuums and so into that space come thoughts". What is it about the change of seasons that brings about change in your life? It makes me want to hunt out my place where I work things out (a beach in Wales) to make sense of the world and enable me to focus on what’s next.

“Change in your life is not something that we should fear. Rather it is something that we should welcome, for, without change, nothing in this world would ever grow or blossom, and no one in this world would ever move forward to become the person they are meant to be” - BKS Iyengar

Working out what’s next is one of the ways I develop a positive approach to life.  It gives me focus. It gives me direction and it gives me hope. All the things that are important to me. The other thing it does is makes me feel as though the change in your life is for me, it’s mine and that means change is good. Take some time to reflect on how the change in seasons makes you feel, particularly at this time of year.  Try and draw the positives from these feelings, move forward and you will find change in your life is good for you too.

Why not use this time for change and the development of positive feelings to start your journey to A Healthier Lifestyle