Winter is a tough season. The toughest, in my opinion, and I think it takes some intention to make it through with optimism. The days are getting ever-so-slightly longer, right?! Today I'm sharing the three habits that I'm focusing on this winter in the hopes that they inspire you to give yourself some extra care. I find it helpful to embrace the coziness of the season, so I'll reshare a similar post from the fall that might spark some inspiration for you.
5-minute meditation: Meditation is a great way to come into the present moment and feel grounded, lower your resting heart rate and manage stress. Morning meditation has been a long-time practice of mine, but my enthusiasm for it tends to ebb and flow. There was a period where I was doing a much longer practice, which became prohibitive for me. To practice what I teach my clients, I decided to reach for the lowest hanging fruit and scale back to the shortest meditations that I could find in order to focus on consistency. For a period of time this fall and winter I was doing a daily 3-minute meditation by Lynn Fraser on Insight timer. Choosing such a short meditation is about showing up and checking the box, because done is better than perfect. Currently I'm enjoying Meghan Telpner's 5-minute Coherence practice. I find that starting the day with just a short, mindful practice can help us feel much more grounded and ready for the day.
Weekly infared sauna sessions: Infared sauna can support cirulatory health, relaxation and help improve sleep. It's also great for exercise recovery and soothing sore muscles. I recently tried out the infared sauna over at the Dupont Naturopathic clinic and it was incredible. I immediately scheduled a weekly appointment throughout the winter. If you're like me, you can enjoy the silence or you can connect to your phone and listen to music or a pod-cast. The dim light the woody scent and the heat feel super-cozy. Leaving the sauna feels incredible and you'll feel warm for the rest of the day.
Setting a bed-time reminder: Knowing that this is a season where the energy feels lower and rest is more necessary, I think it's a great idea to set a bed-time alarm. It's important that we give ourselves plenty of sleep opportunity and that means being in bed for longer than our ideal number of hours of sleep. I do best with seven hours of sleep and so I like to give myself eight hours in bed. It's important to factor in the time it takes to fall asleep, washroom wake-ups and other lovely peri-menopause surprises that pop up. This is a daily negotation between today-me and future-me, because I'd rather stay up and watch TV, but knowing how much better we feel when we get enough sleep tends to be a solid motivator to silence the alarm and head up to bed.
Tell me how you're supporting yourself this season - I'd love to know about the habits that you're leaning into. Leave a comment below or send me a quick message. You deserve to feel good!
