How I mastered the fine art of self-care, with wellness curator Peigín Crowley

Why should we prioritise a self-care ritual at home?

First of all our own self-care is something we’re accountable for; no one else is checking up on whether you drink your water or eat your vegetables. If we don’t prioritise our own self-care, no one will, so it is literally something you have to put on your to-do list but in a way that doesn’t stress you out. Ritualise the minding of yourself and make it a consistent habit.

Why should we do it? Because our bodies need to slow down, to move from the fight-or-flight state to the rest-and-digest state. When we take care of ourselves and slow down, we move into that rest-and-digest state, which helps the body repair and be nourished and balanced.

How do we customise self-care to give us what we want?

This depends on where you feel stress in your body, where it manifests physically. Is it in your head, eyes, migraine, or sinus? Is it tension in the jaw? For some people, it can live on the sternum and in the chest, and they have shortness of breath. Other people hold it in the neck and shoulder area – muscular tension here is common.

A lot of people, unknown to themselves, hold stress in the gut area. Their digestive system is sensitive and when they’re under pressure or stressed, their system can either become blocked or it can go the other direction (this is me!).

So, first of all, tune into your body, do a body scan and set the intention of understanding your body, listening to it whisper before it shouts. Figure out when stress descends and where it lands. It is totally normal to feel stress; we’re all processing different levels of stress every day but it is in the commitment to move it on and out of the body where we will find ourselves prioritising sincere self-care. Once we know how it is manifesting in the physical sense, we can customise our self-care ritual to suit.

Stay tuned for Peigín Crowley’s episode on The Wellness Project Podcast 

What benefits would this give to us, especially as women with busy lifestyles?

I think it’s important to note that we, as women, feel more. We’re driven by the estrogen hormone which is a “being” and nurturing hormone and yet we’re operating at very high levels and in “doing mode” most of the time. 

For example, I’m 48 next month, and for me, this is a moment in life where I’ve reached this pinnacle in my career and you might feel the same. You might have children/teenagers who need to be minded and you also have parents who need to be looked after so it’s a very busy time. It’s hard to put yourself first but it is a must so that we manage ourselves and mind our health and our longevity.

We begin to look at rituals that would suit releasing stress in those areas we hold tension and any form of massage, self-massage or massaging a partner or child, releases this beautiful hormone oxytocin, which helps us process and remove stress from the body. It just has this lovely warming soothing effect like that of a hug, so whether we’re using gua sha on the face to relieve tension and inflammation around the eye area, the jaw area, the neck area, or our hands, it’s a beautiful way of customising that space of sinus and migraine if jaw tension is your issue. 

If you suffer from neck and shoulder pain, I think it’s really important to take baths. The heat and warmth of the water, especially layered with bath salts, helps release tension in the neck and shoulder area; then apply oils – frankincense and sweet orange are wonderful for that. Also standing under the shower with your neck and shoulders and bringing heat to the area will help break down the lactic acid. Again, if you’re looking for benefits around the chest area it’s always good to use bath salts, and inhalations for breath work if you use a diffuser. If you sit at your desk all day and your chest gets tight it’s easy to do breath work and you can combine it with deep belly breathing to help the gut as well. 

Also, there are great benefits of massaging oil into your gut area and abdomen – we do a wonderful castor oil which is detoxifying and blended with essential oils like ginger, peppermint, cardamom, fennel, all your anti-spasm essential oils that help relax the tummy area and bring about a natural cleanse overnight.

What is self-care to you?

For me, self-care is the company I keep, who I share time with, my relationships – not having too many people and not people-pleasing but having authentic relationships with people you really love and cherish.

Also take time on your own, time in your own body being connected to yourself, whether that’s walking, running, journaling, taking a bath, doing your breath work, doing your yoga, keeping yourself company and minding yourself. It takes real focus to settle ourselves, to make ourselves feel safe with ourselves, and to manage our inner dialogue to be kind to ourselves; that’s really important.

What is your favourite self-care ritual? How does this help restore/recharge you?

My favourite self-care ritual is breathwork. When we breathe consciously, count and hold breath, and push breath into the belly we’re doing a number of things. We’re becoming very present; we’re bringing scent deep into our body, and scent has memory, so if you have a scent that makes you feel safe, rested and relaxed in your own company, then when you’re doing that consistently the body has memory, the muscles have memory and it will relax you faster. 

For me, breathwork is a hack into becoming present, not overthinking and settling my body. Deep belly breathing has a great impact on our digestive system to help it move into rest and digest. I carry a lot of stress in my gut area, so when I apply castor oil and use my grounding essential oil, I’m doing two things – I’m settling the mind into the body and I’m minding my gut-brain, my digestive system, so that I can feel safe and sleep better that night. I do my breathing in the evening – and giving myself a lovely night’s sleep is possibly the greatest gift of all.

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