In chatting with a client this week about integrating chiropractic work into his self care regime, he posed the common question, "Is the doctor going to want me to come 3 times a week and am I going to have to go for the rest of my life once I start?"

I get this question all the time. To which I always reply, "Do you put gas in your car only once?" Some self care and self development practices can effectively happen in spurts, occasionally, or as needed - I put massage and chiropractic in that category. Unless treating acute symptoms or supporting a lifestyle that doesn't fully rely on those, but does benefit from regularity, in which case, go weekly! I do advocate for regular massage and chiropractic care (I personally like weekly, many of my clients are monthly), however, those practices become more advantageous and less dire when we're engaging in other regular daily self care. Daily self care is more like the key that starts the engine - the car can't go with out it. That category is both broader and more specific. Broad because many excellent choices fall under that umbrella. The specificity is what's right for you, when and how. Think about the general freedom a car provides to any driver, and the specific freedom to you to take you to the places you want to go.

Hydration. Food. Sleep. These should be high quality and consistent. Seems obvious, yet in a culture swayed by mass produced "food", endemic insomnia, sugar saturated beverages, and chemical laced water, even the basics are often amiss. However I'll be generous and assume you're doing well on those three.

What else oughta be top tier? Movement. If you're blessed with a body that can move, then moving it, and optimally, mindfully, as with an intelligent Yoga practice or Tai Chi, is essential. The risk of not moving your body? Corrosion of your body's ability to move. If you can do it outside, all the better! Because engaging in a life with the elements, with nature, feeds the body, mind and spirit, and, is an act of stewardship to this precious planet. Is is vital enough to deem self care? For me, yes. Can I sustain my existence mostly inside? I could, but the benefits and beauty of nature catapult humans far past 'sustained' and into full 'nourishment'.

Many people will live decent lives without ever sitting on a meditation cushion. However, once the well of meditation has been drunk deeply of, the subsequent nourishment is vital to a life best lived. If you meditate, you know. Meditation, when done appropriately for the doer, yields benefits far out weighing the time or effort, the freeing journey meditation can yield is inner freedom, no other freedom is comparable because all other freedoms are compromise-able. Meditation is actually a component of Yoga, augmented by the physical postures. Did you think it was the other way around? That meditation augments the postures? Well you're not wrong. Yet the depth of the practice emerges with the right meditation revealing the layer beneath self care - Self development and Self discovery. Self, with a capital S, is the aspect of you that is more whole and universal than your body, thoughts, personality, or gender. Yoga, in essence, is meant to bring us to a state of inner freedom. Transcending earthly trappings like possessions, status or accomplishments, Self development and discovery is a by product of thoughtful and meaningful self care; self care that co-signs your devotion to a curious, compassionate pursuit of adequacy, functionality & contentment.

Well those aren't exactly sexy words, are they? Maybe not. But they're attainable. Sustainable. And, actually, dollar to dollar, minute to minute, and breath for breath - winning. I like Yoga because I don't have to assign deep meaning into every practice, the technology of the practice will do its work on my anyway. However, I can lean into the deeper meanings, I can be permeable to the revelations that arise. I can learn about my layered experience of living, even while I'm merely stretching my hamstrings. Meanwhile, a good yoga practice will unveil wisdoms specific to your life, as it does for me, and universal to human kind, as its been doing for thousands of years. Therapy or coaching will be more fruitful when one has a meditation and mindfulness practice. Creativity will flow more generously like rivers after spring rains. Solutions will rise as problems decrease.

So do I feel trapped by a self prescribed daily self care regiment? No. I feel liberated. And that's what 'right practice' will, if not immediately, then eventually, do. It liberates. We're not here to be trapped. We're here to be discovered and developed by our selves, for our Selves (and thus, for each other.) And along the way, if visiting the massage therapist or chiropractor gives me a little elbow room in my physical health and comfort so I can fully pursue the good work of living a life well lived, than I'll happily accept those nutritious and delicious opportunities. For the sake of freedom your car is worth your effort right? So are you!