Self Care Retreat for July

When I posted on “me first” and self care a few months back, I got a lot of great responses from people who, like me, value self-care and yet struggle to make it a priority with the many competing demands of work, family, and home life.  I see it so prominently in my own life, especially since our recent move, and I see it with most of my clients.

It’s been a huge exploration and priority for me during the past 8 years.  Lyme, chronic fatigue and physical limitations have (for both better AND worse) forced me to be very mindful about how I listen to my body, how I set boundaries with myself and others and really, how I care and honor myself.  Self care has become a cornerstone for health for me over those years, and a key part of my life.  And I’ve come to cherish the lessons I’ve learned and habits I’ve developed, and appreciate the ways I’ve matured in the process.

I am not by any means an expert in self-care, but I am most definitely an avid student.  And there are the areas I regularly do a great job (food, meditation) and there are the ones that get a bit iffy (exercise) and ones in progress (work/life balance, etc.)

As I began a dialogue with Valerie of City Life Eats it seemed like this would be a great idea for a blog carnival.  At the very least, we’d spend more time taking care of ourselves for a month.  At best, others would be inspired to do the same!

So I am thrilled to announce that Valerie and I are hosting a virtual Self-Care Retreat this month.  The goal is to inspire a month of reflections on self-care and the many ways to nourish our minds, bodies and souls through food and beyond!
Every Saturday of the month, starting tomorrow, either Valerie, I, or one of our fabulous guest hosts, which include Shirley of Gluten-Free Easily, Wendy of Celiacs in the House and Iris of Daily Dietribe, will post on one of the themes we chose as they relate to self-care:

Movement – July 2
Inward reflection, Meditation and Mindfulness – July 9
Food – July 16
Family/friends/pets – July 23
Creativity – July 30

These posts are to inspire you all to make July a month of reflecting on self-care and the many ways to nourish ourselves.   We encourage everyone to participate in this event in a way that feels appropriate to them, whether through personal reflection, journal or other self-care.  If you would like to share your experience with self-care, we would love to include you in the experience, whether you join us for one week or every week.  You can write generally about self-care, or focus on one of the themes (movement, food, family/friends/pets, creativity and meditation and mindfulness), or write every week about each of the themes.  We ask that you link back to this post so that more people can learn about this retreat, and leave a comment for the weekly theme host, too!  If you would like to be included in our  roundup, please email a link to your post, along with your name and blog name, to us at selfcareretreat at gmail dot com by July 30, 2011.  Feel free to use the badge in your posts.  Non-bloggers who would like to contribute,please email the full text to the same address and it will be included in the roundup.

See you tomorrow back here for a post on movement at Valerie’s and over at here next Saturday for a post on meditation!