3 Wellness Rituals I’ve Added to my Routine

 

Slowing down in the morning.

I’ve always dreamed of having a instagram-worthy morning routine. Y’know, those routines you read about from successful entrepreneurs and freelancers? They usually include meditating, stretching, journalling and sipping matcha lattes in bed.

Well, my mornings don’t look like that. Most days I’m waking up at 4:30AM to teach. It’s a miracle I make it out the door to catch the subway with a Luna Bar in my belly and my teeth brushed. Even when I was living the 9-5 life mornings were a frantic mess of trying to get out the door.

These days I’ve been doing what I like to call my Morning Routine: Part Two [Electric Boogaloo…]

I come home from teaching and finish my morning caffeinated drink of choice while reading some blogs. Lately I’ve also been picking intention cards for the day from my Affirmators! deck. I like to keep them on my desk as a reminder throughout the day. I’ll write out my to-do list for the day and review what I got going on.

If I’m not teaching again later in the day I’ll take a long ass shower. Dude, long showers are SO underrated. And then I’ll do my make-up + hair while listening to a podcast.

There’s nothing special to this morning routine, in theory it’s all shit I could have done when I was working 9-5 as long as I woke up early enough to take that long shower. But something about it feels so luxurious. Just giving myself permission to slow down and really take the time to veg out before diving into work.

 

Oil-Pulling

I’m very, very, very late to the oil-pulling trend. Forgive me.

What is oil-pulling? Oil-pulling is an ayuverdic ritual in which you swish a spoonful of oil around in your mouth (coconut oil or any other veggie based oil). It’s believed to improve oral hygiene as well as overall health.

I was listening to an ayuverda focused podcast episode recently (<— a great listen if you’re curious about a Western, realistic, approach to ayurveda). The episode talked about oil-pulling and how it doesn’t have to be this long, drawn out, 20 minute thing. Even just doing it for 2-5 minutes is beneficial. 2-5 minutes of swishing coconut oil around in my mouth? That I can handle.

I won’t pretend this is something I do every day. Maybe like 4 days or so a week. But so far I’m a fan. I have a weird hatred of anything minty — toothpaste, mouthwash, gum, you name it, I hate it. Because of this I use mostly kiddie dental products. It took a while but Jeremy is now a fan of my watermelon toothpaste and bubble gum mouthwash. I’m always super paranoid though that they don’t do enough in the breath department. Sexy, I know.

I like that oil-pulling leaves my mouth feeling significantly cleaner but it’s not as aggressive as mouthwash.

 

Experimenting with CBD Oil

CBD is having a moment in the wellness world. I’m seeing everyone talk about this stuff. CBD or cannabidiol is a compound that’s found in marijuana. When you think marijuana you’re probably thinking of the “stoned” effects of THC. The psychoactive effects. CBD on the other hand has some of the therapeutic effects of marijuana minus the high and psychoactive effects.

Some potential benefits include [source]:

• reducing inflammation and chronic pain
• helping with anxiety and depression
• helping with insomnia
• and it is believed to promote relaxation.

Having seen everyone talk about CBD I was curious to try it out myself. I’ve been experimenting with CW Hemp Oil in the evening. Ironically the mint flavor in this case doesn’t bother me…

Hi, my name is Kayla and I suck at relaxing.

I’ve found my experience to be hit miss. Sometimes it works like a charm and I get to that deliciously sleepy state while reading in bed. Other times I feel like it revs me up a bit. As we learned in health class once upon a time, cannabis is a stimulant not a depressant. And I’ve found sometimes I feel the stimulant feels from CBD rather than the relaxation I aws promised.

I’m curious to experiment with it a bit more as someone that deals with anxiety and inflammation (hello, hip injury and TMJ). I will say I’m also cautious about it messing with my sleep cycle before I teach early morning classes. I’m barely getting 6 hours of sleep as is so stick to melatonin or nothing those nights to help me sleep.

And for more on conscious cannabis consumption as a whole as well as CBD def listen to the recent podcast episode interview I did with Lauren Unger.