Yoga for the Heart: 5 Tips for Nurturing Yourself

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love for significant others, our friends, families, neighbors and special someone. But what about showing some love for yourself?

When we send loving thoughts to ourselves and care for ourselves, it is like practicing yoga for our mental-emotional heart. When we learn to lovingly embrace our strengths and our weaknesses and to have compassion for who we are as we strive to find deeper meaning and fulfilment in our lives, we are supporting our physical, emotional and spiritual growth and well-being.

To practice yoga for the heart, it is important that we turn inward and shift from the self-judgment and negativity to compassion and a positive focus.  Self-love is about feeling good, and it has been proven to impact both our bodies and our minds.

As we celebrate this week of love, here are 5 tips for practicing yoga for the heart and nurturing your body, mind and soul:

1. Be Still. Being connected to what you feel, think and want allows you to remain mindful of who you are and act on this knowledge. Slow down and begin to notice what you are saying to yourself and the thoughts which you are having. Reflect on how these are impacting your mood, health and behavior. When you become mindful of who you truly are, you are more likely act on this wisdom rather than on what you perceive others want from you.

2. Nurture Yourself. Practice self-care: nourish yourself through healthy activities like balanced nutrition, exercise, getting enough sleep and healthy social interactions. When you show yourself love through these types of actions, you will continue to take better care of your basic needs. This sets the foundation for growth and living an authentic life.

3. Be Kind to Yourself. While it is important to own and take responsibility for our actions, it is also important to learn and grow from our mistakes. Forgive yourself instead of punishing yourself. We are humans and therefore not perfect. Practice self-compassion when you make a mistake. Reframe mistakes as lessons, and embrace them as chances to learn and grow.

4. Set Boundaries. Being able to set limits or say no to activities, interactions and work that depletes or harms you physically, emotionally or spiritually shows self-love and compassion.

5. Live With Intention. When you live with purpose and meaning, you will make decisions that support your intentions. This makes you feel great about yourself when you accomplish your true purpose. If you set your intention to live in a healthy and meaningful way, you will take actions that support this intention.

Choose one way to start caring for yourself today. As you work on beginning to accept and love yourself more, you will start to notice that you naturally learning to take these actions to love yourself.  This will allow and inspire others around you to express themselves in the same way. You can only love another person as much as you love yourself. As you begin to treat yourself with love and compassion, you will start to attract people and circumstances that support your well-being.

How will you celebrate learning to cherish yourself more? Share your favorite self-nurturing strategies in the comments.

Dr. Jennifer Weinberg, MD, MPH, MBE is a preventive and lifestyle medicine physician and the Founder of the 
Simple|Pure|WholeTM Wellness Method. She offers innovative online wellness and education programs for individuals looking for sustainable optimal health and non-toxic living as well as health care providers seeking to embrace a transformative approach to health care and corporations wanting to integrate a holistic approach to corporate wellness. She also provides a comprehensive All-Natural virtual Recharge Experience for those ready to rejuvenate and build a strong foundation for sustainable life-long wellness! For more information vist her webpage JenniferWeinbergMD.com and connect with her on her Facebook page.