The Bath of Self-Care

Recipe:

• Three drops jasmine oil (jasmine oil is soothing and promotes self-confidence)
• Four drops rose oil (rose oil is the flower of self-love)
• Three drops lavender oil (lavender oil balances your emotions and creates peace)
• Rose quartz (rose quartz is for self-love and care)
• Pink candle (pink is the color of self-love)
• One cup apple cider vinegar
• Jasmine tea

The Bath Ritual
Light your pink candle and put in the essential oils before climbing into the bath. As you soak in your bath ask Mother Earth to inspire your self-care and to give you guidance about what would help. Do you need to exercise, spend time in nature, or get a massage? Would it help to spend more time listening to your higher self? Should you make regular time to laugh with friends?

Ask for a baby step to integrate more self-care into your daily routine. Sometimes just sleeping an extra hour will make you more productive. A life coach for executives once told me that she insisted that her clients pay for a daily massage for a few months. They balked at the cost but found that it raised the threshold of what they felt they were worth. Often they’d start to bring in more income because of this. I know this example is not realistic for the average reader (myself included) but the point remains the same; when we treat ourselves really well, what we feel that we deserve increases. So, picture your worth increasing as your actions support your self-care and self-worth.

Now ask, “What gets in my way? Is it lack of support, time, resources, limiting beliefs, or lack of self-love?” If your negative voice says, “You have no time for self-care,” just ignore it! Picture letting go of all negative thoughts, beliefs, limitations, or negative opinions about creating room in your life for self-care. Let them all go down the drain so that Mother Earth can slurp them up as fertilizer for new growth. With an intention for those thoughts to be cleared, affirm, “I’m completely committed to my self-care.” Ask Mother Earth to provide guidance on new self-care habits that would benefit you. Listen to her ideas. Visualize those benefits in your life and when you’re ready, thank her and blow out the pink candle.

Afterward, go into your place of relaxation to journal about your new self-care habits and any spiritual guidance you received. Write down at least one new self-care habit that you’re going to do and monitor your progress and results in your journal. Include these sacred baths in your vision for self-care. Sip some jasmine tea and remember that taking care of yourself is the foundation of all that you will create. You can return to this sacred bath whenever you need to refuel or refocus on this.

Excerpted from The Book of Sacred Baths, by Paulette Kouffman Sherman, PsyD.