When I make each of my products, there is always a deeper intention behind that product than just the physical nourishment it provides. Every time I develop something new for you, I’m thinking, how can this product improve your internal well-being as well as external well-being? How can I help each of you use this plant-powered goodness to create deeper and more impactful self-care practices?
One aspect of self-care that I feel can be very transformative, is the practice of ritual. So what is ritual and how does it differ from routine?
We all have routines. We get up, make breakfast, take a shower, brush our teeth. That’s a series of routines. That’s not all that exciting, though, is it?
What if we could turn our routines into something more powerful? Something that helps us to feel centered and a little more joyful during the day? Something like – a ritual. Rituals are reoccurring activities that we practice , similar to routines, but they are injected with meaning to help us to bring a specific intention forward for our day.
Routines are fairly automatic. We go through the process without putting in too much thought.
Rituals on the other hand, require your engagement. They can add meaning to your day in simple ways. They help you to look at life as a celebration. They bring awareness to your senses and presence to the moment. It’s all about perspective.
So how can we turn our routines into ritual?
Here’s an example. Instead of just taking a shower, what if you focus on the way the water feels while hitting your body? What if you made a ritual of using a lavender salt scrub to cleanse your chest and heart chakra each morning, while asking to be cleansed of the past and to start this day fresh and joyful?
Photo by Drew Farwell on Unsplash
Or, what if instead of just sweeping the floors, you turn your mind toward the motions of your body. Feel how your weight shifts, your muscles move, your arms glide back and forth. You could even recite, “out with the old, in with the new.” Sweep out the energy that no longer serves you!
What if instead of just washing your face, you used that time to really be present with the feeling of the water washing over your skin? And then when you are done, you use a special ritual oil, packed with a delicious aroma to massage your skin while choosing an intention for the day?” “I now breathe and move into my natural well-being.”
That makes me wonder, how can scent help us form even more powerful rituals? Think about this. Smell is our most primitive sense. It is intimately linked to our memory because the olfactory bulb (where the brain processes smell) interacts with regions of the brain responsible for emotional memories, as well as sex and motivation.
Photo by Tamarcus Brown
When you bring a pleasant aroma into your day and combine it with ritual, you have a powerful tool for uplifting your emotions and amplifying your well-being! Scents can trigger your brain to remember a positive affirmation or intention, and they can help you to lock that positive emotion into your memory.
So, if you are enjoying yourself while you are massaging your skin with a luxurious oil, and setting a positive intention for the day, while ALSO enjoying a pleasant aroma…the chances of that action impacting your well-being throughout the day are greater than if you were just washing your face and applying lotion.
Providing a way to incorporate easy rituals that stick and also nourish your body, is of the intentions I have behind creating my products and exactly why customers have fallen so deeply in love with my morning and evening ritual oils!
So what do you think? Do you have rituals which help you to get centered and bring more joy into your day? I’d love to hear about them! And if you are ready to try out the benefit of adding ritual face oils into your routine, my Morning and Evening Ritual Oils are available right here.
