Take Time Out for Yourself Resources
A few weeks ago I talked about how I take an hour every day, a foundation hour, that I devote to filling myself up and preparing for the day so that I can just...do better.
Today I want to share with you some of the resources that have been helpful to me as I've built out my foundation hour. I hope you'll find these resources helpful. Lets get to it!
Yoga
DoYouYoga.com. This site has tons of classes, and many of them are free. A few highlights:
Jessica Rose's 3o days of Yoga Challenge and Kristin McGee’s 28 Day Yoga for Beginners Program.
Both of these are great for beginners, and after practicing for a month you'll be well on your way towards making yoga a part of your daily routine.
Sadie Nardini’s 14 day yoga shred.
It’s yoga meets High Intensity Interval Training. Each class only lasts about 10 minutes, but boy will you see results. And you can't help but like Sadie and her punk rock attitude.
Meditation
While there are a lot of really great meditation apps out there, here are my favorites:
Headspace. This app is very popular and for good reason. It's a great foundation app, and one that will help those new to meditation understand how it works and the true benefits of meditation.
Calm. Again, great for beginners and I love how when you open the app a peaceful scene appears with the words ‘Take a deep breath.” In addition to meditation, the app offers sleep stories to help you fall asleep at night and a breathing guide to help you relax when feeling stressed.
Podcasts
I listen to a lot of podcasts. I walk about a mile to and from my son’s school every day so I utilize that time to get inspired. Here are some of my favorites:
The Lively Show. What I like about Jess Lively’s show is that she encourages you to listen to your intuition and to separate the true self from the ego. Add to that the fact that she does a lot of interviews with small business owners and creatives and you’ve got a truly inspiring podcast.
Art For Your Ears. This podcast is hosted by Danielle Krysa, otherwise known as The Jealous Curator. On the podcast she interviews artists to learn about their journey and how they make their work. I'm slightly addicted to this podcast and love hearing how artists I admire got to where they are.
Creative Biz Rebellion. Kelly Parker Smith and Caroline Hull, two successful creatives, host this podcast and share with their listeners advice on how they too can grow a creative, product-based business. They interview a lot of knowledgeable people and have a very positive encouraging attitude. You'll be ready to go and build your business after listening to these two ladies.
Janet Lansbury's Unruffled. Do you have small children? Then you have to listen to this podcast and hear Janet Lansbury's recommendations for dealing with common parenting issues. Each episode is short and features Janet answering a parent's question. I have had success implementing Janet's recommendations, and as a result have a better relationship with my son. Highly recommended for all parents.
Books
I read every night before I go to bed (and sometimes during the day if I’m lucky!) Here are my recommendations:
Designing Your Life. This book is based on a popular class at Stanford that highlights how you can build a meaningful and fulfilling life by approaching it as a designer. What I like about his book is how straightforward the advice is, and how the authors highlight that you should take risks and make mistakes...that they are a valuable part of the process.
Daily Rituals: How artists work. Shows how 161 artists structured their days and developed daily rituals to help them get work done and keep moving forward with their creative work. I thought it was so fascinating getting a peak into how these artists work, and was inspired by the challenges so many of them faced to keep going and stay focused.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. This book, by the always inspiring Elizabeth Gilbert, highlights how we can be our true selves and live a fully creative life. I love the little stories Elizabeth shares in this book, and how honest she is about the challenges of living a creative life...but how important it is for us to do it.
And you can’t go wrong reading anything written by Pema Chodron, Ekhart Tolle and Brene Brown.
I hope these resources inspire you!