Self Care Practices

Stand in Tadasana (mountain pose). Take a moment to locate your breath. Breathe deeply through the nose, with intention, for the entire sequence.

On an exhalation, step your feet 3 ½- to 4-feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.

Turn your right foot in slightly to the right and your left foot to the left 90 degrees. Align your left heel with your right heel. Exhale and bend your left knee over your left ankle, so that your shin is perpendicular to the floor.

Stretch your arms away from the space between your shoulder blades, parallel to the floor. Keep the sides of your torso equally long and your shoulders directly over your pelvis. Press your tailbone slightly toward your pubis. Turn your head to the left and look out over your fingers. This is Warrior II posture—the posture of power. This posture activates the male energy: the action-oriented, courageous and external confidence.

Next, maintaining the position of your legs, lift your left hand up above your head, as your right hand moves down along your extended right leg. Taking your gaze upward toward your fingers, come into a slight backbend. This is Exalted Warrior—the posture of acknowledgment. Accept it all as it comes, and maintain your power.

From here, release your arms, square your hips, and stand in an even, wide-legged pose. Come into a deep squat with your knees above your ankles. Extend your arms out to the side, bending at the elbow, with your fingers pointed to the ceiling and bring them to a ninety- degree angle. Look to the horizon. This is the Goddess. She ignites your feminine intuition, your trust in the universe… your nurturing, internal confidence.

Come back to center in a wide-legged pose and switch legs, turning your right foot out 90 degrees, as you take Warrior II to the right side.

Move into Exalted Warrior on the right side, followed by Goddess once more.

Come back to Tadasana. Feel the power of the universe within you.

Try it: Nadi Shodana: alternate nostril breathing 
Do first thing in morning
Effects: energizing, balancing, clearing 1. Take the first 2 fingers of your right hand and either fold them in or place them on your 3rd eye. 2. Place your ring finger and thumb gently on each nostril 3. Take a deep breath in 4. Before exhaling, close the ring finger against the left nostril 5. Exhale out the right nostril 6. Keeping the left nostril closed, Inhale through the right side 7. Close the right side with your thumb; exhale out the left side 8. Inhale left side 9. Exhale right 10. Continue breath like this, switching sides before each exhale (ie. inhale right, exhale left, inhale left, exhale right) for 3-5 minutes 11. Release your hand and breathe deeply for another 1-2 minutes This breath is for: Physical and emotional balance Integration Simultaneously grounding and energizing Great for increased mental clarity and preparation for meditation

~you are not alone ~

1. Get up.

2. Get out.

Go for a brisk walk. Get your body moving. Depression loves to flourish in dark corners of the mind. If the body is moving, it’s harder for sadness to take hold. Move your body.

3. Wash up.

Wash your hair. Clip your nails. Scrub your body. Cleanse your face. Be vigorous.

4. Lighten up.

Essential oils have a reputation for enhancing prana, nourishing ojas, and brightening tejas. These oils can be used alone, in combination, in spot treatments or in aromatherapy massage. Bergamot has a strong reputation for its ability to gently uplift. Bergamot combines the ability to both relax the nerves and refresh the Spirit; it is suitable for many types of depressive states. Try incorporating a body oil with uplifting essentials oils like infuse, our organic herbal oil of amber and bergamot to enrich the skin and wake the nose. Neroli comforts the mind and heart and is best suited for nervous and emotional exhaustion. Neroli uplifts the Spirit, releases repressed emotions and unifies a fragmented psyche. Neroli is specifically indicated for individuals who, in order to escape from emotional pain and suffering, cut themselves off from their feelings and senses. Try our neroli water for facial pick me up on the go or just after your morning cleanse. When depression is of an overly aggressive nature, it often involves an imbalance of joy and love - the root emotions of the heart and mind. This kind of depression afflicts the heart and involves a loss of one’s natural sense of joy. There is often an accompanied lack of enthusiasm and interest as well as an inability to become inspired. Rose Absolute may have a profound effect on this state. Rose is thought the Queen of essential olls, heart opening and deeply aromatic. Incorporate our simple rose water throughout the day to open the heart. Geranium can be used for spiritual practice and meditation as she assists one in connecting to the intuition and message of the heart. Known for its support in releasing negative and dis-harmonious memories, Geranium eases nervous tension and stress and is balancing to the emotions. An excellent oil for those whose lives are ‘lacking color’, Geranium is celebrated for its ability to lift worry and anxiety, clear stagnant energy bring motivation and strength to manifesting one’s vision. Try these powerful guides in oil for a self massage or a few drops in a warm bath or steaming bowl of water for a facial steam or deep inhalant – these oils can work wonders. You can also experience a trilogy of oils in our facial balm protect. With preciousness neroil, geranium, and rose in our facial balm protect to feed the skin and kindle the spirit day or night.

5. Brighten up.

Eat whole fruits. Cook leafy greens like kale and collards. Make your plate a work of art that is colorful, grains for a balanced diet. Wear bright colors.

6. Speak up.

Make a list of all the things you want to do, wish you could do, would rather be doing if money, time and external circumstances were of no concern. Keep each item to one sentence.

7. Step up.

Take your list and circle a single word. Go on, Select one word that jumps out.

8. Show up.

Can you make that single word happen today? Right now? For example, if I circled ‘write’, I could spend some time and write even if it’s not the novel I listed. If I circled ‘travel’, I could walk or drive somewhere I hadn’t planned, even if its not South Africa. If it was ‘money’ I could count, give, or draw images of money. The idea here is to engage parts of what you really want. Chipping away at your dreams could begin with taking in a single word. When you’re ready you’ll naturally take in the whole sentence. But today get lost in the word.

9. Shut up.

At the risk of sounding harsh, I would like to ask the part of you looping the negative tape of self-loathing, pity, and despair to kindly shut up. Enough is enough. You are a brilliant, highly creative individual who is stuck. It’s not personal. It’s physical.

10. Chin up.

Outlook takes practice. The first step in training is to hold the proper view. In Buddhism, we practice the Four Reminders to support right view. They are:

Precious Human Birth (i.e. you could have been a toilet seat. Be grateful for your life. Don’t waste it.)

Impermanence (Everything changes - the good, the bad, the best, the worst. This moment will change too.)

Truth of Karma (For every action there is a reaction. This is why it’s particularly important to fill your life with good deeds - It multiplies. Anything we have now is the result of the fruit of past actions.)

Inevitability of Suffering (When the Buddha awoke, he spoke about the three kinds of suffering: the suffering of pain, the suffering of change, and the suffering of suffering.)

Sit in a quiet space. Reflect on one reminder for a deeper understanding. This practice has proven to be extremely powerful for me. I hope these contemplations inspire you as well. If you'd like to share your story on ritual or the breath work, send us a note at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

~you are loved~

visualization | the cord
Take a comfortable, upright seat. Soften the gaze. As you come to rest, Visualize a gold coin between your navel and the front of the spine. Breathe. Allow the coin to grow to a ripe grapefruit. then grow it to a channel as wide as your hips. Descend through to the center of the Earth.

practice | morning pages
Write in a stream of consciousness till you fill 3 pages. Refrain from editing or reading your entry. The practice is to simply engage in the process of bringing thought onto paper. This can inspire inner confidence, trust, and relieve anxiety about what is left unsaid.

food | warm nourishment
Cook your meals! Cold fruits, raw food, and iced drinks can create instability in the body. Refrain from the chilled edibles and begin warming your food You are what you eat.

Try this nourishing recipe of kichari. It’s tridoshic, easy to digest, a complete protein, and fun to make.

experience | massage
Self-massage can be a deeply healing experience. Use a body oil or our decadent indulge body balm made with mango and avocado, lavender and sandalwood to nourish, root, and bring stillness. Best just out of the shower. If you’d like the support of a professional therapist, let us know and we can help. Massage helps us teel again.

mantra | ‘I am connected to the Earth.’
Affirm what is true. Repeat throughout the day to remind yourself of the link you formed earlier in the day.

root chakra | LAM
Speak the powerful syllable LAM (as in ‘calm’) to vibrate the root chakra at the perineum.

asana | downward dog
Get on all fours. Place your hands just under your shoulders with your fingers spread facing forward and knees hip width apart. Press down consciously through your hands. Tilt your tailbone up and sit bones up toward the ceiling. Activate your abdomen. Press heels downward. Breathe

myth: the more I have, the more I am.
To be grounded is to be utterly confidant in who you are. To practice this confidence give something away that you value. When we give, we realize our wealth lies within.

The Ritual of Solstice

Summer is nearly here! The longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice comes this year on June 21st 2011. The world “solstice” a Latin inspiration meaning to stand still. As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher until it seems to literally stand still in the sky.

Embrace this magical time of year. Be still. Radiate with full energy and presence like the sun. Bask in the glow of warm, radiant health. During this seasonal change, it’s the perfect time to recognize the inner changes. Here in San Francisco, where we’re often wrapped up in scarves throughout June and July, it’s hard to notice that the seasons are transitioning. If we don’t take a conscious moment to pause and recognize the shift, our world will alert us--and often in the form of chaos. Building these seasonal “time-outs” to update and refine our habits, especially of self-care, is a essential practice.

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Long retreats or seasonal vacations may be tough to finagle financially but finding a way to create space for stillness can be feasible. Taking a couple hours to update your closet, purge some files, do some deep cleaning or schedule bodywork is necessary for keeping your act together and feeling on top of life.

One of the lasting ties today with the summer solstice, comes from the Druid’ celebration of the longest day as the “wedding of heaven and earth.” Today, there is a belief that a wedding in June will bring good luck.

Every day at Earthbody we strive to marry the physical body with the benefits of self-care through touch and energy healing. It’s all too easy in our fast-paced world for the bodymind to fall out of harmony with each other, resulting in a rocky “marriage” of discord. Marrying these two major parts of ourselves is what we do as practitioners at Earthbody. Let us be your marriage counselors, if you will, of body and mind, bringing you back in harmony, balance and somatic joy.

Wedding bells are ringing! Whether your planning your own, participating in a friend’s or simply celebrating, you know how special the “big day” is. Whatever your part in it, you want to look and feel your best. We offer a variety of Spa Treatment Packages and Body Rituals to help you prepare for the celebration. June happens to be the most popular month for weddings, so give us a ring and we can help you set up something special.

DID YOU KNOW…

Did you know that the word “honey moon” is related to the full moon in June?

This is traditionally the best time to harvest honey from the hives. Isn’t that sweet? Experience the sweetness of THE HERO'S JOURNEY, a 2 ½ hour spa treatment beginning with a eucalyptus tea tree foot bath and massage, a deeply nourishing massage with a stimulating herbal oil, and a clean enzymatic face treatment of yogurt and honey. This is an incredibly sweet ritual for every Hero in your life!