I began practicing yoga in 1998 and have practiced through heartache, loss, injuries, surgeries, pregnancies, dark, happy and uncertain times. I have cried in child’s pose through an entire practice and have also kicked myself into headstand while 8 months pregnant. Yoga has restored my faith (in a lot of things), cultivated a steadiness inside my heart and continues to be both my medicine and my therapist. Yoga is essentially essential to my overall wellbeing.

When I get on my yoga mat I am forced to face the reality of what’s going on in my life, bottom line. There I sit in the present moment, with nothing but my cartwheeling thoughts, with no other option than to breathe do the poses. The poses that were created to open us up, to stretch us long and wide, to strengthen, balance and ground us. To teach us that when things get really freaking hard, that we can get through it.

We do yoga to refine ourselves, to melt down the armor, the defenses and the falsities to reveal that sparkly and pure authenticity that resides within.

We do yoga to release the negative, to clean out the junk and muck to create energetic spaces where there were none, making room for the good stuff to flow in, creating a total body/mind renovation and restoration.

Yoga creates an energetic ball of light inside us that grows brighter each time we practice. This light represents an immoveable steadiness and wholeness that keeps us calm and centered when the world goes nuts around us.

This is why I do yoga. I would be lost without it.

As I embark on my 5^th Self-Care retreat at my beloved yoga studio, I have been obsessed with the concept of Renegade Self-Care.

What is Renegade Self-Care (or RSC for short)?

The RSC concept embodies the harder, deeper and more soulful pieces of the Self-Care notion. It involves jumping into the more tumultuous and less-forgiving waters of our hearts and swimming through all that scary darkness.

Most commonly in my circles, Self-Care is defined as taking time out for oneself. Taking time for yoga, reading, fun with friends, pedicures, going for hikes, etc. These are all necessary, valid and totally beautiful ways to take care of YOU.

But, what I want to discuss today, is taking a holistic look at what we need, not just a “break”, but where we need to be nourished in addition to giving ourselves a break.

RSC is much more personal, powerful and challenging to dive into and implement than our surface level Self-Care.

Born out of childhood, fostered by negative thinking, a lack of Renegade Self-Care is understandable. It takes AWARENESS, first and foremost, and then fierce self-love, belief in oneself and major BRAVERY to implement RSC. If you didn’t grow up with these inner qualities, it can be a struggle harder than anyone might ever know.

So much of our behavior comes from hurts from the past, negative patterns and self-doubt and to blaze through these beliefs, we must learn to live and think differently…and this can be really scary.

But it’s essential.

RSC not about being “better” it’s about accessing, revealing and unveiling our real, authentic selves and allowing it all to unfold without judgment.

It means setting boundaries where we have had none and knowing that people may take issue with that. It means looking someone in the eye and saying how we truly, truly feel (with love) instead of trying to protect their feelings over expressing ours. It means going against the grain and tapping into our intuition when our friends are going the other direction. It means passionately respecting and believing in ourselves, even when we are overcome with doubt.

When we engage in RSC it means that we are truly LOVING OURSELVES.

There is really no other way to live, so we need to keep at this. We need to keep peeling off the layers, tuning into our hearts, trying out those difficult conversations, cancelling what doesn’t align with our intentions…always going back to our heart space to make sure it all resonates with who we TRULY ARE INSIDE.