It’s often easier for us to take care of others and pour love to others whether it be our partners, our kids, our loved ones and friends. But often it’s difficult for us to find kindness and love towards ourselves. That’s why I felt it was so important to focus on self-love as a theme not only for Valentines, but February and beyond.

The harshest critic we have is often ourselves, with a relentless recording of all the things we have done wrong or could have done better, it’s the chatter we hear inside of our heads that often mess with our self confidence.

This type of “self-talk” can wear you down. You may even do it subconsciously, internalizing what may have been what was projected onto you from childhood, from society, and pressures we have to fulfill certain roles. Especially if you have a history of trauma, this self-talk can be destructive and even interrupt your daily functioning.

In East Asian Medicine strong and pervasive emotions we are having a hard time processing can have a negative effect on our health. It causes stagnation in the channels and organs in the body and this can lead to disease.

The antidote? Make sure the smooth flow of vital energy or Qi is moving throughout the body. Breathwork is one way to do this, and another is acupressure.

I mentioned heart centered breathing in my last blog post. It combines breathwork and acupressure.

Women are considered the strongest in this heart area. It is also an area that is most vulnerable for women. So it’s important to take care of matters of the heart.