Self-Focus Day

Today is my birthday. [Insert high-pitched "Yay me!" voice here]. For me, birthdays are about self-care, self-love, and self-celebration. So today, I am embracing this self-focused energy with full force.

My day began with a wonderful massage with Tom Gowian, my trusted massage practitioner and certified herbalist. I resonate with Tom's approach so much that I drive all the way to Kenmore for treatments from him each month. I left Tom's space warm, calm, and with a greater sense of connectivity in my body. Lovely how massage does that! (BTW, Tom has a great online "health analyzer"; to take the quiz, click here.)

Next up: a day at the spa. Olympus Spa has become so popular that I venture to guess many of you know of it--and perhaps many of you have already experienced it! This Korean Day Spa has two locations (Lynnwood and Tacoma) and is for women only. And the amazing deal is that on your birthday, the entrance fee ($35) is waived. The Lynnwood location has warm whirlpools, a steam room, a dry sauna, and heated earth rooms. Today I took advantage of the heated earth rooms, which served to warm me to the core. The healing power of these hot rooms (ranging from 75-degrees to 170-degrees) is in their ability to help expel toxins from the body, increase circulation, reduce stress and fatigue, and help ease sore muscles.

This visit, my favorite room was the Salt Room. The walls are lined with salt rocks and the floor is a bed of salt covered by canvas. This room was a sweat-producing 140-degrees; I felt my back muscles soften as my body absorbed the healing power of the salt beneath me. I also visited the Sand Room, the Charcoal Room (also one of my favorites), the Meditation Room, and the Elvan Stone Room. Healing. Cleansing. Heavenly. I highly recommend this spa on your birthday or any day.

And speaking of any day, it's clear to me that I need not wait for my birthday to give myself a day (or fifteen minutes or an hour) of self-care. Today was a special treat, but I can find that inner calm and peace with a bit of time, some healing intention, and some inner focus. Even a fifteen-minute meditation can help restore me. What about you? What do you do to care for yourself on a daily basis?