How to practice self-care and connect to your environment

Mindset CoachingMeditation
Written By Lauren Barber

Hello, you beautiful soul!

How are you this glorious Friday? I want to share with you a moment when I was cold water dipping this week.

The sunrise was peaking over the Pennines. It was clear and bright. A golden path shimmered brilliantly on the water’s surface. The light was soft enough not to hurt my eyes but powerful enough to dazzle in a glorious way. I had just led a group from Reservoir Doggs in breathwork and everyone sat in serene stillness, looking out over the water.

In front of us, two mature swans started to take flight. Their webbed feet grabbed at the surface of the water, as they gathered pace. Their elegant necks outstretched, like sunflowers reaching towards the sun. Their vast wings swooped through the air – you could hear the air whoosh around them! – as they lifted off the water and soared into the air. It was just a few seconds but time seemed to slow down and every detail felt so crisp. Like it was all HD. It was so beautiful 🦢

Ah, the Glorious Present Moment! There’s something so magical and special when we can see the world in this way. It’s available to all of us – all the time. I just need to remember to slow down more and take the time to be with my surroundings. Particularly when spending time in nature!

And speaking of spending time in nature, I’m hosting another “Create Your Own Reality” retreat in North Wales at the end of June 2022. Check out this reel on Instagram for more details – and drop me a message if you’d like to secure your spot!

Here’s this week’s Friday Feels! Snippets from my world of coaching, meditation and breathwork – with the intention to share information that brings joy, wonder and self-reflection.

1. Song of the week

Lullaby for Little Spoon by Pete Kuzma (Listen on Spotify or see some awesome visuals on YouTube)

I am aware that Spotify doesn’t pay it’s artists well… but I really want to express sincere gratitude for how AMAZING it is to access such incredible music and find new artists. I really enjoy the work of Pete Kuzma. I love to use this jazzy piano track in breathwork. It is also lovely chilled music to listen to when working.

2. Quote of the week

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

― Greek Proverb

NB: I am keen to share quality information, so I’ll acknowledge that I can’t seem to confirm if this is in fact a Greek Proverb… Google is being ambiguous! So let’s just say this is a pretty neat quote, you get the gist and does it really matter who said it?

Now is the season for planting trees, so if you can’t arrange to plant a tree yourself, consider donating to the UK charity TreeSisters. This amazing organisation has planted over 22 million trees across 12 locations in Brazil, Borneo, Cameroon, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, Nepal and West Papua.

3. Practice of the week

Planting trees! 🌳

At the weekend, I joined a group of volunteers to plant trees at my local park. It is an act of hope. It is a future-facing, nature-loving act of giving. I planted some cherry plums, yew trees, willow, hazel and dogwood. It was lovely to meet more local people and to have that shared experience together.

Plus, my inner child loves to get muddy and mucky, so it was fun to get down and dirty!

Planting trees is also a beautiful reminder of the symbiotic relationship we have with trees – we breathe in what they breathe out, and then inhale what we exhale. Even labels in biology give a nod to this, with the trees of the lungs! Remember: YOU are nature.

4. Teaching of the week

One of my mentors, Bob Proctor, passed away recently. 🙏 Bob had such a huge impact on my life and so I’m going to be sharing more of his work. I had the pleasure of training with him in Toronto in 2019 and LA in 2020, including asking him all about the power of meditation!

​This 2-hour beautiful memorial session gives so much to reflect on! I definitely shed a tear or two watching everyone speak, it was so moving. Key takeaways from me when I watched this was the importance of giving and dreaming big! It also features motivational speaker Les Brown quite a lot and he’s another teacher I really admire.

5. Client win of the week

“Despite all that heaviness, when I took a step back, I had actually done a lot inside my business. I’m proud of myself!”

A client was reflecting on the heaviness she’s felt in the last few weeks, including grief. She noted that an earlier version of herself would have pushed the big red “f**k it” button to push everything away! To give up on her plans and just eat her feelings and binge Netflix. Sound familiar?

Instead, she was able to slow down and ensured she made time for plenty of self-care to support herself with these big emotions. In doing so, she held space for herself and still showed up and worked on her business. When you utilise self-care, you raise your vibration. This means that you can operate at a higher level, and not get lost in your emotions and lose sight of your plans. I was so proud of her giving herself space to process emotions, and then also respect herself enough to take action where she could. That’s some higher-level self activation right there! ✨

Here are upcoming events that I’m super excited to be hosting! Which grabs your fancy?

That’s it for this week. I’m off to go visit the trees I planted and see how they’re doing 😊

Wishing you a beautiful weekend ahead, filled with snippets of the Glorious Present Moment! 🦢

Big love,
Briony x

​​P.S. What is this Friday Feels post about? In case you’re reading this for the first time (hello!), I post a weekly blog with snippets from my world of coaching, meditation and breathwork. My intention is to share useful, joyful or interesting tidbits, which may serve you in some way 🙏

Lauren Barber https://www.laurenbarber.co
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