You are gold, {{first_name|friend}}. Start treating yourself like it!

Some mornings it’s easy to feel that shine, when the light hits just right after a restful sleep, when your coffee’s still warm, when your breath feels steady and your body strong. Other days, mornings blur by in dishes, diapers, deadlines, caretaking, and commuting, trying to hold it all together. In those in-between moments of this beautifully full life is where the practice lives. That’s where you live.

Self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s more like a language. It’s how you speak to yourself without words. It’s in the way you wash your face, cook yourself a warm meal, straighten your posture, or step outside to feel the air on your skin. It’s the awareness threaded through the simplest acts like brushing your teeth, saying no, and cleaning up your space. This season, whatever yours looks like, is an invitation to return to yourself. To remember that clarity isn’t found in doing more, but in softening into what already is.

Saucha, one of yoga’s Niyamas, reminds us that tending to our inner and outer worlds is a sacred form of clarity. When you care for yourself, you clear the path between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming. This isn’t about expensive skincare or fancy vacations. It’s about reclaiming the sacred in how you care for yourself: your body, your mind, your energy, your spiritual self.

Think about someone you love, someone you want the best for. Maybe a child, a family member, a treasured friend. Or perhaps, if you’re in a caregiving or client-facing role, a student, patient, or client. Now think about how you care for them, the way you treat them, cook for them, speak to them, bathe them, comb their hair. Think about the tenderness and love with which you do this… and why. Now, imagine offering that same attention, care, and love to yourself.

We know that when you're caring for others (a busy family, small kids, furry four-legged friends, a demanding job), it's easy to put yourself at the bottom of the list and fall into “bare minimum mode.” When was the last time you actually slowed down long enough to give yourself a little love: maybe a foot rub or oil massage, made a special herbal tea, and lit your fav candle or even to cook yourself something truly nourishing instead of just grabbing what’s quick?

We've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially as Ailo and Saje are growing up, and before we know it, they'll be brushing their own hair, getting themselves dressed, and learning how to take care of their own personal care routine. How do kids learn this? By watching us, of course.

That’s why it feels more important than ever to keep sharing these little rituals with them, and to make sure we’re looking after ourselves, too. Family life can be unpredictable (hello missed naps, car breakdowns, tummy bugs, and last-minute plans!), but keeping our own self-care routines going shows them that caring for yourself is just as important as caring for everyone else.

In the wellness space, “self-care” often gets flattened into bubble baths and green juice. And while there’s nothing wrong with either of those, the yogic tradition invites something deeper, care that creates clarity.

In the Yoga Sutras, one of the five Niyamas is Saucha, meaning purity, cleanliness, and inner order. It’s the doorway to clear thought, honest speech, and steady energy.

Rather than about being “neat" or about looking “put together,” it’s about being in integrity. It’s about how we show up for ourselves - physically, mentally, energetically - each day, in the small choices that shape our inner landscape.

Yes, Saucha includes tending to your physical body. But also the way you do so, the energy behind your routines. When you brush your teeth, run a comb through your hair, apply oil to your skin, or choose an outfit that feels aligned. These moments are not about appearance, they’re an expression of respect and how you honor yourself. It’s saying, “This body matters. I care for it because it’s sacred.”

This practice extends beyond the surface of hygiene and appearance. It invites you to release what clouds your energy…mental noise, emotional heaviness, or environments that make you shrink. But here, we’re zooming in on the personal care rituals, the simple, tactile ways you nurture your body each day.

Self-care through the lens of yoga becomes a ritual of presence. When done with presence, those rituals become a form of meditation. A gentle, embodied kind of yoga.