Personal Practice, The Art Of Creating Your Unique Practice

Now, more than ever, the timing is ripe to form new habits and cultivate your own personal practice to see you into the future. 

Towards the end of each year, often comes the 'I will do better' or something along the lines of 'I will change my life this year', or a bit of 'this year, is my year.' We get it, we've all fallen for that old chestnut ourselves. Society is set up that way, we see the "New Year, New You" everywhere! And while we are only just in the first half of 2020, now, more than ever, we are primed to cement in some beautiful rituals and routine.

Of course, we know that you guys have your finger on the pulse of life - every day is your day, you don't need a new year to inject some positive changes into your days. We also know that you guys know that part of being a good human, of being a content, compassionate and giving human, involves having some sort of personal practice.

What we can say from the top, is that Reishi medicinal mushroom is a beautiful partner to hold your hand as you forge your own personal practice. So much of our community have the deepest, most sacred love affair with Reishi, she's a cult fave. Mase (owner of SuperFeast) recently created a new blend, SHEN blend, which features Reishi as the hero herb. This blend is particularly effective at deepening your personal practice and gaining insight into self. It's a gorgeous, gentle blend of nine Shen herbs. You can read more about this magic blend here.

Hold up, you may be wondering what a personal practice is. Without sounding too vague and obscure, a personal practice can mean a lot of things to a lot of people! And there definitely isn't a right or wrong answer.  

The thing with a personal practice, is just that - it is uniquely yours and yours only. 

But why is having a personal practice important? 

Your practice gives you grounding, it can provide an anchor when the seas are rough, it can be the magic carpet ride when things are already magical. Having a personal practice can allow you to access the quiet parts of yourself, can allow you to access the creative parts of yourself, can allow you to find space to tune into your intuition. Our busy Western lives are so often jam-packed with.... crap! With white noise, over-consumption, busyness and mindless distraction. Use your personal practice as a safe haven, a refuge away from all of this.

The basics of creating a personal practice

At SuperFeast we know how deeply important cultivating your own unique personal practice is, here are our tips to help you find your personal practice groove: 

1. It's nice to set an intention, ask yourself why is a personal practice important to you? Is it to find some calm? Is it to unlock some creative potential? Perhaps it is something your GP or health practitioner has suggested for you to lower stress and help with your overall health. Keeping your intention in mind when you participate in your personal practice is helpful. This is basically your "why" that will keep you going long term.

2. Pick something (or a couple of things) that are attainable; compliance is important here. What would you welcome into your life, ideally daily? Something you will enjoy, not something that is a hassle (although, remember often you need to get uncomfortable in order to create more physical, mental or emotional freedom).

3. Have fun with it and remember nothing is set in stone. Explore and experiment with ideas and find what works for your individual needs. Be gentle with yourself until you find your personal practice sweet spot! I mean, at the moment we have time ;P so explore and be patient.

4. Check out our 51 tips de-stress. It might give you some ideas to play with :)

The SuperFeast take on a personal practice

We wanted to get you guys thinking about your own practices - while we don't buy in to the "New Year, New You" theme, we certainly DO buy in to using this time extra spaciousness as an opportunity to look at making some tweaks here and there, shifting into new experiences or refining what you currently do. A personal practice does not need to be daily for you to reap the benefits, however time and time again research has shown that consistency can be key when looking at positive and long-lasting change.

Below, I have shared the actual personal practices of several of our SuperFeast crew; these are examples to show you how varied each individual's practice can be. 

SuperFeast Crew Personal Practices

• Mark: I wake up, do yoga breath work for 10mins. Then meditation for 30mins. I jam out and play the drums for 10mins. Depending on what takes my fancy, I'll do one or two of the following - surf/swim/yoga/cycle
• Mason: It's not the 2 hour practices I used to enjoy before having a kiddie around, so I stay adaptive with my practice. Sometimes it's simply quiet time in the morning with toddler Aiya or at the beach. If I'm rested, I get up early and do my Movement Monk breath, dynamic stretching and inner cultivation practices. Followed by 10 minutes of rebounding (mini-tramp), swing some kettle bells, followed by a far-infrared sauna
• Sophia: My personal practice varies from week to week depending on what is unfolding in my life. I do have a few non negotiable practices that I make happen daily to ensure I arrive grounded, open to serve and ready to embrace the day. Usually: I wake early, scrape my tongue and brush my teeth, have a tall glass of water and MSM, sometimes I'll pop something green in there, say spirulina or a super greens mix. From here I'll do few simple Qi Gong sets (courtesy of my acupuncturist - thanks John!) preferably outside, weather permitting. I'll then generally do a little grounding exercise I've tailored to balance and connect myself to the universal energies, if I can only do one thing, it's this. Once I've established myself into the day it's time to move! (pilates, yoga or a beach walk). After I've been fed and showered, I'll sit on my sheepskin and meditate to anchor in.
• Tahnee: My daily practice has changed a lot these last few years - motherhood! My daily non-negotiables are tongue-scraping every morning upon waking, a litre of water and a tonic elixir of some kind. I will squeeze in meditation or yoga if I can (usually 15 - 30 mins and I prioritise meditation). In an ideal world there is some outside time every morning (beach walk would be my preference!) and some time to catch the sunshine at the beginning and end of the day. I love to spend time with Mase and Aiya just chilling, playing and exploring - presence as a practice is super important to me
• Me (Farley): Each morning, it's an immediate tongue scrape (a teaspoon works!) Then I sit on my mandala meditation cushion and take some daily communion with myself for 15-30mins (I swap between using the Insight Timer app, HeadSpace, or practising my Vipassana meditation). A daily walk on the beach is a non-negotiable at the moment. Even though I don't do this daily, I carve out time to watercolour - it transports me to a quiet place of creativity and play.

Feel free to cherry-pick some ideas, to help cultivate your own special, unique practice. And make sure you are doing your thing because it feels good, not because you have to.