13 Self-Care Rituals for Wellbeing and Radiant Skin

At Peace & Pure, we believe in the power of rituals. By shifting your action-focused daily routines into uplifted experiences of rituals has tremendous benefits for your emotional and physical wellbeing in the long term. As for beauty, turning your skincare routine into a beauty ritual will lead you to see improvements on your beauty inside and out.

The way to transform your routine into a ritual is to set the intention for your routine actions, with a deeper meaning and purpose and practice it with presence. It is no longer just habitual actions in motion but has a purpose that is special, uplifting, and unique to you. And when you engage with your routine activities, be present, try to have an undivided focus of your awareness while engaging the activities, is what we believe of fundamental importance to turn a routine into a ritual.

Below we share some of our favourite self-care rituals that will help you on the road to wellbeing and radiant, glowing skin - 

1. Meditation 

For so many of us, 2020 has been an all-too-real wake-up call in terms of our mental and physical health, our living situations, our jobs, our relationships, and our daily stress levels. Mindfulness and meditation is a powerful tool to resolve these issues, it teaches us how to live in the present moment and disconnect from stressors. Try just 10 minutes in the morning as part of your morning routine, or add more time in the evening, or even practicing it throughout the day as your moment to moment way of living. Focus on your breathing and its sensation, sit behind your thoughts and emotions, and witness them come and go. 

2. Practicing gratitude

This is a wonderful habit that you can practice also as part of your morning and evening routine, or whenever and wherever throughout the day. Positive thinking and expressions of gratitude have been proven to strongly and consistently correlate to greater happiness in life. It can be extremely difficult to put things in perspective, and even to enjoy happy moments when we’re burdened with worry. You’ll find that once you start thinking of things you’re glad of, more and more positive thoughts will present themselves. It can be as big as a promotion, or as small as a spot of sunshine.

3. Journaling

This one again fits in beautifully with the above (isn’t it interesting how good habits always tend to roll into one, bringing bigger and better benefits as they go?). Writing down your thoughts and experiences is not just a therapeutic release. Over time, it becomes a way to reflect on and touch base with your past self. It can be hard to remember how we felt or what we were thinking in the past. Being able to review these things helps us to grow, learn, build confidence, gain clarity and understanding, and build a healthy relationship with all of our ‘selves’ - past, present and future. 

4. Affirmations

This one is so easy to do, and can be incorporated into your journaling, because a written affirmation is just as good as a spoken one! If you’re a morning person, when you wake up, smile and think of one positive affirmation for the day, followed by 3 things you’re grateful for. As part of your evening routine, before you go to sleep, try listing 3 good things that happened during your day, and one positive affirmation for the next day. We guarantee you’ll see your mood and perspective start to lift in a matter of days. 

5. Listening to music

Many of us have certain tracks, artists and genres we turn to for specific times and moods -  relaxation, working out, or as a cathartic release when we feel sad or angry. But music does much more than comfort and relax us. It has the power to help with pain management, soothe emergency room patients, and even provoke lucidity in Alzheimer’s patients. There’s a reason lullabies exist - singing to a baby can help lower his or her heart rate and regulate sleep patterns. Listening to happy music at varying frequencies can be incredibly powerful in enhancing mood and wellbeing. On the subject of combining good habits - why not take a walk in the woods with your favourite playlist?

6. Spending time in nature

The Japanese have a very special word for health-enhancing walks in nature: ‘shinrin-yoku’, meaning ‘forest bathing’. A walk amongst the fields and trees (described by scientists as a ‘nature pill’) reduces the stress hormone cortisol, which is involved in all sorts of destructive ailments such as high blood pressure, anxiety, immune system malfunction, and tissue ageing. One study found cortisol levels to drop by 18.5% in just 20-30 minutes. Even listening to artificial sounds of nature, or viewing trees from your window, can provide benefits. Studies have shown that a natural view can help post-surgery patients heal faster, and lessen their need for pain medication. Just think what a day spent outdoors could do for you!

7. Connecting with friends, family, and your community

Sometimes, we love to burrow away at home, either to enjoy some peace or quiet, or when we feel overwhelmed by the world. But it’s so important not to isolate ourselves - especially in these strange and disconnected times. Studies have shown that even a brief chat with a stranger or server can enhance feelings of connectedness and wellbeing. And even the most introverted among us can reap huge psychological benefits from a short walk or a coffee with friends. Not a phone person? Texting may get a bad rap, but even these small moments of digital conversation can help us feel better too.

8. Committing to a skincare routine

This is something that’s not just about how we look. Our daily self care routines are closely intertwined with our self esteem. Pampering your skin and caring for your body tells your brain: “I’m worth it.” - and you are. The other psychological aspect is the ritual. Humans have engaged in rituals for millennia to help us connect to our environments and identities, and establish healthy patterns and rhythms. Try adding one new liquid product and mechanical item to your current regime. Your product could be a plant oil or a retinoid, and your item could be face roller crystals (divine). Perform your routine at the same time every day so your body knows when it’s time to wake up, and when it’s time to rest.

9. Bathing ritual

As with your skincare routine, ritual is so important for grounding us in our natural human selves, and with baths, you can really go for it. Bathing is an ancient ritualistic process for cleansing not just the body but the mind. Adding candlelight, tea, a glass of wine, or your favourite book can make it extremely pleasurable. Try to appeal to all your senses: something to look at (like some lush plants, flowers, or your favourite crystals), something to hear (relaxing music, or just paying attention to the gentle splashing of the water), and something to smell (like a scented bath bomb, or a bath oil mixed with essential oils).

10. Massage and Aromatherapy

This is something we can also do at home, not necessarily in a spa or clinic, and even by yourself. Naturally, the most accessible places for self-massage are the hands and feet. There are an abundance of tutorials online. Lymphatic drainage massage is also an amazing way to relax, destress, help skincare products absorb, and fight signs of ageing along the way. Try massage with aromatherapy oils, that is a small percentage of essential oils mixed with plant oils. Essential oils are great for your skin and your mind too.

11. Having nourishing foods

Did you know there are around 30 different vitamins and minerals we need each day to remain in optimal health? This list can help you check if you’re getting your vitamins A through K, your calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium from your diet, or if you could benefit from supplements. A common deficiency in the UK is a lack of vitamin D - approximately 1 in 5 of us don’t get enough, especially in the winter when we’re not absorbing it from the sun. Feeding your body the nutrients it needs is one of the most important forms of self-care, and your skin will thank you prolifically for it too.

12. Taking your favourite forms of exercise

This is one we all know, and can’t deny. Getting more oxygen pumping into your body creates the release of chemicals that make us feel good, promote neural growth, reduce inflammation, get our skin glowing, and sharpen our thinking and memory systems. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, exercise can also be very meditative. During rigorous exercise, we’re often so focused on keeping our bodies moving forward or hitting our next milestone that we find ourselves purely in the moment. An excellent way to have a break from niggling thoughts. 

13. Giving yourself treats and rewards

Rewarding yourself is good for your mind. This action positively reinforce the feelings for self-appreciation and self-love. Make giving yourself rewards a habit once you feel achieved your goals, or just a treat for no reason. And the rewards doesn't have to be expensive or even spending any money. It could be free and fun too. Ideas like giving yourself a day off, or even have a nap would work. The idea is to give yourself something to feel good as a reward or treat, it could be big or small. And the important thing is to enjoy the whole process, and set the intention to give treats and love towards yourself.