Skanda’s Self-Care for Women

Welcome to Skanda’s self-care workshop, adjusted to an online format during COVID-19.

Normally, these workshops take place on the farm, where you can experience the tranquility
of Skanda and soak in the beauty of nature and the joy of the animals in person.

For the time being, we invite you to access these resources online in this password-protected resource
as you explore different ways to support yourself.

If you need help:

Introduction

We all need and deserve self-care. This workshop provides many self-care modules to help us all learn to take care of ourselves in the ways that are right for us. Some of the experiences you can access through videos here include:

Meditation with Marion
Yoga with Chris
Meditative art with Sandra
Animal communication with Marion
Meeting the animals guided by Skanda’s young volunteers
Meditative videos of the animals of Skanda
Mindfulness with Jenn
Gardening with guest gardeners
Nature walks and art from natural objects with Piama

You can browse through the modules in any order. Choose the ones that are most interesting to you, and make a note of any self-care techniques that you especially like. See if you want to incorporate them into your daily routine. Please take the Self-Care Survey before you begin. Thank you!

What Is Self-Care, and Why Do We Need It?

We cannot control the world around us, or other people. We can control who we are in each moment, and how we react to the world around us. Self-care is self-love. Any activity that nurtures our physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing, our sense of safety, our sense of possibilities, is self-care. This will look different for each of us, and only you know what works for you.

Why is self-care important? We all deserve to be cared for, supported and nurtured. Self-care is not pampering, or being spoiled. Self-care is simply telling yourself that your health and wellbeing are important, and making time to nurture yourself in whatever way feels best to you. Without self-care, it is easy to get swept up in stress and in other people's priorities and forget your own truth. Self-care gives us the space to reconnect with ourselves, find that calm within, and act from our place of knowing our truth. For those who are parents or taking care of others, self-care is necessary because you have to be healthy and whole before you can be of help to anyone.

Barriers and challenges: For those of us who have been mistreated or abused, it can be very challenging to treat ourselves with loving kindness. We may be more comfortable with stress, chaos, and disconnection from self. There are many reasons we avoid or resist self-care, and that is fine. You are here because you are ready to embrace the fact that you deserve kindness. Be proud that you have reached this point in your journey!

Animal Interactions

Spending time with innocent, loving animals is one of the most supportive, nurturing things we can do for ourselves. Animals have an innocence and purity that is profound. Being around them, we are able to touch those qualities in ourselves. Looking into their eyes, we see our own beauty reflected back. Spending time with the animals gives us peace, and reminds us what it is like to live gently from our own truth.

Almost all of the animals on Skanda have been rescued from abuse and neglect, and have come to Skanda to recover and emerge as who they really are. As the animals recover, they become loving role models for us, showing what is possible. They are loving and generous, they embrace diversity and differences, and they show us a way of being in the world that is light, free, and in the truth of the moment.

The Story of Skanda — a video introduction to Skanda with Marion Secor, filmed by Bill Wallauer and Kristin Mosher

Meditative Video of the mini-donkeys of Skanda

meditative video of the horses of Skanda

meditative video of the goats of Skanda

meditative video of the chickens and ducks of skanda

Art

the art of letting go tedx Talk by sandra Fioramonti-Sabene

Yoga and Meditation with Chris

sun salutations yoga with Chris

chair yoga with chris

goat yoga class at SKanda with chris

self-care meditation with Chris

breath meditation for emotional balance with chris

anti-anxiety breath meditation with chris

Gardening

transplanting with liz blackburn of dizzy lizzy

Mindfulness

check back soon for mindfulness videos