I attended the session “Pilgrim of Light, Designing Your Personal Wellness Plan” with Britt B Steele. The session was well attended, and immediately followed her keynote speech “Turn on Your Light: Shine Bright & Share Your Brilliance”. During her speech, Britt noted that the language of integrity is joy and reminded us that balance is a process, not an outcome. She noted that in addition to the typical stress responses of flight and fight, we had three additional responses in the forms of feed (eat), fornicate (sex), and freeze (inaction). The opposite of the stress response is the relaxation response, which is initiated through radical self-care.

In the workshop following her speech, she built on those ideas and gave us a road map of twelve concepts with which we built our personalized wellness plan. The twelve tenets, as also outlined and expanded on in her book “Pilgrim: Living Your Yoga Every Single Day”, included 1. move my body, 2. purify my vessel, 3. join conscious community, 4. find sacred space, 5. align with nature, 6. be breathed, 7. rest & reflect, 8. nourish my budhi (higher self/wisdom), 9. alter my consciousness, 10. awaken through asana, 11. symphonize my heart, and 12. worship my way home. We were then told to choose the three that resonated most with us, and I chose to let my higher power lead that charge. I mixed my note cards up and closed my eyes. The three chosen for me, answering the question “what is in my highest good today?”, were numbers 6, 8, and 12.

She recommended we revisit these tenets once a year, as our needs will likely change with the seasons of our lives and circumstances. Ultimately I purchased her book, and am excited to dive into what these first three mean to me in my life today. What changes I can make, and the impact those changes may have. I know I need to spend more time breathing and existing, more time connecting to something higher than myself, and more time reflecting on that inner wisdom we all have. Radical self-care is something I know I need more of, and it isn’t being selfish. It’s making room for abundance and wellbeing in my life. Thank you for the opportunity to attend conference and learn these powerful lessons.

Submitted by Mary Horn, SILG.