Black Self Care Ideas from NiLu Mommas

How are you making out these days?

Let’s be honest, not everybody is living their best lives. When you’re constantly doing it all for everyone else, personal time doesn’t just…happen. NiLu customers, particularly Harlem moms, have been pretty open with us about how they're getting through tough times.  It’s not easy, but these mommas are finding ways to keep their heads above water.

Movement/Exercise

Johanne Picard-Scott, a Taurus and the owner of the acupuncture practice, Harlem Chi says, “Besides my morning yoga/meditation practice - that has become a regular discipline, on the rare occasions where I get to be alone I blast music throughout the apartment and DANCE!”

For our Katrina, she likes to work out with a 25lb kettlebell once a week, along with biking or riding her scooter through the city to get away.  “It’s my form of meditation,” she explains. “I love being free on wheels!”

Nikoa Evans, an Aquarius and the Executive Director of Harlem Park 2 Park, likes to work out too, at the gym especially… and go dancing with her husband when she’s trying to decompress.

Alone Time: Seven Brown, Energy Alchemist and Skincare Expert of Luna Wellness, is a Libra and mom of four. She lets us know that, “Self Care can look different depending on the day.  What each thing has in common though is that it’s a day of disconnecting without email and text messaging.”

Nikoa told us that she really enjoys visiting a favorite local restaurant, “and sitting at the bar alone for a bite to eat and a cocktail.

“Sometimes I don’t like to talk at all.” Katrina explains, saying, “I like spending time alone to be in my own head.” …then she disappears to spend time alone.

The Fire of the Sun

Both Johanne and Seven find peace, sitting in the sun. “I seek every occasion to bask in it.” Johanne tells us. “I don't have to wait for the summer to go to the beach. I can relax and take in the rays through my apartment window.  It can be cold outside but as long as the sun is streaming through I feel rejuvenated.  On long stretches of downcast days lighting a candle can do the trick. I crave my FIRE element…”

Seven tells us, “On most days it's the simple things like enjoying the sunlight in my apartment just because it feels like happiness. It lights up my entire world.”

Regular Therapy

Katrina tells us, “I see a therapist regularly.  It’s helpful to understand why I do what I do.  It brings you clarity…that makes you feel better.”  

Switching it up

Nikoa loves, “Having a glass of wine and chocolate while binge watching a favorite show, perusing online for fabulous travel destinations, going to the salon for a hair appointment and mani/pedi, or spending a Mommy/Daughter day shopping with my 10 year old daughter Zuri.” 

Seven says, “I can get lost in a crystal shop or have brunch with girlfriends. On other days it's a great bottle of wine and playing music I love, and just singing at home. It transports me to another time and place and when I come back I’m usually laughing mostly at myself.”

It seems that moms we connect with at the shop are going back to the basics and even trying new things to keep their sanity.  Are you looking for deeper stuff to read?  Try Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab, or TherapyForBlackGirls.org to search for a therapist that actually gets you. We’re not trying to get too deep here, but wanted to share with hopes that this can be helpful to you. 

Are there other things we should mention that worked for you or others?   Share here and we’ll keep adding to this blog – it becomes a living and growing source for us all.