This is HOW I EMPOWER MYSELF in DISEMPOWERING TIMES
We´re living challenging times - that´s a cliché, more than a reality.
Most likely, we´ll feel disempowered, as if we have no saying, whatsoever, over ourselves, our lives, and our future. Individual and collectively.
Now, here´s the catch:
There´s a side of reality we cannot deny or control - the virus, the global lockdown, people sick and dying, fear and uncertainty in the air.
And there´s another side of reality we can DECIDE to accept, shape, and work with. It all depends on HOW WE CHOOSE to experience this challenging time.
It´s about that "other side", the one we can shape, that I want to focus on.
As a person who knows a thing or two about challenging times, I´ll tell you how I keep myself EMPOWERED - creative, healthy, loving, focused, and thriving - during disempowering times.
I hope it inspires you to create your own Self-Empowering Journey, one that can carry you forward in the times we´re living.
Ready to take off?
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Gooooooooooo! 
Here are my TIPS for Self-Empowerment in disempowering times:
1. I BREATHE DEEPLY, SLOWLY, AND CONSCIOUSLY
Remember: when we control our breath, we control our minds; when we control our minds, we control our thoughts and actions; when we control our thoughts and actions, we start to shape our lives instead of being shaped by them.
You can start by putting an alarm on your mobile, making it ring every 30 minutes. When you hear the alarm, stop and take 5 deep, slow, conscious breaths - in-ha-le; ex-ha-le. Repeat.
With time and practice, it´ll become second nature, to you.
2. I DO A DAILY MEDITATION
For me, it´s 20 minutes, every day, after my Yoga practice; for you, it can be 30 or 5 minutes. As long as you do it consistently, you´re building clarity, focus, inner power, and guidance.
Choose a Meditation App - many available on the internet -, sit down, be still, and go inside.
3. I EXERCISE CONSISTENTLY
We love excuses, don´t we? Now, that we´re stuck at home, excuses are even easier to create and follow but, hey, that´s why annoying whistleblowers like me exist.
Aside from my daily yoga practice and the dance sessions I do for work (at Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School and in my Private Online Coaching Programs ), I also search for different workout routines I follow at least 3 times per week.
Go on the internet, choose from the wide offer of workouts available. Move! It empowers you beyond the physical realm.
4. I EAT & DRINK AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE
I don´t know about your country but, here in Portugal, where I am at the moment, the restrictions are pretty tough and clear.
Our visits to the supermarket must be minimized and we´re advised not to consume fresh produce that´ll not be cooked. That means no easy access to fresh veggies and fruits, the base of my diet.
These days, I´ve been eating a lot more carbs - rice, pasta, potatoes and other vegetables which last longer in the fridge - and canned food. It isn´t ideal but it´s the best we can do with the present conditions.
Despite these limitations, I still avoid sugar, sodas and other chemically-filled drinks and food. No alcohol, ever.
No meat or dairy - it has been that way for a long time -; I consume small portions of fish and other types of seafood we keep in the deep freeze.
I drink loads of water, herb infusions and a limit of 3 small cups of coffee per day.
5. I CREATE A STRUCTURE FOR MY DAY
For a freelance dancer/teacher/author and an entrepreneur, like me, who´s been managing her own career - through changes and revolutions and trends and madness - for more than 20 years, structuring my day is easy.
I´ve been my own boss, and disciplinary, for a long time. It´s not only familiar but the only way I know how to function.
If you´re not on the same boat, you may have to start considering HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR DAY.
Set priorities, focus points, and deadlines for yourself.
Write down - on your agenda or notebook - your main tasks for each day.
Schedule things. Wake up with a purpose, an exciting task, or tasks, to complete.
Example: I schedule my morning routine, meetings I have with collaborators and friends, the private classes I have to give in each day, the video shooting sessions I have to complete for my school, everything.
I´m a scheduling-addict and it works wonders. I actually get things done with a minimal amount of stress.
If it´s not scheduled, it´s probably not happening so...hop on to your agenda and start to shape your days around what matters the most to you.
6. I DRESS UP FOR THE DAY, even if I know I´m not going out
What´s the point of dressing up if we´re not going anywhere - right?
Wrong!
Even if I´m not leaving my home, I still get off my pajamas, take a shower, brush my teeth, and dress up for the day.
Because I work mostly from home, these days - I´m running Joana Saahirah´s World since last year -, dressing up equals dance clothes, make-up, a bit of jewelry, and all that jazz.
Even if you´re not meeting people for work, as I do, online, daily, honor yourself and your day by dressing up for it.
Comfortable clothes will do, no need to put on your party dress. The idea is to send a message to the brain - this day matters, I matter, I´m ready for life; bring it on!
7. I TAKE TIME TO STUDY
In the midst of all the work I´m currently doing, studying becomes a luxury but one I make a point on preserving.
For me, it´s Ashtanga Yoga and Creative Writing. These are my two preferred study fields, or hobbies, at the moment, both connected to my personal and professional interests; both areas keep me interested, motivated, and in search of more.
For you, it can be something else. Choose a field you´d love to know more about and dig into it. No better time than now.
8. I READ, LISTEN, AND WATCH EMPOWERING messages
It´s easy to get stuck to the news 24-7 but, please-please-please, DO NOT DO THAT.
Keeping yourself well informed is one thing - becoming obsessed and mono focused on the pandemic is another.
I reserve 1 hour per day to watch the news and search, intentionally, for the useful/credible information.
Feed yourself with IMAGES, TEXTS, VIDEOS, and MOVIES that communicate positive change, solutions, hope. Feed yourself with the ideas and belief systems you´d wish to see manifested in the world.
9. I DREAM and MOVE TOWARDS MY DREAMS
I keep on dreaming and moving in the directions of my dreams every single day, perhaps more than before.
We may choose to believe this is a time for non-doing, non-dreaming, non-acting, non-loving, non-living; it´s our right TO CHOOSE to experience this time as a gap, or an empty space, between the life we knew and the life we´ll eventually come to know when the pandemic´s over.
I choose to claim this time as my most loving, creative, focused evolution-oriented time. It´s my decision, no better or worse than any other.
And this is what I want you to know: it´s YOUR CHOICE.
If you have a dream or dreams, you can ask yourself:
What can I do today to get closer to the manifestation of my dream?
Then, go ahead and do it.
Postponing our dreams has never seemed easier. Embracing them and moving towards them has never been more urgent.
10. I USE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS
I´ve been teaching and applying positive affirmations for years. I do it for my personal and professional life.
Now, that we´re left to our own devices, I suggest we focus even further on THINKING, FEELING, TALKING, and ACTING POSITIVELY about ourselves.
Here are my favorites:
I´m safe.
I´m loved and in love.
I´m healthy, strong, capable, worthy of abundance.
I´m enough, more than enough.
11. I FOCUS ON SOLUTIONS, NOT PROBLEMS
Everybody I know seems to be talking about the PROBLEMS this pandemic is causing - the restrictions, the losses, the tragedy.
We´re understandably worried, uncertain, and afraid; there´s death, crisis, isolation, real problems. I get that and I´m on the same boat.
What I also understand is this: we don´t solve problems by focusing on those problems or resisting the shift that´s on the horizon. We solve problems by focusing on solutions to those problems and opening up for new ways of living, working, thriving.
It's not about denying reality. It´s about taking RESPONSIBILITY and asking "what can I do to be a part of the solution?"
A solution-focused mindset empowers us immensely.
We run away from it, as we do from evolution, because, well, it´s hard work. Removing ourselves from the place of the victim and putting ourselves in the place of the problem solver demands courage, action, balls/ovaries. Remaining in a "victimhood state" is more comfortable but, then again, it won´t make problems go away - it´ll only add to them.
12. I EMPOWER OTHERS
You´ve heard me say it before and you´ll hear me saying it, now:
When we empower others, we empower ourselves.
In other words, empowered people, empower others; disempowered people, disempower others.
Now, more than ever, it´s important to empower ourselves by empowering others. Reach out to a friend and pull him/her up; communicate with your community - of friends, family, work - and share something positive with them; remind the world they have a choice to make the best out of a terrible situation.
If you want to empower yourself, start by empowering others. It´s a boomerang - what you give, comes back to you.
13. I practice Egyptian Dance
A no-brainer. Of course, I practice Egyptian Dance - it´s my work, my mission, and a huge part of my life.
These days, I practice it also for myself. Not for an audience or for students - for M-Y-S-E-L-F. It keeps me sane, healthy, grounded, sensual, creative, self-confident, in a state of joy.
Now, more than ever, I subscribe to the magical potential of this art form by using it for/on myself (suggesting you do the same).
Click HERE to check the Courses available at Joana Saahirah´s Online Dance School
Click HERE to discover Joana Saahirah´s Private Online Coaching Programs
14. I SEE THE BIG PICTURE & GET INSPIRED BY IT, rather than disempowered
A proposal for Evolution, individual and collective, is here.
You may or may not see it but that doesn´t change the fact: times are changing and we´re the ones who decide in which direction they/we´ll go.
Have you been observing the signs?
1. When human beings go inside, Nature comes out.
2. When we stop polluting, building, doing, hustling, and running mindlessly, Nature flourishes.
3. When we finally have TIME and SPACE to be with ourselves and with our families, the ones who are lucky to do so, we complain we´re anxious, depressed, bored.
4. Our social systems, the ones we support our whole working lives with our taxes and social security fees, are not prepared to assist us.
5. While many of us are home, experiencing the Quarantine, many others are homeless, in the streets, hidden in dirty, tiny cubicles without dignity.
6. When the Money Producing Machine - aka Capitalism - stops running, full speed, we fall.
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Do I need to say more?
Loss, pain, fear, and death are here. So are the SIGNS of what needs to change; and a proposal of REBIRTH.
For the ones who dare to SEE IT.
If you wish to take your SELF-EMPOWERMENT skills to a higher level and go deeper into the PERSONAL RESOURCES you carry within, the ones that´ll allow you to CREATE THE DANCE & LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS, check our
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In this Training, Joana Saahirah delivers the juice from more than 20 years of work in the field of Egyptian Dance, first in Egypt and then, around the world.
Using her original Teaching Method, bringing the best of the East and the best of the West together, Joana faciliates your evolution. In dance, as in life.
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