EDITORIAL: Building rituals into your day

Elise Catchlove is the founder and driving force behind the meditation school, By Catchlove and a close friend of the dk active brand.  Here at dk active, we know the importance of adding rituals into your daily 'routines'. It can be a great way to help reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.  Find out how Elise works in rituals to her daily life.

I’m a huge believer in rituals, not routines but rituals. The word ‘ritual’ feels so beautiful to me. It doesn’t feel like a chore, but rather something that makes room for a special moment in my day. And as someone who loves design in all its iterations, I’m all for creating more beauty in my life.

I have built many rituals into my everyday life and have truly felt the difference from doing so. I think it’s also important to note that a ritual doesn’t have to be an hour-long practice. Rituals can be bite sized - little moments throughout your day that bring peace, joy and beauty and that ultimately bring you back to yourself, which is always what we’re aiming for.

I talk with my clients often about how they can build rituals into their own life and what having a ritual-rich life might look like for them. Below I’ve put together my top three steps on how to really build out a life of ritual. All you need is yourself and a journal.

1. Break your day up into 4 quadrants - morning, middle of the day, afternoon and evening. Write down your schedule for each of these quadrants and then start to think about where you can squeeze in a ritual or two. Here’s an example below:

Morning – breakfast & school lunches for kids, school drop off

Middle of day – work (meetings, report writing etc)

Afternoon – school pickup, afternoon sport (aka taxi driver!)

Evening – make dinner, bath and bed for kids, tidy up work emails

1. This is the fun part! Begin to curate your rituals wish list. These are the things that you would love to build into your day that will ultimately bring more beauty and peace into your life. Write it down in a beautiful journal. Here’s some examples below:

Dry skin brushing, tongue scraping (Ayurvedic ritual), gua sha, meditation, breathwork, making a cup of homemade matcha the traditional way, reading 10 pages of a book, writing in journal, stretching, lighting a candle. 

1. Finally, slot them into the quadrant of the day that feels feasible for you to make it happen and stick with it. Here’s an example below:

Morning – tongue scrape upon waking, write daily intention in journal (1 min), make matcha before kids wake up and sit for 10 mins in a cosy chair while drinking it, dry skin brush before shower.

Middle of day – 10 mins of meditation in between meetings, 3 mins of breathwork before I eat lunch, 5 mins of stretching after sitting at desk for 2 hours or more. 

Afternoon – Go for a 30 min walk while kids are in sports training

Evening – Light a candle while making dinner for family, gua sha while kids are playing in the bath, read 10 pages of book before bed.

This is a really simple and effective way of committing to more rituals. You will be surprised at how much you can actually squeeze into your day and be intentional with if you get clear about what you’re desiring and get crafty on how to fit it in. Try it and reach out to me on Instagram @bycatchlove and let me know how you went!