7 Powerful Self-Love Exercises – Ignite Your Inner Glow

Embark on a life-changing journey and radically transform your relationship with yourself with these 7 powerful self-love exercises that help cultivate self-love and self-worth from within.

---

Key takeouts – self-love exercises

• The most important relationship you will ever have in this lifetime is the relationship with yourself.
• Self-love starts with saying ‘YES’ to yourself, acknowledging and understanding that you are worthy and deserving just like everyone else.
• Self-love forms the foundation for personal growth, empowering you to live the most authentic version of yourself and create a life aligned with your deepest dreams and desires.
• Some benefits of practising self-love exercises are improved mental and physical health, improved self-awareness, better decision-making processes, stronger relationships, a deeper sense of purpose, etc.
• Self-love exercises can be a great way to help you cultivate self-love and self-worth from within; helping you transform the relationship with yourself and create more joy and happiness in your life long-term.

---

The most important relationship you will ever have in this lifetime is the relationship with yourself. But let’s be honest, most of the time, this is the hardest one 🖤.

We are raised in a society of perfectionism and from an early age we get judged by these standards. As a result, we constantly compare ourselves to these standards and the people around us.

But by doing so, there is always a lack. Subconsciously, this lack is running our lives. It guides our decision-making process and determines how we show up in this world.

However, it is not just society, we also have to keep in mind the circumstances of our upbringing, any trauma that we might have experienced in life, ancestral healing, and relationships that have left behind a feeling of not being good enough or being unworthy, etc.

All these experiences and life events move us further and further away from self-love.

Looking at my healing journey, cultivating self-love with the help of self-love exercises was key to creating more happiness and inner peace in my life.

But at the same time, I have to say that self-love is just the beginning, it is the first step along the journey.

Self-love starts with saying ‘YES’ to yourself, acknowledging and understanding that you are worthy and deserving just like everyone else.

However, cultivating self-love is a life-long process. And if you are looking to create long-term joy and happiness for yourself, you have to say ‘YES’ to yourself every single day.

Self-love exercises are a great way to cultivate self-love from within and today we will be looking at 7 different self-love exercises, all of which you can easily incorporate into your daily routines.

Self-love meaning

Self-love is a state of being in which you can unconditionally love, value, and appreciate yourself fully for who you truly are. All your strengths, weaknesses, imperfections, and flaws are included.

If you practice self-love it means that you make yourself and your well-being a priority, physically and mentally. It also implies that you treat yourself with kindness, respect and compassion.

Self-love empowers you to make choices aligned with your values, needs and desires, ultimately leading to a more balanced and joyful life.

What are the benefits of self-love?

With the help of self-love exercises, you can practise self-love daily. Below are the benefits of regularly practising self-love:

• Improved Mental Health: When you practice self-love, you develop a positive self-image this will boost your self-esteem as well as your self-confidence.
• Improved Physical Health: When you love and appreciate yourself, you are likely to take better care of yourself e.g. do regular exercise, keep a healthy diet, establish regular sleeping patterns, etc.
• Improved Self-Awareness: By practising self-love you develop and foster a deeper understanding of yourself and learn about your strengths, weaknesses, values, desires, etc.
• Better Decision-Making: Self-love encourages you to make choices aligned with your core values, needs and desires, leading to more fulfilled outcomes.
• Better Relationships: When you love and accept yourself, you are aware of your needs and you know how to communicate them which allows you to set healthy boundaries in your relationships thus you are building true relationships that have growth potential.
• Stronger Sense of Purpose: Practicing self-love helps individuals to identify and pursue their passions, creating a more meaningful and purposeful life.

The list continues as self-love offers numerous benefits, profoundly impacting various aspects of one’s life.

7 Powerful self-love exercises

Below are 7 powerful self-love exercises and self-love practices to help you cultivate self-love from within.

There are certainly more self-love exercises and other ways to cultivate self-love, however, these are the self-love exercises that brought and still bring the most benefits to my life. Hence I decided to focus on these for the time being.

Self-love exercises #1: Look after your physical health

If you are looking to start practising self-love, one of the first self-love exercises to set yourself up for success is to look after your physical health.

On a physical level, this means:

• regular exercise – running, yoga, signing up for some fun workout classes at the gym, joining a hiking group, etc. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, make it a regular habit
• healthy diet – nourish your body with nutritious foods that make you feel good physically and mentally; check out my Pinterest Board Healthy Recipes for inspiration to get you started
• get your beauty sleep – establish good sleeping patterns; think about creating an evening routine and maybe even a morning routine to help you stay on track with your sleeping patterns
• stress management – ensure you have enough time for self-care activities, introduce a healthy work-life balance, set healthy boundaries for yourself, etc.

Related resources: To help you develop a healthy lifestyle, do check out my blog posts 5 Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle – Transform Your Well-being Today and 10 Healthy Lifestyle Habits for Busy Women.

Self-love exercises #2: Practice self-awareness

Every action that you take creates your reality.

And behind every action that we take is an intention, a reason ‘why’ we do or want something.

However, most of the time, we take action from autopilot mode. This is due to a combination of habitual behaviour, emotional responses, overwhelm, stress, etc.

By being more aware of your actions and knowing ‘why’ you want something, your actions become more intentional.

Taking intentional action means you consciously choose how to respond before you respond. By doing so, you make sure that your actions are aligned with your values, life goals, needs and desires, etc.

You take responsibility for yourself as an expression of self-worth and self-love.

Tip: One way to start practising self-awareness can be to start a journal. Writing in a journal can help you reflect on your daily experiences, emotions, and reactions. This practice encourages introspection and self-discovery. Learn How to Start Journaling – The Ultimate Guide for Beginners.

Self-love exercises #3: Make self-care a priority

Similarly to self-love, self-care is everything you do for your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

I like to think about self-care as an energetic cleanse, a full body recharge.

Being with your energy, without distraction from the outer world, allows you to deeply listen within and see clearly what you/your body need/needs at this moment in time.

By taking care of yourself and listening to your needs, you demonstrate that you value your well-being and that you recognize and appreciate your worth.

Examples of self-care exercises and self-care activities are e.g. practising gratitude, doing a journal exercise, practising yoga, positive affirmations, starting a morning routine, establishing a healthy work-life balance, etc.

Reminder: Every minute you invest in yourself will pay off.

Block the time for your self-care practices in your diary and make it happen for yourself.

Self-love exercises #4: Set healthy boundaries for yourself

Boundaries protect our physical, mental, and energetic space.

By setting healthy boundaries in your relationships with family, friends, and love relationships as well as at the workplace, you give yourself permission to prioritize your own needs, which can help to reduce stress and ease anxiety.

In addition, knowing how to practice self-love in a relationship allows you to build relationships that are true and have the potential for growth as people know what to expect from you and you know what you can expect from them.

Overall, setting healthy boundaries in relationships means that you respect yourself, value yourself and that are true to yourself.

Related resources: Empower Your Voice: How To Set Healthy Boundaries in Relationships.

Self-love exercises #5: Stop negative self-talk

Negative self-talk is the inner dialogue that we have with ourselves.

It’s the voice in our head that feeds us self-limiting beliefs such as ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I am not worthy of XYZ’, etc.

But all these negative beliefs that we keep telling ourselves over and over again at some point turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy and create our reality.

Negative self-talk holds us back from living our true potential. We lose trust in ourselves and apart from that, negative self-talk can have a huge impact on our mental health too.

Words are so powerful, especially the ones that you speak to yourself. Be aware of how you talk to yourself and about yourself.

Related resources: Learn how to replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations.

Self-love exercises #6: Discover your purpose

Having a purpose means having a sense of direction and meaning in life.

In short: You are clear about what matters to you most and what you want for yourself in this lifetime.

Living in alignment with your purpose will make you feel more connected to yourself and the world around you. Life will feel richer and more meaningful.

Below are three tips that can help you find your purpose:

• Define your core values – Understand what principles and values guide your life. Understanding your core values can help you find a purpose that aligns with what you believe is important and meaningful.
• Identify your strengths and talents – Think about what you are naturally good at. Often, our purpose is connected to using our unique talents to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.
• Define your passions and interests – What makes you feel alive? What can you talk about for hours? Often passions are closely linked to our purpose.

Finding your purpose can be a deeply personal and transformative journey. And the more you live life in alignment with your essence the more authentic and rewarding life will feel.

Self-love exercises #7: Practice Gratitude

Gratitude is a positive emotion, filled with appreciation and thankfulness for something you have received.

The top 5 benefits of a regular gratitude practice are improved mental health, enhanced physical health, improved relationships, higher self-esteem and living more in the present moment.

By consistently practising gratitude, you cultivate a positive and loving relationship with yourself, enhancing your overall sense of self-worth and well-being.

Related resources: 44 Ultimate Daily Gratitude Journal Prompts – Unlock your Inner Joy And Happiness and 7 Mindful Gratitude Activities For Adults – A Journey To Abundance.

---

These are the self-love exercises that I have used over the past years, helping me to cultivate self-love from within.

However, there are two more self-love exercises that I would like to share with you today.

Self-love affirmations

Self-love affirmations are another self-love exercise that I have used over the years.

Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself. With time, they can help you overcome any self-sabotaging, limiting beliefs or negative thought patterns that you might carry within.

By harnessing the power of positive self-talk you reshape your mindset, enhance your self-perception and cultivate self-love from within.

Below are a few self-love affirmation examples for you to get a better idea.

Self-love affirmations examples:

• I deserve happiness and fulfilment in all areas of my life – I am worthy.
• I forgive myself for past mistakes.
• I trust my intuition, everything I need is already within me.
• I choose to surround myself with people who uplift and support me.
• I see challenges as opportunities for growth.

If you like working with affirmations or are curious to find out more about working with self-love affirmations, I dedicated a full blog post to self-love affirmations, make sure to drop by and check it out.

Related resources: 41 Affirmations For Self-Love – The Ultimate Path To True Joy And Happiness.

---

Let Your Shadow Shine Yoga – Cultivate self-love with Yoga

Another self-love exercise is practising yoga.

I know, as a yoga teacher I am likely to be a bit biased, but my self-love journey started with yoga and yoga taught me pretty much everything I know about self-love.

Yes, yoga is a physical practice, but above all, yoga is an internal practice.

One of the biggest lessons I learned through my yoga practice is acceptance. Acceptance of who I am as a person, who I was in the past, my strengths, weaknesses, limitations and acceptance of what will be, will be.

Acceptance is fundamental for self-love as it creates a compassionate, peaceful, and authentic relationship with oneself. It enables you to see your worth, embrace your true self, and live a more fulfilling and balanced life.

There are a lot of yoga classes specifically tailored around the theme of self-love such as: ‘yoga for self-love and compassion’, ‘self-love yoga’, ‘yin yoga for self-love’, ‘yoga for self-compassion, etc. but to be honest with you, every time you step on the yoga mat you practice self-love.

If you would like to give this a try, below is a yoga flow that is suitable for all levels, yoga beginners included. Start your self-love journey today and join me on the mat.

---

Self-love is the foundation of your happiness and well-being and self-love is also your driver to live and create a more purposeful life.

When you have self-love for yourself, you know that you are deserving of all your dreams and desires and you will be striving for your dreams and desires and won’t settle for anything less.

And now, over to you my friend 🖤, did you come across any self-love exercises you feel inspired to try? If so, which one of the exercises for self love is the one you will be trying out?

As always, in case there are any questions about these self-love exercises, please feel free to leave me a comment below. It is always great to hear from you guys.

Related resources that will support your self-love exercises:

• The Importance Of Core Values in Life – A Powerful Journey From Authenticity To Happiness
• The Ultimate 7-Step Morning Routine Checklist – Rise And Shine Warrior
• 3 Empowering Shadow Work Exercises – A Journey from Dark to Light

Stay wild,

Nicolle

Featured image: Photo by Chermiti Mohamed on Unsplash