How to spring clean your body, mind and life

Spring often comes with a renewed zest for life. You may find yourself with a newfound enthusiasm to spring clean not only your home, but also your body and mind. It can sometimes be a challenge to keep up with yourself when you’re not quite sure how to direct this motivation. You know you want to change something, but what, and how? Here, we explore how to spring clean your life with the energy that this new season brings.

How to spring clean your mind

First, it’s important to find clarity – and that requires you to spring clean your mind. When you have a moment, take some time to sit down with your thoughts and indulge in a little mindfulness meditation with the intention of creating positive changes in your life.

Mindfulness meditation:

• Find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down.
• Close your eyes and begin to notice the thoughts and feelings that arise in this space of stillness. It’s not very often that we give ourselves permission to simply be with our thoughts.
• See if you can gently set your thoughts aside and bring attention to your body. Notice sensations, both clear and subtle.
• Start to notice your breath. See if you can feel the sensation of your breath at your nostrils or belly. Allow your attention to rest here for a minute or two. When your mind wanders, gently invite it back to the breath. Even though it may feel like you’re not doing anything particularly constructive, allowing the mind a break from its usual busy-ness can invite greater clarity.
• When you’re ready to re-enter your day, notice what came up for you during this time. You may like to write down a few thoughts or feelings.
• See if you can integrate this practice for just a few minutes every day, and notice how it creates ripple effects into other areas of your life.

How to spring clean your body

From your mindfulness meditation, hopefully you will be feeling a greater connection to your body, and an understanding of how to spring clean it. Maybe you’re craving some movement, there’s a gym class you want to try, something you’d like to include (or remove!) in your diet, or a self-care practice you’d like to integrate into your daily routine. Tune into your own body’s wisdom and check in with what it needs. Is there a particular food in your diet that’s making you feel physically uncomfortable? Your spring clean is a perfect opportunity to start to cut back on these things. From here, you create space for more nourishing and healthy foods to replace the ones that are leaving you feeling depleted or unhappy. Chat to a friend or your Jenny Craig Consultant about the ways you feel inspired to spring clean your body, and start to consider practical ways to implement these new changes.

How to spring clean your life

Once your body and mind are feeling clear and strong, hopefully you will have a sense of what other areas of your life might need a spring clean. Are there relationships that are depleting your energy? It’s not necessary to spring clean them from your life! But perhaps you could consider how you operate within these relationships. Are you giving so much of yourself that you’re forgetting to take care of you? How might you create some gentle boundaries that leave you feeling more joyful? You may have an attitude that you’d like to shift within yourself – you could use your mindfulness meditation practice to explore what that might look like. Maybe there’s a hobby you’ve been dreaming about. This is the perfect time to try something new. By spring cleaning areas of your life that are wearing you down, you create time and space to focus on things that give you more energy and fulfilment.

Jessica Humphries

Writer, Editor, Yoga Teacher

View More

Jessica Humphries is a yoga teacher and writer who has written for many health and wellness publications, as well as enjoying the role of editor for Australia’s biggest yoga magazine. After studying philosophy at university and enjoying a stint in the corporate world, she left Sydney and moved north in pursuit of life in the slow lane. When she’s not writing, she leads a wholesome, holistic and active life in the Northern Rivers, around the corner from Australia’s health and wellness capital, Byron Bay.