An Intuitive Approach to Health and Wellness

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“My body is a sacred temple, what does it need?”

If your body was as sacred as any synagogue or shrine, how would you care for it? The truth is, your body is that sacred. Every human being holds the spark of Divinity; it is an access point for Divine intuition and revelation. The body is a temple.

Imagine if you tended to your body with the same reverence as a spiritual seeker visiting the temple of their Beloved. Would anything shift? Can you feel the inherent love and tenderness when you approach the body in this way?

That’s the essence of temple tending. It represents a different approach to health and wellness than what we’re accustomed to. Temple tending isn’t about adhering to a specific diet or striving for a certain appearance; it’s about honoring ourselves as sacred beings.

Let’s delve deeper into what temple tending means, and then we’ll explore how you can begin and continue to tend to your body as the temple it is.

What is Temple Tending?

At its core, temple tending is caring for ALL layers of Self: physical, emotional, mental, energetic, and spiritual. It is the practice of listening to the wisdom of the body and following our innate intuition on how best to care for ourselves.

Our modern culture has established parameters and expectations for what a healthy body should look like. There is always a new diet trend or weight-loss program, while certain spiritual traditions encourage denying the body.

Given all this, it’s no wonder there are so many tangled layers to our beliefs about the body and health. I'm sure you have unique beliefs and experiences regarding health and wellness as well.

Because of all the different health trends— and personal and collective entanglements— it can be difficult to know the best course of action for our health. Here’s the secret: there isn’t one right way for everyone. The truth is, we are all unique. The healthiest and truest lifestyle for you may not be what’s best or true for someone else.

This is where following your body’s wisdom comes in. Your body knows what it needs; the trick is learning how to listen to it. Listening to body wisdom is a practice, and it can take time to tune into its subtle messages. Often, these messages aren’t clear or as direct as our mind wants them to be (though they sometimes can be). Rather, they manifest as sensations— like soft cues within our being. We may not even know with language what the cue means or why, while still Knowing the wisdom on a deeper level.

Temple tending is a practice of listening to body wisdom. It isn’t just about tending to the physical body but also to the emotional, mental, energetic, and spiritual bodies. These parts of Self are woven together to form who you are; they cannot be separated. What affects the mental will affect the physical, and what affects the physical will affect the emotional, and so on.

When we tend to one layer of Self, such as the physical, we’re not just tending to the physical. We’re also nurturing our mental well-being— our thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives. We’re tending to our emotional well-being and how we navigate daily life on an emotional level. Tending to one layer means tending to all layers, as they are interconnected. Every action you take will ripple out and affect all parts of yourself.

As such, temple tending also involves tending to our spiritual and energetic bodies. When we tend to the body as the temple it is, we nourish and support our intuitive and spiritual self. Temple tending helps us become a clear channel for grace and love to flow through us and out into our lives. It enhances our sensitivity to the subtle whispers of the Soul and the spiritual guidance of the natural world. A temple is a space of worship for the Divine. The Divine resides within us, and by caring for our temple, we deepen our connection to the sacred.

How to Tend to Your Body as a Temple

Temple tending is a holistic path to sustainable health and wellness. It is a daily practice— a moment-to-moment intuitive inquiry: “What do I need in this present moment?”

Sometimes we can feel lost or confused and may not know what we need. For instance, we might feel confident about our emotional health but unsure how to best tend to our physical health. In those moments, guidance for holistic health and wellness practices can be incredibly supportive. These practices serve as starting points that help us discover what is true and sustainable for our unique bodies. We love and honor your desire to reverently improve your wellBEing and are excited to share with you the opportunity to do so via Shadow•n•Soul’s Temple Tending Workshop.

This 2+ hour workshop is a deep dive into the basics of how to tend to your body as the temple that it is. With the intention of empowering lasting and sacred self care, you'll receive a passionate & embodied-wisdom filled conversation around the topics of sleep, practice, exercise, nutrition, stress management, and environment all while inviting you to bring loving curiosity to your relationship with/the interconnectedness of these things.

Dive into the Shadow•n•Soul Community

Shadow•n•Soul is an Online+ Studio founded by Rayneen Thebeau; Certified Somatic Facilitator, Yoga Instructor (E-RYT500, YACEP), Health Coach, and Personal Trainer. Here in our self-healing sanctuary we prioritize community, conversations, and experiences that help you tend to your temple, alchemize your shadows, and follow your Soul to your most fulfilling life.

We do this by cultivating a safe and nourishing space for you to retreat from the places and spaces where you offer your love and medicine to be masterfully guided and powerfully held in your process of LIVING in alignment with your highest unfolding & greatest ripple effect.

We're so glad you found us, and can't wait to dive even deeper together!

With love,

Rhianna Quanstrom