Capitalism is very efficient at eating resistance ideas and spitting them back at us, and the concept of self-care is no different. Self-care is now a multi-million-pound industry, where to care for yourself means spending money on pedicures, spa days, gym membership and so on. Exploited employees are encouraged to practice mindfulness breathing exercises on their lunch break, while the government deliberately underfunds social care services like the NHS, then outsources those services for profit. It is now individual consumers’ responsibility to care for themselves, rather than society or the government’s responsibility to care for its citizens. Many of us have swallowed this idea whole and now think of our unhappiness or suffering as entirely our responsibility. But self-care can mean something different, less atomised and more community focussed.
In his book ‘Care of the Self,’ philosopher Michael Foucault drew wisdom from ancient Greek and early Roman thinkers to talk about a practice of how to live. He unearthed the Greek term askesis meaning discipline to speak about the practice of taking care of our embodied selves, in order to be capable of community care or solidarity. This is about a daily practice of forging yourself. This wasn’t prescriptive but could include starting the day with a deliberate intention and reflecting on how you did and didn’t meet those intentions at the end of the day. At other times Foucault also spoke about his homosexuality and how at the time the practice of relationships with other men, beyond just the physical, could be radically disruptive to neo-liberal ways of thinking. To some extent, I think this is still relevant today in that there are still quite set ways in which men are supposed to interact with other men. Physical and emotional closeness is still discouraged between heterosexual men for example, and the cancer of homophobia and transphobia still very much persists. Being deliberate and disciplined in creating and caring for yourself then becomes a way to help free yourself and others from oppressive structures.
Audrey Lorde developed this idea in her book ‘A Burst Of Light’ which she wrote after being diagnosed with cancer, describing self-care as a radical political act; as “political warfare”. The world was and is often hostile to Black people, so caring for yourself becomes a way of perseverance despite all that you have to put up with – including institutional racism, and violence against Black bodies. The idea of self-care as a radical political act has been taken up by many feminist and queer activists too, as this resonates with their experience. This is self-care as community care, in that caring for yourself has the goal of improving the lives of others, freeing them from bonds and so on. Political activist and writer Angela Davis started to do mindfulness and yoga practices while in prison, first for herself as an individual but later as a practice towards community care.
So yes activities like mindfulness, yoga, retreats and exercise can be great ways to practice self-care. Bringing the energy we gain from those practices into our community could be called radical self-care, community care, activism, or simply helping others. Not to imply that community care always has to be draining, as sometimes it can be very energising in itself. We’re born into the world entangled with others, and only later develop into individuals. So caring for other people and the world is caring for ourselves, e.g., engaging in political or environmental activism. Even if we try to avoid politics or climate change, these are affecting us and will continue to affect us, those we care about and the next generation. Being conscious about our impact on the world and its impact on us is self-care. Fighting oppression is self-care. Fighting climate change is self-care because we can’t care if we don’t exist. As is often the case with other topics, activists outside of the mainstream can teach us all so much about care.
Having said all of that, some individual practices are perhaps always helpful. Paying attention to the different aspects of your life, particularly those which have been paid little attention can be useful. Exercise or other embodied movement, meditation, creativity, sexual pleasure, relationships, connection with the environment, sleep, and healthy eating. These can all form a part of a self-care routine. Having a bubble bath is easily mocked as a traditional self-care activity but prioritising rest, time away from goal-setting or productivity, and looking after your body can all be very healing. Some activities like that are often associated with femininity, in fact, self-care as a concept sometimes is. We can look at activities that are more stereotypically male, like sports, or comic books (emphasis on ‘stereotypically’). It’s not hard to find athletes like LeBron James or Mohamed Salah advocating for yoga practice. I’ve seen plenty of exercise routines modelled on Batman or other superheroes as well. And while some superheroes can arguably act as fascist fantasy, there’s plenty there as well about community, responsibility, and using your power to help others.
Self-care doesn’t have to be an isolated act, and everyone can benefit. Contact me to find out more.