If you want to find someone to love (and get sweaty with in more ways than one), there’s an app for that—dozens, actually. But if you want to learn how to love yourself, you’ve got about the same number of options on your phone as there are straight dudes in a barre class. (Well, except for this one.)
But Jennifer Kass is adding a very handsome contender to the mix with Love Pioneer, a new app that combines digital meditation cards, journaling, audio content, and more—all designed to make personal growth accessible anytime, anywhere.
“Because I value meditation so much, I wanted to create something that could help guide that practice,” says Kass, a former Allure editor (and a contributor to this very site) who started her own self-love path after a series of rock-bottom moments with her career, health, and relationships. She now spends her days leading others on personalized spiritual journeys via one-on-one coaching and online courses.
“My work is about looking at the not-so-pretty pieces of you, rather than just positive thinking—it’s going a little bit deeper so we can heal the root.”
Love Pioneer just launched with 44 cards, each one bearing an original reflection, meditation intention, and artwork by Kass. (New cards will be added to the app each month.) Users can select a random card themselves, or have one pop up on their phones at the same time each day.
Don’t expect to find any overly simplified spiritual platitudes here. “There won’t be an intention that says, ‘Just let go and everything will be great!’” Kass says. “I really value being a teacher who says what’s true rather than what’s popular. My work is about looking at the not-so-pretty pieces of you, rather than just positive thinking—it’s going a little bit deeper so we can heal the root.”
The Love Pioneer community will also be able to access Kass’ podcasts and a journal feature through the app—and to break it in, she’s created a seven-day self-love program exclusively for Well+Good readers.
Carve out some time in your calendar and keep scrolling for Jennifer Kass’ seven-day self-love reset plan, designed to help bring you back into alignment with the most important person in your life (and no, it’s not anyone you’ll meet on Bumble).
Day 1: Connect with yourself in meditation
Meditation doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating, nor does it have to feel like a waste of time when you feel like you’ve somehow “failed” at it. You can’t fail at meditation.
When we approach meditation with love, we allow our experience, our practice, to be whatever it needs to be in that moment. Using an “Intentional Meditation” practice, you can make it very practical and uniquely yours, so that your meditation directly affects your life and relationships rather than feeling esoteric.
Our meditation practice is here for us to expand our human experience, not escape it or negate it. We do this by recognizing the challenges we would like to shift and heal in our lives and by loving ourselves wherever we are at.
Today’s task: Meditate. Start with five minutes a day and let your meditation expand to 20 minutes and beyond. Use an intention so you can focus your sessions. For example an intention may be: “I connect with my inner wisdom now. I am open to receiving what is flowing to me.” You may feel love, get inspired ideas, release a blocked emotion, experience a revelation around a challenge in your life, or see truth on the other side of a fear. Anything is possible.
Day 2: Be the compassionate observer
So often, we judge ourselves. We can be harder on ourselves than we would be with anyone else. When we see aspects of ourselves we dislike or that are not desirable by society’s standards—such as emotions like anger, sadness, or other natural human qualities—we will judge even harder.
Today’s task: Begin being the compassionate observer to your thoughts, your emotions, your relationships, and the situations in your life. Through self-compassion we relax and we gain access to our intuition, our self-healing capacity, and we detach from dramas in our minds and lives and experience more love.
Day 3: Identify patterns
As we observe ourselves and become more self-aware, we will see thoughts, behaviors, and choices that are no longer working, even holding us back. This is the first step to blasting through a block: seeing it.
Today’s task: Identify one limiting or sabotaging pattern that is playing out in your life—it might have been the reason you chose to do the seven-day reset. Maybe it’s emotional eating, choosing unavailable people in relationships, over-giving, or feeling taken advantage of. Maybe it’s an old story that you’re not worthy or deserving. Remember, be the compassionate witness, not the judgmental critic. Often our greatest challenges hold our greatest power when overcome.
Day 4: Emotional clearing
Spiritual people tend to only want to focus on the light and love, but as we allow our feelings— rather than being positive or optimistic, when there’s a human emotion that needs to be released—we actually clear an internal emotional block that sets us free from the very patterns that cause us pain and suffering.
Today’s task: Feel—instead of faking happy, overeating, being overly busy, or reaching to the addiction or distraction. This is the fastest way out of a vicious cycle. Getting emotionally honest with ourselves is a courageous act that sets us free and lets us shine in our authenticity and vulnerability.
Day 5: Stillness is the new hustle
We are so trained to do more. We believe our worth is predicated on how much we do and accomplish, and many of us have been living in the masculine energy of going out and making it all happen. And while this forceful, active energy is a part of our experience, if we never create balance and live in the the space of our divine feminine energy, we are not living in our true power.
Today’s task: Make space for stillness, self-care, nurturing, conscious activities, creativity, beauty, and connecting with your spirit. This actually amplifies your life force energy, making you magnetic to your desires and naturally in the flow of life. In other words, things fall into place when we are in a peaceful place with ourselves.
Day 6: Connect with your body
Grounding and centering ourselves through movement that we enjoy and being in a loving relationship with our body resets our mood, energy, thoughts, and our overall daily experience.
Today’s task: Connect with your body through listening to its messages right now. Eat intuitively rather than rigidly, and let your body tell you what it needs. Maybe it wants more rest, more water, more hugs, more greens, more baths, more gentle activities, or more vigorous activities. Every day is a new day. Practice staying present with your body’s shifting messages for you and it will guide you to exactly what you need.
Day 7: Connect in relationships
Taking care of ourselves allows us to create healthy relationships. Maybe we have to create better boundaries and learn how to say no even if that upsets someone, so we can take better care of ourselves. Maybe we can see where we are closing our hearts and putting walls up when we really need to forgive or let go and trust. Relationships are beautiful mirrors to show us where our work is.
Today’s task: Let your spiritual practice be in your relationships—not separate from them—and watch them transform. A fulfilling life path includes emotionally safe relationships and a connection to community. Love is fearless. Keep opening your heart to others.
How to keep your spiritual game strong after your week of self-love has come to an end? Try redesigning your space, taking a light bath, or checking out this transformative five-minute workout. And if you need some extra help silencing your inner-critic, try this.
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