In our latest blog we share with you a blog post originally published by Hannah Alyward on yogatoday.com which discusses the importance of maintaining your health and wellness through Yoga and Meditation.

Tune into your health and wellness this summerWellness is very much a “thing” right now. It has grown from a positive-lifestyle practice into a fast-growing trend. With this trend, comes a lot of noise including varying opinions, documentaries, products, supplements, pills, and potions.

Quite frankly, it can feel utterly overwhelming. With new diet books and health products coming out every day promising to be the “fix” that we need, it is easy to feel lost and and confused by the noise.

However, if we reverse the narrative, this trend of wellness can be seen as an amazing and enriching thing. It is bringing more awareness and education to the masses. It is unveiling the faulty information and helping bring to light different health and wellness practices that can make us feel better.

It allows others to share their own healing stories which helps us all realise that we are not alone out there. I am a full advocate for taking your health into your own hands. Our bodies have amazing healing capabilities when we give them the proper conditions to do so.

The fact of the matter is we are all beautifully different from one another. We come from different places, have different activity levels, favour different foods, live different lives, and have different goals. How could there ever be a one-size-fits-all approach?

What we need also changes as we change.

What worked for me when I was 18 years old, is not exactly what works for me now. My whole life is different! Priorities have shifted, day-to-day activities have changed, my location has changed, and of course, my age has changed.

So how do we learn to sort through the noise (most of which is good) and connect with what we truly need?

This is where the answers lie — within us. We already have most of them. Intuitively, we know this. Let’s try to add a bit of trust, mindfulness, and compassion into this discovery process. Let me tell you, it is worth it.

It is time to stop looking outside of ourselves for the answers. Let’s tap into our abundant intuitive knowledge and explore what it is we truly need to feel better which can vary from more yoga to more vegetables, to more quiet time, to a night out dancing with friends, to ditching the guilt, to accepting help from an expert and signing up for that six-week coaching program that will get you back on track.

It all works. Once again, there is no one-size-fits-all. Tune into what you need in this moment and get after it, my dear. Also know that exploration is part of the process, as is “failing” and trying again. Trust that you’ve got this.

Journaling

Try putting a pen to paper and letting the words just flow with no judgement at all. If it doesn’t make any sense, so what? Just free flow, scribble, draw, etc. It feels good to let out some of those thoughts that we get lost in.

Getting out into nature – long walks outside, hiking, forest bathing, earthing, etc.

Walks outside in the fresh air, surrounded by trees, birds, sunshine, moonlight, wind — these save me. They help me feel gratitude for where I am and for everything that I have. They get my blood flowing. They help me ground down and think clearly.

Listening to your favourite music

  • Try doing this purely for the joy of doing so. If you want to dance, then dance!
  • Cuddle up to a really good book
  • Leave your phone across the room so you have no distractions. Try to read something for pleasure, as opposed to for learning.
  • Indulge in a delicious yoga flow to reconnect and recover.

I recently took Sarah Kline’s Balancing Rajas class on a morning when I needed it most. It was a beautiful, slow, grounded flow embodying tamasic energy to balance rajas (that pushing, frantic energy that I embody quite regularly). It helped me ground down and connect, even though I found my mind fighting it!

Once you’ve reached a grounded and clear state, answers will most likely start flowing. If you need a little guidance, here are some of my favourite questions.

Try asking yourself these questions to #TuneIntoYou.

  • How does this act make me feel?
  • How does this act make others around me feel?
  • Is this serving me?
  • What is trying to come up right now?
  • What have I been avoiding recently, even though I know I should face it?
  • What is my main goal here?
  • Is this connecting me with my true purpose?
  • How do I define success?
  • What would my higher self do in this situation?
  • Is this supportive of my needs right now?
  • Can I breathe a little more compassion and grace into this situation?
  • Am I truly taking care of myself when I do this?
  • Am I being honest with myself in these answers?

Questions specific to food:

  • How does this make me feel?
  • How do I feel a few hours after I eat this?
  • Why am I eating this food? Is it enjoyment, nourishment, or mindlessness?
  • Am I eating because I am bored, numbing, or sad?
  • Is there another food that I could eat instead that would help move me towards my higher goals?
  • Do I feel guilt, shame, and fear after I eat this?
  • Does this food make me feel energised, alive, and vibrant?

A big part of wellness is having the ability to come back to ourselves, and feel what it is we truly need regardless of what those around us are doing. We have to show up fully for ourselves in order to show up for others.

Schedule some time this week to pause and tune in.

Why not book in for a FREE Taster class or one of our massage therapies this summer?