Emotional sweets to lift your spirits…

Remember that you CAN choose which emotions you experience for longer periods ot time. Just because you feel a passing sense of anger, fear or sadness does not mean you need to chew on it so long that it drags you down.

Think of your emotions like sweets to help you let go more easily of negative feelings like guilt and anxiety.

See them for what they are and rather than attaching to them, give them a colour, a flavour and a texture and notice how this helps you to dissociate from the feeling more easily.

We have to taste all the different emotions! This is what ensures our life is full of flavours that enirch our experience and help us to grow however… you can decide in each moment if you want to ride a wild emotional rollercoaster or if you want to glide with more balance, more presence, more self-control.

* Suck on the calmer, peaceful, emotions for longer, this will help you soothe your soul
* Savour the delicious vibrancy of joy, hope and positivity
* Chew on anticipation and excitement for energy that will lift your spirits
* Close your eyes and draw from the the spicier flavours of passion and courage
* Exhale the fresh mint of cooling trust and clam

And love??? Keep surplus packets in your pocket for an essential daily dose of the life sweetener that never grows old….

Your emotional health is as important as your physical health – so eat the sweets that matter and enjoy….

Recommended Winter Retreat – get fit in Ibiza!

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We are all looking for ways to get fit and energise during the winter – and what better way to start than with an Ibiza Fit Camp… Running now – and through to next year!

The retreat takes place all round the island – but you will be based in the lovely M Wellness fitness centre in Santa Eularia with spa, pool, juice bar and the fantastic team at M Wellness to hold your hand throughout…

From €899 on an all inclusive basis.

  • 7 nights accommodation
  • Total fitness programme including a wellness consultation, full analysis and inspirational talks from experts
  • Healthy meals and juices

Life Yoga… from the mat to breathing the calm in the middle of life’s mayhem

Whether you are a long-practising yogi or have just begun to dip a well-placed palm or toe onto your yoga mat…  give yourself an extra (gentle, calming) challenge: bring the core focus of your practice into the often-chaotic, day-to-day reality of life.

Ahhhh the bliss of stepping into the studio or practice space.

The phone goes off.

The emails abate…  iphones and blackberries stop pinging and ringing… and that delicious space that silence creates helps to bring that inner-feeling of calm to pass even before the pranayama has begun.

Space – time – to be – to feel – to stop – to experience and to lose yourself in the guidance of your teacher, as you move from asana to asana.  Your yoga mat is your temple space and your body is your temple : indeed! Yet when you have created the space inside with your breath, you are feeling calmer, clearer, centred and balanced in body and mind, how often do you bring this experience into the midst (or should that be mist??) of your daily life?

It is said that it takes 30 days to successfully establish a new habit.  Recoding our mind – and therefore our body – with the messages that eventually enable us to take our hands off the gear stick and to enjoy the relaxed mode of auto-pilot ; so give yourself this healthy-habit challenge:  create calm in your life just ONCE each day with these simple steps:

* Stop – put your iphone/blackberry and other electronic devices to one side – ensuring they are switched off.

*  Stand or sit in a position where you can create alignment :

– plant your feet squarely on the floor and feel your connection with the earth below

or

– sitting cross-legged OR if on a chair with your legs hip-width apart and feet planted on the floor – again, feel your connection with the earth below

* visualise roots travelling down from your feet or your seat bones

* open up your palms and bring your thumb and fore-finger together

* consciously relax your shoulders, rolling them back to open up your chest

* release your neck and allow your chin to gently tip in

* bring your tongue to the top of your mouth behind your teeth

* relax your jaw

* smile and breath – inhaling the breath through your nostrils, up to the top of your head and as you exhale visualise your breathe releasing all toxins, all tension all aggggghhhhhh you may be feeling down to the earth below

* continue for 10 x cycles allowing your breath to fill you more and more

* complete by raising your hands over your head and extend your hands, fingers interlinked above your head

* release

Now – how are you feeling?

Notice the differences – and benefits – in how you are thinking and feeling – physically AND energetically.

Repeat! (just 39 days to go)

And let us know……     how when and where is your Life Yoga benefitting you most?

Holistic Health by James and Kelly @ M Wellness…x

Often when we think about how we might want to work on our fitness, improve our body in some way, or move our beauty routine up a notch, we fix on only one part, instead of considering the whole. Take losing weight. Most of us at some point have looked in the mirror and decided that it’s time to lose a few pounds. At that point most of would consider some kind of diet, and that’s a great start, but if you start to look at the whole picture, then not only does want you want to achieve become easier, but in turn you can start to have benefits in other areas of your life.

Let’s stick with the diet example: if you eat healthy foods and control calories then you will lose weight, and that might be your aim, but think for a moment about the food part: what should you be eating? If you’re going to change your eating habits, steer clear of fad diets that will cause you to yo-yo and instead focus on eating healthily – plenty of fresh vegetables, fruits, grains and pulses, lean protein like fish or poultry. You can still have variety and eat a lot but you’re cutting out the processed foods – great for losing weight, but you’re also cutting down on the toxins you’re consuming, so as well as losing weight you’ll start to feel better, have more energy, get a better complexion, and so on.

Now throw in exercise. The more calories you burn the more weight you’ll lose, so exercising will help you lose weight, it will also tone your muscles, strengthen your heart, keep your joints mobile and have a whole load of beneficial knock on effects. For example, numerous studies have now shown that resistance exercise like training with weights strengthens bones as well as muscles, and helps slow the decline of our bone structure as we age.

So now you’re losing weight with healthy eating and exercise, but you’re experiencing a load of other beneficial effects as well. If you’re being careful about what you put in your body, you should be careful about what you put on it, so how about overhauling your cosmetics and skincare for a more natural approach?

You can see that the by taking a holistic approach to health and keeping an open mind to new approaches, you can actually get much better results than by focussing on a single element alone, and that the multiplier effect of such an approach can deliver not only good, but life-changing results.