January is ‘Get a Balanced Life Month’; well what exactly does that mean?
For many of us our health both physical and emotional is top of the list.
Many of us are living busy, fast paced lives which can leave us feeling mentally and physically unwell. Doesn’t time fly? Where has the time gone? How often do we say and hear those questions? Some people thrive on being busy and cramming as much into their days and lives as possible. That is absolutely fine, just like it is absolutely fine for others who may prefer to do things at a slower pace.
Here at White Wiccan we believe strongly in caring for and nurturing your body and mind. Don’t be hard on yourself, assess your life and see what you would like or need to improve. Do you need to improve your physical health? The great news is that improved fitness will also improve your emotional wellbeing, leading to improved self-esteem, better quality of sleep and energy levels. This in turn will help with stress levels. They work together.
We are unique; we don’t all need to do the same thing. Do what makes you happy and feel better. Being as fit and healthy as possible for you is what matters.
Find an activity you enjoy doing:
For strong bones weight bearing and resistance exercise is best. This means you are working against gravity, they can still be gentle though, moving is the key. Walking is considered an excellent weight bearing exercise, you don’t have to hit the 10,000 steps a day, a gentle stroll round the block is fine . If you want to walk 40,000 steps a day, fine, it’s what suits each of us that matters.
Swimming uses all the muscles in the body so provides a full body workout with the added bonus of supporting 90% of the body’s weight, ideal if you have a long term injury or illness.
Yoga is wonderful to improve and maintain core strength and flexibility in our bodies along with the breathing techniques that will also have amazing benefits and will in time become second nature. It is important to say here, that again yoga isn’t all about balancing on your head etc. With regular practise and expert tuition (there are plenty of online classes available) it is so easy to compile your own individual routine, that best suit you and your needs. There are various types of yoga to suit different levels of fitness and abilities.
Nourish your body:
The food we eat should be healthy and nutritious, and should include plenty of vegetables and fruit. Eat the best food you can afford. Learning to understand our bodies is important to our well-being. Do what suits your body. Don’t eat too much sugar or drink too much alcohol.
After much research on hydration, the advice now is that we need about 1.2 litres of liquid a day. Many factors can affect how much liquid we need, hot weather, after exercising, or if we are unwell.
Benefits of Aromatherapy:
Aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years and uses essential oils to enhance both physical and emotional health. It works through our sense of smell and skin absorption.
Smell is closely linked to memory, as well as to the parts of the brain that process emotions. It seems that distinctive scents embed into our brains and stay there.
So our sense of smell can be incredibly influential in our everyday lives. Whether we absorb their benefits through our skin in massages or inhaled through baths, oil burners or as a room spray, essential oils can boost our mood, and impact positively on our health and well-being.
So Practise self-care, eat well, take some exercise, sleep well, socialise, and look after our planet.
The Dalai Lama as you would expect has many words of wisdom to guide us, here is one of his quotes about living a balanced life:
“A balanced and skilful approach to life, taking care to avoid extremes, becomes a very important factor in conducting one’s everyday existence.”