Finding calm amid the chaos of modern life is more important than ever when life gets stressful. Recognising the subtle signals from your body when life starts weighing you down will conserve precious energy down the road. Exploring, getting curious, and learning the tools that support you will sustain your health and well-being. Appreciating the weight of your to-do list will help you find the contrasting activities to counterbalance it all. Changing anything starts with an awareness that something is out of sorts.

Knowing something is good for you is not always enough to form a habit. However, through experience and exploration, you can get a deeper understanding of the physiological and emotional benefits and begin to integrate that knowledge into your body. 

Stress is a natural state we are designed to move through although our capacity to ride the waves of life can fluctuate. With modern life a mishmash of emotions and distractions it’s easy to detach from how we are feeling. Learning how to lower your cortisol levels and improve your mood is how you can turn a healthy habit into a mindful lifestyle.

I’m not one for New Year's Resolutions, instead, I tune into how I want to feel and the person I want to be, and I use those intentions as stepping stones to guide me towards my aspirations and goals. These are the two most important things to focus on if you want to stick to new habits, achieve your goals, and create the change you wish to see in your life…

Stress is an everyday process your body is designed to flow in and out of, but that doesn’t mean it’s any more pleasant when it does show up! Learning to recognise your body’s unique nudges allows you to consciously (and compassionately) respond to what you’re feeling and rebalance rather than unconsciously reacting to your experience.

Anxiety is both physical and emotional, it is not only in your mind! Moving from feeling overwhelmed or unsettled to a grounded space can be challenging which is why it’s so important we learn to understand anxiety and how we can recognise and respond to it with compassion.

How stress shows up and learning to recognise and respond to your stress signals.

Stress is an everyday process your body is built to flow in and out of, naturally, the problem is you can end up spending more time there than your body would like you to. Understanding how stress shows up and impacts your body invites self-awareness helping you embrace your wobbles and live your life with more connection and balance.

Four years ago I resigned as a Fashion Buyer and everyone thought I was mad because I didn’t want another job, instead I’d decided to redesign my career… The truth is my new career can be stressful but here’s what I’ve learnt over the last few years of juggling my business and my freelance work…

Two of the most important things you can do to help yourself create and stick to your intentions and new habits are to reduce your stress levels and get good quality sleep. For some of you, me included this is going to pose a problem because getting a good night’s sleep consistently and feeling less stressed day to day are two of the biggest challenges you might be faced with right now.

Are you feeling festive or frazzled? When you are so busy it can be hard to wind down and de-stress because your body is fired up and not able to fully rest and recover. This is where mindfulness can be helpful and has been proven to reduce stress. Mindfulness gives you time to reset and rebalance and helps shift your perspective. Here are three simple ways you can practice mindfulness over the festive period to help you feel calmer and more centred.

Are there days when your mind simply won’t shut up?
Do you get stuck in your head and start to doubt yourself?
Are your thoughts often racing so much it’s hard to keep up?
The thoughts you have, especially self-critical ones, play havoc with your well-being changing how you breathe, and the way you behave and impacting your mood. Your breath gets faster, your chest feels tight and your stomach ends up in knots. These physical changes in your body are reactions to your thoughts…

Your mind is highly intelligent and incredibly creative. You experience over 6,000 thoughts throughout the day paying attention to only a few which are often either the most unhelpful ones or the all-singing, all-dancing ones. We humans like to play to extremes. Notice I said, ‘experience’…
It’s important to consider a mental thought as something you experience, observing your thoughts and being witness to them rather than allowing your negative thinking to run the show!

Let me tell you a story… About 5 years ago I started practising mindfulness, in a small way every day because I needed something to focus my mind on and help cultivate more positive thoughts. My internal chatter had become pretty challenging and it was hard to silence the negative self-talk especially at night, I was unhappy but didn’t think I had any justification for feeling the way I did.

Mindfulness supports you by helping you cope better with stress by drawing you back into the present, slowing things down and quietening the internal worry; the mind-chatter.

When you learn to slow things down, even for a short while, you’ll find you have more focus, what you’re focusing on will flow better and everything you do will get a little kickstart!