Our Three Beliefs
We believe that Flexibilty, Strength and Balance are the cornerstones of optimum mental and physical wellbeing. To live a healthy life we need: Flexibility: Maintaining and building mobility in the body ensures a wide range of motion in our joints and muscles creating free movement and relief from tightness. Mentally, this transpires to an open mind, being welcoming of new ideas and experiences as well as constantly learning. Strength: Building muscle and bone strength is crucial to...
What are Good Fats?
The subject of fats can be incredibly confusing. We hear good, bad, trans, mono - how do we make sense of it all? Luckily, our nutritionist Nereda Merrin has done that for us. Here is the definitive guide to our favourites, the Good Fats. Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats Good fats come mainly from vegetables, nuts, seeds, and fish. They differ from saturated fats by having fewer hydrogen atoms bonded to their carbon chains. Healthy fats are liquid at...
The 3 Best Yoga Stretches for Sitters
After a long period sitting, whether on a flight or at the desk, your body is usually not feeling the best. Swollen legs, tight hip flexors and sore backs can cause discomfort and make it near impossible to get comfortable. Try these three delicious stretches to bring relief: (1) Overhead stretch: Stretch arms high and interlace fingers, pressing the palms away from your head. Using this as your central point, keep hands interlaced, take them in all 4 directions....
Power Pose: Chair
Chair pose is a power pose for the lower body! Working all the major muscle groups of the lower body - glutes, quads, hamstrings, adductors, hip flexors and calves, this pose will help you to build strength and stability. (1) Start with feet hip width apart (or slightly wider if more comfortable), palms together in front of the chest. (2) Engage your abdominals and with weight through the heels, guide hips back into a sitting position. (3) Keep knees safe...
Three Ways Fibre Helps to Maintain Hormone Balance
It’s amazing how easily hormones can get out of balance, it only takes one hormone producing gland to be out of whack and often the others start to follow suite creating a tidal wave of health challenges. Think weight gain, diabetes, bad PMS, skin problems, low libido! Diet plays a huge role in creating and maintaining balanced hormones. With so many foods both helping and negatively affecting hormones it is best that I start with just...
Connecting Mind & Body Through Breath
There is no denying our mind and body are fully connected. When we feel anxious and stressed we frequently experience non-specific aches, pains and tightness in the body. Here's an easy breathing technique to relieve stress and generally improve your mood. Box or Four-Point Breathing is used frequently by athletes and people who work in stressful and first response situations - police officers, armed forces, nurses etc. Click below for instructions. This can be done anywhere and just a few minutes...
Why Sociable Exercises Make You Fitter
Going to the gym on a regular basis can be a struggle. Whether you're busy at work or at home (or both), or you just can't drag yourself off your sofa to go running, there are hundreds of reasons why we put off exercise. But still, exercise we must. So, how can you find an exercise you'll actually stick at? A new study of more than 1,000 people, from East Anglia University, found you’re more likely to...
Snacking – let’s get it right
Mid-meal snacking is the most challenging part for people when it comes to making appropriate choices within their daily dietary pattern. This is where most of us tend to stray from our otherwise healthy diet and undo all our awesome work. Saying this, snacking between meals can be essential for some to: To maintain balanced blood sugar levels; To keep you satisfied for longer and manage appetite control; To maximise energy levels; To maximise concentration levels; and, When...
Pilates for Back Pain
Pilates is frequently recommended by doctors and physiotherapists to help with existing back pain and in the prevention of future back issues. We know that Pilates helps with strengthening the back, but what other benefits can can you experience: Here are our top 3: 1. Core Strengthening Our core muscles support our spine and having strong abdominal muscles will support and ease pressure on the back. If lower back muscles are weak, our body will rely more heavily on passive structures (ie. ligaments) as well as...
Power of the Pose: Twist
Twists are a wonderful way to realign and restore range of motion in the spine and stimulate circulation. As many of us live a relatively sedentary life, we can lose the full range of spinal mobility which can result in muscle tightness and shortening of the soft tissues. Regular twisting can also help to maintain spinal discs and facet joints (the small joints at the back of the spine where two vertebrae overlap). Begin on your back,...