Look after your well-being for 2017!

As a passionate believer in holistic well-being, I am constantly advising my clients about different ways they can holistically look after their themselves, not just emotionally but physically too, as the two come hand in hand. As a therapist, it is my goal to empower clients to be able to do everything we discuss on their own, independently of me. So what advice will I be giving for 2017?

Here are five simple things you can do to look after your well-being in 2017:

1) Breathe

Our breath and the way we choose to breathe can be like medicine. Usually, we breathe short, shallow breaths from our chests and pay little attention to the flow of our breath through out the day. However, if you take just five minutes out of your day to sit calmly and notice your breath, you will begin to understand exactly how you breathe. Once you have a handle on that, you can then choose to breathe differently, slowing your breath down and breathing from deep within your abdomen. There a multitude of breathing exercises you can try to master slower, deeper and better breathing and once you add this into your daily routine, you will begin to see anxiety and stress decrease, focus and attention improve as well as overall mood.

2) Routine

This leads me nicely into top tip number two; routine. Everybody’s routines are different and vary depending on day or mood, but you should never underestimate the importance of good routine when it comes to being well. Think about your evening routine:

• Do you go to bed with multiple electronic devises on in the bedroom?
• Do you go to bed dehydrated?
• Do you watch TV as you drift off?

These things can affect your sleep pattern and set you up for a day of exhaustion. Think about what your routine is like of an evening and see what you can change.

• Can you replace your evening TV watching with a guided meditation?
• Can you add in a calming bath with essential oils?
• Can you switch your phone off, or better yet, leave it in another room?

Simple changes to your routine can ensure you get the good night’s sleep you need to be well.

3) Routine, again!

It’s not just evening routine that’s important, what about your morning routine? How many of us leave it as late as possible before getting up and then rush through the morning at 100 miles per hour? We somehow eventually land up at work with cold tea in one hand, soggy toast in the other feeling totally and utterly frazzled! It’s worth considering how then, this effects the rest of your day. Your state of mind at the beginning of the day pretty much sets the tone for the hours to follow, so it’s simple to see how a manic morning results in a stressful and disconnected day. Stress can have all sorts of horrible physical side effects and is something we want to keep as low as possible to stay well.

So ask yourself now, what you can change in your morning routine to set your day up as stress free as possible?

4) Food for thought

Diet and healthy eating, perhaps the most well-known yet the most avoided solution to good self-care. Did you know that what you choose to eat, can actually have an impact on your mental health? For example, there a certain foods and drinks that have a direct connection to anxiety levels. If you suffer from anxiety and choose these sugary foods and drinks, it is likely your diet is making your emotional well-being worse. Similarly, certain foods can cause lethargy which is energy draining, while others can promote healthy energy levels which is the perfect antidote to stress! Addressing your diet is a great place to start and eating as naturally as possible will do the trick.

5) Physical care

When we have lots of intense emotions within us for prolonged periods of time, they can begin to manifest physically, in our bodies. For example, someone with back problems may have been working in a stressful environment for several years, holding lots of tension in the neck and back. Someone with hip complains may have been going through an emotional time in their life as we often hold emotional tension in this area. Making sure you look after your body is extremely important for your well-being. For some, this is simple stretching to release long standing tension, perhaps yoga. For others, this is more rigorous workouts to manage stress or anger. Plenty choose things such as massage to release physical and emotional pain, but the point is there is something out there for everyone. So, notice those aches and pains in the body and see what you think they may be related to.

If you would like to make any of the changes listed above, then why not start with hypnotherapy as your first step?

Hypnotherapy is unique in its ability to bring calm and relaxation, not only into the session, but into your life as a whole. Using positive suggestions can improve your desire to eat well, exercise, let go of bad habits, help your self-esteem and essentially, enable you to be in the best possible mind space to make lasting change!