My secret antioxidant loaded winter warmer drink!
I have a secret to tell you... I've been drinking this super amazing antioxidant loaded drink every morning this year. And it makes me feel super virtuous! So I thought I'd finally share it so you can be virtuous too. Also it's more of a winter warmer than a spring/summer refresher so it's more apt for October.
KT's super antioxidant Winter Warmer drink
juice of 1/2 a lemon
juice of half a lime
1/4 teaspoon of Clear Spring matcha green tea powder
A slither of fresh ginger grated
2 teaspoons of baobab powder
manuka honey to taste
Boil the kettle and place all the ingredients except the honey in a mug. Fill the mug with hot water and stir until all the ingredients are blended nicely. Add making honey to taste. You're good to go! I take mine in a KeepCup so I can enjoy on my morning commute :)
Precision movement philosophy phrases to live by
After last weeks blog about checking in with your goals for the last quarter of the year, I thought I'd follow that with some motivational inspiration. Sometimes we get so bogged down with the day to day stuff we forget the big picture reasons for living and enjoying life. So here are the Precision Movement phrases to live by... Everybody say Om!
1. You are what you absorb
Sadly just eating the right foods is now not enough if you are not absorbing their goodness! How do you know if you are absorbing the nutrition you eat? Well you should feel good for eating highly nutritious food but most of us don't know what good feels like if we have only what we feel like now to compare it to. So my recommendation would be to get your gut tested and see how functional it is. See our partners page for contact information on Karen Maidment and Hannah Richards who can help with this.
2. Movement is the foundation of life
From the movement of blood and transport of nutrients and removal of toxins to getting around town movement is absolutely essential for life. It's also really important to move well, efficiently and effectively to minimise injury and discomfort. I believe movement is as important as breathing, eating and sleeping. Stagnation leads to injury, depression and indifference. So move more and move well - if you need some help with this you know where I am.
3. Your body is a thoroughbred
We can take our body for granted. We don't think about what it does every day to enable us to live, to see, to hear, to communicate, to move, to breathe, to digest food. Our body is a gift, it is our house and we should take care of it like it's a thoroughbred race horse or a top of the line sports car. You wouldn't put sludge in a sports car so don't put rubbish in your body. You want to nurture your body, feed and water it well, give it sunlight and fresh air, move it regularly and give it a bit of challenge every day to make sure it can withstand the toughness of life.
4. Study your user manual
Too many people assume they know how to move well. Here's what happens - we are born, we teach ourselves to move (amazing!), we continue to learn good movement and sports in childhood and hopefully our teen years. Then we go to university and we either continue (super amazing!) or we stop moving. Then we go to work and it's basically all over. I'm generalising here but you get the idea. When we enter the work place we teach our bodies to adapt to the sitting work environment which can give us all kinds of issues. The greatest gift you can give yourself is re-learning good movement either through a sport like martial arts or dance or working with a movement specialist to support you and get you back to your sports.
5. If you don't use it you lose it
I am a personal testament to this! If I don't exercise regularly I start to lose my strength, my stability my tone and my shape. Many of the people I work with begin to lose their postural endurance and flexibility. You've got to make an ongoing commitment to yourself to maintain your body. You'll live a longer happier life if your body is agile, functional and well taken care of. It really comes down to loving yourself enough to take care of yourself.
6. Get in your discomfort zone
Comfort doesn't lead to growth or change. I purposefully placed myself in some very uncomfortable situations this summer to remind myself what it's like for my clients to change movement patterns and posture - it can be frustrating and uncomfortable both physically, mentally and emotionally. So I do know what it's like to start something completely new - I highly recommend it regularly. The joy comes when you master something that you've been struggling with - that's growth, that's change, that's a life worth living and an example worth setting to your children, friends and family around you.
7. Movement is a constant teacher
I'm finding more and more as I work with clients watching them learn and connect with their bodies that movement serves as a fantastic teacher. No matter how long you have been training you can always learn some new movement or reconnect with how movement feels in your body. To me, mastering movement is not about just exercising it is about really understanding how your body works and serves you. I highly advocate using movement and sports for challenge and personal growth. I am still humbled by movement - it's always been my greatest teacher.
8. Mind over matter
Firstly the brain is the control centre of movement. We don't move unless the brain is motivated towards something. Many things are involved in the motivation of movement. One of the important factors is how you feel about/towards that intention. If you dislike what you are doing your brain gives a different output in contrast to if you do like what you are doing. So, when moving, even if the movement or exercise is something you don't particularly like, train your mind to find the benefit in it and feed that information through the brain and attach it to the exercise. The brain/mind/body will avoid things it doesn't like - so override the dislike factor - reframe it. The saying mind over matter is never more true than it is here!
9. Be present
When anyone comes to work with me in the studio yes there are reps and sets and alignment and gains and goals etc. But what I really think they gain is the experience of being present in their body. It might sound a little kooky but going to the studio or the gym and just going through the motions, the reps, the sets, thinking about work or what you'll do afterwards is really not as beneficial as being present with your body for your workout. Movement is an enriching educational experience. It's an outlet, a form of expression, a release of energy or a way of conjuring up energy. But all this good stuff only happens when we are present in our movement. It's like anything really - when you are present you are alive and the experience is banked. When you are somewhere else you're just wasting what you're doing in the present.
So there you have it - 9 magical philosophical paragraphs to live by. Now go forth and conquer... :D
5 sources of stress that make your pain worse
stress ball
In my
where I shared the link to
on How stress can be your friend I promised I would also share the other 5 unsuspecting sources of stress that may be compromising your health. Although is true that your conscious perception of stressful situations can transform the outcome, there is little you can do about forms of stress you do not know about.
Did you know that stress can come from foods, hormone imbalance, electromagnetic sources, too little or too much exercise, and temperature changes? And did you know that all these sources of stress can contribute to a relapse of your injury, pain or discomfort?
Stress build up throughout the day
I'll use an example of how stress can build up without you even knowing. You wake up to an alarm after a restless nights sleep. You force off your tiredness with a coffee and rush out the house because you are late. You leave the house without a coat and it's too late to go back to get one now - you'll be cold all day. When you get to work the computers are down The You won't finish that proposal for a client today, you'll lose the contract and your bonus! You have a makeshift late lunch and more coffee to stay awake. You decide to shake off your stress by going for a run even though your back hurts and when you get home, you order a take-out and you can't wait to get the kids in bed so you can 'unwind' with a few glasses of wine before you fall asleep on the sofa in front of the TV. Sound familiar?
Many stressors one response
What if I told you that everything in the above example stresses your body? Think of your body having a threshold - a tolerance for all the stressful things we put it through. What if I told you that repeating this over and over would create a build up of stress that might result in a seemingly 'random' injury or illness? It does. The body only has one response to stress. It does not matter if the stressor comes from a food that you are unknowingly intolerant to or over exposure to the sun. The body's response is to shut down so it can heal. Repeated abuse of these systems results in tiredness, compromised immunity and suppression of healing and recovery. This leads to discomfort, pain, injury, illness and disease.
How to combat these sources of stress...
In this blog i'll give an overview of how to combat these unsuspecting sources of stress so you can begin to change your mindset on how to deal with your discomfort, pain, injury and or illness. As each of these subjects are pretty hefty on their own I'll be sharing information in more depth over the coming weeks.
1. Nutrition
Eat from the earth. Refrain from eating any foods that are packaged, processed and tampered with. Reduce stimulants like coffee to the minimum to prevent stressing out your adrenals. Be aware of your alcohol intake
2. Hormonal/Adrenal
Sleep enough and rest properly. Sleeping and rest are not the same thing! Sleep 8 an average of 8 hours in a blacked out room in silence. Maintain balance between work and life. Acknowledge that you are not superman/woman and that rest is as important as action.
3. Electromagnetic
Get enough sunlight for vitamin D but not too much - hardly a problem in the English winter months! Eliminate all electronics from your bedroom and switch off lights at the mains.
4. Exercise
Definitely exercise but make sure you are not overdoing it. If you are injured seek professional help to recover effectively. Strike a balance between healing restorative exercise like tai chi and hatha yoga and more energising forms of exercise like hitting the gym or running.
5. Make stress your friend
If you haven't watched this video on how to make stress your friend I highly recommend it. Kelly McGonigal says it better than I ever could.
How to make stress your friend
6. Thermal
This seems rather obvious but pay attention to your body temperature. Anything that keeps you too hot, burns you or adversely keeps you too cold is a stressor. Make sure you are temperate in all situations - at home, work and when you sleep.
Lastly, this is a huge topic and I'll be covering smaller chunks in finer detail as the weeks go on so you can begin to make changes that will result in a healthier, happier pain free life! If you have questions please email me.
Information sourced from Paul Chek's How to Eat Move and Be Healthy book, CHEK Institute, USA.