walking lightly on earth
We’ve been out picking spray free strawberries for the freezer. At the same time it’s an activity that involves lots of nutritious movement. All the squatting and kneeling is great for a pregnant lady like me Opposite chair and couch sitting, it facilitates and encourages […]
Are you enjoying your shoes? I’m enjoying my new minimal shoes from Lems Shoes. More room for my toes compared to most traditional shoes. They’re very comfortable, light, breathable and without a positive heel. It’s wellness for my feet and they look great! It’s an […]
This has been a little morning ritual the last months.
It’s a great way to wake up 
and to get grounded.
It feels a little wild and crazy 😜
We get a better feel for the weather and what the birds, Icelandic horses and other animals are up to.
Getting outdoors and connect with the nature 
Spring has just started. It’s a beautiful sunny day so I expose my skin to the sun for the first time this year. I want to start early so my skin can build up its tolerance (pigmentation) for these vitamin D3 rich rays of goodness […]
I try to encourage our son to be outdoors a lot so I don’t say no when my son asks me to come with him outside on an early Saturday morning. We both get out and move. In addition, I get to move with extra […]
I love natural movement but I don’t have the same freedom as before I became a mum. There’s isn’t much time after work, daycare pick up, cooking dinner and bedtime routine. Instead I focus on the movement I can implement while still doing daily tasks and work.
I rarely sit on a chair or couch and instead I sit on the floor, stand at our standing desk or sit cross-legged on the chair. I also try to incorporate stretches and this way I make positions more nutritious by mixing it up, This brings more variation and mobility into your joints, ligaments, muscles and the rest of what your body is comprised of. Floor sitting and sitting cross-legged is like extending your yoga class by increasing your hip flexibility, which will reduce lower back and knee pain and make everything from walking to dancing easier and more enjoyable. On top of that, floor sitting requires extra movement every time you have to get up and down from the floor. To avoid sitting on a chair or a couch, we decided to live in a couch free home two years ago and I’ve noticed how flexible my hips have become. It feels like it has happened out of the blue since the only thing I’ve done is change my sitting habits.
Another thing that I focus on is the movement required to run a household, do gardening, forage food and spend more time in nature. We’re also upgrading our footwear to minimal footwear which activates more muscles, ligaments etc. in your foot and ankle in contrast to conventional footwear that keeps your feet in a kind of cast. Image using your hands with big bulky mittens. I also believe that we’re seen as the unusual parents when we take our son to a playground because we’re jumping, hanging and balancing like all the kids 😃
On a grey, wet and windy winter day like today, I sit on the floor with my laptop and I like to sit by the window to get exposed to more light during these short days. Over all can be a challenge to get out during the winter in contrast to the warmer and longer days we’ve here in Northern Europe during spring and summer.
NATURAL MOVEMENT In the previous posts, I share how our lifestyle-changes within nourishment, toxic free home & personal care and meditation & sleep have improved our vitality and health problems including neck pains that I’ve had for years. If you haven’t read part 1, part 2, part […]
Beautiful Christmas decorations using only natural materials. I think that this is a great way to avoid or reduce plastic and use things that might already be around you. It was a great little family adventure spending time in nature collecting pine cones and branches […]
MEDITATION & SLEEP
Last week I talked about toxic free home and personal care and how it was the second lifestyle-change that my family and I made to achieve more vitality and energy. I also listed ingredients to use more of and ingredients and products to use less of (and even better to avoid). If you haven’t read part 1, part 2 or part 3 yet, I recommend that you read it.
This week, I’ll talk about meditation and sleep because this was our third lifestyle-change. When I became a mum, I realised how important rest and sleep was to my health, my mood and energy level. I also realised how much my mind was running the show and how I needed to get out of my head and instead stop and tune into my body. My health and vitality was a wreck due to years of over performing, perfectionism and living up to expectations that I created in my mind. The “last straw” that made it hard for me to function was lack of sleep and time to myself.
No doubt, it was the toughest time in my life and my vitality was the lowest it had ever been, but somehow intuitively, I knew that I couldn’t “talk” or “think” myself out of my struggle cycle. Instead, a little voice inside of me whispered that I had to connect to myself in a new way and this journey taught me to get out of my head and into my body. I started to “check in” on my feelings, listening to my body (e.g. gut feeling) and be more gentle to myself. I also prioritised more time for rest and sleep and I started to practice meditation every day.
In my meditation, I focus on the energy centers in my body and I enjoy tuning into areas in my body that feel blocked or tense. As I relax and breathe into the blocked or tense areas they soften or it feels like they melt away. Another thing that has helped me, is to allow unwanted feelings that arise to simply just be instead of suppressing them as I would do previously. I allow the unwanted feelings space and focus my attention on breathing deeply and they’ll also melt and dissolve. I started noticing that most days, I would feel blocked in my throat and neck area but after my meditation the area would feel much lighter and unblocked.
I was amazed how these small practices came with so many benefits and after a few months, I suddenly noticed that my view on life had changed. From feeling like life was mostly a struggle and working against me to a life with much much more flow, trust and gratitude. As a bonus, my neck pains decreased as well as the frequency of a slight sore throat that I would feel from time to time decreased.
Below, I’ve listed things I recommend that you do more of and things to do less of to get out of your head and into your body.
MORE:
Rest
Mindfulness
Deep breathing
Listening to you body
Gut feeling
Awareness in your body
Presence in the moment
Allowing
Being gentle and kind to yourself
Self care
Self love
Gratitude
“Being” instead of “doing”
Freedom
Align your sleep-wake cycle with the natural rhythm
LESS:
Being in your head
Unconscious thinking
Need for control
Restrictions
Achieving
Perfectionism
Expectations
Busy
Stress
Late nights
To get my best tips and tricks to experience better sleep check out 6 THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY TO SLEEP BETTER TONIGHT and THE HARDEST STEP TO GET ENOUGH SLEEP
Learn more about how topical magnesium can help you achieve more and better sleep using TOPICAL SLEEP ELIXIR
Stay tuned for PART 5.
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The reason that you feel so relaxed and balanced after spending time at the beach is because your body becomes replenished with vital minerals from the salt water. It’s better than a bath with Epsom salts The salt water and sand will also ground you […]
