Summer is about reaping the rewards of all our intentional work by thoroughly enjoying the good life. It’s also about recharging. The summer fun is supposed to revitalise you so that you can rock through Labor Day and win the race into the Holiday Season!
Hopefully most of you have been able to break away from the computer screen and enjoy the great outdoors like I have. Summer living is supposed to be good. Relaxing, playful, carefree and rejuvenating! Hanging in a hammock, making hay while the sun shines, and riding the waves … but if you can’t…
…there is a lifesaver here for you!!
If you are still stuck indoors and attached at the hip with your computer… turn this summer into a staycation retreat! Instead of going for a yoga retreat at Omega, Kripalu or Canyon Ranch this year you could have a rejuvenating 40 day retreat from the sanctuary of your home with me as your wholesome guide!
This self-care program might just be what you need to reset your life to wholesome. Forty days to living the good summer livin’, every season. I will share some wholesome advice from that course with you here.
Change can feel disorienting and confusing. Uncertainty could make you feel unsettled and ungrounded. It’s time to get out of our head and into our body his summer! Let’s get physical!
Our bodies work so hard for us every single day, fighting off viruses or not. Instead of caring for it, we tend to neglect it however. We don’t give it enough sleep. We race out of bed in the morning and quickly stuff a banana in our face while running to the car, or sip some coffee while we simultaneously answer the phone and start up our computers. We are so busy running about that we don’t even make time to properly sit down and eat, let alone prepare a nourishing meal for ourselves and savour every single bite. It’s time to hit our reset button.
“Follow your Bliss.
People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life.
I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking.
I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive,
so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own inner most being and reality, so that we actually
feel the rapture of being alive.”
Joseph Campbell
Summer Love
Reconnect with your True Nature
Earth Day Every Day
Our modern day lifestyle unfortunately is terribly disconnected. A lot of us are stuck inside all day sitting in front of a computer, or having a cellphone glued to our bodies while we sit in a vibrating machine racing from point A to point B. Stimulants like caffeine, sugar and processed foods take us on a rollercoaster ride from feeling spacey to being wired and eventually depleted.
Most of us should practice some grounding exercises several times a day. Don’t wait till you feel spaced out, confused, unbalanced, stressed out, sad, disconnected, or unfocused before doing a grounding exercise. I would recommend you start integrating some grounding practices into your daily self-care routine.
Bringing yourself down to earth can be done by simply ‘earthing’ yourself. It’s a pretty new term for telling you to kick off your shoes and walk in the grass. Tactically feeling the earth with the bottom of your feet. If you are stuck in a hotel room or city apartment building you could ‘earth’ yourself by stimulating the bottom of your feet instead. Rub, massage or spoon the bottom of your feet. Yup, I said spoon. Not as in spooning, although physical touch is grounding as well, but the bulging side of a metal spoon. Its polarity will help you ground, just rub it all over the bottom of your feet or any spot on your body that hurts. If you don’t want to carry a metal spoon around with you, use magnets instead. Magnets are the ultimate grounding tool, and the very essence of ‘earth-ing’: our planet earth is one massive magnet after all.
Frolic like a Mermaid/Merman
Salt of the Earth. Salts are very grounding as well. I used to take regular epsom salt baths, or if I didn’t have the time for a bath used it as a body scrub in the shower. Right now as I am writing this, my feet are actually soaking in a bucket with epsom salts and essential oils underneath my desk. The most grounding salts of the Earth comes from our oceans. You can’t fake Mother Nature. So go for a swim and pretend you’re a mermaid! It’s summer, go play in the waves! Earth day, every day!
Night Swimming
One of the reasons we’re so unhappy in our modern day lives is that we’re consistently sleep deprived. Research shows that sleep can improve our mood more than we often expect. When we don’t sleep enough we are irritable, tense, stressed, have trouble focussing, lack stamina, easily confused, feel listless or even depressed, and generally suffer a lower life satisfaction.
Be like a loving parent and tuck yourself in at night at a reasonable time.
Practice good sleep hygiene: no electronic devices before bed, pitch-black room, avoid caffeine after lunch and reduce alcohol on the days you’re trying to get some luxurious sleep on. Electro-biological research of sleep showed that EMFs (electromagnetic frequency waves) have severe effects on our health. Make sure all electronic devices in your room are unplugged or turned off, or at least switched to airplane mode.
REM
I have been a private flight attendant – until this pandemic abruptly grounded me- and I have experienced first hand how important your circadian rhythm and a solid night sleep is to your wellbeing! Flying has taught me to become a professional napper too, since very often our days and nights are literally all over the place. When napping either do a short 20min power nap, or give yourself at least a 90 minute break. Everything in between 20-90min will make you feel groggy and even more tired than you already were before your cat-nap. It supposedly takes 90min for a full sleep cycle. You don’t want to interrupt that soothing REM (Rapid Eye Movement)!
I like to Move it, Move it.
Playtime! Your mommy used to send you outside to play in the street or backyard all summer long. Nurture your inner child, and adult body by having some fun in the sun! Can you set aside 30 min a day for movement? Exercise research suggests that 30 minutes a day of exercise can boost your mood and metabolism in addition to making your body healthier overall. When I feel very frazzled, yoga is definitely my most effective grounding practice. In ancient India, yoga was designed to prepare the body for meditation. (In this pandemic society there are tons of yoga classes available online at a very reasonable price.) When you feel too tired or lazy to exercise or even walk, a massage will do the trick as well since it will get your blood and lymph moving passively. Or, blast your favourite music and jiggle with it! Let’s get physical.
The Sound of Silence
Neuroscienticfic research has shown that our minds wander 46.9% of the time! What’s even more disturbing is that even though it might be our default setting, a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Controlling the mind not only physically strengthens the brain, but even boosts our cognitive performance. In other words, by quieting the mind we become smarter and more productive! Our mind thinks it rules our universe, but we need to show it who’s boss. Meditation turns out to be one of the most effective ways to stop a mind from wandering aimlessly. Have a look at February’s wholesome blog post if you want to find out how
Meditation = Medication ?!
And check out the Wholesome Thinking page dedicated to just that.
Eat it!
We intuitively know what we need, but we are often too busy running around to pay attention. Knowledge is only potential power. Discomfort and disease are our body’s natural way of grabbing our attention. It’s the body’s way of saying: “Hey, show me some love and appreciation here! You don’t seem to realise how hard I’ve been working for you!” Check out the Wholesome Foods page to learn more about improving your health and wellbeing one wholesome bite at a time!
Hit it!
Summer is a great time to get physical and hit that reset button.
Our body deserves some soothing REM and serious TLC. Take care of yourself first! If you sign up for the RESET program now, you will be fully wholesome by Labor Day to kick this year into a new orbit! Every stellar journey starts with its first step. Just do it! Life is a sport!
Wholesome Life Coaching is all about living the good life all year round. Keep dreaming with you head in the clouds and both feet firmly grounded!
Cheers to the good life!
Nathalie
Author of RESET
Feel Good. Be Good. Do Good.
Happiness. Fulfilment. Meaning.
Everyday this Summer PPPractice the good summer living! Sign up today to actively RESET your life to the good summer living, one day at a time! If you prefer to pace yourself you could pre-order your RESET in book format here instead.
PS. Sign up to receive these free coaching tips in your inbox. Sign up for the Wholesome Newsletter if you’d like your summer routine to become ppplayful.
PPS. Sharing is caring! Do you love these FREE coaching tips to help keep you on track through the seasons? Show your appreciation here! Support me in resetting the world back to wholesome, one life at a time!
Feel Good. Be Good. Do Good.
Happiness. Fulfilment. Meaning.
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