Mindful Health & Wellness

Why Mindful Health and Wellness?

Welcome to my website and to my blog, Flourish. I’m so excited to have you on this ‘Mindful Health and Wellness’ journey with me!

You are on my mailing list because:

·      You’ve been to one of my talks, or

·      You’ve expressed an interest in a particular topic I’ve covered, or

·      You’re a patient or friend who I think might be interested

Please feel free to forward my emails on to family and friends who you think may enjoy them and benefit from them. If you’re finding that your inbox and your headspace are too full and cluttered right now, you’re also welcome to unsubscribe below. But hopefully the contents of these blog posts will help you find more health, vitality, calm, joy, presence and gratitude in your life in very easy and ‘bite size’ ways so you won’t feel as overwhelmed by life and your inbox!

‘Health and wellness’ has been a key trend globally for over two decades now. As a physiotherapist, I’ve spent the last 20 years helping my patients regain their momentum. I’ve realised that restoring physical strength definitely isn’t the only route to wellness. Diet, exercise, sleep, stress management and one’s general outlook on life are all critical too.

‘Mindfulness’ seems to be the latest buzz word – the next big thing that we’re all supposed to be striving for – the cure for our anxiety, stress and modern woes. The magic of mindfulness is that it’s already within us. We just have to learn to how to access it. We have to stop the ‘auto pilot’ for just one moment – even just one breath, to bring our full attention to a moment, to a decision, to a relationship, to a food choice, to an anxious feeling in our bodies or to an unconscious, repetitive reach out for our phones.

Habitual behaviour has become very useful to us over the years as it allows us to be more efficient. It means we don’t have to think about every single thing we do each day. But not all habits are healthy habits. When last did you actually think about what you put in your mouth, how you are breathing, how much time you spend on your phone or what time you went to bed? How conscious are you of the choices you’re making that impact your health and wellness?

Consciously making fewer decisions creates capacity for us to be more present and more creative. You may have heard of the term ‘decision fatigue’? I’m sure you might have felt bombarded by the sheer number of tasks and decisions that require your attention on a daily basis. Barrack Obama, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Albert Einstein are all prominent individuals who decided to cut down on the number of decisions they made every day by adopting a monotonous wardrobe – a uniform. Deciding what to wear each day may seem relatively small and menial, but it’s still something that requires thought, attention and planning. Even removing a small decision like this one helped them become some of the most productive and successful individuals in history.

In this blog, I’m going to encourage you to create productive rituals and habits that add value to your life and enhance your health and wellness. I’m going to take you on a journey (as I do in my talks) that will explore our body’s responses to stress. I’m going to talk about food and diet, movement and exercise, rest, relaxation and gratitude. I’m going to introduce you to accessible tools and exercises for bringing mindfulness into your everyday life. I’m going to keep you informed and inspired by science, research, current thinking, trends and my own personal experiences. I’ll also be posting relevant articles and inspiration on Facebook so please follow me there too.

My aim is to help you become more healthy, energetic, present, calm and content – with a heightened awareness of the world we live in and an appreciation for all the things that make it wonderful to be alive. I’m sure you’ll agree we could all do with more of that – especially in these very uncertain, tumultuous times which we find ourselves in, both in South Africa and globally!