Category: Health and wellbeing

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Health and wellbeing

The importance of consistency

Written by Nat Young – Clinical Hypno-Psychotherapist and Yoga/Pilates Teacher

It’s the third full week of January and by this point, you might feel like your motivation is running out of steam: a bit like a train going up a hill! Perhaps the new year feels like a distant memory and you’re feeling lacklustre and sluggish? I hear you!

So what can you do to keep up the momentum on your fitness and get your motivation back?

First, it’s important to acknowledge how you’re feeling right now.

Secondly, assure yourself that consistency is more important than going all out for a bit and then stopping. If you started the year exercising every day, that’s probably not sustainable in the long term unless you’re used to it. It’s much more important to be consistent than to exercise in peaks and troughs as consistency will yield the most health benefits. So…why not try committing to 2-3 sessions per week? If you get on OK with that, then you can look to increase the number of sessions you do. This approach is much better than exercising every day for a week and then doing nothing the week after.

Third, if you’re feeling low on energy but really want to do something, you could do some gentle stretching (try my new Quiet and Stretchy Yin Yoga on demand!) or do a meditation. Remember, fitness is a journey and it needs to be sustainable, not a slog.

Give it a go and let us know how you get on!

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Health and wellbeing Hypnotherapy Mental Health and Wellbeing

I’m proud of you!

Written by Nat Young – Clinical Hypno-Psychotherapist and Yoga/Pilates Teacher.

Wherever you are in your life journey right now, I’m proud of you! 

I think many of us need to hear this right now. Whether you’ve managed to shine in 2020 despite everything that’s happened, feel you’ve survived OK but not much more, or you’ve struggled and only just come out the other side, it doesn’t matter. I’m proud of you for just being here.

Reflecting back on the last year, working from home was a godsend for me. Not just bringing classes online and continuing to run the virtual hypnotherapy clinic from home, but also being based at home for my day job. Not having to battle my way into an office meant I was able to embrace the simpler things in life such as getting out for a walk in the fresh air more often, eating lunch with Nick and being home for the boys, even if I was working (full time working parents, I hear ya – home schooling is certainly an interesting time, isn’t it?!)

2020 was also a great year for learning to embrace uncertainty, and what an uncertain year it was! For learning that the world won’t end if I don’t have an exact plan. For distancing myself from the things that don’t serve my mental health positively, to say no if something doesn’t feel right or I simply don’t have the energy for it. For once, I actually started getting enough sleep…! All of these positives were great but I also wasn’t immune to the stress. I feared for Aurora and whether we’d be able to keep going with everything moving online. There were no government grants for us and many setup costs involved with getting online. We’d also already paid for things that we now didn’t need for online sessions. Financially it has been hard. I’m so grateful for the support of all our lovely clients though.

So we’ve now reached 2021. I know that overall we’ve been very fortunate and that not everyone will have had the same experience in 2020. Especially those of you who have been key workers, working on the frontline, have faced unemployment or have lost someone to covid. My heart goes out to all of you.

So how about you? Wherever you are and however you’re feeling, it’s important to give yourself time and space to reflect. To acknowledge. Time to feel. Even if those feelings are painful, they’re important to process. And whenever you’re ready, know that life is about balance and many opportunities are there for the taking, even in adversity. You’re amazing and you deserve health, wellbeing, opportunity and happiness.

Even if you’re glad to see the back of 2020, take time to process what was. Recognise any successes you’ve had (I guarantee there will be something to celebrate, even if it’s just surviving). Leave any 2020 baggage behind and feel proud that you’ve got to 2021. Savour this moment…

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Health and wellbeing

Supporting small business

Hypnotherapy for fitness and sports performance
Fitness and sport

Written by Nat Young – Clinical Hypno-Psychotherapist and Yoga/Pilates Teacher.

Now six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re feeling reflective here at Aurora and we’d particularly like to thank all our supporters who have continued to train virtually with us, despite everything that’s going on in the world. As a small business, your support means the world to us. Like any small business, we’ve got bills such as accountancy fees, licensing, software and subscriptions to pay for (even if we’re not running sessions) so without some form of income it would be very difficult to keep going.

Next time you’re considering where to buy something from, do consider other small businesses like us; the small corner shop, an individual crafter, the little farm shop or a family-run take-away. Many of us aren’t eligible for any help from the government and we’re all working hard to keep our businesses going. The big corporations are better placed to keep afloat during difficult times but it’s small businesses who rely heavily on the support of lovely clients just like you.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for supporting us.

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Health and wellbeing

Taking care of your health

fitness and wellbeing

Coronavirus or COVID-19 probably won’t have escaped your attention in the media recently. As a company who cares deeply about mind and body wellbeing, we felt the time was right to raise a few points about keeping our classes and private sessions happy and healthy. 

In light of the current coronavirus outbreak, it goes without saying that you should be following the advice of Public Health England, maintaining good personal hygiene and self-isolating when asked to do so. If you have been asked to self-isolate, this will mean not returning to classes/sessions until you have been advised to come out of isolation. If you are worried about coronavirus or require information on current guidance, you should phone 111  or visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public for advice.

If you are a therapeutic client, we’ll discuss and agree what we’ll do should it become necessary for you to self-isolate. We’re fortunate that we’re able to provide hypno-psychotherapy and nutrition analysis in our virtual clinic so this could be an option for many.

From a personal perspective (and this is with any illness in mind), you should be resting when you’re poorly. If you’re anything like us, friends and family will probably have told you to slow down when you’re ill at some point. They’re right and you should listen to them! The world won’t stop just because you need to take some time out to recover. When you’re ill, your immune response is triggered and your body will be expending energy just fighting the illness. If you add exercise into the mix, you’re making it harder for your body to do what it needs to do to fight off the illness which could delay your recovery. This could mean you’ll end up feeling poorly for longer than you need to. Let your body do what it needs to do to get better – rest isn’t a bad thing!

Assuming you’re healthy, exercise (alongside a healthy diet) is a great thing to help boost immunity and to improve your body’s ability to recover from illness. Your exercise regime needs to be consistent though; attending the occasional class or PT session won’t reap the same benefits as a regular routine (obviously noting what we’ve said about rest though – you’re not going to lose the benefits you’ve reaped overnight by taking a little time out to recover!)

We look forward to seeing you at your next class or private session and if you have any questions, just give us a shout.

Natalie and Nick