10 minute read
Body & Mind
AND BREATHE…
Dawn Hart, YogaSherborne
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Ioften hear people say they find meditation hard as they cannot ‘clear their mind’. I used to feel the same until it was explained to me that meditation is not so much about creating a clear, empty space in your mind but about recognising when we have left it. We need to learn to notice when we have drifted off; distracted by thoughts or sounds around us. Then we can gently draw ourselves back to the quiet space we have chosen even if it’s just for a few seconds – that is where the meditation practice begins and grows. Over time, the drifting off reduces and the time in the quiet space lengthens.
There are a lot of different ways you can meditate – I found meditation exercises using my breathing especially helpful. I needed a physical anchor – something I could sense rather than picturing an image or trying to create a feeling.
This exercise is simple and clearly highlights when you have drifted off into other thoughts so you can draw yourself back again.
Prepare: •Find a comfortable sitting position resting your hands on your legs or in your lap. •Close your eyes, and begin to draw your attention to yourself rather than the sounds around you. •Check your posture by tucking under your tailbone and lifting up through your spine, head centred. •Take a deep breath and relax your shoulders as you exhale. •Soften your face and maybe swallow to release tension around the jaw or down into your throat. •Breathe comfortably – don’t try and control it, just breathe at your own pace.
The exercise: •Begin to count your breath, the first inhalation as one and first exhalation as two. Or you may prefer to count the pauses in between the in and the out breaths. •Count to ten, then start at one again. •If you keep losing track, count groups of four breaths instead. Each time you lose count, try not to get frustrated, simply start back at one again. •The trick is to let yourself enjoy the process. Enjoy being aware of your breathing – imagine it’s the first time you’ve noticed or counted your breath.
Be interested in what you are doing. Sometimes you may breathe deeply, sometimes lightly, sometimes a deep sigh, sometimes it will feel as if you are hardly breathing at all. •Practice for around one minute – use a timer if that helps until you get used to how long that feels. •When you are ready to finish take a deep breath and let go of your meditation as you exhale.
I can easily find myself in the teens or even twenties before I realise my brain has gone into autopilot counting the breaths while I am going over something that has happened during the day or what I am going to cook for dinner. The count gives me a clear signal that I’ve drifted and need to refocus, pulling me back like an anchor for a boat on a rough sea. I hope this helps you find a little quiet when you need it.
EXERCISE AND MENTAL HEALTH
Lucy Lewis, Assistant Psychologist and Dorset Mind Ambassador
As human beings, we need to stay active to keep well and stay fit. However, we spend so much time rushing around that we can forget the importance of keeping our bodies in good working order. The NHS recommends that adults partake in two and a half hours per week of moderate-intensity exercise to remain healthy. It is widely understood that exercise not only improves your sleep, cognition and energy levels but also greatly benefits your mental health.
Research by the think tank, New Economics Foundation recommends ‘The Five Ways to Wellbeing’ for improving mental health. Exercise can help you achieve all Five Ways – which are Connecting, Learning, Giving, Noticing and Being Active.
By exercising with friends or as part of a group, activity can help you ‘Connect’ with others and socialise. Signing up for a gym class or sports team is a great way to achieve this. Research suggests that feeling close to and valued by other people is an important part of living mentally healthily so exercising with others not only increases the benefits of exercise but also improves your mental wellbeing.
Exercise also provides the opportunity to ‘Learn’. You could learn a new sport or skill and feel rewarded as you progress, thereby improving your self-esteem when you reach your goals. As an additional bonus, turbo-charging your self-esteem improves resilience to stress and increases overall life satisfaction.
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Exercise can also enable you to ‘Notice’ if you ground yourself in the present moment, also referred to as mindfulness. Mindfulness has been found to improve mental wellbeing and quality of life; this can be practiced during exercise. Next time you are exercising outside, why not pay attention to and focus on the sensation in your muscles, the movements you make, the wind on your face, or the beauty of nature and let these sensations ease your mind as you exercise?
You could also use exercise as a chance to ‘Give’ back to your society and the world. Why not fundraise for a charity by signing up for a challenge or marathon? You can feel good as you get fitter and make a change for a cause you care about. Dorset Mind offers many opportunities to raise money for a great cause while getting active. Visit dorsetmind.uk/get-involved/ fundraise-for-us/ for latest fundraising opportunities.
Studies also show that exercise can treat mild to moderate depression as effectively as medication and further research suggests that those who are more active have lower rates of depression in general. If you increase your exercise levels from doing nothing, to exercising at least three times a week, you can reduce your risk of depression by almost 20%.
Moreover, exercise can reduce symptoms of anxiety by boosting physical and mental energy, releasing endorphins and reducing tension and stress. Highly active individuals tend to have lower stress levels, compared to less active people. Exercise has also been associated with better cognitive health in individuals. For example, exercise has been found to decrease the likelihood of dementia and delay further damage with people who already have dementia.
There are many reasons to get more active, but regardless of what motivates you to exercise, you’ll see that the benefits are wonderfully limitless.
Dorset Mind offers group support that can also help with your wellbeing. The group offers peer support and helps to reduce stigma by normalising conversations about mental health. Please visit dorsetmind.uk for information. You can also check out further support for stress and mental health at mind.org.uk
If you are struggling to cope with your mental health in general, please talk to your GP. If you’re in a crisis, treat it as an emergency. Call 999 immediately or the Samaritans, FREE on 116 123. Alternatively, call Dorset’s 24hr Helpline called Connection on 0800 652 0190.
SERUM SUPER CHARGE
Sarah Hitch, The Sanctuary Beauty Rooms and The Margaret Balfour Beauty Centre
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Serums hold the power to charge up your skincare routine and accelerate the results that you have been chasing.
The additional layering up of serums under your moisturiser will help boost the benefits of your cream and in some cases help improve their absorption meaning you need to apply less moisturiser and will get better skin benefits long-term.
Serums contain smaller molecules and peptides that can sink deeper into the layers of our skin or epidermis. These smaller molecules pass through the walls of our micro-nutrient network directly into the lower skin cells. These are then absorbed into the skin cells as they are formed giving them a bath in radiance-enhancing and trouble-shooting ingredients.
Serums can be applied day and/or night depending on the individual product and its ingredients. Serums that are helpful to add to our product routine before our day cream tend to support hydration levels and focus on skin brightening. Ingredients to look out for here are hyaluronic acid which increases water retention in our upper cells and therefore has an immediate plumping effect on the skin’s surface. Vitamin C is intensively repairing and rich in antioxidants which are key to holding off damage caused by the sun, lifestyle and pollution. Skin ‘essences’ are another additional layering step – originating from the Korean beauty industry, they work like a primer for the rest of your skincare routine. They have a very small molecular weight so they penetrate more deeply and a liquid texture to quickly sink into your skin, activating products which are applied afterwards.
A nighttime serum may be the same as you are using in the day if you are intensively targeting a particular skin issue such as sensitivity. Or it may be that you plump and brighten in the day and target ageing of the skin at night when the skin goes into repair mode. Products containing retinol are fabulous at increasing collagen production, cell renewal and smoothing the surface but must never be applied in the daytime as on exposure to sunlight retinol produces a very opposite and damaging impact.
Taking action on breakouts with deeply clearing and healing ingredients is also more productive during our nightly rest because again some ingredients such as salicylic and glycolic acid should not be left on the skin during exposure to daylight. During the day you can apply healing topical boosters to spots and conceal them if necessary, but with a clean face at night, clearing serums can get to work on bacteria and skin blockages causing the breakouts.
For real skin care junkies, a skincare routine involving the applications of an eye product, skin essence, and skin serum followed by a moisturiser (containing that allimportant minimum SPF 30!) would be the platinum care plan. However this level of self-care and investment isn’t for everyone and a professional skin therapist can sample and advise on a bespoke routine to suit your lifestyle – you only have to ask.
thesanctuarysherborne.co.uk margaretbalfour.co.uk
STRONGER FOR LONGER
Craig Hardaker BSc (Hons), Communifit
Image: Stuart Brill
As we age, we unfortunately weaken. When we reach a hundred, we won’t be as strong as when we were eighty. When we are eighty, we won’t be as strong as when we were sixty. The more encouraging news however, is that the speed at which we weaken is determined by ourselves and what we do.
Strengthening exercises help keep our muscles, bones and joints ‘stronger for longer’. This in turn slows down the weakening of the body during the ageing process, turning what could be seen as a negative into a positive and something we can control. Here are some everyday examples of how staying strong can be beneficial during our later years:
Balance Strong muscles mean better balance. We are able to pick our heavy legs off the floor whilst walking, preventing the ‘shuffle’. Our hips are strong enough to pick our feet off the floor. You’ll notice that not all pavements are even, so very important when walking outside. We will also be much faster to react to certain situations, therefore making us less likely to fall.
Sit to stand Getting up from a chair can, as we get older, become a real challenge. We need strength to get ourselves up from a chair so we can begin walking. This is a fundamental part of independence – strengthening exercises can make standing easier to accomplish.
Independence Strengthening exercises not only improve our ability to get up and out of a chair safely but also aid in moving around the house. Cleaning, cooking, getting changed, showers, climbing stairs etc all require strength. The stronger we are the easier it will be to do all of these, making us more independent.
Activities Staying strong will help us to continue doing the activities we enjoy the most, examples may include golf, gardening, meeting with friends, bowls. Whatever your hobbies, you will need strength to achieve these effectively.
Staying ‘stronger for longer’ doesn’t just happen. We need to spend time on our bodies to maintain strength. Structured, targeted and specific strengthening exercises can keep all areas of the body strong. Whether you are new to exercise or not, prioritise what type of exercise you need and make sure you include strength-based exercise in your weekly timetable.
