Wellbeing

How to

BE MORE ACTIVE

In our busy 21st century lives it can be hard to make time for formal exercise, despite all our good intentions, so Lisa de Silva has put together a few tips to make increased activity more manageable

While we all know the positive impact of activity on our physical and mental health, many of us simply do not have schedules that allow for a regular gym visit or a specific commitment to workout.

The good news is that we can still improve our physical health simply by raising our level of general activity. The UK Chief Medical Officer recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week for adults and while that might seem overwhelming, if you break it down into manageable chunks, it need not disrupt your life. If you commit to 20-minutes a day, broken up into two 10-minute sessions, the task instantly feels more manageable.

The trick is to stop thinking of

The trick is to stop thinking of exercise as something you have to change your clothes for

exercise as something you have to change your clothes for, warm up for, get out of breath for, or need a post-session shower for. Simply think of it as moving a little more and incorporating more general physical activity into your daily routine. These small changes add up over time and will help with weight control, as well as lowering levels of stress and cholesterol.

To inspire you into action, we’ve listed some ideas for increasing your general physical activity both at home and work. l

AT HOME

•Do the housework to music to put a spring in your step • Get outside for a brisk 10-minute walk or put your headphones on for a 10-minute silent disco session twice a day • Take a longer walk listening to a podcast or an audiobook • Multi-task while watching TV – walk on the spot, do some squats, lunges or stretching during the ad breaks • Wear a step tracking device to motivate you to increase your step count • • • Catch up with friends over a walk Walk to the shops Spend time playing active games, going on a bike ride, swimming or dancing with your children • • Walk the children to school If you have younger children, set up a buggy group with other mums for long walks and chats • Spend time gardening

AT WORK

• • Walk or cycle to work If you drive, park furthest away from the entrance • • Always take the stairs Use your lunchbreak to get outside for a brisk 10-minute walk • Arrange to walk and talk instead of sitting in a meeting room • Stand up and move around while talking on the phone • • Try a standing desk Make face to face visits in the office instead of messaging colleagues • Offer to do the coffee run for your colleagues

The Movement is a small, friendly yoga studio located behind Café Nero on the high street in Haywards Heath. It offers classes for all levels and abilities, from sweaty vinyasa flow to gentle restorative yoga, and everything in between.

Owner Emily Scott had been teaching yoga for 6 years around Haywards Heath, Lewes and Brighton, but wanted to create a ‘yoga home.’ Born and raised in Southern California, Emily never thought she’d be running a yoga studio in Sussex. While dancing for the NBA Boston Celtics during a promotional tour of Europe, Emily met her now-husband. She traded her dance shoes for wellies, and now has two boys (who she still can’t believe have English accents!) and loves spending her free time exploring the Sussex countryside.

When designing the studio, she wanted to bring an industrial chic Los Angeles feel. ‘I wanted clean, modern and simple, but with little accents to make it feel like a special place,’ she says. There is underfloor heating to keep it cosy, and there are infrared heaters for the warm classes, where the room is heated to 26 degrees. The windows are frosted to ensure privacy, and it has all the equipment you need.

Designing the studio was fun, but Emily was most interested in creating a space that felt welcoming and inclusive, and she believes a lot of this comes down to the teachers. ‘I wanted high-quality, experienced teachers, of course, but almost more importantly, I wanted kind, compassionate, empathetic people,’ she says. ‘I don’t care if they can’t do a handstand or have a big social media following. I wanted teachers who will understand that many people are nervous when they walk into their first class, that people might be going through something difficult in their lives and are feeling vulnerable. All the teachers bring a grace and maturity to their classes which inspires me daily.’

Opening a yoga studio during the pandemic has not been easy, of course. ‘My timing couldn’t have been worse!’ laughs Emily. ‘I had been looking for premises for ages, finally found the perfect location, and then – boom – Covid.’ She quickly adapted and offered online classes through Zoom and grew a wonderful community. ‘Teaching online was strange to begin with, but I grew to love it. Seeing people and having a chat after class made us feel less isolated.’ She has kept the popular 7am Wake Up and Flow classes exclusively online since they’ve been such a success. ‘I was so surprised, but people love those early classes. It sets them up for their day, and the accountability factor of attending a live class rather than watching a recording has been huge for people.’ Given the popularity of the online classes, the studio recently launched an On Demand site with a library of pre-recorded classes for a monthly subscription.

Emily hopes The Movement will become a place for people to move, flow, gather, laugh, learn, connect and grow. ‘I want the studio to not just be a place to get flexible and fit, but to provide a valuable resource for the community,’ she says. She gives 10% of profits to charity, most recently the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, and is keen to partner with a local charity to give back to the community.

‘If I could say one thing to someone wanting to try yoga, it would be just to come and try. We really are a group of caring, down-to-earth people here at The Movement. People always comment on how unpretentious and easy-going the studio feels,’ explains Emily. ‘We don’t expect anyone to be able to do anything special or look a certain way when they come to class; you just show up exactly as you are and we’ll meet you there.’