The Best You January - February Issue

THE BEST YOU M A G A Z I N E

SELF-HELP GURU ANTHONY ROBBINS THE ONLY SUPPLEMENTS YOU NEED HOW TO HOLD ON TO CALM

MALALA THE MODERN PEACE WARRIOR

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EVERYONE EVERYWHERE

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THE BEST YOU

A Better World Welcome to our first issue of 2018. This year is going to be a big and exciting one for The Best You team. We are challenging ourselves to create not one, but two Expos within two months, thousands of miles apart.

The Best You Expo in London’s Olympia on 16-17 February will feature an incredible line up of speakers, including Paul McKenna, Jason Vale, Marie Diamond and Mirela Sula, who is profiled in this issue. She is the inspirational founder of Global Woman, an initiative to empower and unite women all over the world and help each of them on their journey to greatness.

We also feature Sara Davison, the UK’s Divorce Coach, who will be appearing at The Best You’s first Expo in America, taking place in Long Beach, California in March.

At these global events we hope to meet over 20,000 people and host over 300 talks, seminars and workshops, all with one aim: to give people the tools, ideas and inspiration to help them makes changes and enhance their lives.

Both of The Best You Expos promise to be very special events, and we hope to see you there to be part of it. If you haven’t got tickets yet visit thebestyouexpo.com/uk/ - but be quick, the last tickets are selling fast!

Enjoy the issue,

BERNARDO

MOYA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Twitter: @Bernardo_Moya facebook: bernard.moya64

To enjoy additional digital content, interactive features, video and digital galleries, download The Best You App.

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FEARNE COTTON

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ANTHONY ROBBINS

22 MALALA: AN ICON OF HOPE

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BEAT THE BLUES

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REVOLUTIONARY RECIPES

EDITOR/PUBLISHER Bernardo Moya info@thebestyou.co DEPUTY EDITOR Emma Ledger editorial@thebestyou.co THE BEST YOU ADVISORS Steve Kelly steve.kelly@thebestyou.co Ashley Ellis ashley.ellis@thebestyou.co Veronika Kundrakova veronika.kundrakova@ thebestyou.co Katie Wright katie.wright@thebestyou.co The Best You Magazine is published by

The Best You Corporation Ltd. 81 County Street London SE1 4AD United Kingdom +44 (0) 207 927 6502

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HEALTH-BOOSTING VITAMINS

Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect The Best You Corporation Ltd. policy.

The Best You Coporation Ltd. accepts no responsibility by views expressed by its contributors.

Advertisements and reader offers are not endorsed by The Best You or The Best You Corporation Ltd.

www.globalwoman.co www.globalwomanclub.com

IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

Inner You How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

REALISING YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

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TV presenter Fearne Cotton draws on personal experiences to create guides for finding happiness through inner calm

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The Best You’s Emma Ledger investigates the impact knitting and other crafts on mental health

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Personal Coach Katy Trost teaches that success does not always equal fulfilment 7

Capturing Calm

Is it possible to feel calm in the fast-paced digital age? Yes, says TV star Fearne Cotton

How can we feel calm when chaos seems to slip its way through every crack in our per-sonal boundaries? Is there time to breathe when we are face to face with work deadlines, children’s activity schedules, pressurised social lives and outside expectations?

This is modern life. We are all, on some level, sucked into its messy vortex and churned out the other side with tired eyes and many unanswered questions.

It may feel like we have to go against the grain in our chaotic, fast-paced modern world to find calm, but it is completely doable. The starting point is realising that we don’t have to keep up with the speed of it all, we don’t have to facilitate stress every day and we don’t have to live up to the expectations of others. Finding calm is a personal project that has to work for you.

Whilst writing my previous book, HAPPY, I pondered the subject of calm a lot. I thought about its relationship with happiness and how the two states might help each other out. I realised that calm is such an important part of the overall equation if we want to live a happy and peaceful life.

It is the nucleus of it all, because if we are calm we have clarity, we can react to situations from a grounded place and we can open our hearts even wider with trust.

The human race has had to take on so much change in the last century. We are constantly on show nowadays, voyeuristically taking snatches of each other’s lives.

Technology, the way we view success and what we think we want out of life are all sucking us from our natural roots and catapulting us into a hurricane of sometimes destabilising chaos.

With calm comes contentment, or happiness – or perhaps a bit of both. Or, wait . . . does happiness bring the calm? And, are either of these delicious states able to exist without the other? I’m pretty sure that you can feel completely happy yet quite frantic and het up, as I have at many times in my life – those rollercoaster peaks where you could scream be-cause you’re so overjoyed. Calm might not be present at

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all in these moments! I’m also certain that you can feel very calm yet perhaps slightly numb or emotionless at times, too, for instance when life feels slow-paced and uneventful and sits somewhere in the middle. I’ve experienced these calm moments that aren’t necessarily connected to happiness on many occasions.

But I’m also sure that together they can be something quite beautiful, and it doesn’t matter if happy brings the calm or vice versa, they are a dual goal to have in mind and they often come in tandem.

I didn't write my new book CALM because I have the meditation prowess of a Tibetan monk or because I walk around, peace fingers aloft, smiling serenely at strangers. I wrote it because I understand the extreme power and value that calm can bring, and because on a daily basis I endeavour to choose calm over stress. At times, I feel galaxies away from calm’s comforting arms and wonder if I’ll ever scramble back to them again, but it is a state that I’m desperately eager to learn more about.

In CALM I am honest with and about myself so I can try to mine a little deeper into calm’s riches to benefit myself and hopefully you, too. I’ve spent the same amount of time meditating and doing yoga as I have hurling short rants of road-rage and throwing inanimate objects at walls in toddler-style tantrums. I believe there is room for all these emotions, but using calm as a base to come back to is imperative. The more I understand the im-portance of calm for our minds, general wellbeing, relationships and outlook on the world, the more time I spend trying to route back to it.

Some of us might already know our own personal road back to calm – how to breathe deeply when panicked, or can feel completely at peace in rush hour or at a busy train sta-tion. I haven’t mastered this in all areas of my life yet, but it’s something I’m constantly working at and it has become one of my main goals in life. As birthdays have passed and drama has stampeded through sections of my story, I have recognised how much energy and time I have lost to stress, muddled thoughts and tangled words.

For me, it’s less about thought and much more about feeling.

It is a stillness that allows my lungs to expand like hot air balloons. It is an acceptance of the noise around me and having the ability to not label each distraction with a negative or positive. It is seeing the world turning and the chaos entering then departing with an instant acceptance.

This doesn’t mean that I feel okay about injustice, unbidden drama or negative words, it’s just these events give me a chance to feel empathy rather than resentment.

Calm is omnipresent and ever-glowing, just waiting for us to remember its truth and power. We can all learn how to lock into our own inner calm a little more frequently.

This is extracted from Fearne Cotton’s book CALM, which is out now.

For more information www.officialfearnecotton.com @Fearnecotton

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INCREASE YOUR WOOL-BEING Why more and more people are turning to mindful crafting to care for their mental health

It has been well established that stress can lead to mental health problems, and can exacerbate other medical conditions. While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to beating stress, craft activities such as knitting, crochet and sewing can help bring about feelings of calm and restore equilibrium.

A 2016 survey by Cardiff University surveyed over 3,500 craft fans and found that the more frequently people knitted, the happier and calmer they reported they felt. A huge 81 percent of respondents said they felt much happier after knitting, and 54 per cent of those with ill mental health said that knitting made them feel very happy.

The website LoveKnitting.com says that the craft can be physically beneficial as well. Trials in the U.S. are looking at how knitting can improve arthritis, as it forces fluid towards cartilage, and thus keeping joints hydrated.

Like the flow of yoga postures, knitting uses the repetition of physical movements to calm the heart rate and breathing, creating a feeling of stability and inner quiet.

Therapist and keen knitter Betsan Corkhill explains, “it’s the rhythmic, repetitive movements of knitting or sewing that are important. This is a type of mindfulness which can affect a change in your state of mind.”

Corkhill is the founder of Stitchlinks, an organisation which aims to further the therapeutic benefits of knitting.

“Knitting is an effective, easily accessible tool that everyone can use to manage daily stresses,” she says. “But, it is also a valuable self-help tool for those dealing with more serious mental health issues or medical conditions.”

The charity Rethink Mental Illness has long recognised the positive role that crafting can play in maintaining good mental health. The charity has helped Jo, who has borderline personality disorder, practice crochet as a way to help her manage some of the symptoms.

Jo says, “My condition presents itself in various ways but the constant theme is self-criticism, the never-ending internal monologue 'I should have seen that coming’, 'I need to be better' ,’ I'm not good enough' seeps into every aspect of my life – this has led to me judging everything I do," she explains.

“I've always been an arty person and as far back as I can remember I was never happier than when drawing or colouring. This passion stayed with me, the enjoyment of creating, and the phrase 'process over progress' is a mantra I use daily.”

Mindfulness can be a difficult technique to teach, particularly to those who need it the most - the highly stressed or those experiencing depression. One of try greatest aspects of taking up knitting is how easy it is to learn, and it can open up the benefits of mindfulness to everyone.

Knitting can leave you feeling more in touch with the world and yourself, and there's the added bonus of creating something. Even if that something is a wonky scarf with plenty of dropped stitches. It turns out our grandmas really were on to something.

For more information visit www.loveknitting.com and www.rethink.org

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DON’T JUST AIM FOR SUCCESS, AIM FOR FULFILMENT Personal Coach Katy Trost on how to work towards higher levels of happiness

There’s a famous saying that states ‘your level of success does not equal your level of fulfilment.’ In fact, research shows that high-achievers are even more likely to suffer from anxiety, stress or burnout.

I’ve travelled to over 30 countries and picked people’s brains about their dreams, desires, and what they believe would lead to a more fulfilling life. I wanted to know why some people are fully alive, while others, no matter how good their life looks, never feel content. I was certain that the answer was to be your own boss, have financial freedom and to travel around the world, living in the most beautiful places.

However, the moment I created that for myself, I realised that no matter how amazing my life appeared, there was still something missing. I was miserable and felt a constant longing for a sense of deeper fulfilment and a life full of meaning.

Most people falsely believe that once you get to your destination or reach your biggest goal, you will finally feel content. If I was already living the life of my dreams and I still didn’t feel happy, then I must have taken the wrong approach.

At that point, I took a journey of self-discovery to find out what I needed to do to discover fulfilment and establish a sense of emotional wellbeing. I started to understand that the only way I could change people’s lives was to help them change themselves.

During my many years as a Personal Coach I have found that there are three reasons why you might feel unfulfilled despite living a life that outwardly looks ‘successful’:

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THERE’S A HIDDEN REASON BEHIND YOUR DRIVE There are two different types of motivation. The first is fuelled by desire and inspiration that moves someone towards a desired outcome. The second, moves you away from pain. It’s fuelled by fear and avoidance. Being dedicated, ambitious and successful is not a coincidence.

Type A personalities are driven, and tend to work harder, persevere longer, and are highly disciplined. Yet, trying to make yourself feel better by finding purpose in success can lead to achievement addiction. If drive stems from hurt and pain, it’s impossible to create peace, contentment, and fulfilment. The anguish is just beneath the surface, which creates immense pressure, tension and stress. It is emotionally draining.

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HOW YOU MEASURE YOUR SELF-WORTH If you tie your self-worth to your professional achievements, being successful becomes your identity. Your fear of failure can be greater than the joy you experience by reaching goals, and you’re very hard on yourself. Highachievers are focused on the outcome and don’t enjoy the process of creating, which leads to endless worrying. The problem is that when you’re not able to love and approve of yourself regardless of the circumstances, you become your own worst enemy. It also means that in between ‘wins’ you hate yourself, and have high levels of anxiety if you feel like it’s been a while since your last accomplishments.

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THE IMPOSTER SYNDROME Many people deep down feel like complete frauds.

Success is rarely satisfying and you always believe you could have done better rather than taking pride in your achievements. When faced with a setback and failure, you experience shame and embarrassment. Discontentment is the indicator of an ambitious mind. But the need to do more, have more and be more can be incredibly exhausting, as well as leading to burnout and anxiety.

To help create more fulfilment, emotional wellbeing and happiness it’s essential to uncover where your drive is coming from. What are you trying to prove? Who are you trying to impress? Dig deep into the past experiences that might have shaped your values, probably even as far back as your childhood.

It’s a misconception that you’ll lose drive when you don’t push through. In reality it’s actually the other way around.

The moment you change how you treat yourself and learn to empower yourself instead of threaten ourselves, you create space for more creativity and workflow.

Try to detach your self-worth from your accomplishments and develop a relationship with yourself. Focusing on your problems instead of enjoying your accomplishments will make you miserable, so celebrate your wins.

Creating a sense of fulfilment is deeply connected with being able to appreciate what you have, what you’ve done and who you are. That alone will give the quality of your life a major boost.

For more information visit www.katytrost.com or download her podcast The Coaching Journal.

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IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

Enjoy Life How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

LEARNING TO BE YOUR VERY BEST SELF

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Fed up with bad and fake news? We’ve gathered together some good news from around the world

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Clinical Aromatherapist Colleen Quinn on how to beat Seasonal Affective Disorder

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How Malala Yousafzai turned tragedy into a story of hope and positivity

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Anthony Robbins on his passion for helping others live their best life

Life Coach Michael Neill believes you can make the impossible possible through a positive approach

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Good NEWS Bringing you positive stories from around the globe

SOLID TEXTILE BOARD BENCHES Designer Max Lamb utilised cotton and wool waste to create 12 beautiful benches for a Milan design week installation. The collection aims to challenge the architecture and design industries'

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use of resources, while also celebrating the unique properties of new sustainably manufactured materials. Over 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated each year in the U.S. alone, and this amount has doubled over the past 20 years.

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BUFFALOGRID This portable battery created by Daniel Becerra provides mobile power, internet and services to customers in North India. At BuffaloGrid’s core is a battery which is kept topped up by agents who travel from village to village, as well as through the use of solar panels. Customers purchase power by sending a premium-rate text message to unlock one full charge from a USB charging port.

It’s nothing short of a lifeline for communities in rural India.

DANSBANA! Developed by an organisation working to create public places for dance, Dansbana!

Vårby gård, is a space designed specifically for girls to practise dancing, with a high-quality sound system made of bright metal-clad speakers. The geniuses behind it are Anna Fridolin, Anna Pang and Teres Selberg, and is located under a subway bridge in Sweden.

Girls can connect their phone via Bluetooth to the system and practise their dance moves without feeling self conscious, but there are also mixed sex dance spaces too.

THE PILOT TRANSLATING EARPIECE Waverly Labs has given us a glimpse into the world of tomorrow with the first translating earpiece. The Pilot earpiece translates between users speaking different languages, and currently works with 15 different languages. It uses two microphones for noise cancellation and translates simultaneously without interruption. It was part of a crowd funding campaign that raised more than 5 million dollars for pre-sale.

Discover over 60 global projects that have been nominated for 2018's Beazley Designs of the Year at the Design Museum until 18 February #BeazleyDesignsoftheYear www.designmuseum.org

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The Best You supports this global digital campaign to raise awareness of the elephant poaching crisis Every day over 55 elephants are killed for their tusks. If poaching levels continue at this rate, the species could die out within a generation.

March for Giants is a digital campaign that creates a virtual herd of elephants who travel across digital billboards around the world to raise awareness of the poaching crisis.

You can join the March by making a donation of just ÂŁ6 or USD $8 and creating personalised elephant to join the herd.

Support will help protect the world’s remaining elephant populations. The virtual herd will travel across billboards in iconic

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cities, including New York, London and Melbourne. They will also march across social media, as thousands of people share photos of their elephant in each city.

March for Giants 2018 will run from 1-17 March, and all proceeds will be directed to Space for Giants to carry out frontline protection work on the ground in Africa.

This work includes training armed Rapid Response Teams to deter poachers, working with Africa's judicial system to strengthen penalties for wildlife crimes, and building electrified fences to keep elephants safe from farmers who view them as pests.

Together we can march to secure a future for elephants.

For more information visit www.marchforgiants.org

Clinical Aromatherapist Colleen Quinn explains how to help keep your spirits high with plant medicine Every new year brings with it a renewed sense of making life changes, hence why so many of us make resolutions we try to stick to. Yes many people deal with the same old friend each winter - a friend commonly known as Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. Symptoms of SAD can start in late autumn as the days get shorter and there are less daylight hours. However, they can become more severe during the months of January and February. Symptoms can include persistent low mood, irritability, feelings of despair, guilt or worthlessness and even loss of interest in normal day life. There can also be an unquenchable desire for carbohydrates and a need for more sleep.

Some of the more long term and serious side effects of SAD are social withdrawal, substance abuse, failing mental health and even suicidal thoughts or behaviour.

The specific cause of SAD and the reason why some suffer from it and others don’t remains unknown. But there are some factors that may play a role. Reduced sunlight can cause a drop in our serotonin levels, a brain chemical that directly affects our mood and can cause a depressive state.

Melatonin levels can also be disrupted by the seasons. Low melatonin can have a damaging effect on our sleep patterns and mood. Additionally, our natural circadian rhythm, more commonly known as our internal clock, can be disrupted by reduced sunlight causing imbalance and low mood.

The good news is that thanks to the growing awareness of SAD there are more and more tips to help us through the dark months. Taking a vitamin D supplement from October for 90-120 days can give you. boost when there’s little sunlight. Sharing a space with a heat light daily for 30 minutes (ideally in the morning) can also help manage your body’s melatonin and serotonin levels. Try Lumie Bodyclock or the Lumie Arabica Light Box. Both pieces of technology are modern solutions that can help you deal with the lack of

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daylight and will maximise your exposure to vitamin D. Making hot yoga part of your exercise routine in the winter months can help warm your body and add calmness to your mind through the restorative, meditative breathing elements.

Be mindful of your alcohol and sugar levels during the winter months as both these substances can be depressive and have a negative effect on our natural body clock and mood.

Aromatherapy can be an extremely helpful aid to relieving the symptoms of the winter depression. Essential Oils are plant based therapeutic oils, which can positively effect your mind and body when passed though the limbic brain by inhalation or into your blood stream via massage.

diffuse in your living space or office in the morning or early afternoon to brighten your day and keep you motivated through the afternoon slump.

A perfect pre-bed massage or bath Aromatherapy recipe is an aromatic blend of Lavender and Rosemary. The Lavender is known to ease stress, insomnia and depression, while Rosemary is said to work to effectively to release anxiety.

Together they tackle low moods with vigorous force.

Patchouli essential oil will add balance and stillness to the blend and your mind. Lemongrass is the fourth essential oil in this blend. Although not typically an anti-depressant, Lemongrass is a radiant and uplifting plant oil and aromatically stunning. It rounds off this blend with a sense you will crave though the winter months.

The added advantage of opting to treat your SAD with Aromatherapy massage is that your mind and body receive the attention of touch. The powerful release of healthy hormones delivered so beautifully from human touch, while also stimulating both the lymphatic and circulatory systems, help to warm up your body and drain excess toxins in your muscles. The physiological rejuvenation and stimulation towards the nervous systems makes Aromatherapy massage the ideal way to treat SAD naturally.

Inhalation as your Aromatherapy delivery method is also a brilliantly effective way to stimulate the brain and limbic system and can be easily done daily at home. Inhalation with a diffusor or simply taking deep inhalations of a blend on a tissue often can be very successful and peaceful.

Winter blues can affect any of us, but by looking to nature we can give ourselves the best possible chance to beat them and keep well until spring arrives.

So which oils are best for SAD? Diffusing citrus oils can bring a sense of sunshine and energy to your home and mood.

Blend Lime, Bergamot, Sweet Orange and Grapefruit and

For more information visit www.lucyannabella.com or www.lucycircle.com

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*Essential oils are potent plant material. Never use essential oils undiluted on skin. Always store essential oils in a dark place and well out of reach from children or vulnerable adults. If irritation occurs consult your doctor immediately.

Colleen Quinn is a Clinical Aromatherapist and founder of award winning luxury Aromatherapy brand, Lucy Annabella.

She writes about Aromatherapy, health and beauty topics at The Lucy Circle. Colleen holds clinic days at 58 South Molton Street monthly.

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Malala

THE MAKING OF AN ACTIVIST How Malala Yousafzai rejected violence and became a global peace fighter

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The shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai shocked the world. At first, the reports coming out of Pakistan were sketchy: a girl travelling in a school minibus was singled out and shot in the in the head by a Taliban gunman in retribution for wanting an education. The girl, who would come to be known the world over as just ‘Malala’, was only 15 years old when her life was nearly ended by an obsessive, oppressive ideology.

The bullet skimmed the side of Malala’s brain, causing lifethreatening swelling that could only be alleviated by the emergency trepanning of her skull. Malala was airlifted to a nearby hospital, and the Pakistani army and the government intervened to ensure she provided world-class hospital treatment. After emergency brain surgery, Malala was brought to Britain to continue her recovery, away from the danger of further attacks.

Malala's story spread quickly around the world, hitting headlines from America to Australia, and increasing further worldwide condemnation of Taliban barbarism and the hardline views the fundamentalist movement seeks to impose. As Malala recovered in hospital, she became a potent symbol of defiance and hope.

However, Malala's story goes back much further than this single, horrifying event; she was targeted because she was already an outspoken critic of the Taliban, spurred on by an undeviating sense of right and wrong that she had learned from her childhood.

Malala's real story begins with her birth in Mingora, in the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan in 1997. Her father, Ziauddin, was poor, but he was a man who knew his own mind and was willing to defy convention. He named his daughter after Malala of Maiwand, Afghanistan's greatest national heroine, who in the 19th century gave her life helping to defeat the British. From the time of his daughter's

birth, Ziauddin told his friends, "I know there is something different about this child."

Because she was a girl and not a boy, Malala remembers, "when I was born, people in our village commiserated with my mother and nobody congratulated my father."

Nevertheless, her father invited friends to give her birth gifts, just as would be done had she been born male. Malala's grandfather refused to break this convention, so later on, Ziauddin prevented him from giving gifts to his newborn sons. Equality was the rule in Malala’s household – as was evidenced by the way Ziauddin always consulted with his wife, Toor Pekai.

Perhaps, it was because Ziauddin had also faced prejudice that he felt so strongly about fairness. As a dark-skinned boy with a stutter and the son of an accomplished public speaker, Ziauddin often faced both the community's and his father's disapproval. Undaunted, Ziauddin decided to prove himself by entering a public speaking competition when he was a boy. His father openly mocked him at first, but eventually relented and consented to write him a speech. Ziauddin applied himself to mastering his speech impediment, and thanks to his determination and his mother's faith, he won first prize.

Ziauddin went on to become an impassioned public speaker and education activist, with a natural talent for connecting to his audience. He became an advocate for a more liberal, kinder attitude to life, and argued passionately for education for all.

This inspiration was something he instilled in Malala. She recalls, "it was my grandmother's faith in my father that gave him the courage to find his own proud path he could travel along. This is the path that he would later show me."

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Malala grew up literally surrounded by education.

Ziauddin founded a school in Mingora, and he was soon voted chairman of the Swat Association of Private Schools. As chairman, Ziauddin expanded the association, and worked to ensure that school owners weren't forced to pay bribes to local police. Steadily, Ziauddin built a reputation as an educator and a decent, principled man respected by the community.

Malala began public speaking at the age of 11, when her father took her to Peshawar to address the local press club. It was at a time when the Taliban had increased their presence in the Swat Valley, and Malala was highly critical of them. "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" she asked her audience in a speech that went on to receive television coverage.

Malala went on to work in a youth programme, helping people engage with social issues through journalism, public debate and dialogue. When the Taliban demanded the closure of girls' schools, Malala was asked by a BBC reporter to write a diary about living under the Taliban regime. Her accounts of everyday life, written under the pseudonym of Gul Makai, were voiced by an actor to preserve her anonymity.

Malala told of how the Taliban controlled every aspect of people's daily lives, even down to the lengths of men's beards. She recounted the beatings of innocent people, murders, and the dumping of the decapitated bodies.

Writing as ‘Gul Makai’, Malala was making herself an enemy of the Taliban. So, when the army moved entered her town of Mingora, she fled with her family.

Almost exactly a year later, with the Taliban supposedly defeated, Malala returned to school in Mingora, and her horrific attack took place. From that moment onwards, Malala's platform for advocacy would never be the same.

Thankfully, Malala not only survived, but has gone on to thrive. Instead of letting an attempted assassination define her, she has used the fame it brought her as a platform to advocate for girls' education rights around the world.

Surgery has repaired the severed nerve in Malala’s face, allowing her to smile again, and she has a platinum plate in her skull, which fills the surgical hole made to save her life. Malala has written a bestselling book about her activism, and in 2014, she received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the honour.

Malala now lives in England where she attends Oxford University, and at just 20 years of age, it’s clear she’s just getting started. She’s certain that her future will be in politics, and her mission is to change the world.

"With this height to reach people, I also have great responsibilities,” Malala says. “Peace in every home, every street, every village, every country - this is my dream.

Education for every boy and every girl in the world.”

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nthony Robbins is clear about his mission – to stop suffering. “It's my obsession,” he says. “It's an obsession to break through. It's an obsession to help. I'm addicted to it. It makes me feel like my life has a deep meaning, not just surface meaning.

Everybody's got their thing, this is my thing.”

Robbins is a charismatic and engaging speaker, and his passion for helping others is visibly genuine. But why does he do it?

“Suffering in my own life...,” he answers. “Because I know what it feels like and I don't want anyone to feel that way.”

Born Anthony Mahavoric in 1960 in Azusa, California, his childhood was spent supporting his unstable mother, who was addicted to alcohol and prescription medication. She couldn't leave the house, sending the young Robbins to the pharmacist to get more valium because she had ‘lost’ her bottle. “She developed a dependency upon me,” Robbins says.

When he was 17, she dramatically tried to stop him from leaving her to go to college. Robbins says; “[My mom] is only five foot one, but she came down and grabbed my hair and smashed me against the wall, or she told me I was lying about something and put liquid soap down my throat so I threw up. She did some crazy shit.”

The day she attacked Robbins with a knife, he left home. But his take on the situation now is extraordinary. “I don't want to malign her because I wouldn't be me without my mom.”

Indeed, it’s this ability to positively reframe events on which much of Robbins’ life and work is built. He explains that “[My upbringing] made me a practical psychologist. I had to figure out how to keep my mom stable, how to make sure my brother and sister weren't affected by it, find out how to please her... It produced in me drive, because I had to find a way that meant I wasn't going to have a life like that for my family.”

Powerhouse Self-help guru Anthony Robbins dedicates his life to relieving the suffering of others

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Robbins embarked on a process of ‘sculpting himself’. He started with simple affirmations and later learned NeuroLinguistic Programming from its co-creator John Grinder. He made this psychological work his own, and through it changed himself, and later, others.

Robbins thanks others for helping him find who he was. An early moment of what he calls ‘grace’ - divine intervention – while still at school changed everything.

Mr Cobb, one of his school teachers, recognised Robbins’ skill for moving people with words while he was trying to

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impress a girl. Cobb told him he'd never seen anyone show such an ability to stand up and speak without notes and mesmerise kids who normally didn't want to listen.

Cobb handed him a speech called The Will to Win and made him agree to enter a public speaking competition. Robbins found the text deeply moving and went on to win the competition. It was the first of many competition wins, as Robbins discovered his talent to move people through communication.

Today, Robbins is one of the world’s most successful

self-help gurus and a powerhouse of personal change. He has companies worth $6 billion in annual sales, speaks in front of over 200, 000 people annually, has a string of successful books and DVDs, and runs numerous philanthropic ventures. Over three decades, more than four million people have attended his life-changing seminars.

In 2016, Robbins released the movie I Am Not Your Guru, which follows him over six, gruelling, 12 hour work days, as he puts his whole being into helping people.

“In the room, every interaction I'm doing, I'm not just working with that individual - I'm a million percent with that individual - but there's another part of my consciousness that's saying you know how do I relate this in some way, so everybody gets value at some level? - and I've got to do that while I'm talking to someone I don't know,” says Robbins.

'The suffering' in the room isn't just Western lifestylegenerated neurosis; one harrowing sequence in I Am Not Your Guru shows a suicidal woman reveal that she has been systematically sexually abused from age six onwards. The empathy and compassion on Robbins' face leaves the viewer wondering what he can say to help. Within minutes

he turns her emotions around, showing her a future in which she has worth, and where it is possible to be loved. The camera catches up with Robbins later, tears streaming down his face.

Robbins doesn't claim his path is the only one to end suffering, but it proves successful for many. At its heart, it's a simple message, but delivered with deep instinct and powerful skill.

“Everyone needs a compelling future, everyone needs something to move towards,” he says. “If you don't have something to move towards you settle for how things are now.”

And for those who question that change can happen so quickly, Robbins adds that “if you're going to have a breakthrough and people tell you it took them ten years, what they're really saying is that change happened in a moment, it just took them ten years to get to the point where they said never again, I quit, I love you. Your life changes in a moment.”

For more information visit www.tonyrobbins.com

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BEYOND

BUSYNESS Life coach Michael Neill on making the impossible possible

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For the last decade, Michael Neill has been sharing principles that enable people to create more than they ever thought possible. Thousands of people from around the world have been inspired to reconnect with their creative sides, getting their important ideas and projects out of their heads and into the world.

Neill explains that regardless of the breakthrough results you desire in business or personal mat-ters, you can learn to make the impossible possible.

Below is an excerpt from Neill's recent book, Creating the Impossible: A couple years ago, I was chatting with author Jack Canfield and asked him if he was busy at the moment. He took a few seconds to consider his reply. ‘I’ve got a lot on,’ he said, ‘but I’m not particularly busy.’

This points to a key distinction made in Cal Newport’s insightful book Deep Work: that business is often a substitute for productivity, not its cause.

According to Professor Newport, one of the reasons we spend so much time on email, social media, and ‘available’ to interruption is because it creates the experience of being continually engaged in activity, which leads us to the false conclusion that if we’re busy, we’re being productive.

Yet, a more practical definition of productivity is this: the ratio between your effort and the reward you get for that effort.

Notice, this has nothing to do with our level of activity, business, hard work, or stress. If we get high levels of reward for each effort, we are highly productive; if we don’t, no matter how much time and energy we’re putting into the job, we aren’t. As Sun Tzu says in The Art of War, ‘What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations.’

Typical productivity systems are based on the idea that there is always a 1:1 ratio between effort and reward, so essentially, one unit of effort will bring one unit of reward. If you want to increase the amount of reward, you need to increase the amount of effort. That’s why time and productivity management systems abound. In the 1:1 model, productivity is a numbers game where you always need to do more to get more.

Contrast that with a time when you experienced diminishing returns.

Perhaps you were exhausted, or you’d been working on something for so long you couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

In those situations, we could say the

ratio of effort to reward was 3:1, where it took at least three units of effort to receive that same one unit of reward.

Or let’s turn that experience on its head. What if it were possible to experience exponential returns on your efforts?

So that instead of 3:1 or even 1:1, you experienced 1:2, 1:3, 1:5, all the way up to 1: infinity. I call this high reward to effort ratio ‘effortless productivity,’ not because you don’t do anything, but rather because your rewards for your efforts are way out of proportion to the amount of effort you actually put in.

Here’s another way to think about it: Higher levels of productivity don’t come from finding ways to squeeze more oranges; they come from getting more juice to the squeeze.

This doesn’t mean that you don’t have to put in the hours. I don’t know anyone who consistently produces quality results over time who doesn’t. But whether those hours are experienced as hard work or even business is nothing more than a reflection of your state of mind. And how much you get out of those hours is a function of two simple variables - enjoyment and engagement.

Trying to get things done in the world without enjoyment and engagement is like driving a car with a 12-cylinder engine but only two cylinders firing - everything feels like an uphill climb. But, once we go all in and throw ourselves into whatever we’re doing, all of our mental chatter fades away and we’re free to be inspired about and creative with what’s in front of us. Enjoyment and engagement are gamechangers, because they make everything start to feel easier.

Like driving that same car with the big engine firing on all cylinders, once we throw ourselves into any endeavour and allow ourselves to fully enjoy it, even the steepest challenge feels well within our capacity.

And, the beauty of this approach to productivity is that it feeds on itself. That is, when I’m enjoying myself, I have a much richer experience of whatever it is that I’m doing. I’m less distracted, more present, and able to ride the stresses, strains, and variances of a typical day with a lot more ease and grace. And, when I’m fully engaged, I perform better.

I’m able to contribute more. I’m incredibly capable. I’m surprisingly wise. My curiosity is unleashed, everything becomes fascinating, and I inevitably begin to enjoy whatever it is that I’m doing.

In this sense, effortless productivity isn’t about working harder, or even smarter. It’s about showing up to a project with a sense of play and a heart full of joy, fully committed to the task at hand and completely open to whatever may come. It’s about throwing yourself into things as if your life depends on it, while knowing full well that it doesn’t.

For more information visit www.michaelneill.org

G I V E AWAY To win one of two signed copies of Michael Neill’s book Creating the Impossible, email The Best You at editorial@thebestyou.co with the subject ‘The Impossible’.

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BOOK

CLUB

The Best You’s top reads

WIN

WIN

Feeling in need of some inspiration, exploration and pure relaxation?

The Best You Book Club has something for every mood, and we are giving one lucky reader the chance to win a copy of every book featured in The Best You Book Club. For a chance to win, simply send us an email with your name and address to EDITORIAL@THEBESTYOU.CO before 31 March 2018. Good luck!

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RESULTS AT THE TOP:

USING GENDER INTELLIGENCE TO CREATE BREAKTHROUGH GROWTH

By Richard Nesbitt and Barbara Annis What if a company could gain a greater profit share of the market simply by promoting more wom-en into senior management? Sounds like a no-brainer, yet despite nearly every study done over the past three decades proving companies with female leaders deliver superior performances, the number of women CEOs around the world is noticeably low. Results at the Top proves the undeniable value female leaders bring to the table, and exposes the need for more of them.

The book contains a powerful new evaluation method for assessing potential causes of gender diversity in a company's leadership, as well as strategies men can use to champion greater gender diversity. Promisingly, Nesbitt also offers a look at the pioneering systems being implemented to evolve leadership development all the way to the top.

DECLUTTER YOUR LIFE:

HOW OUTER ORDER LEADS TO INNER CALM

By Gill Hasson

For anyone wanting to use the New Year as an opportunity to get past the physical and psycholog-ical barriers that may have been holding them back, this book from bestselling author Gill Hasson explains how the act of simplifying can improve both home and work life. Whether it be objects, commitments, friendships or work demands that are overwhelming, in Declutter Your Life, Hasson opens readers’ eyes to the impact that all of this can have. Decluttering doesn't mean making do with less – it's about creating space so that you can live your life unburdened by things, obligations or people you no longer need. It’s about learning how to say no to or let go of the things that don't matter, giving more time, energy and enthusiasm to the things that do.

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ENERGY STRANDS: THE

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CLEARING THE CORDS THAT ARE CONSTRICTING YOUR LIFE

By Denise Linn

We are all guilty of making so many commitments and connections that they begin to drag us down and keep us from being our authentic selves. Denise Linn calls these attachments our ‘Energy Strands’, and in this book she shows us how to discover our strands and discern which are depleting us and which will help empower our lives.

Linn is an international healer and lecturer, teaching in 19 countries, and the author of 12 books, including the bestselling Sacred Space and Feng Shui for the Soul. In this powerful book she teaches how to clear unhealthy attachments to get rid of toxic relationships, and in doing so restore the harmony in one's own energy strands, and leaving you free to focus on creating vibrant and fulfilling relationships.

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THE SELF-CARE REVOLUTION: SMART

HABITS & SIMPLE PRACTICES TO ALLOW YOU TO FLOURISH

By Suzy Reading What if it were possible to thrive, rather than simply survive? The Self-Care Revolution is designed to help and restore your day-to-day energy reserves, so rather than feeling like you’re running on empty, you will have the strength and spirit to excel at whatever life brings. Suzy Reading is pas-sionate about self-care. As a mother of two, a chartered psychologist, yoga teacher, and health coach, she knows firsthand about the importance of carving out time to look after number one. Reading specialises in wellbeing, and in this book uses tools such as the Vitality Wheel and the Self-Care Toolkit to help people manage their emotions, energetic bank balance and the inevitable stresses of life. An inspiring and intelligent guide to how to live your best life.

PAUSE: HOW TO PRESS PAUSE BEFORE LIFE DOES IT FOR YOU

By Danielle Marchant

Most of us have had moments when we wanted to press pause on life, specifically when times feel chaotic and overwhelming, or when the fear of missing out makes us rush from one thing to the next, without really taking any of it in. Pause allows you to finally put yourself, your feelings and your intuition first. Danielle Marchant’s book looks at how we must adjust our mindset to see that slowing down is not lazy or unambitious. It is an ancient message, but still just as strong; when you pause to take care of yourself and your own life, you become the person you're meant to be. This book teaches readers about the power of the pause through exercises that ground you, and grant access to your intuition

SOULPRENEURS: LIVE

YOUR PURPOSE, LIFT YOUR PLATFORM AND LEAP INTO PROSPERITY

By Yvette Luciano

After receiving a life-altering cancer diagnosis in 2010, Yvette Luciano left her media and market-ing role in the entertainment industry and embarked on a journey to become a soulful and successful business owner. During this journey, Luciano immersed herself in health studies and founded the holistic business school Soulpreneurs, where she teaches others to build ‘soulful businesses’ that fulfil their dreams. If you want to redefine success in your own way, this book can help you find a new approach. It uses inspirational stories, lessons, practical tips, and exercises to help you craft content, programmes or sessions that go on to create real change in peoples’ lives, while confidently serving your audience and flourishing financially.

*One entry per household. Entry implies acceptance of rules and conditions. No purchase necessary. Open to all UK residents aged 18 years or over, other than employees of The Best You and companies associated with it. Draw will be conducted by The Best You Corporation. Prize is as stated and will be awarded to the entry drawn at random on the draw date. No cash alternative is available. No correspondence will be entered into. Delayed entries will be deemed invalid. Winners’ names may be published and the winners may be required to participate in publicity. Promoter: The Best You Corporation.

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The Leading

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IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

Live Love Legacy How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

SEEKING MEANING AND FINDING PURPOSE

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Joe Dowd's inspirational story about his trip of a lifetime after overcoming tragedy

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Meet Mirela Sula, journalist, psychologist and the founder of Global Woman

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Psychologist Suzy Reading on the life changing power of self-care

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FIRST FLIGHT Joe Dowd received the BA Magic treatment for the trip of a lifetime

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Four years ago, Joe Dowd, 47, suffered a lifechanging brain injury which left him with significant physical and cognitive challenges.

“One day everything was fine, and the next day Joe suffered a severe bleed on his brain from an aneurism that ruptured,” says Joe’s wife Liz. “Just like that our life changed. I was told that Joe wouldn’t survive. It was a terrifying time.”

Joe had four operations on his brain, but thankfully he defied the medics and survived. Three years later, after he had endured months of intense rehabilitation work, Joe and Liz decided to book their first break to Dublin, where they have family.

“Joe had worked so hard, so, so hard at his recovery and I just thought if we could make this special for him, he deserves it,” Liz says. “I heard about the BA Magic campaign and I just thought wow, so I got in contact.”

The campaign is run by British Airways to help customers who have booked a milestone trip to make it a little bit more magical.

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Liz said, “When I wrote to British Airways telling them Joe’s story, I never imagined they would help make the journey so special. It was such an incredible and emotional milestone, Joe’s specialist team feel that he has returned even stronger. The whole experience was truly memorable and magical.”

That wasn’t the end. Joe and Liz had previously lived in Australia, and Joe’s ultimate goal is to fly back to visit one day. The airline surprised the couple with complimentary Club World (business class) tickets to Sydney, an incentive for Joe to step from one of British Airways' nearest destinations to the furthest.

“It was an amazing experience from start to finish, a day I’ll never forget. Liz had said to me don’t give up on your dream of flying and I never had, and it was the most incredible experience," said Joe. “Since going home, I’ve been itching to fly again. The rest of my life is the best of my life.”

For more information, to watch Joe’s video and to share your own story visit www.ba.com/bamagic

After Liz got in touch with the airline to tell them Joe’s story and to ask for support with the flight, British Airways stepped in to make the journey as memorable as possible.

When the date of their trip came, Joe and Liz were surprised by a British Airways ambassador at their Brentford home. They were whisked off to Heathrow in a Rolls Royce Phantom, and shown a montage of well-wishes from supportive family and friends.

When Joe was young he dreamt of being a pilot, so after boarding the plane he was met by Captain Ben Collins for a tour of the flight deck, before being invited for a day at British Airways flight simulator with his sporting hero, cyclist Chris Froome.

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THE RISE AND RISE OF THE

GLOBAL WOMAN 40 THE BEST YOU MAGAZINE

Mirela Sula has worked in media and education for over 20 years, with a background that involves psychology and counselling, journalism, coaching, women’s rights and media training.

Sula is the CEO and founder of Global Woman magazine and Global Woman Club, and she recently acquired The Businesswoman Today, an online network exclusively for women in business. She is also the organiser of the Global Woman Summit and Global Woman Awards, and has appeared on TV, radio and in print.

Currently studying for a PhD in Psychology at Regent’s University London, Sula has authored several bestselling self-help books and received numerous awards, including The Best Book of the Year from The Author’s Awards in 2016 for her book Don’t Let Your Mind Go. Hi Mirela, what inspired you to start Global Woman?

Global Woman started with my passion to bring women together and help them build their confidence. I started my journey working with women in London five years ago.

I was involved with a project to help raise awareness about domestic violence, which helped me to further understand the needs of abused women.

After a year, I created a platform called Migrant Woman, which included a magazine, events and workshops to help female migrants integrate into a new country. After seeing the interest and impact my work was bringing to women that engaged with my projects, I decided to extend my platform and make it global. Today, I have registered Migrant Woman as a non-profit organisation and Global Woman now includes two magazines, 14 clubs and more than one hundred events around the world.

What do you hope to achieve with these initiatives?

At the beginning, my intention was to follow my passion and work to bring more awareness about female empowerment to the world. Now, seeing the huge amount of followers that the Global Woman platform has created around the world, this has turned into a global movement and my goal is to create clubs in every corner of the globe.

The aim is to bring women together to help each other, build their confidence and contribute to their families, their communities, and a better world.

Today, women feel more than ever that this is ‘our time’. It means that it’s time to wake up and take responsibility, not live with the world in mens’ hands. That's why it is called the women’s era, a time to awaken our conscious state and bring it to the world.

How have you overcome challenges throughout your journey? When I decide to start a new project, I never think about the challenges, I jut focus on how I can arrive there. The question is not if I can, but rather how I can get there. This is the model that we share with the women of our community as well, to encourage them to apply a can-do attitude.

For example, when I started to think about creating a club for women, I had no idea how Id achieve it. But, once I

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created a clear picture in my mind, one month later I had an office. Then, challenges grow with your ambitions. When the picture in my mind started to become global, the challenges became bigger, so my job was to find solutions. Challenges help to train my brain and push me to go beyond my comfort zone, which is also something I hope women learn to do when they join Global Woman club.

will be featured on PBS TV in May 2018. That was a magical experience, which will stay long in the memory. We finished the trip with a conference and launched a book called Phenomenal Global Women in Hollywood. It led to an exciting contract with one of the largest publishers in the U.S., Waterside, that will now be published under a new title of Women who are leading the New Paradigm.

What do you consider to be your biggest successes?

For me, success is when you feel good with yourself, when the life that you lead has meaning and gives a sense of purpose, not only for you, but for the next generation as well. When I arrived in this country five years ago, I remember a meeting I had at the university where I was doing my PhD in Psychology.

I felt a bit lost, a stranger in a new country, a single mother with no family, no social support, no job and many bills to pay.

I was a student with a restricted visa and I went to have a career coaching session, so I could understand better where I want to go. I remember at the session, the coach asked if I was looking for a job. I said I was desperate to find a job, but he told me I was unemployable because with my skills and mindset I was a leader.

How do you see the future?

I see Global Woman Club growing and being in every corner of the globe. My aim, through Global Woman Club and our online platform, The Businesswoman Today, is to engage with one million women by 2020. My plan is to open the platform and invite all women to be part of our Global Woman family and to leave a legacy for the next generation. It’s building a model that promotes togetherness and social inclusion to create a better world to live in.

I was aware of my leadership skill in my home country, but here I am now in a much bigger country, in a city with eight million people and nobody knows about me. Then I reminded myself that “if you build your success once you can build it again and again and again” and this is the way I measure my success, one step at a time. My mantra is “Don’t feel inferior to others, just feel better then you did yesterday.” This was my way to achieve success every day, which led me where I am today.

How has Global Woman grown?

Global Woman is now in a community more and more women want to join in order to feel part of a big family. Global Woman started as a magazine, which led to the annual Global Woman Summit, first in London, then last year in Tirana, where we were also hosted by Linda Rama, the wife of the Prime Minister of Albania, at the Presidential Palace, and this year will be in New York in June.

What do you currently see as your biggest obstacle?

The biggest obstacle now is the time - I have this big vision to grow, but I may need to slow the speed of growth because I have my deadline to submit my PhD research in May. This will be a challenge for me as I need more resources, a bigger team and to delegate some more things to others.

What is your one wish for the future?

I don't have a wish, I have a desire, a big faith to become the best version of myself, to do good things for people, for the world, to bring positive change, to be remembered by the next generation as a woman that could make things happen, no matter how hard it was. My desire is that everything that I wish for myself, I want every woman to have.

Hear Mirela Sula speak at The Best You Expo, 16 - 17 February at London’s Olympia For more information visit www.globalwoman.co

As mentioned before, Global Woman Club started in a central London office in March 2016 and has gained incredible momentum, growing bigger all the time. It is about building trusted relationships, with warmth and shared interests, creating win-win collaborations and having a shared vision and purpose. We now have women approaching us and asking if they can start a club on their own city. To manage the growth, we have been getting the foundations and processes in place, and a new website that will help us to expand.

We help women all around the world to think global, to build their confidence, to go beyond their comfort zone, to start their business, to build their brand, to get featured in the media, to speak on our stages at events that we organise around the world, and to live the dream of their life. It is never too late to achieve their dreams, and what women are experiencing through the Global Woman platform is the sisterhood feeling, the support that they receive, the power that they feel from being part of this movement.

What is your favourite Global Woman memory?

Global Woman is full of memories, every day there is something happening in our community and every day we come up with new ideas about how we can add value. One of my best memories is the time we spent in Hollywood last October, when 10 women from different countries were invited to be part of a documentary for the Phenomenal Global Woman Show, which

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THE SELF-CARE REVOLUTION Psychologist Suzy Reading on the Life Changing Power of Looking After Number One

Self-care is any life-giving activity that restores, sustains or improves your health. In the simplest of terms, I think of self-care as nourishment. Most people will mention things like facials, dinners out and holidays when asked what they consider to be self-care. Of course they are one hundred per cent right, but self-care is so much more.

makes more sense to manage our energetic reserves rather than attempting to manage our stress.

The challenge with the activities that come to mind for most people is that they can be costly, time-consuming and they need to be booked in advance, making them difficult to access in times of genuine need. However, there are many ways to replenish that take little time, energy or expense.

Simple mood boosters, like wearing your favourite colour or spritzing your favourite scent, or effortless ways to relax, like lying down with your legs up against the wall for five minutes or watching the moving cloudscape for a few moments.

Another image I like to use is ‘filling your cup.’ When people talk of feeling selfish about taking time out for themselves, the image of a cup is helpful. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so replenishing yourself is the only way to ensure your ability to keep giving.

YOUR ENERGETIC BANK BALANCE When introducing self-care to my clients, I like to use the concept of us all having an ‘energy bank balance.’

Like a car needs petrol to go, we need energy to get us through our day. Self-care is like refuelling your tank – each activity is a deposit in your energy bank.

We need ahealthy energy bank balance just to sustain us through the usual demands of life. If you are just scraping by with the status quo of life, how are you going to cope when life throws a curveball at you? You or someone in your care falls ill and you’re up all night, work becomes difficult, you have an accident or you get a promotion – curveballs can be positive too!

Even much desired happenings can tax us, such as planning a holiday, moving houses or starting a family.

Because stress is an unavoidable part of life I think it

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When we are feeling full of vigour and in great health we naturally deal better with stress. Commitment to regular self-care gives you the best possible chance to cope with all the challenges that come your way.

Another metaphor is to think of self-care in the same way as the oxygen masks on a plane in the case of an emergency. For the safety of all in your care, you must ensure your mask is fitted first before you can attend to those in your charge.

SELF-CARE FOR THE MIND AND BODY What I have observed in my career as personal trainer, yoga teacher and psychologist is that physical health tends to be high on most people’s radar. On one hand, public health campaigns have been very effective at promoting the importance of healthy eating, regular exercise, minimising your intake of alcohol and the need to prioritise adequate sleep.

On the other hand, the strategies we could employ to nourish our mental or emotional health are seen as more luxurious or indulgent. I would love to challenge this. Additionally, the stigma attached to mental health has us saying, ‘I’m fine thanks, I don’t need that.’ I can’t tell you how many traumatised people I encounter who say, ‘no I don’t need help, I’m coping’ when they are the prime candidates to

benefit from having someone to talk to. I would love to see a shift in public perception that makes caring for your mind as sexy and socially acceptable as working on your ‘six pack.’ My mission is to get you thinking about practices that nurture you mentally, emotionally and energetically.

SELF-CARE ISN’T SELFISH Often, during periods of stress, loss and change, self-care gets dropped from the agenda. This is precisely when we need it the most – it’s exactly what happened to me. Now in my psychological practice, I hear my clients saying the same things; they label self-care as ‘too hard,’ ‘selfish’ or ‘an indulgence.’ For those that feel it is selfish, take a moment to consider what would happen to the people around you if you fell over. What kind of burden would you place on them if you were unable to keep fulfilling your role? If you can’t engage in self-care for yourself, then do it for the people around you. If it helps you, think of self-care not as ‘me first,’ but ‘me as well.’

WHY WE NEED TO BE PROACTIVE When the going gets tough it’s common to feel that you just don’t have the time, space or energy for self-care. This is a recipe for a full-blown, physical health meltdown, exhaustion, and if it goes on for long enough, anxiety and depression. My experience has taught me that when we are stressed, our usual methods of replenishment can become inaccessible and we lack the resources to think creatively about carving new self-care rituals. This is why we need to get the concept of self-care into the spotlight, and ideally before we hit energetic rock bottom.

We need to talk about it openly with our friends and family. We need to raise awareness of the ways in which we can pay into that energy bank, keeping us resilient in the face of stress. We need to support each other through the challenging times because when you are in the midst of it, the answers can seem hard to find.

What I came to understand through my own experience was that the things I normally and naturally did well, in terms of constructive thought and behaviour patterns, dropped away when I was stressed and exhausted. But, the really encouraging thing is that when I committed to self-care, these skills bounced back! Similarly, as I empower my clients to take regular action to ‘fill their cup,’ they naturally make better decisions, have more energy to buffer themselves and can engage in more constructive thinking.

The Self-Care Revolution by Suzy Reading is out now octopusbooks.co.uk

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+44 (0) 207 9276 500 46 THE BEST YOU MAGAZINE

IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

Feel & Look Good How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

STRENGTH FROM THE INSIDE OUT

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Why we should all be embracing fat as part of a healthy, balanced diet

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Nick Lawson is running the length of Africa barefoot to promote the power of love

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Boost energy and protect your health with the best vitamins for your age group

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THE F-WORD Fat is vital for a healthy life, says Dr. Joseph Mercola and chef Pete Evans For many people, pursuing a healthy lifestyle means depriving oneself of fat.

However, in The Fat for Fuel Cookbook: Ketogenic Keys to Health, worldrenowned Doctor Joseph Mercola and Chef Pete Evans say that a healthy amount of the right fats are essential.

Mercola and Evans argue that shifting away from glucose as the primary source of energy can have profound health benefits - from shedding excess weight to helping ward off chronic disease. Their mission is to give people the nutritional knowledge needed to take control of health, and the good news is their flavour-packed recipes couldn’t be easier.

K E TO S A L A D Serves: 2 • 1 to 2 tbsp. extra-virgin coconut oil or raw organic pastured butter • 1⁄3 medium red onion, chopped • 1 can (3.75 oz.) sardines in water, or 2.5 oz. cleaned shrimp, or 2.5 oz. organic ground meat • 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced • 1 tbsp. salmon roe • 1 oz. chopped fresh fennel, or more if desired • 1 handful spinach • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped • 1 handful fresh oregano leaves

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• 2 to 4 oz. sunflower seed sprouts • 3 oz. fermented vegetables of your choice • Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper Gently heat the coconut oil in a small frying pan over low heat. Add onion and meat, if not using sardines, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion and meat are cooked as desired. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, in a separate medium bowl, combine the avocado, salmon roe, fennel, spinach, herbs, sprouts, and fermented vegetables.

Rinse the sardines and cut each sardine into three pieces and add to the salad.

Add the cooked onion and meat (optional) to the salad. Mix gently and season with salt and pepper.

YOU NEED GRILLED STEAK WITH CHIMICHURRI Serves: 8 • 4 grass-fed sirloin, let mignon, or ribeye steaks (about 7 oz. each) • 3 tbsp. coconut oil • 3 oz. beef marrow (no bone), • Chopped Chimichurri (see instructions below) • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Remove the steaks from the refrigerator at least 15 minutes before cooking so they come to room temperature. Heat the pan or a grill plate to hot.

Coat the steaks with a little coconut oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook the steaks for 21⁄2 to 3 minutes, or until browned, then flip them over and cook for another 21⁄2 to 3 minutes (for medium-rare). Remove from the heat and place on a plate, cover with foil, and let them rest in a warm place for 4 minutes.

Return the pan to medium heat. Add the chopped marrow and cook for 1 minute, until lightly golden and cooked through.

Season with salt and pepper, then add to the chimichurri and stir to combine.

Spoon some chimichurri with bone marrow over each steak and serve with a seasonal salad of your choice.

CHIMICHURRI • Combine the following to make a cup • 3 garlic cloves, peeled • 1 jalapeño or long red chili, seeded and chopped • 1 heaping handful at-leaf parsley leaves • 1 heaping handful coriander leaves • 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar • 1 tsp. ground cumin • 3 tbsp. olive oil or coconut oil • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

The Fat for Fuel Cookbook, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Pete Evans, Hay House UK, £23.99 (hardback) is out now For more information visit www.mercola.com

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RUN FOR

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Nick Lawson Will Run the Length of Africa Barefoot Over 12 Months to Promote the Power of Love

It’s a story that’s straight out of Forrest Gump. In a few weeks' time, Nick Lawson, a young man from Sydney, Australia will set out to run the length of Africa, from South Africa north to Tunisia, a journey of more than 30,000 kilometres.

Forrest Gump, as played by Tom Hanks, explained why he embarked on an unthinkably massive run by saying “I just kept on running.” But, Lawson has a greater mission statement: he’ll be running to spread a message of love, and he wants people from every country on the planet to join him.

Lawson has been gathering a small army of supporters who will run legs of the journey with him.

The route will start at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa, and 12 months later, after passing through 23 countries, the epic adventure will end at Ras ben Sakka in Tunisia, the continent’s northernmost point.

“People can run however much they want to, and love will link the people and the countries we’re running through,” says Lawson, who himself will run a marathon (42km) a day. “It’s all about belief. I believe in myself not just for the physical journey, but to get the whole world involved and spread a message of love because once you believe in something with every cell in your body then magic happens and things fall into place.”

Lawson was 21 when he first travelled to Africa in 2012, working as a volunteer teacher in the Kibera slum camp on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. He helped build a small school inside the camp for disabled people. Before starting the run, he will return to the site with a crew of international volunteers to build a new facility and get more students into the school.

“I love Africa: the people, their passion, their struggle,” Lawson says. “Through everything, they keep smiling, they have beauty, they have love. Yeah, there is famine. Yeah, there is war. But, that doesn’t bother me because I know that the problems stem deeper than humans being evil. They aren’t.”

As well as recruiting running companions, Lawson has reached out to celebrities, NGOs, and socially responsible organisations in hopes of creating mutually beneficial partnerships. A documentary team will also be joining him for part of the journey, and fundraising is already underway. Lawson is raising money for UNHCR (Australian fundraising branch for the UNHCR) and for New Beginnings (the school he built in Kenya), and each individual joining him will be raising money for their own chosen charities.

One thing’s for sure, with so much support around the world Lawson will never be alone on his mission to promote love.

For more information or to make a donation visit www.runforlove2018.com #RunForLove2018

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Optimise your health by combing a nutrient-rich diet with exercise and the best supplements for your age

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In your 30s

CARE F OR YOU R F E R T I L I T Y 1) If you haven’t already had children, your 30s are when you need to think about protecting your fertility. Give up unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking to excess, and invest in a supplement that’s specifically formulated to help increase fertility.

NHP Fertility Support for Women or for Men, £34.78 www.naturalhealthpractice.com

2) PROT EC T F R O M ST R E SS

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In your 50s

Hormone levels start to noticeably change in your 40s, as women head towards menopause and men towards andropause (or ‘the male menopause’). Magnesium is vital for hormone regulation, as well as aiding muscle relaxation and good sleep, and levels can deplete stressed.

Natures Plus KalmAssure Magnesium Powder, £16.32 www.naturesplus.co.uk

It’s important to be particularly conscious about keeping your heart healthy from age 50 onwards. Taking regular exercise, watching your diet’s salt content, and eating plenty of vegetables and fruits are all vital, and it can also be beneficial to introduce a cholesterol-reducing supplement.

Quest Nutra Pharama Cholesterol Biotix, £15.34 www.qnutrapharma.com

4) B AL ANC E HOR MONE S

5) ANT IOX IDANT NUT R IE NT S

Life gets much busier in this decade of life as work and family life collide. To help manage stress, eat a diet rich in whole foods and consider adding either a Siberian ginseng or rhodiola herbal supplement.

These ‘adaptogenic’ herbs may help you become more resistant to the effects of stress, while boosting your energy levels.

Quest Nutra Pharama Siberian Ginseng, £7.69 www.qnutrapharma.com

3) G ET S KI N-H E AL T H Y

6) L I VE R S UP P OR T

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In your 40s

Aches and pains can develop in ageing joints, which means it’s vital to get plenty of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients. Curcumin, found in turmeric, has powerful anti-inflammatory, joint and skin-supporting properties. Quest Nutra Pharama CurQuMax is a concentrated curcumin supplement, which also contains black pepper to aid absorption.

Quest Nutra Pharama CurQuMax, £9.77 www.qnutrapharma.com

As the first wrinkles start to appear, focus on increasing your vegetable and fruit intake, as well as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. These play an essential role in the structure and appearance of the skin, helping maintain the skin’s barrier function and preventing moisture loss.

Quest Nutra Pharama Super Omega 3-6-9, £12.19 www.qnutrapharma.com

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Your liver may need more support as you age, especially if you drink alcohol. Eating dark green vegetables, onions and garlic, as well as cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, kale and cabbage can all help. It is also a good idea to try traditional herb milk thistle to aid liver function. Quest Nutra Pharama Milk Thistle tablets, £9.73 www.qnutrapharma.com

7) BE HE AR T-HE ALTHY

8) IT’S ALL IN T HE E YES

This can also be the decade when eyesight noticeably deteriorates. To help prevent this, add a daily lutein supplement to your diet, and eat plenty of spinach, kale and broccoli, yellow peppers and squash, which are all naturally rich in lutein.

Natures Plus Ultra Lutein, £24.95 www.naturesplus.co.uk

9) R AMP UP YOUR S K IN S UP P OR T

By your 50s, the effects of ageing can really start to show on our skin. Taking a skin support anti-ageing supplement can help slow the process down, as can ramping up your intake of orange, yellow and green vegetables, which provide skin protective carotenoids.

Quest Nutra Pharama L-Cysteine, £9.05 www.qnutrapharma.com

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Over 60s

10) B O N E-S UPPOR T I N G N UTRI EN T S

Bone strength in both women and men can deteriorate by your 60s.

Try a calcium and vitamin D supplement, such as Quest Nutra Pharama Once A Day Osteo, which combines the two, also try to incorporate regular weight-bearing or impact exercises into your daily regimen. Quest Nutra Pharama Once A Day Osteo, £5.24 www.qnutrapharma.com

11) UP T HE CO Q10

You might not have heard of Co Q10, but it’s an important substance made by your body which helps to produce energy and looks after heart health.

Natural levels can decline over the years, so try taking a Co Q10 supplement.

Quest Nutra Pharama Ubiquinol Qu10, £21.58 www.qnutrapharma.com

12) S U PPORT YOU R M E M O RY Protecting your brain is essential for enjoying a long, healthy life. Eating lots of oily fish and eggs is a great start, and adding a supplement that helps to support healthy brain function and memory will help give you the best chance of having a happy later life.

NHP’s Brain & Memory Support, £34.78 www.naturalhealthpractice.com

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COMING

SOON...

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.THEBESTYOU.CO

IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

Wealth &Riches How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT YOU GIVE BACK THAT GIVES LIFE MEANING

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Life Coach Sara Davison, AKA The Divorce Coach, teaches the heartbroken to overcome feelings of failure and enjoy life’s riches

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The Best You brings you previews Barbara Annis and Richard Nesbitt's book exploring how gender intelligence creates breakthrough growth in business

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HOW TO BREAK-UP WITHOUT FALLING APART Coach Sara Davison runs weekend retreats to teach the tools needed for a successful split

Breaking up is hard to do, and most of us know how protracted and painful splitting up with a partner can be. The time following New Year's is called ‘divorce season,’ as it sees a spike in the number of couples calling it quits, a figure that seems to be on the rise.

The number of divorces last year in England and Wales was 106, 959, the highest since 2009. And that does not even take into account all of the unmarried couples who are splitting up.

However, a breakup doesn't have to be a tragedy.

The UK’s first ever Break-Up Recovery Retreat was created by relationship expert Sara Davison and has been praised for giving newly single men and women the tools necessary to get back on track.

Also known as ‘The Divorce Coach’, Davison is one of the UK’s most sought after authorities on breakups and separation. In addition to her clinical work, Davison also runs two-day retreats at beautiful hotel in East Sussex several times a year. Davison promises to share the secrets that mean you don’t just survive a split, you feel stronger and more able to have successful relationships.

According to Davison, “divorce can hit your life hard and leave even the strongest people reeling and unable to cope. I realised this first hand when I went through my own divorce and that is why I created my divorce coaching programme. I’ve developed techniques and strategies to help you navigate both the emotional rollercoaster and also the practical situations you will face - it’s everything I wish I had access to during my divorce.”

The retreat focuses on learning from the past in order to make an action plan for the future, prep-ping participants for the mistakes to avoid along the way. Davison has over 20 years of coaching experience, and it’s her quest to banish the stigma surrounding breakups and prove that the end of a relationship can be an empowering, life-affirming event.

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An average of 14 people partake in each retreat, and people travel from as far as Los Angeles and Australia to join.

Davison explains that breakups can feel like grief, but the retreat is an opportunity to take back control, and that by blaming someone else for our situation we disable ourselves from making progress.

“You can’t change what happens to you,” she says.

“But you can change how you deal with it.”

Davison teaches practical coping strategies such as naming the emotions that evoke fear and con-fronting them, making a gratitude list, and shredding emotional baggage (literally - people on the retreat fill out a piece of paper with our negative thoughts, quotes and feelings then feed it into a shredder in the corner of the room).

Davison encourages people to wrench out negative mind-sets, and stop what she calls ‘social me-dia self-harm’, by which she means the obsessive online stalking that can follow a split. Her advice is to remove any digital trace of an ex.

The Retreat is intense, deconstructing people emotionally in order to rebuild them. We can all get stuck in spirals of hurt and negativity. Davison’s most valuable lesson is to show people that the end of a relationship is not a tragedy, but a brilliant opportunity to start a new exciting life.

For details on Break-Up Recovery Retreats, one to one coaching, and Sara Davison’s new 20-part video-coaching programme visit www.saradavison.com @SDDivorceCoach

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SARA DAVISON’S BREAKUP MANIFESTO 1. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY – this is where you stop blaming your ex for your situation and take full responsibility and ownership for where you are right now in life. This puts you back in the driver's seat of your own life.

2. GET CLARITY – clarity gives you power. At a time when everything is up in the air and lots of things are changing, it's important to clearly determine what your options are. This will enable you to make proactive decisions to help you to move forward.

3. TAKE BACK CONTROL – the truth is that you control how you feel and how you react, and it’s important not to live life in reaction to others. You own the remote control to your own mind and you need to use it.

4. FOCUS ON MOVING FORWARD POSITIVELY – you can’t move forward with your life if you are constantly focusing on the past, your breakup story and your ex. By creating a compelling future that you are excited to live, you will start to shift the balance and mentally move forward.

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2018 THE BEST YOU 2018 AWARDS will be presented to winners in NINE categories:

THE BEST SELF-IMPROVEMENT PUBLISHER

THE BEST PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHOR & BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE BEST SELF-HELP INNOVATION OR TECHNOLOGY

THE BEST EXPO SPEAKER FOR 2017

THE BEST INSPIRATIONAL DOCUMENTARY, TV OR FILM

THE BEST UP-AND-COMING INSPIRATIONAL INFLUENCER

THE BEST LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

THE BEST LIFESTYLE ENHANCEMENT VLOGGER-BLOGGER

THE BEST YOU GURU OF THE YEAR

The Best You Awards offers participating people and businesses the opportunity to gain public recognition of their achievements and demonstrate the outstanding degree of ground-breaking achievement in Personal Development.

To enjoy additional digital content, interactive features, video and digital galleries, please download The Best You App.

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Prioritising Gender Intelligence Authors Richard Nesbitt and Barbara Annis on how using ‘gender intelligence’ can help organisations create real growth

Before joining the Global Risk Institute in Financial Services in 2015 as CEO, Richard Nesbitt was Chief Operating Officer of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. This role followed more than 20 years of experience in the securities industry, and more than a decade working on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

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Nesbitt’s background perfectly places him to build a globally recognised research organisation in the management of emerging risks. At the heart of this work is the exploration of a concept called ‘gender intelligence.’ That is the growing understanding that simply by promoting more women into senior management positions, a company can gain a greater profit share of the market.

It sounds like a no-brainer; yet, despite nearly every study carried out over the past three decades proving companies with women leaders deliver superior performance, the number of women in the C-suites of companies is noticeably low around the world.

Nesbitt and coauthor Barbara Annis explore this paradox in Results at the Top, a new book written for the people who know the value female leaders bring to the highest echelons of organisations, but need tangible ways to get them there.

Through research and illustrative examples from the real world, this book helps both sexes gain a deeper understanding of the pioneering systems that some companies are using to evolve leadership development all the way to the top.

The hope is that Results at the Top’s powerful message will soon start to spread to all corners of the business world.

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Barbara Annis is founding partner of Gender Intelligence Group (GIG). She is the author of Same Words, Different Language, Third Edition, and coauthor of several books, including Gender Intelli-gence and Work With Me. Richard Nesbitt is president and CEO of Global Risk Institute. He is also adjunct professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and chair of the advisory board to its Mind Brain Behaviour Hive.

IT’S NOT YOUR BANK BALANCE BUT WHAT GIVING BACK WHICH GIVES LIFE MEANING

21st Century Living How actress turned entrepreneur Jessica Alba built an honest, internationally successful businesstake your work to the next level.

TUNED IN AND SWITCHED ON

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Empower yourself and optimise your health with the best apps for body and mind

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Podcasts are more popular than ever, but with so much choice it can be hard to find what you want. Here’s The Best You’s guide to the podcasts you’ll be recommending to friends

APPS FOR A HEALTHIER MIND AND BODY Download these to recharge, ignite and inspire

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MIND: MEDITATION STUDIO With the strapline Untangle your mind, Meditation Studio provides a suite of meditation options to help you de-stress, reduce anxiety, improve sleep and meet difficult situations with more clarity. It's used by a wide experience spectrum - from novices to advanced mediators. Stress, pain, sleep, happiness, confidence and performance, among many other aspects of life are catered for with this user-friendly, intuitive interface. www.meditationstudioapp.com

HAPPIER The Happier app seeks to inspire millions of people to be happier by encouraging people to collect and share everyday happy moments, and do more of what makes them happy. The Happier app can be used like a mindfulness coach to lift your mood, take some time to chill and meditate, as well as enjoy the best part of your day. It enables users to focus on what's going right. And, as part of a wider community, you discover that, yes, happiness really is contagious. www.happier.com

BODY: MOVES Moves is a free app with two simple goals: to help you keep track of your movements so you know how many calories you've burned, and to enable you to build a fitness programme that incorporates your everyday activity. Move makes use of the accelerometer and GPS functions on your smartphone to let you know exactly what you've done in exercise terms. You might surprise yourself with just how far you walk each day. It's a free app, and reviewers says it's surprisingly accurate. www.moves-app.com

FITBIT The Fitbit Smartwatch has been around for a while now, encouraging wearers to track their fitness routines as well as motivating them to up their work out.

The Fitbit app for smartphones allows users to not only track activity and calorie intake, but also help to plan an exercise regime. A step beyond simpler apps, the Fitbit app really helps you engage with your fitness goals. www.fitbit.com/uk/app

EDO Ever wondered what's in the food you're buying and eating? The Edo app has an index of foods so you can check the healthiness of the food you're buying. Scan a barcode and Edo will find the product and reveal its secrets.

This way, you get to know what you're eating, so you can personally decide what to avoid and what to go after. The app lets you know if a product is gluten or lactose-free, and even offers healthier alternatives. www.edoapp.co.uk

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