Tag Archives: relaxation

How to Stop Being a Couch Potato and Start Enjoying Life

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It’s no joke: a sedentary lifestyle can contribute to numerous preventable causes of death. A person who is seated for over five hours a day is put considerably more at risk of contracting cardiovascular disease than one who exercises for even just four hours per week. Furthermore, lack of exercise can cause depression or anxiety. If you want to start enjoying life you have to stand up and say no to being a couch potato.

 

Here are some useful ideas to help you get up off the couch and back in the game:

 

  • Avoid eating on the settee. The more you get used to doing this the more time you will be able to spend on the couch. Try to make a habit of setting aside time for meals away from the TV.
  • Rest and relaxation are integral ingredients of a healthy and happy life, but too much idle behavior will do you no good in the end. When you go to sit down in front of the TV, set yourself a limit on the time spent in front of it.
  • Get rid of your unwanted DVDs and video games. You’ve seen or played them all before and it’s time for something new. You can sell them easily on http://www.musicmagpie.com/ and use the money for a gym membership or a bicycle.
  • Why not watch TV while riding an exercise bike and THEN see how many episodes of Prison Break you can watch in a row!
  • Studies have shown that prolonged periods of little or no movement inhibit the effectiveness of one of the key enzymes which break down blood fat. If your occupation requires you to spend lots of time sitting down, make sure to periodically stand up and stretch your legs.
  • Apply the principle of active transport to your daily life. We spend too much time in a sitting position, even while travelling. Walk or ride a bike, leave early and take the scenic route to work and you’ll feel the benefits of a greater sense of wellbeing.
  • Get a hobby. Count up the hours you spend on the sofa in a year and think what you could do with that time. If you cut out just an hour of TV time every day just imagine what you could achieve in a year. Whether it’s Ping-Pong or marathon running, find something to suit you and stick at it.
  • Join a sports team. It could be at your local soccer club or it could be as simple as forming a bowling team with good friends. The commitment necessary to be a valued team player will give you the encouragement you need get off the settee regularly.

Everybody needs time to relax and a good long couch session every now and again can be good for your state of mind – but too much is detrimental to your health. Don’t think of it as a loss of relaxation time, but rather as time gained socialising, improving your health and extending your lifespan

 

Birth Made Easy Book Review

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birth made easyI have previously interviewed Paola Bagnall. She had a lot of great things to say about giving birth. Now, let’s get down to the book.

The book has a great overview of pregnancy, both Pre and Post. It also comes with a free self hypnosis CD. For those interested in hypnobirthing (and there are rumours that Kate Middleton has joined them) this book is great. Paola believes that pregnancy is not a medical thing but a natural thing that the body is supposed to do. Although I don’t agree that pregnancy is not a medical thing, her ideas are interesting and certainly have merit. She is a qualified hypnotherapist and healed her own shoulder using the power of her mind.

This book has a lot of great information in it for any mother-to-be. Chapter one is about hypnosis and other chapters are about breathing, the biology of the female body, and the biology of birth. They are all very informative and fascinating.

There is also a chapter on how to use the CD. In the getting ready for birth chapter there are a lot of great tips, followed by an entire chapter or problem solving in, ‘What To Do if You Have….’ Nausa and vomiting are covered. As are C-sections and having a large baby.

The books tells you how to use the three stages of hynothearapy for the birth in an easy to understand way and has an entire chapter on how to disassociate yourself from the feelings of the contractions.

The last two chapters are what to do after the birth, a great chapter with some exercises on how to get back into shape, health tips, and enjoying your time as a mother.

This is a very good book for women who want a natural birth, and even has great tips for those who don’t. I can’t say it has convinced me to have a natural birth when I decide to have children, but the information is there for those who do.

Birth Made Easy – The positive and enjoyable way to have a baby easily and naturally using self-hypnosis

Interview with Birth Made Easy Author Paola Bagnall

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birth made easyFor our readers who are mothers-to-be we interviewed Paola Bagnall, author of Birth Made Easy. The book review is here. In the meantime enjoy the interview and please comment your thoughts below. Thank you.

I really liked how the book had advice on every aspect of pregnancy and birth. What is the biggest gem you can give to mothers-to-be?

 

To look forward to the birth with excitement and to work with your intuition and trust that your body is designed to give birth, which it is.

 

The book is big on relaxation, is this the most important thing when giving birth? How does one achieve this?

 

Yes relaxation is very important. The late Dr Grantley Dick-Read (1890 – 1959) visited a woman giving birth at her home in Whitechapel in London.  She declined his offer of chloroform, and gave birth without undue problem.  After the delivery, he asked her why she did not want chloroform and she replied, “It didn’t hurt.  It wasn’t meant to, was it?”.  Dr Dick-Reid actually said then that relaxation is the key to a good birth and in his book, Childbirth without Fear, he returned to women their rightful gift of a truly natural birth.

 

Today we are told that giving birth is painful and so many people believe this.  TV programmes like One Born Every Minute also reinforce this.  When you are relaxed you cannot feel fear and this is what hypnobirthing is all about.

 

Relaxation is achieved by visualisation of a favourite place, the use of colours, focusing on the breath and self-hypnosis – all of which are described in the book.  When you are relaxed your body opens up easily and so the baby flows out.

 

What was your own experience of pregnancy and giving birth like?

 

I have two sons and I gave birth to both naturally and relatively easily. The first one took six hours and the second eleven hours.  I am a biologist as well as a hypnotherapist and so I knew that my body could do this and also I was very excited about the process and looking forward to the experience.

 

When I gave birth 39 years ago we were given Pethidine automatically to help with the contractions.  I hated this as it caused me to hallucinate!  I wish I knew then what I know now about self-hypnosis as I would have been much more in control than I was.  Even so both my births were empowering experiences!

 

The book is about giving birth naturally. Do you think a natural birth is better?

 

If you can give birth naturally, I personally feel this is best because it should be a magical, empowering experience, where you are in control.  A natural birth also prevents the side effects of intervention and chemical drugs.

 

When someone has a headache or a medical procedure they generally use painkiller, why not do so when giving birth? It is the only medical thing that some people do without the help of painkillers. How is it different?

 

I’d just like to say that birth is not a medical thing!  It is a natural process and as such is not meant to hurt.  It is the medics in fact who have made it painful.

 

All pain is subjective and different for different people. If you think ‘pain’ then you get ‘pain’.  I feel contractions are different from ‘pain’.  They are intense pressure, good pressure, as they result in the birth of your baby.  I have suffered pain far worse than my contractions.  So think ‘good contractions’ and this alters your mind-set.

 

Of course using painkillers (epidural) may be what some people want and that is OK.

My book does not suggest that you have to have a natural birth.  This is a choice that the mum-to-be must make.  I simply suggest ways to achieve that goal.

 

Do you think the power of the mind can control the body?

 

Most definitely! We have the expression “mind over matter”.  We have the most amazing resource in our unconscious minds that most of us do not tap into.  By using positive affirmations and self-hypnosis we can use this innate ability we all have to make changes in ourselves for the better.

 

I got into hypnotherapy as I had a very painful shoulder injury that the medical profession could not help me with.  I learned to tap into this inner power and heal my shoulder using self-hypnosis. This is what showed me how useful self-hypnosis could be in giving birth. And why I created my own Inner Power Hypnobirthing.

 

Will everyone be able to achieve a natural birth?

 

A natural birth may not happen for everyone, as things just do happen which make it not possible.  If the baby is breach, or with complete placenta previa, where the placenta covers the exit for the baby, or if the baby is distressed in any way, then a C-Section has to be done in the best interests of the mother and baby.  However, hypnobirthing helps you to remain calm and in control in such situations.

 

Do you think you can get back into shape easily after giving birth as long as you work hard?

 

Yes, I do, though this is easier for some people than others.  Part of my hypnobirthing package is to help mums get back to their pre-pregnancy weight, shape and dimensions.  Simple exercises as shown in my book and a sensible diet help to achieve this.

 

Tell us about the self-hypnosis CD.

 

The self-hypnosis CD is to be listened to on a daily basis prior to the birth.  It uses visualisation, colour and positive affirmations to programme the unconscious mind to have a natural childbirth.  It is a bit like putting a program into a computer.  When you hit ‘play’ the program starts.  So the trigger for my CD is the first contraction, or the waters breaking, and then the entire program goes into effect almost automatically.  The CD takes you through pregnancy, the three stages of birth, healing up after the birth, bonding with the baby, breast-feeding easily (if you choose to do this) and getting your figure back.

 

What is the best advice you have for women giving birth?

 

Getting yourself into a positive frame of mind using hypnobirthing and start this as early as you can in your pregnancy so you have a beneficial expectation and you look forward to the birth with joyful anticipation.

Thank you Paola.

Birth Made Easy – The positive and enjoyable way to have a baby easily and naturally using self-hypnosis

 

Confidence Coach Vivienne Goldstein Tells All

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Tell us exactly what you do?

With a background of NLP as a Master Practitioner and qualified as a Personal Performance Coach, I support my clients to deal with a range of personal challenges. I specialise in improving the communication and impact my clients make in their work and home life.

My role is that of a thinking partner. I give a balance of support and challenge. I provide a safe and confidential environment without any outside distractions where my clients can concentrate on themselves without any interruptions. It’s important to be allowed time to think, time to reflect. By speaking out loud, it enables your thoughts to come into your consciousness and you lower some of the filters that have been stopping you seeing the options and opportunities that are there for you. You get your “juices flowing” so that one thought can easily lead to another … or not … and then we can find out what’s stopping the flow.

In the recent Olympics, all the Veteran Medal winners and the Coaches were saying how very important the mindset of an athlete is to their success. It’s the same for you and me in our everyday lives. We need to find out what motivates us, what our best qualities and skills are, understand how to hone them and how to get the negative thoughts under control and pushed to the side so that we can be our best.

To do my job well, I have to be completely in the moment. I listen carefully not only to the words that my clients speak but also the way in which they say them, the tone of voice, the intonation and their body language eg lots of fidgeting, screwing up their face, rolling their eyes, sitting very still, not showing emotion.

Everyone is an individual so my success lies in how quickly I can establish rapport and get my clients to feel comfortable to open up and dig deep into themselves.

The most difficult thing for me is when someone comes to me knowing they have a block and yet they keep hanging on to a belief that means this block is impenetrable. … they won’t let go of it to see what could happen if they did let go.

It takes time for new ideas to settle into the consciousness. Some people take longer than others. And it’s down to the individual themselves. I’m the catalyst. Ultimately, it’s their responsibility.

How did you get into coaching?

I was brought up in Brazil as a child and returned to London to finish my education.
I have many years’ experience in retail, photography, recruitment, teaching and charity work. And then someone suggested I’d make a great Coach. I’d never even heard of such a thing! I studied a lot and I love it! I combine my professional coaching expertise with life experience.

What kind of people do you coach?

My clients are mostly professionals who come to see me privately on a one-to-one basis. I sometimes run workshops which give a group of people a foundation in becoming more self-aware of the impact they make on those around them.

The typical client is the one who knows they have an issue they want to address. They’ve been thinking about it for a while and not getting any clearer on how to improve things. They then realise that working with me will get them to a better place quicker.

One lady came to me because her boss is a bully and she was struggling to cope with various situations at work.

A man came because he was anxious about his wedding day speech.

One lady was up for Partner in a very large law firm. She had to be interviewed by all 150 Partners. After 30 interviews she was given the feedback that she lacked gravitas. She came to me to understand how to change the message she was sending out.

Some people are struggling to come to terms with their situation which they know they can’t change but want to see it in a different light.

A mother came to see me because she wasn’t getting on very well with her teenage son.

Successful women in business who take maternity leave and on returning to work, they feel a sudden loss of confidence. It’s a whole different world once you’re a parent as well as a business person.

Are people born confident?

Of course. We are all born perfect. It’s what we experience that shapes our lives and the choices we make.

How do you fix a lack of confidence?

Firstly, you have to recognise when you are feeling a lack of confidence. Then work your way backwards in your life experiences as to when this feeling first started. Then understand how you are behaving when this feeling starts. Then change your behaviour. It’s starts with faking confidence and eventually you become confident.

Can someone who has no confidence be completely cured?

Nobody is 100% confident 100% of the time. We all experience moments on uncertainty – whatever anyone may tell you otherwise!

Top tips for confidence?

What is happening inside your head is reflected outside by your body language. So an easy tip is to make sure you wear clothes you are comfortable in, fit you well, make you feel good. Good grooming is always helpful.

If you’re unsure of something, do some research, find out as much as you can before doing whatever it is that is causing you to feel unconfident. The more prepared you are for something, the better and more comfortable you will feel going into the situation.

Be aware of your mindset. Don’t walk into a room in a bad mood. The results will not be satisfactory for you. As Abraham Lincoln said:

“Most folk are about as happy as they make up their minds to be”.

Who mostly has a lack of confidence: men or women?

I think that it’s pretty evenly distributed but the situations in which there is a lack of confidence may differ.

How do you relax?

I always feel better after an exercise workout. That gets rid of my toxins both physically and emotionally!

I love the cinema and theatre …. and laughing. Laughing is the best relaxation!