Woody Wonders

It’s taken some time to reach this point but we’re finally starting to realise that our bodies and minds don’t function as two separate entities, they are very much one.   It’s a well known fact that exercise produces endorphins which lift our mood, but  I still don’t think enough is being done to promote the connection between body and mind.   If you’re really lucky and have a good doctor, they might make a token effort to ask you about exercise but has your doctor ever asked ‘and how does that affect your mood’ , ‘what kind of exercise makes you feel good’ ?    We need a more holistic approach to health. We’re making huge strides in both physical and mental wellbeing but we need to bring the two together.   Instead of reaching for the usual crutches of food, alcohol and other kinds of self-abuse when we’re feeling low, we should normalise it so that we’re turning to meditation, yoga and and other kinds of exercise that makes us feel good.  Who cares ...

Have you noticed that when you do something for someone else, it gives you a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. How often do you do that for yourself?  Do something to brighten up YOUR own day?  I'm guessing not as many times as you do something for someone else right?  We're often that busy taking care of the needs of others, whether it's colleagues, partners, friends, parents, children, pets, that we often forget to do something to brighten up our own days. Well, this week I'm going to be doing just that, brightening up my own life with a little ME time.  I have a whole week off work - woo hoo, first break since Xmas so I'm in desperate need!!  Yes, there'll be times when I need to do things for others but on the whole I'm planning some ' be kind to me' time. No time like the present so I brightened up this morning with a run through some very colourful fields! So, what else am I planning this week? More running! Catching up on my reading Going fo...

Do we ever really fail at anything?   No, I’m not sure we do.   Things may not go to plan, you may be disappointed that you haven’t achieved what you set out to do, but we always learn from our so called ‘failures’ so where does this idea of 'failure' being a ‘bad’ thing come from? In a workout situation you train to ‘failure’ but that never feels like you’ve ‘failed’ does it?   No!   In fact, it makes you feel damn proud that you’ve pushed your body and mind to your absolute limit.   It’s a good thing, you’re growing stronger every time you train to ‘failure’ .  When I run in races, and especially marathons, I take something from each race so I'm stronger and better the next time.  I don't feel like I've failed if things haven't quite gone to plan.  So why do we treat 'failure' so differently in other situations? Two of my most memorable so-called failures were just after I left school and these two events quite literally shaped my whole workin...

All the gear, no idea! I have to admit that when lockdown part trois was announced I felt a bit like a deflated balloon and I’m usually a pumped up kind of gal.   Last week’s boot camp was such a beautiful morning against a backdrop of fabulous surroundings and I was looking forward to many more over the coming weeks. During the Christmas holidays I’d planned out all of January’s boot camps. Sadly, like everything else right now, they’re on hold for the foreseeable future.   However, the good news for me and my fitness family is that we can carry on regardless thanks to Zoom sessions.  It’s not quite the same but at least we can still feel like a group and support each other and yesterday's online session was no exception.  They're still smiling and it was the end of the session!   Sorry, I’ve digressed somewhat from what I was going to talk about so I’ll get back on track. The thought process behind this week’s blog started with me reading something that riled ...