A Spotlight on the Essential Wellness Tools: Daily Essentials to Help You On Your Wellness Journey & Your Road to Recovery.

First of all, thank you all so much for the amazing response and encouragement on my last post! It's incredible to see how many of you are looking into ways to help your wellness journey. Let’s take a closer look at a few of the essentials mentioned in the previous post to help you more specifically in your daily routine & on your journey to recovery. Particularly if you get lower back and neck pain which are such common issues due to our lifestyle factors, whether it is sitting at a desk all day or your job requires you to put your body through a lot of strain & physical exertion.

Simple exercises & stretches will also help alleviate your pain & discomfort. Included are also some smoothie recipes for your health & wellness, helping your body & mind from the inside out.

Wellness Essentials For Your Daily Routine

1.The Yogii Yoga Mat: https://3YjGVft

This yoga mat is a great way to remind yourself to do some stretching & mobility exercises. Place it in your office or work space as a visual cue. For those of you who get a sore, tight lower back do these 3 mobilisation exercises: to create movement and space and to relax the muscles. Do in a relaxed slow and focused way to be effective.

Mobility exercises: creating space for the body; muscles will only do what the structure- (bones) tell it & vice versa. We cannot move properly if our tissues restrict us because it is holding onto a structure that is compressed or stuck as it were. We change this by creating nice & easy movement.

1. Knee Rolling: lying on your back with feet together flat on the mat and knees together; gently roll knees in an even and slow fashion form side to side, not too far. You dont want the gluts and lower back muscles wondering what you're up to! Relax and breathe. One minute of this.

   
   

2. Knee Hugs: Still in the same position, bring one or two knees at a time, towards your chest, use your hands to support them. Only if this is comfortable to do though. Breathe...hold and relax a little and bring them back towards the chest. Repeat several times.

   
   

3. Pelvic tilts: Still in the same starting position, gently point your pelvis to the sky so you can feel your lower back touching the mat. You're not bridging here so keep your back flat on the mat. You are simply mobilising gently through the lower back using your pelvis to feel movement through the lower spine.

Simple Stretches for Shoulders, Neck & Lower Back

Simple but effective and takes all of 6 minutes. Great for your back, neck, shoulders and hip mobility. Aim to do this at least once a day to break up your position and posture from sitting at your computer for example. All of these, I do myself as well because I am always bending which puts strain through my entire body . I have the exact yoga mat (listed above) and have it placed by the window so I can look out onto the garden as I go through the exercises and stretches.

1. Childs Pose: kneel on the mat, knees apart and sit back on your heels whilst extending your arms forward. Reach as far as you can out in front of you.

   Rest your head gently on the mat and drop your shoulders- remember to breathe.

   
   

2. Seated Pose: sit with your legs crossed in front of you and hold a nice posture through your core whilst you lean your elbows onto either sides of your knees.

   From here also breathe, relax and try to bend slightly forwards to get a good stretch through the hips, gluts and lower back.

   
   

3. Cat Cow: On all fours, go through gentle arching, like a cat and raise the back to feel a stretch through your whole spine and then slowly down as your spine lowers into the opposite shape, like a cow's back.

   
   

   Heat Therapy for Neck & Lower Back Discomfort

   
   

   2. The Heat Wrap: https://3UkAW90

   This one is essential when you have a sore neck and you are struggling to move your head from side to side. Heat works wonders for the muscles. Cold does too but for this particular purpose stiff tight muscles need heat to soften and loosen to regain elasticity or "give" within the fibres. Tight muscles simply cannot move if they are restricted by tissue that binds around the structure of the neck. We must relax and loosen the fibres to help regain this movement.

   
   

   Wear the heat wrap around your neck every evening for about 15 minutes at a time when you do eventually sit down from work. Allow the heat to disperse as you feel your muscles relax. This will also help tension headaches which can come from the neck itself. Blood flow and oxygenation will help nutrients to the tissues which will help inflammation and pain. It will also feel supportive and stop you tensing from the discomfort of your neck pain. This wrap can also easily be draped over your shoulder or anywhere your body might need a good influx of heat. The lower back as well; just pop it length ways across the lower back when you are sitting, after heating it first in the microwave.

   
   

   Nutritional Wellness Supplements by ESN: Collagen Peptides & Daily :

   
   

   3.The ESN Products: htpps://amzn.to/48j32XY htpps://amzn.to/3BSF5LF

ESN is a science backed nutrition company used primarily by athletes, to ensure health, vitality and endurance in accordance to their specific needs. But for all of us, it's collagen that keeps us together structurally & physically so its pretty essential that we maintain it as much as possible. Collagen peptides are smaller and are much better at being absorbed by the body than simple collagen. There are a lot of collagen peptides on the market but these are the ones I trust and personally don't play havoc with digestion. Their products help to support longevity within your tissues at a cellular level. Joint stiffness, knee pain and all sorts of achy issues that my clients come in with can be offset by proper nutrition. Given that tissues over time, lose collagen, elastin, and tissues become sticky, rigid can therefore succumb more easily to injury. As well as fatigue, energy levels and endurance which can be affected as we age.

Easy Morning Anti-Inflammatory Protein Smoothie Recipes with ESN Supplements

These ESN products are to be mixed with water..but I put them in an anti- inflammatory protein smoothie that is both mood regulating, hormone balancing and covers gut and brain health at the same time. I talk about these with my clients everyday as their physiological discomforts also have a psychological element, so it’s important to help address these and give the body as much as it needs to rebalance them from the inside out.

Every morning I swap between the ESN Collagen Peptides and The Daily, which go right into the smoothie of the day. It is either the beetroot smoothie or the avocado smoothie both of which are actually delicious! You can also store them in the fridge if you make a couple of them (You get a couple of the containers with the Breville Mixer https://amzn.to/3C3DSR6) I will put a couple of recipes below as they are so easy to do and have other phenomenal health aspects, especially for those who are struggling with their hormones, getting enough protein & need to lower their cortisol levels. I started with smoothies to see if I could heal my stomach lining from intolerances where I was almost afraid to eat anything. It's been a game changer for me. I couple these with a balanced diet.

Smoothy Base:

Almond milk 100ml

Greek yoghurt: 3/4 heaped tablespoons

Sprinkle of Linwood Flaxseed Mix Sunflower & pumpkin seed AND Q10 nut mix

Raw Ginger : thumb size

Either ESN Daily OR ESN Collagen Peptides

Beetroot Smoothie: simply add 2/3 medium cooked beetroot.

Avocado Smoothie: add half an avocado and a teaspoon of spirulina.

These will start your day off with all the right goodness your body needs!

Personalised Wellness: What Works For You

What you do for your health & wellness must work for you, there is no one size fits all. I always encourage my clients to find a way that fits their schedule and do what feels best & intuitively right, because there are a million ways to do one thing. It has to be practical & realistic; then it is much more likely to become part of your routine. Equally, some clients want to push themselves in challenging and eye watering ways; overcoming their fear of water for example. Enabling them now to go cold water swimming at 6am with a head torch on! It's whatever drives you and moves you. It's entirely up to you!

Remember that most of all, wellness & recovery is a journey. These tools are simple but powerful steps towards feeling better. It's the smallest changes that can make all the difference!

Thanks for reading & check out the

Recommended Product Page for more Recommended Essentials to help you on your Healing Journey.