Well there were five aspects to their Challenge and two of them are new but make lots of sense. Interestingly a healer I see regularly says this week that she senses that my energy is better; could it be these practices - I think they have had a big part to play. The practices also came with a meal plan that was very wonderful to compliment the week; you will need to sign up to Sam’s Mentor programme if you want access to that - or get access if he does another Ayurvedic Challenge.
One of the aspects I’ve appreciated most in Sam’s work is his vision to bring healing to many more people by raising awareness of practices, herbs, nutrition and more; in effect restoring our long lost knowledge to heal ourselves. Anyway to the five practices:
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| Sesame oil |
"You want to try and make your massage strokes rhythmic and to perform the massage as mindfully as possible; really try to connect with it rather than viewing it as 'just another thing to tick off.' Five minutes is all you need, but trust me the physical, aesthetical and emotional benefits this practice can induce are profound, and I have seen my patients benefit from this ritual time and time again. Some of the benefits include:
• Stimulating immunity (very topical at the moment)
• Reducing stress hormones
• Flooding the body with our feel-good endorphins
• Increasing circulation
• Mobilising the lymphatics
• Reducing the visual signs of ageing by increasing skin elasticity
• Increasing energy and vitality
• Inducing a sense of calmness"
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| I'm helping publicise this and will join on Tuesday |
3. Me-Time. This is Sam's version of meditation or mindfulness. In Ayurveda meditation is a key daily practice that has lots of clinically proven benefits like improved mood, enhanced immunity, reduced inflammation that causes disease and protection against stress. I will no doubt be doing a separate blog on this as it is something I have struggled with but continue to do regularly.
What I liked about Sam’s approach is, that by calling it Me-Time, he is hoping to open the door to those who find practicing meditation difficult. Indeed he says while doing a research project with cancer patients even the word meditation had a strange effect on people’s adherence, whereas Me-Time is about focusing on the end result. So can we find 10-15 minutes of “Me Time” every day? Sam suggests this could be sitting quietly in the garden listening to the wind in the trees, sitting on a park bench, looking at a view or perhaps a silent walk? Does that make it easier?
4. Movement. We need to do something to get the heart racing and to stretch us. Brisk walking, rebounding, cycling and more are all good but it is yoga that ticks lots of boxes as you can combine the Me-Time with it, but also the benefits are huge. Again this is another blog but you can see various other blogs about the power of exercise here (ii).
What I liked about Sam’s approach is, that by calling it Me-Time, he is hoping to open the door to those who find practicing meditation difficult. Indeed he says while doing a research project with cancer patients even the word meditation had a strange effect on people’s adherence, whereas Me-Time is about focusing on the end result. So can we find 10-15 minutes of “Me Time” every day? Sam suggests this could be sitting quietly in the garden listening to the wind in the trees, sitting on a park bench, looking at a view or perhaps a silent walk? Does that make it easier?
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| I joined this last week - it was brilliant - still places for Monday |
4. Movement. We need to do something to get the heart racing and to stretch us. Brisk walking, rebounding, cycling and more are all good but it is yoga that ticks lots of boxes as you can combine the Me-Time with it, but also the benefits are huge. Again this is another blog but you can see various other blogs about the power of exercise here (ii).
One site to help with exercise that Sam recommenced was 'Yoga with Adriene’ (iii) - she has over 7 million viewers but I hadn’t come cross her. In the past I have done a fair bit of yoga but not managed recently in my weekly routines. I’ve tried a few of Adrienes’ YouTube and have enjoyed so maybe I will see how that might fit into my week.
5. Rest. Quality sleep is critical to sustain optimal health. Too many of us forget this and live lives that burn candles at both ends and ignore the huge value of restorative sleep. Sleep is the way we repair and rejuvenate our minds and bodies. Indeed without good sleep we are at risk of various chronic diseases including cancer, more likely to be involved in road traffic accidents, less able to think straight, less sex drive….you get the picture….but if not here is an article (iv).
Sleep is key in Ayurveda and is considered to be as important as nutrition in terms of maintaining health and wellbeing. When there are ‘sleep imbalances’ this is linked to the doshas - or constitutions of vata, pitta and kappa - and when balanced they maintain the systems of the body. It is interesting to see how different types of sleep disturbances are linked to different causes (v). But hey that is a whole another book. I was also interested to read you can't catch up on sleep at the weekends - see here (vi). There are also dozens of approaches to getting good sleep which I won’t cover here.
Notes
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