relax – ShakeUpFit

August 18, 2016 — No Comments

Rubik’s cube – #ThrowbackThursdays

vector-rubik-s-cube_610226

Aaaahhh one of my favourite distractions for years. As a kid I would love to try and figure this out and never could. I’d ask my dad to help and all he used to do was take off all the pieces, rearrange them into their right colours and then put them back on haha

As a grown up this has a symbolism for me. Life is all about being as healthy and conscious as you can, being happy. Most of this site, these blog posts are dedicated to physical ways to do that. Cooking, eating, exercising, thinking but when do we focus on our minds? When do we do some workouts for our brain to keep it healthy?

Meditation is a great way to do that but so is playing with toys like this. There are countless studies to say when children use their imaginations and play with toys, colour in or generally have a way to play with just their minds they they are happier and more able to take on the world.

When was the last time you just picked up two toys and created a scene in your head using them and your imagination? Not a dirty one….. haha I still have all the action figures I had as a kid, spiderman, power rangers, transformers, they’re all in my loft. Maybe it’s time I got them out, dusted them off and messed around with them. I even used to make grappling hooks out of bent nails and string so they could obviously climb up and down the furniture in my room.

So for today, why not find a way to let out your inner child. Be silly. Let go. Have fun. Imagine.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #ThrowbackThursdays, General, Therapy

Tags: action, children, figures, focus, fun, imagination, let the world wait, mental, mental health, mind, play, relax, toys

August 16, 2016 — No Comments

City Boy?! – #TalkToMeTuesdays

countryside

Today's post is about a little thing that's been bugging me for a while....am I born to live in the city, or am I really a country boy at heart?

This weekend I went away to the Cotswold's and after initially thinking I would get bored, I completely fell in love with it. Swimming in the lake, kayaking, relaxing on the decking, being outside. It bought back all the reasons why I love having Sicilian origins and why I still love visiting Sicily. It's a completely different pace of life where it's about enjoying where you are right now and not worrying too much about tomorrow.

Not to mention exploring and enjoying great food, great company and much less rigidity about time keeping or being somewhere on time.

There's always been a mini war that goes on inside me since I first explored Sicily. The ability to grow and pick your own fruits, to get by with whatever you have in the house, just appeals to me so much. I loved watching Jimmy's Farm and River Cottage and the desire has always been there to escape the city and live in the countryside.

The Cotswold's experience has now bought that dream back to the forefront of my mind and I'm wondering, am I a country boy in a city boy life?

So my question to you today is have you ever had a similar experience? Where you've been somewhere, fallen in love with it and it's made you want to make the move? Tell me your story and help me decide if it's something I should do!!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #TalkToMeTuesdays, General

Tags: big smoke, blue sky, breathe, city, country, farm, grow, healthy, live, mud, new life, plants, pollution, rain, relax, traffic, trees

July 10, 2016 — No Comments

Lunge it – but keep it low! – #StretchSundays

Low lunge

Low lunge - Anjaneyasana

Another stretch in the category of a hip opener. When you first start there is a good chance you will be pretty high off the floor and feel like your legs will never stretch enough to get as low as you’d like, but bear with it, it does happen.

This is a great pose in itself and a balance can be added to it to turn it into the High Lunge. Both poses are great for your hips again and just remember to try and keep this hips facing forward and not turning out to the side

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #StretchSundays, Fitness, yoga

Tags: back, balance, be focused, hip, hip opener, legs, lunge, relax, stretch, yoga, yogi

July 6, 2016 — No Comments

Candle Meditation – #WellbeingWednesdays

Do you struggle with focusing day to day? Find yourself reaching for your phone to check social media when you’re at the table or having a chat with friends? Find your mind wandering off mid conversation? Do you know how beneficial meditation can be to sorting all of that out?

Meditation is one of the best ways to teach yourself focus and control. Teaching yourself to relax when you need to or motivate yourself when it’s time for you to do something specific.

Even as a regular practitioner of meditation however there can be those days where it’s tougher than others. Tougher to focus on your breathing and where you are right now. That’s when I try my candle meditation. Simple, yet highly effective for me.

Get a candle, preferably one of the bigger, quite fat ones. Light it on a stand and settle in front of it. Preferably with your legs crossed and sitting on a cushion in front of it. Turn off any lights, close any blinds or curtains and just watch the candle.

Then just breathe. Deep breaths in and deep breaths out, through your nose, eyes just slightly open. Whenever you find your mind wandering just focus back on that candle, on how it flickers on how it moves, the colours in it. You will find after a while that even though you are blinking the flame on the candle starts to blur. Let it.

Keep that going for as long as you can. The first time it may only be 5 minutes, the second it may be longer. Don’t time, don’t think about it. Just watch that candle. Breathe with that candle. Focus on that candle. Don’t let anything else distract you from that candle.

Try it out and see how you get on. It’s a great way to stop yourself getting too distracted by anything around you.

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in #WellbeingWednesdays, General, Therapy

Tags: breathe, candle, focus, introspective, meditate, relax

January 31, 2016 — No Comments

Day 31 – a month in summary

This month has been an outstanding one. Since leaving my banking job at the end of November, December was pretty quiet but January has seen things gain a huge amount of momentum.

I've given you a few recipes, explained some of the moves we use in our upcoming choreography and tried to explain the basics of protein, carbs, fats, fibre and loads of other bits that should be useful to you when thinking about your food intake.

Not only that but you've been on the journey with me as I've started to teach yoga to children and become an ambassador for an amazing range of skincare products.

Hopefully there has been lots for you to learn and you've enjoyed doing so as I've certainly enjoyed writing it and listening to how you've all used my posts or written comments on them.

I will still be writing posts but probably not with as much frequency so keep watching this space and keep enjoying them!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in General

Tags: Beauty, calorie, chill, choreo, count, diet, end, finish, food, health, healthy, jan, january, kids, knowledge, learn, meditate, month, month end, moves, nutrition, posts, relax, skincare, tropic, yoga

January 26, 2016 — No Comments

Day 26 – Regroup

Today's post is a bit of a lecture....the art of regrouping.

Have you heard of it? Have you tried it? Don't be afraid of it!

Sometimes life can seem tough, it can seem crazy or a serious of accidents or mishaps can make you really down and depressed. The world might seem against you but believe me it's not.

Don't get down, don't go crazy, take some time and regroup.

Go back to something that makes you feel better, lose yourself in an old positive memory.

Today was a bad day. My car decided to stop working, I smashed my instrument I use in my classes, my roof is leaking and my scanner exploded! Not much in the grand scheme of things but nevertheless there were some serious expletives said and a lot of banging items around.

Then I remembered to regroup. I turned some music on, I watched a TV show and turned my phone off. I sat and just watched for an hour and I regrouped. I calmed myself, I relaxed and low and behold I realised it's nothing to stress out about. It can all be fixed with time and some patience.

So today, even though you may seem like you have to keep bashing away and trying to fix everything and be productive, don't be afraid to take a break. Breathe, lose yourself in music, or art, or watch TV and take some time out.

Good luck learning to regroup!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in General

Tags: art, breathe, depression, headspace, music, plan, regroup, relax, sad, tough

January 8, 2016 — No Comments

Day 8 – Sleep, sleep, sleep!!

We all know it, we all love it and we all wish we could do more of it as it's our escape from everything we're not happy with....like work! haha

But what exactly is sleep and why is it so important? Do you know how important it is for your physical health? or your emotional wellbeing?

Sleep is a really important time for your body. It regenerates, heals and generally does all the repairs it can after what's happened during your day.

There are however some foods that are great in helping you get a good nights sleep which I've listed below for you with a brief explanation of why they are good for you:

Fish - packed full of vitamin B6 which is needed to make melatonin which is a sleep-inducing hormone
Yoghurt - calcium can be quite difficult to get enough of and being calcium deficient has been closely linked to bad sleeping patterns
Whole Grains - rich in magnesium which is also great for helping sleeping patterns
Kale - sometimes the flavour of kale doesn't appeal to everyone but actually kale is a huge source
Bananas - full of potassium and another food that is rich in vitamin B6 which is needed to produce melotonin
Chickpeas - also packed with vitamin B6 so more excuse to make home made hummus!

If you want more information, you are constantly waking up tired or just not feeling rested enough, check out this brilliant article from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute and use it as an excuse to have a duvet day this weekend!

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sdd/why

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in General