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The Health and Fitness Benefits of Paddleboarding and SUP Yoga

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Paddle Boarding Fitness SUP (Stand Up Paddleboarding) has become increasingly popular over the past few years. If you travel regularly you will have noticed the amount of paddleboarding lessons advertised at local beaches or the many paddleboards heading towards the sunset of an evening. Enjoying paddleboarding means getting outside and connecting with friends (new and old), engaging in the pleasures of the ocean, absorbing your daily dose of vitamin D and increasing your core strength and fitness levels. There are so many health benefits associated with paddleboarding, including increased cardiovascular fitness leading to a healthier heart, decreasing your risk of type II diabetes and obesity, improving your core strength and balance and connecting with nature leading to a calmer and more relaxed mind and body.   The Overall Benefits of Paddleboarding SUP is a wonderful way to exercise outdoors, in the fresh air and with amazing health benefits. Perhaps more enjoyable than a lot o...

Understanding your Energy Givers and Energy Takers

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  What does Energy Givers and Energy Takers mean? We are human beings, dynamic and energetic souls. We feel energy all around us, in nature and with the people we meet and share our lives with.  We feel motivated, inspired and positive in some activities we do and feel happy and energised with some of the people we connect with. Energy is given to us through the things we love and enjoy. We do however, feel the opposite with activities we dislike or with people who seem to drain every ounce of vitality from our body. These are the energy givers and takers we allow into our lives. With everything in life there are activities and people we love and those we don't. There would be no challenge to our existence if every day was full of energy givers. As nice as that sounds, we do need to balance our daily activities and responsibilities. We have a duty of responsibility and care towards tasks and towards others and not all of these will be energising.  What we actually need to...

How to Improve your Health and Vitality

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  Health and Vitality Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being. It is the absence of illness and disease, of being mentally in a 'good place' feeling happy and when all social relationships are contented and of sound health.  Vitality refers to a feeling of 'aliveness' both physically and mentally. Vitality derives from the Latin word 'Vita' meaning life. Physically you need to feel healthy, capable and energetic and mentally to feel a sense of purpose and meaning. All these components need to come together as one to improve our health, vitality and well-being. We have to work on our physical, mental and social skills to lead a strong and healthy life and to achieve optimum health.  Living a life of full health and vitality takes a lot of self-care and reflection. Building healthy habits and removing bad habits from your daily living takes time, patience and consistency. Knowing where to begin and what to do is the first step to any p...

Discover a Little Happiness - Simple Ways to Finding your Happy Life

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  Finding your Happy Life "There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path" Buddha The pursuit of happiness is a natural human goal. We all want and need to be happy. Happiness comes and goes with everyday life. Happiness is an emotion we feel when we smile and laugh or when we feel at peace and calm. We must remember that happiness is not a permanent fixture and our feelings will fluctuate. So embrace those happy moments and the feelings of joy that pass you by. To find a happier and more fulfilling life, we need to look at our daily rituals and life habits. If you have ever tried to break a bad habit, you will already know that it is not an easy step to take. Like all good things, it takes time and patience to introduce new life long habits and rid yourself of those that no longer serve you.  Happiness ......we all strive to be happy. We want to wake up in the morning happy, go to work happy, every day we want to be happy?   We are humans, we have a plethora o...

The Effectiveness of Music and it's Ability to Heal and Unite

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  The Therapeutic Power of Music in Healing There is something about music that resonates with all human beings. It heals us, it brings back memories, it excites us, it makes us feel good and can bring groups of like minded people together.      Music induces many emotions within us. Music makes us happy, sad and even makes us want to get up and dance the night away. How many times have you heard a tune that stimulates a specific memory? A song from your teenage years and first love, a song that brings tears to your eyes or a tune that instantly makes you smile? Music is a therapy and helps to lower the symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and trauma. Make yourself a playlist which brings you the emotions of happiness and laughter and keep it handy. Next time you feel low, or the weather outside is dark and depressing, play your list and feel your mood lift. Music can also contribute to emotional healing such as grief, sadness and fear. Music can help us to expres...

Booking your Summer Holiday? Try these Tips for a Perfect Getaway

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  Booking your Summer Holiday Some of you may have already booked your summer holiday but some like me, may leave it till now when you are ready to go and just about fed up with the great British weather!!  I like to do a bit of research on my destinations because I like to explore and feel familiar with the country and region I am visiting. I particularly like to indulge in the local cuisine and dine in the village taverns rather than the normal 'burger and chips' tourist cafes. Gone are the days of packaged holidays with the internet in full force worldwide. We can google anything these days from adventurous destinations to luxurious 5 star hotels. There is such a range of accommodation, transportation and places to visit and numerous ways to book your dream vacation. I have travelled the world several times and still I dream of destinations to either return to or some place I have seen en-route with the intention of returning.  The world is a big place, with many diff...

Mental Health Awareness Month May 2024 - Improve your Mental Well-being

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  What is Mental Well-being Mental well-being is a general description, the same as physical well-being. Our mental well-being may be good one day and not so good another, in the same way as our physical well-being. We may jump out of bed with enthusiasm for a fat burning cardio session or we may struggle to walk to the car? We work our bodies into a fitness regime whether it feels raring to go or not. This improves our physical well-being regardless of how our body feels from day to day. Our mental well-being works in the same manner. Some days we feel great, some days we feel very low, but each day we must work on our minds in the same way we work on our bodies. You could have a strong and healthy mental well-being but this does not mean that you are happy and joyous every day? It does mean however that you have the right tools and management skills to deal with the days that find you struggling to cope with daily challenges. Poor mental well-being will make each day hard to deal...