Wellness
Your Holiday Survival Guide: Fitness + Wellness Edition
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The holidays are upon us! It’s such an exciting season - more family time, more social occasions, but ultimately more on your plate.
With so much going on, life can get overwhelming. The holidays can be stressful! Before we enter full holiday mode, here is a quick 1, 2, 3 on how to survive the holidays and maintain balance and harmony in your life.
Keep moving.
The natural inclination when we get busy is that there’s no time to move. We have to use up every minute to conquer that to-do list. However, mindful movement is so important when practicing self-care. It’s a dedicated time for you to prioritize your physical, mental, and emotional health, before you use your energy to take care of others.
Movement can also help to keep sickness at bay. It is cold and flu season, so it’s time to strengthen our immune system. The more we move, the better it is for our cardiovascular health too!
Depending on your movement of choice, here are some great studios that offer low impact and effective options for you!
Lit Method: I love the resistance bands. Surprisingly, I feel that not many boutique studios offer this as a part of their regular programming. The bands, mixed with the rower, is the right combination to help you both break a sweat and tone your muscles. After each workout, the instructors always lead you through recovery with a foam roller too. Recovery after a workout essential, and I love that this studio recognizes the importance of it!
Coreology: There is Pilates, and then there’s Pilates on a Megaformer. The Megaformer at Coreology helps you not just lengthen and tone your body, but you also hold the positions longer with more resistance. I am always surprised at how much I sweat!
Y7 Studio: Speaking of sweat, Y7 is the ultimate yoga studio to help you do just that. Their classes are set up in an infrared studio, so even by just staying in Child’s pose, you’ll get centered and sweat out those toxins in no time.
1
Keep moving.
The natural inclination when we get busy is that there’s no time to move. We have to use up every minute to conquer that to-do list. However, mindful movement is so important when practicing self-care. It’s a dedicated time for you to prioritize your physical, mental, and emotional health, before you use your energy to take care of others.
Movement can also help to keep sickness at bay. It is cold and flu season, so it’s time to strengthen our immune system. The more we move, the better it is for our cardiovascular health too!
Depending on your movement of choice, here are some great studios that offer low impact and effective options for you!
Lit Method: I love the resistance bands. Surprisingly, I feel that not many boutique studios offer this as a part of their regular programming. The bands, mixed with the rower, is the right combination to help you both break a sweat and tone your muscles. After each workout, the instructors always lead you through recovery with a foam roller too. Recovery after a workout essential, and I love that this studio recognizes the importance of it!
Coreology: There is Pilates, and then there’s Pilates on a Megaformer. The Megaformer at Coreology helps you not just lengthen and tone your body, but you also hold the positions longer with more resistance. I am always surprised at how much I sweat!
Y7 Studio: Speaking of sweat, Y7 is the ultimate yoga studio to help you do just that. Their classes are set up in an infrared studio, so even by just staying in Child’s pose, you’ll get centered and sweat out those toxins in no time.
Get more sleep.
Living in a society of constant “to-do’s,” I don’t think we emphasize the importance of rest and sleep enough. We are so often defined by how much we get accomplished. However, none of the things on our list will get done if we don’t take care of our health first. Sleep is crucial to replenish our bodies. It’s a time for us to repair and recover from the stress we put ourselves through during the day. Getting as close to eight hours of sleep a night should always be the goal.
2
Get more sleep.
Living in a society of constant “to-do’s,” I don’t think we emphasize the importance of rest and sleep enough. We are so often defined by how much we get accomplished. However, none of the things on our list will get done if we don’t take care of our health first. Sleep is crucial to replenish our bodies. It’s a time for us to repair and recover from the stress we put ourselves through during the day. Getting as close to eight hours of sleep a night should always be the goal.
Change your scenery.
Plants aren’t just an Instagrammable moment; it’s so replenishing and nourishing for my soul. No matter how stressed I feel, being with greenery always helps alleviate any heavy energy I may be carrying. If you don’t have greenery nearby, even taking a moment to step away from your office or work area to go for a walk outside can help you! Transitioning from a potentially stressful environment to calmer surroundings can help you move through the rest of the day with more ease.
3
Change your scenery.
Plants aren’t just an Instagrammable moment; it’s so replenishing and nourishing for my soul. No matter how stressed I feel, being with greenery always helps alleviate any heavy energy I may be carrying. If you don’t have greenery nearby, even taking a moment to step away from your office or work area to go for a walk outside can help you! Transitioning from a potentially stressful environment to calmer surroundings can help you move through the rest of the day with more ease.
Write it down.
Journaling and writing down thoughts is so important for my emotional well-being. It helps to clear out a lot of negative thoughts that might be throwing me off balance. Once it’s out on paper, it soothes my mind and provides more space for me to create and be productive.
If you’re not the journaling type, the following quick exercise might help you if you are struggling with stressors this season.
Step 1: Split a piece of paper into three columns: In the first column, write down all of the stressors you have in your life. Perhaps it’s a relationship struggle, a problem at work, a health issue, anything!
Step 2: In the middle column, write down how you want to feel. If you have a problem at work because you aren’t getting the validation you need, your middle column would be that you want to feel recognized.
Step 3: In the last column, jot down a list of solutions. If you want to feel recognized at work, a few solutions could be setting up one-on-one time with your manager, talking to your peers, and letting them know of your needs, praise others more so it allows coworkers to return the compliment, etc.
By being mindful of our approach to dealing with stressors, we can hopefully alleviate stress and find a sense of calm this holiday season!
4
Write it down.
Journaling and writing down thoughts is so important for my emotional well-being. It helps to clear out a lot of negative thoughts that might be throwing me off balance. Once it’s out on paper, it soothes my mind and provides more space for me to create and be productive.
If you’re not the journaling type, the following quick exercise might help you if you are struggling with stressors this season.
Step 1: Split a piece of paper into three columns: In the first column, write down all of the stressors you have in your life. Perhaps it’s a relationship struggle, a problem at work, a health issue, anything!
Step 2: In the middle column, write down how you want to feel. If you have a problem at work because you aren’t getting the validation you need, your middle column would be that you want to feel recognized.
Step 3: In the last column, jot down a list of solutions. If you want to feel recognized at work, a few solutions could be setting up one-on-one time with your manager, talking to your peers, and letting them know of your needs, praise others more so it allows coworkers to return the compliment, etc.
By being mindful of our approach to dealing with stressors, we can hopefully alleviate stress and find a sense of calm this holiday season!
Wellness
What is Wellness?
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To say the last year and a half was tough would be an understatement. In fact, it will probably go down as one of the most difficult times for our modern generation. In one of the many social polls we conducted during the pandemic, some of you described this time as a sheer “dumpster fire” or “like stepping on a Lego.” And to be honest, I couldn’t agree more.
Luckily, we’ve been able to get back to some form of normalcy in our lives and wellness routines over the last several months. As vaccines became available to the public, wellness businesses welcomed fitness fanatics, haircut seekers, and massage lovers back to in-person wellness experiences. And thank goodness for that—my roots and horrible posture from working from my bed were both getting wildly out of control. This girl needed a good massage and cupping session stat.
If there’s one thing we learned from the pandemic, it’s that our wellness routines are as personal as they are important. During shelter-at-home, those routines looked a bit different. For many, it meant taking a new approach to the “typical” wellness services we count on—I’m looking at you DIY haircuts, at-home waxing sessions (ouch!), and virtual swerking classes.
Now that we can leave our humble abodes to take advantage of in-person experiences again, the word “wellness” has seemingly taken on a new meaning.
Recently, we conducted another one of our famous social polls to see what wellness means to you, our Mindbody community, now that we're slowly but surely getting back to our regularly scheduled programming. We also tapped some of our most influential Mindbody business owners about the ever-evolving wellness landscape.
Here’s what you all had to say.
Wellness is more important to you than ever
According to our annual Mindbody Wellness Index, 60% of Americans say they’re more focused on their health and wellness since COVID. Consumers are now realizing they need to take greater care of themselves to optimize and preserve their health. When we asked you on Instagram how important wellness is, a whopping 98% said it was more important than ever. When it comes to how you’re practicing wellness, though, the answers were all over the board. Many of you pointed to journaling, practicing breathwork, and daily workout routines (cycling and yoga topped the list) as being the activities that help you keep your chill throughout the week.
I’m also happy to report that over 50% said you tend to feel more blessed than stressed on a daily basis—which is more than likely a big improvement. Let’s be honest, a year ago I would’ve bet a billion dollars that 99.9% of us knew no other feeling than anxiety—am I right? But even with the stress in our lives dwindling, many of you are still experiencing burnout at the end of a long work week (guilty!). But instead of succumbing to a bottle of wine for relief (please, that was so 2020), you’re unwinding by going to your favorite workout classes—with hot yoga, barre, and Pilates as your faves.
What wellness means to the pros
Let’s be honest, we should credit the business owners in this space for helping us reignite our spark when it comes to our wellness routines, right? Thanks to them, we’ve been inspired to prioritize the activities that help us feel our best. In turn, we thought it’d be interesting to learn what wellness means to them—and how that definition has changed over the past eighteen months.
Here’s what they had to say.
“Wellness is living in balance—mind, body, spirit. Highs and lows. It all ebbs and flows and we can navigate it a bit better when we take time to move, breath and remember who we are, and how we are connected to this big, beautiful world.” - Jess Pierno, Founder, Owner, and Chief Inspiration Officer of Yoga Heights
“Wellness is a true balancing of the mental, physical, and spiritual. It has definitely evolved over the years for me—from something that I just thought was about exercising and eating a healthy diet—to also incorporating balancing and healing internally and spiritually.” - Stefanie Patterson, Owner, Indianapolis Salt Cave and Halotherapy Center
“My sense of wellness has evolved from staying healthy and motivated, mind/body/spirit... to being more gentle with myself, less demanding. Accepting my limitations, taking time for resting, and gaining real clarity about what's important. I care less about what people think of me—difficult as a performer and as a business owner with so many demands on me—and more about getting quiet and tapping into the divine source inside of me that helps me discern my next move. In this way, I know my motives are as pure as possible and I'm not getting distracted—not that I don't make mistakes! Those are necessary, that's how we learn!” - Johanna Krynytzky, Owner, Hip Expressions Belly Dance Studio
“My studio name reminds us that we are constantly evolving. The past 18 months have certainly shown us that! Wellness to me means doing your best on any given day to make sure that you are taking care of yourself as best you can. It leads to resilience. Diet, exercise, sleep, a sense of community, and some form of faith. It all matters. Setbacks happen all the time, and every day is a chance to start again. We strive to be 'cheerleaders' for our clients when we sense that things are coming out of balance in their lives. So many have been with us for 18 years and are friends—they are our community and we all watch out for each other.” - Mo Wolfe, Owner and Founder, Evolution Pilates
Putting wellness into action
I think we can all agree that there isn’t one true definition of wellness anymore. To some of us, it means getting that hot yoga sesh in daily, and to others, it means carving out time to treat ourselves to a massage or manicure. As long as you’re actively pursuing wellness—whatever that means to you—you're on the right track.
Our MO has always been about connecting the world to wellness—a term that's seen a lot of change lately. Whether you’re fully embracing the in-person experience or still delighted by the convenience of practicing at-home wellness, the Mindbody app makes it easy for you to book experiences that help you feel like YOU again.
