It’s truly rare to find someone who has a perfect relationship with their own body. It seems it’s something we all have to work hard on. In today’s episode Alex and Mimi explore some ideas about how we can start connecting with and treating our bodies much better.

Just like in our episode on Relationship With Money where we explore what money really means to us, we are looking at what our bodies mean to us… And it should be a LOT. Our bodies are EVERYTHING, they come with us everyday on our journey through life. Whether it’s over working or suffering a hangover, our bodies are sure to ask us “PLEASE don’t do that again”.

We suffer from back pain from sitting at a computer all day, sleep terrible from when we’ve been looking at our phone screens too long, pass out when we don’t eat or get obese when we eat too much. We’ve all heard it before - our body is our temple. After this episode we hope you’re inspired to start treating it as such, because the rewards are incredible when you and your body are in sync.

Often, it’s times when we feel we’ve lost touch with both our emotional and physical health, that we spiral into abusing our bodies. Which can seem counter intuitive. Sury we’d like to do good things to make our bodies feel better. But no that’s when we reach for a pizza or stay up way too late leaving us tired the next day. And all of this follows a few small habits that starts to stack on top of each other. Bad habits become you. This is why Alex and Mimi have their morning and night time routines available for everyone on YouTube

Morning Routine

Night Routine

The good news is that things can get better and habits like these are easily changed one step at a time. Let’s start with the pillows of a healthy body.

• Food & drink
• Movement
• Exercise
• Rest

Food:

It’s the biggest illusion that it’s expensive to eat healthy, most people that say that are often spending twice as much on junk food or alcohol. eating healthy can be cheap.

Use Mimi’s method for not overeating… be much more conscious when you’re full. Don’t eat until the plate is empty, listen to what your body is telling you.

The food we eat affects our gut bacteria - also known as our microbiome. Ever heard the saying think with your gut. Well, science shows us we have neurons in our gut too and they heavily affect how our brain works. So be careful if you’re fuelling the good bacteria or the bad bacteria.

Movement:

Sitting all day is the worst. It’s recommended that every 1 or 2 hours we should be on our feet and walking around for a few moments to get the blood flowing around our bodies.

It’s amazing what a small walk can do to improve you thoughts and keep you trim, many of history's greats like Einstein were known for solving some of the greatest problems in the world, by walking.

Try a standing desk or even get more fancier by using a treadmill desk.

Exercise:

Mimi recommends aiming for 30 mins 3 times a week, something that will get you sweating and get your heart going.

Alex likes the 7 minute workout for convenience, lets face it everyone has 7 minutes available, since consistency is key, this should be a habit you start today.

Another app you might try is Sweat

Rest:

Seems counter intuitive that rest could make you look and feel better, our fast paced world has made it seem shameful to want a lay in, but sleep is essential.

Ask anyone who trains at the gym regularly and they will say their days when they’re not working out are just as important for muscle growth and body developments.

Try black out blinds and using blue light blocking devices or apps to help restore your circadian rhythm and introduce the sleep hormone melatonin.

It’s incredible to notice but it can’t just be coincidence that whenever we do something good for our bodies, it just so happens it’s (for the most part) better for the environment too. From riding a bike to work instead of driving or eating less meat and packaged foods, when we adopt these powerful habits into our lifestyle we can change the world, not just ourselves.

We advise that after listening you take stock of all of these things.. jot them down in your 5-Minute Journal Ask yourself; what is my relationship with my own body and what am I doing to make this relationship better. Trust us, your body will thank you later

Books mentioned:

• Your Body keeps The Score - Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by van der Kolk M.D., Bessel

https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode50