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Tips for getting through a crisis

31/3/2020

I've been through a few crises. And, as a counsellor, I've helped many people through many crises. This is the first time in my lifetime we've all been affected by a major crisis at the same time. The first pandemic of a few generations.

I remember my maternal Grandma speaking about World War 2. I asked her how she coped. She said they just did what they needed to do and got on with it. We do adapt. We will get through this.

In the meantime, here are some tips to help:

Go easy on yourself– we’re all processing so much right now.
Go easy on others– they’re processing stuff too and could be in a very different emotional place to you.
Acceptance– acknowledge whatever you are feeling right now. It’s ok for things to hurt sometimes. If you feel good in the middle of all this, that’s ok too. Notice how you’re feeling and let it be.
Support– if this all feels too much in any way, do get support, whether from a friend, family GP or helpline. There is always support out there somewhere. Writing down what support we have can be beneficial too. Make a list of people and/or helplines that feel good to you.
Focus on what is helpful– if a news source or social media platform is making you feel worse, cut it out for a bit. It’s important to know what’s happening, but only to the point it is useful.
Focus too on right now– if our thoughts are spiralling to the future or past, coming to the here and now can help. What is actually going on in this moment? Often when we let go of the past and future, and bring our minds to the present, we can feel a lot different.
Insight – what thoughts/perspectives/ideas feel useful to focus on right now? If there’s a particular thought that feels good, write it down somewhere and repeat to yourself as needed.
Journaling– writing down how we feel can make a huge difference. Keeping a journal can make a positive difference to our mental wellbeing, particularly during a difficult time. It could be daily, weekly, or just when you feel like it. We don’t need to write reams, just a few words or even a picture to represent what’s going on for us.
Bring your focus to what you can control– often when we’re in a crisis we worry about so much that is out of our control (e.g. logarithmic graphs, Boris’s tie collection, the number of loo rolls people are buying). Focussing on what we can control can shift how we feel. What can you control?
Self-care, self-care, self-care– it’s extra important to look after ourselves. It might be our usual ways of looking after ourselves have gone: find others, whether an online exercise video, quiet bath or cup of tea with a friend on a video call, whatever works for you.
Remind yourself of your inner resources – what inner powers have you shown before that will help you through this? Resilience, courage, adaptability, a good sense of humour, tenaciousness? We all have strengths that will help right now.
Remember – this too will pass. We will get through this. Whatever pain is experienced, somehow, we will learn from this and, one day, come out to a better place. Hang on in there.

Wherever you are today in all this, hoping this blog helps.

If you'd like to know more about how Office Om can help you or your workplace, email: info@officeom.com

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Sleep - Why We Don’t Get Enough And How To Get More

14/3/2019

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I realise the irony of editing this late at night just before National Sleep Day.

How many of us stay up later than we want to in order to get 'that thing' done? How many of us wake up in the middle of the night thinking about something that we feel stressed about? Let's have a think about the importance of sleep before giving you some Office Om techniques to help.

Whilst sleep is a vital physical function, as a culture we are rather blasé about it. We wear our tiredness like a badge of honour, almost as if by declaring how little sleep we’ve had shows how strong we are or how hard we are working.

The fact of the matter is that if we aren’t getting enough sleep this impacts our health. Our bodies need sleep to perform all daily functions. Rest and recovery is an essential to allow our bodies to heal and grow.

When we don’t get enough sleep or if our quality of sleep is poor, our health begins to suffer. Waking up in the middle night and having difficulty getting back to sleep can be a sign of stress or that something is worrying us. Having difficulty falling asleep can be frustrating and stressful. The health impact of not getting enough sleep can include, obesity, increased risk of diabetes, depression, not being able to concentrate and ultimately it can shorten life expectancy. This is making me want to get to bed.

One in three of us suffers from poor sleep and the causes include stress, our addiction to our electronic and mobile devices, work load, and even what you eat and drink. If you wake up feeling as tired as you were when you went to bed, find yourself craving an afternoon nap, or feel like you are constantly tired and irritable, the chances are you aren’t getting enough sleep.

Feeling tired yet?

We don’t have to spend our entire lives feeling exhausted. As a society being tired is something we complain about a lot but shouldn't be an accepted state of being or the norm.

There are lots of simple steps we can take and small changes we can make to our daily routines that can have huge benefits of the quantity and quality of our sleep.

Sleep Hygiene
Sleep hygiene doesn’t mean clean sheets or brushing your teeth before you go to bed. Sleep hygiene refers to the habits and practices that promote sleeping well on a regular basis. Establishing good routines means better sleep and more of it.

Here are some small changes you can make if you find yourself constantly in a sleep deficit.

Environment
A relaxing and peaceful space can make a surprising difference helping us get to sleep. Try to make sure your bedroom is free of clutter and reduce all light sources, both natural and artificial.

Screen time
Get into the habit of not taking your mobile device to bed. Many of us are guilty of our mobile phones being the last thing we look at in the evening and the first thing we look at it in the morning . The average person needs at least 8 hours sleep, maybe an hour more or less and the brain needs time to unwind at the end of the day. Reduce screen time in the evening to let your brain know bedtime is approaching.

Body Clock
Try to go to bed and get up at the same time everyday. The body and brain can be taught routine and our internal body clock is sensitive to change. Long daytime naps can disrupt our sleep patterns and make it much harder for us to fall asleep at night.

Artificial Energy Boosts
Try to reduce the amount of caffeine you consume throughout the day. Even small amounts of caffeine can have a big effect on our ability to fall and remain asleep. Don’t rely on artificial energy boosts to get you through periods of fatigue. This short term hit can have long term consequences on your quality of sleep.

Diet & Exercise
Regular exercise promotes and aids sleep. Sometimes we may be mentally exhausted but still physically wired. Many people suffer from a condition called “Restless Legs” which is often worse at night when lying down, making it difficult to fall asleep. Regular exercise improves circulation and can lessen this often irritating condition. Eating well and drinking are also essential self care practices that we should be doing everyday. By fuelling and hydrating our bodies properly our vital organs are able to perform their vital functions.

Relaxation Routines and techniques

Relaxation routines before bedtime have been shown to help people who are experiencing sleeping problems and disrupted sleep patterns. There are lots of techniques you can try including massage, relaxing music, herbal teas, reading and taking a bath. Essentially, anything that helps you feel relaxed.

If you do wake up in the middle of the night, often our bodies and minds have gone into a stress response. For me, this is a red flag that I need to sort something out in the day and sometimes when we are over-stressed, some sort of action is needed to do something about it. Just not in the middle of the night. We can see if you can mentally put it in a file or box for the daytime.

You can try the following techniques to help you feel relaxed and get back to sleep. They can also be used to get you to sleep in the first place:

Deep breathing - slowing down our breathing and breathing into our bellies help our minds and bodies move from a stress response to a relaxation response. Start by noticing your breathing then seeing if you can deepen your breath. Take nice slow deep breaths in and out from your belly. You might like to add a count to help focus the mind and to help you relax. Choose numbers that feel right for you and your breath.
Visualisation - visualisation can be a powerful technique to help you relax, unwind and fall asleep. Instead of focussing on the stresses of the day or your anxieties, visualisation helps you focus on calming, positive images.
Mindfulness - with mindfulness, we are bringing our minds to the present moment. You can focus on how your body feels, your breathing, or having an open awareness to whatever you can sense. Whilst this is not about deliberately trying to relax, by keeping our minds in the present moment, it can give our minds a break from stressful thoughts and many people use mindfulness strategies to help them get to sleep. You could try our three part breathing space to give yourself an idea of how to practice.
Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) - a method of deep muscle relaxation that is based on the belief that muscle tension is the body’s physical reaction to anxiety and stress. PMR is a two step muscle relaxation process that involves first tightening muscle groups and then relaxing them. As you work your way up the body you physically release the tension and begin to relax. You can try this in bed if you have difficulty sleeping. Maybe start at your toes and work your way up your body tightening and tensing different groups of muscles in turn.
Gratitude Meditations - the practice of gratitude meditations teach us to focus on the positive leaving us better equipped to cope with negative experiences. By concentrating on and being mindful of the things we are grateful for in our lives, we generate positive feelings which aid relaxation. You could try focusing on one or more things you are grateful for from the day before you go to sleep. This doesn't have to be anything big - it can be that you enjoyed a cup of tea or the sun shined for five minutes.
Journalling - much like the visualisation technique, journalling enables you to clarify your thoughts and feelings and let go of anxiety. Journalling brings you into a state of mindfulness where your frustrations or anxieties lose their power by bringing you into the present moment. Some people journal before going to bed or if they wake up concerned about something in the night.

Patience and consistency are crucial in forming new habits and it is important not to get hung up on perfection. If you don't manage to do get your routines done everyday don't give up. Taking care of yourself and making small changes over time will have a positive effect on your ability to fall and stay asleep.

Improved sleep means reduced stress levels, you are more alert during the day, improved memory, reduces the risk of depression and crucially, makes you more able to deal with the overall stresses and strains of daily life. Sleep also boosts our immune systems making it easier to fight off common ailments such as coughs and colds. Not getting enough sleep leaves us vulnerable to all sorts of health problems. Good quality sleep and enough of it has mental and physical health impacts that we each need to prioritise as essential in our lives.

Like most things, we all need different amounts of sleep and different techniques work for different people. It's important to build our self awareness of what works and what helps us feel good.

What helps you get a good night's sleep? We'd love to know your tips - comments below welcomed!

For offers, tips and techniques, and to be the first to know about our new videos, join our mailing list here

And click here to find out how we can help your workplace.

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Things we wish we'd known before going to our first yoga class

13/1/2019

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New Year, New You?

Christmas is widely accepted as a time of over indulgence and in turn, January is full of declarations of “New Year, New Me”, wildly optimistic resolutions and deprivation diets on a scale not seen anywhere else during the year.  Towards the end of January and into February the air is full of the sounds of new year's resolutions being broken and people falling off the wagon, hard.

Why do we do this to ourselves?  We set ourselves up to fail and then berate ourselves when we don’t live up to the unrealistic expectations we set at the start in a fit of good intentions and determination.

Yoga isn't about deprivation, or punishment.  It's not a punishing fitness regime that you can’t stick to and it's not about fitting into some physical ideal.  Yoga is about building a solid foundation of self care.  Taking care of your mind and your body.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve broken your new year’s resolutions, you can start again anytime. It’s not the succeeding, it’s the trying, the doing and the learning.

At Office Om, we love it when people say our workshops have inspired them to go to a yoga class. If you're inspired to try one or have been meaning to get back to a class, why not do it? It's so easy to make ALL the excuses, but you'll thank us when you do.

We asked our followers what they wish they’d known before going to a yoga class for the first time. Here's what they said:

1. It’s not about changing the way you look - although it can change your physical appearance Yoga is about self care and overall health.  Yoga teaches you to stop, take a breath and take time out to concentrate on all areas of your well-being.

            “I think sometimes I’m not in the mood to do yoga and kind of settle down to do it begrudgingly because I know I need to so when someone says “take the time to congratulate yourself for showing yourself and your body some love today” it really shifts my perspective” Natalie J

Our lives are jam packed with family, work, commuting and we are constantly bombarded on social media. We struggle with brain space and overwhelm.  Yoga enables us to take the time that we need to listen to our bodies and find some peace and stillness.

2. You don’t to wear fancy stuff in fancy places - on social media, there's an image presented of people doing yoga in either a bikini or some psychedelic leggings in beautiful places. You really don't need to throw on Lycra and jump on a jet. Yoga is about the connection between the body, mind and breath. You can do it anytime, anywhere and wearing anything.  All you need is your body, your mind and to be breathing.

“To be reminded that the time on the mat is a gift to yourself ” Alison M

3.  You don’t have to be 'good' to start - It's about the practice and about listening to your body. It's about giving it a go. Some people are stronger, some people are more flexible. Everyone has something they need to work on in whatever condition their body is at the moment. Just like with anything else in life, to deepen the benefits of yoga can take time and practice, but yoga isn't about being perfect. You'll start noticing the benefits in just a few sessions. If you can't touch your toes, that's all ok.

“Being told there is no such thing as being bad at yoga” Chrissy K

4. You don't need to know all the names of the poses - yoga poses do have names, but the teacher will explain everything you need to do clearly and demonstrate the poses too - you can just copy.

            “Being told not to worry about the pose names yet but to follow the moves with my means, as you can feel overwhelmed by all the terms and moves combined” Saief K

And if you do feel confused by anything, just ask. We're a friendly bunch.

5. It doesn't matter if you do something different to everyone else or your body makes any noises -   sometimes people move in different directions to the teacher. Someone might wobble in a balancing pose. Sometimes someone's tummy might rumble, someone might cough and someone might giggle. We're all human and our bodies do these things. It's all ok.

"It didn't happen to me, but the yogi reassuring new people that when you twist and bend and sqidge up your insides in new ways it is normal and fine for gases to want to escape always seemed like a nice thing to say." Phil L

Whether you want to increase your strength, learn how to relax or improve your mental health, yoga can help.  From relieving the effects of depression to improving digestion and quality of sleep yoga is not for the few, it’s for the many.  Don’t let your fears or preconceptions around yoga prevent you from experiencing its benefits first hand.

At Office Om we want people to feel less stressed and improve their overall wellbeing.  We want you to feel better, cope better and live better. Find out more by joining our mailing list.

Or if you'd like to be supported whilst trying out the benefits of chair yoga in our NEW five week online course, you can find out more here

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19 ways to feel MORE stressed at work

6/11/2018

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We all do things that make us more stressed.

As it's stress awareness day, we thought we'd make a list of some of our favourite ways to feel MORE stressed at work.

.How many of these do you do already? See which ones in these list feel familiar:

Get as many dirty mugs, flyers, sheets of paper and random objects as you can and place them in every inch of spare desk space you have.
Think of something that has gone badly recently and spend one hour thinking what your worst enemy would say about it.
Start one job, do it for 30 seconds, start another one, do it for five minutes whilst worrying about the first one, give up on that, start something else that you’ve realised you should do, twiddle your thumbs for ten minutes and return to the first job do it for 30 seconds. Repeat until you feel sufficiently stressed.
Adjust your sugar and caffeine intake until you perfect feeling those sugar-lows and caffeine slumps exactly when you have important meetings or urgent deadlines.
Sign up to at least thirty new websites/blogs that you are vaguely interested who can make your inbox more interesting.
Wear an outfit that you don’t really like and every time you speak to someone, imagine how awful they think you look.
Think of someone you don’t like and put all your spare energy into thinking of everything you don’t like about them.
Tense your shoulders up really tightly around your neck and squeeze all your stress into them, hold this position as long as you can, preferably all day. Go on, really squeeeeeze.
Imagine your boss really hates you and everything you ever do. Then go and speak to him or her about a payrise/holiday/new idea that you’re not sure about.
Open every social network, chat room, email account of which you’ve ever been a member and make sure you give each one at least a minute of attention whilst trying to do an urgent piece of work.
Spend a whole day looking at the floor and don’t make eye contact with anyone.
Start that new project you’ve been avoiding whilst repeating the thoughts “this is really rubbish, it will never work, I’m going to do a really bad job at this”.
Breathe as shallowly as possible.
Spend as much of your time at work as possible thinking of everything that needs doing at home.
Spend as much of your time at home as possible thinking about everything that needs doing at work.
Repeat after me ‘I am busy. I am stressed. I am busy. I am stressed. I am busy’.
Drop all your favourite hobbies, pastimes and friendships because you are so BUSY.
Stay up extra late watching something you’re half interested in on Netflix whilst simultaneously half shopping for presents for people that you don’t buy yet because they’re not on special offer. Continue shopping as you get into bed well after the time that makes you feel good when you wake up.
Avoid doing ANYTHING else that would help you feel satisfied, happy or relaxed.

At Office Om, we love helping people reduce their stress levels and increase their wellbeing. If you are concerned about your stress levels please make sure you get professional advice, for example through your GP. Of course, we don't suggest you actually do all the things in this list (unless they make you smile and feel less stressed whilst you laugh at yourself a little).

We’ve also made a list of 140+ ways to help REDUCE your stress levels. Click here to download

At Office Om, we're on a mission to help millions of people have the awareness, tools and strategies to look after how they feel. Join us! Click here to join our mailing list or visit you.officeom.com.

And if you know an organisation that would love us to support their people in looking after their stress levels and increasing their wellbeing, just email info@officeom.com or visit business.officeom.com

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Stressed about GDPR? (or another task) Here are four ideas to help.

15/5/2018

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This week is Mental Health Awareness week and this year's theme is stress. You might have heard figures like: 11 million days are lost each year due to work related stress. At Office Om, our theory is that we all get stressed sometimes, but there is so much we can do that can help. Read about four ideas below.

In case you haven’t heard of GDPR, it’s the General Data Protection Regulation about to come into force on 25th May 2018. Although this has been around for a long time, many businesses are still ticking off their checklist to get everything in order by the deadline. You may feel like you’ve nailed this already, or that you’re drowning in things to do, or maybe you’re thinking ‘GDPR, what GDPR?’. Or maybe you’re feeling stressed about something totally different? Whatever stage you’re at, some of the following ideas may help:

Good Intentions– remember, somewhere behind most things we are stressed about there is a good intention. For example, behind wanting to get a bit of work done by a deadline, there is an intention to do well and not let people down. The GDPR is there to help protect people’s personal information. Sometimes when we are stressed, we forget this, and we start thinking about the massive burden the stress is having on us. We may wish we didn’t have to do it. Or think about what would happen if we stuck our head in the sand and ignored it all. However, noticing what we are doing, and focussing instead on the good intention behind the task can be a good way to begin to shift the stress. What is the good intention behind the thing you’re stressed about?

Detailed planning– how often when we think about a big job like the GDPR does it seem like a huge mountain to overcome? For so long, I had ‘GDPR’ written on my to do list, like I could just tick it off and it would be done. I knew I needed to break this down, and once I had, it was like a weight had shifted. Breaking the task down into stages with different deadlines made it feel so much more manageable. If GDPR, or something else, feels really stressful right now, can you break it down into bite-sized easy to complete chunks? Doing these one by one can help motivation by making you feel like you are getting somewhere.

Progress not procrastination– think yoga is all about stretching and lying on the floor? Think again. Well, ok, it can be about that, but a huge part of ancient yoga theory is Karma yoga, the yoga of action. Yoga is about getting stuff done? Yes, exactly. It really is. Although, it’s amazing how when we turn to action we can end up procrastinating. (Who would have thought that tidying up the accounts is more fun than learning about the intricacies of third party data transfers in GDPR? Apparently so!) A good question: Is this activity getting me towards where I want to be? If not, time to take a breath, step away from the distraction, and reconnect with the action that needs to be taken.

Relaxation - It’s so important when we get our bodies and minds into a state of stress that we find time to relax. So, this can be the lying around breathing bit, if you want it to be. Although it doesn’t have to be. There are so many ways we can relax. We all get stressed sometimes, and this can be ok, as long as we counterbalance it with periods of relaxation. If GDPR or anything else is getting too much, make sure you exercise some self care and look after yourself. You might find then you make more progress when you get back to it in a better frame of mind. It can really help to list your favourite ways to relax as a reminder to do these.

How are you finding dealing with the GDPR legislation?

We’d love to know! Comment below and join our GDPR compliant mailing list by clicking here:

Join our mailing list

At Office Om, we love helping people and organisations decrease their stress levels and increase their wellbeing. Find out how we can help you or your business by emailing info@officeom.com.

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Ten ways yoga can improve mental health at work

9/10/2017

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A confession: I should really be at a yoga class right now. But I’m so passionate about how yoga can help mental health, I need to write this blog for World Mental Health Day.

You’ve probably seen loads of articles discussing the millions of work days that are lost to mental health issues each year and the billions of pounds this costs the economy. This is big.

Now, if, when you think of yoga, you are making images of someone mega-flexible bending into all sorts of contortions on the beach (which are the images so often presented in the media), you might be wondering how yoga is related to workplace mental health.

This is a good thing to wonder about.

Whilst yoga can help you be more flexible (if that’s what you want), it also makes a huge difference to mental health.

Indeed, Office Om was inspired by my yoga teacher training combined with my experience as a counsellor. I was fascinated by the mental health aspects linking the two.

But how does it help?

If you’re interested in improving mental health, or just want more reasons to practice yoga, then read on.

Here are 10 ways that yoga can improve mental health at work:-

1. Increasing Resilience
Resilience is such a buzz word in wellbeing right now. How can we be more resilient to the stresses that life throws our way? Well, according to research, yoga can help us be more resilient. A group in a randomised control trial who attended just six weeks of yoga classes showed enhanced emotional well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace compared to a control group [1]. Yoga improves resilience to stress, which improves mental health.

2. Decreasing Stress
Indeed, yoga is a great antidote to the stresses of work. Stress is well known to activate our sympathetic nervous system releasing the stress hormone cortisol into our bodies. Conversely, yoga activates the parasympathetic or ‘rest and digest’ nervous system. Although yoga won’t get rid of every stress in life, it does help our bodies and minds have a rest from cortisol production. This calms anxiety and reduces stress, which benefits our mental health. Yoga can teach people skills, such as breathing exercises, which can reduce their stress levels when needed whilst they are working. Yoga reduces stress levels, which improves mental health.

3. Increasing Cardio-health
Yoga can help your mental health by helping your heart be healthy. Studies have shown yoga to help cardio-vascular health by reducing blood pressure, body mass and cholesterol levels. Heart conditions have a huge impact on mental health. In a study by the British Heart Foundation, 68% of respondents said their heart conditions affected them mentally, emotionally or psychologically So by practicing yoga, we can improve the health of our heart, which can help us to be mentally healthy. Happy heart, happy mind.

4. Improving Muscular-skeletal disorders
Did you know that Muscular-skeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the biggest causes of workplace absence? The HSE estimates just over a third of days lost are due to MSDs. However, practicing yoga has been shown to have positive benefits with MSDs. For example, on a study of dentists, the prevalence of MSDs was shown to be around half of those practicing other forms of exercise [2]. Anyone who has experienced a back issue will tell you the effect it can have on mental health, as evidenced by research[3]. So improving your back health can help protect your mental health too. Healthy backs, healthy minds.

5. Increasing Confidence
Yoga can help improve your posture. Have you noticed that when you stand taller and bring your shoulders back and down you feel more confident? Amy Cuddy's famous and much debated TED talk [4] discussed the difference changing our posture makes to our emotional state. And this is what yoga is all about:- bringing awareness to our bodies and making changes to the way we move and hold ourselves, which changes the way we feel. By educating us about the physicality of our bodies, yoga can improve our confidence which improves our mental health.

6. Increasing Mindfulness
As a wise teacher once said to me, if you’re not being mindful when you practice, you’re not practicing yoga. Mindfulness is increasingly growing in popularity in the workplace. Working by focusing our minds on the present moment, it has been shown to have positive benefits for anxiety, stress and depression amongst other things. Whilst for some people, a traditional mindfulness programme such as MBSR works well, for others, the thought of sitting for ages just doesn’t work and a more physical mindful yoga class can help form a mindfulness practice. Practicing yoga can increase your ability to be mindful at work. Practice mindful yoga, improve mental health.

7. Increasing Self-awareness
Yoga is all about self awareness. I’ve been training as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor recently and one of the key messages of the course is that early intervention can make a huge difference to mental health issues should they occur. Yoga can give you a space to notice how you are feeling. You can notice the difference in how you feel from practice to practice. This self-awareness can help you give yourself the first aid you need should you notice any changes that don’t feel so good. Perhaps someone might notice feelings of sadness one week and these could be spoken about before they grow to anything more. By learning about ourselves in this way, we can put things in place to help our mental health when needed.

8. Increasing our self-care
All work and no play makes Jack…. Well, I guess that depends on what Jack does for a living. But generally, for good mental health, we need space for ourselves outside of our work. Increasing our self-care is also linked to increasing our resilience to stress. Yoga can help give us the space we need and also increase our resilience.

9. Coping tools
Yoga gives us ideas and practices that can help us manage how we feel. To reduce the how stressful a situation is, we can't always change the situation, but we increase our perception of our ability to cope. Yoga classes can put our bodies in stressful positions whilst we focus on our breathing and being in the present. By learning to cope with stress in this way, yoga can give us confidence to deal with stressful situations. Ability to cope with stressful situations is an important part of being mentally healthy.

10. It just makes you feel good
There’s nothing I love more than someone coming to speak to me at the end of an Office Om workshop and saying how they’d never tried yoga before and how much better it has made them feel. We don't need a beach or to be really flexible, just having a stretch and taking some deep mindful breaths can simply feel great. Yoga can just make you feel really good, and what can be better for mental health than that?

My mission is to help millions of people experience the mental and physical benefits of yoga through Office Om.

How has yoga helped improve your mental health? Would love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

And drop Office Om a line to find out how we can help you improve mental health where you work: email info@officeom.com

References
[1]Hartfiel N, Havenhand J, Khalsa SB, Clarke G, Krayer A (2011) The effectiveness of yoga for the improvement of well-being and resilience to stress in the workplace. Scand J Work Environ Health. Jan;37(1):70-6. Epub 2010 Apr 6.
[2] http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/musculoskeletal/msd.pdf
[3] https://fitforwork.org/blog/musculoskeletal-disorders-msds-and-depression/
[4] https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are

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Want to be more resilient? Increase your self-care

13/2/2017

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In Office Om this month, we’re focussing on self-care. There is a buzz around being resilient at the moment, which is all about our ability to cope with the challenges life throws our way. The good news is that resilience can be learnt. Indeed, self-care is an important part of being resilient and increasing our self-care is said to increase our resilience. So how resilient are you feeling right now? How would you feel if you increased your self-care? We’ll look at some strategies that might help.

First, let’s become aware of our self-care blocks. We all have mind-blocks that prevent us looking after ourselves as much as we perhaps need. For example, ‘I don’t have time to exercise’, ‘I need to devote all my energy to my work/family/other important thing’, ‘Self-Care sounds so selfish’, ‘I’ll eat less chocolate just after I finish this massive bar of….’ etc. Well, there could be some truth in these things. However, sometimes we need to move past these thoughts to prioritise our wellbeing. To do this, we first need to notice our own blocks before employing more helpful thinking when needed. For example, "I haven't got time to exercise" could become "I am really busy but I could go for a walk at lunchtime". If this feels difficult, you might like to talk to someone and ask them to challenge you. If we don’t employ enough self-care, we are not working/caring/creating/coping as well as we might. Only when we feel at our best can we work/care/create/cope at our best.

So, what can we do to boost our self-care and therefore our resilience? Everyone has different things that work for them. You can break these down into mind, body and spirit:

1. Body
Every-body is different and we all need and enjoy different amounts and types of exercise and food. What exercise helps your body feel fantastic? What foods nourish and keep you at your healthiest? What drinks do your body need to be at its best? Are you giving your body enough time to relax? Keeping our bodies in the best health is the foundation of good self-care.

2. Mind
What do you do that stimulates your mind? We can look after our minds by having an amount of stimulation that is right for us. How happy is your mind right now? What do you think about that helps your mind feel good? Practicing the ability to steer our mind towards thinking helpful thoughts can also increase our self-care.

3. Spirit
Spirit means different things to different people and needn’t be anything too weird or ‘woo woo’. For some, it is a religious concept, but it doesn’t have to be. This is about having a connection to a purpose or living in accordance with our values. This also might be about self-love. And I’m not talking about looking in a mirror and getting all narcissistic. Just by showing ourselves that we care about ourselves we can improve our sense of self-care.

So what can you do to increase your self-care this week? Think of three things that would can you do to help yourself feel great.

Follow Office Om on any of these social media channels to help increase your self-care with more office yoga, mindfulness and wellbeing.

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Want more Christmas cheer? Here are five festive yoga poses to help

21/12/2016

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Well, my last post about looking after your wellbeing in winter was going to be my last one before Christmas. Then after being struck by a flash of seasonal inspiration, I couldn’t help but post a blog with some yoga poses to help Christmas be even more brilliant.

Please also note that usual yoga rules apply at Christmas – warm up first, consult a professional if you have any medical issues, don't do a physical yoga practice if you’ve just eaten a load of mince pies (or other food) and it’s not clever to do yoga after drinking sherry and other alcoholic beverages.

Moments of mindfulness will also help this Christmas. Bring your mind to your body and notice how you are feeling, observe your breath for a few breaths or just bring your attention to whatever is going on in front of you. Practicing mindfulness can help you really be present, which can have more benefits than even the biggest presents.

Here, then, are some suggestions for festive yoga poses:-

Warrior

Feeling stressed about getting through the day or you have some challenging visitors coming? Warrior poses can help you feel strong and confident. Taking your feet about a leg-length apart, turn a front foot outwards and your rear foot inwards, bend your front knee so it remains above your ankle and keep your back leg straight. Raise your arms to shoulder height (a straight line from fingertip to fingertip is great) and feel strong and confident like a warrior. Ready to crack open some chestnuts, stuff the turkey or take out the recycling.

2. Forward bend
Paused from peeling Brussel sprouts for a minute and noticed tension in your upper body? Try a standing forward bend to release tension in your upper back and shoulders. Link your hands together, stretch your arms out in front of you, turn your fingers away, drop your head between your arms if that feels okay for your body and breathe into any tension you can feel. Hold as long as feels good before releasing slowly.

2. Backbend
Spent a load of time replying to Christmas messages on your phone or checking out what presents everyone else has had on Facebook? Try a mini-backbend to re-open up your chest area. Standing with your feet about hip-width apart, link your fingers behind your back, stretch your hands towards the base of your spine and feel your chest opening up. Breathe into your chest area and release when ready. Notice how you feel after this energising pose.

3. Lairy Lion
Did Santa forget to buy you a Mr Frosty AGAIN? Lairy Lion can be a great way to release anger. Stand with your feet hip width apart, with your elbows bent, raise your hands to shoulder height, then on an exhale, bend your knees, make your hands into claws, stick your tongue out and and make the noise ‘RAAR’. Maybe one for in the kitchen when no-one is looking, unless you have understanding guests.

5. Legs up against the wall
Had a long day? Lying on your back with your legs in the air is a brilliant way to destress. Let your arms fall by your sides, close your eyes, let your body relax and let any tensions melt away. Come out of this pose very gently, rolling to one side for a few moments and coming to standing very slowly. This pose is a great way to relax.

Thanks to Liz Childerley (The Salemaker) for the photos.

Would love to know what you think - please comment below. Wishing you health and happiness this Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Follow Office Om on any of these social media channels for more office yoga, mindfulness and wellbeing in 2017, to help you feel at your best.

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Feeling stressed this season? Here’s six ways to boost your wellbeing this winter.

20/12/2016

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How is your wellbeing this winter? Whilst some people flourish, many of us find this time of year stressful. It’s colder, darker and often we feel less energetic. Life can get busier with extra family obligations or social commitments. For others, it can be a lonely time of year. Either way, this can be a challenging few weeks.

What can help us if we’re feeling stressed? In nature, the winter is about resting. Just look at deciduous trees who lose their leaves in Autumn and rest through the darker months ready to bud again in Spring. The break allows them to protect themselves in winter in preparation to thrive throughout the rest of the year. So what can we do to help us get through this time of year? Here are six ideas to help us rest and revive throughout winter.

1. Nourish
When life gets stressful, it is really important we look after ourselves physically. Making sure we eat a healthy diet (in between mince pies) can make sure we are as healthy as possible. There are lots of different ideas around on what sorts of food are best for us, but lots of people suggest more vitamin C can to help boost our immune systems when we’re stressed and in winter. Some ideas on boosting your vitamin C intake can be found from Claire Stone Nutrition here. What foods would be most nourishing for you in the winter months?

2. Meditate
Winter can be a great time to practice mindfulness meditation. Research has shown that even practicing for ten minutes a day can help us concentrate better, assist our emotional reactions to situations and improve our relationship skills, which can all be helpful at this time of year. Whilst mindfulness can be practiced in many ways, you might like to find a comfy place to sit, wrap a blanket around you and try a guided meditation. Apps such as Headspace, Sit Breathe Think and Calm are one way to try a guided mindfulness meditation. Or you might like to try free audio practices from websites such as www.calm.com or www.franticworld.com. Find a way of spending a few minutes to focus on the 'here and now' and notice how it makes you feel.

3. Exercise
In winter, it can be tempting to snuggle into the sofa, watch loads of TV and not leave the house. Whilst this can be lovely at times, making sure we exercise too can be of great benefit. Whether this is going for a wintery walk, doing an exercise video from YouTube or doing some yoga stretches in between Netflix episodes, moving our bodies can help us boost our feel good hormones and keep us in good shape ready for next year.

4. Be kind
Whatever your views on the politics this year, you might have noticed that some commentators have noticed a decrease in compassion. Conversely, being more compassionate has been linked to better mental wellbeing. Try a random act of kindness over Christmas, for example, donating some toys to a local hospital, giving coffee to a cold person or looking after a parcel for a neighbour. Notice how this makes you feel. Likewise, it’s important to be kind to ourselves. Try noticing when you say something unkind to yourself and gently challenge these thoughts. Say something kind to yourself instead and notice what happens to your mood.

5. Rest
Take a break. Rest. Stop everything for a bit and just rest. Find a way of doing this that feels good to you. Perhaps putting your feet up and having a cup of tea, disconnecting from technology and reading a book or just lying like a starfish on your bed for a few minutes. This may feel strange or it may feel great, but actually stopping everything and pausing for a few moments, minutes or hours can help us revive. Notice how you feel once you start ‘doing’ again.

6. Reflect
Winter can be a good time to reflect on the past year. What are you grateful for? What would you like to be different next year? Take time out to appreciate how far you’ve come and how you would like next year to feel.

Taking some time out in winter to recharge, refresh and revive can stand us in good stead for next year. What can you do to help you revitalise yourself this winter? Pause for a moment and plan some ways to boost your own wellbeing in the next few weeks.

Do you find January difficult or would you like some wellbeing stratgeies to help you boost your wellbeing in 2017? Try Office Om's January Wellbeing Workshop in Cardiff, details here .

Wishing you health and happiness this Christmas.

Look out for more ideas to improve your wellbeing in 2017 with Office Om. To find out more, follow Office Om on social media here:

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Why do Downdog? Here are five benefits

9/12/2016

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Have you been seeing loads of photos of people recently looking something like a right angle? Well, that could be the Martha's Dancing Heart Downward Dog challenge (as well as loads of other yogis who just love posting photos of the pose!). How can downdog help you?

Downdog or Downward Dog, or Adho Mukha Svanasana (to give it its Sanskrit name), is the name of an inverted yoga pose. This blog will tell you why you might like to get down with some downdogs too. Here are five benefits:

Self-awareness - like all yoga poses, downdog gives you knowledge about your body. For example, when attempting a yoga pose, you may notice parts of your body feel tight. For downdog, this is typically your hamstrings. You can help tight hamstrings by keeping your knees bent when you first get into the pose, which protects your lower back and allows your spine to lengthen, as well as 'walking' your legs (bending each one in turn) before trying to straighten them. When we understand what's going on in our body, we can do what our body needs it to do to be at its best.

A different perspective – downdog helps you see the world upside down, which can help you see things differently. Different versions may have different effects. For example, I often call the downdog that you do at the wall ‘bad-day-asana’ as people can find this version soothing. This pose can help calm busy thoughts when things get hectic.

Strength - on a physical level, downdog is a whole body pose which strengthens the arms and legs. In Office Om, I often say that I’m not the sort of yogi that you’ll see doing headstands on the beach, but I’m really excited by how we can incorporate yoga into everyday life. If, however, you do dream of doing inverted poses, down dog is great preparation for handstand and other impressive poses. Either way, feeling physically stronger can help us feel mentally stronger.

Changing how you feel - have you noticed how having your body in different positions can help you feel differently? Yoga can often change how you are feeling. Notice how things feel when you’re in down dog. Downdog is an inversion, and many people find inversions energising.

Counterbalancing sitting - downdogs are brilliant after you have done lots of sitting in chairs. People say that 'sitting is the new smoking' and being sedentary can cause various health issues. Moving your body into down dog can help counterpose too much sitting and helps stretch out the hamstrings, which can be tight after lots of time in a chair. You might like to try one after you've been sitting a lot one day and feel the advantages for yourself.

Other benefits have been written about, for example, relieving the symptoms of depression, (see here).

Can you join in the challenge too? If so, you just need to post a picture of yourself doing downdog for 30 days and post your pictures online using the hashtag #mdhdownwarddog. To squeeze in some health and safety, really you should only attempt this if you have already got yoga experience. You should also avoid it if you have wrist problems or high blood pressure and a yoga teacher can give you modifications if these are the case. Ideally you’d prepare by warming up your ankles, legs and stretch your shoulders first too.

Thanks to Michelle Graham for nominating me for the pose, it's been a great incentive to post photos every day, and thanks to everyone else who's got involved too, you rock.

If you'd like to donate to Martha’s Dancing Heart appeal, please text MDHT99 £1 to 70070 to donate £1 (Or change it to any other amount too).

What benefits have you found from practicing downdog? Please post comments below and follow Office Om on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for more Office Om inspiration and offers.

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Want more Christmas cheer? Here are five festive yoga poses to help

Feeling stressed this season? Here’s six ways to boost your wellbeing this winter.

Why do Downdog? Here are five benefits

Cathy Bailey

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Movement, Mindset and Mindfulness

New Year, New You?​

We all do things that make us more stressed.

Cathy Bailey

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New Year, New You?