Why I practice yoga (and why you should try it too!)

If I didn’t love yoga so much I would begin this post with an apology to all my family, friends, colleagues and pretty much anyone who has met me over the last 2 years – I talk about it a lot! However I am not going to begin with an apology because I’m not at all sorry for being so enthusiastic about something that has hugely influenced my life in such a positive way. And here’s a little post to get it down in writing as to why I practice yoga (and why I tell everyone else to as well!).

The main reason I practice yoga is because it makes me feel freaking awesome. From my first YouTube video 2 years ago, to a year of classes in a Hot Yoga studio, to a yoga retreat in the Canary Islands, to practicing in a field with my best friend, to self-practice at home under the stars – every single yoga practice I have ever done has left me feeling better than when I began it. I can say with full confidence that I have never (and will never) come away from a practice thinking that I wish I’d done something else with my time. I have always come away feeling refreshed, rewarded, and more positive.

Breaking this down a bit, practicing yoga makes me feel good both physically and mentally. The physical side is perhaps a little more obvious – the stretching, strengthening and conditioning that you do during a yoga practice really do help to make you feel stronger and fitter. And there’s also the internal physical benefits – the breathing techniques, the twisting, the inversions (that’s going upside down for you yet-to-be-yogis) are all fantastic for enabling your organs, heart and blood flow to work more efficiently. I’m not saying that it’s given me the perfect body by any means – I still have plenty of squishy parts and insecurities that I’d like to change – but I generally feel better in myself and my appearance which is partly down to the physical practice, but is perhaps more down to the mental side of yoga.

Practicing inversions on the beach! 

 A yoga practice encourages you to stop and to be present with your own mind for the length of the practice. This may sound a bit scary or even pointless, but actually it’s an invaluable part of my life routine and has done wonders for my mental attitude towards myself, those around me, and life more generally. And that would be a positive thing for many others in this crazy world, right? It’s made me much less anxious about life and has made me accept that life won’t always go the way I’ve planned it to, but it will go the way it’s meant to go so just jump in and enjoy the journey.

Since starting to practice yoga I have gone from a self-conscious, anxious, scared young person, to a more confident, more relaxed, and braver slightly-less-young person. I’m not saying that it’s a miracle cure for all mental hang-ups, but in my experience it has definitely gone a long way to helping me to embrace life more fully: let go of the negative, focus on the positive.

And I could go on forever as to how yoga has improved my life and why I practice, but self-indulgence isn’t the reason for the existence of The Beautifully Healthy Project. My aim is to share my passions and experiences in the hope that some of you may read it and feel like you want to make a few decisions that will lead you to a healthier and happier life. And the purpose of this post is to inspire you to try yoga!

So, where do you begin? How do you know which yoga to try? (Goodness knows there are enough styles to choose from!). Where do you go to practice yoga?

Well, my first piece of advice would be to try a bit at home. That way you can have a go without feeling too self-conscious about all the new breathing techniques and stretches that you haven’t done since you were forced to do gymnastics at school. The first time I ever practiced was in my university accommodation living room. I’d been keen to try it for a while, but was too broke and nervous to go to a class without trying it first, so I put my exercise gear on and literally just typed “Yoga for beginners” into YouTube. Up popped numerous videos, but the ones I found most helpful were by a lady called Esther Ekhart. She talks through simple breathing and safe practice, and the videos are well paced for beginners. After going through these videos a couple of times over a couple of weeks I begun to really enjoy it – it was such a great way to take a break from studying and to refresh my outlook – and so I also downloaded a free app called Simply Yoga to vary my practice. And these yoga sessions in the privacy of my living room kept me going for a good 6 months, until I moved to London and knew that I wanted to get deeper into my practice and it was about time I joined a class.

Now, before I actually went to a yoga class I was rather worried that it would be full of super skinny yogis who could stand on their heads for the whole hour if they so wished (I suppose this is the reason it took me 6 months before plucking up the courage to actually attend one!), but I was pleasantly surprised to see the class was actually a really mixed bunch of sizes and abilities. The yoga classes I started with were Vinyasa and Astanga yoga in a hot room (not to be confused with Bikram!). I really enjoy doing both of these types of yoga as they are strong sequences which encourage you to flow through the asanas (or poses), whilst paying close attention to your breathing. In all honesty I haven’t got to the stage where I know enough about all the different types to suggest which type of yoga is best for which sort of person, and I really believe that the best way to find “your yoga” is to go to a class and persist with a few different ones until you find the style that you most enjoy. Really I would say that it’s best to try as many different styles as possible as many of them compliment each other and that way you keep learning new things.

The number one most important thing when trying to find a class is actually finding a good teacher, so here are my tips as to what a good yoga teacher should be doing:

• The teacher should ask at the beginning of the session whether there are any beginners, any injuries or illnesses, or any pregnancies.
• The teacher should demonstrate the asanas (or poses) so that the class can see the correct technique.
• The teacher should talk the class through the correct breathing techniques and should remind the class of their breathing throughout the class.
• The teacher should make adjustments to their pupils’ asanas (or poses) if the pupils are comfortable with this.
• The teacher should not try to impose any spiritual or religious ideology onto their class.

My final point is possibly controversial, and I’m sure many teachers will disagree with this, but in my opinion the yoga studio is not the place to bring up the spiritual path that yoga might lead to as it may be intimidating to beginners, but also many people who practice yoga do not believe in the spiritual side to it. There are also many who have other beliefs and faiths, and yoga should not discriminate against this. The best teachers I’ve had say to make your practice what you want to make it – use it to focus on something earthly, use it to focus on yourself, use it to pray, use it to say a mantra – but just use it how you want to use it, and not how a teacher instructs you to use it. Personally I am a Christian and so use my practice as a time to focus on prayer. But you use your practice how you want to use it. It’s your time. Your practice. Your mind.

And if you’ve got to the stage of committing to a class I don’t really need to say much more because you get it. And the more you attend your classes the more you’ll want to do self-practice, and at the moment that’s what I’m really getting into. Finding a space (usually outdoors) and just totally switching off from the world for an hour or so to reboot, recharge and to show myself some love.  After all, if you love yourself that’s when you can really show love to others, and that’s when you can be more aware of how to be the best version of yourself, which is what we should all be trying to do.

Yoga is such a personal journey, and mine will be different to yours which will be different to everyone else’s, but I really do encourage you to give the journey a go. Life will never be perfect, but if we equip ourselves with tools that help us to deal with the daily stresses and strains then we’ll be able to absorb all the bumps along the way and yoga is a really, really useful tool for helping to do just that. It encourages you to see the positive in every situation and to just focus on the present – not the past, not the future – just the present, and where you are in that exact moment.

Open your heart to new experiences

Lastly I would just like to share that yoga has really given me the energy and the insight to actually live life. For many years I was just going through the motions, like many of us do, but over the last few months I’ve really seen what living can be and I genuinely believe that yoga has helped to bring me to this realisation and enabled me to do something about it.

If you want to ask me anything about yoga or The Beautifully Healthy Project please comment on this post or follow my Facebook page. Also to be inspired by an incredible yogi and human being follow yoga_girl on Instagram!

So breathe, relax, live, love, be present. (And of course, try yoga!).

Love Lucy x

Try something new: stand-up paddle boarding

It's always good to try new things; to challenge yourself and to keep learning. I was brought up to be active and to enjoy the outdoors (so grateful to my parents for this) and so I'm always up for trying new outdoor activities. I love water sports like surfing (very badly!), water skiing, swimming, and have wanted to try stand-up paddle boarding (or SUP boarding) for ages - it just looks so serene and relaxing, and if Jennifer Aniston uses it to help her stay in shape then it must be worth a go, right? Last week I was fortunate enough to go on a family holiday to Bermuda, and I was super excited that the hotel we stayed at had a bunch of SUP boards we could take out almost every day.

Courtesy of Charley Jackson & her GoPro

I was surprised at how easy it was to balance the board - I suppose the yoga must help, but the rest of my family don't do much yoga and they all found it pretty easy too. The paddling part was also fairly straightforward, you just had to find your rhythm and go with it. It was a really peaceful and fun activity, made even more incredible by the sea turtles that would playfully pop their heads up for air and then swim away underneath our boards. There's nothing quite like watching wild animals in their natural habitat. 

The physical side to it wasn't as much of a work out as I'd expected, but after an hour you could feel that your arms and back had done some resistance work. I guess we were just too distracted by our beautiful surroundings to notice!

The Jackson 5 on our SUP boards

At the moment I also can't seem to stay the right way up for too long - I just love to be upside-down! So of course I had to give a headstand a go. After two hilarious falls which resulted in successfully nosediving my board I managed to pull off the below headstand for a good 10 seconds. And the day after I did actually do a pretty strong yoga headstand (again after nosediving the board a few times - poor turtles!) - but we didn't take the GoPro out that day so that's a moment that will have to stay between me, my sister and the turtles. It's good to change your perspective of the world from time-to-time because your way of looking at things may not always be the best, and being upside-down reminds me of this. 

Courtesy of Charley Jackson & her GoPro

So I really wanted to share two things in this post: 1) try SUP boarding - it's lots of fun and most people should be able to do it without too much trouble 2) keep trying new things more generally. That really annoying phrase when you were younger - "There's no such thing as can't" - actually becomes pretty cool when you're that bit older and understand what it means. Why can't you give that thing a go that you've been wanting to try but are too scared or too busy to? Life is short, keep learning, keep challenging yourself, keep trying new things - just don't stand still. It'll help you to feel Beautifully Healthy. 

Love Lucy x

Healthy mind healthy body

You've probably heard the phrase "healthy mind healthy body" a million and one times. But how often have you stopped to think about what it actually means and what it represents in your daily life? Probably not very often.

The world we live in encourages us to always be busy, to keep up with trends, to go to events, to buy the latest piece of technology, to work hard play hard; and of course these all represent what's remarkable about the 21st century - it's an exciting time to be alive and life is most certainly meant to be full of such experiences. But in amongst all the craziness our minds can often be neglected, resulting in an unhealthy mind, and by extension an unhealthy body.

I'm not about to go all religious on you, but there are three quotes that I like to think about from time to time when I neglect to look after my mind. The first is from Proverbs 14:30 in the Bible and it says: "A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body." The other two are both from the Dalai Lama: "Spend some time alone everyday" and "World peace must develop from inner peace". If we break down these quotes it can give us an insight into what "healthy mind healthy body" actually means.

Taking time out for yoga in the park with my best friend

To me having a healthy mind is a number of different things, but so this post doesn't turn into an essay I'll list the most important five things: knowing that you are in control of your own happiness; having the strength to allow yourself to be happy; knowing that your external circumstances will change but that your mind is strong enough to handle it; being grateful for what you have; and having inner peace. Put like that it seems pretty manageable, but life is never constant - every day is different - and so to have a healthy mind we have to allow ourselves time to process and time to breakaway from the fast-pace of life.

But how does this relate to having a healthy body? Surely there are "healthy" people out there who don't look after their minds but can run a marathon, who eat super healthy food, or can swim across the channel. And this may well be so, but I honestly don't believe that you can have a truly healthy body without having a healthy mind. I'm not claiming to be a psychologist, but surely there is truth in the connection between mind and body. From personal experience, when I am most content in my mind is when I feel most physically strong and truly healthy.

So The Beautifully Healthy Project is here to encourage you to look after your mind as well as your body, and here are my top tips for helping you to do this:

1. Exercise. And after you've exercised take at least 5 minutes to appreciate the energy you've given to your body. Just sit or lie or have a cup of tea and thank yourself for taking the time to do something that's good for you.

2. Be silent and still for 10 minutes (or more) each day. Call it prayer, call it mediation, call it savasana, call it nothing, but just be still, breathe, and think about whatever you need to think about at that specific time. Or think about nothing at all. Just be silent and still.

3. Be grateful. Be grateful for your family, your friends, for the cup of tea someone made you today, for the small things, the big things - but just remember to appreciate what you have in life and not to dwell on what you don't have. Something I've really got into recently is the GratitudeDiary app - each day I try to make a small note of something I'm grateful for that day. You can download it here.

4. Be present. Don't live in the past. Don't live in the future. Live in the moment and appreciate what you have in the moment. Of course it's good to learn from past mistakes and to make future plans, but don't make a habit of letting these thoughts consume you. You are in this moment, right now, so be present.

5. Love. Those people who love the most, and who express love the most, generally come across as the happiest and healthiest people I know. They always have time for others and being around them is genuinely life-giving - to love and to express love is something that is in all of us, just don't be afraid to let that show. Even just a smile to a fellow commuter can make you feel better, and you never know that they might have needed that smile right there and then.

As I said, I am no psychologist, these things are all part of what I'm learning about life on my own journey, but if they can help you in any way at all I will be content. Having a healthy mind is a hugely important part of life, and only when you have a healthy mind can you truly have a fulfilling life and healthy body. Just give yourself some time out from the craziness every now and again and I am certain that you won't regret it.

Love Lucy x

Top 5 Healthy Food Instagramers to follow

Instagram is the perfect platform for healthy eating inspiration: it's visual, it's creative, and most of all it provides a constant flow of new and exciting foody-ideas. I love scrolling through my Insta-feed in the morning and seeing all the healthy juices, breakfasts, lunches, dinners and (best-of-all) treats that the health Instagramers of the world are sharing. I've always been interested in eating healthily, but it's easy to become stuck in a rut of simple salads and Special K, and healthy eating can be so much more exciting than that! Instagram is a great place to be inspired, and if you follow the right accounts you'll never be short of recipe ideas for all occasions.

So, here are The Beautifully Healthy Project's Top 5 Healthy Food Instagramers:

ONE: @madeleine_shaw_ 

TWO: @deliciouslyella

THREE: @Thewholefooddiary

FOUR: @hemsleyhemsley

FIVE: @mynewroots

All good healthy food Instagramers like these Top 5 don't just share photos, they also share the recipes (or at least the ingredients), so you really can see Instagram as a really accessible and visual cookery book. Many of them also have websites to offer further inspiration and ideas. 

So, get on Instagram, get following, and get making deliciously healthy (and beautifully looking) foods!

Live healthy, be happy. 

Love Lucy x

Switch it off and tune in

Modern life is saturated with digital technology. The digital world is one that I admit to only having a basic understanding of (email, my iPhone, social media and blogger are about as far as it goes!); but I can of course see the positives of such developments; it allows us to connect with parts of the world that wouldn't have previously been possible, it is supporting doctors in their surgery, and it even enables us to explore other planets to our own. However, I also often consider the negatives to a world where reality and digital are so often blurred; children under-10 posing for selfies, the constant bombardment of advertising, and the unknown long term effects of digital overload are all things that I often ponder. So although this could be considered as deeply ironic as I am indeed writing this from my MacBook Pro (a wonderful piece of modern day technology by the way), I urge you to think about switching off your technology from time-to-time and to tune in to your natural surroundings.

Polzeath, Cornwall - 2013

I'm not about to go all hippy on you, but I really do believe that disconnecting yourself from your smart phone and getting out into your natural surroundings every now and again really is medicine for the soul. Even when we go for a run or walk nowadays most of us can't leave the house without being plugged into our iPhones with Beyoncé telling us that if he liked it he should have put a ring on it. Now as much fun and as motivating as that is, it doesn't allow us to properly zone out from the digital part of our lives and to make the most of our me-time by appreciating the smaller things in life. 

Windsor Great Park, 2014

I've recently taken to leaving all technology at home when going on my runs and I can honestly say that I'm much more aware of everything from the trees, to the sunsets, and even the birds that might fly over head. When I get home I feel more refreshed and positive than I used to, and I genuinely think this is because I've switched off the technology and tuned in to nature.

Bournemouth Beach, 2014

The other week my friend and I swam the Bournemouth Pier to Pier (1.4 miles) for the British Heart Foundation, and I can honestly say that begin in the water for that hour totally disconnected from all technology really did give us both so much energy. Despite the long swim we both came out of the water giggling and energised, of course there will have been some element of adrenaline involved but I really believe it's also because we'd spent the last hour enjoying nature. 

Virginia Water Lake, 2013

There is further irony to this post in that all of these pictures were taken with my iPhone when I could have been "disconnected" and "at one" with nature. However I've made the decision to not edit any of them so that you can see these beautiful, natural places in their full glory. And actually, part of the thought process behind this post is that I need to remind myself to leave the smart phone at home from time-to-time. Reconnect with nature, go out on a walk, leave the phone at home and it will go some way to helping you on your Beautifully Healthy journey. 

So switch it off and tune in - you won't regret it, I promise!

Love Lucy x

Karlie Kloss for Nike

Last week supermodel Karlie Kloss was unveiled as the new face of the Nike Pro Bra Collection. As someone who regularly endorses exercise, healthy eating, and eating cookies (Karlie’s Kookies no less), this is a campaign that The Beautifully Healthy Project is rather excited about.

Vogue Australia has previously reported on Karlie’s relationship with exercise; she says: “Movement is everything. A body in motion stays in motion and I have a lot of body so I like to keep it moving.” 

Yes Karlie is very slender and has previously been caught up in a little controversy for being “too thin”, however if her Instagram feed and pictures of her younger self are to go by then Karlie is simply one of those people who is blessed with the slim gene. Like fellow supermodels Kate Moss and Cara Delevinge she could have chosen to rest on her blessed genes by shunning exercise in favour of constant partying, questionable substance taking and smoking, however Karlie has chosen the Beautifully Healthy path of a life filled with exercise and nutritional food.

It is well reported that Karlie grew up doing ballet and has since thrown herself into the modelFIT exercise regime, and her lean but strong figure is a great fit for the Nike brand. In the campaign she looks strong but slender, powerful but feminine – something that is resonating with many other celebrities such as Millie Mackintosh who regularly uses the hastag #strongnotskinny. And indeed, although I shall never be anywhere near as lean as Karlie or Millie, the strong not skinny ethos is one that I aspire to. It is a healthy message which encourages women to focus on their health and fitness rather than their shape and size.

So here are some shots from Karlie’s Nike Pro Bra Collection campaign:

Karlie looks incredible in these photos (there are others in the campaign in which she looks equally as amazing), and I really do think they portray a woman who is naturally slender but also healthy – there are no protruding bones, but instead lean biceps and abs which represent Karlie’s hard work in the gym but also that she does actually eat.

So I hope this neat little campaign inspires you to be Beautifully Healthy and to embrace exercise and healthy eating as part of your day-to-day life. And of course, don’t forget the Kookies! – they are an essential part of Karlie’s lifestyle as she often takes them to shows and shoots. They are vegan and gluten-free, and I’ve heard they’re absolutely delicious and give you that little bit of extra energy. If you don’t believe me have a little look at what the Voguers have to say about them…

What do you think of Karlie’s new Nike campaign?

Love Lucy x

The perfect summer dress

Summer is jam-packed with one event after another and it can be tricky to know what to wear to each different occasion. There's weddings, BBQs, festivals, picnics, and garden parties galore - but how do you keep up with needing a different outfit for each event? Could there possibly be just ONE dress that could negotiate the minefield of summer events dressing? Well it's time to explore the Beautifully in The Beautifully Healthy Project as I think I may have found THE dress.

A few weeks ago I was given a Topshop voucher for my birthday (how I love birthday Topshop vouchers!), so I simply had to go in to have a look and see what delights they had in store. And then I came across this little number:

Topshop

Island Animal Print Maxi Dress

£50

www.topshop.com

Well actually it was my Mum who spotted it first, and I was convinced that the spaghetti straps wouldn't work on me (let's just say that it would be impossible for me to go braless!) - nevertheless Mum was adamant that it would look good on so I took it to the changing rooms and slipped it on. I knew immediately that I had to buy it - it felt gorgeous on and actually you could hardly see any bra strap (nothing that a bit of long hair can't hide!).

It's the perfect dress to dress-up or dress-down; I've already worn it for a BBQ in the park followed by a night out in London, and next weekend I'll wear it to a friend's wedding. I paired it with chunky black heels and a denim jacket for the BBQ, and to smarten it up for the wedding I think I'll wear some strappy heels with a smarter black jacket. I then probably won't wear it again until next summer as although it is gorgeous I don't want everyone to think that I only own one dress! However it'll be comforting to know that if a posh picnic does pop up I'll have just the dress to wear.

Summer is all about having fun and enjoying yourself, and if you have the perfect dress to wear whilst out and about then you'll feel all the more confident and Beautifully Healthy. This particularly dress may not suit everyone, but really my point is to find at least one summer outfit that makes you feel as fabulous as you deserve to.

Do you have a go-to outfit that makes you feel fab on any summer occasion?

Love Lucy x