Feel the Change
Wellness can be as infectious as disease!
Things don’t need to change because of a crisis.
I’ve had an appreciation for health and wellness for as long as I can remember. I am dedicated to supporting women to love their bodies and flourish through midlife. I’ve always tried to keep my body, mind & emotions fit and functioning, and now that I am aging it’s feels even more important to me. I know for many woman exercise and taking care of their own wellbeing isn’t always a priority, and I want to understand more why this is. Often it’s only when women are faced with a serious issue (whether that’s a serious health problem, or life challenge) that they start to make the changes to create healthier habits.
So why is that?
Many midlife women have spent years caring for children, partners, or aging parents, often putting others’ needs before their own. This ingrained habit can make it difficult to prioritize their own health.
Busy schedules, work commitments, and family responsibilities can leave women feeling like they don’t have the time or energy to focus on healthy eating, exercise, or self-care.
Menopause and perimenopause can bring hormonal shifts that lead to fatigue, mood swings, weight gain, and brain fog, making it harder to stay motivated and consistent with health goals.
After years of body changes, societal expectations, and possibly weight struggles, some women feel discouraged, lack confidence or believe it’s ’too late’ to make significant improvements, leading to a cycle of inaction.
The health and wellness industry bombards women with conflicting advice on diets, exercise, and wellness trends. This overload can lead to confusion, decision fatigue, making it easier to stick with familiar (often unhealthy) habits, or doing nothing, rather than trying something new.
I was very fortunate to live and work in Asia for many years and there were so many amazing things that I discovered about life whilst I was living there. One thing is the eastern approach to medicine. It focuses on treating the person as a whole rather than just their symptoms, treating the root cause of illness through lifestyle, herbs, and mind-body connection. Eastern medicine views the body as an interconnected system where imbalances in energy, emotions, or environment affect overall health. It is about prevention, you visit your doctor regularly to maintain balance and harmony in the body and this in turn helps to avoid illness and sickness.
I grew up in the UK and was taught the complete opposite approach. In my experience I only visited the doctor when I was sick, and it was about treating my symptoms rather than investigating the root problem.
I don’t really want to get into the differences too much, instead I prefer to use this as a comparison to explore change.
Often we wait for a crisis, a betrayal, a disease or illness before we make a change. BUT why wait?
If you are unhappy, frustrated or stressed why wait? Nothing will change the stories (that you tell yourself) till you make the choice to change.
When do those stories end?
Just like eastern medicine I believe we can continually make micro movements towards change. Self regulating as we go so that we can hopefully avoid a crisis even showing up.
There is knowing something (I’d love to exercise and prioritise my wellbeing more) and then there is taking action into changing something. In order to change we have to be so aware of our automatic habits, our unconscious emotional responses, and the programme /scripts that we are perhaps still re-living on repeat.
How many times do we need to forget, until we stop forgetting and start remembering?
Our insights can us lead to change. Awareness is key to this, paying attention and noticing. How do we increase our awareness? By paying attention, and the more we practise awareness the better we will get at doing it! When I regularly practise awareness things started to change and shift for me.
When you are not changing you are still choosing. But what you are choosing is something that makes you feel comfortable, something that is familiar. Staying doing what you know is familiar. When you make a choice to change you come out of your resting stage, and you actually begin ‘doing’! You can overcome a process or a belief and become the person you want to be.
For me I have reached a point in my life (54 years) where I want to show up for myself and create in a different way. I don’t want to operate in a state of lack, stress, desperation, fatigue, anxiety even though I’m fully aware the western world (the environment) around me is feeding me this on a daily basis. Instead I want to make preventative changes, firm intentions that promote a greater long term sense of holistic balance and vibrant health. To be aware of all of me, my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states. All parts of us need attention to create balance.
So how I am doing this?
I am setting an amount of time for myself. To be alone with myself (my time is 1 hour in the morning). It’s a time for me, free of distractions so that I can be who I am. It’s a time for me to creatively explore who I want to be.
I’ve been doing this now for 5 months every day and it’s working for me, it’s helping me on so many levels. I am feeling more energised, my mind is sharper and more focused, I feel more relaxed, calmer in my nervous system, and overall way less stressed. I am able to practise awareness, by paying better attention to how I am feeling, notice new and different things about my body, mind and emotional state. It’s those continually micro movements that lead us towards change. And then when I am feeling calmer and more relaxed I am able to become more creative with sensing who I wish to become and what stories (that I tell myself) do I want to change.
I do believe we can all change, if we get better at listening. We have a better success of truly listening when we cut the noise of life and turn our gaze inwards. Our thoughts are the language of the mind, and our feelings are the language of the body. When the heart opens it can resets the baseline in the brain from a past trauma.
Spending time alone in ‘a practice’ is so incredibly beneficial. I choose to meditate, and spend time on my yoga mat. Even though I am a yoga teacher I prefer during this time to be led my another teacher. It’s so revitalizing to be a student sometimes and not to have to lead or hold the space for others. I choose this, as this time is about self-care and it’s a time that I dedicate to me. Even though I am a teacher, and I love what I do, I also recognise it benefits me greatly to let go and follow, giving myself my full awareness.
I am feeling so motivated to continue with these self-care practices as it’s helping me to certainly combat my perimenopause symptoms and feel like myself again. Why would I stop something that is working for me, I am feeling the benefits in my body, with my mind and certainly with my emotional responses.
So my invitation to you is: what amount of time can you give yourself to be alone? It doesn’t have to be daily, but carve enough time out during your week that you can practise listening, and be who you are (flaws and all!), and creatively explore who you want to be. Keep showing up for yourself by setting a firm intention, and being consistent. If meditation or yoga is not for you then perhaps try journalling or walking in nature. I do recommend making it a physical practise to encourage you to get out of your head and into your body more. If you miss a day it’s okay, but I encourage you to take action towards changing what is not working for you. Living in stress is living in survival!
Looking out for ourselves shouldn’t become another chore!
For our moving inwards practice today we going to lead with our hearts and turn our gaze inwards. We will practise awareness of our body sensations.
Awareness is the conscious perception or understanding of something, whether it be thoughts, emotions, surroundings, or deeper insights about oneself and the world. It is the ability to pay attention, observe and notice without judgement our immediate reaction, fostering clarity and mindfulness.
Body Sensations are the physical feelings or perceptions experienced within the body, such as warmth, tension, tingling, pressure, or pain. They arise from sensory receptors responding to internal and external stimuli, providing insight into the body’s state and emotional well-being.
Pay attention to the sensations you feel in your body as you transition from Upward Facing Dog Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (ऊर्ध्व मुख श्वानासन) to Downward Facing Dog Adho Mukha Svanasana (अधोमुखश्वानासन). Notice and observe first, and gather as much information about how your body feels. Notice where in your body is there any tension, pressure, pain, tingling, warmth. Once you are aware of this then repeat the movements a few times and make a conscious choice to change the way you transition through to each posture so that it feels more comfortable, and hopefully without any pain or tension in your body. Ultimately free of any stress or stain. Where we put our attention, energy starts to flow there and the ‘how’ we move really matters. We are consciously making the choices rather than just moving our body as if on automatic pilot.
Upward Facing Dog helps to strengthen the spine, it opens the chest and shoulders, improves flexibility in the spine, it stimulates the core muscles particularly the abdominals and lower back, gently stretching the hip flexors. The gentle backbend stimulates the digestive organs, promoting better digestion and relieving any constipation or sluggishness in the digestive system, and boosts energy, focus and vitality.
Downward Facing Dog helps to lengthen the spine, hamstrings, calves and shoulders, improving overall flexibility. It strengthens the upper body and tones the core and legs. It decompresses the spine and stretches the lower back, relieving tension and stiffness, improving circulation as the heart is elevated above the head, so this helps to promote healthy blood flow and circulation. Downward Facing Dog combines both grounding and uplifting effects, making it a great posture to boost energy. It can help stimulate the digestive organs, encourages oxygen-rich blood flow to the brain, reducing tension and fatigue, and improves respiratory breathing.
As a modification you can transition from Cobra (Bhujangasana), through Table Top (Bharmanasana) to Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) if this feels better for your body today.
Remember where attention goes energy flows. So however today's practice goes, that was just today. That's where we are today. Tomorrow will be different, and the next day and the next day so please continue to show up for yourself, exploring, staying open and curious. This is your time to reconnect with what matters most, and discover new things about yourself.
Ask yourself;
What do I want to move closer to?
What changes do I need to make to ensure this happens?
(Everything starts with a single step. You may not get the answer straight away but perhaps be open to receiving it when you move off the four corners of your yoga mat today).
Here’s a crazy idea, you can actually make yourself HAPPY! For me a way to do this is to consciously give myself regular ‘me’ time.
The hardest part is getting to your mat, continuing to show up for yourself with all the ‘things’ you have to do and accomplish today.
Remember You Are Not Alone. Change is possible.
It’s an honour to share this time with you.
❤️ Namaste Tracey Xx
Please feel free to share You Are Not Alone with loved ones and friends. I trust whoever needs to read my musings will find them as a source of inspiration and hope. They are all written from my heart and offer the opportunity to dive deeper into truth, authenticity and trust.
Moving Inward - Exercises designed to take with you onto your yoga mat or alternatively next time you go for a walk alone in nature. I hope the audio version helps with this ❤️ how we move matters - where attention goes energy flows.
My Moving Inward invitation is a sweet, sweet friendly reminder to spend some precious ‘me time’ as often as possible. To take inspiration from my essays when you’re next on your mat and devote time to turning your gaze inwards, in order to cultivate a beautiful conscious conversation with your body, mind & emotions. Through this process we get to practise listening, to be who we are, and creatively explore who we want to be.
