When was the last time you felt your whole being hum with vitality? Try working one or two of these tips into your day as first aid for feeling worn out.
1. Kickstart with cayenne: Start the day with a glass of warm water, the juice of ½ a lime, a teaspoon of honey and a good pinch of cayenne pepper. The lime activates liver function and the cayenne boosts circulation. Together, they rev up digestion and metabolism and speed detoxification. Translation: This tonic gets things moving.
2. Brush and blast : Before you step in the shower, use a long-handled bristle brush all over your body (except face and neck). Skin brushing stimulates the lymphatic system and makes skin tingle. Finish with short burst of cold water for morning pep.
3. Punch up your prana : In yoga, pranayama – breath control – is used to energise body and mind. Try this invigorating exercise outside in the fresh air.
Stand with hands on your shoulders, elbows pointed out.
Inhale and twist to the left, then twist to the right as you exhale, making a loud ‘ha!’ as you punch your left arm to the right. Make the sound from deep in your gut, not just your throat.
Repeat, inhaling and twisting to the right, exhaling and punching to the left.
4. Knock three times : The “three taps” of chi kung create waves of fresh energy deep within the body.
Head Using your knuckles, tap vigorously from the shoulders up the neck, over the skull to the forehead, and back down the neck again.
Kidneys Gently tap the kidneys from top to bottom. You’ll find them just above your waist at the back of your abdomen on either side of your spine.
Thymus Using one hand, tap the centre of your chest. The best rhythm is one heavy tap followed by two lighter taps (ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three)
5. Pick a flower essence :Developed by the homoeopath Dr Edward Bach, these work on a subtle level to restore emotional balance. Bach recommended Scleranthus for sluggishness and Larch for that couldn’t-be-bothered feeling. Essences can be taken by mouth, used as a room mist, or added to a bath.
6. Thought-switch : This technique comes from neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).
Close your eyes and imagine a ‘trigger picture’ – what makes you feel exhausted? Maybe it’s you surrounded by to-do lists. Make it big, like a computer screen.
Now imagine a ‘switch picture’ of how you want to be instead, in your ideal, energetic state. Place this at the bottom of the screen, like an icon.
Select the icon and bring it up to fill the screen, deleting the negative picture.
Open your eyes and stamp your feet. Repeat whenever you start to slump.
Be inspired to energise your life with these healthy recipes from the Women’s Weekly Detox Cookbook
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