STAYING BALANCED IN THE HOT SUMMER MONTHS

As the seasons shift, our bodies cycle through an organic ebb and flow of change that serves to harmonise and create balance within us. These changes are usually influenced by the seasons themselves: hours of daylight, foods that are abundant at particular times of the year, weather patterns, and seasonally inspired activities.

Although your body will adjust to these changes naturally, it never hurts to integrate some simple tweaks into your routine to aid in the transition and link yourself more intimately with the season that is upon you.

AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH TO INNER-BODY BALANCE

The summer months are a time of light and warmth, and the energy of summer radiates at a high vibration. To balance the heat and energy of the summer season, aim to cultivate the opposite environment on the inside of the body — cool and calm.

According to Ayurveda, the science of health native to India, summer inspires the pitta dosha. The doshas are the bodily humors that help to create one’s individual constitution, and there are three different doshas: vata, pitta, kapha.

Pitta is driven predominately by the solar force, so when the natural cycle of the seasons brings us to the sunny summer months, it is important to pacify the natural pitta inside our bodies so that we aren’t meeting the hot, fiery external climate with a similar internal energy. In doing so, we allow ourselves to enjoy the full excitement and thrill that summer brings, without being flooded by too much of one energetic force.

But how do we balance that pitta energy? During this time of year, a good counter for the sunny weather would be to create a lunar current within the body by focusing on activities and foods that are cooling. This approach will nourish your system and help increase your energy levels.

COOLING SUMMER YOGA POSES

One of the best ways to encourage equilibrium in your body is through your yoga practice. Here are a few cooling yoga poses you can include in your daily routine:

1. Moon Salutations: These are a variation of your Sun Salutes. If you want to do regular Sun Salutations, try to walk forward rather than jump forward to maintain the low vibratory feeling.

2. Supported Backbends: Try Bridge Pose with a yoga block beneath the low back.

3. Legs Up the Wall: Remember to keep your tailbone flush against the wall and your legs straight up.

4. Supported Shoulder Stand: Place a blanket or towel under the shoulders, letting your neck dip off the edge.

5. Forward Folds: Try Seated Forward Fold or Wide-Legged Forward Fold.

6. Floor Twists: You can do these seated or lying on your back.

All of these poses send a calming wave through the nervous system and serve the body’s attempts to self-regulate.

BREATH WORK: COOLING PRANAYAMA

After you complete your asanas, weave in one or both of the following cooling pranayama (breath work):

• Shitali Pranayama: This technique is done by curling the sides of your tongue towards one another and sticking your tongue out through your lips. Inhale through your rolled tongue and exhale out through the nose. Repeat 5-20 times. If you have difficultly curling your tongue, try making a donut shape with your lips instead; inhale through the lips, exhale through the nose.

• Single-Nostril Breathing: This technique isolates one nostril. For the summer months we are targeting the left nostril, which is called the Ida Nadi (“subtle channel”), which is the body’s cooling channel and is located on the lunar side of the body. Plug the right side of the nostril and breathe in and out through the left nostril for 5-20 breaths.

COOLING FOODS, HERBS AND SPICES

Food is another essential component to balance the body, as it metabolises your efforts from the inside, out. Here are a few simple guidelines to follow that will align your eating with the summer season:

• Eat vegetables and fruits that have a high water content: melons, cucumbers, and leafy greens.

• Keep things light and cool — enjoy foods that aren’t dense and heavy, and ones that you don’t need to cook for very long; perhaps even things you don’t have to heat up at all before eating.

• It’s easier to get dehydrated during the summer months. Try drinking electrolyte-enhanced water. If you ever feel like you are over-heating, coconut water is very cooling to the body. (Just be mindful of how much you drink as it is a natural laxative!)

• Incorporate herbs and spices that reduce the pitta dosha, including mint, fennel, cilantro, cumin, and coriander.

Although your body will instinctively crave balance as the seasons shift, it is always a beneficial practice to offer a little assistance. Trust your instincts on these recommendations and always do what feels right for you.

Happy summer!

Article Author: Nichole Golden

Article Source: https://www.gaiam.com/blogs/discover/yoga-for-all-seasons-summer

Our top New Year Resolutions that will keep you grounded in 2022

New Year’s Day allows us to reflect on the past year and set new intentions, cleansing ourselves of the past and starting fresh for the present and the future. While we are also given these opportunities every time we step on the mat, the holiday is wonderfully encouraging, and resolutions are on everyone’s minds and lips.

As yoga teachers and students, our practice is deeply embedded with our life and work. I’m sharing just a few of my yoga-related New Year’s Resolutions; if you’re stuck and haven’t claimed any resolutions yet, feel free to share and steal mine! 

Practice Yoga...Off the Mat

Aiming to do more sun salutations or work on handstands are common resolutions, but let’s not forget that yoga is more than just a physical practice for many. Take advantage of the mental and spiritual elements of yoga this year.

But what exactly does this mean? In order to deepen your yoga practice off the mat, you could:

• Read more about yoga history (including Iyengar’s Light on Yoga or The Yoga Sutras)

• Read more about other yogic paths, including karma and bhakti yoga

• Reflect on the different elements of yama and niyama

• Take extra time to meditate

• Try a vegetarian or vegan diet

Keeping your home clean is yoga, just as much as hitting a handstand is yoga. In order to deepen your practice, we can all look at how we practice yoga out of the asana practice.

Try Different Types of Yoga

It goes without saying that our yoga practice can put us in a strict routine. We may practice the same poses, in the same room, at the same time of day, based on what we were taught or what we enjoy. In the past few years, yoga has exploded into a form of fitness that turns tradition on its head (and we don’t mean in a sirsasana kind of way.) Asanas are used to sell products on social media. Yoga classes are sold with the promise of some rather non-traditional elements. With all of these new developments come confusion and criticism. As much as we may not like to admit it, we’ve all participated in the drama of judging other forms of yoga.

I know I’m not alone when I say that yoga has helped me let go of many forms of judgment: judgement of myself, judgment of my situation, judgment of others, etc. Putting down other forms of yoga, whether they follow traditional rules or not, puts us back into a judging mindset and begins to unravel the work we’ve done on the mat. The best way to do that is to get on the mat, without judgement, and experience new types of yoga. This doesn’t mean that you have to abandon your current practice, but adding in an extra class that you wouldn’t normally visit may help you widen your perspective and learn something new about the practice.

Leave Instagram for After Practice

Instagram and social media can be wonderful tools for motivation and marketing as yogis, but we all know how too much scrolling can be frustrating or distracting. During home practices, I find myself thinking about poses and intentions as they relate to hashtags or social media strategy (it doesn’t help that I work in digital marketing on the side!) As a newer teacher, seeing photos of advanced poses, ones that I just simply don’t have the core or arm strength (yet) for, can be disheartening. And neither of those feelings or trains of thought are productive during a Sun Salutation!

One of my biggest resolutions this year is to leave Instagram out of my thoughts and off of my phone until after my practice is over. My practice is my time, and it should not be drifting to a more advanced yogi’s perfect scorpion pose.

Spread Some Happiness!

I’ll wrap up this post with one of my favorite mantras is a Sanskrit prayer: “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu.” 

(लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु) It translates to, “May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.”

Beautiful, right? The phrase emphasizes spreading love and positivity throughout the world, which makes for a pretty noble (and daunting) mission. I love this phrase because it combines hope with intention. This is a resolution on its own, focusing on how each and every one of our thoughts and actions can contribute to a better world for all. As yogis, we work on this mission every time we get on our mat or teach a class. Keeping this mantra in the back of your head will keep your smiling and positive whether you are on the mat, in front of the class, or just living your daily life!

What are your New Year’s Resolutions, yogis?

Article Author: Megan Okonsky

Article Source: https://www.momoyoga.com/en/blog/4-new-years-resolutions-for-yogis

New Year’s Yoga Resolutions and how to Keep Them

Ancient Babylonians were thought to be the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, roughly 4,000 years ago. They weren’t in quite the same format as the ones we make today (reduce my screen time), and their New Year was in March (marking the planting of the new crops).  But if we want someone to blame, we can start with them.

Every year we start the new year filled with good intentions. This year we’re going mould ourselves into a shinier, thinner, richer version of ourselves and not fall at the first hurdle and…oh, we just fell…

The same applies to New Year’s ‘yoga resolutions’. So here are some ideas about how to make New Year’s yoga resolutions and actually stick to them, so that by the end of this year, you can look back with a glow of pride, not a large helping of self-contempt.

RESOLVE NOT TO HAVE ANY RESOLUTIONS

This one might come across as a cop-out, but hear me out.

What if there’s actually nothing wrong with the old you? What if making a list of what you need to do to improve yourself and your yoga practice is just a way of always reinforcing the sense that you’re not quite good enough. That your efforts on the mat during this year are not enough? Well, what if they are enough?

Maybe you had other challenges that you had to face in your life, maybe you missed the odd class, but you were there nine times out of ten. Maybe your home practice was a bit erratic because you know, life happens, or maybe you even become. Sometimes it’s enough to just say, I resolve to not make any new resolutions but to simply continue being fabulous yogi me. Well done me.

BREAK DOWN YOUR RESOLUTIONS INTO TINY STEPS

Your list of resolutions might start out seeming perfectly reasonable and do-able, but then real life starts back up again, and suddenly putting a wash on and getting a food shop done seem much more urgent than fitting in an hour’s home practice every day.

So instead of resolving to get up at the crack of dawn like all those celebrities seem to be able to do (and still look incredible – how?), just get out of bed five minutes earlier and do one pose. Or two, if you feel like it. Downward dog, for example, is one of those poses that stretches every little bit of you and wakes your body up in preparation for the day. And once you’ve cracked five minutes, you might just find yourself doing ten minutes.

MAKE FEWER RESOLUTIONS

So your New Year’s yoga resolution might be to create your very own yoga teaching empire, by starting up more yoga classes and leading your first retreat in the Maldives. If we are too ambitious with our goals, they become overwhelming and in the end, we may not achieve any of them.

So instead of trying to do it all in one go, perhaps it might be worth thinking, what is it that I would actually like to do that would make me feel the most satisfied? Or, am I trying to do all these things because I want to, or because I feel I should? Just choose one of the goals and break it down into smaller sections that you can schedule into your diary. Then, once one of your resolutions is achieved, the others may well fall into place.

ASK FOR HELP TO KEEP YOUR RESOLUTIONS

No man (or woman) is an island”, said John Donne, and he’s quite right. We are social creatures that exist in a web of wonderful human relationships, with family, friends, and colleagues – and fellow yogis, of course.

If your New Year’s yoga resolution is to establish a daily home practice then perhaps you can buddy up, and challenge each other to keep up a home practice every day for 21 days. At the end of each practice, you could text each other an update, or keep a home practice diary and then share your updates on a weekly phone call (because that takes you back to your youth, when people actually CALLED people).

MAKE BETTER RESOLUTIONS

Have you ever considered that one reason why you might not have smashed last year’s New Year’s resolutions, is because they were things you actually didn’t want to do, to begin with?

Just because someone else can manage to be some all-singing, all-dancing yogi with bells on, doesn’t mean that’s what you need to do. Perhaps your yoga is a small, quiet practice for yourself. Maybe those advanced poses are just not for you, and that’s okay too.

This year, choose resolutions that you want to keep and then keeping them will be oh so much easier.

Article Author: Poppy Pickles

Article Source: https://yogalondon.net/monkey/new-years-yoga-resolutions-and-how-to-keep-them/

Heart openers for new beginnings

New beginnings are easier done when we can approach people and situations with an open heart and mind. It is not uncommon for us to build walls over time – learned behaviours and reactions that we have developed as a way to protect ourselves. However, in order to truly build the life we want, we will often have to confront and deal with these defence mechanisms to encourage openness + to invite opportunities in. The article below discusses how heart opening asanas can help you along this journey.

Just as you can practice heart opening in your thoughts and emotions, you can also experience opening the heart space in your physical body.

For many, “opening your heart” implies receptivity to love and intimacy in a romantic relationship ring on the candy and flowers. However, everyone, including single yoga practitioners, can experience heart opening in other kinds of relationships: with caring friends and family members, pets, teachers and mentors, and with our own students.

With deep introspection and honesty, you can also practice heart opening in more challenging situations, such as your relationships with difficult people or those with whom you disagree philosophically or politically. As you visualize and practice opening your heart in your various relationships, you’re learning ahimsa, or compassion, which is number one on the list of yamas and niyamas.

Know Your Physical Heart Space

Just as you can practice heart opening in your thoughts and emotions, you can also experience opening the heart space in your physical body. Your heart resides within the thoracic cavity, which is surrounded by a bony cylinder, the rib cage, comprised of 12 ribs on the right and 12 on the left; your sternum (breastbone) in the front; and the spine in the back. The bones are held together by soft tissues, including muscles large and small; cartilage between the vertebrae in the spine, between the three parts of the sternum, and as part of each rib as it attaches to the sternum; and by ligaments, which join bone to bone. There are ligaments, for example, between each pair of vertebrae, and ligaments holding each rib onto its adjacent vertebrae. Your diaphragm, the dome shaped muscle that separates the heart and lungs above from the digestive and reproductive organs below, forms the floor of the thoracic cavity.

Ideally, the soft tissues supporting the bony cylinder remain resilient for a lifetime, so the cylinder is able to expand freely with each breath and the rib cage doesn’t become a rigid and restrictive container for the heart and lungs. You might picture a stiffened rib cage like armour: The lungs won’t be able to expand completely to receive a deep, full breath; and the rigidity may also limit blood flow to and within the heart. An immovable rib cage is also a limiting factor in Pranayama and many yoga poses, especially twists (which require rotation) and backbends (which require spinal extension), because its rigidity prevents the thoracic spine from moving through its normal range of motion. The lack of thoracic extension in backbends can contribute to lower back and neck pain caused by the lumbar and cervical spine hyperextending (overarching) to compensate for the lack of midback movement.

Conscious work with the breath is one of the best ways to improve rib cage mobility, gently stretch thoracic soft tissues, and open the heart space. Any time people feel threatened, be it by pain, challenge, or pressure to perform, the need to guard or defend oneself usually results in holding the breath or breathing in shallow, erratic patterns. These defensive breath patterns cause muscle tightness in the very areas we’re trying to open, as well as gripping in the upper abdomen, which restricts the normal movement of the diaphragm. By teaching your students to practice slow, gently expansive breathing (while avoiding aggressive action, such as pushing or forcing the breath, which generates more inappropriate muscle tightness), you’ll help them start to break up rib cage rigidity and the armor of tightly gripped chest, back, and abdominal muscles.

Simple Positions to Open the Heart

To avoid setting off guarding mechanisms while practicing breathing that expands the rib cage, it’s best to use simple, pain-free positions. To open the chest and abdomen, a wonderful position is a gentle and supported backbend. Try it while lying over a rolled blanket or towel (use a smaller roll for very tight students), placing the roll crosswise under the thoracic spine (the midback, where the ribs attach) and resting the arms in an open position, with palms up. This position gently expands the front rib cage and upper abdomen with each inhalation. Keep the knees bent and place one to two inches of support under the head to help prevent lumbar and cervical hyperextension.

Simple twists invite expansion of the side ribs. Try lying on your right side, with your knees pulled up toward your chest to create a 90-degree angle at the hips. On an inhalation, open your left arm behind you while turning your head to the left. Don’t let the left arm dangle in mid-air. Place just enough support (a block or blanket) under the left arm so you feel some stretch but no pain in the chest and/or side ribs. If your midback, including the space between the shoulder blades, is tight and flat, practice Balasana (Child’s Pose) with arms overhead or beside your calves. People with stiff spines and hips may not be able to get their heads to the floor and so will need support under the head in this pose. Usually a block or folded blanket under the head provides enough height to support the weight of the head, so the neck muscles can relax.

Whether opening the chest in a supported backbend, the side rib cage in a twist, or the thoracic spine and rib cage in Child’s Pose, talk to yourself or to your students about breath patterns. Invite your inhalation to gradually become a little slower, smoother, and deeper, again avoiding any tension-producing forcefulness. Then bring your awareness to the part of the rib cage you want to open (such as the front ribs in supported backbends and the side ribs in twists). It may help to place a hand on the area so you can feel the expansion from the outside as well as the inside. Let the inhalation gently expand and open the ribs, then relax and surrender to gravity with each exhalation.

Practice breathing in each position for two to three minutes, a few times a week if not every day. You’ll be rewarded with deep relaxation, improved breath awareness, opened heart space, and if you so choose a life-altering practice of ahimsa.

Article source: https://www.yogajournal.com/teach/opening-the-heart/
Article author: Julie Gudmestad

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Self-limiting beliefs

The way we think & our attitudes and beliefs can have a dramatic effect on how we approach life and opportunities that come our way. Thoughts are strongly influenced by the experiences we have had throughout our lives and can therefore be challenging to alter. However, it can be done and if we are able to change our thinking for the better, the opportunities can be endless! The article below discusses what self limiting beliefs are and how we can work towards changing them. Take a read!

Many of us are constantly striving to grow professionally and personally in our lives. Every new year we set aside some time to establish brand new objectives and things we want to achieve. We start the year off with admirable willpower but it’s not uncommon to arrive at a point when our motivation drops off and our plans lose their lustre.

How many goals have been set but never reached the finish line? Of course, some big and small life changes could have affected your goals from coming to fruition but your beliefs and attitude play an important part in what does and doesn’t happen.

Tony Robbins once said:

“The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself.”

What you tell yourself is what you believe. This can play a big role in how you see the world and how you feel. Open your mind and you will discover a belief that's preventing you from being successful. This is also known as limiting beliefs. What type of excuses do you tell yourself that is limiting you from being who you want to be or where you want to be?

What Are Limiting Beliefs?

Limiting beliefs are thoughts, opinions that one believes to be the absolute truth. They tend to have a negative impact on one's life by stopping them from moving forward and growing on a personal and professional level.

In most cases, limiting beliefs are unconscious thoughts that act as a defence mechanism to avoid possible negative or lower vibrating emotions (e.g. frustration, anxiety, anger, sadness).

These beliefs are often triggered according to specific episodes that may have made you suffer in the past. So your subconscious tries to block it by altering your behaviour which can result in negative outcomes like procrastination, conformism, overthinking, anxiety, impostor syndrome, and other reactions.

The Origin Of Self-Limiting Beliefs

Most limiting beliefs are largely developed during childhood. The author of the bestselling book The Biology of Belief, Dr. Bruce Lipton, talks about how from birth to around age seven, you operate primarily in brain wavelengths that are very close to a hypnotic state. When you are a kid, you are literally a sponge, soaking up every little thing around you in order to record "bad and good" behaviours/emotions.

This means that everyone develops beliefs from early childhood, some of which are supportive, and some of which are limiting. For instance, children who are treated as though they are loved and valued will develop the belief that they are loved and wanted. On the contrary, children who are abused or neglected will tend to develop the belief that they are unworthy and unwanted.

There are many ways to identify your limiting beliefs. A natural way of doing that is by listening to the little voices in your head. It's that voice that is constantly telling you that you cannot do, be, or have something.

Let me tell you a personal story that I went through this year. Every three months Atlassian holds an event called ShipIt — a 24 hour innovation time to work on something outside of your job description or take on something to improve your team's work.

This year I decided to participate by leading a project which I had no clue on where or who to ask to help me develop my idea. I am a very quiet remote worker who doesn't (virtually) socialise much so in order to be successful, I needed someone who had some specific programming knowledge that I didn't have. I would have to search for that person in the company. Before submitting my idea to the project board to recruit people to be part of, I instantly thought: "No one is going to care about this topic" and "This project will be a failure".

It took me a few weeks to overcome my thoughts and act upon them. Yes, procrastination is my weakness when I have to deal with something that's uncomfortable for me. Every time my team lead would ask me about this project, another thought would come to my mind: "Why (the heck) did I tell her that I was going to this? Now I have to do it." In the end, telling my co-worker helped empower me to follow through with the project.

Bottom line: I decided in my mind that since I thought this project would be a failure, I should at least try and learn from it. In the end, I not only managed to have the right five people on the project, but we also won the prize for that ShipIt. I was indeed shocked by the end result.

Let's discover how self-limiting beliefs can have a larger impact on a team.

How Do Limiting Beliefs Impact A Team's Success?

Psychologist, Robert M., describes in his research the importance and impact of beliefs in our lives. He says:

“Beliefs are like filters on a camera. What the camera ‘sees’ is a function of the filters through which it is viewing its subject. In other words, how we ‘see’ the world is a function of our beliefs and profoundly influences personality.

As a result of our beliefs, we define ourselves as worthy or worthless, powerful or powerless, competent or incompetent, trusting or suspicious, belonging or outcast, self-reliant or dependent, flexible or judgmental, fairly treated or victimized, loved or hated. Your beliefs have far-reaching consequences, both positive and negative, in your life. Beliefs affect your moods, relationships, job performance, self-esteem, physical health, even your religious or spiritual outlook.”

If teams are made by a group of people then, each of them has their own personal stories, beliefs, and values. When the team bands together, it could make or break the culture, project, or task that they are collaborating on to build and execute.

The fact is that someone's limiting beliefs can have an impact on the team because they can create a real stumbling block not for oneself but also for others. For instance, say Joana is getting closer to her project's deadline but there's no sign of that being accomplished in time. A teammate offers help, but she says "Don't worry, I got this!". There are many beliefs that could be stopping Joanna to accept help, for example, the belief of "being untrustworthy", "not smart enough", "not reliable when she said she could do it."

When you start developing your self-awareness to identify your limiting beliefs, you can take the same situation and create an opportunity for improvement. Doing so will empower you to problem solve, rather than limit yourself to grow. If everyone on the team is open to doing the same, then your team will evolve into a high-functioning team.

Leaders can also inspire their team by encouraging them to get their work done and brag about it to the whole company. The more a leader encourages their team with a positive leadership style to stretch and break through those limiting beliefs, the more effective and productive a team will become.

Beware The Pitfalls Of These Limiting Beliefs

There are two key self-limiting beliefs that can hurt your team. Let’s start breaking them down to help create a better and more productive workplace for your entire team.

"I need my colleagues to like me in order to feel loved or valued."

This limiting belief also relates to something like, "If I don't get the approval of [name/entity] , I feel [emotion] ."

When you are constantly seeking approval from others to like you, you tend to accept things even though you don't like them. It's like your mind is already programmed to say "yes" before you think that's something you like. This can lead to a great deal of stress in the relationship of your team. You are likely to blame them for anything that goes wrong as a result of you agreeing to do what they asked for. This can also have a bandwagon effect. The fear of being an odd-one-out and coupled with the belief that agreeing to someone's perspective will make a person like you can prevent you from speaking up and expressing an alternative view. Making your team blind in a situation you could have contributed to a better solution. On the flip side, it can also lead to burnout for those who don't speak up.

Try this: First, understand why you are saying yes to everything. Then, begin pinpointing the little things you can say no to before being able to say “no” to a bigger project or task. That way you can learn more about how you feel along the way without freaking out in the long run.

"It's not perfect, I need more time before I share"

Another limiting belief in the workplace is when you take too much time to deliver your work because it doesn’t feel perfect yet. This can slow down your team's productivity and potentially backfire with negative effects like depression and anxiety. If you are being critical of your own imperfections, you are probably doing the same to members of your team.

Marie Forleo wrote a whole chapter about perfectionism in her book Everything Is Figureoutable. She explains:

"Life doesn’t demand perfection. It doesn’t require you to be constantly fearless, confident, or self-assured. Life simply requires that you keep showing up."

Try this: Cultivate an awareness of your tendencies toward perfectionism. Instead of holding the work until you perfect it, ask your team members for feedback by using the 30/60/90 framework. That way you can move faster by acknowledging the pain points of your work and leaving behind the gritty details.

Identify, Reframe, And Move Forward

We all have limiting beliefs that stop us from achieving our dreams or even our everyday goals. In order to identify and change those beliefs, you need to work on your self-awareness muscle. The secret is to be accountable and take responsibility for the beliefs you created for yourself. Ultimately, you want to get into the practice of recognising a limiting belief and reframing it to help you take a step forward.

And if you're still encountering limiting beliefs, remember the advice of Mahatma Gandhi:

"You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Change starts within you. Once you start, embrace your teammates to do the same, then you will see a shift in your team's behaviour and performance which will contribute to success and eventually make a difference in the world.’

Article source: A blog for teams by Trello
Author: Amanda Alvernaz

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Lifestyle tips to create a healthy gut

Our gut can influence our general health, mental health, skin, and so much more. Fortunately, if we give our gut some love, we can really reap the benefits quite quickly. The article below covers some strategies we can take to work on improving our gut ecosystem! Take a read and see how you go implementing some of the changes!

Love your gut, your second brain: advice from Registered Dietitian Jo Travers

Our gut health has the power to impact not only our physical wellbeing, but also our mental health and mood. This is due to a direct link between the gut and the brain, called the gut-brain axis.

The gut and the brain ‘talk’ to each other on a regular basis, using special chemical messengers produced by the billions of different bacteria that live in our gut. For example, among these we can find dopamine and serotonin – also known as happiness or ‘feel-good’ hormones. Although gut-brain axis communication is two-way, over 80% of the messages are actually sent from the gut to the brain rather than the other way round. So, it really does pay to give your gut some love!

As Jo Travers explains: “The gut is connected to many of the body’s organs, whether it’s through digestive enzymes or the link to the immune system, and its connection with the brain is one we can absolutely use to our advantage.

“Although scientists are still working to fully understand this two way street, it appears that the gut is attuned to the signalling and functionality of the brain and vice versa, so if conditions are less favourable in either place, then this can affect the other.”

To help us give our gut (and brain!) the love and attention it deserves, Jo has shared her top tips on how we can begin:

Get enough sleep

Sufficient sleep is something everyone needs. Found yourself resisting sleep to watch another episode of that favourite box set? This unfortunately means you may be depriving yourself of sleep which in turn, won’t help communication between the gut and the brain.

The bacteria in the gut directly communicate with the central nervous system and disrupted sleep can affect the levels of bacteria in the gut.

Manage your stress levels

Because of the unique link between the gut and the brain, mental stress can affect what happens in the gut. We’ve all had “butterflies” when we are nervous and many people who suffer with IBS notice their symptoms getting worse if they are stressed.

This mental stress can actually alter hormones that work on the gut. By practicing meditation, or any relaxing activity, you can reduce stress and help your gut get back to normal functioning again.

Nourish the gut (bacteria)

There is some evidence that what you eat can affect how you feel mentally, via the gut-brain axis. Fibre from plants feeds the bacteria in the gut that, in turn, produce chemicals to communicate with the brain.

The greater variety of plant foods you eat, the broader the range of useful bacteria your gut can support.

Include Fermented foods

Fermented foods like kombucha, kefir or other fermented milk products actually contain bacteria that can alter brain activity via signalling pathways in the gut-brain axis. The consumption of fermented food was shown to reduce social anxiety in young women.

Increase polyphenols

Polyphenols are plant compounds that are thought to be involved in the gut-brain axis. Polyphenols help gut health by encouraging the growth of useful bacteria like Bifidobacterium strains and inhibiting the growth of “bad” bacteria such as C. difficile. Eating foods that are high in polyphenols has also been shown to affect cognition.’

Article source: https://loveyourgut.com/all-entries/love-your-gut-week-2021-registered-dietitian-jo-travers-shares-her-tips-on-the-gut-brain-axis-and-how-to-nurture-it-for-good-gut-health-happy-love-your-gut-week-2021/

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