Detoxing and New Year’s resolutions for 2014

Mums Tips

Fitness & Health

Published on Tuesday, 07 January 2014 14:47

Last Updated on 07 January 2014

Monica Costa

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My detox feature in January has now become a tradition so here I am at the beginning of a new year sharing my ‘resolutions’ and ways of detoxing my life to make space for new things and thoughts.

New Year’s resolutions are a bit old-fashioned for me but when the old year is about to finish I always start to think what I want to do in the new year. Here are my thoughts for 2014. I hope you can benefit from them.

1- Declutter to make space for new things and thoughts – This is one of my favourite detoxing activities and I start actually before and after Christmas.

It is so liberating and energizing to get rid of old stuff. It is even better if you manage to make money out of it. You can either sell old / unused items on www.ebay.co.uk or give it to a local charity. You can get kids to help you as they usually love being busy around the house.

Clutter is anything we do not use and on a non-physical level it is anything unfinished. It keeps us stuck in the past and prevents good new things from coming into our life. On average every one of us owns about 10.000 things which is a lot of stuff to handle, quite literally.

I find two articles from our experts Aneliese Deane, Birgit Medele and Cassie Tillett particularly useful and motivating as they tackle an issue which is ever so popular these days:

Cleaning & decluttering for the New Year

Clutter clearing can change your life!

Cassie Tillett’s tips to tidying the Children!

As part of the decluttering exercise you can invite your friends home to help decluttering your wardrobe.
I love quoting the fabulous Sex and the City episode of the ‘toss’ & ‘keep’ swap party at Carrie’s flat to revamp her wardrobe. It can be really good fun and at the end of it you will regain lots of space in your wardrobe https://londonmumsmagazine.com/2011/how-to-declutter-your-wardrobe. Just watch it again for a laugh 🙂

2- Divide firm goals into achievable chunks : set yourself targets for 2014 that you know you can really achieve step by step. I will personally aim for one small goal (e.g. keeping the post in an orderly place, accumulate less junk), one medium (e.g. eat 10% less food, go for a run at least once per week) and one big achievement (e.g. loose 1 stone in one year). Be reasonable but challenging. And check that you are meeting your targets on a monthly basis.

3- Detox your body with YOGA

I am no stranger to the yoga practice but since starting fencing (sword fighting) training I stopped practising yoga on a regular basis. For us London Mums time is the most precious thing and I guess we all have to compromise and choose very carefully the activities we do in our little Me-Time. Going to the yoga class during the day was not working for me as it never fitted into my busy business schedule so I thought it would be nice if yoga could come to me instead of me going to a yoga class. But I thought this would be not realistic. Guess what?! Such a service exists in London and is provided by the Yoga Team. Amazing! A lovely lady called Salema came to my house and tailored a special yoga programme to my specific need to strenghten my muscles and keep me focus at my fencing competitions. Well, it definitely worked as two days later I won the Surrey County Captain’s Cup for Ladies 🙂

The class was centred on energetic alignment, to bring an optimum sense of balance and clarity to myself ahead of my competition. With specific movement and breath work to quieten the mind whilst building a clear sense of personal focus. Sequencing was directed to increase awareness, offering a space to observe (natural) areas of resistance within the body and mind. This holistic approach allows the student to move deeper in their practice and connect to a key aspect in the personal development aspects (which a regular Yoga practise emphasises) which is in establishing a mindful connection to the strength of our own centre.

What I loved about the Yoga Team teachers is that they use their knowledge – anatomical and energetic understanding to create responsive classes to
complement the requirements (energetically, physically, emotionally, mentally) of the client on the day of
the practice. Effectively putting the class into context, whilst addressing individual postural tendencies. In
this class Salema used breath work to ground and centre the energy to assist with focus for the competition
ahead and to explore personal development in relation to the sporting role.
She gave specific cues to build concentration and awareness.
She also offered modifications in key postures to condition the wrist (stretch and strengthen) eg: the
classical down dog was practiced on the fingers tips (rather than with a flat palm)
Each posture was selected for its ability to target key areas of strength and flexibility but instructed with a
guide towards finding calmness, to open the body and the mind to work with intuitive listen (which is key for sports
people).

I absolutely loved the fact that I could incorporate the Yoga practice into my competitive sport training. Winning the cup and medal as a result of increased focus made me realise how important yoga actually is. 2014 is the year where yoga will be back for good for me!

4- Slimming down using a gentle technique (no dieting)

I love my food and have never dieted in my life. I would find it rather difficult and stressful. If you are like me but you want to loose a few pounds in 2014, it is worth checking Thinking Slimmer that uses hypnotherapy to get you in the right frame of mind to eat less and feel less the need for craving. Check our interesting article about this technique. It works and it is gentle, suitable to all people with a particular hate for diets.

5- Start writing a book or a diary

Many people (including lots of mums) have a book idea or even notes in their drawer that they keep postponing for one reason or another.

Writing about emotional events has been found to result in improvements in both physical and psychological health. Even if you write only a few paragraphs every day about your experiences, hopes, memories and feelings, you will immediately start experiencing benefits to your personal growth and potential. And if you feel writing to publish, you can search on Google ways to self publishing which has never been easier.

Personally I have been writing a culinary book for years and I have never really progressed in a significant way. But I have decided to complete my research this year and eventually publish it next year.

Do you have any book ideas you would like to share with your fellow London Mums? We would love to help out and support you if you do.

6- Outsource or delegate more tasks

Mums and mumpreneurs find it particularly hard to delegate tasks. We always think that we can do things better and quicker ourselves when it comes to both our our babies/kids, house and business. But let’s face it! It is really hard to manage everything and also find time for ourselves. But to my delight there are reliable services such as TaskRabbit that offer manpower to free up precious hours to concentrate on your goals and reap the benefits of outsourcing tasks (from de-scaling kettles to taking the dog to the vet, or give your kids a helping hand, assembling a new flat pack piece of furniture) – a great way to detox your life by allowing yourself more time.

7- Take care of your skin regularly

If you manage to free up some time by delegating some tasks to other people, you can also find some time to look after yourself. This is definitely one of my resolutions this year. Here are my personal easy mums’ tips. Keep looking young by simply taking care of your skin with easy routines including cleansing your face well in the evening to remove all the dirt, oil and make-up that accumulates on our skin during the day (Use a cream cleanser or a wash, not wipes).

Do start a new exercise regime, not only for your wellbeing, but also the condition of your skin by stimulating the removal of toxins in the body. Remember to shower straight after you finish your work out and to put on clean clothes, the longer sweat remains on the skin, the more chance you’ll have of breakouts.

Throw away old products you’ve owned longer than recommended time on the bottle. Old products can harbour bacteria which you really don’t want to put on your skin.

Don’t use dirty make-up brushes; clean your brushes at least once a week with a make-up brush cleaner or antibacterial soap, not forgetting the handles. Used make-up brushes are a breeding ground for bacteria which you’ll then transfer on to your face.

It all might sound so easy but it isn’t. I will make the effort to stick to my resolutions. Will you too? What are your New Year’s resolutions. Please share them with us in the space below.

Happy 2014!