As the weather starts to get a bit brighter, the evenings a bit longer and we’re not having to wear quite as many layers, our thoughts naturally turn to summer, spring cleaning, freshening up and detoxifying our lives.
Don’t worry this is not going to be one of those posts declaring now is the time to start working on our bikini bodies, that’s already on the front of every single magazine and sunday supplement and was also splashed across the entrance to my gym today. We already put too much pressure on ourselves about the aesthetics of our bodies and there will be yoga tips but I’ll also be looking at other ways to ‘spring clean’ your life.
I always think the start of a new season is a brilliant time to reassess areas of our lives, taking stock of what is in our everyday and whether it is still serving us. So how about a little bit of goal setting?
Goal Setting
Maybe you set yourself some resolutions or goals at the start of the year? Maybe these have completely fallen by the wayside or maybe they were just the usual, lose x amount of weight, eat better, drink less etc.
Well make this your new fresh start and instead of making goals for what you think they should be, or huge difficult to achieve challenges, set yourself something simple instead. I think a really nice exercise is to set three separate goals with three separate timings, then you can gradually tick them off and feel like you’re achieving. (Thanks Cat Meffan for introducing me to this way of goal setting, its a game changer!)
So how about answering these three questions?
- In one week I would like to have achieved…..
- In one month I would like to have achieved…
- In three months I would like to have achieved….
You can even set yourself a little reward for each one and see if you actually stick to them this time
Spring clean your mat
When was the last time you cleaned your yoga mat? I know I don’t do mine as often as I should! So now is the time, lay it out on the floor, squeeze the juice of one lemon into a bowl and dilute with hand hot water. Using a cloth clean the entire mat with this lovely natural grease remover and let it dry naturally. It’ll probably even smell of lemon afterwards!
Stuck in a rut with food?
Often I find myself at the end of winter stuck in a complete rut with what I’m eating and I’m cooking, it’s so easy to keep buying and cooking the same things but this keeps me in that stodgy wintery feeling. Not necessarily eating bad but just not excited about dinner. So my latest thing is to try a new recipe as often as possible, to step a little out of my comfort zone, get some gorgeous seasonal spring produce, research what to do with it and give it a go.
Great seasonal food right now is purple sprouting broccoli, chicory, cucumber and tarragon and with fresh veggies like that on my plate I always feel infinitely more spring like.
Twist your practice
Yoga wise, build some twists into your practice, supine, seated or standing doesn’t matter but twists are incredible for spring cleaning the body. Not only do they rotate the spine beautifully which immediately makes you feel more awake and less cramped they also give a delicious massage to the abdominal area. That push pull of torso going one way and legs going the other brings some pressure to the abdomen which although not ‘detoxifying’ can definitely help to shift any bloating or abdominal pressure.
Mix up your schedule
Stuck in a routine which just isn’t fun? Well spring clean your schedule then. Try different classes at the gym, add monthly dates with the other half or girlfriends an actual booked in thing or maybe even schedule in more time for yourself. I think there is nothing like a lighter evening to make you feel like shaking everything up a little and stopping the winter heading from work straight to home schedule.
Decluttering
Anyone who knows me in real life will know that me writing about decluttering could be seen as a little strange. I have a lot of stuff, I like books, clothes and shoes and have very personal attachments with my things. But…even I can see the need for decluttering at times and in spring there is nothing better than throwing open the windows and going through those piles of stuff. Make different piles for things to be recycled, to go to the charity shop or maybe even to be sold on. Be relatively ruthless but if something is really tugging on your heart strings pop it back and come back to it next time. One of my favourite things is to go through my ever growing pile of paperbacks and send these off to new homes via the local charity shops or pass them on to family and friends.
And finally
Not spring cleaning as such but something I have recently started doing to bring some of that spring sunshine into someones life. Once a week pick someone who really inspires you or you love and tell them why, it can be a friend, family or maybe even someone you only know through the online world but spread a little love by spelling out why you think they are amazing and letting them know. You’ll have all those lovely endorphins from doing something special and hopefully they’ll get a burst when it drops into their inbox too
Do you have anything you always do every spring to celebrate it being here? I’d love to here all about it below