The health and wellness space is full of all kinds of weird, wacky and wonderful ways for us to embrace self improvement and self care. As we come into the tail end of the year, it would make sense that some of us are starting to feel as though we are lagging. It’s been a big few years, but that doesn’t mean that we need to be reduced to crawling to the finish line as there are ways we can perk up and power our way through to the Christmas holidays.
Here are some of the latest wellness trends that are worth trying right now.
Breath work
Correct breathing technique is a very powerful way to equalise the body, make you feel calmer or even more energised. Our breath is also essential for helping you get into a “flow state” which is where we are at our peak. In a flow state we are focused on the task at hand, we are engaged, energised and set for success. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to enjoy being in a flow state, even as the year come to a close.
How can we achieve being in a flow state? According to Dean Gladstone who is a Bondi lifeguard and the founder of Power of Breath here are some tips.
- Learn to identify when you are feeling unnecessary stress or anxiety and get a plan in place for when that happens. If you find you are anxious sitting in front of your desk, move away from it and spend a few minutes practising breath work, mediating or doing some movement.
- Learn to breath through your nose. If you find that you snore, are waking up tired and often with a very dry mouth it may be because you are mouth breathing. This is a dysfunctional way of breathing that is often passed from your daytime habits to the nighttime. Learning to nasal breathe will help you get a deeper and most restful sleep, and help you feel more energised through the day.
- Work on your posture. As your diaphragm is one of the main muscles used when you breathe, if you are slouching and if your posture is poor it can disrupt the flow our that oxygen throughout the body. As a result, those who breathing dysfunctionally may find that they experience lower back pain, shoulder pain and possibly even digestive issues. By improving your breath work a lot of this can be improved, especially when it comes to digestion.
To learn more about breathing techniques, check out the Power of Breath program
Try a hybrid meditation
When discussing meditation, there are a variety of different types used for different purposes. Mantra based or body scan style meditation is a “concentration” style of meditating as it draws your attention to one thing helping you concentrate. Other people might use an expansion style of meditation where they are guided to ‘expand’ their senses by really engaging with one or a few of their senses at a time e.g. taking in all the different sounds happening around them in as much detail as possible, and others might use analytical meditation to help them process and deal with difficult emotions and feelings. Where they observe their thoughts or feelings and work their way through them.
However trying a hybrid style of meditation, where you blend these different types together can have wonderful results for your wellness. This is why Soul Alive, a new meditation app by Luke McLeod, has proven to be quite successful, as most of the sessions delivered on the app combine these different types together. Usually you will start with some type of concentration meditation, either repeating a mantra or connecting with your breath, then move into an expansion phase to open up your senses, and finally finish up with some analytical processing if needed.
Train for your mood
If individualised fitness was popular in 2021, its all about training for your mood and using fitness as therapy in 2022/23.
Are you feeling like getting a good pump on and staring yourself down in the mirror? Are you feeling like letting loose, embracing joy and euphoria as you jam to your favourite tunes? Or are you feeling like letting go and embracing some “you time” on the mat through light introspective movement?
Therapy Fitness is a new concept that aims to encapsulate this with three fully immersive studios designed to help you embrace the “therapy” you need for that day. The music, sound, lighting and candle flickers are all artfully curated to help you embrace any mood you desire for your session.
Measure your progress
We have spoken a lot about mindset, now for those who have a goal in mind that they are hoping to achieve, let’s talk about measuring your progress. There is so much technology available at your fingertips these days that if you have a goal you want to achieve, technology can help you do it.
mPort have released a new state-of-the-art app that uses infrared technology to complete a 3D body scan just using your iPhone. This is a great way to track your progress along your fitness journey, to see the results from your training.
The app doesn’t take any photos of you, but instead uses the depth sensor in your mobile device to create an infrared heat map and capture the 3D contours of your body. The app then creates a 3D avatar of you so you can compare your avatars side-by-side as you progress. You can track up to 20 different metrics such as body fat %, waist-hip ratio, waist-height ratio, BMR, chest, waist, hips and more. You will also receive an in-depth 6-page report that breaks down your results and tells you more about your body type, posture and more for personalised fitness recommendations.
On the other hand, if you want to measure how hard you are training during your workout in real time, BFT have released a game changing heart rate technology which doesn’t just reward training at high intensity like most HR tech does. For example, training at a max 90-99% heart rate in a strength class will not see your desired results of getting stronger and building muscle, BFT³’s technology only rewards members for being in the correct HR zone, encouraging members to follow the prescription. By being able to track if you are in the correct HR zone in real time, means you can adjust your workout effort as you train to ensure you are working efficiently.
Connected fitness
Connected fitness is certainly having its moment, but with all signs pointing to it being here to stay, here is the latest and greatest machine and it hails from Australia.
For those who love a resistance training workout, Vitruvian is an innovative, smart connected-fitness machine that operates by smart algorithms that constantly respond to the way you move.
The Vitruvian Trainer+ brings the gym weight room to your home, office or you can even find them in hotels world wide now. It comes in the form of a slim, carbon fibre platform that can easily slide under a bed. Using revolutionary AI technology, this virtual personal trainer adjusts the weight to individual users in real-time, loading and deloading the optimal resistance, without the need for a spotter. The result? An effective, time-savvy workout that can easily fit into your lifestyle. You can also connect with other Vitruvian members around the world to share your workouts, compete on the leaderboard and connect.
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