Kim Ingleby is a multiple award winning Mind Body Coach with the passion and tools to help you discover your inner confidence and strength to make anything possible. She has raised £80k for charity, done a TEDx talk, completed 7 marathons and written a best-selling book, The Hound of Happiness. Over to Kim…
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved the seasons in the UK. The cold, wintery months are perfect for creating ideas, becoming stronger, learning and growing. Spring brings new hope, it’s the time for nurturing and developing those ideas and dreams into action before summer begins to bloom.
‘Let’s go where the stars kiss the oceans’
For me, summer is a time of lightness and happiness, transition and fun, yet life remains busy. So, how can you manage to boost your wellbeing this summer and have a good time? Here are a few of simple tips to get you started:
1. Create a vision board
This will help you become really clear and positive about how you would like to feel this summer. Fill your board with images, quotes and photos of inspiration, motivation, focus and direction. Then create a simple week by week plan with three tiny goals to commit to achieve. Both can be done in a summer notebook if you’re short of time. You can spend a few hours with friends and family creating your own and sharing ideas. You could do this over a Summer BBQ or evening drinks and make it fun!
2. Stay hydrated
Often in the summer we don’t drink enough, which can affect our skin, mood and energy. A rough guide is your bodyweight in kg x 0.033 plus around 500ml per hour of sweaty exercise! Drinking green tea, or warm water with a pinch of turmeric, lemon and fresh ginger in the morning will cleanse your system and boost your energy for the day. Coconut water or lime with a pinch of himalayan rock salt will help boost your electrolytes throughout the day, or even eating some watermelon. Then in the evening, wind down with some fresh mint and rose buds, or camomile tea. Focus on boosting your hydration for 6 weeks and see if you notice the difference.
3. Plan your exercise
Some people like the heat and others don’t. Adapting your workout times to fit with the weather can make a difference to your commitment and results. Write down a simple plan with three workouts a week to help you feel good, become stronger and boost your energy. Aiming to do a high intensity training session (eg. burpees, mountain climbers, skater shuttle runs), leg strength (lunges, squats, step ups) and running speed shuttles and an upper body (eg. press ups, bicep curls, shoulder raises) with a boxing workout is a nice blend. On the other days, 10-15mins of stretching and core exercises (eg. crunches, plank, dorsal raise, side crunch) really help.
4. Eat fresh and feel good
Summer time is great for all sorts of fresh, local foods, so take an hour or so and plan your summer list of foods to eat, sticking it on the fridge. I often find people get stuck in a rut with salads that are always the same. Get creative, mixing loads of colours together, adding protein and feeling vibrant.
Try this for an idea - watercress, spinach and black kale, with radishes, avocado, tomatoes, chickpeas, black olives and toasted pine nuts – add salmon, turkey, feta or tempeh as desired, top with lime and ginger in cold pressed olive oil and you will feel super powered.
5. Sleep well
I love circadian rhythms and how our bodies adapt and respond to the seasons. Often in the summer, we sleep a little less, yet the quality and depth of sleep is still really important to stay well and energised. Keep a routine before bed, try switching off digital devices an hour before bed, drinking your sleepy teas, practising meditation or gratitude journaling and setting your intention for the forthcoming day. Black out blinds, light clothing to sleep in and a lighter duvet can all enhance the quality of your sleep too, allowing you to wake feeling bright and ready for the day ahead.
6. Look after yourself
During the summer months, hay fever and heat can cause problems. A few tiny changes can make the difference. If you suffer from hay fever try reducing dairy products, boosting your vitamin C, local bee pollen, quercetin, anti-inflammatory foods, and hydration. These steps may not help everyone but one may make the difference for you. Wearing sunglasses, keeping the windows closed at dawn and dusk, and avoiding too much time outside can make a difference too. Focusing on good deep breathing and posture can help too. For your skin, make sure you are wearing plenty of sun protection and using a good moisturise and toner - especially if you are outside for hours with work or sport.
7. Have some Fun
Life is busy and we all have so much to do. Making a little time during the summer to just switch off and have some fun is so important. Remember the simple things that make you laugh and smile in the moment. Happiness is a collection of many small events all noticed and linked together, rather than just a few bigger events. Making time to grow our inner happiness during the summer can give real benefits in the moment, and for the Winter months. And if you have a big, what if goal, Summer is a good time to take a leap and go for it!
I would recommend you choose up to three tips to work on for the first week, adding the others in the forthcoming two weeks. If you are busy, choose the ones you know you can easily make happen. If you have more time, plan the bigger, challenging ones in which will make a real difference. We would love to know how you get on and what your summer goals and dreams are.
P.s Good quality Omega 3 could help to improve your skin tone, reduce inflammation and help positively support your mood and reduce your allergy symptoms.
Check in next month for my beach body confidence tips and thoughts.
With big Summer Support always, Kim.
To work with Kim, find out more & join her Inner Confidence – Beach Edit Course www.energisedperformance.com or tweet @kimingleby
'The Hound of Happiness – 52 Ways to Feel Good' is available to purchase on Amazon.
