Author: Leanne Spencer

Lockdown Has Changed My Exercise Routine. Here Is Why

Published by Leanne Spencer

How has the lockdown impacted your exercise routine? Some of you might have taken up running, signed up for online classes and others might have given exercise a total break for now – or at least until the gyms are opening up again. This month I want to talk to you a bit about how my exercise routine has changed and how I have tweaked my exercise sessions during this period while I have been working exclusively from home. This is a piece of advice I normally withhold, because many of us are office based and it becomes a bit of a moot point, but I’ve tweaked the timing of my exercise sessions. Our nervous system: Sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system I want to explain to you why I have tweaked the timing of my session. The optimal time to do a harder or more exerting exercise session is actually the afternoon. It is roughly between 2pm and 4pm or thereabouts. And the reasons for that are our nervous systems in the morning are already …

The Importance Of Taking Regular Breaks

Published by Leanne Spencer

I’m very lucky. I have an outdoor studio and once I have finished writing this article, I will get myself ready to take a break out there. I’ll actually lie down on my mat, I’ll get my bolster out and I’ll use my lovely lavender eye cushion. Ready to take a short break. And the reason I do this is it improves creativity, it improves focus, it improves productivity. I see me getting better value from the work I do by taking regular breaks, and it is not just me, it is not just anecdotal evidence. The Benefits Of Short Breaks Some of us are still in lockdown and working from home. Work and private live can blur together into one long day for some of us. In those circumstances, taking regular breaks can be a game changer. As I mentioned briefly above, this is not just anecdotal. There have been lots of studies around the benefits of taking regular breaks. There is a 2011 study that I was reading earlier, from the University of …

Absorb And Redirect

Published by Leanne Spencer

This month I would like to talk about a concept that my business partner Antonia has been talking to me about… Absorb and redirect. It’s an idea that comes from Kung Fu, which is a very old, traditional Eastern or Chinese form of martial arts, often inspired by old Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. The particular style that Antonia practices (there are many Kung Fu styles) teaches you that in order to become an efficient martial artist one should avoid resisting the forces that come towards you from your opponent. You should instead absorb, redirect and make that energy work for you. I think it’s an interesting concept and relevant for today’s challenges. We’ve got a lot of negativity swirling around, but we also have the opportunity to create and take advantage of a great deal of positivity. The idea of absorbing and redirecting You absorb the energy that’s coming at you, both positive and negative, and then you redirect it. Think about everything that’s coming your way. In Kung Fu, for example, if you …

Keeping Things Simple To Help Make Decisions

Published by Leanne Spencer

Leanne Spencer writes about how this blog was inspired by a conversation she had with a client a couple of weeks ago. She had hit a rut and a lot of the things that she’d been working on had gone by the wayside. What I did to try and get her moving again was simply give her a piece of advice… Start with just one thing! Focus on one thing that you can implement, and make sure you pick the thing that is going to be the most impactful. For this particular client, I told her, “Right, get to a Zumba class tonight. That’s all you need to do.” Because I know with this particular individual (but also with most of us), as soon as you start moving your body and start generating a really healthy dose of dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, you feel better, you make better choices, and you’re more motivated to continue those good behaviours. In this particular instance, I picked exercise and that’s always where I would tend to start. But …

Fitness Tips: How To Rest And Recharge

Published by Leanne Spencer

Something that occurred to me relatively recently is that I’m a classic blend between extrovert and introvert – I have very extroverted tendencies, but also quite introverted. And what was really eye opening to me, is when someone explained the difference between the two. An extrovert isn’t someone who loves to be at parties and is always shouting their heads off and an introvert isn’t the quiet one that never comes out of their shell. But, an introvert is somebody who recharges by being alone and an extrovert is someone who recharges by being with other people. That’s the true definition of it. And having heard that, I realised that one of the ways I recharge is predominantly by being alone. It’s not by socialising – that’s where I expend my energy. Once I twigged onto this, (which is quite funny that I have suddenly found this out in my mid-forties! But it’s changed the game for me a bit). I’ve really pared down my diary in terms of evening engagement. That’s when I really …