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Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA on February 7, 2017
♥ local lunar babe @chi.borrello
Hey 2016! You were actually an awesome year for me, thanks for existing and allowing me to exist through you. I love to reflect, so the following are some of my health & wellness highlights:
– Self-care became the top priority. After a few years of insane stress + anxiety, working 24/7 & zero holidays, all of that changed when I finalised the sale of my old business. Actually – it took a little longer if I’m being honest. At first I felt relieved, but also out of sorts. I’d been working so much that it felt wrong to have downtime, so I started freelancing & picked up a few ongoing marketing clients who were all AMAZING, and the extra money was terrific, however I was back to working 7 days a week and exhausted. Any days off I had from my regular job I was face deep in other work & I was burning out. Something had to shift, but I wasn’t sure what it was quite yet. All of this lead to…
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– Another life changing Bali trip (full review to come soon!). In June I spent 10 days in Ubud with my boyfriend & bestie, and it changed everything. We decided to create a DIY yoga retreat, this meant 2-4 yoga classes per day, meditation, incredible vegan food, loads of coconuts, cold-pressed juice & kefir, Ayurvedic treatments, pool time, a little exploring & lots of rest too.
It was here that I realised what I had been doing. I was focusing so much on work that I had absolutely no time to take care of myself. Being constantly tired, daily 2-3 hour afternoon naps, fluctuating moods & regular junk food cravings had become my new normal. I knew what I had to do.
As soon as I returned home I contacted my clients, thanked them for being wonderful & bowed out. I now enjoy 2-4 days off a week for the first time in around 5 years and have never felt healthier.
♥ Sunshine + cats!
– Moving House + Sunshine!. Prior to my Bali trip, probably the biggest event of the year occurred. I moved house! From my teeny tiny falling apart-ment of 6 years, containing zero sunshine opportunities & zero landlord fucks (the place was practically in disrepair, but I did love it), to a giant, beautiful old house with a cat, huge backyard, plentiful slices of sunshine, AIR CONDITIONING (a big deal!!!), fireplace, amazing kitchen and a million other great things. Let it be known that having space to dance around, a couch outside to enjoy the morning breeze & birds, loads of flowers & trees, and a little bit of heating/air conditioning does wonders for your overall wellbeing – who knew 😉
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– Seeing a Naturopath. I wrote a big article outlining the reasons why I saw a Naturopath when I was feeling healthier than ever. And I can now attest that it’s absolutely one of the very best things that happened last year.
I’d seen Marnie a few years ago and loved her down-to-earth approach. I was already feeling great, but knew I had a few lingering deficiencies that could be improved upon. Actually they were pretty important ones! My iron was incredibly low (just below the lowest acceptable minimum) and my vitamin D levels weren’t great either, more than likely due to living in the no-sunshine-home mentioned above.
Both of these have a huge impact on mood and energy. Having struggled with intense chronic anxiety and low energy in my life, I knew it was time to get on top of these once and for all. I’m now spending a little bit of time in the sun every day, taking Vitamin D supplements to help & taking Iron supplements too. Interestingly, low iron is a pretty slow fix. It may take up to 2 years to get the levels to their peak, but I’m feeling better every day and excited to continue on this journey to full health. If you need a Naturopath I can, and always do, highly recommend Marnie Downer in Mount Lawley / Inglewood.
♥ Running around Lake Monger
Running. I’ve always found it difficult due to the aforementioned anxiety and low iron, however in June of last year I decided to recruit a friend and finally give it a real go. We decided on Couch to 5K, which is an 8 week program available as a phone app or you can just time your runs (the app is much easier!). This program does as it says and gets you from the couch, to being able to jog without stopping for 5K.
I have a confession to make, however! Due to my yoga teacher training, other fitness classes that need to be taken as part of my job, sicknesses, weather and general life – my pal and I are actually only up to ‘Week 5’ of Couch to 5K!!! But we’re both okay with it. At the beginning neither of us could jog for even 60 seconds and we are now able to cruise through 5-8 minute runs without collapsing. We’ll get to the full 5K this year 🙂 The mental and physical benefits have been fantastic – increased confidence, calmness, flatter stomach, better sleep, increased overall fitness – the list goes on.
If you are able to stick at it 3 x per week as the program suggests then you will get there much quicker than us, as we’ve only been able to squeeze around 1 per week in.
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Hot Yoga Revelations. Listen closely, I’m about to share something that might change your life, as it is starting to do so for mine. So, as you may have gathered I do a bit of yoga and take a few fitness classes, partly because it makes me feel fantastic & partly because my job at lululemon requires it (cool job!).
What I’ve only JUST realised after all this time, is how incredible I feel the day after a hot & sweaty yoga class, but the kicker is that it HAS to be in a heated room. Why? I have absolutely no idea yet! All I know is that the day after sweating it out in warm to hot yoga, I feel INCREDIBLE. The only way I can describe it is a childlike feeling of joy and contentment that permeates through the whole next day and often lingers into the next.
You best believe I’ll be experimenting more with this in 2017!
So that’s my wellness year laid bare for you, I’d absolutely love to read your personal wellness discoveries of the year – and if you have any exciting plans for 2016, so share with me in the comments below! 🙂
Be well,
Annette xo
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Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA on October 1, 2016
Hey wellness lovers! Welcome to a new bi-weekly series which will bring you all the latest beauty, health & wellness happenings in Perth 🙂 I hear so many exciting bits and pieces of news on a daily basis and am really looking forward to sharing all the brand new local wellness news every 2 weeks! Let me know what you think of this new section xo
♥ Fire & Flow Launch @ Matisse Beach Club in Scarborough
Launched this week is the brand new fitness method, Fire & Flow, which is a blend of sweaty High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) to get your endorphins buzzing & heart pumping, followed by a gentle yoga flow to calm the mind and body – it’s the perfect mix to get you fit, toned & totally zen. Classes will be held in Wembley to begin with, and Fire & Flow offer an instructor-training for those who want to run their own sessions of this unique style! Head to the Fire & Flow website to find out how you can #sweatandreset!
♥ Perth CBD Vegan Cafe – Roark & Co!
Seeing more and more vegan & vegetarian options popping up in our little city makes my heart incredibly happy. As I work in the CBD and there is strangely very few great vego options around, I had resigned myself to the deliciousness and expanding waistline that Lord of the Fries (an all vegetarian fast food chain!) brings.
Enter newcomers Roark & Co + Kat’s Snacks. Both 100% vegan, 1000% delicious and conveniently situated very close to each other in Raine Square, making it your one stop shop for ridiculously tasty veg delights in the CBD.
Roark & Co serve up Pulled Jackfruit Wraps, which are incredible, along with a rotating selection of salads, loads of different patties, home-made soup, cold-pressed juice, kombucha and more. Plus the service is super friendly!
♥ Vegan Chocolate & Peanut Butter Sprouted Mini Loaves @ Kat’s Snacks – ’nuff said
Kat’s Snacks will have you dreaming of their Sprouted Mini Loaves which will thrill your tastebuds while giving you stable energy through the day. Their Peanut Noodle Salad and Lentil Burger with Hand-Cut Fries are my personal favourites, and they also serve up fresh pies, toast with loads of different toppings which look amazing & much more.
Be sure to pay both of these small local businesses a visit! They are both located on the ground floor of Raine Square and are open weekdays 🙂
♥ Bowl’n is almost back!
Ever since CBD favourites Bowl’n disappeared from their William Street location earlier in the year, the city has been sorely lacking in superfood smoothies & bowls. With warmer weather just around the corner – apparently! – our favourite Instagram-able treats are about to return to our fair city. With a new location on King Street/St Georges Terrace currently in the works, it wont be long before city workers can get their daily dragonfruit fix, bump up productivity with a cacao smoothie & pack in the acai antioxidants after a weekend of partying. I can’t wait.
♥ LaFIT Studio in Subiaco… opening in Highgate soon! Photo: The Essentialist Blog
The Life Changing Magic of LaFIT. For those of you who haven’t tried it yet, LaFIT is a one-of-a-kind (literally, there are no other studios in Perth offering this method), body-sculpting, butt-toning, low-impact workout that takes place on a Megaformer, will leave your body shaking & basically works fitness miracles.
It’s been many months since I’ve taken a class and my Winter body is begging me to get back there. Luckily for me, and you, the babes Claire & Jaye behind this sensation are in the process of opening a second studio in Highgate… and rumour has it that this new studio will also be bringing another brand new workout style that has a cult-like status in New York & LA to our little city. Care to take a guess?!
Which of these wellness tidbits are you most excited about?! Leave me a comment below and we can chat about it! If you hear of anything new popping up feel free to drop me a line too!
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
Posted in Inner City, Wellness Tips | 3 Comments »
Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA on September 17, 2016
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It’s been 4 years since I last popped in for a check up with my naturopath, Marnie Downer. In those past 4 years I have undergone some huge changes in my life – from working in the fast paced world of agency PR while running this website, to leaving the PR world behind for a part-time job at lululemon with dreams of growing the website to a full-time gig, and then unexpectedly starting a high-stress business from scratch for the next 3 years. During that time my body & mind were pushed to their limits. I lost 10 kilos, gained it back again & had at LEAST 2 mental breakdowns in the process.
While I’m in a much better place emotionally & physically now and I’m a big believer that everything you experience is valuable and full of lessons, I can’t help but wish I’d kept in touch with Marnie while I was going through it all so she could have helped me care for myself a little better!
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Today I went to see her again for a very different reason than I have previously, and I’m going to suggest that you should do the same (with her, or another naturopath that you like the look of!) no matter what is going on in your life.
Right now, I’m in a really good place. I enjoy my job, am completing yoga teacher training, have 2-3 days off a week, am learning to cook and meal prep nourishing meals, getting Wellness WA back up and running, sleeping well, low anxiety, learning to run, starting personal training again next week… I could go on as there really are loads of things I am happy about and grateful for in my life at the moment.
However, how often do we only seek help when things are dire? When we’ve well & truly hit the wall. Ground zero. Nowhere else to go.
What if we flipped this and continued working to improve ourselves and our lives when things are already going well?
With this in mind I decided to book in to see what I could tweak and improve in my “pretty good, most of the time, except when I drink wine, eat chocolate & smash a packet of chips” health & wellness routine, so that I can run with the good things that I’ve already got, and maybe add a few little improvements here and there to see even greater results.
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It was well worth the appointment and I learnt that the next steps for me personally are taking an activated vitamin b supplement to improve stress resilience, drinking licorice tea to support my adrenal glands, upping the hot water with lemon for overall vitality & making sure to make my green tea with 80 degree water instead of boiling so that all the goodness is intact.
I also feel really empowered knowing that someone has my back nutritionally, knows my full medical history & diet and is making her recommendations based on my personal body makeup and goals.
I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to a naturopath (Marnie or otherwise) – they can tell you all kinds of things you never knew about yourself and your body, and I find I learn something new every single time I have an appointment. Whether you have an acute issue, are feeling a bit stressed or even are just tired all of the time, there is help available and it’s only a phone call or an email away 🙂
So, have you considered seeing a naturopath before? Are you in a dire situation physically or mentally? Or are things going pretty good but maybe they could be just a little bit better? Let me know – my passion for this area has been reinvigorated and I’d love to help point you in the right direction!
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
Posted in Alternative Therapy, North of River, Wellness Tips | 3 Comments »
Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA on September 1, 2016
♥ NOOD Turmeric Latte
I’m so excited to be bringing back weekly beauty & wellbeing crushes! There are so many bits & pieces that get me excited about healthy living, beauty & nutrition that I want to share – so this bite-size format is perfect. Let me know what you think and if you have any recommendations for future crushes 🙂
<3 Turmeric lattes at NOOD Cafe
I’m currently obsessed with both the new NOOD Cafe in Leederville, and one of my favourite healthy treats to enjoy is their delicious Turmeric Latte. If you haven’t yet tried this golden milk of the health gods, put it on your to-do list. Turmeric is anti-inflammatory, full of antioxidants, great for the skin & brain, and has a list of benefits about a mile long.
♥ Takeaway Turmeric Latte + Avo on Toast!
The folks at NOOD kindly have some coconut sugar available so I always add a little to sweeten the deal, it’s also completely dairy-free & made with super tasty Almo almond milk (which you can also buy bottles of to take home). Love!
♥ Skin tea (more on this coming soon!) & HUM Runway Ready
<3 HUM ‘Runway Ready’ Supplements
I’ve been taking these supplements on and off for just over a year now, and I can see a huge difference in the growth of my hair & nails + overall pleasantness of my skintone when I am making a regular habit of it.
These cute little pink sachets contain 3 supplements, 1 x biotin capsule & 2 x black currant seed + sunflower seed oil tablets, all of which are meant to work wonders for hair + skin + nails. Importantly for me they are vegetarian and are also really easy to swallow. Bottoms up.
♥ Radical Self Love + Succeed, the next book on my reading list!
<3 Radical Self Love by Gala Darling
In the past couple of months I’ve cut down on the number of work projects in my life, and subsequently have found a lot more time for yoga, cooking, reading & hanging out in the sunshine. I feel super lucky on a regular basis, and despite having to be a little more thrifty with my income, couldn’t be happier with my new lifestyle.
I’ve followed Gala Darling on & off for around 10 years now and have always been a fan of her ideas around increasing fun, celebration & magic into daily life. Her first book, Radical Self Love, is a distillation of her views on how to love yourself more & live a rad-ass life, and I have found myself buried deep in the pages of it most nights. Taking notes, making plans & generally enjoying the good vibes contained within.
At the 3/4 mark, I thoroughly recommend this book, especially if you’re in a bit of a rut and need a little bit of extra inspiration to get out there, be your most dazzling self & kick-start your best life. Check it out here & if you’ve read it be sure to let me know what you think, too!
Be well,
Annette
xoxo
Posted in Food, Inner City, Products | 6 Comments »
Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA on August 12, 2013
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Having been a member of Fitness First gym since 2008, I’ve had ample time to try out the various classes and workout options available, and have found some winners over the past few years.
I first joined the gym for the great range of Les Mills classes on offer, mostly because I had no idea what I was doing but they were a lot of fun and the instructor managed to keep me motivated for an entire hour! Since then, there are a few classes I’ve continued to go back to.
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♥ Body Pump
A favourite of mine because it allows you to build muscle strength and tone while also working on your general fitness. A pump class works your entire body using weighted barbells, focusing on a different muscle group with each track. If you’re thinking of trying pump for the first time I would suggest sticking with light weights for the entire session because you’ll definitely feel it for the next couple of days, but stick with it and you won’t regret it! I recommend exercising with weights at least 2-3 times a week to see noticeable results.
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♥ Body Attack
Another class I’m a regular at, Body Attack, provides an intense cardio work out – and trust me when I say your heart will be racing for the entire hour! I find this class to be a great complement to my running because it combines aerobic, agility, interval and strength training in the one class. This class works you damn hard but is highly addictive!
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♥ Body Balance
When I want to turn down the pace and have a more mindful workout I like to go to Body Balance, which combines techniques from tai chi, yoga and pilates and ends with a meditation. Bliss!
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♥ Goin’ Solo
I also like to work out individually when I’m not going to a class. Fitness First have a great selection of equipment and my local even has a women’s workout room if you prefer a bit of privacy. I like to alternate between working my upper body and my lower body, with a bit of cardio in between.
An example of an upper body workout I would do includes back exercises using the lat pulldown machine, the seated row machine and barbells for dead lifts; then working my biceps and triceps using the barbells and cable machine.
For a lower body workout I would start with squats and lunges using the squat rack and dumbbells, followed by the leg press machine and dead lifts, and finishing with abdominal work.
Before each workout I warm up with a bit of cardio – I love the cross trainer for this; and I like to end my upper body workout with a good run on the treadmill.
♥ Liz is one of the lovely PT's at Fitness First in Subiaco
There are always personal trainers around to answer questions, help with equipment and give you training tips (you can even ask them about the exercises or machines I’ve mentioned if any of it sounds like jibberish!). You can also arrange a one-on-one session with a personal trainer for more inspiration. Winter is the perfect time of year to get into a healthy routine, and going to a class or personal training session is great motivation.
Do you have a favourite work out you enjoy? We would love to hear about it in the comments below!
Written by Alice – fitness lover who is already getting excited for the return of summer!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, Alice is a paying member of Fitness First & all experiences are her true thoughts! 🙂
Be well,
xoxo
Posted in Exercise, Inner City, Reviews | Comments Off on Five Favourite Workouts at Fitness First!
