5 MYTHS ABOUT SLEEP

One of the best ways to boost your energy, improve your mood and look after your health is to make sure you get a good night’s sleep every night.

It sounds easy, right? But in fact more than 1.5 million Australian adults suffer from sleep disorders. A good sleep is more than just getting eight hours—it’s about a good quality sleep that leaves you refreshed and ready to start the day.

The eight hours myth isn’t the only one we’ve found in the quest for some serious shut-eye. Here are some others that have been busted by the experts.

1. You can catch-up on sleep during the weekend

If you haven’t slept well during the week, getting some extra hours over the weekend may help pay back your ‘sleep debt’, but you can’t bank sleep in advance. It’s better to improve the quality of your sleep so you’re not exhausted by Friday.

Your body has an internal clock that regulates hormones to make you sleepy or awake. If you have a regular sleep routine—going to bed and waking up at the same time every day—you’ll keep your body clock running ‘on-time’ and experience a good quality sleep.

2. You can train yourself to be a morning person

A good sleeping pattern may help you become more alert when you wake, but new research suggests that whether you’re an early bird or night owl comes down to your genes. Your ‘chronotype’ will affect whether you usually feel like going to bed and waking early, at a moderate hour or very late. If you are forced to wake earlier than your body naturally would, you could suffer from ‘social jet lag’ which can impact your health.

If you can, try to adjust your daily routine so you’re doing your most important work when your concentration levels are highest.

3. If you find it hard to fall asleep, it’s because you’re stressed.

Not being able to fall asleep can be caused by a range of factors, however it’s usually due to poor sleeping habits. It’s important to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day; steer clear of caffeine for four hours before bed; and avoid bright lights from TV, phones or other devices at least 90 minutes before bedtime. Make sure your bedroom is cool, dim and quiet for the best chance of a good quality sleep.

4. Napping is only for children

Although napping doesn’t make up for bad sleeping habits, taking a short nap of about 20 to 30 minutes in the afternoon can help improve your mood, alertness and performance. Make sure you don’t nap any later than 3pm, as it could affect the quality of your sleep that night.

5. What you do in morning doesn’t affect your sleep

Actually, it does. To keep your body clock running on time, experts suggest you get up and moving as soon as you wake up (ideally, within two hours of sunrise). You should also expose your eyes to natural sunlight (no sunglasses) for at least 20 minutes before 10am—this tells the brain to decrease melatonin in the body—the hormone that makes you sleepy. The more active and alert you are during the day, the better you’ll sleep at night.

Remember to Breathe

Do you find your arms get exhausted from just paddling out. so that when the set comes you're too tired to go for the wave?

The secret is to... Breathe!

When we go for a run we are aware of our breath to help us run faster, longer and without injury. The same should apply to paddling, this will get you gliding out the back with minimum effort and maximum result.

When you're in yoga and you feel resistance from your body, what does your yoga teacher remind you? Breathe! Sure enough after a few moments the body has adapted and ready to be challenged again.

Breath is life force, it gives us access to really be in the moment. The muscles love to be oxygenated. The deeper the breath the more oxygen our muscles have access to.

When your arms are burning, breathe...

When that wave looks like it is about to crash on your head but you can see with a few more paddles you can get over the top, breathe and paddle!

When you're about to get dumped, take a big breath, relax, let the turmoil of the white water above pass, find the surface and breathe.

When you're paddling for the wave and feel like you're not going to make it, breathe.

And when you're riding the wave, enjoy the moment, your body, mind and spirit will be super stoked from the super oxygenated state!

Inviting Change Through Practicing Yoga

A great insight into the transformational power of Yoga by Sally Kempton: 


"I'm convinced that when you start practicing yoga and meditation, you invite major changes into your life. 


Those changes start from within: Maybe your practice alters the way you define personal integrity; maybe it unleashes deep longings in your heart or shows you truths you've been hiding from yourself. 


Soon, these inner shifts seep into your external life. They make you question the way you do things, and then nudge you to live life differently."

You Are Perfect Just The Way You Are...

Discovering Happiness

Everyone is looking for happiness, but what is the secret to happiness? IN his book "Stumbling Upon Happiness", Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert did extensive research into what truly makes people happy. Though family, friends, achievements, security, and nice house and car did seem to make people happy, the biggest happiness cam from Giving To Others.


This may surprise you. Why not test it out for yourself. When you 'pay it forward" and "live to Give" the surprise gift is the joy you will receive.

Look for opportunities to give to others today. Here are some ideas: 

• Give by teaching and sharing your knowledge
• Offer to share a task
• Offer encouragement
• Give someone a compliment
• Help someone who needs assistance
• Practice being really present when someone is talking to you
• Fully accept someone without trying to improve or change them
• Give away stuff you don't need to charity
• Give someone a hug and a smile!

The Search for Finding Balance

I think the one statement I have heard most on the retreats, other than “this has been my best vacation ever!” has been at the beginning where most of the women I meet tell me they are “looking for more balance in their lives”.

The funny thing about balance is that it’s not something that once it is attained, you can just lock it in and there you go…balanced for life. Oh, if it were only that easy!

Balance is something that must be worked at daily, even hourly. That got me to wondering over the years about the nature of balance and how it can be achieved, and more importantly, sustained.

Also why is it when people are seeking balance they go to such extremes to find it? I have been known to do this by going on silent juice fasting meditation retreats for days on end to find enlightenment, drinking gallons of cranberry juice a day to flush my liver, or better yet the dreaded cabbage soup to drop a few kilos followed by grueling workouts boot camp style.  It’s not surprising then to understand that I was never able to find balance through those avenues.

Any balance I have achieved in my life thus since has been through doing something known as following “the middle way”, a Buddhist philosophy that advocates everything in moderation. A wonderfully simple, yet not so easy to employ concept for a woman who has been evolving over many years from originally a very ‘all or nothing’ type personality.

That journey led me to create Surf Goddess Retreats and our program, which I have purposefully made to be very balanced. There’s activity and effort, accompanied with lots of lush pampering and relaxation, there’s healthy food smattered with delightful doses of decadent sweetness, and even worse ‘fat content’!

I always laugh at the welcome dinner when the ladies I am next to exclaim with dismay after tucking into a fulfilling portion of wholesome organic food, followed by a delish (but healthy dessert) “oh no I am never going to lose weight on this trip!” The funny thing though is that they don’t gain any either. As I said, it’s all about finding the right balance.

Now I would generally consider my life style to be pretty healthy. It’s lucky being involved the retreats, as that means I eat healthy foods, I surf regularly, and you must know I indulge in pampering on a regular basis! However, I am also known for having a sweet tooth and a fond appreciation of wine! 

Plus I also have to admit that running a successful business which is as hands on as our retreats means I can be time poor and find it hard to incorporate, in a consistent way, all the components I know would take my wellbeing to the next level. As a woman who has always put the highest value on continual personal evolution, this is a lifelong commitment I am always redefining as I attain each goal.

It is said that when the student is ready the teacher appears, and so I was delighted when I was serendipitously introduced to international best selling author Jane Scrivner. I was very inspired by her book “Detox Yourself” as it was the first book on cleansing I have read (and I have read A LOT) that had  what I felt to be achievable practices that could be incorporate into life on a long term basis. 

Before I knew it, I found myself in England, in an absolutely gorgeous area near Stratford Upon Avon starting a weeklong cleanse following Jane’s program in her book. I was so impressed after a week of actually doing the detox I asked Jane to be our retreat's consulting Wellness Director, and she wonderfully agreed to share her extensive knowledge and wisdom with us.

Even though it was a relatively short cleanse I felt fantastic, well at least after the first few days of feeling rather lethargic as my body released some of it’s toxins! What amazed me the most was how simple and easy it was, and I didn’t feel deprived. The light bulb went off in my head…I felt I could actually keep this up for a long time, perhaps even a lifetime!

Jane was quick to assure me that while aiming for perfection in the program is a wonderful goal, even just by keeping up 80% of the actions she recommends would be enough to notice a huge difference in my daily life.  I left feeling motivated and ready to move my wellbeing to the next level, and for me that means consistency and making it a natural part of my everyday life.

To ingrain a habit they say it takes 21 days, so now that I have arrived back in Bali and ‘real life’ I want to cement these wellbeing practices into my day. I have never attempted a cleanse of this length and, short of being cloistered somewhere with no temptations to distract and disrupt me, never thought I would try one on my own.

But I have come to realize that there is never a good time to do a longer cleanse. There is always going to be work, dinner parties, travelling and the rest of life that will stand in the way of doing it perfectly, so I have decided I am going to do it imperfectly!

I am going to follow the full 30 day detox that Jane’s lays out in her book, and I am going to document my successes, shortcomings, musings and whatever else comes up on my journey.

For those of you coming on the retreats soon, you get to walk beside me as I go through the process and experience some of it first hand as we have already started to incorporate Jane’s recipes, plus health and beauty practices into our cuisine & spa program.

I invite you to come along for the ride too, either by reading how I am doing, or even by following along and doing the detox with me. You can pick up a copy of Jane’s book via Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Detox-Yourself-Feel-Difference-Days/dp/074992828X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk), plus we will be offering excerpts and recipes along the way from her book as I go through the cleanse.

Please feel free to post any comments or questions you may have, as I am very excited to be sharing this learning and growth experience with you all.

Wish me luck!

Shell-sea  (Mermaid in Charge @ Surf Goddess Retreats)

http://www.surfgoddessretreats.com/

http://www.janescrivner.com/

Soul Surfing - Move Someday to Today

Someday is the magic moment many of us point to when we will be happy, when we will finally have enough money, finally have a better job, better health and will finally achieve our dreams.


The reality is that 'someday' won't just appear out of nowhere. We have to do more than just wish for changes to happen in our lives.


If you want to change your life, change your mind.


We can not change the past. the future is not yet written, all we can do is live life to the fullest RIGHT NOW.

Your Action Pan:


Take a moment today to think about what you want to change in your life. Make a list of the changes that you want to make and list them in order of importance.


Tape that list to your bathroom mirror so you see them everyday.