Headstrong with AXA PPP healthcare

This is a sponsored post.

And it will take 1min of your time to read – well maybe 5 but we promise you, you’ll thank us for it!

We got an email inviting us to an event called #Headstrong by AXA PPP healthcare led by Richie Norton AKA @thestrengthtemple. Headstrong is about one complete health – making sure your mental health is prioritised as much as your physical health. Our lives are busy so I quickly skimmed the email, saw it included movement and mental health (an automatic yes from me), looked for the date and time – can we do it? Yes. OK– add to the diary, next email. 

This sums up how we operate at the moment, struggling to find free time, back to back meetings, work, projects etc. Sometimes it feels strange to just stop for a second and just breathe! And that is literally what Richie got us to do at the event… breathe consciously, with intent, control, awareness and purpose. We did this for 5 minutes and wow, game changer! Did I miss a deadline because of it? No. Were we better people for it? Quite frankly, yes.

We started by just laying down and filling our bellies with air and releasing it all out again. Like filling a balloon, except our belly is the balloon and it’s a bit more difficult to fill your belly with air than you may think. Then we focused on slowing this down… Richie calmly instructed us to “take 5 seconds to inhale and fill your belly with air, hold that in for 4 seconds and then exhale for 7 seconds”. We followed and slowly my mind let go of the stresses from earlier in the day. I slowly let go of my feelings of impatience from various things that happened earlier and just breathed. Bliss, but a bliss that can be quite difficult to get to.

I found it quite easy to shut off but this isn’t easy for everyone, it’s actually quite difficult for most! If you’ve tried this before and you haven’t found it easy you probably need it more than me. I know Rach found it difficult with her busy mind buzzing with everything she needs to do all at the same time.  She agreed that she needs to do more of it. Then we went through some yoga poses focusing on our breathing which we loved (we still have that mobility thank goodness, thanking our Asian hypermobility haha).

AXA PPP healthcare is asking us to prioritise our mental health as much as we do our physical health and I can’t agree more. Your brain is a precious, intricate and amazing organ. Without it you wouldn’t be able to move your body. Something that isn’t spoken about much is the fact that if you’re stressed or not prioritising your mental health it can affect your performance. Your muscles rely on your central nervous system (CNS) to work, your brain sends signals through your CNS, if your brain isn’t up to scratch you can forget about your physical performance doing well. 

So what can you do? Head to AXA PPP healthcare Headstrong where you can follow the easy to follow videos helping you take care of your mental health. Make time for it and if you think it’s not for you… you probably need it more than anyone else!