This is the third part of my self-care series. Before reading this, please read part 1 and part 2 . As I mentioned before I have been interested in studying more about recovery and especially recovery moments in every day life. I think no one can deny how important it is to chill down after work. Because my days at work as a teacher are quite hectic and scheduled, I couldn't live a busy scheduled life after work every evening, for instance having many commitments in hobbies. Instead I need some kind of recovery moments every day after work. These are just simple things which I will share with you. Below are some of my tips how to recover every day. And by recovery I don't mean recovery from an exercise. Instead recovery is your me-time, the moment when you can relax a bit. Have small breaks during work day and after work. Don´t wait until in the evening. I used to think that I cannot sit on a sofa after work because it would make me feel sluggish. Now I now h...

My summer holiday is finally here! It feels amazing to know that I'll have enough time to rest and just do the things I love doing. But what are my summer holiday plans? In this post I will share these simple things I look forward doing. In my summer holiday I am going to: 1. Swim Last year when we were on a boat a lot I really got into swimming. As Finland is a land of thousands lakes we Finns really should take advantage of our clean and fresh lakes. Swimming in a cold water boosts your immunity and aids your body to recover from a workout. It truly is an empowering feeling after you rise from the cold water! 2. Invest in my recovery and sleep Rest is so important. When I have had a good night's sleep, I am able to create interesting blog posts. I'll admit it that sometimes I have too much on my plate but that is because I get so easily excited about life and  new things that I don´t always notice how this will drain my energy levels in the long run. I am tryin...

Are you into Yoga? I sure am! But I haven't always been.. I started my yoga journey when we lived in Asia. Before that I had thought many times of starting yoga but I didn't have a good opportunity. So there I was living in Malaysia with so many experienced yoga practitioners and I thought this is the right time. This is it. I signed for a Hatha Yoga class. As it turned out, this was love at first sight. At the end of the lesson I couldn't quite believe how relaxed and at peace I felt. So I continued to practise yoga at least once a week. After we moved back to Finland, I continued practising yoga. This was right after I found out about Yogaia , online classes. I have used this website ever since. Nowadays I try to do yoga at least once a week from Yogaia and in the weekend mornings I do my own version of yoga.  Here are benefits I have gained from practising Yoga: It makes me more relaxed. After I have done yoga all the tension is gone from my body. When...

We all know how important it is to be present on the moment and not worry about tomorrow or all the undone chores that are waiting for you. So how to practice being more mindful? How to silence your thoughts for a minute before thoughts about your to-do list start to emerge? I know all too well how in the midst of family life you cannot seem to find any time or space to practice being mindful. On the other hand, isn't mindfulness what family life really is all about? Being present each moment with your child, answering all kinds of questions from "Mom, look what I made!" or "Mom, guess how many Donald Ducks I have?" 😁 OK, in my opinion it is.. But what I would like to practice more is how to quiet down my mind after a busy work day.  Our minds are hard at work all day long and this continues when I come home. Here I will share my tips which have proven to be quite OK  5 Tips how to more mindful: Try to have 10 minutes to yourself (me...

As you all know, I value a good night's sleep and try to improve my sleep every now and then. You cannot get around to the fact that sleep is cure for everything: bad mood, sickness, losing weight, living healthy, avoiding cravings, recovering from your workouts and the list goes on... Previously, I wrote about my bad sleeping habits  and how you can sleep better. But after that  I gave into coffee again so now I am trying to improve my sleep even more.  Here are few things that I am going to change in my routines: Stop drinking coffee or don't drink it in the afternoons. Research has shown that caffeine can stay elevated in the blood for 6-8 hours. I stopped drinking coffee. Again. Read more in here . This was a real game changer for me and my sleep . Eat more carbs in the evening. Especially oat porridge makes you sleep better because oats, eggs and bananas include magnesium, potassium, vitamin B and tryptophan which will have natural sleep in...

This post is about changing your way of thinking and learning to love yourself for who you are. Moreover, it is affirmations to all perfectionists, like myself. I copied these affirmations from Affirmation Podcasts with Josie Ong. I listen to her podcasts and affirmations every morning when I drive to work. I found her channel from Spotify as I was driving home from university and wanted to listen podcast instead of my playlist on Spotify. From the first podcast on, I was hooked. I highly recommend her channel to you. Her affirmations have been a game changer in my life: I can say that I have found a better balance in my life.  I used to think I had to do everything perfectly for the first time and every time. Now I know I can do things really well but not always perfectly. I used to think that mistakes were total catastrophes. Now I know it's all part of being human. I used to think critical thoughts constantly. Now I know I can give myself credits from my efforts....

There have been studies (Barton & Pretty 2010) which indicate that moving outdoors has been shown to reduce anger and depression and improve mood. Besides these there are numerous of positive effects when you train outside: it doesn't cost you anything compared to going for a gym, it's easy accessible, you will connect with Mother Nature, you´ll have enough fresh air so you will sleep better and so on. I think that humans are meant to spend as much time as possible in nature. We should never forget that we are apart of it ❤ I am definitely an outdoor person and that is the reason why I love summer and fall when I can spend so much time outside breathing fresh air. In fact, if I don't spend enough time outdoors on a daily basis, I get a headache. I have often wondered that does this happen to other people?  Are you addicted to fresh air?   When you have lived abroad, especially in a hot climate which limits your chances of being outside,  you r...

So it's winter holiday and I'm off soon! Can you guess where I am going? I'm on my way to Doha, Qatar! The pictures above are taken from Google. So why there? My dear friend lives there so I thought why not going there now? When I lived in the United Arab Emirates I never visited Qatar although it was just around the corner so now when the opportunity appeared I thought now is the right time.  Because this is a wellness blog, I decided that I could show you which kind of supplements I take with me whenever I travel. First, I never travel without my probiotics. These will ensure that my gut will stay in good balance throughout my trip. I have to say that I have never had normal tourist diarrhea because I eat these on a regular basis.  Next, I take my green powder with me. This time I take  Puhdistamo * brand. I mix this in water or in a smoothie. I also take  vitamin C  to support my immune system.   Magne...

We have all been in there: tossing and turning at night because you can't fall asleep. Many things, even the most insignificant things are on your mind and no matter how you try not to pay attention to these thoughts they distract you from falling into sleep. I can easily relate to this. I have always been a "bad sleeper" whatever the term suggests.. However, within past few years I have studied about how to improve my sleep at night and I have made some progress. Before my sleeping habits were somewhat following:  On workdays I went to bed at 10 or 11 pm. My evening routines were like this: coming home from practice around 8 pm, having dinner, going to the shower and watching TV until 10 pm, sometimes even later. During the weekends I stayed up late: went to bed around 11 or 12 pm. I slept until 10 or 11 am. I didn't try to relax myself more in the evenings and especially on Sundays I felt anxious to go to bed around 9 or 10pm because I wasn't tired and ...