Recipe: Five a Day Tagine from BBC Good Food

Here is the recipe for this delish dinner :)

This hearty tagine is the definition of warmth and comfort and it’s pretty healthy too! It gives you that satisfying knowledge that what you are eating is good: good for the senses, good for the body and good for the mind. The balance of sweet and spicy flavours make it a strong candidate for a family favourite and it’s easy to make too.

I love colour in my food and I often vary the vegetables that I use in this recipe. Variety in colour is great for your health as it provides your body with lots of different vitamins and minerals which are all needed for different functions. Generally speaking, the less you cook your veg the more nutrients you retain, therefore roasting the veg in oil as this recipe does may not be the healthiest in the world but I think it is still up there in the nutrition value on the whole.

 

Whilst I understand that the vegetarian nature of this dish may put some people off, the flavours are so rich that I don’t think meat would add anything to it in terms of taste. I think that going veggie for one or two meals a week can be a great thing for good health, the environment and for the bank account. However, if you prefer to have meat, I reckon that some lamb would go brilliantly for a more decadent meal.

Its vegetarian nature and the lack of beans or pulses does mean that this recipe may lack in protein slightly. However, for one meal of the week I don’t feel that this is a tragedy - in our country we are often prone to over eating on protein anyway.

The best thing about this dish is that it stimulates all your senses: it looks vibrant and hearty, smells delicious, sounds beautiful (especially when you add the tomatoes to the hot pan), feels great (the preparing of vegetables gives you a sense of creating and preparing something wholesome), and it tastes YUMMY! You can vary the spices to make it as sweet or spicy as you like but I think that the suggestions provided are pretty spot on. Perfect for a dark and blustery Autumnal night!

Enjoy!

Feeling the strain

Sometimes it can seem as though you are struggling to keep up with the demands that life brings you. You begin to notice physical symptoms of tiredness as well as mental ones and the more you try to keep going the worse they get.

Often, we try to suppress these symptoms, dismiss them and ignore them. Surely, they are a sign of weakness, a sign that we are unable to cope, a sign that we are falling short of the expectations from the rest of the world around us as well as our own expectations.

The truth is though, we feel these symptoms for a reason. The body is a very clever thing and it tells us when we need to give it some attention. Ignoring the signs it is telling us will only make it shout louder.

The thing is, the actual art of listening to your body is a lot easier said than done. How do you know whether a run is one thing to many for your body to deal with or a great way to refresh it? There are deadlines to contend with, family commitments, social occasions, people relying on you. With all these conflicting thoughts buzzing around your head how can you work it out?

This morning I was reading a great book called ‘Savor’ by Shauna Niequist. In today’s section she was talking about the need for ‘permission to slow down, to say no, to admit my fragility and exhaustion’. I think it’s important to realise that this ability to slow down is an actual necessity. Our body and mind needs to recoup, re-energise and re-connect.

When planning a training programme it is vital to include periods of rest where the body has the chance to recover from the stress it has been under. It is also the time where adaptation of the body occurs and the changes and improvements that you have been working so hard for take place. Your rest periods give the body the chance to recover, grow, strengthen and prepare for the next work phase ahead, playing an important role in injury prevention.

It is not a failing to be feeling the need for some time out; it is an important part of life. It is not only beneficial for you; it is beneficial to those around you. Taking the pressure off yourself, also takes the pressure off of those who may also be feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to attain such high standards. It also enables you to have more energy to give out to people.

In today’s section, Shauna Niequist used the verse; ‘Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.’ Ecclesiastes 4:6 

Food Anxiety

Found on Pinterest

Anxiety towards my diet has always been an issue in my life and I don’t think that I am the only one. It is so easy to fall into the trap of believing what can only be described as lies about yourself and about your body image. On countless occasions I have found myself completely consumed by the pressure to reach a perfect body, a perfect healthy lifestyle, a perfect life.

But, life is not perfect. It is not neat and tidy. It is not a failing to find yourself feeling overwhelmed, lost, bored or unhappy. We do not live in a perfect world and we are not perfect. I don’t think that I will ever reach my idea of my ‘perfect body’, it is simply not attainable.

However, this is not a reason to simply not care about what I put into my body or how I treat it. I know that my body needs a range of nutrients each as important as each other, each with a special job to do in order for it to function well. I know that my body works at its best and my overall wellbeing is at its best within healthy ranges of weight, stress, exercise and so on. I have been given my body, which is unique, for life and I feel that it is only right for me to look after it.

Found on Pinterest

In a way anxiety and worry itself has the potential to be more unhealthy than the richest, yummiest, indulgence you can think of. It can take over until it is all you can think about. It is moments like these that I have to remind myself that there is so much more to life than this, than what I look like, than what I feel like.

It is when you can accept yourself as okay or good enough as you are right this minute whatever shape or size you are, whatever is going on in your life at the moment that the pressure is relieved. The belief that you are fine just as you are enables you to look at things with a brand new perspective. You can look outwards towards other people, you can live a healthy lifestyle that is not driven by fear or selfish ambition but by the knowledge that it is a good thing to be doing and it will have a positive effect on those around you as well as yourself in mind, body and soul.

There will be ups and downs and times where you feel as though you are battling against this anxiety and losing the fight but then you will find release when you stop to remind yourself of the truth. The truth that being a certain size, shape or physique does not have the power to make you a better person or make people love you more. Accepting your size, shape or physique has the power to free you from the unrelenting pressure of striving for perfection.

So with this new found freedom I think that it is time to embrace the body which we have been given. Treat it well and look after it, not abuse it. Let’s enjoy food, enjoy exercise and enjoy looking after ourselves.

I will leave you with some beauty tips from the stunning Audrey Hepburn:

Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

 

When life gets in the way...

People often say that they need to have a pause from their diet or programme because ‘life just gets in the way’. I include myself in this. It often seems as though the ups and downs life throws at us take over and our diet is just one thing too many to think about.

June has turned out to be a pretty hectic month for me. It has been easy to begin to feel swallowed up by job interviews and offers, increased work hours, visitors and decisions to make. Amidst all of this it has been hard to train to my optimum and eat as healthy as I would have liked. I have started to say to myself, ‘well that’s just life, it gets in the way’.

However, it then occurred to me that the above phrase could actually go the other way round. Could my diet or my programme or my general attitude towards healthy living be getting in the way of life?

Life is full of little bumps and dips, smacking great mountains to climb and peaks to reach. Life is ever moving and changing; it goes in seasons of great joys to heart breaking pain to many places in-between. The way we live our life is affected by these highs and lows in many ways. It’s natural for us to fluctuate in our lifestyles in correspondence to whatever comes our way.

Sometimes though, I forget this. I struggle and strive towards attaining an impossible ambition of a perfectly healthy lifestyle when really I need to focus on other things, more important things. My attention becomes focused on my achievements and my failings, bringing more judgement into my view. The judgement clouds my vision until all that I can see is pressure and selfish ambition. My family, boyfriend and friends have to wait until I can attain this perfect healthy lifestyle.

It is then that I give myself a good shake and delve deep into my faith to part the clouds in front of my eyes and look at what is around me. There are job interviews and offers, increased work hours, visitors and decisions to make. But, there is also a liberating truth and I have so many things that can help me to not feel so swallowed up by these things.

Diet and exercise turns out to be one of these weapons I can use to help. Going running provides me with space to collect my thoughts and a hard workout at the gym help s me to burn off some nervous energy. A meal with a close friend provides me with yummy comfort food and laughter to make me feel at home and at rest. A jam doughnut brought back from work over a cup of tea with my parents in the garden gives me a sugary burst of delicious energy after a long day. A healthy meal cooked by my Mum provides me with the nutrients my body needs to keep going during this stressful and busy time.

We can use food and exercise to socialise, nourish the body and burn off physical and mental energy to live life to the full. It is a weapon and a powerful one at that which can be used to help but can also have the potential to hinder. We just need to keep our eyes fixed on our prize we are living for.

Homemade chocolate brownies with strawberries and ice cream for Father's day 

A delicious and very healthy prawn curry - one of my Mum's specialties 

A lovely walk in the rain on the beach

10 Ways to increase you activity levels without increasing the pressure on your diary!

It is often hard to put best intentions of ‘getting fitter’ or ‘doing more exercise’ into practice. There are many barriers in daily life which can hinder us in getting the exercise or activity we would like. These could be money shortages, time constraints, or friend and family commitments, just to list a few.

Here are ten ideas that may help to increase your activity levels without adding extra commitment or pressure to your daily life; you may already be doing them:

1.       Using the stairs instead of the escalators or lifts

2.       Walking or cycling short distances instead of taking the car

3.       Getting off the bus a stop before your normal one

4.       Going for a short walk in your day if you can fit it in (for example, in your lunch break or when you get home)

5.       If you have children who go to classes after school you could have a short workout or walk while they are there

6.       When it’s raining and cold outside it can be hard to do as much activity – fitness and dance video games can be a really good way to get competitive and active with friends and family as well as on your own

7.       Parking higher up in the car park – sometimes it’s cheaper too - bonus!

8.       Playing music and having a little boogie when making the dinner!

9.       Gardening and housework are great forms of activity – this might make hoovering and weeding seem a little more appealing if there’s a spare ten minutes in your day… but then again it might not…

10.   Performing simple exercises that don’t need much space or any equipment can be relatively easy to slip into your routine. Things like running up and down the stairs 10 times consecutively or doing step ups on them is a great way to get your heart pumping and exercises such as abdominal curls and back raises can be alternated daily as you get out of bed in the morning.

Recipe: Thai Green Fish Curry

Recipe: Thai Green Fish Curry

This is a great recipe for a quick and nutritious dinner. My sister first introduced me to this recipe, in her version she used chicken, however I use a fish pie mix. At home, we generally have bread with it as it seems to work well with the thin curry sauce. Pictured below is a Low GI Multiseed Loaf which is great for slow releasing energy and has not been highly processed.

It is such a useful recipe as you can throw it together in 30mins and can use up any vegetables you need to. Using fish is great as it will count towards one of your two portions of fish a week. Coconut milk can be very beneficial in the diet too, however it is relatively high in saturated fat and it is best to have in moderation. I love using lots of different colours when cooking as it looks good and supplies you with a great range of vitamins and minerals.

This is a great recipe to get creative with and you can adjust it to your preferences really easily.

To make it you will need:

(Serves 4)

Half an onion (Red onion works well too)

A fish pie mix selection

A can of light coconut milk

A couple of sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (ordinary potatoes work well too)

A selection of vegetables chopped into chunks, most work well but I like to use a selection of peppers, peas, sugar snap peas and spring onion (you can save some to make a nice garnish)

A heaped desert spoon of thai green curry paste (or just add to taste)

A table spoon of low fat cream cheese

1.       Soften the onion in a saucepan. To do this I used a 1kcal spray cooking oil. However, to reduce the fat used, microwaving them a little is always a good idea.

2.       Add the can of coconut milk and cook on a medium heat.

3.       Add the fish pie mix and bring to a gentle simmer.

4.       Add the potatoes.

5.       Add the vegetables according to cooking times.

6.       Once all the vegetables are in, add the curry paste according to taste and the cheese. The low fat cheese. A spritz of lime would work well to cut into the flavour and give a little zest!

7.       Serve with warm bread and enjoy!

To find out more about Coconut Milk and the benefits associated with it in moderation in the diet follow this link to an article on the BBC Good Food website.

To find out more about why fish in the diet is so important click here to view helpful guidance on the NHS Livewell website.

Happy healthy, wholesome eating everyone.

Motivation – Or lack of…

When it comes to fitness classes or sessions or indeed any recreational activity, it seems that periods of lack of motivation are inevitable. Well, they are in my case at any rate!

I often find myself getting increasingly despondent at the thought that I simply don’t want to go for a session – for whatever reason that may be. I get bogged down in the ‘failure’ kind of thoughts, because, well, ‘I should go and get some exercise’ or ‘I should go to dance – I’m committed’.

On many occasions, I have found that once there (or maybe once I’ve completed the said session) I forget about how I’m feeling. However, on other occasions I am perfectly able to hold my hands up high and say that truthfully, I did not enjoy all those Burpees and I actually did not find that Grande Batemon exercise challenging in a fun way! No, ‘pushing my limits’ was not ‘fun’ in the slightest.

It is these sessions which I find hard to battle with. If I’m not careful, I let these ‘not so fun’ sessions affect my other sessions.

I could just not go, enjoy a nice relaxing evening in front of the telly. I could go, just force myself to try extra hard. Both these ideas are good ones on different occasions, sometimes I think I could really benefit from a chilled out evening and yet I don’t want to let people down when I am actually perfectly capable of going.

However, I still get that guilty feeling, that sense of despondency that I’m not enjoying something that, surely, I should be enjoying!

Recently, I’ve been trying to learn to let things go a lot more. I think on those challenging days it might help to ask myself - does it matter that last week I could press twice this weight!? Or run for twice as long or fast?

Obviously, progression is good and motivating when we achieve any goals or reach any targets. But, perhaps on these days being happy training at what our body feels up to would be a good idea. A nice easy session, with no goals, no plan; complete freedom to exercise how our body wants to and for how long. Then, with any luck, the enjoyment might return along with those lovely chappies called endorphins and hopefully, in my next session I might be able to ‘pump iron’ as it very much were.

Breakfast... the most important meal of the day?

Breakfast… the most important meal of the day?

There are few better ways to start the day than with a cooked breakfast! Whatever lies ahead in your day, be it a lazy Sunday or a busy day full of toing and froing, a good breakfast can make all the difference in how you can respond to the events that unfold.

I have always been a breakfast lover. If I’m ever running late in the morning it’s because I have taken too long enjoying my breakfast! It helps me to get ‘in the zone’ as it were; it helps me to mentally and physically prepare for what I may face in the day to come. The whole process from boiling the kettle for my morning tea, chopping my fruit or carefully selecting my cereal and then taking time to eat my first meal of the day seems to calm me. It’s like someone is pressing pause on the frantic film that was running in fast forward.

The feeling of being prepared or unprepared as the case may be has a great effect on my mood. This is why I feel breakfast is such an amazing tool in setting you up for the day. Last week I had a long and busy day ahead and knew that it would be a long time before I could eat something again. The need for a decent breakfast was colossal – my breakfast that day could make the difference between a weary, hungry, grumpy Jo flagging in the afternoon and a slightly worn out, peckish, just about chirpy Jo (well, that’s in my own breakfast lover’s case).

I decided to top a piece of wholemeal toast with the left over baked beans in the fridge, and a poached egg. I have to say the real butter just made it that extra bit special! After this meal I felt I could not only face the day but seize the day. Making this rather nutritious breakfast in a low fat and healthy way meant that I could keep going until I had the chance to have a little something later.

After this breakfast I was ready. It’s the same every day - once I’ve had my tea I’m ready for powering on through that weary feeling you get before starting work. Once I’ve munched my way through my cereal and fruit concoction I am ready to embark on my first activities of the day. Once I’ve taken the time to enjoy some space and quiet, I am ready to engage with whoever may cross my path.

Of course, breakfast can be a very sociable meal too. I have many happy memories of leisurely breakfasts shared with family and friends on special occasions or weekends. Taking time to share a long, relaxed meal first thing with loved ones can be very special. Often, first thing in the morning our guard is down somewhat, we seem to be more ‘real’, we haven’t quite got round to putting on those extra layers of ourselves we gradually throw on throughout the day that may hide our imperfections or insecurities. Allowing other people to spend time with you at this time of day is a great way to show how comfortable you are with them and how much you trust them. Sharing a meal with people can be a great way to bond and get to know people better and I think that having breakfast with friends and family has the power to enhance these relationships.

Clearly, I have strong feelings about breakfast. I realise though that many people really don’t get on with eating so early in the morning. I think that maybe the reason why I like breakfast so much is how it is an opportunity to take time out before you start your day. While, I believe it is important to set yourself up well nutritionally speaking, you can still get this opportunity for a period of space with a coffee or a tea or on your commute to work. In fact there are lots of opportunities that appear throughout the day, so happy days everyone! I hope your next breakfast is a cracking one!

Gardening and... the DOMS?

Although Lactic Acid build up is often to blame for pain post exercise, Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is that tight, sore feeling in your muscles and connective tissues you get a day (or a few days!) after a hard workout. It comes when training is particularly stressful on the connective tissues and muscles and causes micro-tears in the tissue. It is these tears that can lead to pain, soreness, stiffness and a decrease in range of motion 12-48hrs after exercise. Many of us will have suffered from DOMS after a workout but recently, I found myself unable to reach my toes due to DOMS in my hamstrings after… gardening.

Gardening is a great workout on all your main muscle groups. As with any form of exercise it is possible to work at varying intensities depending on what activity you are doing. Unlike some form of exercise however, this form of activity has a use – it is ‘productive activity’. You can expend a lot of energy while working on a bed which will then provide you with beautiful flowers or yummy vegetables. Likewise, mowing the lawn is something often seen as a chore but at least it keeps you working hard. This makes the cup of tea after your gardening session even more enjoyable.

As well as being a productive way to lead an active lifestyle, I believe gardening can encourage healthy eating. Eating the produce your own hands have planted and nurtured can be so exciting. It seems it can make you suddenly a lot more enthusiastic about eating your fruit and vegetables because they’ve come out of the ground that you’ve worked and prepared and you have picked them yourself. They can’t be fresher and you can almost taste the hard work that has gone in to them. It appears that when there is fresh produce in the house it can flick a switch in you that makes you want to cook a hearty, healthy meal. Using produce grown in your garden has potential to bring a sense of enjoyment to cooking from scratch and also sitting down to eat your meal.

Using home grown food can also have an affect on the type of meals you have and might mean that you end up eating according to the seasons more. Working on your garden throughout the year can really help in feeling a little more connected to nature and the seasons. You feel you are working with the seasons and the elements they bring – not against them. I love the idea of preparing the ground in winter, getting everything ready for the time when vegetables and plants can be sowed.

Working outside across the year and being able to see the literal fruits of your labour can be so rewarding and I think it can do wonders for your mental health. You end up nurturing and working to protect your garden, you feel as though you are working on something special.

It is when you spend time looking at gardens and how they change from season to season that their beauty really comes to life. The other day I went to the Bath Botanical Gardens with my boyfriend and we were amazed at how many different species of plants they had growing there. All of them were so different; some had very delicate and dainty petals while on others you could see the thick wax that made them durable for the nasty weather. Walking through them was very calming and there was a sense of life. It made the imagination run wild, dreaming up stories and recalling books and films already read and seen.

I am a complete beginner at gardening (which is demonstrated by the pain I felt in the few days post gardening) but each time I get out there, I learn a little bit more and there are so many different areas of gardening and ways to get stuck in; whether you like to visit public gardens, get involved with community ones, work on your own garden or allotment, or enjoy herbs from your kitchen garden on your window sill. In my opinion, all types of gardening can have great potential for achieving a healthy lifestyle.

So after all this rambling here is my list of, Reasons to Garden:

·         Increases level of activity

·         It’s productive activity

·         It can encourage eating more fresh fruit and vegetables

·         It can encourage home cooking from scratch

·         Working outside can give you a healthy, youthful glow!

·         Working with nature and the seasons can be very rewarding

·         It can be great for mental health – giving you space to think or not think as the case may be while actively doing something

·         Gardens can provide a space to be still and reflect, and a place to socialise and have fun

Walking

Last Saturday I spent the day walking with my boyfriend along the coast from Exmouth. It was a warm and sunny day and at times it was so windy it nearly knocked me over. The scenery was beautiful and the sea looked especially dramatic due to the choppy waves. We didn’t really know how far we were going or where we were going but we ended up in a small seaside town where we stopped and shared a much appreciated cream tea for lunch. It was so nice to be outside, exercising and enjoying each other’s company and exploring new places.

Being out in the fresh air whatever the weather always seems to lift the spirits and provides a fresh outlook on things. It can give the chance to admire nature in all its beauty and this can provide a new perspective on life. It can provide a challenge, physically and mentally. For example, keeping on going even when you feel you have so far to go or you don’t feel all that confident you are even headed in the right direction. I really do think that you can go on a walk starting with one outlook on life and ending with a completely different one, no matter the surroundings or the distance. In my opinion, walking is good for the soul as well as for the body.

When you walk, you go on a journey. Yes that does sound like the beginning of an average poem but at the end of the day it gets you from A to B and back again. What happens on that journey is unknown, which can be quite exciting really. Perhaps your walk is extremely uneventful or perhaps you have the perfect opportunity to chat to someone walking with you about something you may not feel as comfortable chatting to them about face-face. Perhaps, you get so lost that you may never feel orientated ever again or perhaps you let the fresh air blow all the buzzing bees in your head away and leave you with a clear mind. You never know, that eureka moment maybe found on your travels! Whatever ends up happening, even if it is just that your legs feel tired at the end, you have used your body and mind to go somewhere and it appears that this is a very healing process.

The benefits of walking on your body are plentiful: improved cardiovascular fitness, muscle tone, mobility of the joints, endurance, the list goes on. I think it is a really great way to get fit, you can nearly always find time for a walk and because it doesn’t have to be high impact it has less stress on your joints than some other forms of exercise. It is also very sociable as it is easy to talk and walk and you can really get to know someone on your way. You can walk anywhere, to and from work, round the roads where you live, around a beautiful lake in the Lake District on a walking holiday, up a mountain, up and down the high street in town… anywhere. Yet the potential for them remains the same.

Where will your next walk take you?

Hot Toddy - A Hug in a Mug

Hot Toddy – A Hug in a Mug

It seems that nearly everyone is suffering with colds and flu at the moment. A Hot Toddy is a perfect beverage to relieve those unwanted symptoms and help you get off to sleep in the evening.

It is usually made with whisky, rum or brandy, mixed with honey and hot water (tea is sometimes used too). Other spices such as cinnamon may be added and people often add a slice of lemon.

The other night my brother made me a lovely mug which helped enormously with my sore throat. Its warming, sweet nature with a little kick made for a lovely comforting and soothing experience in the midst of a nasty cold.

To make it he used a small measure of scotch, a few teaspoons of honey, a dash of lemon juice, a pre-prepared bag of spices including cloves and usually he would use equal measures of water to whisky, although I had a more diluted one.

And there you have it, one of the best drinks to have to take those bunged up blues away!

Picture found on Pinterest

Why I Dance

Why I Dance J

Recently, I’ve been asking myself this question. An opportunity to audition for a dance apprenticeship came up a few weeks ago and I was really struggling to decide whether to go for it. Usually, I go for things like this, thinking that going to the audition will help me to decide anyway, but this time the whole process of applying was particularly unsettling.

I started to question why I wanted to do it, whether I would cope with it, whether I was good enough and then eventually, why do I dance anyway? It was almost that I felt I ought to apply because dance is what I do, it’s what I’ve always done, it’s what I want to do in the future, I love doing it… don’t I?

Every week I go to a dance group where we have a technique class followed by a performance project/rehearsal time. I joined in September and having had a break of dance I loved getting back to moving my body and meeting people there. However, recently, it has felt like more of a chore. A lot of the people my age have left and while the atmosphere is lovely, most of the people are now a fair bit younger than me. Coming home from my last session feeling tired and down hearted, thinking about all this left me with this question: Why do I dance?

It occurred to me that I had almost fallen into the thinking that dance made me who I am and that it was dance that defined me while this is simply not true. It was almost that I felt that I had to be doing some sort of dance because, well, that’s what I do. It was like I had something to prove.

But I don’t. More and more I’m realising the need to accept myself for who I am as I am, right now, warts and all. Over the years dance has helped me to make friends, feel accepted and feel free to express myself. However, it has also trapped me, turned my focus inwards on to myself and my faults, making me self-absorbed and insecure, it has at times lured me into a web of lies I tell myself  resulting in the feeling of inadequacy. Before, I tried to use dance to find a sense of belonging and in some ways it did help me to do that - I have great memories of dancing with my friends and working with them. Now I realise, that dance doesn’t give me my identity. I don’t have to dance.

So with that revelation, I sent an email to the dance company with the audition coming up telling them that I was sorry I could not apply. I did this very much on a whim and it scared me – in a way I was letting go of a mask I have used over the years to hide myself in some way.

After I sent that email I felt a peace that I couldn’t explain. I really did feel liberated from a pressure I have placed on myself for so long and it felt good to have it lifted off my shoulders.

Now I don’t feel the need to dance. I don’t have to dance. I don’t have anything to prove or cover up or achieve through dancing. Now I can dance because I like dancing. I can go out with my friends on the weekend and dance the night away because dancing with friends is the best way to dance. It is dance. Throughout the history of dance we can see that in whatever period, dance is a social thing.

There are so many reasons why I love dancing. Even sitting here writing this while listening to the radio, I had to take a moment to have a seated boogie to ‘You’re the One That I Want’ from Grease when it came on. While earlier, I said that it lured me into an inward way of thinking it can also do the opposite, I love dancing with others and the friendship it can bring. So after all this rambling I thought I’d compose a little list of Why I Dance:

•  Its fun
• There are so many different styles each with different history and stories
•  Its sociable
• It’s a great way to keep fit – it focuses on all aspects of fitnes
• Like laughter, I think that dancing to music is a great healer
•  It can help to build confidence
• It can help to build team work
•  Discipline
•  It can be great to push yourself
• There’s something liberating about moving the body
• It facilitates creativity

Liberate:

-          ‘Set (someone) free from imprisonment, slavery or oppression’

-          ‘To release (someone) from a situation which limits freedom of thought or behaviour’

(Definitions from Oxforddictionaries.com)

I live in a small town in Somerset, nicely situated amongst the countryside as well as busier towns and helpful amenities, with my parents and older brother. I have a boyfriend who lives in a town near Bristol and have a part time job in a café. From this, it appears that I am most definitely free from ‘imprisonment, slavery or oppression’ and it would seem that I am not in a ‘situation which limits freedom of thought or behaviour’.

Sometimes though, it doesn’t feel that way. Sometimes it feels like I am trapped by my own anxieties, fears, situation, body image, the list goes on. Often, I feel the need to be liberated. To be freed.

Fitness, dance, cooking, eating with friends and family, walking in the countryside or by the sea and drinking a nice cuppa are all things that I find liberating. They help me to forget my inhibitions, worries, perfectionisms, and they help me to feel free to be me.

Dance and fitness in particular have helped me in this way.

Dance allows me to express myself – not necessarily to an audience, but just on my own practicing or choreographing liberates me, enabling me to get immersed in whatever it is I am thinking about when dancing. Immersed in my thoughts and bringing them outwards, out of my body. Release… (which is apparently a synonym for Liberate). Then when I do perform, I can communicate this canvas of released thoughts, feelings, emotions or stories to the audience. Before I know it, I have shown them pieces of my own imagination or thoughts etc. which I may not have dared to otherwise. How liberating.

Fitness allows me to live. I feel freedom to move throughout the day, to push myself and my body, to socialise and to have time on my own. I find I forget myself when I exercise and over time I realise I have grown in confidence in many ways through it. This confidence has liberated me and I now feel much more able to meet new people and accept me for who I am, just as I am.

Well, there’s a long way to go but I know that with life’s little beauties like dance and fitness I can feel liberated from all the constraints or pressures going on. I wonder what you find liberating?