Here comes the sun - Establish the work-life balance you dream of this summer

The summer has arrived, and along with it, the opportunity to rest and recharge. Make this summer one that changes your life and gives you the work-life balance and the success that you have always hoped for.

Do you feel like you are counting down the days to your holidays? Are your batteries empty and do you simply crave peace, sleep and sunshine? With a summer season in full swing comes the opportunity to take a break from the long hours, work-life politics. But how can we make the most of our precious time away from our desks? 

Take your car on a wonderful holiday ride, crash ahead! 

The usual holiday bliss, followed by the holiday blues 

Cars are not meant to stay in the garage all year long. When left idle for too long, their parts don’t function, and its driver is ill-prepared. In other words, the lack of attention and maintenance means that once well oiled-machines are not operating at their full potential. Our bodies and minds similarly need continual maintenance and attention, so we can perform at our best.  

This July and August, many of you will spend time with family and friends or discover foreign places. Everyone is waiting to let go of the daily routines, to relax, unwind and re-charge batteries. Everyone’s holiday experience looks different, however, coming back from holidays everyone is feeling the same holiday blues. It feels very hard to step back into the corporate and work life after getting a taste of the joy of life. 

Don’t crash your car after holidays! 

Establish a life-long holiday routine

How can you use this summer holiday to discover how to fuel your car regularly, so you can deal with all obstacles on the street ahead of you? Do you want to get back from your time-out, get in the fast lane and stay there without having the usual break-down two days after holidays, where you call AA for repair?

It only takes a split second of not focusing to crash your car and have an accident, which can harm yourself and others. 

What happens if we don’t stop early enough to listen to our bodies and feeling how exhausted we are? Burn-out, allergies, illnesses, mental health issues, difficulties in our work and personal life naturally occur as a result. Our challenges also affect all the people around us – family, friends, colleagues and bosses we work for.

One of my favorite scientist, Dr. Joe Dispenza, once said: “You can learn change in a state of pain and suffering, or you can learn change in a state of joy and inspiration.”

As the summer arrives, I for one am choosing joy at every opportunity I can, and I hope you will feel inspired to do the same.

I stopped going on holidays three years ago…

Three years ago, I asked myself how I was architecting my life. I questioned, “Am I only living for 5 weeks holidays a year, where I recover from my exhaustion, or do I want to live a life that just feels good and right for me every single day?” 

Something needed to change, so I started making small but impactful changes in my life. I make time to recharge my batteries daily, plan energising breaks and treat myself with special energising wellness rituals, all of which support the happiness in my life and work.  Through this shift in the way I work and live, when I do take time off, it is truly recharging, rather than just a ‘recovery’ time, as so many of our summer holidays seem to be.

You might wonder, how is this possible? There are so many facets to this process and everyone will find their own way of going about it. However, I have 3 top tips for you, which may help spark some inspiration to get started. 

Get on the motorway and enjoy the ride!

How to charge your batteries every day 

With the arrival of summer, and hopefully some time to rest and reflect, there is an opportunity to make this summer the one that changes your life for good. You can decide to enjoy the same old holiday routine that you have enjoyed in your life so far, or you can choose to use this summer holiday to unwind and discover yourself. Ask yourself, what really gives me good and healthy energy? What are the moments in life that bring me joy, and when do you feel most at peace? Start practicing discipline and dedication to establish new habits that simply feel good – practices that can continue long after you return from holidays. 

Identify habits that give you the energy to deal with everything that life throws at you with grace and serenity, as truly great leaders do. Find your personal “energy re-fuel stations” on this journey of discovery.

Be the king or the queen of the road! 

How do your constant and stable high energy levels effect your work-life as a leader? 

When you have more energy, you can stay objective and see challenges from a distance, without feeling emotionally involved or overwhelmed. You can clearly see patterns, opportunities and challenges and make objective and good decisions for the people who work with you, and the business you grow together with your team. 

Leading people means having empathy and walking in people’s shoes. If you don’t understand yourself, you are not connected to your feelings and emotions. This also make it difficult to have empathy and care for yourself. Leading people means having empathy for the people who work for you. As with many facets of life, it’s integral to first have empathy for yourself, so that you can you have empathy for others.

How to become a better leader?

What follows are my top 3 tips to live a healthier, happier and more successful life, so that holidays are no longer a necessity 

1.     Sleep well 

2.     Drink 2-3 litres of good quality and vitalised water daily 

3.     Breathe deeply 

1.  Sleep 

We sleep for approximately a third of our day, and quality of sleep at night is essential to our daily health and wellbeing. It is a mirror of how you have lived your day or your life so far. 

Why is sleep important? 

High performance, personal growth and self-healing processes are gained during sleep, during the regeneration process of our cells. Healthy sleep is the source of life energy and provides healing energies. 

What is healthy sleep?

Healthy sleep takes place in darkness, is free of disturbing lights, noise, and electro-smog. Darkness in the bedroom is proven to be an active cancer protection. 

During sleep, your self-healing energy is released, so healing is happening during a healthy sleep process. The better and deeper you sleep, the more life energy is building up to optimise all functions of the body, mind and soul.

The miracle sleep hormone: Melatonin

Healthy sleep and melatonin are your best antioxidants, with high defensive power. Why? Melatonin immediately inserts itself into the mitochondria (power plants of the cells) during a healthy sleep, where it directly improves your energy production and intercepts reactive oxygen (ROS).

Melatonin is 50 times more effective than vitamin C!

One of the hormone-related sleep disorders is due to a lack of melatonin and, at the same time, serotonin. You need to know that the sleep, protective, and repair hormone melatonin is synthesised from serotonin. Melatonin is a key hormone, which means that it also affects your other hormones.

With healthy sleep your energy balance will improve significantly. You will enable your body to carry out self-healing activities. 

Your thoughts and your emotions affect your sleep 

Not only does your healthy and healed body consist of about 70 trillion cells, but each of these cells is the equivalent of one unit – your living body-mind-soul. Your health is driven primarily by your beliefs and often unconscious beliefs, not your genes. Cell biologist Professor Bruce Lipton is one of the leading biologists in the field. He succeeded in brilliantly combining science and consciousness development. It is not the genetic code that alone determines your health, however your life experiences, thought-patterns, behaviours and beliefs developed, which create communication between cells (particularly the nerve cells – neurons) and influence each other.

Your bedtime matters for your healthy sleep 

According to Chinese medicine, it’s not only how much sleep you get that matters, but also at what time you go to sleep. Between 11pm and 3am are the most important recovery processes taking place in your body. Most people are up late and only worry about not getting enough hours of sleep. However, a bedtime of 10:30 pm (at the latest) is recommended so that you fall asleep by 11pm, when the liver and gallbladder start to regulate the QI (energy), process emotions, balance hormones and detoxify your body. According to Chinese medicine, the window from 11 pm and 3 am, which relates to the liver and gallbladder, is the most important in terms of maintaining health. 

(Read more about the Chinese medicine “body clock” here)

Your eating habits affects healthy sleep 

Your body needs time to digest. Late night eating can often lead to gastrointestinal discomfort which can cause difficulty sleeping. It also matters what you eat at night – eating food that takes long to digest can be disruptive to your sleep patterns. 

How to sleep well: The 9 secrets of healthy sleep 

1.     Sleep in darkness. Use black-out blinds or if not possible use a sleeping eye mask. 

2.     Free your bedroom from noise. Turn-off anything that creates noise, close the window or use ear plugs if it can’t be avoided. 

3.     Free your bedroom from electro-smog. Turn-off all switches. Turn off your mobile phone and use a physical alarm clock or at least use flight mode on your phone. Free your bedroom from all devices – phone, laptop, tablet etc. 

4.     Sleep before 11pm to support your body in its recovery and healing process. 

5.    Don’t eat after 7 pm to give your body time to digest your dinner. 

6.    Stay hydrated throughout the day with good quality water (not coffee!)

7.    Take breaks throughout the day to reset your system. At work, when you go to the toilet, stay just 2 minutes longer, close your eyes and take some deep breaths into your belly, and extend your exhale. 

8.    Before you go to bed, ensure that you ask yourself, how you feel. If there are any feelings of anger, regret or worry, feel and acknowledge them, and let them go. Sit as long as necessary with your eyes closed until the feeling has passed. 

9.    Pre-sleep affirmations can also be powerful. Before you close your eyes and sleep, say to yourself three times “I will have a good night of healthy and deep sleep. I will wake up fully energised and rejuvenated”. 

To summarise, you can set yourself up for a healthy sleep throughout the day, which means we can practice mindfulness in our daily thinking, feeling and doing. Sleep is a source of life and healing-energy. It is responsible for our emotional, physical and mental health and wellbeing.

To track your sleep quality you can try the sleep cycle app or you can simply track how many hours you sleep and how you feel when you wake-up. 

I have tracked my sleep for over 260 days. I have reflected and worked on my sleep quality for every single day since September 2018. I still have bad nights with 54% sleep, that happens. However, by paying attention to my sleep routines, most nights I experience 80-90% sleep. I can feel the result of my dedication and discipline in my health, happiness and success of everything that I do. As a result, I feel more focused, concentrated and aligned in my thinking, doing and feeling. 

2.  Breathe 

From a yogi point of view, we breathe about 21,600 breaths per day. Deep breath performs two main functions: it brings more oxygen (prana, bio-energy, qi) into the blood and brain, and controls the life energy, which in turn leads to the control of the mind.

Breath (in Sanskrit: Pranayama) always consists of 3 parts:

·       Inhale

·       Hold your breath 

·       Exhale 

Your health is based on the health of your 70 trillion cells, and to bring oxygen to your organism is therefore essential. The problem is that most people do not know how to breathe properly and deeply. I experienced this myself. It resulted in me getting stressed easily, my voice turned really high, I spoke really quickly and started coughing because my lungs were not filled with enough oxygen.

I worked with a voice coach to practice how to breath naturally, which has calmed me down and gave me a sense of peace and control over my life. Recently I have discovered breath-work, which is a series of breathing exercise in a class that I attend weekly. I use this routine to increase my energy levels and let go of everything that blocks me. I asked my breath coach, Octavia Christina, to share a bit of her experience with us. Octavia Christina kindly dedicated the following words to your health.   

Why is breathing important? 

by Octavia Christina

Breath is your life force energy. Breathing is the only physiological function that is both involuntary and voluntary. We can consciously control our breath or we can ignore it and let our body breathe on its own. You cannot live without breathing. When you let go of conscious control of your breathing, it falls under the control of the part of your brain that is most primitive, the part of your brain that deals with survival. This is the region of the unconscious mind where your thoughts and emotions reside, which in general we have limited awareness of. Our breath can become irregular and incoherent when we let go of our conscious control of it.

Find out more here

What is good breathing? 

Under stress people will instinctively put more emphasis and force on their inhale which causes tension in their chest when they exhale. It is very common to see people hold their breath after an inhale when they are feeling tense. Most people in times of stress are shallow breathing and placing more force on their inhale. An exertion on the inhale causes greater volumes of oxygen than we need which will in turn boost our sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight response which only perpetuates our stress and anxiety. Although this process serves its purpose under times of great stress where we need our fight or flight response to be triggered, it isn’t serving us when we are safe and out of danger. 

So when you inhale, you stimulate the sympathetic nervous system and your heart rate goes up. When you exhale you stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and your heart rate goes down. Rhythmical breathing, maintaining a smooth, connected breath with no pause, is most effective for rhythmic breathing. 

When you go into a breath retention your mind becomes still and you can enter into a meditative state. Your brainwaves drop into an alpha state which are most dominant when you are relaxed and in a calm state of mind. It is like pressing pause on your life which can be the key to unlocking your true potential. The pause of breath is known as Kumbhaka. 

Find out more here

How to establish good breathing? 

I would like to share one of my favorite breathing exercises which is amazing to do each day for about 5-10 minutes. 

Your guide to enhance your energy and vitality, whilst releasing any trapped stress within your body 

Breathing exercise (only 5-10 minutes a day)

1. Sit comfortably in an upright position with your back straight

2. Breath in through your nose for two counts and breath out of your mouth for four counts 

3. Time yourself doing this for 3 or 4 minutes

4. Hold your breath on the out breath for as long as you can (slightly past your comfort zone)

5. When you get the urge to breathe repeat the cycle above 2 or 3 times

To summarise, breathing is an incredibly useful tool that can facilitate deep change within your mind, body and spirit. Choosing to use your breath consciously can dramatically improve one’s wellbeing and ability to thrive rather than survive. To inspire means to breathe in. 

As leaders we need to inspire other people around us and take them with us on a future journey, towards our vision. Hence, breathing correctly and integrating these exercises regularly is an important tool for our own personal development. 

Finally, your breath can also be the root cause of emotional and physical suffering. Once conscious breathing is established as a simple daily meditation practice it is positively affecting your work-life balance and providing you with higher energy levels in life. So exhaustion in your daily life can be avoided. 

To learn more about Octavia and her personal journey, have a look at her website  at octaviachristina.com.

I regularly attend her Monday morning 9.30 am breathwork classes at Lifespace in Notting Hill. If you want to join me, please book here.

3.  Water 

Why is water important? 

Water is your lifeblood. Water is the number one food. Without water there is no life. Each cell consists of 70% water, and our brain consists of 90% water. Water is also the most effective source against aging. To be mentally and physically fit, a balanced hydration is necessary. Your body loses on average two and a half liters of water daily through the urinary tract, and through sweating and exhaling. This loss must be compensated and replenished daily.

What is good water?

Good water should have a natural pH-level between 8 and 9, and ideally less that 1mg/L of Sodium. 

Why? Our blood is always 7.35-7.45 pH. Anything below that number increases inflammation. The goal of good water should be to reduce or neutralise inflammation. Only water above the pH-level of the blood can do this. 

The pH-level is a measure of acidity or alkalinity of water (pH stands for “potential of Hydrogen”). A pH value is a number from 1 to 14, with 7 as the middle (neutral) point. Values below 7 indicate acidity which increases as the number decreases, 1 being the most acidic. This can cause a variety of health issues including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, kidney disease, liver disease and nervous system problems.

Water should provide nutritional balance. The correct pH and sodium levels can offset our acidic diet, sugar, fructose and stress. As most of our bodies are very acidic due to our lifestyles, eating habits or environmental damages, it’s important to ensure that our main life source, water is of highest quality (not contaminated) and of a pH-level between 8 and 9. 

The pH-level always goes hand-in-hand with Sodium levels. When buying water it’s important to ensure you don’t buy a mechanically treated water with a great pH-level but high Sodium levels. If the label on the bottle does not list the Sodium levels, it’s a sign that they are high and hence not listed. 

Water should detox and cleanse. It can help to get toxins out of your body. However, drinking inadequate water can put more bad things into your body, like chemicals, contaminants etc.

Vitalised water is a source of natural energy

Vitalised water makes water more pleasurable for drinking and bathing, more effective for cleaning, enhancing anything that uses water. High-pressure pipes, electromagnetic fields, and other forms of man-made pollution cause water to lose its natural, healthy structure.

Some benefits of vitalised water: 

·      The human bodies can better absorb dissolved minerals in the water 

·      It has restored its natural dynamics and harmony (spring water quality) 

·      It is liberated from chlorine 

·      It has an elevated pH-level

·      It neutralises and eliminates harmful information in the water  

Due to this, drinking vitalised water:

·       Helps your body to find balance and helps it to detox 

·      Activates your health and supports your physical wellbeing 

·      Improves the function of your immune system significantly 

·      Enhances the resistance to parasites 

·       Supports the function of the liver and kidneys 

·       Improves blood circulation 

·       Helps to overcome skin and hair problems 

How to find good quality water and how much should you drink? 

Drink at least 2-3 litres of water, non-sparkling, at room temperature or slightly warmer throughout the day. This differs in summer and winter, with exercise or without exercise etc. of course. 

Start with drinking 2 glasses of lukewarm water (if possible with a pinch of Himalayan salt) every morning after getting up. Record and notice how you feel. 

Check the pH and Sodium level of the water you consume 

When you buy bottled water, ensure to check the pH-level at the back of the label. Choose water with pH-level of 8-9 (or at least above 7) and low Sodium levels (below 1mg/l).

Water filter and water brand recommendations 

At home or at the office, consider getting a water filter and vitalising system. The installation only takes 2 minutes and the investment starts from approximately ￡700/€800. I personally use the Leogant water system, a German brand, which only has a German website at the moment. Please contact them for your personal needs. They are a great bunch of innovators and the team speaks English fluently. They also ship to the UK and internationally. 

If you think of using a water filter and vitalising system in your organisation, here is a case study for the benefits in use in the hospitality industry. 

Alternatively, you can also choose to buy “The best water in the world”, called Hallstein Water from Austria. You can order gallons for your home or office on a subscription basis of roughly 100-150 Euros per person per month.

Hallstein Water use their natural resources sustainably, so subscriptions are limited to 15,000 global subscribers. Be quick to be one of people to enjoy this magical and 100% natural water. 

To summarise, water is the number one food and still we all know so little about it. Make it a priority to learn more about the power of water, the differences between good and bad quality water. Use the natural energy source water to help you stay balanced, productive and healthy. 

Become a better leader by changing habits when it comes to your sleep, water consumption and breathing quality. 

Encouraging deep sleep, drinking 2-3 litres of good quality and vitalised water throughout the day and to breathe deeply are key factors for your health, happiness and success in life. 

These basic elements provide you with life-energy, which in return gives you the strength to overcome your personal and professional obstacles. It also supports you to guide, coach and motivate your team to live healthier, happier, more focused and productive lives. This in return results directly in more customers and greater turnover. 

To find out how to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity in your company in your organisation, please contact me on [email protected].

Finally, enjoy the summer and use this time to break your patterns, change your habits and re-programme your system for a sustainable future! 

Michaela Christine Wolf is Consultant, Coach, Connector and Founder of Michaela Christine Wolf, a London based Luxury Marketing Consultancy. With her 20+ years of experience in retail, e-commerce and wholesale, she is supporting small/medium sized international businesses (between ￡1-300million annual turnover) as an external Marketing Director. 

Michaela is specialised in the acquisition, retention and re-activation of luxury consumers - from customer-centric research, strategy, planning to execution and controlling results. Team training, personal development and coaching have been an important part of her work to managing change in organisations. 

In the last 5 years Michaela has been consulting for 30+brands including luxury & lifestyle brands such as Wedgwood, Rituals Cosmetics, Georg Jensen, Temperley London, Roksanda, Vienna Tourist Board etc