Lifestyle coaching by
Mazarine

Introduction to holistic coaching

After the studies in personal training, sport psychology and nutrition I continued to expand my knowledge in the health field. Not only for health optimisation knowledge but in all things women's health. Whether this was out of my own curiosity or to broaden my knowledge in general, I feel like I'm never done studying this field as I can go on and on about each and every topic that enhances us as women. It's an investment in myself, and in you as a Sweatboxer.

My specialties:

Training pre, mid & after pregnancy. Restoring the diastasis recti and the pelvic floor muscle.

Hormone balancing

Weight loss and strength training

Holistic health

Sleep optimisation

Creating healthy habits

Holistic pillars: Body, food and mind

Now I hear you think, what exactly is holistic health?

The main focus is on the following 3 pillars: body, food and mind.

All aspects are combined during a holistic lifestyle coaching. Of course depending on your history, needs and questions, but our vision is to implement an holistic view.

Because health isn't only movement and nutrition. It's the quality of your sleep, your energy level, your mood and happiness, what you consume on a daily basis, ( yes food, but also social media consumption, interactions with people, daily conversations with yourself and others etc), your recovery after training, the quality of your skin, your hormones, your gut health. As you can tell the list can go on and on but to summarize: Holistic health is the full scope.

Unbalanced hormones, gut health & stress

When was the last time you experienced a headache? Or when was the last time acne around the jaw area flared up? Do you feel utterly lethargic on some days? Or have you ever worked out all the workouts and ate all the healthy meals without seeing any results?

Did you connect the link between health aspect may be out of balance that's causing these effects or lack of outcome? If these symptoms sounds familiar there are many things you can do to optimise/improve these health issues for the long run.

Acne around the jaw area or on the upper back is an indication your hormones aren't in balance.

Not losing weight while you're trying all the tricks in the book could be a sign of heightened cortisol levels which are caused by stress. It's possible that other aspects should be a priority in this case, such as stress reduction and restoring the nervous system before doing any high intensity trainings, which put your body under stress that has little capacity in this state.

Feeling lethargic? Take a look at your sleep routine and your gut health, as these 2 factors are the main aspect to feeling well. What's wrong with my gut health? Many of us think we're healthy until we take a close look at our gut. Did you know that if you eat all the right foods but your gut health isn't optimal, your body isn't 'absorbing' the nutrients as well as usual? This is called having 'a leaky gut'. And did you know decreasing a coffee or 2 a day could decrease symptoms of anxiety significantly?

Longevity

As you can tell, health problems can have various root sources. Often times modern day health issues are solved with more external short term solutions than longterm 'inside-out' reasoning. Headache? Let's take a paracetamol. Tired? I'll have another coffee. Gained weight? Let's do a detox cleanse and go 'beastmode' in the gym during a 6 week programme. (That will often throw off female hormones in the long run)

However none of the above is bad, let's take a look at the source of the problem instead of reaching for short term quick fixes. That's what a holistic lifestyle is all about for me, no thinking in restrictions but rather working towards improvement from the inside out, with the tools in sight. To work in ways that work for the long run. That way the outcome (such as losing weight and feeling better) is inevitable.

Trauma and functioning with a trauma stored body

Some of these health aspects are close beneath the surface, and others may be rooted alittle deeper. Such as burn-outs or trauma. Multiple studies have shown that nutrition and movement play a huge role in trauma recovery.

Trauma can cause an imbalance in something that's called the mind-body connection. When we experience or have experienced trauma, trauma can be stored in our body. We tend to live in our heads, everything feels foggy, communicating ourselves may seem harder than for others. We feel like we're on 'high-alert', anxious and tense, as we once may have experienced a situation of danger that we're no longer in. Our nervous system just doesn't differentiate the past and the present, therefore the cortisol (stress hormone) that was released during the moment of trauma, stays stored in the body, which puts us in constant survival mode.

Movement by using somatic experience tactics doesn't only help you get rid of tension that would've been kept in our bodies otherwise, we process emotions better as well, which allows us to let go of the intensity of an emotion carried with us for a long time. Thus it isn't necessarily getting rid of certain memories of situations that caused us trauma, it's rather: giving yourself the space and time to experience them, to fully feel them in order to release the intensity of the emotions connected to the memories. By connecting to our bodies we connect back to ourselves, instead of lingering in narratives or re-living the past. I always compare this with a full bucket of water, about to tip over. After a well mind-body focused workout, i see this as emptying the bucket a little bit each time, clearing space for yourself to process daily impressions and stimuli better.

However, when we continue on the path of a trauma stored body, we set our organs up for failure. Long time exposure to heightened cortisol levels isn't only damaging to your mental health, but also your organs, your nervous system and even your menstrual cycle. That's why addressing the matter is so important, instead of moving forward without removing the blockages. We'll always advise you to seek for a psychotherapist within your field (EMDR, somatic therapy etc) along side the holistic lifestyle coaching, if you're in need of such support.

Burn-out

With burn-out symptoms we're basically talking about not having enough time and space to process your daily interactions and stimuli which is another way to slowly fill up that bucket again. If we repeat that pattern long enough, you can guess it: the bucket is tipping over. So a little meditation session on a daily basis, some intentional movement here and there could go a long way. Besides that, changes in your lifestyle is required. Just as much as addressing what got you in a burn-out to begin with.

So to sum up what holistic means: body, food and mind all connected and equally important.

The ultimate goal is optimising these health aspects for the long run and we can because our body is constantly communicating with us. We are firm believers of longevity and therefore stick to the: 'Don't accept how you feel, if it's not the way you want to feel' motto.

Plus, with good care for ourselves comes great care for our surrounding.

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Curious as to what applies to your health situation? Book a holistic lifestyle intake for free today! Reach out to us at info.thesweatbox@gmail.com

Written by Mazarine Henninger