What is your role at Resolution Retreats?
As an Integrative Health Coach, I have a large focus on mental and emotional wellbeing and encouraging our guests to nourish this side of themselves as they choose to make any health improvements. Aligning the mind and body is essential to our wellbeing and our ability to show up as the best version of ourselves. As a team we work side by side in all areas of the retreat to create the ultimate guest experience. I predominantly will be found taking various movement sessions from weights, HIIT circuit, aqua, yoga and soon barre. It’s about encouraging women to move their body in a way they enjoy, aligning their personal preferences with movement to benefit their overall wellbeing and increase confidence while appreciating what our bodies can do.
From my own experiences with PCOS and negative weight challenges, I’m deeply passionate about lifting body confidence, self-esteem and the acceptance of ourselves as we are right now regardless of whether you have goals to enhance your body composition or not. This makes any changes an enjoyable process where you are on your own side cheering yourself on, rather than getting stuck in sabotaging behaviours, and the frustration of not sticking to goal’s plans.
What can guests learn and take away from your expert mental health workshops on retreat?
I think firstly to go a little easier on themselves and to know its normal to feel ‘negative’ emotions. In fact, these emotions can be a great opportunity to focus aligning life areas with your values to enhance your wellbeing. We use this workshop to help build a resilience toolkit to strengthen our coping ability to be able to manage through life’s inevitable ups and downs a little better. We keep things simple using a ‘start where you are’ approach and then just adding in the next one thing that will help, and simply progressing from there. It’s important to walk away able to action the workshop learnings immediately so we have techniques, and mindset shifts to help guests do just this.
We can nourish our mental wellbeing with effective mind management techniques, restorative sleep, good nutrition and gut health alongside integrating health models like Mental Health Foundations 5 Ways to Wellbeing [Keep Learning. Take Notice. Be Active. Give. Connection]. Our workshop discussions bring awareness about how it’s the little things we do regularly that make a difference. Also, the importance and benefits of prioritising wellbeing in our lifestyle, rather than only trying to fix it at its worse.
How can we be more mindful of taking care of our mental health and checking in with ourselves daily?
Add compassion and curiosity knowing that how you cope from one day to another will be different. Find mindful minutes throughout your day where you can focus without judgment on how you feel in your body. If the jaw is tight, shoulders hunched you can apply easy relaxation techniques. Be aware of the unhelpful thoughts you are having that you could perhaps reframe to lower the stress response. Tune in to the breath with slow, steady belly breaths. Small actions to regulate your nervous system build up when done consistently.
At any time if your thoughts are more intense than your current coping capability please ask for help. You are not a burden. Remember in the same way that if you want support to get physically fit you can enlist a Personal Trainer – our mental health is no different. If you want support to enhance your mental fitness, seek a psychologist, counsellor or coach. Think of them as your ‘Personal Mind Trainers’. And lastly, treat yourself everyday with kindness.
Carly Kirby is part of the award-winning team at Resolution Retreats; the only live-in women’s weight loss, health and wellness retreat in New Zealand. With Mental Health Awareness Week later this month we were inspired by this passionate health coach’s realistic tips to looking after our mental health and wellbeing.