Your Inner Voice...

Hi everyone 

It's been 5 weeks of lockdown now, longer for some people, and although most of us may have found more time on our hands in one way or another, are we making time to listen to our thoughts?

We recently contributed to the Junior League of London's Spring Conference on Zoom (thanks for inviting us, Jess!) and the overall topic was Change. Our section was titled Changing the Voice Within and we offered 3 top tips as to how you can begin to change your internal dialogue so that you are using kinder, more positive words when you speak about yourself, to yourself! 

In today's email we are going to talk about tip number 1 - Meditation. When practised often, meditation can really help to change the voice within as it allows you to create a calm space to listen to your thoughts. Did you know that it's estimated that 90% of our thoughts each day are the same as the day before? Did you know that many studies have shown that 80% of our daily thoughts lean towards being more negative, than positive? There are reasons for this (these will be covered in a future email!) but this is why it's so important that we allow ourselves the opportunity to 'switch off' for a moment and truly listen to our inner voice. 

I thought you weren't supposed to have thoughts during meditation?

Well... yes and no! The objective of meditation is to quiet the mind and the longer and more frequently you practise, the more likely you are to have longer periods of stillness. However, thoughts will always pop in to your head - we are human, it's what our brains do! Through meditation you can learn to notice when this happens and bring your attention back to your stillness (normally the focus is on the breath). Meditation is a continuous journey but, once you begin to practise regularly, you start to notice triggers and how easily your mind can be distracted and go off on an endless ride of repetitive thinking. You will hear for yourself that your internal dialogue can be quite unfriendly at times and, once you notice that, you can do something about it. You can begin to implement what's needed to strengthen your mental health, and be kinder to yourself by changing your inner voice. 

What if meditation isn't for me?

We believe that most people can make meditation work for them if they can create a habit - just 10-minutes a day can make a huge difference! Think of it as just sitting in a quiet space to allow a little time to create some calm, knowing it's amazing for your mental health in the long term. Of course, there are others ways to 'switch off' so that you can listen to that inner voice - mindful walks, listening to your favourite music while being still, drawing/colouring etc. You will allow your mind to drift as you focus and, as you continue to do this, you will understand more about yourself and can begin to treat yourself with as much loving kindness as you would your best friend...

A SMASH London community member has recently started his own business called Unplugged, and it would be perfect for anyone who's looking for a quiet space to reconnect body and mind (once lockdown is over and some sense of 'normality' resumes!). Hector has this to say  -

The goal with Unplugged is to get people spending less time on their phones and more time in nature. We aim to do this by providing a digital detox in beautiful cabins in nature, just one hour from London life. The idea was born from frustration with my own in ability to switch off, which, last September, lead me to a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas. I came back completely recharged and now aim to help others unplug without flying half way around the world!

We think this sounds amazing, if you are interested in finding out more about Unplugged check out the website here!

'Switching off' can help to unleash creativity, strengthen relationships and discover more about yourself. Meditation is one of the best ways to do this, so why not try it today, if you aren't already? It's a journey that we are so grateful to have started a few years ago. Without meditation, there probably wouldn't have been SMASH London! We honestly do think it's powerful enough to allow ideas to flourish, calm to ensue and change the voice within 

Sam and Ash

P.S. We want to support our community members who own small businesses, work for charities or have side projects that could benefit from some extra promotion (just like we've done with Hector and Unplugged today!). If you would like us to include something in our upcoming emails that would be suitable for our community, please let us know. We are all in this together and need to support each other as much as possible 

A message from Sam and Ash - Our business has been seriously affected by the current COVID-19 crisis, but you can support us by making a small donation to our GoFundMe page here. We will continue to put out as much free content as we can to ensure all of our community members are able to build strength in body and mind, and your kind donation will enable us to do that. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far, your support means the world to us.

Check out our YouTube workout videos here!