Simple Ways to Reduce Stress

Stress is an inevitable part of our modern lives and whilst short-term stress is a normal physiological function, long-term, chronic stress can have a huge impact on both our physical and mental health; from impairing our immune system to exacerbating poor mental health and increasing our blood pressure.

The Origins of Stress

If we rewind 2 million years, our stress response evolved to keep us safe. For example, if we were to be attacked by a wild animal, our sensors would react to make us flee away from the source of danger. Nowadays our sources of stress tend to come in the form of emails, office jobs, financial challenges, and relationship worries.

How to Manage Stress

The good news is there are lots of quick, easy stress management tools from mindfulness practices to yoga flows, exercise classes, morning routines, and a healthy diet.

1. Prioritise exercise

Even short bursts of exercise can help relieve stress, lowering levels of your stress hormone cortisol and releasing endorphins, which act as mood boosters, reducing stress and lifting your overall sense of well-being.

Yoga

30 mins

Self-Love & Positivity Flow

with Ella Mills

A flow designed to show love, kindness and appreciation to the body, focussing on heart opening poses that move the body in a gentle, loving way.

Pilates

10 mins

Feel Good Full Body Pilates

with Cynthia Kesington

This Pilates class fires up your whole body in just 10 minutes. You'll stay on the floor throughout, so this class is ideal for when you want a workout that's gentle on your joints.

Yoga

20 mins

Have A Great Day Flow

with Ella Mills

Join Ella in this classic morning flow to set yourself up for the day.

Barre

5 mins

5-Minute Feel Good Barre

with Yasmeen Mohamed

The 5-minute fix. Squeeze, stretch and pulse your way through a series of intense mat-based moves for a feel-good glow.

Cardio

25 mins

Feel Good Sweat Session

with Lauren Naomi

If you're looking for a class that will get you feeling good and sweaty, this is the class for you. Lauren brings you this equipment-free 25-minute class made up of 3 rounds of sweaty intervals, followed by a lovely long and juicy stretch to get you feeling amazing and ready to make the most of your day (hopefully with a big sweaty smile on your face).

Yoga

20 mins

Positive Feel Good Morning Flow

with Ella Mills

This positive feel good morning flow is all about stretching out the body, creating a little bit of energy and curating positive intentions to take into the rest of your day.

2. Look at Your Diet

Loading your body up with a whole host of different nutrients can help lower the impact of stress on your body. Ensuring each meal is rich in protein, healthy fats, and wholegrains helps to balance your blood sugar and stabilise your mood. Loading up on tryptophan-rich foods (think nuts and seeds) helps to increase serotonin (happy hormone) production. Upping your omega-3, antioxidant, magnesium, and B vitamin intake all helps to regulate your stress and boost your mood too.

Mains

30 mins

Walnut & Lentil Ragu - 3 Ways

We make a rich and satisfying ragu sauce with lentils and chopped walnuts. It’s a filling and comforting sauce that is incredibly versatile. We use it as the base to our creamy aubergine-potato bake, in our walnut & lentil jacket potatoes, and walnut & lentil spaghetti.

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Roasted Roots Salad With Tahini Mustard Dressing

Mains

60 mins

Roasted Roots Salad With Tahini Mustard Dressing

This salad is so much more than the sum of its parts. Sweet roasted root vegetables with fragrant herbs are paired with chewy dried apricots and crunchy walnuts. Fresh rocket and our go-to creamy tahini dressing brings this beautiful dinner party salad together perfectly.

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Breakfast

5 mins

Date & Chia Pudding

Chia pudding is one of my absolute favourite foods, it's just the best breakfast! One of the great things about it is that you can make it the night before, which takes literally two minutes, and then its ready to go in the morning so you don’t have to worry about breakfast. The mix of coconut yoghurt and date syrup is so amazingly sweet and creamy – it really does taste like dessert!

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Mains

20 mins

Harissa & Almond Pearl Barley Salad

Crunchy roasted almonds, garlicky tomatoes, soft pearl barley and fresh herbs are mixed together with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to create this delicious salad. We love to enjoy it as a side or on its own with a dollop of sun-dried tomato hummus.

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Mains

25 mins

Pea, Broccoli & Almond Soup

This soup is beautifully creamy with lovely hints of sweet peas, rich tamari, zingy lemon and garlic. The mix of peas, broccoli, celery and spinach tastes so delicious with all the herbs and spices.

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15 mins

Quick Rice Noodles With Tofu & Greens

These noodles are minimum effort, maximum satisfaction. You can make the sauce as the vegetables are frying and have dinner ready in about 15 minutes.

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Drinks

5 mins

Banana, Date & Almond Shake

This is an old favourite recipe, which we’ve recently given a revamp to make it even better for you. We’ve added blueberries to the mix here to give it more flavour and brighten it up a little. I love the flavours of the blueberries, banana, oats, dates and almond butter together — it’s so sweet and delicious, making it perfect for breakfast or as an afternoon pick me up.

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3. Try a Morning Routine

Making time for a positive, productive routine first thing helps set a positive tone for the rest of the day, making it easier to implement healthy habits (habit stacking). Including gratitude, breathwork or meditation, and gentle exercise all lower stress hormones and kick off a feel-good cycle.

9/28/2023

How To Build a Morning Routine (& Why It’ll Change Your Life)

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4. Start a Mindfulness, Meditation or Breathwork Practice

Practising mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress levels, as slowing down and focusing your attention on the present moment helps down-regulate the fight or flight state associated with feelings of stress and activate the parasympathetic nervous system; the rest and digest state. If you need a helping hand this week to de-stress or simply need a few minutes of peace each day, here are our favourite mindfulness practices to do.

Meditation

5 mins

5 Minutes To Release Stress

with James Dowler

Unwind, release stress and reduce anxiety in this short, powerful breathwork practice with James Dowler.

Meditation

10 mins

Appreciation Meditation

with Jess Baccanello

A meditation focussed on appreciating life, breath, the body and self and moving from lack to abundance.

Meditation

15 mins

15 Minutes Of Mindful Calm

with Cordelia Simpson

This guided meditation with Cordelia Simpson creates a deep sense of relaxation, calm and peace. This practice is the perfect antidote for a stressful or overwhelming day, helping you unwind. This class has been created in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation.

Meditation

15 mins

De-Stress Breathwork

with James Dowler

This practice uses the technique of slowing the exhale right down. In doing so, the slowing down branch of the nervous system is activated and a feeling of relaxation and calm sweeps through the body.

Meditation

10 mins

10 Minutes Of Gratitude

with Cordelia Simpson

This short, calming practice with Cordelia Simpson helps you create a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for life. It's soothing and relaxing, leaving you feeling positive and refreshed.

Meditation

15 mins

Reconnect With Yourself

with Aisha Carrington

Fill up your cup, slow down, and take a break from the fast pace of life with this 15-minute practice. Remind yourself that you matter as you make space to listen to your thoughts, take care of your emotional health and wrap yourself in a bubble of love and sunshine, even when it feels like a dark, cloudy day.