AD
Bonjour my lovelies. Welcome to a new blog post! I hope you all have had a lovely weekend!
Today’s post is all about my little mini break down to Bath last week. I was very kindly invited to spend a night at the Apex City of Bath Hotel (the newest hotel of the Apex chain) and seeing as I have never really explored Bath before – I was MORE than excited. Mainly because I am a Jane Austen fan girl and most of her books have been set in Bath so I have always wanted to go. PLUS it is probably one of the most beautiful towns in England so… YAS.
I invited my friend Sabrina (www.alittleobsessed.com) along with me and we booked a train super early on the Sunday morning (gross) and headed down to Bath Spa. It is a super easy journey from London into Bath – and especially to the hotel, which is a 4 min drive/10 min walk from the train station. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
On the Sunday, we had the whole day to wander around and explore this beautiful little city and then on the Monday, I was invited to a talk with the amazing, inspiring, life changing (literally – just wait and see) Celynn Morin. I will go into more detail later in the blog post about my time with Celynn and the incredible advice and information she gave us on wellness and how to get a happy body and mind!
BUT FIRST – lemme just show you the hotel – because – it’s SO pretty.
Our room was just divine, very calming colours, spacious and with a LOT of natural light (great for photos #instagoals). The bed was incredibly comfy, big pillows, fluffy duvet. There was a desk to work at, a huge bathroom with a bath AND a shower (with Elemis toiletries) and a FULL LENGHT MIRROR. Plus our room had a divine balcony with the most gorgeous view. Have a little browse of my snaps to check it out for yourself:
If you like what you see and wanted to book in for a night of luxury – click here to book!
After checking in, dumping all our stuff and having a quick little relax on the bed, we headed out in search of food and some sight seeing. Now – I have to point out that it was sunny but -2 degrees that day. Probably the coldest I have been in a LONG time…(although I look like it was lovely and warm as I was wearing a shirt and top BUT THIS WAS A LIE IT WAS BELOW FREEZING). So we actually did very badly at wandering around the town admiring the views. We mainly spent out time tucked up in little cafés, discussing life over a nice warm cup of tea.
The two cafés we visited that afternoon were The Green Bird (for lunch) and Sally Lunn’s Eating House (for the most delicious famous buns with butter and jam as an afternoon tea snack). Both of which I would highly recommend for lovely cosy spots to munch at.
After our very cold but lovely day exploring Bath, we heading back to the hotel. I ran a delicious bubble bath – even if I did over do it with the bubbles a bit. In each Apex Hotel room they have a rubber duck that you can take home with you!!! You can start your own Apex rubber duck collection!!!! Our Bath bath duck was called Oliver. Everyone say hi.
Obviously, I loved being able to say: “having a bath in Bath”.
Anyway – after our bath, we got snuggled up in bed and watching some TV with a lovely cup of Earl Grey tea and then went to sleep in the comfiest bed, excited for my day of wellness the next morning.
We were up pretty early as Sabrina had to head back to London – so we headed downstairs for a quick breakfast before I headed to meet up with the other bloggers and Celynn and the Apex team for our #WarmerWelcome day!
As I mentioned before briefly – the main reason I headed down to Bath (along with checking out the dreamy hotel and city) was to learn all about Apex’s new concept of a #WarmerWelcome. To do this they have teamed up with the amazing Celynn Morin – a dietician, corporate wellness expert, and active traveller – in the hope of helping all their guests to get the best out of their body and mind and feel healthier and happier. And by healthier – we aren’t talking about getting a thumbs up from the doctor – but more of an all over feeling of health and happiness in body, mind, and soul.
I really wasn’t expecting to leave the session wanting to completely change my entire life routine but I really really did. I thought that I would learn a few tips and tricks to be less stressed etc – but I came away from the session with such a strong feeling of “ok – I can do this – I know how to make changes I need in order to get my life on track”. It was the best wake up call I have had in a long time and I am just so excited to share with you a few bits of advice and information I learnt last Monday.
I also wanted to quickly mention that Celynn and Apex hotels have produced some podcasts that are available to listen to (you do not need to be a guest at the hotel to listen to them) and I would HIGHLY recommend you do have a listen if you’re interested in these sorts of tips. They are all about 10 mins long and SO SO SO easy to listen to, so well explained. None of this boring, long winded chat about vitamins and chemicals etc in a monotoned voice with words you don’t understand. This is literally like having advice from a friend about how to sort your life out!
The Podcast is called ‘Rejuvenate, Focus and Relax’ and I have popped a link to it here so do have a listen. They will be releasing a new podcast each week and currently there are two podcasts available to listen to – the first one is ‘SNACKING FOR REJUVENATION’ and the second is ‘MOVE YOURSELF TO ENERGISE YOURSELF’.
I listened to the first one when I was doing my make-up before the event – and I already felt that in 10mins I had learnt more about how to keep my energy levels up throughout a full day / travelling etc that I had learnt in my last 26 years.
ANYWAY back to the event.
I learnt so so much from Celynn that day – but I wanted to share a few key points that I wrote down. The whole talk was about how important it is to take time out of our busy, hectic, stressful, sensory overload filled days to disconnect and reconnect with ourselves and what our body needs (hopefully this doesn’t sound too zen for you all, before you all start to roll your eyes!). Basically, it’s important to relax, rejuvenate and re-focus.
This was so important for me to hear as I spend 90% of my day on my phone (as that is where my job is based – instagram, and online in general), stressed and getting more and more wound up by the constant beam of light being shone into my eyes, overtaking all my thoughts. Most of the points below (that I scribbled down at the event) are pretty much just common sense. However – they are the things that we just don’t stick to. We prioritise ‘wealth over health’, we work too much, and we stay connected, wired up and in sync with our schedules before putting our health and wellbeing first. I really needed someone to show me how important it is to STOP doing what I am doing and start a healthier path.
One of the main things Celynn taught up was her FAB method: Fuel + Activate + Behaviour.
Fuel:
It is so so important to fuel our bodies properly so that we don’t binge eat a packet of hob knobs as soon as we get home *cough* thats me *cough*, so we have the same amount of energy at 5pm as we do at 11am.
Our plates should be filled with colour – protein and fibre is key – and throughout the day instead of only eating at meals (and then being unable to resist a Mars Bar for the commute home). Have a supply of nuts and snack bars throughout the day and make sure you eat them!! This will keep you full and topped up all day so you don’t then eat the biggest meal of your life for dinner.
Activate :
Our bodies are not made to sit down. They are made to stand up. This is how our posture supports us – and every time we spend hours sitting down at a desk etc, it negatively affects our entire body, our breathing, oxygen getting to the brain etc. It is so important to get up and walk around for about 5 mins every 45mins. This might seem ridiculous to some people – I mean, I can sit and work for 4 hours without moving. But actually if you just stand up and walk across an office to get a glass of water, go and make a cup of tea, go to the toilet, this will instantly awaken your body and mind and make you feel more awake and refreshed for the rest of the day. I am lucky that I got a FitBit recently and it buzzes at me every hour to get up and ‘go for a stroll’ and so I do – and I am SO much more productive for it!
If you are forcing yourself to get up and walk around every 45mins – this might lead to drinking more water (you should drink 1 glass of water for every 10kg you weigh), or catching up with a colleague and having a chat, or walking up and down the stairs to get a bit of exercise in – all leading to a happier mind and body rather than staring constantly at a screen.
Behave:
This is a big one – how you behave can affect everything. There are so many little tips and tricks that Celynn taught us to improve our wellness. Such as getting enough sleep, going to bed earlier and reading a book. PUTTING YOUR PHONE OR LAPTOP AWAY at a specific time and letting your body unwind naturally, rather than scrolling through apps every single night until you are unable to sleep. Another one was writing down 5 things you are grateful for, every night. I used to do something like this on my blog – I would write down 5 things that made me happy every day – until I went away to New York and we just didn’t have any time to daily blog so I stopped – but I would love to blog about the 5 things that I am grateful for every day! Would you be interested in reading that? I would love for you all to start a little ‘gratitude diary’ too! It can really make you realise how much there is to be happy about, rather than just focusing on what went wrong in your day!
One of the other pieces of advice we were taught is :
B = MAT
Behaviour = Motivation x Ability x Trigger
The way to change your behaviour is to start small, with something that is doable and not something you are setting yourself up to fail at – make it something that you have the motivation for, and the ability and a trigger to do.
For example – if I wanted to stop being on my phone until 1am – I would set a target of putting my phone away at 11pm and not checking it until the next morning.
This, to me, would need a lot of willpower. But it is an easy thing to do, I just need to motivate myself and think how much better I will feel when I have a good nights sleep – which would lead to the entire following day being better. My ‘trigger’ will be – every time I brush my teeth at night – I pop my phone in my bathroom cabinet and don’t collect it again until I brush my teeth in the morning. I’ve ordered an alarm clock from Amazon and can’t wait to start my routine as soon as I am back from my holiday!
At the end of the talk – Celynn asked us what would be the one thing that we would all change to improve our wellness. I replied – “errrr everything – walking more, exercising 4 times a week, eating better, sleeping longer, not being on my phone as much”, which was instantly shot down. She said, by trying to change everything you are not going to be able to keep that up. The motivation will go – and therefore you will ignore your ability to do it and the trigger.
You need to pick one thing – change that one thing and then when that is a new habit, change something else.
So I have decided to stop being on my phone until the early hours. And I am hoping this has a huge domino affect on my life. By actually giving myself a decent nights sleep, I won’t be craving sugary snacks, huge coffees and won’t be ridiculously tired all day. I will have more energy to go to the gym in the evenings. This (hopefully – stay tuned) will lead onto a healthier diet in the evenings, which might lead on to not wanting to eat 10million biscuits when watching netflix.
And you see – it goes on and on.
I can’t recommend listening to the podcasts on this subject on the Warmer Welcome page of Apex Hotels.
It has honestly inspired me so so much to make new and better choices in my life.
Apex are also making changes in their hotel. They are having different drink options in their rooms, not just english breakfast and coffee – but camomile teas etc to give people the option to unwind more. There is an Elemis pillow spray and a Warmer Welcome booklet in every room, which is packed with info from Celynn, such as hydration tips, tips on snacking, moving, breathing tips to focus the mind, tips on how to relax, power nap and disconnect etc. And don’t forget to check out the podcasts!!!
“Time is non refundable – use it with intention”
Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Apex Hotels for having me in their gorgeous hotel, and for Celynn for being so amazing, inspiring and down to earth – I learnt so much and I can’t wait to start putting everything I learnt into action.
To book a room at the Apex City of Bath Hotel – click HERE
This post is written in collaboration with Apex Hotels – however, everything written is my own and my own opinions.
