At home wellness has taken on new meaning this week. Yet it’s so important for us to take care of our health, and the health of those around us. I pulled together a list of at-home wellness resources to help you keep your body, and your mind, strong and resilient during this time.

If you have additional resources to share, please leave a note in my Eat Well, Live Well group and I’ll add it to this round up.

Also, if you haven’t check it out, go read my Immune Boosting tips to stay healthy. These are important tips now and going forward as we navigate this new normal.

At-Home Workout Options

1. The Balanced Life Sisterhood- membership just opened up for new members. I’ve been with this online pilates program for over a year and it was a game changer for me. Learn more about the Sisterhood and use code emily20 to get $20 off your membership.
2. Peloton-now offering 90 days to try out the app. You don’t need the bike to enjoy all the other classes. I’ve been doing the yoga, meditation, and strength training classes more often than the biking classes.
3. Starr Yoga- virtual yoga class run by Julie Starr and her team. Find more info on their Facebook pages to get the Zoom link.
4. H.Y.P. Studio Yoga and Pilates– online classes via Facebook
5. Glo Yoga-always has a free trial and is a great resource of yoga video
6. Just get outside for a walk. Run. Skip. Jump rope. Getting outside when you can will help calm your nervous system too.

At-Home Meditation

1. Ziva Meditation– this online meditation class is being offered at 50% off, AND FREE for health care workers. If you know anyone, send them this link so they can get access to the course. It’s so important for everyone to make time to quiet their central nervous system during this time of intense emotions. Ziva Meditation is the one I recommend to my clients because it focuses on meditation as a practice to “get good at life, not get good at meditation.” It’s the only program that made me not feel like I was doing meditation wrong because I couldn’t quiet my brain.If there was ever a time to start a meditation practice, this is it. This is what will help us not lose our cool with our kids, spouse, and ourselves as we manage this time home. At home wellness really starts with our mindset each day. If we can start from a place of calm, and end with it, we will get through this with less trauma and more joy. Click here to learn more about Ziva meditation.

Cooking at Home

1. Pamela Salzman runs online cooking classes. It’s a great mental break, and something you can watch with your kids to learn new recipes. Sometimes people think cooking is harder than it really is. Once you see someone else do it, I find it’s much easier to try it yourself. Her monthly classes are all discounted right now. Use code SINGLE10 to get single classes for $10, or CLASSES17 to sign up for a monthly subscription (normally $27/mo)
2. Slow cookers are one of the easiest ways to make dinner. This is a great round up of 20 healthy soups and stews for the slow cooker, and often the Instant Pot too. Robyn keeps the ingredient list small, which is great for some limited pantry shopping at the moment.
3. Engage your kids in the kitchen with a game of “Chopped.” What can they create with some limited vegetables? Give them some limitations, only because we don’t to waste any food during this time.
4. When in doubt, make a smoothie. If that is all the energy you have at the end of the day, make smoothies for dinner. No one is grading you at this point. Use this opportunity to try some new recipes and grab my Free Smoothie Guide.
5. Meal planning- I’ll be sharing more about meal planning in the days ahead on Facebook, but I encourage you to meal plan and focus on fresh foods first. There is a lot of “pantry meal posts” going online and I want you to wait on those till it’s necessary. For now, if possible, just use your fresh item first and shop your refrigerator to create meals each day.

At-Home Wellness Tips

Self-care has taken on a new meaning at the moment too. It’s not bubble baths and coffee dates with friends. However, keeping sane at home is so important. There’s a couple of fun ways to help rid your body of the building anxiety some of us are feeling right now. Here’s my go to list of what works:

• Shaking
• Jump rope/jumping jacks
• Dancing

And I did hear about putting Christmas lights back up outside as a sign of solidarity. I just might do that to brighten our evenings and give our neighborhood something fun to enjoy.

We need to focus on the small wins, and moments of joy. Kids laughing as we play Just Dance together. Watching movies together. Letting kids build the biggest forts in the family room.

Yes, we are trying to homeschool and work at home just like the rest of you. Give yourself grace. 

If we keep our child and our body calm, we will weather this storm.

Till then, I miss people. And will continue to make my home a happy, safe place for our family. If I do that each day, it’s enough.