HOLIDAY WELLBEING, IS THAT ACHIEVABLE?

Me balancing my usual grandmotherly existence with the festive season.

DECEMBER 2024 newsletteR

One more week to go folks, did everyone prepare themselves properly last month?

To me Christmas holidays used to mean, burning candles and snuggling up in the dark and cold winter in Finland. It also involved several traditions, running from one overflowing breakfast, lunch, and dinner table to the next. As much as I love my family and traditions, I do have to admit that I am mildly relieved to spend Christmas without stress and timetables and the best part is the warm sun of New Zealand. The tradition that has stayed is a morning walk (used to be a run) and sauna. That will certainly evoke a healthy appetite and get me ready for an energized Christmas. Instead of aiming to have food in at least 3 different households in 1 day and continue that rally for 3 days, I now enjoy a relaxed Christmas at home, with the cats obviously, but also some good human friends made in my journey here in New Zealand. That, my friends, suits me and my nervous system 1000% better and lets me recharge my batteries super well for the new year! I am always happy to hear your stories of your traditions, and together we can try to make them less stressful if that’s the case for you.

Right, let’s think about the “problems” of the festive season. Stress, busyness, schedules, people pleasing, treats, overeating, drinking (whether sugary drinks or alcohol), lack of sleep/rest, lack of routine, it’s funny how the resting period at the end of the year often turns out to be the complete opposite! I hope everyone worked on their wellbeing thresholds for the past month so this holiday season will be a bit easier. We all know that none of the holiday season “problems” aren’t really problems if it is just for one evening or even a couple, it’s the build-up of things, with an explanation “I’m on holiday”.

The holiday season challenge is to once again, mark down your goals and make plans that allow you to rest and exercise. Be at home or go camping, whatever makes it possible for you just to be not to do. Agree with a friend to go for a walk in the mornings or afternoons. Prepare healthier treats so you can enjoy them and not go crazy with guilt. Learn how to say NO, if you want to rest you can’t say yes to every plan and event. If you know saying no, is hard for you, fake it till you make it, and think beforehand what’s your reason not to attend so you don’t say yes in panic. Turn off your phone and try to manage a few days without social media, emails, messages, and other distractions. If none of the above isn’t enough for you, get a cat and follow their lead for a peaceful, stress-free, and guilt-free way of living, haha. Animals in general are always the best teachers, they sleep when they are tired, eat when they are hungry, and play for the rest of the time, basically what the holiday season should be all about. Whatever you do own your actions and move on! There’s no point in ruminating about what happened yesterday, it’s done, and you can’t affect it anymore. This is why you made your goals for the season so you can easily overcome overkill and be back on track for your optimal wellbeing.

For New Year, make realistic promises for yourself. If you don’t do any exercise atm, don’t set the goal to 5-6times a week of hardcore gym and runs, instead gardening daily combined with stretching, a few bike rides a week, or 15-30mins walks daily, that sort of thing is a start, and foundation to build on. On the other hand, if you are one of those crazy people who already run, and pump iron like crazy, it would be a good time to add mobility training and calming meditation into your routine.

This week is fully booked, and then I’ll be off for 2 weeks, relaxing. January 6th Henkiwellbeing is open again so go a head make your booking nice and early so you have something to look forward to.

Enjoy your holidays everyone, and see you in 2025!

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

Balance the meditating in sunshine and playing with Christmas decorations :)

WELLBEING THRESHOLD

NOVEMBER 2024 newsletteR

It’s almost the holiday season, so let’s start preparing!

I have mentioned quite a few little tips over the last few months, on how you can improve your wellbeing. The thing is life sometimes gets in the way of good intentions. There are so many things you could do, to build up a good routine and once you are in it you usually feel great! Christmas time is coming up soon, and it’s always the time that people get a bit crazy and flush their routines and habits down the toilet, haha. This happens to the best of us, we stay up too late, eat the wrong kind of food at the wrong time, skip exercise or do too much, stay inside too much, and promise to attend too many cat christenings (another great Finnish saying :) ), etc. you know what I’m talking about. The symptoms, of neglecting our bodies and minds, vary depending on the person, and for a certain amount of time, you can ignore them. Eventually, the screams for help will become louder, the pain might be unbearable, sleeping becomes almost impossible or your concentration is below zero. That’s when you know you pushed yourself over the edge! I have seen this happening to clients several times and also experienced it myself so I thought it was time to name this phenomenon. I came up with the term wellbeing threshold. We are all different and lead very different lives, so everyone’s symptoms and threshold are different. The trouble is if you don’t pay attention to what happens before the symptoms arrive, you won’t be able to figure out what was it that created them and where was your body’s limit. Now is the time to take measures, before the holiday season starts, so you can enjoy the holidays, and not push yourself too far from your threshold!

Here’s an example of what usually pushes me too far:

1.Sleep & morning sun

A couple of bad nights are ok, but if I start to go to bed too late, it weakens the quality of my sleep. I will miss the important sunrays in the morning and expose myself more to artificial light at night. I become grumpy and unmotivated really fast, only takes a few days. This is usually always the beginning of the vicious cycle for me, reasons for lack of sleep vary.

2. Eating at the wrong time

This goes hand in hand with sleep, I’m a morning person and always have been. Breakfast is my time to feast and regular evening fasting gives my body a chance to rest and reset my digestion track. Not doing this weekly, and the good old stomach pain starts to arrive in the afternoons, like clockwork!

3. Yoga & meditation

Once I have neglected 1.&2. I have zero motivation to do my morning practice, Skipping that for a week or two and my concentration goes down the drain.

These factors are the basis of my wellbeing, the threshold is also affected by the lack of sauna & cold plunge, not enough outside hours, too many social things, working too hard in the garden, too much TV or sometimes too many whiskies, etc., but when you think of it, all of the other factors will affect my sleep and start the cycle.

Your task for this month is to create your own list of 3 things that cannot be compromised too many days in a row or too often. By all means, mark down everything you can think of, it will only help you understand your basics better and give you a better idea of what really is important for your best possible wellbeing. Do this now and it will be the best holiday season you ever have had.

The next newsletter will be the last one of the year! I already have an idea for it, but you are more than welcome to suggest anything you would like to hear about. My last day of work before the holidays is 20th of December and I’ll be back at work on the 6th of January. End of the year is always a busy time with treatments, so if you want to see me before the break book asap, as there aren’t too many free slots available anymore.

Enjoy the sunshine and hopefully see you soon.

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

BRING ON THE LIGHT!

October 2024 newsletter

Sunshine is the best medicine, my dear fellow humans🤩

How did everyone's September reset go? Did you manage to be outside more? I was able to increase the outside hours even more, now that it’s been warm enough to do all the computer stuff outdoors. That’s really good for your eyes (and general health) if you can move your desk work outside, even a bit, to eliminate the blue light glare and get some good vitamin D at the same time. I have taken matters a step forward to guard my circadian rhythm and bought red lens glasses to wear in the evening, to try to get rid of the blue light exposure as much as possible. The lenses are good if you are living with other humans and can’t switch off all the lights and use candles only. There are more and more studies of how much technology (artificial light) and the lack of normal light and dark cycles interfere with our health. Balancing your circadian rhythm is worth a try people, it might just give you a better wellbeing boost than any exercise, diet or treatment would on their own.

It is also time to remind you all about shoes, once again, I know.  The feet are the foundation of the body. It amazes me every day how shoes are designed to restrict the movement of the foot and mold our feet to an unnatural form. If you were building a house, you would never want unsteady, unbalanced, inclined, or wobbly foundations for it, would you? Yet most of us as humans decide to do just that on our own body’s foundations daily. As everyone can understand if the foundations are not aligned and steady, problems will surface in other parts as well. Feet is one of my biggest wellbeing passions as they affect everything else and the solution to fix this is so easy, ditch the shoes, haha. I am aware that in modern life you can’t go barefoot 24/7 but there are so many barefoot brands these days that everyone will find a shoe that will fit their line of life. If you need any tips, I am more than happy to give suggestions for brands and support your journey towards stronger foundations.

I know I am repeating a few important topics over and over again but as they say, repetition is the mother of all learning. You need to hear things several times before the information sinks in not to even mention that learning a new skill needs at least 10 000 reps to be properly learned. Wellbeing is pretty simple, we as modern humans just love to complicate things.

Speaking of learning new, as I mentioned last month, I have started studying Bowen therapy. The next module is at the end of November, after that, I will need 3 more case studies. That means I need 3 people to receive 3 treatments each of Bowen therapy. I will be doing the treatments free of charge at this stage as I am still learning. What that requires from the volunteers is the commitment to be able to have 3 sessions 1 or 2 weeks apart. If that’s something any one of you would be interested send me a message and we’ll book that in. It’s a cool concept, very different from the healing and massage I do at the moment, so come with an open mind.

Have a great month everyone. Wellbeing is a lifelong journey so don’t rush, we’ll work on it together, it’s my passion to help you help yourself!

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

SEPTEMBER RESET

SEPTEMBER 2024 newsletteR

Congratulations to me!

I got some pretty amazing news today, my permanent residency arrived!  I suppose you guys are stuck with me now, haha. This means more freedom, less stress, and more energy to invest in Henkiwellbeing. I also will be heading to my first Bowen therapy course at the end of the week, so from next week onwards I will have some new tools in my pocket for treatments. The excitement is tangible!

September and March are my favorite months for reset. Moving away from winter or summer is the biggest shift in moods and habits. As I mentioned in August light brings energy but how we spend that energy is important, so it will last us long. Combining activities and exercises with rest is the key. As humans, we tend to go all in or nothing at all. Rest is a funny thing, everybody needs it, but it is often neglected until it’s an absolute must. The same goes for mobility and stretching! Proper rest isn’t lying on the sofa doing nothing (usually in a terrible slouched position) or having a few drinks to ease out stress. Those things are both ok and a good enjoyment at times, but they don’t recharge us, they prolong the process of getting a rested body and mind. Active rest requires natural light, fresh air, healthy food, movement, and good sleep, usually achieved best in that order. So there’s a challenge for this month!

1. Go out! As much as possible, first thing in the morning, and last thing in the evening the very least. You can eat your breakfast outside or read a book etc. doesn’t always have to be a massive exercise. It’s quite shocking how little a lot of us spent outside, so again mark down the minutes and you’ll see your own records after 4 weeks.

2. Eat healthy! This means different things to different people, so I’ll leave that under everyone's consideration. Doesn’t need to be said that fast food and sugar are bad for you, does it.

3. Move! Especially you lovely Otago people massively overdo things at times. Movement includes mobility, strength, and fitness, and preferably in that order, not the other way around.

4. Sleep like a cat! Embrace it and give it value. Sleep heals and makes us stronger like nothing else. I know this is the hardest for a lot of people so jump through the other hoops first and see where it gets you. Sleeping in a dark, tidy, and cool room will also help.

There’s a lot to achieve, but I know you can do it!

In the end I also need to inform you that my treatment prices are going up a bit ($10 a treatment). Costs are forever rising and there will be few improvements to Henkiwellbeing in the near future as well. I will update the new prices 1st of October everything booked before that (even if the treatment is later) will be charged with old prices.

Queenstown bookings are finally open online as well, as I will be there twice a month starting next week. Queenstown prices are already set and won’t be changing.

As always, I’m here to help, so shoot me a question or book an appointment and we’ll sort out your situation together.

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

BACK TO THE BELOVED ROUTINE

AUGUST 2024 newsletter

Hello spring,

The holiday is officially over! It was great but I am soooo excited to be home and get back to the routine and work, honestly. In case you haven't noticed, I am a creature of habit and in routine, I am living my best life, haha. Part of my healing comes from healing others, and I look forward to meeting you all again. Bookings are open on the website or you can give me a call.

Spring is only a few short weeks away, and I’m sure all of you are even more excited about it than I am. Sunshine and warmth sounds great. Since I have been raving about sleep and rest all autumn and winter, now is the time to gear up and start being more active. With light comes energy, so make the most of it and be outside as much as possible. Follow nature’s lead and shed the old and grow new.

As we live in such a digital world I’m sure everyone has something that calculates steps. Make it a challenge for the next 4 weeks to get 10 000 steps every day. If you are like me and would prefer to leave devices at home, measure the distance or time roughly that will give you the steps needed, and next time you can enjoy your walk without any interruptions.

Hope to see you all soon. I am here to help you build your best Spring routine and support your wellbeing.

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

GREETINGS FROM SUMMER

JUNE / JULY 2024 newsletter

Hello everyone,

June came and went quickly exploring the beautiful countryside of Finland. First three weeks I jumped back to the more clinical world of physiotherapy. It was so funny, I have been away for 6 years now, but my coffee cup, water glass, and crystals were still waiting for me exactly where I had left them. After all this time my boss and my patients are still convinced I will return one day. It warmed my heart so much to catch up with everyone and be able to help, which is my passion!

After the time-traveling trip to work was over my amazing partner arrived on his first trip to Finland. He has been in love with the country from the moment he landed. For me, it’s been awesome to show him my country and be on tourist mode. There’s nothing better than Finnish summer in a summer cottage surrounded by a lake and sauna right next to it. It’s been awesome to enjoy the holidays as we were super lucky to get such a kind and dedicated person to look after the cats at home, as I bet you were all wondering how they are, haha!

I hope everyone’s winter is going great. Lots of sleep and good stretching sessions by the fire? Although I am a summer person there are certain elements I miss from the winter. The biggest one (after sleeping) is the winter swimming. Luckily there’s a fake winter available in my favorite sauna/swimming place. They have built a freezer cottage with a plunge pool in it, the water is +0-4 Celcius and the air is -10-20 Celsius. So that’s been my share of the winter, if that doesn’t motivate you to jump into the icy lake I don’t know what does!

As always I want to give you a challenge for the next month. Evening stretches! They have been a part of my life since starting physio studies in 2008, and I can say without lying, that I have barely missed an evening. Especially when traveling, and sitting way more than usual, it is so important. So everyone pick 1-3 stretches and do them every night, within a couple of weeks it’s going to make such a big difference.

Stay warm and I’ll see you in a month with a recharged brain!

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

WINTER IS COMING!

MAY 2024 newsletter

Hello fellow humans,

We are almost done with Autumn. June is just around the corner and the lovely inversion layer has shown herself a few times already. So kick in winter mode! If I can pick one activity to do in winter it’s sleep. It’s dark and cold, the best time to recharge batteries with restorative sleep.

Thank you for all of you who shared they new routines with me last month, as always I used your stories as inspiration. Since hibernation is the theme for June I thought I’d list down few handy tips how to improve the quality of your sleep and rest. Basic stuff, but it’s always good to be reminded:

1. Devices and lights off at least an hour before bed, preferably earlier (effects on your hormonal health, and quality of sleep are massive)

2. Restorative stretching / yoga (evening or just before bed)

3. Warm food / drink at dinner time

4. Fresh air in the bedroom

5. Hot water bottle for comfort (at anytime, can be replaced with a cat if you are lucky enough to have one)

6. Make sure you have been outside:

• Fresh air is essential in every season

• Exposure for daylight (hormonal balancing)

1. Happy thoughts & smile (fake it till you make it, if you have to)

For me it’s return to the spring, and I took some time to reflect my own feelings about the trip to the Northern hemisphere. In a way it does feel like I just came back to NZ from last years trip. But as I started thinking, and scrolling through photos, I did realise how different I’m feeling compared to last May. This time last year I had just started daily painkillers affecting central nervous system. I had joint pain, fatigue,  migraines, nausea and all and all I was exhausted. Even though I went to summer I hibernated big time, 10-14h sleep daily, long breakfast, forest walks, yoga, meditation and in general being still. Spending time with friends and family and healing. Looking back a very different person came back last September. I might share more of my healing story in the future, if you are interested. But for now I encourage everyone to do some journaling, or whatever way appeals to you to keep track of your health as it is so easy to forget what you have overcome and appreciate where you are now.

Enjoy hibernation and I’ll see you all in Spring. Check out one of my favorite characters and idols:

https://www.moomin.com/en/characters/snufkin/

Henkiwellbeing will be closed till 13th of August, online bookings are open already, so go ahead and book your slot!

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

APRIL MADNESS

APRIL 2024 newsletter

Hei amazing people,

We all survived March and are hopefully happily transitioned to autumn. For me, it’s the last month of autumn and I’ll be back in summer😎. If you want a treatment before I escape to Finland for a couple of months, now is a good time to book in.

Since I have been raving about routine I thought I’d share some of the changes I have made in March. The biggest one is reading a book every morning, which I have missed for far too many years. Calming down reading and even drawing have been my meditation for the past month, and it’s been great! Another fun new routine has formed itself around the cats, surprise, surprise. The 3 of us walk around the block almost every evening, slightly stressful, but amazing company! I also have a confession to make out my last month. I skipped my monthly treatment, with an excuse of being busy! So last week I have heavily paid the price in my neck, head, and jaw! Because of this, I have had 2 massages and an osteopath appointment, combined with a lot of my exercises. I am usually really good at practicing what I preach and last week was a good reminder to myself why I do this, and how important regularity in treatments and exercise is. I would love to hear your stories and the new routines made, so feel free to send me an email.

Every now and then some of you ask for photos of the exercises I have given you in the sessions. This inspired me to share some good winter stretches with great images this month. You’ll get the stretches, but I decided to keep the images in “real-life” form. I’ll concentrate on the front-line stretches as we all tend to lean forward even more when it’s cold.

1. My all-time favorite, with a little add-on. You’ll get a great spinal twist combined with quad and stomach area stretch. Get 2 pillows, one under your head, and another under your top knee, to keep the stretch comfortable and almost passive to allow you to relax. Stay relaxed, it’s not supposed to hurt, just a comfortable stretchy sensation. Absolutely NO knee pain should occur. The top hip is not sliding forward. Pull the bottom knee as far back as feels comfortable to you. Open chest/ Smile & relax.

2. Same series, front line quad /stomach/ chest. Place the back leg on a comfortable surface (sofa, bed chair, etc.)back leg can either be straight or bent. Again NO knee pain! Push your upper body upright, and keep your shoulders relaxed. Open your chest, align your head with your spine, and smile!

3. Great for walks and outside activities. All you need is a wall, tree, lamp post, etc. Stretch your wall side arm behind you, relaxing on the surface. Shoulders stay down! Tuck your pelvis under and step back with your leg further from the wall,

   legs stay pelvis width apart and toes pointing forward. Don’t let your head collapse forward. You should feel the stretch on the wall side chest and opposite hip flexor. And of course, a smile is the most important part of any exercise.

Hopefully, you find these useful or at the very least amusing. And as always I’m here for more guidance don’t hesitate to reach out. Have a great month and you’ll hear from me in May again.

Also, I want to welcome Queenstowners into the monthly newsletter, I thought you were all added in already, but once again my IT skills weren’t as good as I thought they were. I’ll keep you posted about my possible availability in Queenstown after my trip.

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

AUTUMN RECHARGE

MARCH 2024 newsletter

Hei amazing people,

Hopefully routine building and “catting” is going strong. I certainly have enjoyed the darkening evenings next to the fire, and as always in autumn an urge to go for a walk at dusk has kicked in. My schedule has been super busy so thank you for the patience while I’ve tried my best to fit everyone in. I also have booked my flights to escape the winter to the Northern Hemisphere so Henkiwellbeing will be closed from the 17th of May till early August, I’ll keep you posted on that. Book your appointments nice and early so you won’t miss out.

March is the first official month of Autumn which is a period of calm and recharging before the winter activities kick in! For me, it means calmer daily yoga practice in the morning and walking in the evening, which is the opposite of summer. I would encourage you to keep it simple this month, root 1 morning habit and 1 evening habit and rest. If you can keep that up until the next newsletter, you’ll be on the route for a magical autumn. As always I’m here to create routines with you, whatever works best for you uniquely.

Enjoy the sunshine and autumn colors! Go out to hunt the spirit of Autumn, I was lucky enough to see one in Milford sound. I’ll challenge you more in April once everyone is over the turbulence of shifting gear towards the colder half of the year.

One more thing, I will be practicing for a few weeks in Finland in May and June so if you are on that side of the world, send me a message and I’ll secure you a slot!

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾

WELCOME AUTUMN!

FEBRUARY 2024 newsletter

Hei beautiful people,

Summer has been amazing hopefully you have enjoyed the sunshine as much as I have. Firstly as always, I want to thank you all for letting me help you with your wellbeing. Changing seasons is always a good time to evaluate what we achieved and set goals for the next season. My goal for 2024 is to get physically stronger and I must tell you I’m already on a good path to succeed! Whatever it is for you I’m here to help.

Since we are moving towards colder seasons I thought I’d share a couple of handy tips to make the transition easier. Through my years of practicing body therapy and healing, the biggest problem that I face in autumn and spring is feet, suffering from changing footwear. Another big one is adjusting to the cold, as many of you know, this is the biggest one for me, haha! Thirdly it’s setting into a different routine as we are losing daylight.

Feet, the foundation of it all! I’m a big believer in being barefoot. Shifting entirely to barefoot footwear few years ago has completely changed the alignment of my body and it can do that to you as well. Since everyone is changing to heavier footwear anyway this is a good time to consider getting a new cool barefoot pair of shoes. Another important thing is to keep up with your foot exercises as you won’t be galloping around in barefoot in the cold. At the very least go get a nice soft rock from the lakefront to give your feet a good massage daily, for more tips book a session and we’ll get you a foot six-pack.

The cold is coming whether we like it or not. While you are picking up that rock to relieve tension from your feet, you mind as well dive into the water. It’s the perfect time to start cold plunges while the water in the lake is still nice and warm. I started midwinter in Finland, at minus 20 degrees, over 25 years ago and I’m still addicted! If you need help with the courage to get into this contact me and we can create a group to plunge in together, I would be honored to help you with this amazing routine.

Routine is the backbone that keeps us going when things get rough. After summer it might be challenging to get back into a good wellbeing routine. The recipe is pretty simple, sunshine, sleep, eat, exercise! What it means on a daily level is a lot harder. As the amount of daylight gets shorter it’s even more important to try to get at least a little bit of sunshine to keep your body clock going. Once you are out of the house it’s a lot easier to find the motivation to move your body to get stronger, go ahead and challenge me or a friend to a pull-up competition, walking challenge, or whatever it is you need a little extra push with!

Let’s enjoy the autumn, it’s a time to rest and reset. Or as I called it, perfect time for catting, gentle stretches, and lots of rest.

I’ll keep you posted as there might be some cool workshops coming in the near future.

Otherwise, you’ll hear from me in March, happy to receive ideas on what you would like to hear more from.

Love

Kaisa❤️🐾