Hey buddy, thank you so much for joining us today for today's episode of that chat. Today we are very excited to be joined by Megan Halewood. Meg is an experienced yoga teacher for both adults and children, and she specialises in helping people cultivate a mindful practise to suit their body and mind.
Her interests lie in the mental benefits of yoga, and she believes mindfulness and meditation play a vital role in improving our mental well-being. Meg has experience running mindfulness in yoga workshops for various companies across the UK and hosting retreats both in the UK and abroad. Her interest in the human mind and mental health has led her to continue her further education and training towards becoming a hypnos psychotherapist, which she believes contributes to the work she is already doing.
Meg's mission is to make yoga accessible to everyone so that they can reap the mental benefits and take the practise off the map and into their everyday life. And so today we're gonna have a look at, a topic which unfortunately is something that is prominent in the veterinary profession right now, . Which is there now.
So obviously, it's been a hugely challenging time, and particularly over the last 18 months for the profession. And, a recent survey from the BVA showed that 3/4 of vets are concerned about the profession's level and stress. And then out as a direct result of COVID-19.
So may, perhaps from your, you know, your experiences in your research, would you mind just sort of explaining to us any, any common signs of burnout that you, you know, are aware of, please. Yeah, so there is a crossover with burnout and anxiety. So there are similar signs of both and obviously it comes hand in hand as well.
So signs of burnouts which are caused often from overwork in the workplace or you know, if you're caring for someone as well. So just doing too much in general and that can cause complete mental and physical exhaustion. You can experience heart palpitations, just a feeling of constant restfulness where you feel like you can't relax and the mind is, is busy and self, self doubt as well and starts to creep in as well when we start to experience these things and negative spirals of thought as well.
And it can also result in feeling disorganised, unable to focus, and a general sense of overwhelm. So there's, there's lots of ways that it does manifest in people and it can come out in different ways, but these are the kind of general signs that we're experiencing or leading towards burnout. OK, thank you.
So those sorts of things definitely to to be aware of and be mindful of. Yeah, absolutely. So it's obviously both physical and mental signs that we really, really need to be, become aware of and observe them and notice them and and.
And do something about them before because obviously if we leave these and ignore these signs and signals that the body will indicate then it can, you know, lead to further health conditions and depression and other mental illnesses later down the line, which is why it's so important to, to listen to them and not ignore them, which we can have a tendency to do if we are busy. And you know, we can just put them aside because we don't have time for those. Yeah, absolutely.
How when you are aware of them, say, you know, how can you help to prevent, prevent burnout? Yeah, absolutely. So I think there's, there's many ways, but the, the, it all comes down to, and it can sound a bit of a luxury, but it really isn't, it's a necessity is self-care.
So looking after ourselves and putting ourselves first, which. Can be difficult when we, you know, when we are busy and we have a lot to do and we can feel in this state of overwhelm, the last thing we think of doing is putting time aside for ourselves. So there's there's lots of different things, .
That I can, you know, share with you tips and tools that we can do to help to manage, you know, our anxiety, stress levels and give ourselves, you know, more self-care and look after ourselves. I think the the main ones really is to diet is a big part because. When, when we're busy, when we're on the go, we'll often eat fast food or take away with not many nutrition, not, not much nourishment in the food.
So obviously that what we put into our body, it contributes to our energy levels, so it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle. So diet is a really important one. Obviously I'm not a nutritionist, but it's something we definitely recommend to look at and The key there really is food prep, so when, when you do have the time just preparing all your food for the week so you're making sure that you're getting all the right nutrients to help to support you because that as well in turn can affect your mental health and wellbeing.
Yeah, moving the body, moving the body, so. Especially for the vets and vet nurses, they're standing all day, so it can be physically draining, but just getting some movement, stretching, you know, obviously I come from a yoga background, so I'd recommend to do some, some yoga moves and postures and just getting outside into nature as well, really, really important. And with all, with that as well, spending time, just a short walk whenever you're able to, whether it's in the day, before or after work, also thinking about how you're getting to work as well.
If you cycling, walk or run to work, it gives you that opportunity just to. Just to connect to yourself and, and also to give the mind a bit of a break as well. So we're not looking at phones and emails.
Yeah, that's, that's so true because it's so important, isn't it, to kind of separate the two. So to try as much as you physically can to separate your home life from your work life. So yeah, anything that you can do.
I mean, do you have any tips around that as well, you know how you could kind of keep your work life separate from your home life? Absolutely, that's a really, really important one and it's, it's a difficult one, but there are, there are, there are ways to manage that. So for example, I was saying you know when you're going to work, if you're going, maybe if you walk to work.
Switching the you know switching your phone off, handing your notifications off if you do need your phone, if you're on call, then switch off social media so at least you're limited by those distractions as well. And if you can possibly in the morning, as soon as you wake up, have certain certain hours that you have your phone off or. Off and you can do that with with the smartphones.
You can have blocks on, you know, some of your apps and and you can turn off notifications and just put the ones that are really essential that you need. And then also one of the most important ones is as well before going to sleep, really, really important to, to to switch those off, to turn the phone off, to keep outside of the room as well as the laptop. So you've got that separation.
And doing that as well, it helps you to focus on your family life, the relationships that you have at home, or even if you live on your own, it enables you to actually switch off because when we've got our phones on us and they're constantly flashing, it is always a distraction. So I think that's the key, that's the biggest one really is I'd say technology, phones, laptops and . You know, from that side of things and then mentally, the mind is gonna be busy and it's constantly thinking, you know, you can constantly be thinking about work and what you've got to do the next day.
So that's where I suppose the mindfulness and the, the breath work which we will do together is a really good one to keep you focused on the present moment, because it's the thoughts that are pulling us into the future and the past that can become quite anxiety provoking. Yeah, no, that sounds brilliant and it's so true. It's definitely something that I'm guilty of as well, you know, just constantly having my phone in my hand, even, you know, outside of working hours, I'll be checking emails or, you know, and you know if you have loads of notifications, it can, it can stress you out and it can, you know, become overwhelming, can't it if you, you know, that constant feeling that you have to be on your phone, you have to be checking it, you have to be clearing it and yeah, it doesn't allow you to, to switch off ever.
No, absolutely love it. And we, you know, when it pops up a notation, then you start saying I need to respond now because I might forget about it and then if you don't respond then it's constantly on your mind, whereas if you do sit down and have a certain, even outside of work responding to friends, I, you know, I can find I have a a group WhatsApp which is constantly got notifications on. I have to actually schedule in time to stop and reply to people.
Because otherwise, they just, you know, get messages throughout the day and then I forget and, you know, don't reply, which is also OK. I think sometimes if we are busy, it's actually OK to to not reply and, you know, a little while down the line, but I think scheduling time to, if you do have those emails and things to deal with or respond to people. And then You can put that time aside to do that so it doesn't distract the home and come into your home life as well.
Yeah. Brilliant, no, sounds great. So we're very fortunate because you are actually gonna talk us through some simple exercises aren't you, that we can do to.
Help to look after our body and to reduce tension and, you know, some short exercises that we can do if we need them while we're at work or, you know, at any point when you just have that sense of overwhelm and you just want to take the time just to pause. Yeah, absolutely. So as I say there's a whole list of things that you can do to support your health, wellbeing and that self-care routine.
And, and that in itself could become quite overwhelming. So I just, I, I had, I suppose 3 things. Things that I'd, you know, recommended to start off with.
And that can, and the last one I will guide you through, so you have it to take away you today. So I've put for one of them is to do something for you each day. And that one thing that you do, you can be completely and utterly selfish, but make sure that it's supporting your health and well-being.
So doing one thing for yourself that supports your mental and health, your mental and physical wellbeing, so whether that's going for a walk, whether it's doing a yoga class, and just picking that one thing guilt free, that was 11 of my key takeaways, second one. I also, which I think is very, very important, and I just wanted to also include that is to to reach out to your support network, whether it's at work or friends or home life and asking for help because I think we. We often get embarrassed to ask for help and think it's like a a sign of a weakness, but it's actually a strength to ask for help.
So that was my, my second one. And then the third one, which we'll come to is breathing. So the breath really helps us actually to become aware of when we are in a state of stress or feeling anxious or overwhelmed.
The breath is often an indication. And it will tell you when you are in those states. And I think it's sometimes we can feel as if we can't breathe or as though the breath is stuck at the top of the chest, which is called shallow breathing, which many, many of us do.
And especially we've got a lot on our plates, then we'll, we'll shallow breathe. So the breath is not only an indication of how you're feeling so you can see these signs, but also you can use the breath as a tool to help you to move out of this fight flight state where we're in the sympathetic mode of the nervous system, which is what you're in when you're reaching the stage of burning out or Feeling anxious or stressed, your, your, your nervous system is in a sympathetic state of releasing adrenaline and or ajaline and so. But the breath can actually help you to get into that rest and digest state of the nervous system.
So that's what I was going to guide you through today, if that's OK, Catherine. Yeah, that sounds beautiful, Meg, I'm excited, thank you. Lovely, so.
Today I'll ask you just to get into a comfortable seated position, but this is a technique you can do anywhere, so you can do it standing up in the clinic. You can do it walking down the road to work, so if you do decide to yeah walk to work, then this is one you can do, you can do it on the bike, you can do it anywhere in the car as well. So what I'm going to just do is break down the breath so it becomes more of a mindful breath awareness and it encourages us also to drop into the present moment.
So getting into a comfortable seated position, it's always good to have both sides of the feet on the ground and the spine upright and alert, and you can even shuffle to the back of the seat so that the spine is touching the support of the chair. If that feels good for you. And I'll explain why it's sometimes quite nice to make that contact with the back of the chair in a moment.
So first I'm just going to invite you just to take a breath in through the nose and out slowly through the mouth. And do that 3 times and as you breathe in, maybe even bringing the Shoulders all the way up to the ears, you might notice the shoulders are quite tight and tense and then as you exhale. Slowly out for the mouth, just let the shoulders become heavy and drop.
So maybe 23 times you can do this. And it's slow breaths out through the mouth. And then today I'm gonna encourage you to breathe in through the nose and out through the nose, but if that doesn't feel comfortable for you, just continue with breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
We want the breath to be a little bit softer than those 1st 3 breaths that we did. So would you take a breath in and out now just notice. Where the breath travels.
Did you take a breath in through the nose, it goes down through the back of the throat. To the chest. Tummy, just notice where it moves.
And you might notice that, that shallow breathing that I was talking about maybe. Your breath feels a little bit shallow and that's OK. That's OK, that is quite common.
It's normal, but we don't want it to be normal. We want to try and encourage it to breathe a little bit deeper so that we're using the full capacity of the lungs and all that encourages all of the health benefits which I will talk about at the end of this exercise. But first of all, I want you to try and experience them firsthand.
So first of all I'm gonna get you to come and place your hands onto the tummy, onto the lower tummy and just rest your hands softly there as you take a breath in and out. Try not to force or strain the breath. I know we're concentrating on the breath and it can be quite foreign at first.
But see if you can have a relaxed state of con concentration. And just breathing in and out of the tummy, observing the rise and fall. So when you inhale, you want to feel the tummy expand.
As you exhale, you feel the tummy gently draw back towards the spine. So just awareness at the tummy, breathing in, breathing out, and you're sending the breath on the inhale all the way to the pit of the tummy and on the exhale it draws from the pit of the tummy out of the body. So observing.
That subtle movement. The abdomen moving in and out. This is just encouraging us slowly to deepen and lengthen the breath.
So it's So you can stay here as a technique just doing this abdominal breathing, sending the breath to the bottom of the tummy now. You can stay there if that's enough for you, and you can build on this, but today I'm just gonna show you the steps that you can take and you can build on them in your own time. So now we're going to focus on from the breath of the breath moving down into the belly and now the expansion of the ribs, so we know the ribs come all the way around the body, all the way around the torso.
So feeling the rib cage expand outwards on the inhale is when we breathe, that diaphragm flattens down, it expands through the ribs and then as we exhale, that diaphragm softens, it enables the ribs to soften, relax and draw back in together. So sometimes it's quite nice to place the hand a little bit higher up on the body and onto the side so you can just feel the breath and moving into the ribs as they expand and move out on the inhale and then relax and draw back down. So I like to place them just on the side of the torso.
And if your back is touching the back of a chair. Maybe you can even feel the ribcage drawing. Into the back of the chair with your inhale, and then it relaxes and moves away on the exhale.
Just feeding their eyes and for. With the ribs with the breast. Just keep your awareness of breath moving in and out.
Good. Excellent. And then just now moving the hands away and if the arms aren't too tired from holding them there.
Going to just ask you to place a hand in the centre of the chest and maybe one hand above, so just on the clavicles. And now I'm moving your awareness up from the pit of the tummy. We've worked for the breath and the ribs and now at the top of the chest.
Feeling the rise and fall of the chest and also that gentle separation of the clavicles as you inhale. They subtly separate the exhale. Drawing back in.
The rise and fall with the inhale and exhale. Just taking a few breaths there, full focus on the chest, the rise and fall with the inhale. And the exhale.
And again, if the back is in contact with the back of the chair, maybe even feeling the space in between the shoulder blades. As you breathe into that space with your inhale and exhale. So we're breathing into the front and the back of the lungs.
And then when you're ready you can relax the hands down, just rest them wherever feels comfortable. And try and link up all parts of the breast, the tummy, the ribs, the chest, and if that's too much for you today, to say this just takes time and practise, so don't worry if you are struggling. Today and you're struggling to get the expansion on the inhale and the relaxation on the exhale, that will come with time and practise, which is why it's a great technique to continue with.
So just taking a few more breaths there. And just seeing if you can relax at the same time, the forehead, the temples, the muscles around the eyes and just soften the jaw. Jaw is a part where they carry a lot of tension, so just allow that jaw to soften and relax, maybe bringing the tongue to the roof of the mouth.
If you can still continue with that nice breathing. Tummy, ribs, chest, chest, ribs, and the tummy. And just enjoying a few more breaths there.
And that is our breathing technique. So just before I come out to just anyone who is doing this breathing technique today, just But you just take a moment to notice any difference that you feel physically, you feel mentally just from that short exercise that we've done today. And it's one that you can do just simply for a minute, a couple of minutes out of your day and just build on that until you become more and more aware of the breath, which is an indicator of how you're feeling, and it's also a tool that you can use to help to relax the mind, relax the body and bring you back into the present moment.
So thank you very much, Catherine. Oh, thank you, Meg. That was lovely.
I think . You know, it's, I, I didn't realise, to be honest, how tight my shoulders felt before all of that, but even just doing that for a couple of minutes feels like it's made such a difference. So thank you so much for sharing, that was lovely.
Oh, you. I know that's the thing we can carry so much attention in our body and it isn't until we stop and pause and breathe that we actually realise, oh, I have got that aching pain in my, you know, it's all tension tightness in my shoulder or in my jaw. For me it's always my jaw, so.
Every time I stop pause and breathe, I realise that I'm tense and, you know, a jaw so now after time and time and time again it becomes a natural thing just to relax the jaw. So it is, it's, it's awareness and listening because the body will give you signs and signals and it really is so important to listen to them. And put that first rather than I'm too busy to deal with that right now.
Li respond to it. Absolutely, no, that's great, my wonderful advice as always. Thank you so much and thanks again, you know, for sharing all your thoughts and tips, you know, surrounding there now, and also, you know, the exercise that you've just shared with us then as well.
And it's something I'll definitely make sure that I make more time for going forward and I really hope that our community will get involved as well and find it useful. So thanks so much and we'll look forward to seeing you soon. Thanks, Catherine.