Archer's Alchemy

On Saturday, we gathered at the studio to celebrate the winter solstice.

Solstice means “sun standing still.” In the southern hemisphere, the Sun reached its lowest point in the sky and is said to pause for a few days before heading in a different direction.

The days progressively get longer and longer from now and we welcome the light back in ✨

The solstice invites us to pause and reflect on where we’re at. At the halfway point of the year, it’s a potent time to check in on our goals and progress for the year to date.

Am I where I want to be?
Am I happy with where my energy and focus is going?
What needs to shift in my life to help me feel more aligned?

Every breathwork session is different and on the weekend, we did a chakra cleanse… Breathing into every chakra to release stuck energy and to allow the new to flow in.

Thanks to everyone who joined us!

Comment BREATH below to hear more our weekly breathwork sessions 🤎

Nutrition, food and what you “should” be eating… It’s certainly a very confused space!

One person says you should eat this, the next person says the total opposite. It’s easy to see why people just give up all together, really!

What I’d like to offer you today are not rigid rules or a weeks worth of meal plans, but rather a set of philosophies that we live by!

🥦 If it comes out of the ground, grows on trees, bleeds or has eyes - eat it. If it comes out of a packet, limit it. Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, high quality meats/fish; incorporate these into your diet 80% of the time and you’re golden 👍 (Obviously adjust depending on your personal choices, eg vegan, etc).

📈 If you can’t sustain it for the rest of your life, don’t do it. Cutting out food groups or certain foods usually leads to a rebound in some way. If it’s not sustainable, it’s not going to sustain you!

🥝 Eat in season. It’s cheaper, it’s fresher and it’s better for you.

🍦 Food is more than nutrients. It brings us together, it feeds the soul. Allow yourself some joy - have the chocolate, the glass of wine, the cheeseburger on date night. As long as you’re prioritizing point #1 most of the time, you can enjoy some treats here and there GUILT-FREE!

There are so many more things to say in this topic, but these are a few to get you started. What would you add to the list?

Earlier this week, we met with a doctor to chat about GLP-1s. You may have heard of Ozempic and Mounjaro - this is weight loss medication, that helps people shed kilos quickly.

And there are definitely benefits to losing weight! Less stress on the heart, the internal organs, the joints…

But what happens when this rapid weight loss occurs without a change to the underlying cause of the weight gain in the first place?

What happens when you stop the medication and you haven’t built in better habits to maintain the weight loss?

Over the short term, all of that progress could take a hit. That newfound sense of confidence, of being at ease in your body - that could all change pretty quickly if the weight starts to go back on.

The long term prospects are also scary! If you don’t eat and nourish your body, or you don’t work on strengthening and building muscle, health suffers! Being thin isn’t going to help you when you fall and break your hip because your bones are too brittle - nobody wants that!

Our meeting with this doctor earlier in the week really opened our eyes to the potential, but also the dangers of weight loss medication.

We can see the way it could help people kick start their weight loss journey, leading to a healthier, happier life.

Where we hope to be able to help is with the “other stuff” that keeps us healthy over the long term:

Creating healthy habits that work with your lifestyle:

💪 An achievable exercise plan to tone, strengthen and maintain quality of life

🥝 Nutrition and hydration to fuel your body, mind and soul

😴 Quality sleep for repair and recovery

🤝Healthy, nourishing relationships to feel safe and like you belong

If you’re currently using GLP-1s and have any questions about how to maintain your success for life, without sacrificing your health, send us a message!

Let’s work together to get your best health happening over the long term ✨

Part 4 of our series, and I guarantee you’ll enjoy this one!

This exercise helps to really open up through the chest and it always feels amazing - our clients want to repeat this one over and over again 😀

Watch this weeks video and let us know if you try the Smith Curl 💪

Ahhh, Gemini season - welcome back 😀

Gemini season started today and with it comes a change in energy! Your brain is super stimulated right now ⚡️

Gemini is an air sign, so all things thinking, communication, learning, curiosity, networking, socializing and mental processing are amplified 😅

Now for some of you, this may feel amazing. You might feel energized, excited and alive!

For others, you may feel mentally overstimulated or tired but wired. Overwhelmed. Busy in the mind, unable to switch off.

If this is the case, it’s time we get out of our minds and back into our body!

Breathwork, meditation, sauna, walking in nature, exercise, dancing…

Channel some of the Gemini curiosity into how you can best nurture your body and balance out all of this supercharged mental energy!

Over the weekend, I spent a morning prepping food for the week ahead and one of the items I made for lunchboxes were these mini pizzas, inspired by the amazing Emma Hollingsworth on Instagram 👏 (She has an amazing account full of simple recipe ideas)!

They use sweet potato as the base, so no flour needed 😀

Here’s the recipe!
1 x large sweet potato
1-2 tbsp olive oil
70-100g tomato paste
Handful (or 2!) of tasty cheese (grated)

Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Peel and chop sweet potato into rounds.
Place the rounds into a bowl and add olive oil - stir to ensure coverage.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
Add a dollop of tomato paste to each round and spread evenly.
Sprinkle as much cheese as you like on top of each one.
Place back in the oven for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!

In astrology, the placement of the moon tells us a lot about our self care needs.

The moon represents our emotional world, what we need to feel safe and nourished. If we tend to the qualities of our moon sign, we stay regulated and find our way back to centre when we’re feeling off.

Each sign of the zodiac belongs to an element, either fire, earth, air or water. And each of these elements likes to be soothed in different ways!

Here are some ways to cleanse your energy and support your self-care according to the elements:

🔥 Fire signs: regular movement, team sports or healthy competition can help to channel your energy!

🌎 Earth signs: time in nature, to-do lists, routines and anything that engages the 5 senses feel so good 🙌

🍃 Air signs: writing/journalling, talking things through with your partner/friends or learning something new are key for air signs.

💧 Water signs: a swim, a bath, a shower, a good cry - anything to do with water can be so helpful for managing emotions.

Learning about my moon sign, as well as my family’s, has been so helpful in knowing what each of us needs to self soothe.

If you’re curious about what sign your moon was in when you were born, there are so many free astrology calculators online, such as Astro.com or the CHANI app!

Or ask our in house astrologer, Rach, by commenting MOON below 👇

Part 3 of our video series - I think you’ll love this one 😀

Bench Pull-Overs feel so good to do… Most of our clients have this exercise in their program because it helps to lengthen and stretch certain muscles that are usually in a closed/shortened position.

Give it a go and let us know how you feel!

Stay tuned for part 4 coming next week 😀

What does an aligned life look like to you?

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Is it having a happy, healthy family?
👩‍💻 Is it thriving in your career?
🍃 Is it doing meaningful work in the world?

In this age of information, it’s so easy to get swept up in what other people’s ideal lives look like… Social media gives us access to the highlight reel and sometimes we feel like we should be living according to a set of rules that society dictates for us.

But do you ever stop to ask yourself what YOUR idea of an aligned life is? Do you know what your highest values are?

✨That’s the secret sauce to getting in alignment - you need to know what you value first!✨

Freedom, health, family, fun, adventure, meaning, helping…

When you know your top values, you can then make decisions for how you want to spend your days 🙌 And how you spend your days ultimately determines how you spend your life!

For example, family is a super high priority for us so we will arrange our schedule to support that; we’re intentional about weekly family date nights and being at our kids sporting events. But for you, it might be something completely different or you may go about meeting that value in a different way - and that’s ok!

In our Life Alignment program, we help our members uncover their key personality traits, their motivations, their beliefs - their energetic roadmap! - and then provide tools to help them maximize their potential. We aim to model a level of intention in our lives and we hope to inspire others to do the same 🤎

So, if you’re feeling a little lost at the moment or at a crossroads in your life, comment ALIGN below and I’ll send you the details for our Life Alignment program. It’s your last chance to sign up at just $9 per week before the price goes up next week…