Calming Influence
Planning a wedding is a busy time, which often brings up unforeseen emotions or even conflict. Here’s how to deal with it.
While planning a wedding is one of the most exciting and monumental periods in your life, it can also become one of the most stressful. The lead up to the big wedding day can be a highly testing period, as you are racked with major decisions, budget talk, and possibly uncomfortable family dynamics. Creating the perfect wedding of your dreams may cause anxiety and you may feel overwhelmed. Here are some tips to keep you calm, stress-free and centred in the lead up to your big day.
1BREATHING When we get anxious and overwhelmed our breathing becomes shallow and rapid. By slowing down our breathing we feel an instant calmness as it brings us into our parasympathetic nervous system to calm the body and the mind. When you are feeling overwhelmed about the wedding, bring your awareness to your breathing by slowing the breath down to 6- 8 breaths per minute. To breathe long and deep: inhale and feel the belly and chest expand, and as you exhale feel the chest soften and belly melt towards the spine. On the way to the wedding, take some long deep breaths to calm you before walking down the aisle.
2TIME MANAGEMENT It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when there’s a lot to do. Create a “Wedding Checklist” to organise what needs to be done in the lead up to the wedding. Put the tasks in order of what needs to be done now and what can be done later. Work your way down the checklist, ticking each item off as you do them. This will help you feel calm and organised, so you don’t forget anything important for the special day.
3EXERCISE It can get super busy in the weeks before the wedding and most women feel the pressure to look their best. When we have so much to do exercise drops off the list very quickly. Exercise is a great way to de-stress and reduce
anxiety. Any cardiovascular exercise like running, power walking, swimming or cycling boosts your heart rate and releases endorphins, to make you feel happy and calm. Try to schedule 20 to 40 minutes of daily exercise into your routine.
4MEDITATION We commonly hear how good meditation is for us but often we don’t know where to start. Usually the biggest excuse I hear is “my mind is too busy” or “I do not have enough time to meditate”. These are great reasons to meditate daily. Take 5 to 10 minutes daily and commit to doing it every day so it becomes a habit; just like brushing your teeth daily. Try using an app like ‘Insight Timer’ or ‘Head Space’ to give you guidance.
5EAT REGULARLY Anxiety and stress is a lot worse when you’re hungry. When we are feeling stressed we either emotionally eat or have no appetite. To feel calm and centred, eat at regular intervals throughout the day – even on your wedding day. Focus on eating wholefoods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat and wholegrains.
Erin O’Hara (BSc & BNatMed) is the founder and director of the Golden Yogi Studio and Wellness Centre in Takapuna, a qualified and experienced naturopath, an internationally trained yoga and meditation teacher, and one of New Zealand’s bestknown wellness personalities.