Getting creative can help focus the mind and has even been compared to meditation due to its calming effects on the brain and body. It releases dopamine, a natural anti-depressant, to reduce anxiety, depression, and stress… And it can also help you process trauma (aka 2020!).

Here are some easy ideas to get your started on a crafting adventure:

• Up-cycling & festival prepping
• Painting & drawing
• Fun embroidery
• Knitting & Crochet
• Macrame

Up-cycling & festival prepping

It might be jumping the gun a bit but we can but dream about the festival fields of 2021! What will be sure to get the good vibes buzzing is by spending January up-cycling your unloved garms with all the sparkles and colour your heart could desire.

We've got a whole load of DIY blogs on this such as Making a Disco Helmet, the Ultimate Glitter Rainbow Heels, Sequin Jackets and Fringe Bags!

Painting and Drawing

Even if you're not the most artistic of people, drawing is a great way of relieving stress, releasing creativity, aiding memory and just having fun! We're not expecting the next Da Vinci but here are some brilliant online classes and groups you can join:

• Wildlife Drawing is the cutest class going! @wildlifedrawing
• Diverse and inclusive life drawing at @2bornot2bcollective
• For learning new skills by experts LoveLifeDrawing has you covered.
• Purdie Life drawing
• Posé Life drawing

Painting doesn't just have to be on canvas! Painting the back of a big denim jacket or customising some accessories is such a fun way of up-cycling and showing off some colour! We've recently found this amazing company Love and Salvage where you can buy 'paint your leather' kits and make the most gorgeous bags and shoes:

Embroidery and Tapestry Making

If you're just beginning your stitching adventure, there's a whole load of starter kits, tutorials and advice out there such as these amazing kits where you can make a cross stitch from a photograph.

This would be such a lovely gift idea, or something cute to hang in your own home. Whenever I do an embroidery, I like to turn it into a little cushion! For just the pattern, you can upload your photos to convert here.

For those that are already a dab hand with a needle and thread, here's some incredible inspo for you of the most creative embroidery ideas:

Knitting and Crochet

Lockdown #1 saw a huge increase in crochet and knitting popularity and for good reason! They're both so therapeutic and can be used for mending and upcycling clothes - it's a win win! If You're keen to knit or crochet yourself an outfit but are just beginning your yarn journey, these companies are a great place to start:

• Pura Utz: The most beautiful knitwear that you can also choose to knit yourself from their knit kits...comes with their signature fruity bead patches!
• Wool and the Gang: the leaders in all things yarn related have loads fo crochet beginner kits to get stuck into.
• We Are Knitters offer a huge variety of knit and crochet kits to fill your hours like this beautiful DIY Crochet Basket

Pura Utz Knit Kits

Macramé

You guys loved our Macramé tutorial on our IGTV in the summer and we've had so many cute pics of your creations..check it out here to make your own plant hanger from any old t-shirt!

Don't worry! This isn't another article telling you to go the the gym 5 days a week and get your 'summer body' back cause as we all know, there's no such thing as a summer bod! Just the beautiful bod you're blessed with 🙌

We just wanted to share some easy suggestions we find helpful when keeping active, not just for physical but mental health as well:

• Set yourself a Challenge
• Try something different
• Walking with friends
• Get on ya bike!

Set yourself a challenge

The best motivator for sticking with a fitness challenge is being able to see and feel your progression over a short period of time whilst setting good habits for the rest of the year.

Our top tips for a successful challenge is to keep it simple and know yourself. If you prefer to workout in the morning then plan your day around it so it becomes less of a chore, or incorporate it into your daily commute to make your day a little more eco.

We've found a few 31 day challenges here but there are so many more our there. Please seek medical advice if you're to used to doing regular exercise.  

1. For flexibility and toning check out 'Cat Meffan - 31 days of Yoga'.
2. 5k a day, every day! Walk it, cycle it, swim it or run it - just do it! Read more...
3. Short but fierce... 100 burpees a day for the month! Robyn did this one in lockdown #1 and found it super hard but with massive gains. Not suitable for anyone with shoulder or arm injuries!
4. Keep it fun and do something different. We've found a challenge that takes your from couch to handstand in 30 days!

Fun will motivate you on days when you're in a bit of a flump or need to clear your head - a fun exercise will give you something to be excited about, even in the toughest of times, without it even feeling like a workout!

Check out our 7 Fun Activities for Keeping Fit blog for some flex-tacular ideas to get you inspired, including:

• Aerial yoga
• Circus skills
• Pole dancing
• Rock climbing
• Rollerskating
• Disco Yoga

Disco yoga girls featured in grazia

Walking with friends

Forget the old school pub socials... so 2019! It's all about wrapping up warm and meeting your friends for a walk, to banish those January blues.

Here's some more fun facts about the benefits of walking:

1. Walking for 10 miles every week instead of driving would eliminate 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
2. Walking releases natural pain­killing endorphins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise.
3. Walking makes you more creative. Research shows that people who are up and moving in nature are more creative than those sitting down indoors. Albert Einstein walked 1.5 miles to Princeton University each day and Darwin took three 45 minute walks each day.
4. It improves self-perception and self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and it reduces stress, anxiety and fatigue. Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover.

Robyn in the Neon Panther Leggings

Get on ya bike!

We love our bikes here at Burnt Soul. Not only for our daily commutes but they're great to explore the surrounding local areas at the weekend too.

Check out our Top 7 Bike Accessories to have you fully kitted out for any cycling adventure - whether it's cross country or just round the corner to work!

If you're not confident scouting out your own bike-friendly routes then we highly recommend the komoot app.

Plan your bike route with Komoot

We don't need to tell you the benefits of music when looking for the ultimate pick me up and joy in your life. We owe a lot of our positivity this year to Mista Jam and his dance classics playing in our studio on repeat and there's nothing better than a dance and sing along to get you outta the dumps! But what about some of the other benefits of music and how you can get max potential from your fave tunes?

• Music releases dopamines - here's the science behind why Wannabe by the Spice Girls lives rent free in your head and never fails to make you smile! Music heightens activity in the nucleus accumbens area of the brain that regulates dopamine release i.e. makes you happy :)
• Reduces stress and anxiety - Music around 60 BPM can induce alpha brainwaves—ideal for relaxation and sleep after listening for 45 minutes or so. Apps like Calm collate the perfect playlist for you to sleep, meditate, focus or just sit back and relax.

• Improves Concentration - The best music for productivity is said to be classical, maybe that's one of the reasons Mozart sold more CDs than Beyonce's in 2016! It's also really popular to listen to low-fi hiphop when studying and revising, you can find a load of playlists like this on youtube.
• Set your pace - If you're a keen runner or maybe you want to get into running in 2021, you're gunna wanna read this!
  
  Humans naturally synchronise their steps to whatever beat they are listening to and so matching the BPM of your music to your running pace is an absolute must. Check out how to find your running BPM here and then just go to your fave music streaming app and search playlists of that BMP.
  
  This is also really useful if you're training to increase your pace and help make you more self-aware. Spotify even helpfully remixes your favourite tunes so you can keep listening to the bangers you love!  

Get your running mojo back! @peacefulwarriorsyogatribe wears the Joan Flip Catsuit.