At the ELLE Beauty Weekender presented by Tata CLiQ, we are celebrating all things beauty and wellness with Luke Coutinho. A globally-renowned Holistic Lifestyle Coach in Integrative & Lifestyle Medicine, Luke is also the Founder of YouCare, All About YOU. Ahead of his participation at the three-day virtual event, find out his answers to our quick rapid fire.
ELLE: What does wellness mean to you personally?
Luke Coutinho (LC): Wellness is a gift because if I do not have wellness, nothing else matters. So, I must invest and value this gift every single day.
ELLE: What are your top three ways to calm yourself down?
LC: A couple of things. First, take a deep breath. This is by far the most effective and fastest way to shift your body from a state of stress to a state of calm, and there is science behind it. Deep breathing helps activate our parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for the ‘rest and digest’ phase, thereby relaxing our blood pressure, heartbeat, respiration rate, blood sugar levels, and everything else.
While gratitude practice can help calm our nerves, it can be difficult to find things one can be grateful for in times of distress because our minds are designed to think about things that are not going well instead of things that are. Practising BRG (B: Be, R: Receive, G: Give Thanks), a simple one-minute practice that can help you practice gratitude effectively. What this means is that take a minute from your schedule to just be. Do nothing, but just sit back and be one with yourself. You can also take a couple of deep breaths to recenter yourself. Then, go over all the little things you received in your day so far, right from that sunrise to that perfect cup of coffee or a compliment from your colleague. We are constantly receiving things from the time we wake up, whether it is in a material form or not. Now that you acknowledge it give thanks from your heart. That’s it.
Also, there is science behind music now used as a therapeutic and pain management tool for chemotherapy patients. Music is all about frequency, beats, rhythms. In case you are feeling stressed, it means that you are vibrating at a low frequency. Now, if you choose to listen to a melancholic and gloomy song, you continue to vibrate at the same frequency. However, you have the power to change your frequency and the way you feel by choosing a song that vibrates at a high frequency, like a happy, motivational, uplifting song!
ELLE: If your body could talk right now, what would it say?
LC: It is asking me to recline back, straighten up my spine, roll my shoulders back, tuck my chin in and take deep and slow inhales and exhales.
ELLE: How can one navigate the ill effects of social media usage?
LC: Be intentional about its use. Most of us end up spending excess time on social media because we are unintentional of its use. What do you want to do when you log on to a particular social media site? What do you want to check? So, it could sound something like – put up a post, answer a few messages, like a few posts, etc. If you are intentional about it, then chances are you will spend way less time on it.
ELLE: What is the one healthy practice or ritual that you religiously follow?
LC: It has to be meditation and waking up with the sunrise to align my body’s rhythm to nature’s circadian rhythm.
Watch Luke Coutinho’s entire session at ELLE Beauty Weekender 2021 presented by Tata CLiQ here:
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Get ready for a weekend filled with all things beauty and wellness at ELLE Beauty Weekender 2021, presented by Tata CLiQ. From fun masterclasses to insightful conversations, save the date to celebrate three days of beauty, makeup, skincare, wellness, homegrown and international brands, and much more. Head to the new beauty destination, TATA CLiQ, to stock up on beauty essentials now!
