Welcome to Living Well Daily, the newsletter serving up tips to help you live a healthier, happier life.
In today’s edition:
😊Mental / Emotional Well-Being: The 5 Building Blocks of Experience
💖Longevity & Wellness: Fitness Friday: 90-90 for Healthy Hips
🌱Trauma Healing: Reclaiming Your Body: Safety in Your Skin Again (Day 5/5)
☀️Journal & Joy Prompts
🧠 Inner Reps: Mental Well-Being Interval Workout
👇 And more good stuff!
Today’s Edition
We believe in you! You can achieve what you want to in this life, and we hope the tips and tools provide help. We want you to win because we believe in you!
The 5 Building Blocks of Experience
Pat Ogden teaches that every moment is built from five elements: thoughts, emotions, senses, movement, and body sensations. When we’re triggered, activated, or upset, we may either: a) get stuck in one lane (like racing thoughts or overwhelming feelings) or b) find that multiple elements of experience are screaming at us at once. A mindfulness exercise that has helped get me out of some loud, overbearing, or spiraling triggers is intentionally shifting all of my attention to another building block. This can help create space for a much needed pause, and can even invite in calm and balance.
✨ Why it matters: builds emotional flexibility and intelligence, helps you regulate when overwhelmed or spiraling, embraces a multi-layed experience
🌟 Examples of ways to practice
🧘 If stuck in thoughts/emotions, shift into senses: notice 3 sounds or textures. See how much of your attention you can take to your senses to create space.
🚶 If frozen in fear, move your body: stretch, walk, or shake out your hands. If that fear is big, try starting with mini finger movements and slowly let that movement move into your hand, then arms, getting more pronounced at a speed that feels safe.
🪞 If overwhelmed, bring awareness to body sensations (like feet on the ground).
🎨 Practice narrowing your attention to one building block at a time.
✅ Action Step: Next time you feel triggered, ask: “Which building block am I stuck in? Which one can I shift into right now?”
Fitness Friday: 90-90 for Healthy Hips
Your hips are ball-and-socket joints, designed for strength, stability, and wide ranges of motion. They support nearly every step, squat, or bend you make, and yet hip mobility often declines with age, raising the risk of pain, stiffness, and even falls. Maintaining strong, flexible hips is key to independence and longevity.
Healthy hips need both strength and mobility. Exercises like squats, lunges, and bridges build the muscles that stabilize the joint, while stretches help preserve flexibility. The 90-90 is a great way to do just that
On the floor, get your front leg into 90 degrees and your back leg into 90 degrees like the picture below.
In this position, you can lie over your front leg, stretching your front glute. If this is too easy, then keep your lower back arched and as you go down, keep your back long; this works on creating length through the hip in external rotation. You can also rotate and face towards your back leg to work on internal rotation for the hip. Then flip the legs around (back leg becomes front leg and vice versa) and do the same for this side.
✅Action step: Try out the 90-90 and the stretches for both sides, doing 30s-1min for each.
Reclaiming Your Body: Safety in Your Skin Again
Trauma often makes the body feel unsafe. This week is about gently rebuilding connection and safety, so your body can start to feel like home.
Day 5: Reclaiming Embodiment
Your body belongs to you. Reclaiming it means allowing moments of joy, comfort, and self-expression. It means learning to be with your body in the good moments and the tough moments, showing compassion and being patient as you create a new relationship with yourself.
💃 Move in ways that feel playful: dance, stretch, be silly, walk with curiosity.
✨ Practice one activity that makes you feel alive in your body (breathing, singing, gardening, etc.).
🪞 Look in the mirror with softness, not critique. Try saying, “This is my home, and I’m safe here.”
🙏Honor moments your internal alarm comes online, scan your environment to reaffirm safety, and check in to see what your body needs.
🌞 Celebrate each moment you feel safe, present, or joyful in your body, no matter how small.
Darling, don’t give up on yourself, you’re so worth it. Sending love 💕
Give yourself the same patience you’d give a seed in the soil. Growth is happening even if you can’t see it yet.
📖Journal Prompt:
Building a Caring Relationship with Yourself
Write about something that you would like to let go of.
🌟Spark of Joy:
Let Little Things Move You
Tap to music… let the tunes infuse your body, the rhythm building until you can’t help but move along.
Today’s Mental and Emotional Workout:
This workout will increase your ability to:
Tap into self-compassion to boost self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth
Be mindful so you can lower stress and anxiety when they arise
Understand the power you have to put good into this world
In under 8 minutes, you’ll strengthen positive neural pathways for long-term well-being and end the workout feeling better than you started! (Click on the photo below to access the workout)
Thank you for being here!
Before you go, let us know what you thought of today’s edition and if there are any subjects you would like us to cover in the future reply to this email and let us know!
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With love and care,
Lola & Joshua | The Living Well Team
Living Well Daily is for educational purposes only and is in no way a substitute for professional medical and mental health advice and diagnosis. Please consult a qualified professional for care unique to your needs.
Remember: It’s okay to ask for help. Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 (Canada & US).