A note from Mia:
Hello! Today I am introducing you to a new type of post on the Rise and Yoga Blog - the Wellness Profiles! Today I asked Sakura Ota, a student of the Australian Ballet School to tell us about her lifestyle and what she does to stay healthy both in her body and in her mind. I hope you enjoy this interesting read and please let me know what you think! You can follow Sakura on Instagram here or check out my own Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Enjoy!
Hello đ
So Mia has requested me to share with you all about what I do to have a healthy and happy wellbeing. First to introduce myself, I am a full time dance student, which means my days are extremely busy but mostly it's challenging, both mentally and physically.
It's true that my body is familiar to dancing approximately 6 hours everyday, but I still need to do a lot of things to recover my body from the hard workload. Some of my favourites are of course Pilates and Yoga. These two are a perfect combination since they are like a fuel for me. They are also helpful when I have a few days break. It is essential for me to keep fit and be in shape to be ready when I come back. Pilates helps a lot for me to connect my brain to the correct muscles I want to strengthen and to use in class. You have to be really knowledgeable about your own body because you have to have connection and be in total control of all of your muscles when dancing. I absolutely hate doing class without any Pilates before hand because I feel like complete jelly; my body doesn't feel like it belongs to me! Yoga allows for me to connect to my muscles in a completely different way. One, because you stretch and strengthen at the same time; also known as dynamic stretching. It's so good because you're not too tense or too loose, it just balances your body perfectly. I absolutely love doing compression poses, it totally gets my abs switched on!
I always strive to get myself in the right mental state. Ballet can look absolutely graceful and that's what I love about it, but in the studios you always fight with yourself. Sometimes you can be frustrated, stressed or even pressured. On my way to my ballet studio, on the train I always take a good 10 minutes to do some mindfulness exercises to make my mind be in the present moment; not worrying about the past or future. It helps me so much. I get motivated, and it allows me to push myself harder. By doing this everyday, I am able to set a goal, and find achievements throughout my classes.
Just because I do dancing, it doesn't mean I don't eat to keep in shape. I LOVE FOOD. I always make sure to have eggs in the morning, at least one or two. I take carbohydrates when having breakfast and lunch, mostly rice. I love my veggies, they are my soulmates but it kinda makes your plate look more aesthetically pleasing as well. I always take with me a small container of nuts and dates. They are quite high in calories so it really assists my energy levels to boost up. Ballet is tiring so I won't be able to perform my best without the fuel! What I think is rather than not eating much, it's better to have a balanced diet and have enough energy. It is extremely difficult to push yourself and do high intensive activities with no nutrition in you. It's what makes your muscles too. And most importantly, eating well puts a big smile on your heart and mind đ
I know I have written a lot but I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my favourite things. Thank you Mia and to all of you â¤ď¸