Now To Love recently chatted to Dancing With The Stars judge, life coach hypnotherapist and ballroom dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup about all-things wellness, including Camilla’s go-to exercise, favourite positive mantra to live by and how she stays positive during rough times.
Hi Camilla, talk us through your daily routine
I have a rule that I’m not allowed to look at my phone before I have centred myself. That to me means taking a few minutes as I wake up to tune into my breath, spend a few minutes setting my intention for the day or going through my gratitude list, make myself a coffee and walk our dogs. Once that’s done I feel ready to invite in the world around me to my day.
What kind of work outs do you enjoy the most?
Walking is my favourite exercise, I feel a bit out of balance on days where I haven’t been out walking, it keeps me grounded and it’s my favourite way to catch up with my friends too. Luckily in LA and New Zealand there are many wonderful hikes to enjoy. I also do these exercises called The 5 Rites from a book called Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth, which works the energy fields in the body. One of the exercises is simply spinning 21 times to the right, the others more like yoga exercises, but we are to believe that they align our chakras in the body and I feel amazing after. They only take about 20 minutes to do and one of my favourite humans late Sir Bruce Forsyth introduced me to them.
How do you try to stay positive and mentally healthy?
Meditation is vital in my life and I honestly don’t know how I ever did life without meditation and mindfulness. Which is why I love sharing the tools with others through my coaching and hypnosis business Zenme, my book Reinvent ME and through my weekly meditations classes. I urge anyone who is struggling with stress to make meditation a part of their daily lives, even five minutes can make a difference in your day. The results I have seen through coaching individuals and businesses are extraordinary.
When going through rough times how do you pick yourself up and stay strong?
To know that – even if you don’t see it right now – there is light at the end of the tunnel. The reason why I love coaching others is because I know what it feels like to feel lost, stuck and wondering if things will ever be okay again. What I have learnt is that the challenges thrown our way are opportunities to grow and evolve and that time is an amazing healer. To be patient with yourself and know that you are not alone, many people go through painful times and people heal all the time.
To remember that everything can be different one week, one month or one year from now. It’s great talking to friends, “a problem shared is a problem halved” as they say, but if you need a coach or a therapist, know that that’s okay too – that does not mean you are weak it means you have courage. Exercise helps a lot too, shifting the body helps shift the thoughts and to spend time daily remembering and listing all of the things you are grateful for. Having the right mind tools at hand can really help you improve your situation whilst going through a difficult time. I use, or have used, all of the tools I teach, in my own life.
What are some things that make you feel loved and happy?
Walking or chilling with my husband and dogs and when my husband cooks a delicious meal for us. Or when a friend, client or stranger for no reason sends you a lovely message. Being by the water makes me very happy too, connecting with nature whether the ocean or the mountains always puts a smile on my face. It reminds me how insignificant things we worry about sometimes actually are when you see the magic happening in nature all around us.
Do you have a positive mantra you live by?
I have quite a few but, I think “Energy follows thought”, which I also mention in my book, is one that helped me in life the most though. It taught me to be mindful of where I spend my energy and to know that I always have the choice to switch my focus. Sometimes we waste so much time going over something in our minds or looking outside of ourselves for the answers, when we can simply choose to think about what’s in our power to change. This helped me a lot through my years as an athlete, it’s so easy to focus on what your competitors are doing, yet it does not help you, you are far better off concentrating on your journey. This goes too for anyone spending too much time and energy comparing themselves to others on social media.
Who inspires you and why?
People and their stories inspire me. Every day I’m blown away listening to my clients, my parents and, of course, Oprah. I am inspired by anyone who was ever told, “you will never do that”, “you can’t do that” and “you haven’t got what it takes”, who ignored that and went with “Yes I can, I will and I did”. We all have that fire in our bellies, sometimes it just takes a while to realise. I’m inspired by people who allow themselves to fail on their journey to find what they are truly here to do.
I could carry on and on, this is a wonderful question we should ask ourselves often.
Photo credit: Kevin Sacre
Dancing with the Stars airs every Sunday (7pm) and Monday night (7.30pm) on Three.
