Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw Exercising Your Mind Interview

The Exercise Everyone Forgets: Exercising Your Mind

Question: Can you tell us about the Keep it Cleaner Wellness Hub?

Steph Claire Smith: The Wellness Hub on the KIC app is a new platform that provides instant access to yoga, Pilates and meditation.

Yoga variations range from 2-30 minutes depending on what your objective is and how much time you have. We wanted to ensure that no matter how busy your lifestyle, KIC will fit into it.

Pilates is broken down to core, upper body and lower body, with each exercise detailing exactly what area you are working. Exercises range from 6.5-28 minutes and covers everything from toning to burning.

There are 40 different meditations that are broken down into categories of sleep, anxiety, body love, motivation and stress - personalising your work out to your lifestyle needs. Meditations vary from 5-20 minutes as we know it takes some time to really get your mind through meditation.

We're so excited to continue to grow the content in this feature, so far the community is loving it just as much as we are.


Question: Why was it important for you to release the Wellness Hub?

Laura Henshaw: KIC is such a supportive, respectful and kind community full of women from around the world who share their wellness journeys. We've always had yoga and Pilates on KIC but we had an overwhelming response from our community to have a specific area for access to slower, more mindful movements or mediations. So we listened to them and this is why we've launched the Wellness Hub on KIC!

Steph and I have always been really passionate about living a holistic lifestyle. We believe wellness is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to living a happy and healthy life, in combination with exercising and eating well.


Question: Why do you believe we forget to exercise our minds?

Steph Claire Smith: I think historically we have had a strong focus on looking good, and people are now realising that feeling good is what all our lifestyle choices should focus on. This is exactly why Laura and I created KIC. From our own personal experiences where we were too focused on our physical appearance, we fell into bad habits with food and exercise and forgot to look after the most important thing… our mental health. It's really important to prioritize your mental health just as much as you would nutrition and exercise in your routine.

Question: How has having a holistic approach to wellbeing changed your life?

Laura Henshaw: It has given me so much more balance which has helped so much with my mental health. It is so important to remember health is so much more than just working out and eating well. There was a point in my life where I ate 100% healthy and exercised for 1-2 hours each day and mentally, I was at my unhealthiest because of the unnecessary pressure I was putting on myself and lack of balance in my life.


Question: What programs are available in the Wellness Hub?

Steph Claire Smith: We created KIC with the purpose of having a PT or a work out buddy in your pocket, which means we need to cover a variety of programs to keep you with creative, fresh content daily.

Our existing programs include boxing, HIIT, running and strength. The Wellness Hub has combined Pilates, yoga and meditation in one place. Each of these categories have a variety of exercises to choose from so you can personalise your workouts depending on your needs.


Question: How do you exercise your own mind?

Laura Henshaw: I love being challenged and I am really lucky to experience this in my work and studies every day. I find I learn the most when I throw myself in the deep end outside of my comfort zone. We did that last year when we launched our podcast (KICPOD); we were totally new to podcasting but loved every minute of it. It is an amazing way to connect with the community and champion women who inspire us and we can't wait to start season 2 in a few weeks.

Steph Claire Smith: Last year I really started getting into yoga. I loved the way my mind would get lost in a flow and forget about the outside world. It has helped me live in the moment, and more than anything it has helped me slow down and just breathe. I love following guided meditations too so I was really excited to launch the wellness hub.


Question: How much sleep do you personally need?
Laura Henshaw: I am an 8-hour minimum girl! I cannot function without it. I make sure I switch off from work a while before bed, try to limit time on my phone and instead will read a book or listen to one of our meditations.

Steph Claire Smith: I personally need 7-8 hrs to have a positive and productive following day. Sometimes when life is super busy and I'm struggling to wind down I listen to one of our sleep guided meditations in the app. This took some convincing at first, my husband wasn't so sure about it when I first started doing it as a part of my bed time routine - but now more often than not he falls asleep before it's even finished!


Question: What do you do for yourself, daily to practice self-care?

Laura Henshaw: I make sure I find time to do something for me everyday. I will either fit in a workout, meditation (or both if I have time), a bath, or a swim at the beach. All the things that make me feel happy.

Steph Claire Smith: I move my body in some way, fill my body with nutritious foods that I love, and I try and do one thing that lets me lose track of time at least once a day. Eg, watch a movie, have a bath, play with Ari, go for a walk or spend time with friends and family.


Question: When did your love of yoga, begin?

Laura Henshaw: I have slowly learnt to love yoga. I used to focus so much on what each pose looked like and if I was doing it right but from our incredible KIC Yogi teacher Karen I have learnt not to worry about perfection in yoga. It has been amazing to really be able to let go and connect with the practise. I love being able to follow the sessions at home on the app where no one is watching and I feel really comfortable.

Steph Claire Smith: I never ever thought I would take a liking to it. I used to get so frustrated doing anything that I wasn't very good at, I've never been a very patient person. Over the last few years though life has become seriously busy and I started to realize that strenuous workouts weren't always the best way to start my day… sometimes they just got me even more stressed out! So, what started as a softer form of exercise in my routine slowly became much much more than a workout. Through yoga I have learnt how to be patient, how to breathe, how to refocus my mind and I have proven to myself how strong and determined I can be when I set my mind to something. It's genuinely one of my favourite forms of exercise now, I learn something about myself and about yoga every time I practice.

Question: What's next for you and Keep it Cleaner?

Laura Henshaw: KIC's mission is to positively change as many women's lives as possible by offering a flexible health and fitness program. We want to truly focus on our community, bringing them the most relevant workouts, recipes and mindful experiences all in the KIC app. This is a big year for our community and we're excited for everyone who is part of it.


Interview by Brooke Hunter