The slow pace, marked by a relaxed lifestyle in line with the slow living philosophy, sets the tone for the day ahead and your enjoyment of life. You understand the gist of it and embrace the concept day in and day out, but sometimes you wish you could settle into a slow routine that suits you and can help you organise your days and plan out your year. Well, long no more as we today want to suggest a made in The Wine & Country Club routine that will fit you to a T!

At Daybreak

Begin your day with an early meditation session. It need not be very long, 12 minutes a day should suffice, especially at the beginning. Follow with some gentle yoga postures and stretches, known as asanas.

Unplug from the digital world and avoid getting sucked into a vortex of scrolling through posts or falling down online rabbit holes. It is time to take back your life from your Smartphone and create a positive work-life balance. You no longer have a need to be hyper-connected—if something important comes up, rest assured that they will contact you. In the meantime, enjoy that sense of freedom.

We have all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So, in that spirit, leave behind those hasty coffees, which you used to drink hurriedly whilst standing in the kitchen and going over the day’s schedule. Instead, take the time to prepare and eat a substantial, healthy and unhurried breakfast, and get goodness inside you. 

Starting the day with a varied breakfast can help ensure you kick off your morning with a good dose of the energy and nutrients you need throughout the day. You can also use breakfast to tick off some of those all-important food groups, such as wholegrains, proteins, fruit and veg, and dairy or alternatives.

When running your errands, try to grant adequate time so as to avoid running them in a rush and adding stress. Just remember that haste makes waste!

During The Day

Visit your organic kitchen garden, stroll through the vineyards, and lose yourself among the holm oaks. It is about being in motion, communing with nature, taking short breaks every hour or so to stretch your body and relax your eyes, especially if you are engaged in a task that requires a lot of concentration.

It is easy to succumb to hunger at around 11:30am and stuff your face with everything in sight. But there is no need – when your tummy starts to rumble, try a smart mid-morning snack that will nip your hunger in the bud without completely ruining your appetite. You are blessed with your own organic kitchen garden and orchard, so how about taking full advantage and picking some wild strawberries—which provide a shot of antioxidants—, or chopping up a container-load of raw carrots, celery, peppers and broccoli? They will deliver a powerful dose of vitamins and will satisfy that craving for crunchiness.

Lunch has all but gone these days, reduced to simply eating something while working, instead of anything that could be described as a meal. But it need not be that way. There are clear benefits to taking a proper break at lunchtime, and the nutritional angle is the least of the rewards. So have a slow lunch—and ‘slow’ in this context does not necessarily mean time-consuming—, taking the time to savour and appreciate food properly, and in good company. We guarantee that an hour spent over lunch will get repaid in spades over the course of the afternoon in terms of increased productivity, sharpness and sheer happiness.

Follow that with a short siesta—history is littered with famous power nappers, with Aristotle, Einstein and Winston Churchill all having embraced daytime snoozes of varying duration—and renew all the vital forces. If you are immune to the lure of the catnap, use your post-lunch time for some light reading.

At Nightfall

The best way to end the day is by spending time with loved ones, friends and pets. Whether close or afar, keep in touch with the people you care about—be it via a video call or by paying them a visit.

Prepare a delicious home-made dinner based on the ingredients that you grow with great success.

And the perfect end to a perfect day: find some ‘me time’. Whether it is reading, listening to music, playing an instrument or writing – do whatever makes you tick. And crown it all with a glass of your own wine, which you have self produced. Next, take a relaxing shower and massage your temples by rubbing some calming essential oils to help you have a good night’s sleep and feel rested the next morning.

A final helpful tip: round off your new slow routine rituals by embracing an Indian motto: those who give themselves a daily foot massage, remove disease from their life.

In short, make a ritual out of each routine.