JOSHUA ARMITAGE

Firstly, for those who don’t know, can you introduce yourself & background & what you do?

Kia ora, My name is Joshua, I am from Melbourne, I moved over to Auckland when I was 8 years old, now 30 (This Sunday) It is fair to say that I am more of a kiwi than oz :)

My background is in exercise science. After finishing up uni, I traveled Europe and lived in London for several years. I have now been back in NZ for the last 5 years and have had several roles from food export & manufacture, to running my own promotions company, DJ'ing, personal training and finally coming back to my true passion of wellness.

After going through my own struggles I decided to pick my shit up and get back into study, I have done courses in breathwork and am currently studying clinical nutrition also.

For the last 2 years, I have worked as head coach for one of the Worlds top online trainers.

This role developed to need a lot more than just the delivery of nutrition and exercise plans and quickly I realized that people are never going to achieve their goals if they are not mentally well also or if we do not address other issues people may have going on in their life.

I then started TwoSix Wellness.

Can you touch on TwoSix & the health/wellness you aim to bring within the workplace?

TwoSix wellness aims to bring all aspects of wellness to the workplace and or the individual, by starting from the inside out. If the inside is not sorted then the body will never follow suit.

The main offering of TwoSix wellness is one on one coaching. (however we do offer workplace yoga, breathwork pilates, workshops, and retreats) Typically Corporates put individuals or groups of staff through the 12 weeks wellness program, where I sit down with the individual and go over all of their wants, needs, & goals. From there I come up with a nutrition plan tailored to them incorporating foods that they love that align with their goal, we will address gut health, skin health, weight loss, immunity and many other topics as we see fit to the individual through nutrition.

Not everyone has time to exercise for an hour every day so we then come up with a weekly exercise routine suited to the individual or workplace. We all have control of our autonomic nervous systems (fight or flight, vs rest and digest) via the breath, I then give them weekly workons and practices using breathwork to regulate between the 2 autonomic nervous systems accordingly.

Stress works on a bell-shaped curve, it is beneficial up to a certain point, beyond that is harmful to us. As humans we are overactivated in that sympathetic system (fight or flight) through tasks such as emails, deadlines, marital issues, etc that it is harming our health, it is important to give people back control over that.

After setting individuals or teams up on a plan we then check in on a weekly basis monitoring & tracking them to ensure they are improving each week, we set realistic goals each week together for them to achieve and I set out their weekly workons. We also make weekly changes to their nutrition and training if needed. 1% better every day is the goal... not 100% from day one that is not sustainable for anyone.

Nutrition, Exercise, Breathwork, Meditation, among other wellness exercises all add up to make an extremely efficient individual or employee and workspace.

After battling with my own depression, anxiety, and suicidal downward spiral of being fired, losing my partner, losing my father and several other close friends, I realized that I was the common denominator here and it was my choice how I reacted. And it was only me that could pull myself back.

I found breathwork (thanks mum) and that allowed me to address a lot of my repressed emotions and allow me to regain control of my mental health. I then went into a coaching role where I realized that I was not alone in my downward spiral and there are so many more out there. and so much of this could be helped with nutrition, meditation, breathwork and other daily practices, I then decided to further my studies and start helping people as I helped myself.

I uphold this view and practices as I do not anyone else to feel as I once felt, I want to help them build a toolbox they can always call upon to pull them out of any hole, no matter how deep it goes.

So many people push emotions down and do not allow themselves to feel.

However, the only way to heal... is to feel, that is the only way we will move forward and collectively evolve to a better space. By speaking and feeling our truths, and holding one another in compassion when doing so.

You’ve mentioned you teach on retreats, could you give us some insight on what this consists of & what people can expect on one of these?

Retreats consist of re-integrating with nature and ourselves.

We are not designed to be sitting at a desk all day, we aim to get people up moving, and breathing how we collectively once did. Retreats typically consist of daily hikes, yoga or some form of exercise, breathwork, cold immersion, sauna, and workshops delivering the science and the whys behind everything so that they can take back actionable points into their daily lives.

Keep a close eye out for one of our upcoming retreats this year.

We have a phrase: Conductive Repetition, improving oneself through consistency and persistence. What are some things you’re working towards in the near future?

To be a catalyst for positive change and connecting with ones internal self in people's lives so that they never need to go down a dark road as I once did, whether that is with an individual or an entire organization, it makes no difference. To know that I have helped someone is enough.

Through consistently filling up my own cup I will consistently pour it over into others that need it.

You cannot fill another person's cup if yours is empty.