Category: Relaxation

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Relax Kids Classes – New!

A few months ago I went to Brighton for a training course which was part on my journey enabling me to become a Relax Kids Coach. I am really excited about starting my classes (for kids aged 5-9 in the first instance) – in September.

  

You may have heard of Relax Kids which is the brain child of Marneta Viegas. Her dream is to help children learn how to manage their stress levels, how to relax and reduce anxiety. She trains coaches all over the world to teach children these skills, and also sells a huge range of relaxation CDs and books which are a great resource for children, teachers and parents alike.

 I am working hard to get myself ready for my first set of classes for September including doing my Paediatric First Aid certification among other things.

Please contact me to find out about my current classes.


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Elton John at Hatfield – Magic Summer Live

I have now been lucky enough to see Elton John play live twice in the same year, which is quite an achievement I think! The first time I wrote about the experience in my blog post Elton John at The Royal Opera House. This time, I have to say could have been much better, if the organisers had any idea of how to run an event like this! The Magic Summer Live ‘picnic’ as it was billed was a dismal display of organisational skills, and I have to say I have never been to such an appallingly run event! You can read more about the lack of food stalls, lack of toilets, massively overpriced ‘VIP’ tickets, queues for everything etc etc here as it’s too miserable to ramble on about it here!

Elton’s performance was flawless, and despite playing to crowds who were soaked to the skin (having stood in near torrential rain all day), he managed to whip us all up into a Sunday night frenzy! Many people left before and during his show – not because of Elton I might add, but because the whole event was such a shambles, and I think people were wet through, starving hungry and basically couldn’t wait to get home. I know lots of people were very unhappy at feeling they had to leave and miss the headline act – and what an act! Elton John was the consummate professional and he made several comments to us about how grateful he was that we’d stood in the rain all day waiting for him to come on. His performance saved what was left of the day for me. Magic FM take note: if you want tips on who to partner up with or how to run events in future, have a chat with the teams behind The Secret Garden Party – which had THE most amazing organisation! Anyway, it was an experience and we just tried to make the best of it., and it all felt better when Elton sang for us 🙂

You can just about see Elton on his piano to the left of the stage!  
Dancing in the dark (and the rain)

A shot of Elton John on the big screen

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A Change is as Good as a Rest

Hello everyone! As you may know if you’re a regular reader, I have been away for a well-earned restful holiday in Turkey and have now returned refreshed and ready to get back to work 🙂 “Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” – Ralph Marston

While I was away I allowed my mind to have a total break from work, as I wanted a to come back completely refreshed and energised. I did however continue to ponder over how to further improve the quality of my life and enrich my daily experiences. I have made huge strides over the past few years to take a look at life when it is getting too hectic. I have tried to examine the situation, identify the problem and acknowledge it. I have then been more able to work on the problem area and improve it. 

Just before I went away on holiday, things in my world of work were getting very hectic (which is normal I guess as I had various deadlines to meet), but I was also starting to feel I couldn’t wait to get away, which is not how I want to feel about my life! The time away allowed me the mental space to explore the issues that have been bubbling up. It also gave my body the amazing opportunity to rest and recuperate in a warm and comfortable climate. My arthritis was all but gone. GONE I tell you! I was left wondering: How much of the symptoms that present themselves are to do with what I think and how much are to do with what I do? Which part of ‘the illness’ is a disease, and which part can be influenced by how I live my life? This conundrum is one I have been playing with for years.

One of the best parts of my holiday was reading: one of the pleasures I am going to make more time for. A friend had just given me Tim Park’s book ‘Teach Us to Sit Still’ which I would recommend for anyone who has lived with or is living with chronic pain. It is beautifully written and although I found Tim to be rather moany and negative at times, he really does find a resolution in the end and learns to relieve himself of pain. 

Another INCREDIBLE book I read was Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso – one of the most gripping, shocking and honest books I have ever read, about her years growing up in a relationship with a paedophile. Not the most relaxing holiday read, I grant you, but inciteful and haunting. (As someone who works with children, I found it to be of particular interest in terms of warning signs.)

I haven’t had a total relaxation holiday for ages as most of my holidays tend to be more rough and ready ‘travel’ ones so you can imagine my heart was singing with joy as I made the most of the facilities at the hotel 🙂

Talking to the sports trainer after an early morning yoga lessonRelaxing in the bar area in the evenings

 

Cushions, hammocks or chairs – a wonderful place to admire the view

Below the resort lies the town of Turunc and The Mediterranean

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Self Coaching Tip – Make Time for Yourself

Lush Bath Bomb and Tokyo Milk soap: Me Time

Sometimes making time for ourselves seems like the last thing on our to do lists.

If you, like me are often rushing around juggling lots of different jobs, roles and chores, by the time you sit down in the evening you are too tired to do anything else. When I first became self-employed I worked very hard to fill up my newly clear timetable and at first it was hard to find things to do. But back then I did not consider that I still needed to make a little ‘me-time’ to relax – I just worked and worked and I think I went a little bit crazy! Eventually when things started to pick up and the seeds I had sown during those first months were turning into little seedlings, I realised that I was getting tired again and needed to put time aside just for myself to unwind. Living with a chronic condition means that I am constantly reminded (by my body) when to slow down, but I also slot my ‘me time’ into my working day, so I don’t just relax at crisis points anymore.

One of my favourite things to do is have a soak in the bath, which is brilliant for my arthritis, as long as the bath is not too hot and I don’t stay in for too long. Fifteen minutes usually works for me. My favourite products are Lush Bubble Bars (I usually break them in half as it seems too wasteful to use a whole one for a short bath) and Kniepp herbal treatments. It is the perfect treat for me and gives me time to zone out, with my favourite music and a candle to enhance the atmosphere.

How do you make time for yourself? Or may be you will put aside some me-time after reading this? Please share and leave a comment below 🙂

My favourite bathing products : Lush and Kniepp

 

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Vegetarian Experiment Days 4 and 5

This weekend I discovered several different things. Firstly I realised it is just as possible to have a bad diet if you are a vegetarian as if you are a meat-eater. I was away all weekend at a hen do and although we had a tasty meal cooked for us on Saturday night, Friday night’s dinner consisted of snacking on pizza and lots of other naughty foods. I suppose I have been feeling virtuous by choosing not to eat meat, and forgot that there are plenty of unhealthy and fattening veggie options out there too. It is all about what you choose to indulge in!

We had a lovely meal cooked for us on Saturday night – Asparagus and brie crepes served with a lemon butter sauce and minted crushed potatoesFollowed by a delicious lemon cheesecake with raspberry coulisUnfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the starter I chose which was a griddled aubergine and halloumi stack, with coriander pesto and freshly squeezed lime. Mmmmm 🙂

Secondly I realised just how much I love Jasmine Tea! These Good Earth tea bags really give off a delicious perfumey flavour; more than other brands I have tried. My absolute favourite brand of Jasmine tea has to be Moon Tyger Tea – delicate individual flowers which open up and infuse the water, but they are an expensive luxury. (If you fancy trying them and are put off by the price, don’t be because they are delicious, last a long time and have currently got a sale on!) 

Finally I remembered just how wonderful it is to spend time with some very dear friends 🙂

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Meditation for Children

This weekend is going to be an exciting one! I’m off to Brighton on a training course to further explore my interest in teaching meditation to children. In one of my guises, I am a teacher and I have been trying out whole class meditations with pupils aged ten and eleven. I have had some great responses from the pupils; some of whom have said they employed the techniques I taught them when they were sitting their recent SATs tests. It is amazing how much presssure there is on young people these days to perform well in exams, get into ‘good’ schools, not to mention trying to fund university or find a job when they are older. I do remember however, feeling anxious and worried about similar things myself when I was younger, so maybe it was always this way? I think I could have done with knowing more about how to lower my own stress levels and also being more able to put things in perspective. I am a true believer in enabling young people to do things and think for themselves by skilling them up and teaching them how to be pro-active. We are not all destined to stay they way we were when we were born! We can improve and develop ourselves, and this includes learing to take care of our own levels of stress through meditation. 

Visualisation is a simple and effective tool in meditation

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Wisley Gardens and The Butterfly House

I had a wonderful family day out at Wisley Gardens on Saturday; a crisp but sunny day. With all the planning in the world, the sun making an appearance is a rarity at the moment, so that made a lovely day out even more enjoyable.

Wisley is between Cobham and Woking in Surrey (junction 10 off the M25) and the garden is the flagship garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, with huge grounds, a vast shop (boasting the largest selection of books on gardening in England) and magnificent trees, plants and flowers. I am a very amateur gardener myself, and I visited with two others, who run their own landscaping business. Needless to say, they probably saw things in a different way to me, but we all enjoyed it in our own ways! 

The Glasshouse -currently home to hundreds of butterflies

The Glasshouse is the same size as 10 tennis courts and is 12m highSpring has sprung at Wisley GardensThe LaboratoryBare branches but still beautifulMy favourite part of the day was seeing the Giant RedwoodsPan, the Ancient Greek God of music

Walled Garden at Wisley

Magnificent treesClimbers being trained

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Elton John at The Royal Opera House!

Waiting for Elton John

Elton’s piano, on stage at The Royal Opera House

I was extremely lucky last month to attend a one-off concert by Elton John at The Royal Opera House. This was the second of two concerts he played to raise money for a new organ for The Royal Academy of Music, where Elton studied as a young man.

The Royal Opera House, London

Like many others, I have always been aware of Elton John and his hits, (spanning 4 decades!), but I didn’t realise how prolific and legendary he actually is. Seeing him in this context was a real treat – just the man and his music. He was on stage with his piano, with no song lists or lyric sheets. Elton was joined half way through by his long-time collaborator, percussionist Ray Cooper. The first 6 or so rows of the audience were made up of his die-hard fans, and what was lovely was that he spoke directly to them several times during the show.

 

 My favourite song of the night was ‘Rocket Man’ which was sung with such pathos, it made me cry! The lyrics ‘I’m not the an they think I am at home’ made me so sad. There must be millions of people around the world pretending to be something or someone they are not.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Me, doing a pretty good impression of The Queen

 Earlier in the day, I had been to visit the Sir John Soan Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. It is the former home of the architect whose most famous works include the exterior of The Bank of England, the Holy Trinity Church in Marylebone and the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.

His house, no. 12 Lincoln’s Inn Fields is now a museum which he donated to the nation. He stated in his will that everything in the house should remain the same as when he died and that it should be free for the public to view. 

There is a one-in-one-out policy due to the limited space inside and the huge number of historic treasures contained within the rooms. Photography is also not permitted, which is why I could not share more pictures here.

This tiny museum is well worth a visit, if you are in the area and have an hour to spare. The best time to visit is in the morning, (when there are no queues) and Holborn is the nearest tube.

Just as the show began, designer Valentino sat in the middle most seat to watch, flanked by body guards

The atmospheric lighting creates a warm glow inside Looking at my programme before the show

Back inside the Opera House – these photos were taken before the show began and the non-celebrities had taken their seats!

Amongst the famous people I spotted was Lulu, who seemed to be having a grand time singing along and Joely Richardson who stood next to me in the loos! The most famous person I saw was designer Valentino who had the centre most seat in the place.

Thankfully there were many many music fans in the audience too, otherwise it could have been a bit of a dry affair!

As I always say when I watch live music, it was a privilege to watch a complete virtuoso at work, doing what he loves and does best.

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Secret gardens

I discovered this tiny garden a few months ago, attached to the back of a churchyard. The plaque on the wall and the little iron gate caught my attention as I was passing.

 

I was pleased to see that the gate was unlocked and I walked down the hedged path to find a beautiful secret garden! Right in the middle the lawn was a magnificent giant oak, circled by a bench. 

The Minchenden Oak

I later did some research on it and found out that the tree is said to be some 800 years old; a survivor of the ancient Forest of Middlesex. 

The garden used to be part of the Minchenden Estate, one of the great estates in the area, built in the 1800’s. It has been in its current guise since 1934, as a garden of remembrance.

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Living life to the full… (and living with an illness)

I recently wrote a guest post for my networking group on the subject of making the most of life, whilst living with an illness. You can read it here in its original context or you can read the whole post, below.

 The beach at Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh

As someone who loves to be creative and keep my brain busy, I have realised after many years that for me, working part time and being self employed the rest of the time is a winning combination.

I have had an auto-immune type of arthritis for almost 20 years now, and I have to say, it has not been easy. The symptoms have ranged from chronic pain to fatigue, but most of the time it felt like I was coming down with the ‘flu. Among many other challenges like being diagnosed and treated in the first place, was the fact that (fortunately) other people could not tell that I was unwell. This although a blessing in many ways, made it difficult to ask other people from help when I was very run-down or simply did not have the strength to do what others would regard as easy.

During the time when the illness was at its worst, I was working full-time as a teacher. Although I had loved my job, I came to loathe it, as it was just knackering all of the time. I slept for most of the weekends and basically had no life. When I tried to do anything other than my day job, I got sick. At one point I was chomping 14 tablets a day (and still in pain).

One day I had just had enough and told the head teacher that I was going to end the school year and resign. She arranged for me to have a job out of the classroom and also gave me flexible working hours which meant I could work from home from time to time. This was the first time I had ever asked for help and I realised that my employers liked me and had a legal obligation to make it possible for me to do my job as well as I could. This new role gave me the mental flexibility and confidence to imagine doing something new.

Years later here I am, nurturing my fledgling coaching business, and doing a teaching consultancy job part time. This gives me two days to work on my business and I have a day off on a Wednesday which is my ‘relaxation day’. I go to my T’ai Chi class, go shopping, meet a friend for coffee, have a swim, whatever I like to relax on my special day. I take on lots of free lance work now, which gives me the flexibility in both my working hours and in what else I do. Planning is of critical importance because living with an illness means I need to plan in rest days. If I have worked 3 days at a stretch, I have a (planned) day off. If I go out in the evening I plan to start my morning later the next day. One of the hardest things for me is accepting that I need more rest than other people, so I write my days off into my diary weeks in advance. That way I ensure that I have time to be at home. I may well be working, but at least I can take it at my own pace.

My new working arrangements have lots of positives, but obviously there are downsides too. I earn a fraction of what I used to, I don’t have the same benefits that I did before, like sick pay and the same level of pensions contributions. What I do have though, far out weighs these factors – the sense of being free and being able to choose to look after my own health and well-being; being creative with my ideas and time; enjoying my work time, business time and leisure time, means I am actually living life much more to the full.

My Ten Top Tips 

1. Work out when your energy is the highest and do things you need to do then. You’ll get more done that way.

2. Plan time for rest. This does not necessarily mean bed-rest, although if that’s what you need, take it.

3. Learn to listen to your body. Pain and fatigue are indicators. Your body is trying to tell you something. Listen and acknowledge this communication.

4. Find some form of exercise that you enjoy. It does not have to be the gym! Walk in the park or dance in your living room- whatever makes you feel good.

5. Talk to other people who have the same issues or look online for support groups. It makes it much easier when you realise you’re not alone.

6. This one is hard: Accept the limitations of your illness. It is an illness, but it does not define you. If you accept it and make peace with it, you will be more able to get over it.

7. Get over it. It’s not the worst thing in the world, you are not the only one and there are many others out there suffering more than you. It took me ages to stop feeling sorry for myself, but when I did, I felt much better.

8. Make goals for yourself – e.g. today I will walk further than yesterday. Even a few extra minutes will build your strength and stamina. 

9. Get out and about. Use your leisure time to discover new things- your brain loves stimulation and helps place your attention elsewhere.

10. Get sociable. Hang out with positive fun people and you will feel better about yourself. Laughter is the best medicine.

My cat Puffin brings me great joy

Please drop me a line if you found this blog post useful or you have anything to share on the subject. I always welcome your comments!