Who are you loving?

February has crept upon us and it's that time of year when commercialism tells us to show our loved ones how much we care. That's great if there is a significant other in your life, but if not, are you going to spend time disheartened and depressed at being alone?

Out of everyone you'll ever meet, you are the only one who's guaranteed to be with you from the start to the end – so why not love yourself?

This Valentines Day (which is falling on a weekend), why not book a date with yourself? You don't have to spend a fortune unless you want to, but it could help you feel happier. If you do have an other half, maybe schedule one of the below in on another day, or think about including them.

Ideas on how to have a great Valentines Day:

1. Take yourself off to your favourite haunt for a few hours – whether it's shopping, a favourite location outside, or a coffee shop with your favourite book
2. Consider doing a few hours charity work, it'll take your mind off things and it's always great to know you're helping someone else
3. Book yourself in for a therapy – while I'm a little biased about this one, it is still an option to consider!
4. Pop to a shop and buy some luxurious bubbles, then head home and enjoy a lovely luxurious bath
5. Buy yourself some beautiful flowers and when you look at them - smile!
6. Treat yourself to an afternoon of a small box of chocolates, a favourite drink & a favourite film
7. Try a random act of kindness – it may give you a warm fuzzy feeling & someone else will be happier as well
8. See some family or friends whose company you enjoy. Ensure there's laughter and not too much serious talk
9. Head to the cinema to see a film you want to watch. In the dark no one will see you on your own and if you go to a daytime viewing you're less likely to see lots of couples!
10. Head off to a local place of interest: museums, outdoor places of interest or local historic parks can often be free. Otherwise you could check out what's on at the theatre or a local arts venue.

Whatever you find yourself doing, remember to show yourself you care – you are special and it's important you take time to acknowledge it!  

Resolutions Anyone?

Once again we're finding ourselves at the beginning of January with hope for another year. Have you made any resolutions? Have you already broken them and beaten yourself up about it yet?

Over the festive season I read an interesting facebook post by Dr Wayne Dyer. He suggested forgetting about resolutions and thinking more about living in the moment. While it's a good idea to have a plan and goals for the year so many people worry and agonise over how they've made a mistake with their difficult resolution, which is currently pretty alien to their lifestyle.

Slipping up doesn't make you a failure, it doesn't mean you have to write it off for the whole year. It just means you're a human and at that particular point in time your choice was not in line with a new habit you want to form.

New habits are made by practice; would you be so harsh on a child learning to walk or trying to master a new skill? No, you would say, 'that's OK, let's give it another go.' Each moment is a new moment, a chance for a new start. Treat yourself kindly, and instead of being so harsh on yourself, draw a mental line, accept you've made a mistake, take a deep breath and start again.

Forget the last few minutes/half hour/hour and focus - are you OK in THIS precise moment? If not, why not? If it's because of something that happened half hour ago you're still not living in the present - try again. Breathe, focus and think about THIS moment. If you're not on fire, you're not in the middle of a medical emergency or you're not in the process of falling off a cliff, the chances are at this exact moment things are possibly not as bad as you think. Check in with your body, lose the annoyance/anger/frustration with yourself and give yourself a bit of love - you've made a mistake, and you know, it's OK.

So this year, why not make it a goal to be a bit kinder to yourself? Your resolutions are not set in stone, you can move the goalposts, adapt, restart or lose the ones that really aren't working for you. You are an adult in control of your life. Make little steps, celebrate those little steps and make more....then at the end of the year you can look back and discover how far those restarts, little steps and self-love actually got you.

On 5 Days Of Christmas

(to the tune of that famous song, but with a condensed version as I don't find myself as creative to find 12!....)

On the 5th Day of Christmas, suggestions made for me:
5 acts of kindness,
4 mins of mindfulness,
3 happy smiles
2 hot baths
& a gift voucher for a therapy!

Whatever you are planning over the festive season, may it be peaceful, happy and perfect for you.
Wishing you a wonderful 2015, where your dreams and goals all become real.

Have a great one!
Louise

No Pain No Gain

As a massage therapist this is something I hear a lot, but it's not something I'm into myself. Over the years my massage toolkit has begun to grow and I now use a combination of deep tissue, trigger point, Swedish massage and other massage movements. Sometimes I may use hot stones, but none of these techniques make me want to subscribe to the no pain, no gain mantra.

I know there are therapists out there who do advocate this approach, and if you really do believe it, then I would recommend you book a visit with one of them. Am I telling you to go elsewhere? If you feel the need to scream in agony, be left bruised and battered after your session in order to feel you've had a 'proper' massage, then yes, you do need to visit someone else.

Personally, I prefer a 'nice pain' approach, This sounds a bit strange, but I always say it should feel like things are loosening and releasing, rather than being pummelled into submission. What does this mean? Well, I may rest a while with some pressure on a muscle, waiting for it to release, so I can sink in further and work deeper. It may mean I hold a trigger point for a few seconds, to release the constriction in the muscle fibres - and while you may experience some pain, I never want you to feel your discomfort levels going above your personal 7 pain scale.

Personally, I prefer to work with the body - maybe it's because I'm lazy (you have to put a lot more pressure into fighting) or maybe it's because I'm an holistic therapist and at the core of that is that I listen to each person and treat them as an individual. Throughout a session I feel what a body is telling me and I work with it to create an optimal outcome. Whatever the reason, I am a great believer that people will find what works for them and that is especially true for massage, which is a very personal thing...but please, please, don't believe you have to suffer to get the benefit - your body sends pain signals for a reason!

Exciting courses for a boring requirement

Did you know therapists carry out Continuing Professional Development (CPD)? Now before you yawn & quickly leave, trust me, CPD is more exciting than the name suggests.... for you it means your therapist is serious about their profession; they're signed up to a professional membership which wants to ensure they are staying updated of current training methods and not stagnating doing the same thing all the time. For me it means I balance CPD requirements with courses I've seen that I just have to do because they sound so great! So, what have I been up to?

Recently I completed a lower back pain course. As a therapist I found it absolutely fascinating and it really helped me feel more confident about treating various muscles involved in lower back pain. To make sure I'm feeling confident when I've got a paying client on my couch, I'm also carrying out some case studies - so in about 10 weeks time I'm going to be happy dealing with problems with the piriformis, poas, quatratus lumborum & other associated muscles (Don't worry, you don't have to know where they are - you just need to know where it hurts & be able to point to it!)

The other training I've recently carried out is story massage. I initially went on this training as I facilitate baby massage classes and was asked about a possibility of a class for toddlers. I thought this would provide parents with more tools to try to engage with their children who aren't that keen on traditional massage. Well, the story massage day blew my mind with the versatility and the realisation the only limits on this are your own! I came away with my mind wandering with lots of possibilities and I've managed to rein it into two ideas I want to progress in my private practice.

So, what is it? Story Massage is based on the idea that children love a story - whether its a book, something they're doing with their teddies or a game they're making up with their friends. It's having your child fully clothed (something different to traditional massage) & using massage moves while a story is being told. This means it can be done anywhere (we saw pictures of teenagers massaging each other in a supermarket!), can be adapted to any situation (it has been used to help Japanese parents reach out to their children affected by a tsunami), any age (& during the training it was fascinating to hear how the other attendees were thinking of using it in their own environments for different ages & how it has already been used with adults suffering from dementia).

For me, I plan to use it with younger children who need help calming down, whether it's for sleep, anxiety or another issue. Depending on the age, it may involve making a story before the child arrives, or a collaboration to produce a story they can own and which can help empower them. Like a lot of my business I'm expecting this to develop as time goes on, but I'm excited by where this CPD has taken me & what I'm going to be planning from October!

So, if you see your therapist has been completing Continuing Professional Development don't switch off - look at how their new skills can help you & know they're serious about their business, passionate about learning more & hopefully inspired to try doing things differently!

Sunshine

It's shocking but we seem to be having a summer! I hope you've been enjoying this weather, but obviously there are a few things to consider if you're having therapies and heading out in this hot climate.

If you've been using massage oil on your skin, take care when you go outside. A carrier oil is a vegetable oil and by going out in the sun with the oil on your skin you are encouraging your skin to burn (imagine when you're cooking and you put oil on your food, it's the same thing). If you have put a carrier oil on young children, babies or the elderly you need to take even more care due to the composition of the skin (ie it tends to be thinner and even more susceptible to burning).

You should also take particular care if you're using citrus oils and especially bergamot. Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) has bergaptene in it, which is a furocoumarin. So, what does that actually mean? If it is used in a blend on your skin and you go out in the sun you could face severe burning. The bergaptene is phototoxic so it reacts with the sunshine. You can buy FCF free bergamot but it does mean the oil composition has been changed. Personally I use bergamot with bergaptene and warn people to avoid the sun for a few hours.


So, in this hot weather how can you cool down?
One of my personal favourites is peppermint hydrolat. You need to buy it without any preservatives and then you can spray it as and when needed (including on the face or your feet) as often as you feel the need. It is much gentler than an essential oil, you can't overdose on it and it's safe to use around any ages.

Peppermint (Mentha piperita) or cornmint (Mentha arvensis) essential oils can be used instead of hydrolats and are also beneficial in this warm weather. To use in a similar way to hydrolats you need to dilute the essential oils in water, shake before use and take care to avoid your eyes. If you're around young children I would recommend you do not use cornmint. If you do not have sensitive skin then you can place a drop of either essential oil on your wrist points, but you need to take care not to put it near your eyes, or use it around young children. If you're in any doubt you should contact a suitably qualified aromatherapist or aromatologist who can advise you of an appropriate method or produce a rollerball blend for you.

So, whatever you get up to this summer, have a fantastic and safe time!

Massage and growing children

If you've been on a baby massage course, the chances are that by the time your baby has started crawling you may have given up. It can be harder to massage your child, but I always say it's easier to know if a moving child wants a massage or not. I have been facilitating groups when moving children have led still for a massage - sometimes to the amazement of the parent!

I am realistic though, and do warn parents that by the time their children are toddlers there is likely to be very little massage. Your child tends to want to explore and will only want a massage on their terms when there's nothing better going on and they're in the right mood. It may be that you just massage the head, stomach or feet when you get a quick minute. Introducing your child to more fun ways of massage can help to encourage them to carry on with massage through this period of intense learning.

As your child gets older, even if you've stopped massaging completely, it is possible to reintroduce the full sequence to your child. As your child approaches 3 you are likely to find that even if your child did not want a massage as a toddler they are likely to be much keener to sing along and tell you what parts they want massaged. If you're lucky you may even have a child that wants to massage you back!

With your child getting ready for nursery and school, reintroducing massage can be a great way to help manage their anxieties about the changes. If you are planning on further children, massaging your elder child is a fantastic way to show your child you still care for them and you haven't forgotten them despite and addition to the family.

While called baby massage, it's worth remembering that many of the techniques can be used with your children as they get older, until your child says they'd prefer to see their own massage therapist!