Reconnect oct-nov no.45 by ReConnect Magazine

The good living and community magazine for Exeter, Plymouth and across South Devon OCT/NOV 2016 ISSUE 45

produce k energy k land k homes k community k wellbeing k arts

LIGHT THE FIRES

Pleas e tak e one

FREE !

Gather round and warm your soul

THE NEXT STAGE Theatres reveal dramatic plans

WELLBEING PAGES Ayurvedic massage and more

THE PATH AHEAD Walking countryside and coast

FREE COMMUNICATION FOR YOUR COMMUNITY - POWERED BY PEOPLE! Visit us online at www.reconnectonline.co.uk

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MORE EXETER NATURAL HEALTH CENTRE PRACTITIONERS MO MORRISH RSHOM Homeopathic medicine www.the homoeopathicpractice.co.uk Authentic Ceremonies www.authenticceremonies.co.uk SARAH HENDERSON Remedial and Therapeutic Massage Therapist APNT Dip, BCMA reg, www.renewmassages.co.uk LISA TATE Remedial, pregnancy & therapeutic massage, Myofascial release T: 07561 519344 E: lisa@lisatatetherapies.co.uk www.lisatatetherapies.co.uk IESSAIAH Psycho-spiritual holistic therapist and transformational energy healer T: 07568 504347 E: info@iessaiah www.iessaiah.com KATHERINE JENKINS Hypno-counselling T: 01392 811836/07890 364847

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VIDYADASI Buddhism & Meditation

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Ongoing group: Wednesdays 7 - 9.15 (suggested donation £5) www.triratnadevon.org ANNA PARIS Ac.M.MBAC Traditional acupuncture, Toyohari 5 element & Manaka styles E: amparis1@btinternet.com

Traditional Swedish Massage Therapy T: 07939004890, Nova Jones SAMANTHA GODDARD

Classes see www.itsallaboutfeelingbetter.co.uk/classes/ 1:1 sessions also available. £10 per person. First session £5. Booking essential Jo’s additional practices: TRE® Tension and Trauma Release, EFT Emotional Freedom Technique, Matrix Reimprinting, Yoga, iRest, Total Yoga Nidra. www.itsallaboutfeelingbetter.co.uk

Jo Hamilton 07714253992 or email jopureyoga@gmail.com

01392 422555 Centre Manager: Ali Morrish Find out more about us on facebook Follow us on twitter @ExeterNaturalHC Exeter Natural Health Centre, Queens Walk, 83/84 Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RP

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Reiki, Massage, Sound Healing, Hopi Ear Candles, Mindfulness,

Nutritional Therapy DR SARAH BRYAN PH.D Holistic therapeutic, sports, remedial & deep tissue massage, Myofascial Release, Clinical Aromatherapy T: 07949 654779 W: www.sbholistic.co.uk

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Upfront IT'SWHATWE'REABOUT

Broughttoyou by...

IN THISISSUE... LOCAL FOOD FEST

And when we say local... EDITOR Martin Foster

CRUX CRAFTS 5

Time to meet your makers

SCHUMACHER AT 25 7 Satish Kumar reflects

WELLBEING EDITOR Kate Philbin

GOING OUT 9

Places to go, people to see

ORGANIC GARDENING 12

SALES SUPPORT Melissa Merrington-Pink

Joa with ‘things to do’

SHARPHAM TIMES 13

Busy time up on the hill

LOCAL PRODUCE 14 ADMIN MANAGER Beth Foster

A taste for home

Hillyfields - page 20

JANE GETS REAL 17

Forget fad, eat food

ECO HOMES 18

Open homes and eco fair

MORE FOLLOWS 20

Neighbourhood noise

WALKING THE TALK 22

WELCOME... ...to the October/November issue. YES, I’m still in the driving seat, although the business is still for sale - get in touch if you’d like to be part of Reconnect’s future. In the meantime, it’s business as usual and pulling together a new issue from such rich material was as much fun as ever. There are some real gems in this issue, which as usual spontaneously produced a theme, this time of being active in nature. Yes, outdoors you’ve got a coat, haven’t you? Look out too for a particularly poignant column from Leigh Smith of Heartwood, who writes about the importance and power of being ourselves (page 28); and there’s another unmissable missive from our unofficial columnist Ru Callander of The Green Funeral Company (page 31). We’re now working on our Christmas/New Year issue (I know, I know), so if you want to be in it, call me on 01803 868455.

Martin

COVERSTORY... The good living and community magazine for Exeter, Plymouth and across South Devon OCT/NOV 2016 ISSUE 45

produce ❋ energy ❋ land ❋ homes ❋ community ❋ wellbeing ❋ arts

LIGHT THE FIRES

Please take one

FREE !

Gather round and warm your soul

Jon’s back in his boots

WELLBEING 24

THE NEXT STAGE

EMOTIONAL HEALTH 28

WELLBEING PAGES

Theatres reveal dramatic plans

The natural health pages FEATURES WRITER Jon Stein

Just being yourself Sharpham - page 13

FOOD WRITER Jane Hutton

WEBSITE EDITORS www.doetsdesign.com

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jenny Foster

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Ayurvedic massage and more

CLASSIFIED INFO

Small ads, big surprises

THE PATH AHEAD Walking countryside and coast

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Main image: songs and stories around the fire - pic by Samjhana (www. samjhanamoon. com). Right, top to bottom: Beneath The Blizzard (page 7); Ayurvedic yoga massage with Saghar Amozgar (page 25); Glazegate afterglow by Phil Hemsley www.philhemsley. co.uk (page 14).

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DEC/JAN issue out end of Nov - next deadline Nov 1 THESMALLPRINT... PUBLISHED BY Reconnect Magazine, 45 Punchards Down, Follaton, Totnes TQ9 5FD PRINTED BY Kingfisher Print, Wills Rd, Totnes www.kingfisherprint.co.uk WEBSITE Visit our website at www. reconnectonline.co.uk. And visit our Facebook page at www.facebook. com/reconnectmagazine

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The Totnes Pride parade takes over the town. Picture: SAIF ALI

news&views

Clocking on to the Graveyard Shift

So proud of Pride THE fourth Totnes Pride saw over 1000 people coming together to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex &/or asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) community. Organisers of the event Proud2Be laid on a whole host of activities across the town for what is now regarded as the UK’s largest rural Pride event. Mat Price, co-founder of Proud2Be, described Totnes Pride 2016 as being “our biggest yet”. “We had twice the number of people marching with us in the procession,”he said, “and throughout the day many said how the atmosphere was so welcoming and inclusive. “We would like to thank all the guests, our amazing volunteers, the Pride Action Group and all of our generous funders, sponsors and supporters who helped make the event possible.” Find out more at proud2be.co.uk.

An inspired idea

MUSICIAN and educator Laura Loft has launched #4TheLove project as part of her one-year associate artist residency at Exeter Phoenix. Laura has been running The Light Bulb Sessions, songwriting workshops for 13-19 year-olds using visual arts and music to inspire songs. #4TheLove project will see herself and other musicians creating songs around work provided by established South West Artists. Find out more at www.lauraloftmusic.com and loftsmusicshed.wordpress.com or email ld_management@live.co.uk.

F you’re a fan of dark comedy, and enjoyed TV shows like The League of Gentlemen, The Mighty Boosh and Spaced, a new comic/ horror short film series being made in Exeter should be right up your street. The Graveyard Shift is set in a Graveyard Shift writer Jay Robertson, left, writer/director supermarket Ollie Would, centre, and producer Jeff Sleeman. during the night with fortunate to be working with a highly strange goings on affecting the talented crew and cast of local oddball assortment of people who actors. Eventually we aim to get a work and shop there. In the first TV series commissioned and the first episode a malevolent small creature step is to make six mini-episodes escapes from the freezer where it which will be published online to lives and terrorises the staff before generate interest and build a fan finally being recaptured with the base. The first of these has been help of a yeti and the store cleaner completed and we will be shooting who also happens to be a witch. the second in October which will Local writers Ollie Would and Jay be financed by a Crowdfunding Robertson have been working over campaign.” the last few months with producer If you would like to see a Jeff Sleeman to bring their offbeat programme trailer, find out and original ideas to life. more about the project or get Says Jeff: “We are all very involved, visit the website www. excited about this project and are thegraveyardshift.co.uk.

Room with a brew GOOD news for all the coffee freaks among you – a new coffee shop has opened in Plymouth and they’re using the same beans as The Curator in Totnes, whose coffee we know you rate as some of the best in the area. The Common Room is opposite the Bread and Roses community pub in Ebrington Street and run by Good Coffee Headquarters. “We’re grateful to our friend Matteo at The Curator who has given us access to these beans,” says Paul of Good Coffee HQ. “They are wood roasted by true artisans in Italy.” The Common Room is also home to a world class coffee machine (La Marzocco linea pb gravimetric, detail fans) and they’re creating blends in the shop itself. Paul and Jon are eager to reinforce the area’s growing community spirit (“Bread and Roses has already done a lot for the community here,” says Paul) and promise “a super-relaxed atmosphere, nice music, with events, talks and film screenings to come – we’re open to all possibilities.” Paul and Jon are University of Plymouth/Schumacher College graduates/post grads, with fingers in sustainable/organic pies in and around Dartington and Totnes. “Good Coffee Headquarters are presenting the Common Room as a place for the common interest, where anything is possible, where people can come together and celebrate the good things in life,” says Paul. Check out the Facebook page Good Coffee Headquarters.

Very local food fest features produce from 30-mile radius

OW local is local? Everything on sale at a new local food festival will have been grown, processed and made within 30 miles of Totnes - and all prepared food on sale will contain at least 75% local ingredients. The first Forking Local Food Festival, on Vire Island on Saturday, October 8, will celebrate “everything that’s great about the vibrant local food culture in Totnes”. Stalls will range from artisan cheese makers to free range egg producers, from vegetable growers to purveyors of fine ciders and wines. Lunch for the tickled tastebud will be provided by ethical, locally sourcing caterer The Kitchen Table. Not every stall will sell organic produce, but everything on sale will have high standards of animal welfare and land stewardship at the core of the business. Organisers Totnes10 hope the festival will encourage

more people to buy locally. Totnes10’s Myrtle Cooper said: “The more food bought directly from the producer, the more money goes straight into the pocket of the grower, and the more remains circulating locally – and that greatly benefits the local community, as well as reducing its energy use and carbon footprint. “It also means shoppers can talk to farmers and learn about what and how food is produced, raising awareness of the quality, diversity and affordability of good local food, stitching farmers back into the fabric of life rather than relegating them to a fraying hinterland, where fields are merely the scenic backdrop to a rural lifestyle.” The event will also include cookery demonstrations and challenges - how easy is it to cook a meal or bake a cake using only ingredients grown and processed locally? - plus plenty of games and activities for children. Visit www.totnes10.org.

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Part of the team from Landworks at Dartington - one of the exhibitors at the new Forking Local Food Festival.

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A screening at last year’s Two Short Nights film festival.

NEWS&views

Fine work (and cake) at Crux craft show

A Shorts fund pitch BUDDING local filmmakers are invited to take part in a live pitch for a package of support from Exeter Phoenix. Exeter Phoenix has launched the application process for the first of a series of films it will commission during 2017 – The South West Animation Film Commission. Anyone with an idea for a short animated film is invited to submit an application to the judges and shortlisted applicants will be invited to pitch their idea to a panel of industry experts in front of a live audience at Exeter’s Two Short Nights film festival on December 1 and 2. The winner will be awarded £750 as well as in kind support valued at over £1000 to help with the development of a five-minute animation. The deadline to apply is Friday October 28 – find out more at exeterphoenix.org. uk/commissions.

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CRAFT show is only as good as the work of its exhibitors – and you can trust Crux Craft Fair, now in its 21st year, to have some of the best around. There will be work from more than 30 makers, including ceramics and jewellery, textiles and prints, wooden toys and vessels, leatherwork and wirework, knitwear and basketry, handmade soaps and what the organisers call “other less easily categorised things”. The fair has also become famous for the quality of its café and Tara and Anna, of Two Good Cooks, are back with mouthwatering lunches, delicious cakes and snacks and wonderful coffee. Every year Crux supports a charity, and this year’s chosen organisation is Luck of Birth, a tiny operation started by Sam and Theo from Totnes. After visiting, and taking aid to refugees in Calais, they are now based in Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, where they are offering help to desperate people there, focusing on vulnerable women and children. Each stallholder at Crux gives a piece of their work for a raffle and the proceeds go to www.luckofbirth. org Crux will again be at Rattery Village Hall, which has hosted the show for many years and is easily reached from the A38. Crux is open Friday November 25 from 4-7pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 26 and 27, from 10am-5pm. Visit www.cruxcraftfair.co.uk.

Classical concerts THERE are two classical music events coming up soon organised by the Newton Abbot and District Society of Arts (NADSA).    Both will be held at the Courtenay Centre in Newton Abbot, starting at 7.30pm: Margaret Fingerhut (piano)  on Friday October 21; and Alessandro Ruisi (violin) and Dina Duisen (piano) on Friday November 18. Find out more and buy tickets at www.nadsa.co.uk.

Theosophy forum A FORUM promoting “the ageless wisdom of Theosophy” is held every Sunday at The Friends Meeting House in Tor Hill Road, Torquay. The group studies “the teaching of Theosophy, Science, religion and the esoteric”. Find out more at www. torbaytheosophy.co.uk.

Community call

APPLICATIONS for this year’s Community Ownership Awards are open. The Plunkett Foundation scheme celebrates inspiring community co-operatives in rural areas working to improve their communities. Find out more at www. plunkett.co.uk.

Editorial: 01803 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

news&views Schumacher - a place to learn but a home and community too

HEN in 1990 we were dreaming about establishing Schumacher College at Dartington in Devon, people said: “Your vision is too idealistic. Who is going to come to learn about ecology or spirituality or holistic philosophy and pay for it?” Many thought Schumacher College might last two or three years and then fold. So it is heartening and gratifying to see that after 25 years not only is the college still here, but it is blossoming and flourishing. The raison d’être behind Schumacher College was and still is very simple. Modern industrial society is promoted and held by the mainstream educational system. The universities are the backbone of this society. Many young people are conditioned to think in an economic and materialistic way. Many are taught that Nature is there for us to use and exploit: that we humans are the superior species and we can do to Nature what we like. When students who have been taught this way come out of universities, they often exploit Nature and exploit other people in order to make their own lives rich, comfortable and successful. Social injustice and ecological injustice merge. We needed to challenge and change that. We could do it in many ways.

AS Schumacher College celebrates its 25th anniversary, founding director SATISH KUMAR (right), reflects on how it began - and flourished We could speak about it, we could write books about it. But that’s not enough. We had to start something to show another way is possible. We don’t have to condition our young people’s minds to exploit people or exploit Nature. We have to teach that we are Nature. Schumacher College was established to do just that. It is not only an intellectual place to teach ecology, but also a place where students can experience an ecological lifestyle. The word ‘eco’ means ‘home’ – ‘planet home’ as well as your ‘personal home’. So not only is Schumacher College a place to teach ecology, but it is also a home in itself. That’s the design of Schumacher College. People who come here should feel at home. This is their home. They cook here, they garden here, they clean their rooms. The college is not an institution. If you go to university, you are taught and then you go back to your apartment or

dormitory and you live there. There is no connection between learning and living. In our vision, living and learning should be an integral part of each other. What you are learning should be integral to your living. This is the vision of a holistic education and an eco-logical college. Also, we at Schumacher College are members of a community: a human community as well as an Earth community. If we live in harmony with Nature, with people, with all of our surroundings, then we develop a sense of community. We learn to respect each other, help each other and support each other. So home and community are the practical models for this college. Schumacher College has accomplished more than I expected. In 25 years, thousands of students have come. We have 17,000 on our alumni list. They learn, transform, go out in the world and become agents

of change. A dream has really come true. Schumacher College should remain small. But more Schumacher Collegetype centres should emerge in other countries. They don’t have to be called Schumacher College. It’s not a franchise. We want people to take their own initiative, based in the culture and ethos of their own country and language, but incorporate the spirit of Schumacher College. How that spirit is manifested doesn’t matter. Whatever the name, as long as it’s holistic and people are learning to serve the community, serve the society and serve the Earth, it is Schumacher College. I want to see new centres of education starting around the world and forming an informal network. I often say to Schumacher students who go out into the world with confidence, don’t look for a job but create a livelihood. There’s a difference between having a job and having a livelihood. A job is something we do for money, whether we like it or not. Livelihood is where we find something we really want to do and we find fulfilment in doing it. Being paid for it is a by-product. Of course we need money, but we are not working for money. I want Schumacher College students to go out into the world and work for something greater: work with imagination, work in the service of the Earth, and work for the values and ideals they hold dear in their hearts. I want them to bring their profession and their vocation together.

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Don’t ditch it - get it repaired at a community repair event.

Community repairs

ON’T you just hate the way electrical items seem to be designed to give up the ghost immediately their warranty has expired? Don’t you hate having to throw them away and buy new ones? Want to do something about it? Recycle Devon are currently running a series of Repair It community repair events across the area in conjunction with local organisations. You simply take along any broken household electrical items, including computers, to be fixed by a team of volunteer menders, on the day – at no cost. The events will run on weekend mornings, 10am-12.30pm, and repairs will be carried out on a first come, first served basis, so be prepared for a wait. Menders include local businesses such as Any Fix South West, retired electrical engineers and skilled members of local community groups, such as Transition Newton Abbot and Tavistock. Please note that they won’t be able to fix CRT TVs or monitors,

electric blankets or microwaves, for safety reasons. Emma Croft, project co-ordinator of Re-use, which is organising the events says: “Research shows that more than 75% of the small electrical items that come into our recycling centres could be back up and running if they were repaired. These events are designed to help householders waste less and enable them to save money and resources by not having to replace something broken.” In October and November, events will take place in conjunction with local sustainable living groups, in Sidmouth, Crediton, Exeter, Barnstaple, Tavistock and Bideford. To find out more, or to volunteer your skills, visit www.recycledevon.org/ repair-it, email emma.croft@devon. gov.uk, or call 07966 566435.

Going underground for Christmas show

HE Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter has announced details of its Christmas show – and it’s set below the streets of a near-future version of Exeter. Award-winning Bristolbased theatre company and folk band Fine Chisel will present Beneath The Blizzard, bursting with footstomping live music. Your hosts for the night are a band of outcasts and misfits who have created a community in the cellars beneath the city, while an epic storm rages above ground. Each evening they gather together to sing and dance in the dark. But, as the audience will discover, all is not as it seems. This Join the cast of Beneath The Blizzard for the troupe of rebels have a Christmas show at The Bike Shed. dangerous quest ahead of them. bikeshedtheatre.co.uk and on The production is aimed at “children 01392 434169. over eight and brave adults” and If you’re involved in a Christmas performances run December 8 show or event, send us details January 7 at The Bike Shed Theatre, for our seasonal Going Out Exeter. Guide - email details to editor@ Find out more and book at www. reconnectonline.co.uk.

Costumes, music and fire to mark city anniversary LOOK out for an extraordinary show on Exeter’s Quay to mark the 450th anniversary of the city’s canal. With incredible costumes, evocative music and a large scale fire sculpture on the water, On Tenterhooks will celebrate the rich

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history of craft, creativity and commerce surrounding the River Exe with gripping theatricality.   You can see this “very unexpected” event on Exeter Quayside at 7pm on Friday November 4. Visit www.exeter.gov.uk/unexpected.

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Rosie Burns, who will be artist in residence at Harbour House Gallery in November.

NEWS&views All invited to tell their stories

Show YOUR yellow

INGSBRIDGE gallery Harbour House is challenging local artists to produce new work for an Open Art Exhibition: Yellow. In Asian culture, yellow is thought of as the colour of happiness, wisdom and harmony - but it can also be a difficult colour to use well, say the organisers. Artists can enter up to four pieces of work, which will be assessed by a small panel of invited artists – they must be handed in at Harbour House on the morning of Monday 10 October, for an exhibition which runs over the busy half-term holiday period from 22 October – 12 November 2016.

Look out for the usual wide range of high quality exhibitions over the next couple of weeks – including Make Space, which sees Rosie Burns as artist in residence with printmaking and painting projects. Find out more at Harbour House or visit www.harbourhouse.org.uk.

Could you be a Write to Freedom trustee?

RITE to Freedom is a Devonbased charity that supports people to change their lives through mentoring, self-empowerment, wilderness experiences and the power of personal stories – and they need your help. It works mainly with men and women in recovery from addiction, prisoners and their families, and with young offenders. Its aim is to connect with each person’s story, helping participants step into a new chapter of their lives. Write to Freedom does this by offering powerful self-development courses which mostly take place outdoors and by engaging participants through activities like archery, creative writing and fire-making.

They are currently looking for two or three new board members; people who share their values and are committed to helping marginalised and disenfranchised people have the chance to take a different path in life. As a trustee you will need to “set aside time, energy and space in your life to fulfil this crucial role within the charity”. Trustees must be able to commit to attending around four board meetings a year, plus approximately four additional hours a month. The Write to Freedom offices are based in Dartington, and board meetings are held in Totnes. Find out more at www.writetofreedom.org. uk or email nicky@writetofreedom.org.uk.

ROP the Story is a festival of autobiographical theatre at Dartington Hall from November 10-13. Produced by Solo Autobiographical Theatre in partnership with Access All Aerials (the radio station for Hannah’s at Seale Hayne), the festival will bring together disabled and able-bodied people to share their stories of overcoming challenge, along with other groups of people whose stories aren’t always heard. Festival director Mo Cohen said: “Drop the Story promises to be an inspirational and uplifting weekend of performances from individuals who have a story to share. We called it Drop the Story because it is all about how people have overcome their limiting stories to create a more empowering life for themselves.” Among the confirmed performers are Mo Cohen, Agata Krajewska, Jason Burns and Jenny Dainton. Drop the Story is issuing a call for contributions from anybody who might like to perform at the festival. “We are not looking for

Festival director Mo Cohen experienced performers. In fact, it’s great if people have not told their story before,” said Mo. “The festival theme is ‘How I overcame my limiting story or how I overcame challenge in my life’. “Providing you feel you have a story to tell and you are comfortable with the idea of performing it in front of a supportive audience, we would love to hear from you. We are particularly interested in hearing from people with physical disabilities, mental health challenges, and minority community groups.” Alongside the performances, the festival includes a oneday workshops on Contact Improvisation, led by Adam Benjamin. Visit www.dropthestory. co.uk or call Mo on 07838 196628.

Short Courses at Schumacher College A Taste Of Spirit… And Then What?

24/10/2016 to 28/10/2016 With Coleman Barks, Martin Shaw and Lisa Starr Join poet, best-selling author and translator of the work of Rumi, Coleman Barks as he joins Martin Shaw and Lisa Starr to explore, speculate and dream about the power of ancient and modern stories to find out where energy and beauty can be found for us all.

Entangled With The World – Radical Activism, Education and Emergence

31/10/2016 to 04/11/2016 With Bayo Akomolafe and Manish Jain Join activists and educators Bayo Akomolafe and Manish Jain as they consider how a new narrative of ‘partnering the world’, rather than being humancentric to it, can lead us to a radical reinvention of activism, education, and political systems.

Tender is the Night – Exploring Darkness

12/12/2016 to 16/12/2016 With Chris Salisbury and Jay Griffiths Come and explore the dark with us. During this week we will be stargazing, walking at night, searching for gifts and writing poems to the dark. Collectively we will search for understanding and connection with this underappreciated realm of our existence.

Transitioning To An Ecological Civilization: Dialogues East And West

13/02/2017 to 30/06/2017 With facilitation by Julie Richardson and Lanying Zhang, and guest scholars and practitioners including Wen Tiejun, Li Shouli, Zheng Bin, Sit Tsui, Liu Yingsheng, Rob Hopkins, Sophy Banks and Stephan Harding Join us for a 6 month learning journey to explore community responses east and west towards growing an ecological civilisation in response to the multiple systemic challenges of our times. A collaboration between Schumacher College and the Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Southwest University in China.

Did you know, we offer locals £150 discount if accommodation isn’t required? Call us when booking: 01803 865934

Book online: www.schumachercollege.org.uk/short-courses 8

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Goingout OURBIGGUIDETO BIG LOCAL EVENTS ARTS&CRAFTS EXETER CONTEMPORARY OPEN Until 05 Nov Exeter Phoenix’s annual, open submission exhibition with national and international reputation. Visit www. exeterphoenix.org.uk. OUTLIER DETECTION BY ROD DICKINSON Until 20 Oct In Rod Dickinson’s Outlier Detection, a 3D digital version of a decorative hand-painted 1830s police truncheon from RAMM’s collection is animated by a stream of live data from www. legislation.co.uk. Royal Albert Memorial Museum - RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter, 10.00am to 5.00pm. REVISITING TURNER’S TOURISM Until 04 Dec Contemporary British artist Kurt Jackson revisits 12 locations in Devon and Cornwall depicted in the work of JMW Turner. Royal Albert Memorial Museum - RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter, 10.00am to 5.00pm. SOUVENIRS FROM HOME Until 05 Nov Community groups and club supporters have crafted their own football club team souvenirs, using local materials, in workshops led by selected artists. Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, 10.00am to 5.30pm.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2016

How to get YOUR events into Going Out... WELCOME to Reconnect’s GoingOut pages... Trust us to bring together all the hot stuff from across the region, all now categorised for easy access. And check out our even more comprehensive online version at www.hubcast.co.uk/reconnect - or visit it via our busy website at www.reconnectonline.co.uk. To get YOUR event listed online (and be in with a chance of it being listed here in the mag too), simply register at ReconnectHub and enter the info free of charge. And to advertise here or online, email sales@ reconnectonline.co.uk or call 01803 868455. BEYOND THE VOID Until 09 Oct Maureen DouglasGreen, presents a new and varied body of photographs from her unique point of view. Late opening until 7.30pm on Monday 3 and Thursday 6 October. Harbour House, The Promenade, Kingsbridge, 10.00am to 5.00pm. INTERIOR VIEWS. 08 Oct to 05 Nov A selection of work from two different approaches to painting-still life and abstract. Artmill Gallery, 83 Hyde Park Road, Plymouth, 9.00am to 5.00pm. WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN 15 Oct to 03 Nov Diverse representations of fish as part of Dartmouth Galleries Festival. Baxters Gallery, 12 Foss Street, Dartmouth, 10.00am to 5.00pm. YELLOW 22 Oct to 10 Nov Local artists produce new works of art on theme of yellow. Open Yellow - the theme of an exhibition at Harbour House Gallery from October 22, left. Crux Craft Fair from November 25-27, right. And Simon Evans, far right - at Barrnfield Theatre in Exeter on November 11.

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NO FEATU W FREE RING ENTR ONLINE MOR IES AND E IN EXPO -MAG SURE

Monday - Saturday. Harbour House, The Promenade, Kingsbridge, 10.00am to 5.00pm. MAKE SPACE 17 Nov to 26 Nov Local artist Rosie Burns starts with an etching press and an easel, and aims to fill the vast walls of the Harbour House gallery with works in progress. Open Monday - Saturday., Harbour House, The Promenade, Kingsbridge, 10.00am to 5.00pm. CRUX CRAFT FAIR 25-27 Nov Top work from top makers - see page 5 for the full story. Rattery Village Hall. Visit www. cruxcraftfair.co.uk. PRESENT MAKER 29 Nov to 11 Dec Jewellery, glassworks, textiles, printmaking and painting in a delightfully eclectic exhibition just in time for Christmas. Harbour House, The Promenade, Kingsbridge, 10.00am to 5.00pm.

SNAKES & LANTERNS 23 Oct to 31 Oct Children can follow the Pumpkin Trail to win their own pumpkin to carve in the Potting Shed - the braver ones can have a close encounter with Dartmoor Reptiles. Powderham Castle, Kenton, Exeter, 11.00am to 4.30pm. ALF’S PUMPKIN FUN 24 Oct to 30 Oct Pumpkin-inspired colouring competition, carving, smoothies, etc. Cafe Alf Resco, Lower Street, Dartmouth, 7.00am to 2.00pm. MADDY AND THE INVISIBLE BAND OF GROOVERS 12 Nov Storytelling, puppetry and songs to celebrate diversity, difference and friendship. For 6-10 year-olds. Cygnet Theatre, Address, Exeter, 2.00pm to 4.00pm.

CLASSICAL MUSIC CHORAL CONCERT 15 Oct Faure:Requiem Vierne: Messe Solennelle

Faure:Cantique de Jean Racine, West Devon Choral, Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh, 7.30pm to 9.30pm. MARGARET FINGERHUT (PIANO) 21 Oct Includes works by Haydn, Schubert, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Glinka. NADSA Concerts, Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot, 7.30pm to 9.45pm. HANDEL’S MESSIAH 22 Oct Exeter Philharmonic Choir, Exeter Cathedral, Exeter, 7.30pm to 9.30pm. ALESSANDRO RUISI (VIOLIN) DINA DUISEN (PIANO) 18 Nov Two young multi-prizewinning musicians of enormous potential play Bach, Beethoven, Dvorak and Schumann. NADSA Concerts, Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot, 7.30pm to 9.45pm. BEETHOVEN PIANO CONCERTO WEEKEND 08 Oct to 09 Oct The Torbay Symphony Orchestra immersed

totally in the five Beethoven piano concerti with the McLachlan family. The Ariel Centre, Totnes, 7.30pm to 10.00pm. PLYMOUTH PHILHARMONIC CHOIR 27 Nov ‘The perfect rousing prelude to Christmas’. Visit www. plymouthphilchoir.org or www.wegottickets. com

COMEDY EXETER COMEDY GROVE 07 Oct The best in live standup with TV names, circuit regulars and undiscovered talent. Barnfield Theatre, Barnfield Road, Exeter, 8.00pm. ROMESH RANGANATHAN 08 Nov Star of stage, screen and pretty much everywhere you look, the supersharp Romesh hits town. Plymouth Pavilions, visit www. plymouthpavilions. com. EXETER COMEDY GROVE 04 Nov The best in live standup with TV names, circuit regulars and undiscovered talent. Barnfield Theatre, Barnfield Road, Exeter, 8.00pm. SIMON EVANS - IN THE MONEY 11 Nov Host of BBC Radio 4’s Goes to Market and BBC1’s Live at the Apollo. Barnfield Theatre, Barnfield Road, Exeter, 8.00pm. RUSSELL KANE - RIGHT MAN, WRONG AGE 19 Nov Brand new show from this multi-award winning comedian. Babbacombe Theatre, Babbacombe Downs, Torquay, 8.00pm to 10.00pm. Turn to page 10 for more GoingOut listings

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GOING OUT

Apple Day and Autumn Festival at Sharpham - October 9.

westdorsethub ECO EVENTS

Royal Albert Memorial Museum - RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter, 7.30pm to 11.00pm. FORKING LOCAL FOOD FESTIVAL 08 Oct Stalls of produce made within 30 miles of Totnes - and prepared food with at least 75% local ingredients. See page 4. Visit www. totnes10.org. BANCO DE GAIA 08 Oct Mercury Prizenominated world musicinfused dance and ambient/chill-out plus support from electro TO GETart-rockers EVENTS acoustic

OPEN ECO HOMES WEEKEND 14 Oct to 16 Oct Visit homes (and other projects) that have reduced their environmental impact, and renewable energy projects. See page 18. Transition Town Totnes, The Mansion, Totnes, 10am to 5.00pm. ECO HOMES FAIR 29 Oct Meet suppliers of eco-friendly goods and services, home energy installers and eco-builders, plus talks THE NEW WAY and demonstrations, INTO RECONNECT MAGAZINE children’s activities and Pop-Up Thai cafe. See page 18. Free entry. Your event 10am-3pm, Civic Hall, will also gain Totnes.

Get your events in RECONNECT mag

FESTIVALS & GIGS THE BLOCKHEADS 01 Oct The band behind Ian Dury’s poetic lyrics.

Grice. Exeter Phoenix, www.exeterphoenix. org.uk. APPLE DAY AND AUTUMN FESTIVAL 09 October Juice pressing plus games at the Apple Olympics, storytelling and folklore tales, music, walks and talks, campfire sessions, environmental arts and crafts for children and adults. See page 13. Visit www. sharphamtrust.org. MARTHA TILSTON 13 Oct Experience the pure magic of a Martha gig. Exeter Phoenix, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk. TWO MOORS FESTIVAL 22-29 Oct Classical music gigs at venues across Dartmoor and Exmoor. Visit www. thetwomoorsfestival. co.uk. DARTMOUTH FOOD FESTIVAL 21-23 Oct Food-related events across Dartmouth, including stalls, children’s events - see www. dartmouthfoodfestival. com. THE MEXICAN NIGHT OF THE DEAD BALL 29 Oct The Rambunctious

valuable and immediately exposure online Open Eco Homes Weekend - October 14-16.

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CRUX CRAFT FAIR FRI 25 NOV OPEN 4pm - 7pm SAT 26/SUN 27 NOV OPEN 10am - 5pm AT RATTERY VILLAGE HALL DEVON TQ10 9LD THE BEST WORK FROM LOCAL DESIGNER-MAKERS WWW.CRUXCRAFTFAIR.CO.UK SUPPORTING WWW.LUCKOFBIRTH.ORG

The new way to get YOUR event into Reconnect’s GoingOut pages TO ADVERTISE your event on our new diary website, Reconnecthub, simply visit www.hubcast.co.uk/reconnect and register - then you can enter your own events. AND some of them will appear in the next (December/January) issue of Reconnect magazine. AND they will be viewed through other EventHub websites (across the SW). AND it’s all FREE! (There are some online advertisements available too and it’s first come, first served - so call Martin now on 01803 868455)

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Afro Celt Sound System - at Exeter Phoenix on November 12. Social Club brings you the exuberant Dias de los Muertos, a Mexican day of the dead celebration. Exeter Phoenix, www.exeterphoenix. org.uk. ALL SOULS’ DAY CELEBRATION 02 November Remember the ancestors around the Ancestors’ Fire. See page 13. Visit www. sharphamtrust.org. CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN 07 Nov A chance to catch a seriously hot band fresh from a summer of festivals. Plymouth Pavilions, visit www. plymouthpavilions.com. AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM 12 Nov They got the Celtic, they got the African and they got a sound system. You’ll love it. Exeter Phoenix, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk. CARA DILLON 23 Nov Wonderful folk music from the wonderful Cara, winner of Radio 2’s 2010 award for best folk album.

Exeter Phoenix, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk. THE LEVELLERS 25 November Yes, those Levellers. The only Levellers. Go see them and shake up your life. Plymouth Pavillions, visit www. plymouthpavilions.com. EXETER RESPECT FESTIVAL SHOWCASE 4 Dec Exeter’s Respect Festival present first winter showcase of live music. Exeter Phoenix, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk. CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS CONFERENCE 03 Nov Artists working in different media share their experiences of exploring and responding to historic collections and creating new perspectives on cultural heritage. Royal Albert Memorial Museum - RAMM, Queen Street, Exeter, 10.30am to 4.00pm.

FAMILY EVENTS HALLOWEEN HOB GOBLIN TRAIL 25 Oct to 27 Oct Join the urgent quest

to save Occombe from naughty hob-goblins and their monsters. Occombe, Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, Occombe Farm, Paignton, 10.00am to 3.00pm.

OUTDOOR EVENTS RSPB - A MORNING TRIP TO SHIPLEY BRIDGE 01 Oct The path from Shipley Bridge up to the Avon Dam can be a good place to spot a variety of woodland and moorland birds perhaps including Ring Ouzels on migration. RSPB (South West Regional Office), Avon Dam, Exeter, 9.20am. DEER RUT SAFARI & CREAM TEA 04/11/18 Oct Take a leisurely ride on the tractor/trailer into the Deer Park to see the fascinating behaviour of the deer during the rutting season. Enjoy your cream tea anytime from 11am. Deer Rut Safari at 1:30 or 2:30pm. Booking essential - 01626 890243 (Monday

to Friday 9 - 5:30), Powderham Castle, Kenton, Exeter, 11.00am to 4.30pm. RSPB - SEA VIEWS, BUNTINGS AND BUZZARDS. 23 Oct Birds of prey such as peregrines and buzzards hunt along the coastal path. Visit www.rspb.org.

THEATRE LAYLA’S ROOM Oct 7-8 Award-winning Sabrina Mahfouz offers a hard-hitting yet hopeful story of how girls just wanna have fun(damental human rights). Barbican Theatre, Plymouth. Visit www.

barbicantheatre.co.uk. VERONICA’S ROOM 11 Oct A chilling mystery thriller by the author of horror classic Rosemary’s Baby and Deathtrap - contains adult themes that may shock. Cygnet Theatre, Address, Exeter, 7.30pm to 10.00pm. TREVITHICK! 14 Oct Biographical comedy telling the true story of a man who was as much an artist and magician as he was an engineer. Visit www.barbicantheatre. co.uk. THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ 15-16 Oct Le Navet Bete production returns

following sell-out runs during Christmas 2014 and Easter 2016. Visit www. barbicantheatre.co.uk. EURYDICE 27 Oct to 04 Nov Eurydice - Cygnet Company production of myth of Orpheus retold from the feminine perspective. Cygnet Theatre, Address, Exeter, 7.30pm to 10.30pm. MUCH FURTHER OUT THAN YOU THOUGHT 10 Nov Lance Corporal James Randall left tours of duty in Helmand six years ago, but Helmand is still far from leaving him. Cygnet Theatre, Address, Exeter, 7.30pm to 9.00pm.

Events at Embercombe Courses and events that connect and inspire... Experience Embercombe

What is Embercombe?

‘Pizza, Apple & Pumpkin’ Open Day

We believe that we will create the world of our longing once we have awakened to who we really are. Embercombe’s programmes seek to take you – young or old - on a journey of discovery and re-awakening.

Sunday 16th Oct 2016, 11am - 4pm

• Who are you? • What are your gifts, loves and sense of responsibility? • How can you truly feel a sense of community with others? • Can you sense the Wild One that you are, a sense of being Nature?

Family-friendly activities including traditional games and crafts, wild wood shelter building and tree swinging, fire making, porridge jousting and apple pressing. Tractor rides & tours. Delicious seasonal treats. www.embercombe.org/events-and-news/ autumn-open-day

Embercombe Experience Weekends

“Life changing empowerment. A life affirming, soul-strengthening exploration of what it means to be truly alive.” P.R. on ‘The Journey’

4th-6th Nov & 16th-18th Dec 2016 Come and learn about life at Embercombe - join us for a weekend of working on the land, cooking, eating and sharing with our community.

Email: info@embercombe.org Or call: 01647 252983

www.embercombe.org/volunteer-weekend

The Journey 20th-25th Nov 2016

www.embercombe.org  facebook.com/embercombe  @embercombe Embercombe - Nr Exeter - EX6 7QQ Charity Number: 1116793

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A 5 day leadership and personal development course uncovering your deepest love, your greatest gifts and your true responsibilities. www.embercombe.org/the-journey

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ORGANICGARDENING TIPS from JOA GROWER this time include how to blag a free greenhouse, where to catch sneaky slugs and what you should be planting right now

Want a greenhouse - just ask!

IGHT, so it’s time for the big Autumn clear-up and let’s hope the weather is going to be kind to us. It’s not the best of jobs to do in the rain! All bean sticks should now be pulled out, cleaned off and stored in a shed or garage this will help preserve them for a good few more years. Any plant pots, trays or buckets that got left behind in the garden should be collected up and stored somewhere out of the way, otherwise they will end up under hedges or half-way down the street after a few stormy days. If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, and have put up net shading, it’s now time to remove it to allow as much light in as possible. By the way, from my experience if you spot a greenhouse in someone’s garden, that obviously hasn’t been used for quite some years, it’s well worth knocking on their door. Many people are more than happy to give greenhouses away, if you’re prepared to take it down and remove them. Don’t forget a greenhouse is a perfect space to grow Winter salads, such as rocket, mustard leaves, mizuna and hardy lettuces. You should also move any tender plants that have been growing in containers inside to protect them

from early frosts – and make sure you check all pots for any sneaky slugs hiding underneath. Outside in the garden, now is your last chance to lift any maincrop potatoes still in the ground. Store these in hessian or paper sacks, ensuring you don’t keep any damaged ones. All Autumn leeks should be pulled and used before any hard frosts arrive as they are not as hardy as winter leeks. Squashes and pumpkins should be gathered and stored somewhere dry to be used throughout the winter. Carry on picking any spinach and chards that you may still have, and kale will also now be ready. Get planting Winter brassicas (cabbages) now, before October is out. Firm them in really well because they don’t like to be blown about in the wind. Taller varieties, such as broccoli, kales and brussels, may even need a cane to support them. Broad beans can also be sown now direct into the ground or started off in pots or seed trays. These will be ready to harvest in the late spring. The advantage of an Autumn sowing is that the beans will be ready slightly earlier and the tips of the plants are that bit tougher that Blackfly (which they are prone to) tend to leave them alone!

Making a fire at the Wild Church and, below, their communion.

Make a spiritual connection to nature

ILD Church is the brainchild of Dartington priest Reverend Sam Wernham. The idea is for people to experience a creative and contemplative way of connecting with nature as part of an interspiritual community and celebrating sacred time out of doors. Sam shared some of the highlights from Wild Church’s 20-month River Dart pilgrimage that began in Advent 2014 and has now concluded: “Imagine that it’s Sunday morning and you are drifting down the River Dart in an open canoe. Around you sit 12 companions, also silently immersed in the wonder of being in the natural world. Just a few hours ago, you were a group of strangers, but you have paddled hard together, paused to share silent communion around a fire on the beach and are now heading home, feeling blessed by this time of being peaceful with

The value of green manures

WE all have areas in the Autumn/Winter vegetable garden that have nothing growing in them. But rather than letting the weeds take over why not try sowing some green manures? These are crops grown for the sole purpose of adding fertility to the soil and sometimes also some bulky green waste to your compost bin. There are a number to choose from, including Vetches, Tares, Clover and my favourite, Rye Grass. Many seed companies sell these and a few other varieties but it can work out quite expensive. A cheaper solution is to buy a bag of organic rye grain from your local wholefood shop. Simply sow by sprinkling over the area and then raking in. In late Winter or early Spring cut the rye grass down and either dig all of it in to your beds or add the grass to your compost bin and dig in the roots and stumps into the soil. This must be done at least a month before sowing any vegetable seeds directly into soil. And finally, I’d just like to let visitors to our nursery know we are now closed for the Winter and will reopen mid-February. We should still be at Totnes Friday market until at least early October. Reconnect’s Organic Gardening column is written by Joa Grower of Growers Organics. Meet her at Totnes market on Fridays and Saturdays. Visit www.growersorganics.com, or call 01752 881180.

others and with the wild.” The River Dart pilgrimage brought together a diversity of people (and dogs) to interact with each other and with nature on a monthly basis for 20 months. In October, Wild Church launches its new monthly pilgrimage programme with the aid of a grant from Network of Wellbeing. Meetings with Remarkable Trees kicks off on Sunday October 9 with a fundraising Wild Harvest event at Dartington Church at 3pm. Sam said: “Everyone is welcome to join us for poetry, storytelling and cake from 3pm and at 8pm for an inspirational talk on spiritual ecology with Peter Owen Jones, of BBC TV’s Extreme Pilgrim.” The next event is with Wild & Curious on Sunday 30, which will introduce the Dartington chestnut trees. After that, Wild Church will meet on the second Sunday of the month from November onwards. “You can look forward to a sloe gin forage, yew mead communion, birch tapping, the magic of apples and bees and joining a horse herd under the oaks... among other things!” said Sam. Visit www.riverdart wildchurch.com or call 07979 057169.

THE PAULINE QUIRKE ACADEMY OF PERFORMING ARTS

IS ENROLLING NOW IN TORBAY! Outstanding performing arts tuition for 4 - 18 year olds.

BOOK YOUR FREE TASTER SESSION NOW! Starts 9.45am Ends 1pm Find us at South Devon College, Vantage Point, Long Road, Paignton, Devon, TQ4 7EJ Visit www.pqacademy.com or call FREEPHONE 0800 531 6282

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NEWS&views

The ceremonial building at Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground.

Apples at core of Sharpham’s Autumn events

HE onset of Autumn provides food for the body, mind and soul at Sharpham. The Sharpham Trust’s annual Apple Day and Autumn Festival takes place on Sunday October 9 (10.30am 4pm) and offers the chance to try fresh Sharpham apple juice straight from the press. If visitors bring their own apples to juice (just not windfalls from orchards grazed by animals in the last six weeks), they’ll be given half back in bottles while the other half will be kept to sell to help support the charitable work of the Trust. The apples will be juiced by an impressive oak-beamed press supplied by Orchard Link - a group of orchard campaigners and advisors from Devon’s local authorities, cidermakers and orchard owners set up in response to the wastage of apple crops from small traditional orchards and the needs of orchard owners for help and support. Other apple-themed activities for all the family will include games at the Apple Olympics, storytelling and folklore tales, music, walks and talks, campfire sessions, environmental arts and crafts for children and adults and the chance to explore the grounds of beautiful Sharpham House – thought to have been laid out by Capability Brown. Entry is free (£4 charge for parking – check out Bob The Bus shuttle from Totnes), with free activities, although donations are welcome. The ceremonial building at Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground will feature in the Open Eco Homes weekend staged by Transition Town Totnes on October 14, 15 and 16. Like the burial ground, the cob and stone building is open all year round. But during this weekend – celebrating eco-buildings in and around Totnes – information about its construction will be distributed at the site. Read more about the Eco Homes weekend on page 18 or visit www. transitiontowntotnes.org.

The burial ground will host an All Souls’ Day celebration to remember the ancestors on Wednesday November 2 (7-9pm), All Souls’ Day. A ceremony will be conducted around the Ancestors’ Fire, which is marked by a specially-cast 8ft wide bronze ring emblazoned with a line of poetry from T.S. Eliot: ‘In my end is my beginning’. The burial ground featured on BBC Countryfile earlier this year, putting Sharpham Meadow before an estimated 8.6million viewers. The event is free and all are welcome. Nature’s medicine chest will be explored by Sharpham’s resident forager Brigit-Anna McNeill on Saturday October 15. She’ll guide guests to plants with natural remedies during this walk on Sharpham’s stunning estate set beside the River Dart. Price is £45. And there is a Family Forage Day planned for Sunday October 23, to include exciting wild-food finding, plant identification and a fun cook-up round the camp-fire at the end, where everyone gets to eat their finds. The event costs £20 per person and up to two children per adult go free. Price includes lunch. Finally, Sharpham is running one-day Introduction to Mindfulness sessions on Saturdays October 8 and November 19, from 10am to 4pm in the South Wing of Sharpham House. These days, led by experienced mindfulness teachers, cost £68 and give you an excellent workshop where you can try for yourself the benefits of mindful meditation and awareness. There’s Sharpham outreach too – one-day courses at the Forge Yoga Centre in Totnes, on Sunday October 23, and in Torquay’s FlowPhysio on Saturday November 26. Find out more about all Sharpham events, courses and workshops at www. Apples ready for juicing at last year’s Sharpham Apple Day sharphamtrust. org. - this year it’s on October 9.

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MARKETING DESIGN

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LOCAL PRODUCE Primrose to host natural vitality festival

Primrose Matheson

LTHOUGH Reconnect is usually all about South Devon news and events, coverto-cover, it’s always good to hear from like-minded people outside of the area. Primrose Matheson produces a range of wholefoods and snacks from her Dorset base and after seeing Reconnect on a visit to Devon, she asked if she could be included. She’s currently very excited about her Naturopathic Vitality Festival, which she describes as “a day to nurture the body, mind and spirit” at Symmondsbury Estate, near Bridport, on October 23, 10am-4pm. Find out more about the wholefoods and her festival at www.primroseskitchen.com.

Learn to make delicious healthy food

F you really want to get stuck into learning about real, delicious food for a healthy life and get your hands dirty (or at least floury), look no further than the newly launched Functional Food School. Founded by Reconnect healthy food columnist, nutritionist and chef Jane Hutton (aka The Functional Foodie - right), the cookery classes will be all about how to make healthy food delicious and delicious food healthy! “As a lifelong cook and total foodie,” said Jane, “I decided the best way to prevent ill health and get people back into the markets and kitchen would be to teach them exactly how easy it is to eat your medicine every day.” Working from the base of the Culinary Arts Studio at Plymouth’s Creative Arts School, the first class on October 29 will be Healthify, an afternoon for parents and children to learn how to make healthy versions of favourite foods. Pizza and chicken nuggets? Cake and cookies? No problem! With a few little twists they can be positively nourishing. Monthly classes will teach those healthy food skills many are missing:

how to become vegan the right way for mental and physical health; how to eat well and lose weight; and how to nourish brain and mood with food. For more info on upcoming classes, go to www.trinityholistics.co.uk/ events/, The Functional Foodie on Facebook, or email any queries to jane@trinityholistics.co.uk. You can even give her a call on 07841 344934.

Supplements to help fight Winter bugs

• Wholefoods • Remedies • Natural Bodycare

Market Square Totnes

01803 866738 New Opening Hours: Monday-Friday 9am-6pm; Saturday 9am-5.30pm

www.greenlife.co.uk

F you’re looking for an immuneboosting supplement to help keep you free from Winter illness, Greenlife in Totnes offers a wide range of vitamin and herbal supplements to keep you going, with advice from a small but dedicated team of advisors. Greenlife is the largest health food shop in the South West and has been supplying customers in the area with wholefoods and herbal remedies for more than 25 years. Said Greenlife’s Jon Inder: “We stock a wide range of Fair Trade, organic, vegetarian and vegan foods, plus organic fruit and vegetables from local suppliers. Many of the other food lines and some supplements are also supplied by local small companies and artisan suppliers, and several local farms also supply organic dairy produce. “Greenlife is very much a part of the

local community, not just through its relationships with local producers but also thanks to a very popular community notice board which is used by local health practitioners and as a place to advertise local events.” The unique selection of quality herbal and nutritional supplements, eco goods and ethical natural bodycare products stocked in the shop are also available to order online at website www.greenlife.co.uk Greenlife is now open 9am-6pm Monday to Friday, and 9am5.30pm Saturday.

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LOCAL PRODUCE

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Mineral-rich food keeps brain healthy

EMENTIA is on the increase in the UK, with 800,000 people suffering with the condition and one in three people over the age of 65 likely to develop it, according to the Alzheimer’s Society. Mineral-rich food from the sea is a great way to keep the brain healthy and protect it from dementia, says Oliver Cowmeadow, macrobiotic practitioner and founder of the International Macrobiotic School (IMS) in Littlehempston, near Totnes. The brain, he explains, is like the heart in that it can suffer from clogging and needs a good flow of blood rich in oxygen and nutrients to stay in good health. Sea vegetables contain all 56 minerals and trace elements needed for health - in 20 times higher concentrations than found in land plants. “They are easy to use in soups and stews and can be bought dried in wholefood shops, and are generally

mild in flavour – only a small amount is needed as they expand by four or five times when cooked,” says Oliver. “Fish is also a good brain food, containing minerals and essential oils, but meat could be detrimental - there’s much evidence that high protein diets are actually harmful for the brain. “Avoiding sugar is also key because sugar destroys the fine blood capillaries, which in the brain can lead to vascular dementia. Grain sweeteners such as barley and rice malt syrup are a good occasional alternative to refined sugars.” For those who want to learn more, on November 17 the school is offering a one-day course on preventing dementia with daily diet and lifestyle. See www.macroschool.co.uk for more details, and to find out about other courses including Living Healthily with Diabetes, weekend cooking courses and the school’s popular life transforming five day intensive Looking After Your Health.

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The IMS guide to sea vegetables Agar agar – comes in flakes, for making savoury or fruit jellies. Arame - cook with a vegetable like carrots or onions. Dulse - use in soups. Hiziki - cook with a vegetable like carrots, and add roasted sesame seeds or sliced roasted almonds.

Kelp (kombu) - cook with beans and in stews to add flavour. Nori - use to wrap around rice in making sushi, and can be roasted and used as a snack. Sea Salad – use in soups, stir-fries and salads. Wakame - use in soups.

Call Andy on 07980 746622 - www.laydilay.co.uk www.reconnectonline.co.uk

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news&views Victoria enters stage left

ICTORIA Whelan (aka Joyaa), who Reconnect regulars will know through various festivals and events (including her own Seed festival) is the new principal of Torbay’s Pauline Quirke Academy (PQA), a weekend performing arts school. PQA offers tuition for 4-18 year-olds for three hours every Saturday morning. As well as tuition in comedy and drama and musical theatre, one of the big draws is the film and TV module, which offers the chance to explore screen acting and film-making. Students devise, script and storyboard their short films, before location scouting and rehearsals. Victoria said: “Our students are performing in PQA’s very own show The Lazy Ace at the Shaftsbury Theatre in July next year! We really do have a passionate and experienced team who can’t wait to inspire and enthuse the brilliant young people in this area.” To book a free taster session visit www.pqacademy.com.

Natural Wood

Pupils enjoy big outdoors

100% Local & Sustainable from Dartmoor

FUTURE shows at the Cygnet Theatre in Exeter include: the horror Veronica’s Room from Baroque Theatre on Monday October 11; Cygnet’s own production of Eurydice, a poetic retelling of the Greek myth Orpheus, October 27-29 and November 2-4; a former-soldier haunted by Helmand in Much Further Out Than You Thought on November 10; and Maddy And The Invisible Band of Groovers, designed for 6-10-year-olds, at 2pm on Saturday November 12. Full details at www. cygnettheatre.co.uk.

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Pupils at South Devon Steiner School connect with nature from an early age.

ITH ever-increasing numbers of children spending the majority of their time indoors, and statistics showing they spend an average of seven hours a day in front of a screen, Steiner Waldorf education could provide the answer. At South Devon Steiner School, children from birth to 16 years enjoy the seven-acre grounds, which include an extensive bio-dynamic market garden, woodland, pond and orchards. In the Kindergartens, children as young as three gather around an open fire to whittle willow and collect and press apples, snug in their waterproofs, wellies and hats. Lower School (6-14 years) students can be found climbing trees during breaktime, and working in the gardens to harvest fruit, prepare the beds for Winter, collect seeds for the next year and care for livestock (currently, a flock of Jacob Sheep, two piglets and some chickens!). Upper School students learn traditional hedge laying skills onsite, and have even begun to create a ‘dye garden’ full of plants suitable for making plant dyes as part of a Science project! The school’s Kaycee Fordham said: “Having this access to nature, and the opportunity to move regularly, is critical to the personal development of children. It allows them to form good habits early on, improves concentration when they are in the classroom and makes school a fun place to be, fostering a lifelong love of learning in the process. “In a world where many parents worry about the safety of children who are given ‘freedom of the countryside’, it’s even more important that schools provide children with this opportunity to connect and explore, to nourish the next generation and safeguard their health and wellbeing into adulthood.” Visit www.southdevonsteinerschool.org.

Cygnet shows

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RECORD crowds attended the 39th Dartmoor Folk Festival, which included concerts, dances, a Dartmoor Fayre, a ceilidh, folk service, craft displays, music hall, pub sessions, a ramble on Dartmoor and music, song and dance workshops. Jenny Read of Exeter was judged the winner of the adult step dance competition and the junior step dance titles went to Christabel White (15), from South Zeal.

School skills

THE proposed new Dart School would like to know what skills businesses and employers need in their own work places - and whether they feel the school’s approach will help to educate the workforce of the future. Find out more at www. thedartschool.org, on Facebook and Twitter (@thedartschool), or email thedartschool@ gmail.com.

Exeter pound

THE Exeter Pound is celebrating its first anniversary and 150 traders across the city accept the currency. A £E4.50 note was recently launched to mark 450 years since the opening of the Exeter Canal and plans include a new website and the trial of a digital Exeter Pound. Visit www.exeterpound. org.uk.

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Holly with her daughter, Juno. Picture: Jake Marshall

Naturally nourishing LOOKING for a diet to keep you fit and healthy? Forget the fads, says JANE HUTTON eat natural, whole and real food

Simply eat well to stay healthy

Holly’s got a song to share with your kids

OU might have caught the wonderful Holly Ebony and her hauntingly beautiful songs at venues across Reconnectland. Now she’s got something to get your whole family singing. Wild Birds Singing is a community song sharing and music play session for young children and their families. Says Holly: “The practice of community singing offers multiple benefits for both adults and children,

including stress reduction, improved breathing function and language development.” Check out Wild Birds Singing at Dartington Estate on Tuesdays, 10-11.30am. And contact Holly if you want to know more about her forthcoming album of nature-inspired children’s songs. Find out more (and hear Holly) at www.hollyebony.com, or email holly. ebony@live.co.uk.

Words of wisdom from a write pair

HESE days, everyone in business needs to be able to write – reports, emails, tweets, blogs, website copy, Facebook posts, LinkedIn updates, letters, proposals, tenders, brochures, flyers, editorial, ads, the list goes on and on. So, what do you do if the idea of communicating via the written word leaves you confused, uninspired, or worse still, wobblier than a jelly on a trampoline? In an earthquake? Well, we would suggest you attend The Café Copywriter’s Writing for Business workshop at Totnes Natural Health Centre - they’ve got two planned: one on Saturday, October 1 (call them now!) and one on Saturday January 21. The workshop is being taught by the utterly fabulous Kate Philbin (yes, the one who edits the Reconnect Wellbeing section) and the entirely splendid Katie Whitehouse. Between them they will cover everything that anyone who writes for business needs to know, including: l How to find your why, your who and your what; l What your readers really want to know and how to talk their language; l How to get your message across simply and clearly; l Do you pass the sofa test?; l How to perfect your elevator pitch; l Why some writing compels us and

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Katie W, left, and Kate P.

other writing leaves us cold (and how to do more of the former). Kate P (aka The Cafe Copywriter) has been a copywriter for nearly 30 years and writes for some of the largest organisations in the UK (and edits Wellbeing!), and Katie W is the founder director of www. fromthewhitehouse.com and is a social media expert and entrepreneur. Writing for Business: The Essentials is the first in a series of writing workshops from The Café Copywriter. Others will include: Tell your story; Writing for websites; Writing for the press; Social media and blogging; Creative report writing; and Writing bids. Writing for Business: The Essentials costs £110. It takes place on Saturday October 1 from 10am to 5pm at The Totnes Natural Health Centre. To book visit: http:// cafecopywriter.bigcartel.com/ product/writing-for-business-theessentials. For more information about Café Copywriting, call Kate P on 07970 107123. For social media call Katie W on 07832 200980.

HIS issue I’m getting real – about health as well as food. The Autumn is a time of harvest, plenty, and preparation for the Winter. This can mean preparing our health for harder times as well as pickling, preserving, and putting aside Summer’s produce to see us through until Spring. The dropping leaves are beautiful, but we know that dropping temperatures are on their way too, and there can be a feeling of trepidation as we wait for the first colds and bugs to strike. The rush to shed pounds for the beach shifts to fighting off flu. Our bodily obsessions have become as predictable as the seasons themselves. But does it really need to be that way? Not at all! If we look after our bodies and prioritise health, we will achieve (and keep) our happy weight, maintain a strong immune system, and generally tick along very nicely. So, how do we do that? We do it the old fashioned way. Real food is what it’s all about. A broad diet, from local sources, in season. Forget fads, ditch diets, and give up Google. Eat real food, in the right balance. Learn from a reliable source, and seek professional functional nutrition advice if you have a problem. If I’ve learned anything in 20 years,

it has been that there are an awful lot of companies out there making a vast amount of money from fuelling insecurities and playing on the desire for a definitive, quick solution. Magic bullet supplements, cleanses, detoxes, restrictive regimes, empty promises - it’s guaranteed to make my blood boil, and lighten people’s pockets without good results. So many issues, from shifting a few pounds to the bloating you have after eating bread, have easily solvable root causes that don’t mean you have to give up/cut out/ restrict/supplement anything. Serious conditions can have their roots not just in deficiencies caused by bad diets, but by over-supplementing single nutrients. The damage takes years to show. I often see people who have created a world of other problems over time by adhering to damaging regimes and unqualified advice. Do what makes you feel good, by all means, but don’t be led into thinking that being healthy means doing anything other than eating a natural, whole, real food diet. Yes, including meat, dairy and gluten, if that’s what you want. So, fuel up your health with this lovely ratatouille – chock full of amazing nutrients, a great recipe for harvest season, and brilliant to freeze for a cold winter’s day. Stay well, and enjoy!

A ratatouille for the harvest season INGREDIENTS: 6 tbsp rapeseed oil; 2 large aubergines, cut into 1 inch chunks; 4 small courgettes, sliced into 1 inch chunks; 1 red and 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks; 2 small red onions, thinly sliced; 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed; 1 tbsp red wine vinegar; 8 large, ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeded, roughly chopped; 1 small bunch of basil, roughly torn. METHOD: Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large casserole, browning the aubergines on all sides. Set aside on a plate,

use a little more of the oil and do the same to the courgettes, and then the peppers. Use the remaining oil and cook the onions gently for 10 minutes until soft and caramelised. Add the garlic and cook for a minute; then add the coriander seeds and vinegar. Combine and then add the tomatoes and half the basil. Tip the aubergines, courgettes and peppers back in, season and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the veg is soft and the tomatoes have melted into the base. Check seasoning, scatter with the rest of the basil and serve.

Naturally Nourishing is written by nutritionist and “confirmed foodie” Jane Hutton. Visit her new website, www. functional-foodie.com, and sign up for programmes, recipes and advice.

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ECO HOMES

Dan Knight of Down to Earth, right, and below left, splitting logs.

Woodland management is good for nature - and firewood

F anyone still needs convincing of the virtues of burning wood in their home (a few minutes in front of an open fire or woodburner is usually enough), did you know that woodland management is also great news for nature? A recent survey by the RSPB found more mating pairs of Wood Warblers in Holne Chase wood

than any other woodland on Dartmoor - thought to be due to the variable and open habitat created through woodland management. Dan Knight of Down to Earth started working at Holne Chase, near Ashburton, 18 years ago. The woodland is a Special Site of Scientific Interest and therefore overseen by English Nature. But before work began again in 1996, Holne Chase wood had been untouched for 60 years. “When a wood is not managed the trees keep growing, the branches shade out the plants that grow on the woodland floor and the animals that feed on these plants suffer. With traditional woodland management, the less healthy trees are felled leaving space for the healthier trees to grow further. This also lets in light to the forest floor and nature quickly takes advantage.” Last Winter, Dan thinned an area of trees where

he had never seen bluebells - this Spring there was a solid carpet of bluebells that had lain dormant for decades. Dan makes quality firewood by the traditional method of splitting the wood in long ‘cords’ and stacking them under shelter to air dry in the wood. The cords are then cut to the required size on demand. Down to Earth delivers within a 15 mile radius of Ashburton and makes quality shelters for the logs. Find out more at www.downtoearthlogs.co.uk.

Two weekends of eco inspiration

S the nights draw in and we spend more time indoors thinking about our homes and how we might change or improve things in the future, along come two great annual sources of inspiration and information. Each year in October, Totnes hosts an Open Eco Homes weekend, organised by Transition Town Totnes - this year will be the eighth. It is an opportunity to visit inspiring homes in and around Totnes, from the traditional to the unconventional, and at different stages on the journey to reducing energy bills and environmental impact. A fortnight later, the Eco Homes Fair brings together suppliers of eco-friendly goods and services, plus home energy installers, architects and eco-builders, all ready to answer your questions. This year the Totnes Neighbourhood Plan team will also be there, sharing its latest vision and policies. This year’s Open Eco-Homes weekend, free of charge as usual, runs October 14-16, and features 17 homes and projects, including a house made of cob, the Totnes Weir Hydro scheme, a newly built super-insulated home in central Totnes, a modern terraced home and the Bowden House and Landmatters Communities. The Eco-Homes Fair follows on Saturday

October 29, 10am-3pm, at Totnes Civic Hall and is also free to visitors. As well as a whole host of stalls there will also be a great Thai food pop-up cafe and activities for children so parents can browse and enjoy the free talks, which include the future of solar power and a strawbale building demonstration. The programme for the Open EcoHomes weekend will be available on the TTT website and for most of the featured homes and projects there is no need to book - just check the opening arrangements and turn up. The only exception will be the Bob the Bus tour to the newly completed self-build Community Land Trust homes at Broadhempston (see opposite page) on Sunday October 16. Seats will be limited and allocated on a first come first served basis. Details of how to book, and the full programme, will be available from the TTT office at the Mansion in Fore St, or download it from www. transitiontowntotnes.org or www.greenopenhomes.net.

Eco homes in and around Totnes, above and below, and the Totnes Weir Hydro scheme, left, will be open to the public in October.

l THERE will also be a chance to find out more about the ceremonial building at Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground - see page 13.

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using lime and a natural clay paint for the traditional ‘wobbly’ wall feel typically associated with strawbale houses. “There is no right or wrong way to finish the straw providing the moisture balance and fire rating is properly considered and, when we stand back in a technical support role and leave the aesthetic choices to the self-builders, it is interesting and refreshing to see the different approaches to straw, and its versatility as a low-cost and adaptable insulation system.” LED Architects also provided the warranties to the houses. “We have confidence in our own designs and now the houses have been built, we have confidence in the community ownership process, which we consider to be just as important as design. We are now focussed on future projects and how this model could help improve the volume housing market. It’s a very exciting time.” Visit www.LEDarchitects.co.uk, call Andrew on 01803 867377, or visit andrew.kirby@ledarchitects.co.uk.

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E’VE carried a few stories on the community self-build eco homes project at Broadhempston, so it felt only right to run one final catch-up now the builds are complete and the families are in their cosy new homes for the Winter. LED Architects, which designed the homes, have signed off the project, but as we go to press they have one more job to do – present a talk about the project at the Conference on Zero Carbon Buildings at Birmingham University. LED partner Andrew Kirby said: “The six low-cost houses meet exemplar sustainable design standards and are based on our adaptable, low-cost timberframe and strawbale design. “The project team, and most significantly, the Broadhempston Community Land Trust (CLT) selfbuilders, have worked very hard and overcome many challenges.” Andrew says he’s particularly proud and humbled to have worked alongside the group of committed families who endured the build process and achieved such high standards of construction and finishes. “I am particularly impressed by the variety, individuality and styles of the different homes,” he said. “We set out with a design that the self-builders could ‘make their own’, but to see it in reality is fantastic. Kitchen and floor finishes range from contemporary new installations to being completely reclaimed. Each house is different.” The variety of finishes used on the inside of the strawbale walls is a good example of this, said Andrew. “Three of the houses lined the straw internally using a dry wall system with conventional plasterboard and paint for a contemporary flat finish. And the other three houses were rendered

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MORE FOLLOWS...

Intriguing mix at Barbican Theatre

EVER the adventurer, Foster explores a couple of music festivals - one a 10-minute walk up the road and the other a short drive away. Rock, and indeed, roll...

Live music right up my street

OU might have noticed Reconnect doesn’t generally carry gig and festival reviews. Partly that’s down to our two-monthly publication dates, which would make some reviews a little stale. But in truth I really enjoy being completely offduty when I go to a gig or festival: if I know I have to write a review, there’s always a little part of my brain constructing the introductory paragraph or making mental notes about the encore. So it was that at the end of August I set off to enjoy a long weekend of music and merriment – none of it more than a few miles from where I live in Totnes (and most of it within walking distance) – with no intention of writing about any of it. But when I sat down to write this More Follows, it was the obvious subject. A whole weekend (or as much of it as I could fit in) that was fun and entertaining but also atmospheric and inspiring - I really couldn’t let it pass without a few words of comment. The weekend began on the Friday with the first day of the very first Sea Change festival, just a 15-minute stroll from my home. It all kicked off with an opening ceremony courtesy of Ru and Claire Callender of The Green Funeral Company, who are also the driving force behind Ways With Weirds, a sort of arty, wordy, spooky and altogether entertaining project, who reminded us that the central venue, the Civic Hall, has seen some big bands in the past, including Blondie and... yeah, well, maybe I should have made some notes. With the curtains pulled, the stage lights on and the amps cranked up, it certainly felt like a proper venue... (You can read Ru’s ruminations on page 31 of this issue, incidentally.) Festival highlights for me included: the psychedelic prog-flavoured melodies of Magic Bus (whose keyboard player Jay used to play for Oasis – and, more significantly, live nextdoor to me); breakingpoint-tight The Membranes (faves of John Peel back in the Seventies and still led by a mohicaned and mesmerising John Robb); and Matthew and Me, who aren’t entirely my cup of Rosie but they’re local and they’re slick and it was the first time I’d had chance to see them live. My other highlights were actually about music - talks by muso journos Sylvia Patterson and Jude Rogers (Smash Hits, NME,

The Word, The Guardian and Observer and others). As a hack of the same era and a music fan, I found it fascinating. As was a talk about Epping Forest (no, really, it was great) by the charismatic Luke Turner from The Quietus (check them out – www. thequietus.com). Being a local bash also meant I saw lots of friends there – which was also true of The Great Celebration at The Hillyfield, the wonderful woodland on the edge of Dartmoor that recently raised £35,000 of crowdfunded dosh to fight some of Dartmoor National Park’s nonsense planning decisions, and where we worked with Doug to set-up Hillyfield Hens. The Sunday afternoon/night event was to celebrate reaching their target and say thanks to everyone who helped them get there. The format was mini-festie, with music, storytellers, star-gazing, lush food and drink and more – including a generous dash of Hillyfield magic, which is an alchemical blend of Doug’s midas touch as an events organiser, the truly spiritual nature of the place and a crowd that carried love in their hearts. Ok, a bit gushy, but if you were there, you’d know. Storyteller Martin Shaw was as amazing as ever (I watched from the edge of the tent and I didn’t even notice until the story ended that darkness had fallen during its telling); and Martha Tilston was… ah, Martha. She writes beautiful songs and sings them beautifully but it’s the spell she creates with the audience that makes her so special and simply unique. And the highlight of Martha’s set was, ironically, when the lights went out. The dying of the generator three songs or so from the end of her set was the only hitch of the day, but in fact the darkness it created just added to the already intimate atmosphere. Martha and her equally charming partner and percussionist simply stepped forward and continued with no amplification, lit only by a string of fairylights across the back of the stage. The audience joined her on the choruses (something Martha always encourages) and at the end of one particularly poignant mix of Martha and audience participation she said simply: “That was beautiful. I have so much to say about this place and this event, but that just said it all…” Amen.

Mart

HERE’S an exciting mix of cutting edge theatre, dance and comedy lined up for the intimate auditorium of Plymouth’s Barbican Theatre over the next couple of months. October 7-8 sees October Theatre Centre’s production of Layla’s Room, in which award-winning Sabrina Mahfouz offers a hard-hitting yet hopeful story of how girls just wanna have fun(damental human rights). Kernow King return on October 14, this time with Trevithick!, a biographical comedy telling the true story of a man who was as much an artist and magician as he was an engineer. Le Navet Bete brings back its hilarious take on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from October 15-16, following sellout runs during Christmas 2014 and Easter 2016. On October 28, a tale you think you know unravels and explodes in Fagin’s Twist as Avant Garde Dance Company flips your expectations of

Fagin’s Twist - a classic tale with a hi-p hop twist - at the Barbican on October 28.

five familiar characters, with their contemporary hip hop style. On November 19, PaddleBoat Theatre Company presents According to Arthur, an inspirational and heartwarming tale. And the multi-award winning show May-We-Go-Round? on November 25 is a collision of fiercely energetic dance and comedic theatre. Finally there’s the all-important family Christmas Show - Le Nevet Bete and Barbican Theatre are working together on their fifth Christmas coproduction with a fun, energetic take on The Jungle Book from December 13 – January 15. Visit www.barbicantheatre.co.uk.

How to sing your way to wellbeing YES, it’s the silver-haired and golden-tonsiled PETE SCOTT, back with more musical notes...

HAT makes community choirs so special? When you delve into the research about singing in choirs (and there is no shortage of it) one word comes up again and again – wellbeing! Think about it. All that oxygen, all those endorphins and oxytocin – happiness chemicals released into the bloodstream during singing. It makes you feel fantastic! It’s about people loving to sing and together making a beautiful sound, having a wonderful time doing it and coming away feeling uplifted. What’s not to like?’ Autumn term is the time when lots of new people turn up to our choirs - SING Exeter and SING Plymouth to try it out for themselves You can see a short video about the choirs on the SING website www.

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singdevon.com. All other details are there too. We are always open to potential new members. You can come along just to try it out and your first session is FREE. You will be made very welcome. SING Exeter meets every Tuesday 7.15-9pm at St Sidwell’s Community Centre, Exeter EX4 6NN. SING Plymouth meets every Thursday 7.15-9pm at Pomphlett Methodist Centre, Plymouth PL9 7BL. Come along! I bet your endorphins are raring to go!

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Incredible Edible - growing food in public spaces.

NEWS&views

Empowering families across Devon & Cornwall since 1999

Growing food and community

RANSITION Town Totnes has been growing free food in public spaces, for all to share, since 2007. “Increasing a fund of local food remains part of our motivating impulse,” says Incredible Edible’s Wendy Stayte, “but building a resilient community around the shared tasks of cultivation of trees, shrubs and edible plants, is an important part of why we have continued to do this. Cultivating an ethos of sharing and gratitude and care for the earth is also central to our vision.” There are now burgeoning nut groves, orchards, a young forest garden, a tree nursery and small patches of edible fruit bushes, edible flowers, herbs and vegetables throughout the town. “Through 2016 and into 2017, Incredible Edible has been working with Orchard Link, an association of orchards formed to promote the

restoration and extension of orchards in South Devon. Says Wendy: “Our current collaboration is a project called Growing Orchard Communities, to encourage people to enjoy and care for and harvest from these orchards.” On October 7 and 8, an event will celebrate this year’s apple harvest. All are welcome to join in. The apple pressing will be on October 8 as part of the Transition Town Totnes Forking Local Food Festival – see page 4. If you have apples you want to press for juice, take them along on the day. To attend any of the special events, just turn up - no booking needed. Children very welcome. To find out more, email or call Wendy (wendystt997@gmail.com or 01803 868305) or visit www. transitiontowntotnes.org/groups/foodgroup/incredible-edible.

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Learning handson or head-first? WORDS on wisdom from ALAN SWINDELL, principal of Steiner Academy Exeter

HINK back to when you learned to ride a bike or drive a car. Do you remember the laws of balance and mechanics being explained to you, or the way in which you engage the clutch in order to change gear? Almost certainly not. You just had to do it. Like me, you may find the Nike logo `Just Do It` annoying and simplistic, but it does make an interesting point. Having learned to ride a bike or to change gear you never forget. To use the educational jargon, it is embedded learning, or part of your muscle memory. In Steiner education an emphasis on activity preceding all learning is based on the experience and observation that active students learn deeply, with enthusiasm, and for keeps. This is not just about sports, games, gardening, cookery, singing, painting - it is about activity preceding and under-pinning the approach to academic learning. Academic capability is enhanced by physical activity. When you learn the times tables by skipping, clapping and stamping you are applying the same principles that got you riding a bike. When you learn about the lime cycle in chemistry by building a lime kiln, firing it up and turning marble into cement, you are using the same techniques that taught you to change gear without a second thought. At the start of our fourth year as a school there are now close on 320 students between the ages 4 and 15 active with their learning in a variety of ways. The teenagers in years 9 and 10 (who begin every morning with an hour of physical or artistic activity) are skitting scenes from `Two Gentlemen of Verona` or jumping triangles via trampolines and crash mats in the context of geometry. Year eight are cloudspotting as they embark on a three week study of meteorology. Year seven’s Roman history will see them actually building a Roman Road (well, a garden path…). And so on through the school all the way down to the youngest whose play and constant collaborative problem solving is a wonder to behold. So, hands-on or head-first? It has to be both. Head- first into handson experience. It really does support academic excellence and it really does mean learning for life in the fullest possible sense.

A step in the right direction

OU’VE been out with a group and broken in your walking boots. You’re feeling fitter and ready for an adventure. So what next? Assuming you’ve got the right gear – and can read a map – you’re ready to stride off into the hills. But why not get some practice in on the footpaths and lanes around where you live? There may even be a green lane or two to explore. Local historian and environmentalist Valerie Belsey has spent several decades researching and documenting these ancient byways and has published several books on the topic. She’s even coined a new word - GRUTH - to denote ‘green routes used throughout history’ and says “they’re a way of getting in touch with nature, with history, with what it means to move through a landscape, and ultimately with what it means to travel at all.” Valerie is especially interested in finding out the stories associated with the lanes, which often provided links between ancient settlements and routes to work and were used as drovers’ roads, or even secret passages for smugglers. For all their romance, the lanes can be a challenge for the walker – but that’s all the more reason to walk them. Valerie acknowledges that many are in poor repair and says though support groups exist (and individual parishes have partial responsibility for their rights of way), it is important that people continue to walk the green lanes to preserve this part of our rural heritage. So the going’s not always easy (“You can’t wear trainers!” says Valerie) , but while waterproof boots are a must, warm clothes may not be: many of the lanes are sunken or overhung and therefore quite warm. If you’re looking for a more ambitious personal challenge, you could try something like the 630-mile long South West coast path, which most people complete in stages over time. This National Trail, which passes through Reconnectland from Exmouth to Plymouth,

IN our last issue, JON STEIN laced up his walking boots and met some local walking groups. This time he’s going back to his routes and exploring green lanes and coastal paths.

Take it a step further has a long and dramatic history. Much of it follows the route used by coastguards and excise officers on the watch for smugglers; some parts are associated with religious and spiritual sites; others with defence posts ranging from ancient forts to Second World War pillboxes. In October, walkers are invited to raise funds to help protect the route by contributing to path improvements and repairs. Patron of the SW Coast Path Challenge Monty Halls says: “This is one of the most magical trails in Europe and a great way to get into nature.” Those after a more modest challenge might want to explore the John Musgrove Heritage Trail, a 35-mile walking trail taking in parts of Torbay, the South Hams and Teignbridge. This easy-to-follow trail explores over 40 of the region’s finest heritage features and is suitable for walkers of all abilities (and is accessible by public transport). Whatever you choose, South Devon offers a lot to explore by foot. Check the info right for advice, dress appropriately and get walking!

LOCAL Tourist Information Centres, libraries and bookshops usually stock maps and guide books and Devon County Council have a useful interactive webpage showing all the public rights of way in the county - www.devon.gov.uk/public_rights_ of_way. Valerie’s books on exploring green lanes include volumes on the South Hams and South and South-East Devon. But like the lanes themselves, they’re not always easy to find so yo may need to track them down!

Using the metaphysical and the practical to make your id

Karen Evans

OST of us are bursting with good ideas for business or creative projects. But the ability to bring those ideas to life and making them work can sometimes be a little more elusive. A new series of workshops is designed to help you create what you want in your life and to do so by combining metaphysical and practical techniques. The course, Practical Alchemy, will be run by Wendy Erlick, an intuitive coach

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and angel channeller (and author of Gift of an Angel), and Karen Evans, who has worked in bookkeeping and admin since leaving school and is also a qualified Creative Kinesiology practitioner. “Whether you have a specific project or a personal dream, the aim of the course is to help bring it to life,” says Karen. “We will be using Rhoda Byrne’s workbook The Magic (part of The Secret) and balancing this work with practical

techniques to help and dreams.” The first series of t 2-5pm over four c starting October 2 Blackawton and th the four weeks, pl workbook. Week possible by arrang Email Karen at ka co.uk or call her o

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

, ou

One of Jenny Quick’s paintings - at The Tangerine Tree cafe from October 3-31.

Roam with a view - beach huts in Corbyn Bay by Rosie Spooner, far left; Bowerman’s Nose on Dartmoor by Phil Hemsley, left; and, below, also by Phil, Summer morning foxgloves on Blakemore Hill.

The Ramblers Association website has a section which includes advice on map reading and route planning as well as buying walking gear, and general safety. There is also a ‘Basics of right of way law’. Visit www. ramblers.org/advice Info for the SW Coast Path and the October challenge can be found at www.southwestcoastpath.org. For the John Musgrove Heritage Trail visit the website of the Long Distance Walkers Association www.ldwa.org And don’t forget The Country Code and Rights of Way. It doesn’t take much to show respect for the environment and other walkers. Much of it is basic common sense – for example, leave no trace of your visit and take your litter home; be especially careful with naked flames and cigarettes, etc. The law around rights of way is complex and not all footpaths are rights of way, so you should check carefully before tramping across someone’s field! l Jon Stein is a writer and musician living in Totnes. See and hear more of his work at www.jonstein.co.uk.

deas happen

p ground your projects

this course will run consecutive Fridays, 21. The venue is in he cost is £135 for lus £9.99 for the kly payments are gement. arenevansck@hotmail. on 01803 863930.

Wendy Erlick

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

NEWS&views

Sharpham Events & Retreats

OCTOBER Sat 8 Sun 9

The art of travel ARTIST Jenny Quick has gone up in the world. Customers of the Tangerine Tree café in Totnes may remember her iconic Beethoven By Bike cartoons on the walls of the toilets a couple of years ago. This October, she is exhibiting in the café again, but this time in the upstairs front room. She said: “In 2007, to mark my 50th birthday and to celebrate the gift of music in my life, I performed Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas. Four years later I started out on my bicycle to travel through Europe for a year. This collection of paintings is inspired by those sonatas and my journey.” Jenny has worked with Annemarie Stibbe, anthroposophical art therapist and teacher for the last 20 years. Jenny added: “It is thanks to her that I have been able to express myself in colour and form.” Beethoven by Bike is a collection of oil paintings, including some which express Jenny’s joy at dawn landscapes and the beauty of the changing seasons. See it at the Tangerine Tree cafe from October 3-31.

How to tell tales FOR Elly Stuart, right, the inspiration to train and work as a storyteller came from a chance meeting while working at The Unicorn Theatre for Children in London. “At a storytelling festival I talked to a teacher who said one of her pupils was a Bosnian girl – an elective mute who hadn’t spoken since she arrived. Half way through the storytelling workshop she spoke for the first time. “I kept remembering that conversation and left my job in 2003 to attend The School of Storytelling.” Now Elly is training people to become storytellers – to increase confidence when speaking; to pass on classic tales; and to have fun! The course runs 10.30am1pm over six Saturdays in Totnes. It costs £175/150. Text Elly on 07518 908179 or call 01803 847986.

Tues 11 Sat 15 Mon 17 Sun 23 Sun 23 Thu 27 Thu 27 Mon 31

Introduction to Mindfulness: 1-day course, 10am - 4pm Sharpham Apple Day: Our Autumn Open Day when we press apples grown in our orchards - and the ones you bring too - to make delicious juice that you can take home. Fun activities, lunches and a chance to explore Sharpham Mindfulness & Yoga retreat - 3 nights, see website for details Forage & Wild Medicine Day: 10.30am - 4pm Mindfulness for Beginners retreat - 3 nights Introduction to Mindfulness: 1-day course (Totnes), 10am - 4pm Family Forage Day - a chance for you and the children to find out about wild food-gathering, ending with a delicious cook-up of the day’s finds around the fire, 10.30am - 2.30pm (under 12s go free, max 2 kids per adult) Sustaining Ourselves burn-out retreat - 4 nights Mindfulness practice drop-in session, 7pm - 8.45pm Mindfulness through Singing retreat - 4 nights

£68 FREE (£4 parking)

£295+ £45 £295+ £68 £20 £345+ £7 £345+

NOVEMBER All Souls’ Day ceremony (Sharpham Meadow Natural Burial Ground) All welcome arond the Ancestors’ Fire to remember the dead, 7pm - 9pm FREE Sat 19 Introduction to Mindfulness: 1 day course, 10am - 4pm £68 Sat 19 Moments to Savour: conscious cooking & mindful eating retreat - 4 nights, see website for details £345+ Thurs 24 Mindfulness practice drop-in session, 7pm - 8.45pm £7 Sat 26 Introduction to Mindfulness: 1-day course (Torquay), 10am - 4pm £68 Sun 27 Mindfulness for Beginners retreat - 3 nights £295+ Mon 31 Mindfulness through Singing retreat - 4 nights see website for details Wed 2

01803 732542 • bookings@sharphamtrust.org www.sharphamtrust.org SharphamTrust The Sharpham Trust, Ashprington, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 7UT Retreats also take place from every Sunday at The Barn Retreat Centre, on Sharpham Estate

BarnRetreats

Volunteer with us weekly. Email volunteer@sharphamtrust.org for details

PAYROLL AND PENSION SERVICES • Hourly Pay, Day Works and Salaries • Expenses and Benefits • Holiday Pay • Sickness Absence • Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave • Childcare Vouchers • Healthcare Deductions • Automatic Enrolment for Pensions

Emma Charlotte 07933 595147 Basepoint Business Centre, Exeter EX2 8LB payroll@a-count.org.uk

Caring about People, Animals and the Planet

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wellbeing email: wellbeing@reconnectonline.co.uk

THE natural health and personal development PAGES Inside wellbeing...

Marcus Ashley, riding for the first time in 40 years and, below, dry stone walling.

Finding Active Hope

Ayurvedic yoga massage Inner and outer change Find and enjoy the real you Balanced view of peace

25 26 28 33

Life-changing therapy on the farm

Reconnect’s a neigh day

New home for Torquay herbalist 32 My weekend at Embercombe 34 College opens new premises 37 Tuning into your wellbeing 41

01392 422555 e: info@enhc.org w: www.enhc.org

And there’s lots more to read inside

HE Veterans Farm Able Project works with veterans who have suffered physical and mental injuries to help them to heal and rebuild their lives. Veterans and their families take part in therapeutic rural activities such as animal husbandry, dairy farming, riding, dry stone walling, restoring farm buildings and repairing traditional hedges. The project also runs retreat weekends. Marcus Ashley is an ex-RAF serviceman who was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He has been involved with the project both as a participant and as newly-appointed project co-ordinator. He said: “For me, getting involved with this project has been life-changing. It has been amazing to be able to help others and myself at the same time. One of the things I did was to ride for

the first time in more than 40 years. You only have to look at my smile to see the effect this experience had on me.” The Veterans Farm Able Project was started three years ago by Penny Connorton, a former Disability Officer for The Royal British Legion who has an Advanced Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. To date, the programme has held more than 100 experience days and supported around 50 ex-service men and women and their families. Marcus added: “We receive fantastic support from farmers in the local area and Dartington Hall estate. “Involving the families is so important as it is often them who have to pick up the pieces when things are not so good. Visit www.farmable.co.uk or call 07866 830693.

Kate Philbin

The home of natural wellbeing WELLBEING is the home of natural health and personal development in South Devon - the perfect place to find your perfect therapy, retreat or workshop. And if you work in natural health, it’s the perfect place to get your message out there. A 1/8-page advertisement, like those right, can be yours for just £41.85 a month. A 1/4-page is only £66.60 a month. And you can tell the story behind what you offer in our free editorial - with help from our Wellbeing editor, Kate Philbin. Our designers will even put the artwork together for you at very affordable prices. The Wellbeing deadline for the next (Dec/Jan) issue is November 1 so get in touch today and let’s get the ball rolling. Call Martin on 01804 868455 or email editor@ reconnectonline. co.uk

FAMILY HOMEOPATH PRACTISING IN EXETER FOR 25 YEARS “The beauty of homeopathy lies in its simplicity, the power of homeopathy lies in its depth.” Mo Morrish at Exeter Natural Health Centre 01392 214074 • mo@thehomoeopathicpractice.co.uk

Visit www.thehomoeopathicpractice.co.uk

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Ayurvedic Yoga Massage, left and below. Saghar Amozgar, bottom, offers basic and advanced courses.

WELLBEING

Do you find it hard to trust yourself To know what is really right for you, and to act on what you truly believe? Can you make good decisions with confidence? Or do you get easily overwhelmed? I can help you find and trust your own inner sense of forward life direction… and open up your life possibilities. Introduction to Focusing weekend 1 and 2 October in Liverton Working with Troubling Anxiety Sunday mornings 9, 16, 23 and 30 October in Exeter Or have some one-to-one Focusing sessions.

C FA

I L I TAT E D

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the nervous system, improving eyesight, nourishing bodily tissues, increasing longevity, normalising sleep and deepening and strengthening inner-energy or prana. The Ayurvedic Yoga Massage Association provides treatments, workshops and training courses both for experienced massage therapists and those with no previous experience. Saghar said: “We offer basic training courses for people who are interested to learn about body work and develop the confidence to give massage to their family or friends. Our more advanced courses are for bodyworkers, massage therapists, practitioners in mental health services, people who work in Social Services, and Yoga teachers, who are interested to develop insights, techniques and confidence to start applying this massage practice in their day-to-day work.” The next course takes place from October 13-16 at The Natural Health Centre in Exeter. Visit www.ayurvedicyogamassage. org.uk or call Saghar on 07974 470610.

HE first time Saghar Amozgar received an Ayurvedic yoga massage was in 1999 in India when she was a PhD student in the psychology department of Pune University. The massage was given by Swami Varidi, who was a student of Master Kusum Modak, and its effect on Saghar was profound. “I was there in India doing a cross-cultural study into sources of stress and people’s different coping strategies, and I found myself experiencing an amazing technique to support people to cope with stress!” said Saghar. She went on to study more about Ayurveda, including yoga and breath work, and trained as an Ayurvedic yoga massage therapist. In 2004, she founded the Ayurvedic Yoga Massage Association. She explained: “We believe that prevention is better than cure and our aim is for this ancient technique for promoting positive health to flourish in the West and bring wellbeing to as many people as possible.” The benefits of this form of massage include improving digestion, overcoming fatigue, strengthening

Contact Fiona on 07799 027332 fiona@fionaparr-focusing.co.uk www.fionaparr-focusing.co.uk

QUINE · E

Inspired by first yoga massage in India

Virginia Compton Holistic Yoga and Ayurveda Therapist Yoga Classes • Workshops Retreats • Courses Private Yoga and Yoga Therapy Ayurvedic Massage Therapies Wellness and lifestyle assessment Torquay • Totnes • Teignbridge

07875217970 www.holisticyogasangha.com

www.focusyourself.co.uk

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Virginia Compton - she wants you to fall in love with yoga.

WELLBEING

Helping us find holistic peace of mind

Real food, Real life,

Real health Classes Targeted advice Books Eating plans Free resources Online courses Healthy recipe blog 1-2-1, online, phone/Skype ME, gut disorders, mental health nutrition, cancer recovery & weight management.

email: enquiries@trinityholistics.co.uk more info: www.trinityholistics.co.uk

Jane Hutton The Functional Foodie

T: 07841 344934

OGA has psychological as well as physical benefits, according to Virginia Compton, Holistic Yoga and Ayurveda therapist. “I want you to fall in love with Yoga as a practice, a philosophy, a lifestyle,” says Virginia who incorporates Yoga teachings and Ayurveda into her teaching and uses a mix of physical Yoga (hatha) practice, breathing (pranayama) and meditation. Classes run weekly at South Devon Pilates Studio in Torquay and the Forge Yoga Centre and Arcturus in Totnes. She also offers private Yoga Therapy sessions and home visits on request. Wellness consultations, Ayurvedic therapies and private Yoga are available at The Nautilus Rooms in Totnes and Virginia’s dedicated space in Torquay. Virginia is a registered general nurse and trained with the Devon School of Yoga and the Yoga Nidra Network. She has studied extensively with

Debbie Mills, Srivatsa Ramaswami and Steve Brandon of Harmony Yoga. She offers consultations and Ayurvedic Therapeutic massage as well as running retreats, workshops and courses. She said: “My passion is to share the ancient philosophies and benefits of Yoga and Ayurveda to help others to find peace of mind and wellbeing in a holistic way. Yoga and massage therapies are tailored according to individuals’ health and wellbeing needs as well as to the season and time of day, taking into account any health issues and aiming to address any imbalance in the constitution.” Virginia is running a Yoga day at Arcturus in Totnes on Saturday October 8, with taster Ayurvedic therapies, discussion on Yoga and Ayurveda and a free wellness consultation. Visit www.holisticyogasangha.com or www.focusyourself.co.uk.

Focusing on inner and outer change

Try something different, with Iron Mill College…

Entry level courses available in Exeter Starting Autumn 2016 - apply now:  Certificate in Counselling: This popular, part-time course includes 90 hours of training. It could be your first step to a rewarding new career. Starts 8th October.  TA Psychotherapy Foundation Course: Our 1 year, parttime transactional analysis course can be taken for personal and professional development, or lead to a further 3 years’ training on our Advanced Course. Starts 12th November. Learn about all our courses at our November Taster Day or Open Evening

For further information or to apply: 01392 219200 / enquiries@ironmill.co.uk

www.ironmill.co.uk 26

body responds to being OCUSING. Yes, it’s received in this way.” something you do with your eyes but Step three is tuning in and did you know it is also a asking the body how it therapeutic process that wants you to be after the can bring about profound session has finished. “This and lasting change? is important as there may be some real-life changes Fiona Parr teaches it wants you to make, Focusing in one-to-one and this is the moment of sessions or in a course transition at the end of the with a small group. session when your body The process works in two Fiona Parr gives you this information.” ways, says Fiona. One Step four comes after the Focusing is consciously making changes in session. Fiona advises people to check response to new awareness gained in with their inner self from time to during a Focusing session. The other time. “The change process has started is subtler as it relates to physiological and may continue after the session. changes in the body that occur during You can ask yourself, how am I now? the session. This helps to maintain a friendly inner Fiona explained: “Focusing makes relationship with yourself, and if change possible in profound and there is new information coming, you sometimes unexpected ways. Not are there to receive it. The changes only does it enable you to make good achieved through Focusing can be decisions with confidence, it builds profound and are always positive and your confidence in yourself over a life-enhancing.” period of time. You may change so Fiona offers Focusing in Exeter and much that you forget what the problem Liverton and is running an Introductory was when you started!” Weekend course (Level 1 – The A Focusing session follows a four-step Essence of Focusing) October 1 and process. Step one is listening carefully 2, from 10am-5pm. Or, if you are to what your inner self is telling you. struggling with anxiety, you can join Step two is about acknowledging a small group on Sunday mornings in what your body is telling you. “It has Exeter, on October 9, 16, 23 and 30. something important to say” said Visit www.fionaparr-focusing.co.uk, or Fiona “and so you receive it and call 07799 027332. acknowledge it. And notice how your

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Escaping to Dartmoor - is that relaxed place really part of your own true nature?

EMOTIONAL HEALTH WELCOME back to our exploration of all things emotional. This time LEIGH SMITH looks at what it means to be authentic, the emotional impact when we are not, and the value of being true to yourself.

Will the real me please stand up?

IGHT from the get-go we are bombarded with other people’s ideas and thoughts about who we should be, how we should behave, and what we should think, feel, say. We have our minds filled up with the beliefs, values and attitudes of our carers, parents, teachers and peers. And these beliefs and ideas can be so strong - fed to us as though they are absolute truths, not to be questioned. Dutifully we swallow these introjected beliefs down into ourselves and absorb them as though they are our own. Some of these ‘introjects’ from our childhood serve us well: ‘It’s important to be kind’ and ‘Treat people with respect’ and so on. However, others may become a burden and hold us back from becoming the person we choose to be: ‘I must always do my best’ and ‘I must never put myself first’. “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are” - ee cummings In my work as a psychotherapist I see how distressing it can be to hide behind masks we assume as children. I see how painful it can be to live a false existence and just how much courage it takes to accept ourselves as we truly are and to become our most authentic self. It can be painful to realise that we have become somebody who fits the expectations of others, somebody we hardly know, stuck in a life we hate. “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation” - Oscar Wilde When our outer lives do not match our inner feelings we are in a state of incongruence. Being incongruent can cause us to lack confidence and self-esteem; we can feel like a fraud in our own skin, and lack passion and purpose. We can feel like our lives are a performance to be acted out each day wearing a mask to show the world a ‘happy face’ when inside we are perhaps feeling sad, anxious or just down right miserable. Maintaining this façade can be exhausting and lead to stress, anxiety and depression,

along with a whole host of mental health issues. There is a huge price to pay for not living authentically, and much to be gained from moving into a more ‘real’ and ‘genuine’ version of our unique self. So how do we do it? How do we become more congruent in our lives? Ask yourself as often as you can: “Am I happy with this…?” and “Is this my choice?” Notice what ‘fits’ your own value system and what doesn’t. You might start to notice that you have fallen into the habit of inauthentic living. Those who experience long-term depression or anxiety may have become excellent at hiding true feelings in order to function and not draw attention to personal differences. Did you have a nickname as a child? How did your parents describe you? If you were ‘Lovely Leigh’ who was always described as ‘kind and caring’, then is it any wonder you have spent your adult life in a caring profession, tending to the needs of others? How about the child who was affectionately referred to as: ‘Dan the Man’ ‘A proper little hero’, who grew up to be a paramedic and play rugby. What would it have taken for Leigh to break free from the shackles and responsibilities of being available to help others, and for Dan to become a dancer? Are you wearing the mask you were given as a child? Are you a master of disguise? Is it time to take it off? Don’t be afraid of being who you truly are. Once you accept yourself, others can. See your uniqueness as a gift and know that when you are authentic it enriches the lives of those around you. Little steps towards a more honest life can include: making your opinions known (even when they are contentious): choosing clothes that YOU like rather than what you normally wear; acting in accordance with your beliefs, indulging your desire to be different, to stand out and let your very own freak flag fly. “This above all; to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man” - William Shakespeare

Leigh Smith is director of studies, course designer and tutor at Heartwood Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Training. Visit www.heartwoodcounselling.org or call 01803 865464.

How to access Dartmoor’s peace anytime WHAT if you could access the peace and expansive sense of being you that you find in the natural world anytime you wanted? MICHELLE DIBB introduces you to the Open intelligence of Balanced View…

ANY of us know how relaxing it is to spend time in nature – surrounded by the wilderness, walking in the woods, sitting by a river or playing at the coast. Every year thousands of us flock to the South West to immerse ourselves in the natural beauty of the countryside and the coast, feel a sense of openness, perspective and togetherness with the natural world. I used to spend as much time as possible escaping to Dartmoor to get away from the hustle and bustle of people and society; to find peace and quiet and relax, awed by its majesty and beauty. But really I was trying to get away from my own thoughts and feelings and on Dartmoor they would relax for a while. When I met the Balanced View training I discovered this peaceful, expansive and relaxed nature that I loved about Dartmoor was actually my own true nature. I discovered I could access this natural intelligence at any time, wherever I was and whatever I was doing. I didn’t need to go to Dartmoor. It was here all along. The training introduced me to the nature of my mind: clear alert

cognisance; a vast awareness that is looking through my eyes, knowing. You can try it now. Stop reading this and see for yourself. What remains when you stop thinking? What knows the next thought? What is looking through your eyes? I was then invited to recognise this ‘open intelligence’ for short moments throughout my day whenever I remembered. I soon began to see that by recognising open intelligence, it became more obvious in my life and my thoughts and feelings relaxed into this peace. I realised that all thoughts and feelings were like the breeze in the air, a rainbow in the sky - they appeared, stayed for a while and then resolved naturally. I didn’t need to get away from them as my peaceful, intelligent nature was present all the time, relaxed and knowing, inseparable from all thoughts and feelings. This recognition has opened up an incredible freedom to be me, to live and love and contribute to my family and world. Regular Natural Open Intelligence training walks are held on Dartmoor and weekly Friday meetings in Birdwood House, Totnes, 6.307.30pm. Email tobylewis@ balancedview.org or visit www. balancedview.org for many free videos and books. L Michelle Dibb is author of Dartmoor Into The Wilderness (2011) The History Press Ltd.

Explore restorative power of Yin yoga

NEW Yin yoga class is starting on Wednesdays at 10.45am at Chapel House Studios in Totnes. Teacher Natalie Austin, right, already runs a Monday evening Yin class at 6.30pm at the same venue and is looking forward to giving more people the chance to find out about this empowering form of yoga. “Yin yoga is a restorative, gentle and meditative style of yoga that mobilises and strengthens our joints, ligaments and deep fascial networks. It combines traditional yoga, Chinese medicine and mindful meditation and has similar effects to having an acupuncture

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treatment. Regular practice cultivates and strengthens our overall health and wellbeing as well as bringing about positive change to our mental, emotional and psychological states.” Natalie recommends booking ahead for the new class. She also runs a drop-in Vinyasa Yoga class on Thursday evenings at 6.30pm at Chapel House Studios. This is an active, yang practice for people who prefer a more dynamic style of yoga to build strength and stamina. Call 07516 720246, email natalie@loveyogatree.co.uk, or find ‘love yoga tree Natalie’ on Facebook.

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T HE N AUTILUS R OOMS

Fabulously located in the centre of Totnes, yet tucked away in a quiet alley, with easy access to short and long-term parking. Check out our amazing list of highly qualified therapists and interesting events. Leaflets are available at the end of the alley way opposite The Mansion and next to Lloyds Bank. If you are looking for a wonderful venue for a group, meeting or CPD event, do come and check out our lovely group room. er R u th B ak

36 334454

Call now 077

C at her ine Sweet

gmail.com

ruthbaker1@

otherapy.co.uk ruthbakerpsych

I nt eg r at i v e c o u ns special ises in w el l or or w it h c h i l d r e n , k i ng y o u ng peo ple and adul ts.

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ant ch & Consult & Mentor • Coa • Supervisor • Counsellor chotherapist

| hello@cat herinesweetc ounselling.co .uk 07496 279 517

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on Virginia Compt and Holistic Yoga rapist Ayurveda The

• Workshops Yoga Classes rses Retreats • Cou Yoga Therapy and a Private Yog Therapies sage Ayurvedic Mas ent lifestyle assessm Wellness and • Teignbridge es • Totn Torquay

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www.focusyo

COURSES AND WORKSHOPS

16th, 17TH, 18TH SEPTEMBER (1st Module) – IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN THIS COURSE PLEASE ENQUIRE Certificate in Integrative Sandplay Therapy facilitated by John Daly – Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists accredited course. Ruth Baker Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com SEPTEMBER 24TH Mindfulness and Trauma with Sarah Clevely - using mindfulness skills as an important resource in the process of recovery. Sarah Clevely Email: sclevely@gmail.com, or call Call: 07779470746/01392 432952 Visit: www.sarahclevely.co.uk OCTOBER 1st and 2nd Introduction to Sandplay Therapy facilitated by Ruth Baker - Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists accredited course. Ruth Baker Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com OCTOBER 6TH Cancer Academy. Weekly workshop supporting people in their cancer journey. Michael Newman Call: 0784-6614420 8th OCTOBER Seated Massage Workshop with Anna Karthauser simple and effective back, shoulder, neck and head massage treatment using Indian and Swedish techniques Anna Karthauser Call: 07912612462, Email: anna@karthauser.org Visit: www.annakarthausermassage.co.uk 15th October 9.30-5pm Access Bars® Practitioner Training with Theresa Finnigan Fully certiﬁed and insurable training course. Add this fabulous therapy to you holistic practitioner tool box or simply learn so you can beneﬁt the health and lives of family and friends. Email: 07583313904 Email: crystalcottage@icloud.com OCTOBER 15th and 16th Introduction to Alchemy - Exploring in the sand the world of Edward Edinger with John Daly, an international expert in the psychotherapeutic understanding of the alchemical process. A treat not to be missed. Ruth Baker Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com 5th November Winter Wellness with Virginia Compton, Ayurvedic lifestyle and bodywork trainer and yoga teacher.An introductory talk on Ayurveda, winter wellness, taster treatments and other goodies. Tel: 07875 217970 Email: santosha1@hotmail.co.uk Visit: www.focusyourself.co.uk NOVEMBER 26TH AND 27TH Introduction to Sandplay Therapy facilitated by Ruth Baker - Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists accredited course. Ruth Baker Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com 13-15 JANUARY 2017 (MODULE 1) Certificate in Integrative Therapeutic Art (weekend 1 of 4) with John Daly - accredited by the Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com Call: 07736334454 Visit: www.sandplay.co.uk

REGULAR GROUPS & EVENTS

The Work of Byron Katie with Sylvia Karathanos - a supportive and small group to learn and practice the work of Byron Katie (Fortnightly on Sunday evenings 7-9.30pm) Sylvia Karathanos Call: 01803 868379 Email: skarathanos@phonecoop.coop Visit: www.thework.com

Mark Wright

Contemplative psychotherapy Exeter and Totnes watermarktherapy.net 07799 226989

Waking Women with Katheryn Hope - a group to support women in awakening their potential (Alternate Weds 7-8.30pm) Katheryn Hope Call: 01647 441235

Creative Therapy Courses

in Specialising d Sandplay an Art c uti Therape

Accredited By Aist

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Contact Rut

ail.com ruthbaker1@gm

Creative Therapy Group Using Sand and Art - Fortnightly group. For more information please contact Ruth Baker Email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com Call: 07736334454 PLEASE ENQUIRE FOR DATES Energy Work with Lori King - Munay Ki: Ancient Rites for a Modern World Monthly Women’s Journey Circle with Lori King Lori King courses Email: lori.king27@gmail.com Call: 07896 569678 Visit: www.beatthatdrum.com Waking Women’s Workshop with Katheryn Hope - awakening our inner-potential and moving beyond self-limiting beliefs. Call: Katheryn Hope: 01647 441235 Resonance Repatterning with Katheryn Hope Call: Katheryn Hope: 01647 441235

The Nautilus Rooms • 35a Fore Street • Totnes • TQ9 5HN Journeying the Labyrinth Lisa Garvey Williams www.nautilusrooms.uk Email: lisa@lisagarveywilliams.com Call: 07879 405925 info@nautilusrooms.uk Visit: www.lisagarveywilliams.com www.reconnectonline.co.uk Editorial: 01803 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk Call Ruth on 07736 334454 or Peter on 07826 414404

One of the consulting rooms at The Nautilus Rooms.

WELLBEING

Rich harvest of skills at Nautilus

ARVEST time is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on seeds sown earlier in the year – what is ripe for harvest and what needs more time to grow? Inevitably, some things don’t flourish and thrive and others do. And as the Nautilus Rooms in Totnes heads into its second year they have seen huge growth and therapists consolidating and establishing their practice. “There has been a lot of interest in the Creative Therapy courses which are now established and beginning to flourish,” says co-founder Ruth Baker. “Look out for more courses this term in Sandplay Therapy and Therapeutic Art - the 2017 programme is on our website. These courses are a fantastic CPD opportunity for therapists and those working with people of all ages to help them access their inner potential and a deeper sense of self.” Anna Karthauser works out of The Nautilus Rooms and her massage courses receive rave reviews from participants. More are in the pipeline. Are you, or is someone you know, suffering from cancer? Michael Newman is setting up a Cancer Academy on Thursdays at The Nautilus Rooms. The academy will run every Thursday and aims to provide holistic support to people experiencing cancer. This will include: time to talk, nutrition, supportive exercises and more. Call Michael on 07846 614420 for more information.

The Nautilus Rooms is also welcoming Virginia Compton, an experienced yoga teacher, mindfulness practitioner and Ayurvedic lifestyle and bodywork trainer. Virginia has spent over 20 years working with people trying to effectively change their lives. She says: “I just unlock the potential that is already within each and every one of us.” Her passion is to share the ancient philosophies and benefits of Yoga and Ayurveda to help others to find peace of mind and well-being in a holistic way in the modern world. Virginia offers regular retreats, weekly classes, in depth workshops and individual private and therapeutic sessions as well as lifestyle advice and therapeutic massage. In January 2017 Virginia is launching a programme called Welcome to the Focus Yourself Samvatsara Journey! This will include practical sessions of cookery, a spring and Autumn cleanse and a residential summer retreat weekend. Meetings will be held monthly on Saturdays at The Nautilus Rooms. Call Virginia on 07875 217970, email santosha1@hotmail.co.uk, or visit www.focusyourself.co.uk. Says Ruth: “We are proud to have a fantastic team of counsellors, psychotherapists and coaches at The Nautilus Rooms. All of these therapists belong to recognised professional bodies and have good robust qualifications. We are able

to meet the needs of all ages from young children through to the elderly, couples, families and groups.” Also new to the centre is Catherine Sweet, an experienced counsellor who specialises in working with students and young people aged 13+. Catherine started life as a veterinary nurse before training as a counsellor and also provides workshops for veterinary professionals to encourage building resistance to stress. She is in the process of moving from Bristol and will practice from The Nautilus Rooms in Totnes as well as in Kingsbridge and Exeter. Call her on 07496279517, visit www.catherinesweetcounselling. co.uk and email hello@ catherinesweetcounselling.co.uk. The Nautilus Rooms in also welcoming Mark Wright who has have been living in Devon since 2006 and

working as a psychotherapist with the NHS and in private practice and as a counsellor in a voluntary sector counselling service. Mark is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and holds a Masters degree in Core Process psychotherapy. As an experienced psychotherapist he works with people at all the stages of the inner journey, from those just starting out for the first time to those already committed to the work of inner change and transformation. Mark says: “I have a long-term commitment to spiritual practice, enquiry and meditation, and my approach to psychotherapy is fully informed by these spiritual values.” Mark has significant experience and training in working with trauma. Call him on 07799226989, email watermarktherapy@gmail.com or visit www.watermarktherapy.net.

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Virtual link to their worst inner-critic

hen we first started as ceremonial undertakers over 16 years ago, we had assumed that death was the final stop for the elderly and unlucky, and our first two funerals were just that, old folk at their appointed hour, lives lived to their full span. But our third funeral was a violent suicide, and so we were initiated into the reality of this work. Death is unfair and indiscriminate, and takes as many young people as it does old. Car accidents, drug misadventures, and suicide. I can clearly remember every one of the young people who took their own lives who we have buried or cremated, see their faces, remember their reasons, some understandable, some a terrible unsolvable riddle. Often, as children begin to experiment with their adult persona, the more unacceptable sides of human nature bubble up. Bullying is not something that just teenagers perpetrate and suffer from. Adults can be just as guilty, but it is a common effect of the hormonal neural reprogramming that is adolescence that they start to find an easy way to sidestep their own feelings of inadequacy and discomfort by dumping it onto someone else. It’s always been like this, but something fundamental has changed because - unlike everyone over the age of 35, who, when school ended for the day could escape home - there’s no rest for today’s children. Electronic ghosts whisper in their ears day and night, phones beep with messages, Facebook and Tumblr updates everybody on their every passing mood, each random snide thought is instantly typed, pixelated insults blaze out mindlessly from midnight laptop screens, kids from different continents jeer and poke at other kids they don’t even know. Their only distraction is porn, or newsfeeds that are just as horrific and damaging and reinforce this sense of disconnection. This has created what feels like a form of collective, digital schizophrenia, a culture of public shame that our

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children are growing up in, largely invisible to the adult world around it. The Lord of the Flies buzzes around our children’s computers, taunting them for being fat or thin or slutty or frigid or weird or not weird enough, and an epidemic of self-harming and attempted and successful suicides is the result. It’s like advertising a job vacancy for your worst inner-critic, getting a million applications... and then hiring them all immediately. I can offer no solutions, just compassion for everything that our brave new world throws at our children. The genie is out of the bottle, but it is not entirely wicked. The Internet offers a world of information and connection; grandparents can talk daily face-toface from Okehampton to relatives in Australia but something about the ease with which one can hide on the Internet brings out the worst in us and of course, just like those teenagers, it is easier for us to put it on them, than to feel it ourselves. Our teenagers are not feral and feckless, they are not empty of empathy, they are scared and shutting down into survival mode. The world they are growing up into is harsh and as uncertain as it has ever been. They need love and guidance and hope, anything to counteract the images and whispers that tell them they are bad, dirty and doomed.

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WELLBEING Business reaches final of awards

Dawn enjoys a room of her own

FTER practicing from various therapy centres over the past five years, medical herbalist and iridologist Dawn Ireland has opened a new consulting room in central Torquay. “My new room has a lift for those less able to manage stairs, is open and airy and has its own small waiting area,” says Dawn. Castle Circus House is situated halfway between Argos and The Castle Pub on Union Street. Dawn makes many of her own medicines, teaches workshops and herb walks and makes her own range of herbal skin care Green Wyse, which is also on sale

in the new consulting room. She specialises in medicinal creams, salves and ointments for skin conditions. Iridology is the study of the iris (the coloured part of the eye), which is mapped out like the minutes on a clock and the rings in a tree trunk. Each area represents a part of the body, tissues, or organs. This does not diagnose specific illnesses, but pigments, fibres and markings indicate inherited strengths or weaknesses in the body, giving an insight into how to prevent future potential health problems. Call Dawn on 07962 Dawn Ireland in her new consulting room and, 664294 or visit www. top, a few products from her Green Wyse torbay-herbalist.co.uk. herbal skin care range.

EACHING the finals of the Rural Business Awards is no mean feat - but to do it in two separate categories is impressive. InterBe, which runs the Genesis programme at Seale Hayne near Newton Abbot, has been named as a finalist in the Rural Employer of the Year and the Rural Innovation of the Year categories. The Awards, which are the UK’s only dedicated national business awards run in partnership with the CLA, are in their second year and attracted entries from all over the UK. Devon produced seven finalists but only InterBe reached the finals in more than one category. Mo Cohen, a director of InterBe, said: “This is a fantastic accolade and we are really pleased our work has been recognised in this way. “I am particularly proud that Narrative Transformation, which is InterBe’s approach to training and development, earned us a place in the finals of the Rural Innovation of the Year Award. Narrative Transformation is based on the premise that, in order to change

a person or an organisation, it is necessary to change their thoughts, beliefs and perceptions. We refer to this as their narrative or mindset. “When someone has the space to reflect on their narrative from a new perspective, they can see what they can reauthor and how they can shape a more empowering future. This can transform their whole experience of life. This is what we do on the Genesis personal development programme, it is what we do for organisation and it is what we do for the people who work with us.” The winners will be announced at an award ceremony at The Belfry Golf Club in the West Midlands on October 13. InterBe is running the next of its Genesis Programmes at Seale Hayne from November 25-27. It costs £199. InterBe also holds monthly Conversations for Living, evening seminars that cover a different theme each month, such as What is Forgiveness? and Being Love. Anyone can attend and the cost is £10 For more information visit: www. interbe.co or call 01392 346224.

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Kay Avalon

Nandan O’Leary

Therapy shakes off stress held by muscular tension

P Kinesiology - tailored to own needs

INESIOLOGY practitioner Kay Avalon is offering Reconnect readers an exclusive 50% discount on their first treatment. She said: “Kinesiology is an amazing treatment and I would like more people to discover how it may help them with their path to wellness. It is unique in that it is the only therapy completely tailored for and by the individual patient. The therapist puts together a health regime based on information that comes directly from the patient’s brain by means of muscle testing.” Kay explained that the patient lies fully-clothed on a couch, while the therapist applies gentle pressure, usually to an arm muscle. In response to a particular test phial, supplement or question about an emotional issue, the muscle will either remain strong or give way to gentle pressure. This indicates to the therapist exactly what is going on for the patient on a physical and emotional level. She added: “There is no guess work in Kinesiology. The patient communicates through their muscles, allowing the therapist to tailor a health regime that is absolutely right for them. “As the client leads the way throughout the treatment, any imbalance can be addressed and explored, from dehydration and stress to deep emotional issues. It depends very much on the patient’s healing priorities and their readiness to start their healing process.” When not practicing as a kinesiologist, Kay is an advisor for Weleda in Totnes. Right now, anyone who hosts a Weleda get-together will receive a free facial. For more information, email kay@homearome.co.uk.

ROLONGED stress, anxiety and trauma cause the muscles in our body to contract as a way of ‘managing’ the problem. We don’t tend to notice until we begin to experience the tell-tale signs of pain, discomfort or illness. If left unchecked, these problems can become chronic. TRE (Tension, Stress & Trauma Release Exercises) safely activates a natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, calming down the nervous system, says Nandan O’Leary, a certified provider of TRE. “Due to human brain development and conditioning we have learnt to supress our natural ability to release tension in the way

that other mammals do – by shaking,” she said. “TRE allows us to re-engage with this spontaneous innate gift within us. A TRE session consists of exercises that activate a shaking mechanism. Relaxing tense muscle patterns can reduce stress in the spine, neck, shoulders and pelvis. When tension is released anywhere in the body, the brain registers a reduction in pain signals, producing new hormones that promote healing.” TRE is all about being mindful, respectful and present to your needs. Nandan explained that the practice helps us to “tap into the deep peace, silence and health within, and open up unimaginable spaces capable of transforming and integrating all of our life’s experiences.”

She said: “The greatest reward in this work is what happens at the end of the class. An amazing sense of deep peace and stillness radiates from the participants and permeates the entire space in and around us. Reaching that level of peace and stillness is true self-empowerment. After a while, new patterns and behaviours start to spill into your daily life, work, family, empowering others too.” Nandan offers groups and one-to-one sessions in TRE at The Nautilus Rooms in Totnes on a Thursday morning. Email nandanoleary@gmail.com or call 07825 447860.

Counsellor and Psychotherapist East Down Retreat Centre - home of Release Relax Renew, a new mid-week retreat.

Enjoy new retreat ‘hug’

EEL like you need to let go? Release Relax Renew is the name of a new midweek retreat at East Down Retreat Centre at Dunsford near Exeter that is all about letting go. From November 8-10, Jo Hamilton from Pure Yoga is inviting people to join her for a mix of neurogenic yoga, TRE (trauma release exercises), guided meditation, yoga nidra, guided deep relaxation and restorative yoga. Jo said: “Sometimes we all need a hug and this is the retreat equivalent of that. It is an opportunity to be with yourself, as you are, and just allow yourself to unfold. Neurogenic yoga and TRE gently re-activate our instinctive tremor and shake mechanism which naturally releases deeply-held tension or trauma. This is a comfortable relaxing experience that offers profound release. “Neurogenic yoga is a form of gentle slow flow hatha yoga followed by neurogenic release. Together these practices can help us find release from emotional and physical trauma without having to talk about it; back, neck and shoulder pain; stress and anxiety.” She adds that the retreat will meet people wherever they are in their life and can be taken at whatever pace they choose. “You can dip your toe in or dive in - it’s up to you. You are free to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of this beautiful haven by walking on your own or with others. Or you might simply choose to meet yourself on a hill and be still.” The retreat includes healthy, locally-sourced vegetarian food. It is taught by Jo who is trained in relax and renew restorative yoga, yoga Nidra, Advanced TRE Trauma Release and Neurogenic yoga. It costs £299 for a shared room, with a single room supplement of £75. Jo also runs weekly TRE Shake groups in Topsham and Exeter and a new weekly Neurogenic Yoga class in Exeter. She offers one-to-one sessions too. To find out more go to www.itsallaboutfeelingbetter.co.uk or phone Jo on 07714253992.

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WELLBEING Body Mind Worker @ The Grow Edge

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Sharing truths and community Landing

ATE on a Friday afternoon, after a few hours of driving through Glastonbury and the South West countryside of England, we arrive at Embercombe, where our four-strong family has been invited to share an ‘experience’ weekend. As a site, Embercombe is a residential and educational working farm situated on the edge of a wide rolling valley, with views from the top of the property extending generously for miles around. Yet as a place and community, it offers much more than you might expect. First impressions are of a lovely and well-organised space with the capacity for many different uses. The herb garden directly outside the kitchen – planted in old truck tyres – is lush and practical, the long tables lining the deck hint at communal dining, and the circle of stones around that fireplace beckon me closer.

A warm welcome

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One delightful vegetarian dinner and a great sleep in the yurt village later, we awaken to a divine and misty morning as well as another beautiful, community-made meal in the dining yurt. Our sleep is certainly aided by our host building a fire to warm our space before we arrive, keeping us toasty well into the night. And I really enjoy it when we all sleep in the same space, even if it does mean usually having at least one child in the bed with me by morning. Maybe it’s the eskimo in me (well, the fantasy eskimo at least).

The Children’s Fire

The day begins with a fire-circle. All 25 of us sit around the morning

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VISITOR and blogger Soul Mamma shares her family’s encounter with the wonder of Embercombe, near Exeter, after she and her family enjoyed an Embercombe Experience Weekend. fire on benches and one by one we speak honestly of how we feel to the other willing listeners. It is a powerful briefing: Tim ‘Mac’ Macartney, Embercombe’s founder, has been charged with spreading the story of the Children’s Fire. This compelling philosophy arose from Native American wisdom and, is based on a concept that all leadership and major political decision-making must have the best possible future outcome for our children as a foundation. It means putting the concerns of our young at the centre of our consideration. Fittingly, as we talk around the fire, our kids play openly in the field beyond, occasionally screaming or laughing as if to agree with the idea.

Fire and feeling

It is a heartening experience to sit around an open fire at the start of the day with no other purpose than to tell the truth about how you are feeling to a group of people with a similar intention. I am moved to tears more than once to hear what was really going on for the other residents of the temporary community. From deep and important transitions and synchronicities to the most basic of grateful sentiments, I relish the feeling of openly and warmly receiving people’s truths in this way. I am able to compassionately hold the spaces Life at Embercombe: sharing truths around the fire, top left; sharing an early morning moment, left; kids learn the joys of cob building, top right; yurts among the trees, right.

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Able to cope, a sense of wellbeing, energised, relaxed, feeling more fully alive, whole again, healthy…… Craniosacral therapy is a very gentle, yet powerful hands-on therapy. It works with the whole person at any stage of life and can be very effective in a wide range of areas, including: that each person presents as their own and take a moment to honour them for sharing it.

Work and play

• Stress-related conditions • Digestive problems • A general sense of “not feeling quite right” • Sleep disorders • Colic • Panic attacks

WELLBEING Craniosacral Therapy Able to cope, a sense of wellbeing, energised, relaxed, feeling more fully alive, whole again, healthy……

Next we work. We choose jobs from a list of things that need doing, split into This listgroups is not exhaustive and I am always happy to talk with and headyou off about to toil your individual needs and how I can help. on the land – digging trenches, Treatments maintainingare in Totnes and cost £35 an hour, conc available. the farm, cleaning toilets, cooking or gardening. I find it doesn’t really matter eyes among all these internal and what I am doing because it is the act external changes he is experiencing at of doing physical work with a group the moment. of people that is important. This is a Conversations among people over rare experience for a city girl like me, the weekend tend to be more open and one the dormant hippy in me and hearty than usual. Some of us thoroughly appreciates. sing together on Saturday afternoon, The whole day, our kids continue to our voices ringing out into the valley play. WithLEA barely a stickR.C.S.T and a rock ZACCARI in complex harmonies. It feels so at hand, still they find4730 games. The wonderful to be in a harmonising 0747 332 pine-log play equipment occasionally group, which quickly becomes a takes theircst.with.lea@gmail.com fancy and they soar on respectable choir. Things seem more the hand-built swings, or the younger possible out here. ones jump on the ‘pirate ship’ and go And this fascinates me: that a change sailing on the high seas. in context and some contact with My three-year-old daughter recruits a nature can shift our perspectives so lovely young woman from London to much. These shifts are reinforced come on her adventures with her and powerfully when combined with spends much of the next day or two in an intention to collaborate for the fantasy-land, reminding her new adult weekend as a temporary community, friend how to play like a toddler. with its own rules and routines. A community in which there is a Space to connect concern for one another and a Around mid-morning, our 12-year-old communal reliance to get the meals goes for a walk by himself. When he cooked, the bathrooms cleaned, the returns, my husband (his step-dad) beds made. It works so well. suggests they walk together so he can show him what he has discovered. Home-bound - to return Our boy talks about some things that Coming away from the weekend had been going on for him after our is bittersweet. I am exhausted and recent relocation from Australia and ready for home, unused to the his transition into high school. My intense concentration of authentic husband, with our boy’s permission, conversation and communal activity. tells me what they had discussed and It is also incredibly heartening to we are able to hear him in a way we see the people that run Embercombe would not have been able to at home. striving to provide people with an Somehow, having the space away alternative; another way of existing – from the day-to-day and the calm one which involves truth, connection of the lake and field help our son to with the land, and connection with get honest with us and for us to hear each other. I am able to bring him as an equal, and respect him for kernels of that experience into my life at home and enjoy a sense that his words and feelings. Even during these ideas and experiences are the week following our visit I feel the more accessible than we are often closeness that this honesty has created aware. between us. Well done, Embercombe. I’ll be back. It is lovely to see our boy with fresh

Craniosacral therapy is a very gentle, yet powerful hands-on therapy. It works with the whole person at any stage of life and can be very effective in a wide range of areas, including: • • • •

Body strains and injuries Depression/Anxiety Head, neck, back aches/migraines Chronic fatigue conditions

• Pregnancy and child birth support • A general sense of “not feeling quite right” • Child and baby wellbeing

Treatments are in Totnes and cost £35 an hour, conc available.

Lea Zaccari RCST

0747 332 4730 cst.with.lea@gmail.com www.craniosacral-therapy-lea.yolasite.com

Mark Edlund Plater

Member of the British Acupuncture Council

Acupuncture Integrated Method

Acupuncture integrated method

Practice for 19 years in Totnes Fees are based on income or means

01803 556038 07506 179808

mark.edlundplater@gmail.com

est. 1999

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WELLBEING

Students at the Heartwood Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Half-price to say ‘thanks’

OU will have read a number of stories in Reconnect about Catherine Hale’s skills and techniques. At the end of her first year working in South Devon, she contacted us to say she would like to say a special thank-you to everyone who has made her feel so welcome. So let’s just let her explain – over to you, Catherine: Catherine Hale “It’s now been a year since I first moved to Totnes and have found myself at home in this amazing community nestled between wild Dartmoor and the sea. “I have so much appreciation and gratitude towards all the people who have made my practice such a success here. I feel so welcomed by the Totnes community and I feel touched by the deep transformation I have witnessed in my one-to-one sessions, workshops, women’s circles and bespoke retreats. “I’ve also noticed that some want to come to my one-to-one sessions but the cost has been prohibitive to them. So as a token of my gratitude, and my desire to want to support more of the community, I will now be offering every week two of my two-hour one-to-one sessions at half price. These will be offered on a first come first served basis from now until the end of the year. “These sessions focus on healing challenges you may be experiencing with your sexuality: difficulties with orgasm; pain during intercourse; feeling disconnected from your sexuality; scars from surgery or giving birth that create pain in the pelvis; lack of education around sexual anatomy and sexual pleasure.” Email Catherine@tantricawakening.org, or visit www. tantricawakening.org.

RAINING to become a counsellor has never been so popular, with so many people looking for a new profession in a worthwhile and meaningful career. Counselling as a vocation appeals to both young and old; regardless of academic ability. In fact, counselling is one of the few professions which is more suited to people who are of a mature age and have undergone their own challenges in life, because this builds empathy and increases understanding. All you need is to be a good listener and have an open mind. The Heartwood Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy is currently celebrating the success of the overwhelming response to this year’s training programme. Director of Studies Leigh Smith said: “We have had a fantastic response to our courses - so much so that we have included an extra Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling because the first two quickly booked up. This is a very exciting time for us, especially after receiving such an outstanding report from our last awarding body inspection, and becoming accredited by the National Counselling Society. Comments in the External Verifier’s report included: l The environment for learning is really beautiful. There is a calmness that seems to spread into the group...

Exciting times at training centre l The students spoke highly of their experience during this training and their increased confidence and freedom as a result of studying at this level. They described feeling held and supported. And they all agreed the course had impacted on their confidence and ability to think about independent practice. Overall they felt their confidence had grown more during this course than any other they had studied to date.” Heartwood delivers a full programme of courses from the very beginning right through to specialist courses in Supervision, Couples, Mindfulness, and Children. All Heartwood courses are fully accredited, awarded and recognised by both the BACP and NCS with direct entry onto the Voluntary Register and are taught at the beautiful centre on the Dartington Hall Estate. This year sees the launch of a range of specialist diplomas which are aimed at counsellors and psychotherapists who want to take the next step in their professional progression. It’s not too late to enrol - if you are interested in learning more about the courses call the office on 01803 865464, or visit www. heartwoodcounselling.org.

Free check-ups to prepare for Winter

UTUMN is the perfect time to prepare your immune system for the Winter months ahead. Andy Thompson at the BioEnergetic Health Clinic is offering free 20-minute EAV (Electro-Acupuncture) screening taster sessions as a way of diagnosing the infectious causes underlying poor health. He explained: “Recent and even more long-standing infections can continue to compromise your immunity even after you think they have cleared. This leaves you more vulnerable to further infections. “EAV originated in Germany more than 50 years ago. It has been shown to be effective at identifying the underlying pathogens (viruses, bacteria etc) involved in chronic conditions, such as unexplained fatigue, IBS, migraines, fibromyalgia and skin conditions. “Once a diagnosis has been made, treatment is tailored both to the individual client and the specific pathogens, using remedies and flower essences to facilitate healing.” Andy believes that listening carefully to the client is an essential part of

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good health care. He takes a detailed history in the first full consultation, including assessing food allergies and sensitivities. The assessment is updated at each follow-up session, taking into account any symptoms, feelings, experiences and intuition. To book your free taster session, call Andy on 07503 111057. Visit www. bioenergetichealth.net.

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WELLBEING Cells ‘prime’ your system

Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD)

EDOX Signalling Molecules are the gofers inside your body that check out the state of your cells and flag up when they need repair or replacement. Dave Davies, right, According to David and some of the ASEA Davies of ASEA, these micro messengers are vital products, above. to your health, helping to protect your cells, rejuvenate them, and keep But he them functioning at optimum levels. pointed He said: “Our cells are constantly out that creating Redox Signalling Molecules. this is They enhance cellular function in every not new system of your body; nerve, muscle, science. skin, bone… But as we age, and with “It has exposure to environmental toxins and been other stressors that diminish cellular under research for decades with function, the body’s ability to maintain over 10,000 peer-reviewed scientific reserves of these molecules declines. publications and a number of Nobel This is a major factor in physical prizes in associated research.” ageing.” ASEA is a network marketing ASEA has developed a patented company in the early stages of technology that uses active Redox growth. The company would like to Signalling Molecules as a supplement. hear from anyone who is interested in David explained: “Redox supplements developing an income by marketing work at the foundational level of your its products. cell biology to maximise wellness, to Visit www.cellsupport.teamasea.com reduce the effects of ageing and to aid or call 07854 084215. recovery from exercise and ill-health. And email David at ifeelvital@gmail. They help to ‘prime’ your system to com or contact via the website in order accept and fully utilise the food and to join the mailing list with links to the supplemental nutrition that you take videos and testimonials. in order to remain healthy.”

College expands into new building

HIRTY-FIVE years after it opened, Iron Mill College is embarking on an exciting new chapter in its history. The college, a leading provider of training and education in mental health and wellbeing, has opened a new building on its site in Barnfield The opening of the new Iron Mill College building in Crescent, Exeter, Barnfield Crescent, Exeter. trebling the capacity of the expansion for the college, which college and heralding a period of already provides a whole host of expansion. professional training courses and university degrees courses from The Quadrangle was opened in entry level right through to post July by Dr Margot Sunderland, qualifying. This Autumn, we will Director of Education and Training be expanding our course offering at The Centre for Child Mental even further.” Health London, in front of an audience of around 100 invited Margot Sunderland said: “This is a guests. fantastic new facility which is really going to help the college College principal Rose Bedford expand and enhance the excellent said: “This cements our place as teaching it offers, in the fields of a leading provider of education counselling, psychotherapy, mental and training in mental health and health and wellbeing.” comes at an exciting time for the college. Opening The Quadrangle Visit www.ironmill.co.uk or call is the latest step in a period of 01392 219200.

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(Stimulates the immune system to function optimally)

The Bowen Technique Arcturus Clinic, Totnes Home Visits AMANDA MORRIS

CLT – MLDUK – CertECBS – BTPA

For an appointment please call 07931 505 312

amanda@amandamorris.co.uk www.amandamorris.co.uk

BEAUTIFUL ROOMS for groups and individual practice.

FOR TALKING THERAPIES AND HOLISTIC HEALTH

www.thepracticerooms.co.uk 15 - 16 Castle Street, Exeter EX4 3PT

Andy Thompson, Clin. Hom, Dip. B.F.D. ‘Helping you to heal yourself’

BioEnergetic Health

An innovative testing and treatment method effective for acute, long-term and difficult-to-diagnose health problems.

Free taster sessions at the BioEnergetic Health Clinic and Greenlife in Totnes 07503 111057

www.bioenergetichealth.net

WOMENs POWER find strength explore and connect your energies into a broader field Uli Baysie is a shaman living in practise of the one-woman-tradition info@baysie.co.uk facebook.com/shamanUliBaysie/

Editorial: 01803 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

Visit us at www.reconnectonline.co.uk

WELLBEING

Learning from horses - and ourselves NEW TO THE UK – ONE DAY WORKSHOP INTRODUCING: Uses breath, bodywork and energy release to activate the Higher Brain, together with the Integral Systems approach in a daily practice to move into a fearless, authentic, deeper adventure that is your true potential. One amazing day to upgrade your physiology and truly shine!

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BEAUTIFUL ROOMS for Counselling & Psychotherapy.

FOR TALKING THERAPIES AND HOLISTIC HEALTH

www.thepracticerooms.co.uk 15 - 16 Castle Street, Exeter EX4 3PT

Barnfield Hill Therapy Rooms New therapy rooms for rent Light and airy rooms with own waiting room. Flexible hours and low rates for counsellors and therapists Central Exeter location Contact: Julie McNichol 01392 256711 4 Barnfield Hill, Exeter, EX1 1SR

UTTING together Reconnect is, as you’re probably tired of me saying, a team effort. But it’s a team united by ethos and passion and divided by geography; a team made up of me and self-styled Queen Beth of Admin here at Reconnect Towers, with additional input from contributors, editors and ad sales people working from their respective homes. With home working growing in popularity, this sort of set-up is increasingly common and relies heavily on technology to keep us all in touch. And that makes the all-toooccasional face-to-face meetings all the more valuable. So when Sue Blagburn of Adventures With Horses invited us to take part in an equine-based learning and team development day, we jumped at the chance (be warned: this could become an unintended equine pun zone). As warm and welcoming and insightful as Sue is, she is always in danger of being upstaged by her beautiful Dartmoor surroundings. We were also fortunate enough to have picked a warm, sunny day – and perfect company, of course… After an introduction from Sue, and a chance for each of us to say a little about our previous horsey experiences (which ranged from ‘I’ve ridden all my life’ to ‘They’ve always hated me’), we walked through to meet her horses on their own territory, a rolling field edged by trees. We were invited to ‘just be’ with them and it was there that our learning began – horses are the best at ‘just being’. The masters of mindfulness. “They might appear to be just eating,” said Sue (they did), “but actually they’re checking us all out.” Evidently we met with their approval because they gradually got closer, apparently enjoying our company and occasionally nudging us to get even better acquainted. Simple as it was, hanging out with enormously powerful creatures who had chosen to hang out with us was itself enormously powerful and I could have easily have done just that for the remainder of the day, taking in the horsey smells, listening to

the subtle sounds of them grazing and transferring their weight to a different deliberately placed hoof. Sue, who had been making occasional observations about the relationship between horse and human behaviour, then suggested we move along to the sandschool (a fenced area with sand on the ground) and wondered aloud “who would like to work with us today?” Within a few minutes, two of them casually sauntered down to join us and we gently worked with them, one at a time, first leading them around the arena by a rope attached to their headcollar (all the time suspecting they were subtly leading us), and then without any physical attachment at all – just walking and encouraging the horse to follow. Which it (mostly) did. This relationship between horse and human formed the basis of our afternoon session (after a lovely shared lunch under the tree in Sue’s garden), when we took turns to lead horses from the front and from behind (it makes sense when you try it), and guiding from the sides. At the end of each exercise we shared our thoughts on the experience, again guided and encouraged by Sue, and the undeniable links between animal behaviour and team working (in our case, remotely located team working) became clearer and increasingly meaningful. That the day seemed to pass so quickly, despite its gentle pace, shows how absorbed we were and we all left with a sense of having connected not only with each other but also with the horses – and the lessons they have to teach us. Find out more at www. adventureswithhorses.co.uk. Martin Foster

Jenny (with apparently fascinating sun shade) communes with the animals, above. And right, the Reconnect team take a stroll with their new buddy. No leadrope you’ll notice.

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Secret to good health dwells in mind

HY does pain persist – and how does it become ‘chronic’? Understanding this is the first step to alleviating the symptoms, says Matt Hudson, the man behind Body Mind Workers.  There is a process, explains Matt, called ‘nociception’, where the brain receives Matt Hudson - the man behind Body Mind Workers.  signals from the sensory and motor nerves and translates we believe that the secret to greater these signals into a ‘perceived threat’. health and wellbeing dwells not in a “The translation of the message may person’s body but within a person’s be the cause of chronic pain and so mind.” the pharmaceutical industry designs Many years ago, Matt Hudson drugs to interrupt the signal; to stop noticed during a ‘phobia cure’ the pain,” says Matt. session that the client’s gaze was “The Body Mind Workers’ approach avoiding a certain area directly to chronic pain or dis-ease recognises in front of them. Further enquiry nociception and uses proven revealed the client was attempting to techniques to directly create a shift in avoid visual contact with the phobic the mind, which in turn transforms the stimuli in front of them - their Sensitive brain’s perception - no chronic pain Memory-Images. stimulus equals no chronic pain.” That point transformed Matt’s The key factor in this process is the approach to non-verbal Sensitive Memory-Image, which communication and inspired him to Hippolyte Bernheim (1837 – 1919) teach and train others in Body Mind put forward as an imagined image Work. that the subject creates during trance “By becoming aware of the Sensitive and is then associated to, thus driving Memory-Images, or the ‘screen’ in or creating an “ideo-motor response”. front of you or your client, you have a “The SMI has been, and continues direct link to the mind itself and how to be, the main area of Body Mind to guide it,” says Matt. Workers research,” explains Matt. Body Mind Workers training courses “As 21st century science continues are currently running in Devon and to strive for greater understanding of London this year. Find out more at the human body via advancements www.bodymindworkers.com or call in technology and neuroscience, 01803 463775.

Minerals balance out depletion

WO-TIME Nobel Prize winner Dr Linus Pauling said: “The root of all disease is directly related to a lack of minerals.” And Dr Gary Price-Todd explained: “The human body needs at least 60 (plant) minerals to maintain a disease and ailment free state”, adding: “vitamins are basically useless in the absence of minerals.” The problem for humans today is that our soils are shockingly depleted of minerals – by up to 85% in the UK compared to a few generations ago. Katherine Bower, above, a local agent for Sizzling Minerals, explained: “While our food may look the same, it sadly no longer contains enough of the minerals we need – with devastating health effects around the world. “Minerals such as iron, potassium,

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magnesium, zinc, plus trace minerals are the spark plugs for our cells – virtually every single metabolic process that happens in our bodies need them. Without them our health suffers. So if we can’t get what we need from our food, we need to take a good quality plant mineral supplement on a daily basis, to help restore balance in our bodies and maintain proper cell functioning.” Sizzling Minerals are a high quality natural supplement, says Katherine, containing 75 pure plant-derived minerals. “Virtually all mineral supplements in the shops and online are ‘metallic’ – a mixture of rock and clay. We are not designed to eat rock and dirt! Sizzling Minerals are derived from plants so they are easier for our bodies to absorb and use.” Call Katherine on 07971 287830.

www.gaiahouse.co.uk

INSIGHT MEDITATION IN THE BUDDHIST TRADITION

www.gaiahouse.co.uk

YOU ARE INVITED TO OUR

OPEN DAY at the O L A C E N T R E 5a Fore Street, Totnes on SATURDAY 8th OCTOBER between 11am and 4pm

We will be offering tasters by donation, of Massage, Reflexology, Ayur vedic Treatments, Thai Yoga Massage, Acupuncture, Beauty Therapies, and more... You can attend talks with practitioners - such as Feldenkrais method - and have a free digital posture scan. Call 01803 862565 to book, or just drop in on the day. We look forward to meeting you and showing you around our beautiful clinic. W W W. T O T N E S C H I R O P R A C T I C . C O . U K

Editorial: 01803 01803 868455 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk editor@reconnectonline.co.uk Editorial:

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WELLBEING Unique space offering unique support

TOTNES Tension/Trauma Release Exercises TRE® is a sequence of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension and trauma. Weekly group sessions or individual sessions available.

Nandan O'Leary 07825 447860 nandanoleary@gmail.com

HERE are numerous natural health centres across the Reconnect area and practitioners need to look closely and behind the scenes to find the right one for them. The Ola Centre, at 5a Fore Street, Totnes, is run by established and highly respected Chiropractor Dr Claire Ryan, who also works from the centre, and it offers a range of beautiful, light and airy rooms, with lots of wood and friendly signage. The message on the reception wall is a particular favourite with visitors: “Tension is who you think you should be – relaxation is who you are”. Rooms can be hired on a full-time basis (there is currently one room available to provide a full-time base for someone) or by the day or half-day. There are 15 therapists working from the centre, covering a wide range of natural health therapies. But as important as the serene atmosphere is, that’s only part of the story. “What sets us apart as a natural health centre is the level of support we offer our practitioners, from our strong web presence to our unique inter-practitioner referral system.” says Claire.

“Our practitioner and reception managers, Harriet and Beverley, are on hand too to provide any support therapists might need.” There’s a chance to see the centre and meet some of the other practitioners at the Ola Open Day on Saturday, October 8. There will be many therapies on offer by donation on the day, as well as talks on hot health care topics. Find out more about the open day, the therapies on offer and Claire’s chiropractic practice on their website – www.totneschiropractic.co.uk.

It’s been a tough year - so what next?

STROLOGICALLYspeaking, 2016 has been a year of challenge. What do you mean “tell me about it!”? For so many of us, this year continues to be one of upheaval and change, which can leave us asking ourselves What? Who? When? Bell Bartlett - psychic reader And where next? Bell and spiritual counsellor. Bartlett is an experienced psychic reader, teacher which can be a challenge in itself.” and spiritual counsellor who has found Describing herself as a ‘master’ herself particularly busy this year. when it comes to anxiety, and having “People are often drawn to having a witnessed people struggle with their reading during times of uncertainty, own anxieties, Bell has created her confusion and anxiety or for help in own survivor’s guide of practical things making important decisions,” she we can do to remain positive, creative, explained. “We all know that keeping relaxed, calm and open. Called ‘Help a positive attitude can help us through Yourself! Bell’s Handy Tips’, you can these difficult times, but this is easier read it for free from her website. said than done!” “Over the years I have learned many Bell recommends some simple simple, effective skills that I can use to processes to support ourselves, such take the energy that I invest into fear as listening to Wayne Dyer talks and transfer it to my inner love bank. on YouTube, or practising a loving This helps my life feel less like white kindness meditation. water rafting and more like a peaceful “Spirit does not require us to suffer or meander through tranquil waters. I struggle,” she said. “Spirit wants us sleep better as a result.” to know how deeply we are loved, accepted and supported. Our job is to Visit www.conscious-tarot.co.uk or call allow that knowing and to receive it, 07796 900509.

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Iessaiah - working with intuition.

WELLBEING

Unlock the key to anti-ageing

Natural rejuvenation at a cellular level Reduce the effects of ageing Aid recovery from ill health Maximise wellness ASEA Redox supplements www.cellsupport.teamasea.com Email or call Dave Davies ifeelvital@gmail.com 07854 084 215

Iessaiah tunes into your wellbeing

NTUITION plays a huge part in Iessaiah’s work as a psycho-spiritual holistic therapist and energy healer. During a healing session, she describes a process of “scanning” the person’s body to find out what is going on for them. “I tune into their wellbeing and I receive an awareness, a knowing of what is happening inside their body or mind. It is difficult to describe how the information comes to me but it is as though something speaks to me. The information can be quite specific. In the past I have been able to pick up on certain complaints or conditions that might have gone on to compromise an individual’s health and wellbeing. By letting them know they need to take action, potential health problems can be averted.” Iessaiah described how this worked with one client: “I told her I sensed there were some issues with fluid drainage in her body and I was concerned an infection could occur. When she went on to develop some symptoms, she was sufficiently forewarned to go to see her GP

immediately who diagnosed the onset of Cellulitis.” Iessaiah is quick to point out that she doesn’t advocate that people should ignore conventional medical approaches. “Sometimes people use the term Medical Intuitive to describe what I do. I prefer to think of myself as an enabler of wellness and greater being. Every session with me begins with a discussion about what is going on for that person and any physical or emotional situations they are aware of. We then move onto doing bodywork and healing and it is during this process that I sometimes receive information about health and wellbeing issues.” Iessaiah combines the intuition of a naturally-gifted healer with the solid-underpinning knowledge of a complimentary therapist with more than 25 years’ experience. She practices from The Arcturus Clinic in Totnes and The Exeter Natural Heath Centre. Visit www. iessaiah.com or call 07568 504347.

Networkers/Therapists - ASEA offers an outstanding income opportunity - see the website for details

Health & wellbeing

Find the missing piece to your new life

calling into a way of life IVING Presence now.” is a new series of workshops from Sharon told Reconnect: Katheryn Eliane Hope “Many people on the and Sharon Lawson. journey of self/spiritualdevelopment have got Katheryn is a stuck. They know there’s Transformational another level, but how Coach and writer who do they get there? We has worked in health tend to set limits on what and wellbeing in we can achieve, based many different roles, on others’ stories. The including nursing, true power of our work teaching, Resonance is about learning that Repatterning, Feng our path to success is Shui and Shamanic uniquely ours. A Call practice. Sharon is to the Visionary covers a Quantum Touch letting go and cutting the Practitioner,Vibrational bonds of identity so we Authenticity Coach, can truly know ourselves. gifted psychic and Katheryn Hope, top, We heal our old story healer. and Sharon Lawson, and gather all the strands The workshops kick above. of our experiences off with a pilot event together so whatever is in Totnes on Saturday meant for us can be received. October 15 entitled A Call to the “We cannot receive when we’re Visionary. playing a role. On this workshop, “If you are someone who feels we identify a clear vision for the you’ve a calling in the world, future and strategies to get there.” but perhaps have had difficulty Call Katheryn on 01647 441235, defining or expressing it, this is the Sharon on 01803 867555, or visit workshop for you,” says Katheryn. www.theseedcoach.com/www. “The workshop is for those looking the-angel-within.com. for the missing piece to turn their

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Seek peace of mind? Contact Peter Crowe Counselling & psychotherapy 01392 966845 www.petercrowe.co.uk Editorial: 01803 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

COUNSELLING

classifiedads - WELCOME TO THE RECONNECT SMALL ADS -

DAVID OXLEY MA Fully qualified Accredited BACP counsellor and psychotherapist. Psychosynthesis and Core Process. Working with Relationship, Depth, Integrity and Soul. Central Exeter, Totnes and Plymouth. www. davidoxleycounselling. co.uk, 07876051093.

CREATIVE counsellor. Heartful, Supportive Counselling. Creative Exercises including Art, Sandplay, etc. Adults, Young People, some concessions available. Ruth Jenni Adv Dip Couns, 07974097787, www.oakflower. co.uk. Dartington, Buckfastleigh, Newton Abbot and on Skype.

01626 821110 / 07799 027332, www. fionaparr-focusing. co.uk.

SHAMANIC THAI MASSAGE HOLISTIC Counsellor specialising in trauma/ abuse, and for those feelings/emotions difficult to put into words working with art, sand and outside amongst nature. Annie, www. natureswaycounselling. co.uk, 07760 439760.

Grief Support

GRIEVING and want relief? Supportive sessions BY DONATION @ Bowden House, Totnes, with counsellor/ author, Carmella B’Hahn. carmella@ heartofrelating.com 01803 867005 www. heartofrelating.com

MOVEMENT MEDICINE FOCUSING--oriented Therapy and Counselling. For people who are experiencing anxiety, stress or overwhelm. Giving you the resources to get space, peace and calm back into your life. Fiona Parr MBACP, at The Gandy Centre, Exeter, and in Liverton.

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£5 off first treatment. Discount for course of 3 treatments. Based at Totnes Natural Health Centre, Mon afts/eves, Wed eves, Saturday allday. 07522344291, nicolasuzanne@hotmail. co.uk.

MOVEMENT Medicine, drop-in classes with Ailsa Lucas. Monthly Saturday mornings in Totnes/Dartington and Plymouth. Find out more at www. movementmedicine association.org, ailsa. clare.lucas@gmail. com, 01803 849039, 07999 486059.

REFLEXOLOGY

RELAX, cleanse, balance. Full-hour,

BEE SPIRIT Medicine. Shamanic bodywork, workshops, and ongoing courses for women. Dates of the new group starting in the Autumn are Thursdays, 20th October, 24th November and 15th December. Contact me on 07754 779 282 or visit my website, www. shamanicthaimassage. co.uk.

SO IS IT HEALING USING Words, Sound, Music, Movement, Energy, Mudras. To help any problem (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual). Bookings, call 01752 500426. Distant healing available. Many blessings from illona.

TAI CHI HEALING HOLIDAY: Revitalise your life with a healthy, healing holiday in Lanzarote in January with Tai Chi Taoist Master Choy. For more details visit our website, www. rainbow-taichi.org.uk or contact Christine at 01364 653618 TAI CHI classes: Weekly Rainbow Tai Chi Chi Kung and Tai Chi Form classes in South Brent and Ashburton. For more details visit our website, www. rainbow-taichi.co.uk or contact Christine at 01364 653618.

FOR READERS... an at-a-glance guide to services and products - plus diary dates. FOR ADVERTISERS... an affordable way to get your message across. Boxes are £55 and £98 and the lineage ads cost just 90p a word, with a minimum of 20 words. THE DEADLINE... for the Dec/Jan issue is Friday, November 1. Call 01803 868455 or email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk.

WORKSHOPS&COURSES MONDAYS YIN YOGA with Natalie Austin, Chapel House Studios, Totnes, 6.30pm. www. loveyogatree.co.uk, 07516 720246. WEDNESDAYS YIN YOGA with Natalie Austin, Chapel House Studios, Totnes, 10.45am. www. loveyogatree.co.uk, 07516 720246. THURSDAYS YINYASA Yoga with Natalie Austin, Chapel House Studios, Totnes, 6.30pm. www. loveyogatree.co.uk, 07516 720246. SATURDAYS MOVEMENT MEDICINE drop-in classes with Ailsa Lucas. Monthly Saturday mornings in Totnes/Dartington and Plymouth. Find out more at www. movementmedicine association.org. ailsa. clare.lucas@gmail. com, 01803 849039, 07999 486059.

October SAT 1 - SUN 2 FOCUSING - helping you to find and trust

SUN 16 WOMB Health - from Self Love For Women workshop series, with Catherine Hale, www. tantricawakening.org. SUN 30 STORIES of the Ancestors - personal storytelling workshop for Day of the Dead with Agata Krajewska, Birdwood House, Totnes. Call 07795002816, or visit www. yournaturalpresence. com.

NOVEMBER

your inner-sense of forward life direction, and to open up your life possibilities. At Liverton, Bovey Tracey. Call Fiona on 01626 821110, or visit www. fionaparr-focusing. co.uk. SAT 8 STORYTELLING in Six Saturdays! Have fun, get connected and become more confident! Train with a professional storyteller in Totnes. Booking and information: 01803 847986, ellycstuart@ gmail.com. SUN 9, 16, 23, 30 TROUBLING Anxiety helping you to find a way through. Reduce your anxiety levels and find peace and calm - Sunday mornings in Exeter. Call Fiona on 01626 821110. fionaparr-focusing. co.uk. TUES 13 - SUN 16 AYURVEDIC Yoga Massage with Saghar Amozgar, Exeter Natural Health Centre. Visit www. ayurvedicyoga massage.org.uk, 07974 470610.

SAT 2 LUNCHTIME Mindfulness Dropin, Crownhill Fort, Plymouth, 12-1pm, www. barefootmindfulness. co.uk, 01752 777239. TUE 8 - THUR 10 RELEASE Relax Renew - retreat featuring neurogenic yoga, TRE (trauma release exercises), guided meditation, yoga nidra, guided deep relaxation and restorative yoga, East Down Retreat Centre, Dunsford. www. itsallaboutfeelingbetter. co.uk, or call Jo Hamilton, 07714253992. SAT 19 MORNING of Mindfulness, Crownhill Fort, Plymouth, 10am12.30pm, www. barefootmindfulness. co.uk, 01752 777239.

DECEMBER SUN 4 SELF-PLEASURE - from Self Love For Women workshop series, with Catherine Hale, www. tantricawakening.org.

Katheryn Trenshaw Passionate Presence Centre for Creative Expression phone: +44 (0) 1803 863552 skype: katheryntrenshaw email: post@ktrenshaw.com

Re-Membering l Re-Invention l Re-Vision Two-hour, one-to-one sessions for professional, personal and artistic development - by phone or Skype

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Feel welcome to sign up for our free newsletter at

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Genesis

Create a life you love

The Genesis programme is a two and a half day programme that will change your life. In this extraordinary course, will introduce you to the exciting, life-changing power of Narrative Transformation. You will learn: ▶ What’s holding you back in life ▶ How to become the author of your life not a victim of circumstance ▶ The secret to creating a life you love By changing the negative beliefs, perceptions and ideas that hold you back, anything becomes possible. If you only do one thing for yourself this year, do this.

Here’s what people say about Genesis: “I got a huge amount from the programme. Far more than I could ever have imagined. It was brilliantly conceived, perfectly paced and really exciting.” “I got reconnected to a part of myself that I have been missing for a considerable time.”

The Genesis programme costs £199. It is part of the Experience Living series. For more information call 01392 346224 Dates of the next programme: October 21-21 Couples Programme November 25-27 To book, visit https://www.interbe.co/archive/experience-living-genesis/

Changing stories, changing lives

“I made a massive shift at the weekend and let go of something that had kept me stuck and caused me pain and anguish for as long as I can remember.” “I would love to have the opportunity to send every member of my family on this course (and friends) what a wonderful gift that would be…”