Health & Wellbeing

Meditations in nature: Diary of a hot summer’s day

by Susie Curtin

I am sat in the shade under my ash tree feeling the hottest day on record descend over my garden. It is 11am, the early morning breeze has dissipated, and the air is already sultry and heavy. The birds are quiet and tucked into the undergrowth, no longer foraging around the feeders or flowerbeds. And above me, the sky is an endless blue, punctuated only by a faint half-moon that hangs precariously in the haze. Occasionally, a squadron of screeching swifts break the eerie calm, but once they have darted past, the stillness resumes.

Noel Coward

This oppressive atmosphere reminds me of my childhood in a Hertfordshire village where being so far inland, summers were often hot and humid. At home, my family would draw the curtains and stay indoors in the dark and cool until the intensity of the sun had abated. I would hate it. It felt so alien not to be outside playing in the sun-baked countryside. But my Grandmother, clearly a fan of Noel Coward, would claim that ‘only mad dogs and Englishmen went out in the midday sun’, and insist that we took a siesta. If she was alive today, she would be shocked that such an intense heat could be experienced here in Britain.

It can be difficult to appreciate just how profound the impacts of human activity actually are on the ecosystem. But with temperatures pushing towards 40 degrees in parts of the country, it is yet another reminder of the damage we are doing to our planet. By now, we know that our ways of life and patterns of consumption need to change, but are we capable of that? I sincerely hope that we are.

Accompanied by this underlying feeling of ecoanxiety, I wait until the sun has set before taking my daily amble. Walking down the tracks, the evening sky sends a sepia light over the parched land. A barn owl is quartering the adjacent field and two deer emerge from their hiding places. The air is cool and tranquil, and a welcome relief from the heat of the day. There are bats and dragonflies skirting around my

Susie Curtin went down by the river on an evening stroll after sunset.

head, and when I briefly shine my torch, I marvel at the plethora of insects and moths that dance in the beam of light. As I make my way home, I count 41 glow worms that light up the undergrowth. It is indeed comforting to know that at least some things are still as they should be. Dr Susie Curtin email curtin.susanna@gmail. com

Herbs to cool and warm the body

by Fiona Chapman

I have now finished my course and am a fully qualified naturopathic herbalist! I think I have gone ‘pop’ – it is so wonderful to not be feeling guilty about working the whole time and great to be able to catch up with life a bit. This does not mean, however, that I am taking my foot off the pedal and am now working on a website and, dread of all dreads, an Instagram site, with my daughter telling me not to put hashtags everywhere – I thought you needed to.

As said hundreds of times, we evolved because of the plants we ate. We learnt what was good for us, what healed us or what was poisonous and killed us. I have called my practice Pack a Punch Herbs, because that is what they do – if you take, for example, cayenne, garlic, ginger or Angelica arcangelica they are warming, pungent herbs that stimulate digestion and circulation, promote heat in the body and are great for those with slow metabolism, to warm the body up from the inside and light the digestive fire.

Likewise, for those who are hot and inflamed inside with GORD or reflux we would use lovely cooling and moisturising herbs like marshmallow, slippery elm or liquorice to calm and heal the mucous membranes of the digestive tract.

Herbs have a myriad of different chemicals, vitamins and minerals that the body recognises and will utilise if needed. Take meadowsweet, which contains salicylic acid from which aspirin is derived. Unlike aspirin, which damages your stomach, meadowsweet is wonderfully demulcent and protecting so will do the opposite and actually help to heal the stomach lining.

Put very simply, most of the problems with chronic illness is a build-up of toxicity in the body which turns it acidic – this increases inflammation and so the immune response to try and correct it which, in time, becomes overwhelmed or, in the case of autoimmune diseases, goes into overdrive.

More often than not, it comes down to digestion. Constant stress, through, for example, anxiety, bad diet or lack of exercise means digestion is not working properly. If the body is not digesting properly it will be stressed and can’t get rid of toxins or process hormones properly – cells are not getting the nutrients they need to be healthy, blood is not moving easily round the body and so it becomes diseased.

What herbalists will do is get to the root of the problem. My website is a work in progress as is Instagram! www. packapunchherbs or contact me at fiona@ packapunchherbs.com Fiona Chapman is a Naturopathic Herbalist (Pellyfiona@gmail.com)

Health & Wellbeing

How to take the strain out of long school summer holidays

by Alice Jonsen

Earlier in the week I came across a quote from Hillary Clinton: “Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.” It seems appropriate to flag up as we kick off the long school holidays.

As someone else said to me recently, the long school holidays over the summer – wonderful as they can be – are one of the reasons women can earn less than men.

Because, the chances are, in most families where there are two parents or guardians on site, one male, one female, the latter will be doing the lion’s share of juggling work around the children. The balance is shifting, particularly for people who are able to work from home, but it is still far off an equal divide.

For some families that works. That’s how they want it done. At the end of the day, what works for your family is what matters, not a government- or research-led statistic telling what is right or wrong.

But for many women who run their own businesses or are employed full- or part-time, while raising school-aged children, the next six weeks are challenging to say the least.

Olivia Bath runs an organisation supporting working mums – it’s called The Women’s Vault. One of the most startling points she raises is that working mums today spend more time with their children than non-working mums in 1975. Family life, structure, demands – they have all changed over the years. The need and ability to earn and do more, the increase in singleparent families – this all affects how parents operate and how they envisage their relationship with their children. I’m certainly not saying one decade was better than the other. But – always a but – the shifts in family structure have put more pressure predominantly on working mothers.

So, if you are feeling the strain over the next few weeks, remember you are not a superhero. Take a look at what you are trying to do. Can anything wait a few weeks? Can you just focus on the essential, immediate tasks? Is there anyone you can ask to share the load with? And if you are able to take a break, make sure you

The next few weeks are going to be challenging for working mums. PHOTO: Engin Akyurt

do just that. Take social media apps off your phone for a few days. Don’t have long discussions about work. Allow that space to recharge you and bring new ideas to the table. You might be surprised how effective doing nothing for a short time can be. Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne (07961 080513; alicejohnsen.co.uk)

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