Health & Wellbeing

Health & Wellbeing Be mindful.. and give yourself space

Mindfulness has become a bit of a buzz word, it’s everywhere. You can take part in online mindful baking classes, mindful art, mindful dance, mindful colouring and the list goes on. As a Yoga Instructor, when some years ago I first heard the term ‘mindfulness’ as a separate entity to yoga I was intrigued to know what exactly mindfulness was and how did it differ from the principal core of the tradition of yoga. I decided to do a bit of research to find out more. I bought books, attended workshops and courses. I learned of many great people whose work have much to do with this new found phenomenon, two of them being Jon Kabit-Zin and Thich Nhat Hanh. Jon Kabat-Zin is founder of the programme MBSR, mindfulness based stress reduction. This programme has helped thousands of people recognise and cope with stress related problems. It is widely used and recommended by doctors and health professionals. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddest monk and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, author of many remarkable, empowering books on peaceful practices that are so simple to read, yet contain great wisdom. While these and many others are to be congratulated for bringing mindfulness to our ‘attention’ I soon realised ‘mindfulness’ was not a new concept or a new way of doing things. It had been an integral part of my yoga. Mindfulness has been about for as long as we have. We all know that when we have time to slow down, we can appreciate everything around us more easily. We can hear the birds singing, we can recognise that a friend might not be as jolly as normal, we can start to think about ourselves and what makes us happy or sad, what we enjoy or don’t. The problem is we are often just to busy to pause and pay attention with full awareness. We jump from one busy task to the next, whether that be work, school, housework or gardening the list goes on. We are so busy doing, we forget to just be. It’s a wonderful thing that mindfulness has become a buzz word and that we can be reminded to slow down and pay attention, try Mindful yoga, Mindful cooking, Mindful walking, give yourself some space to pause and just be.

Finola Brennan The Cedar Tree Blandford the-cedar-tree.co.uk 07780 952 395

Tech allowing grandmother to speak

By Miranda Robertson

A family from Gillingham say they are so grateful for pioneering technology, which will allow them to hear their mother’s voice after motor neurone disease started to rob her of her speech. The grandmother of seven, 71, who wants to remain anonymous, has been ‘banking’ her voice as it becomes harder and harder to speak due to the disease. Her husband, 65, said: “For the whole family this will be a great comfort to them all to be able to hear her voice when she can longer speak.” Over the last couple of years, Dorset HealthCare’s speech and language therapy team has trialled a ‘voice banking’ service, funded by the East Dorset and New Forest branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Staff help patients ‘bank’ their voice, which then gets fed into software so they can communicate in their old, familiar tones. The woman’s husband said: “My wife was diagnosed in November, but her symptoms started just over a year ago. It was frightening to start with but we go from day to day now. “She is still at the stage where she can walk and we try to get out for a walk every day. All food has to be pureed and speech is very hard for her – it’s a big effort. We’re still coming to terms with it. Rose from Weldmar comes here once a month and she is excellent.” The pioneering technology to help people retain their voice despite the ravages of motor neurone is now being made available permanently in Dorset. MND patients can record hundreds of words and phrases to communicate in the event of losing their voice as the illness progresses. The service has proved such a hit, used by more than 40 people, the trust has now provided funding to make the service permanent. Dorset is one of the few areas in the country to offer this service. On average, 50 to 60 people are diagnosed with MND each year in Dorset. More than 80 per cent of them will develop communication problems, with many losing their voices altogether. A short film outlining how the voice banking service works, and the positive impact it had for some local people with MND, can be seen at bit.ly/3rOcug0 To find out more, go to: dorsethealthcare.nhs.uk/adul t-speech-and-languagetherapy

A member of the voice banking team in action

PODIATRY CLINIC ST EDMUNDS Burton Street, Marnhull DT10 1PS Julie Anne Smith DPodM MCPod hcpc registered Podiatrist T. 01258 821297 NEW CLINIC E. stedmundspodiatry@gmail.com

Health & Wellbeing Meditations in nature: Under an awesome April sky

Leonardo de Vinci proposed that “once you have tasted the taste of the sky, you will forever look up”. I, too, am constantly in awe of the sky. It is, after all, the canopy under which we live our lives. With its shifting moods and colours, it affects us in more ways than we realise, from a sense of lightness and space under a high blue sky to a feeling of heaviness and closeness when low, dark grey clouds sit heavily upon our day. In April, the sky is a shifting kaleidoscope of shapes and shades. The air over Britain is still cool from winter, but the heat of the spring sunshine is warming the ground. As the warmth rises into the cool air, the contrasting temperatures create voluminous cloud formations and subsequent torrential downpours. Today, the sky tells me that anything could happen. The arctic wind has chased away the sun’s warmth and the daffodils in my garden have bent their heads towards the ground; broken by the morning’s ground frost. Even so, I don my boots and head out to enjoy whatever my stormy adventure brings. April originates from the Latin verb “aperire”, which means ‘to open’, and this is exactly how April feels to me. The flowers, the trees and life itself are all opening up. The energising yellowness of celandines, primroses, and daffodils gleam optimism from the banks of the lane, whilst overhead, a white haze of abundant blackthorn momentarily colours my world white. Its fine, delicate petals slipping like confetti in the wind. I immediately recall my grandmother’s portent of a blackthorn winter heralding icy weather when the trees are in flower; the folklore is certainly true of today. Absorbed by the burgeoning life around me, I barely notice the ominous anvil shaped cloud whose margins engulf the entire horizon ahead of me. Highlighted by the sun, the blue slate sky sits oppressively on the land contrasting the greening contours below, and grey patches of cloud tumble down in discernable streaks of rain. Yet, around the southern edges of this mini monsoon, blue sky pretends all is well. I am not convinced and take shelter under my rain jacket. As I walk down towards the river, I marvel at the drama of nature’s performance; my steps accompanied by the rhythmic sound of raindrops on my hood; like music to my ears. I love the month of April. WOULD LIKE TO MEET

Male, 72 Seeks cuddly sized lady 60-70 for friendship & LTR. 07516 715808

HEALTH & WELLBEING

n Dr Susie Curtin curtin.susanna@gmail.com

FREE COUNSELLING SERVICE We have received funding from the National Community Fund to enable us to offer a telephone support line for anybody having trouble coping with these weird times that we are going through. What ever your problem, give us a call and our friendly counsellor will try to help. The help line is available: Tuesdays Daytime1 - 4 pm Wednesdays Evening6 - 8 pm Thursday Daytime12 - 3 pm Telephone: 07714 550969 It’s good to share

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HEALING MEDITATION GROUP based on A Course in Miracles. Monthly meeting of discussion & sharing. Contact Mary 07906 592358 for details. "There is no order of difficulty in Miracles"

NATURAL PAIN RELIEF therapist in Gillingham. Bio resonance scan and atments.clinical reflexology & baby/ toddler reflexology. T: 01747 826931 yvonne@intelligenthealthclinic.co.uk Making Life More Comfortable!

ADELE CLINCH, BSC HCPC Registered chiropodist/podiatrist 01935 812231 Home visits in NW Dorset sherbornepodiatry.com

Health & Wellbeing Wild garlic packs a flavoursome and health-boosting punch

Wild garlic is in abundance at the moment, with the fresh green leaves coating some of Dorset’s woodland floors. Soon the white, delicate flowers will burst into life, making this time of year one of the most magical and walking through forests of wild garlic is a visual and sensory pleasure. This fantastic herb is weaker than its cultivated cousin garlic, but has many of the same health benefits. It is reported to be extremely good for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, so beneficial to heart health. It is antiseptic. It stimulates the production of bile, which is good for the gall bladder and liver and helps to remove toxins from the body. It can also rid the body of threadworms! We eat an awful lot of wild garlic at this time of year, so I thought I would share a couple of quick recipes. Pesto: Large handful of wild garlic leaves. Packet of pine nuts. A good slug of olive oil. Salt, pepper, lime or lemon if you like and/or a good wedge of parmesan or hard goat’s cheese (grated). Put them all into a blender and whiz up. When the flowers are out, pick some of them and pop them on top of some cooked pasta, tossed in the pesto. Soup: Cut up one large onion and a chilli. Cook with a small bit of olive or coconut oil on a low heat. Once soft, add some paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper. Peel and cut up a small (or half) a celeriac. Add to the pot. Put in a can of coconut milk and about the same again of water plus one organic low salt vegetable stock cube. Pop a lid on the pan and cook for about 20 mins. Pick a huge bunch of wild garlic leaves and some nettle tops. Give all this a wash and chop. Once the celeriac is tender, add a couple of cupfuls of frozen peas, the nettles and wild garlic and bring to the boil. Take it off the heat and blitz in a food processor. Add any seasoning to taste. Wild garlic leaves keep well if you pick them and put them in water and both recipes pack a highly nutritive and healthy punch. The soup is excellent for Yin deficiency – which is when, as we get older, we start to dry up – so it helps replenish some of the fluids in our body. Beware with the pesto, it is delicious and being too greedy about it can cause duvets to fly about the ceiling!

Fiona Chapman is studying naturopathy and herbal medicine at the College of Naturopathic Medicine How to help a child through trauma

‘Everyone’s Invited’ is a website where young people can share their experience of abuse or trauma. Many of the stories, as standalone encounters, do not add up to a great wrong. They are accounts of intrusive, offensive and thoughtless acts. Many are far more traumatic. Collectively they are a window into a society that has lost its way. They merge together to form a picture of a world young people must struggle to find their way through, accepting the unwanted, acting out the unacceptable and then living a lie by pretending what has happened is ok. In such areas, where do we start to help our children? Surely our main role, whatever their age, is to keep the channels of communication not only open but positively flowing because parents need to be that safe place where children can come to find out more, to test a theory, to discuss something or someone that is worrying them, to utter that cry for help. We don’t need to know all the answers, but we do need to be approachable, honest and ready to listen. Perhaps we also need to live a good example. The rules of yesteryear just don’t apply anymore. Interaction with friends, availability of ‘information’ regardless of age, the way your past does not stay in the past, it’s right there in front of potential boyfriends, girlfriends, flatmates, employers, just a screen swipe away. At the very least, we need to examine how we interact with others, how we describe people or relate to people. There has been media coverage of schools not accepting responsibility because the ‘incident’ took place out of school hours or away from school premises. Before I put my head above the parapet, I would also add there has been coverage of incidents that DID take place at school that were brushed under the carpet very firmly and in fact, as I write, a mother is sending me accounts of just such incidents. But, surely, just because our children are at school, we are still their parents. Surely it never stops being our responsibility? If you’re wondering how to start this conversation, it’s easier to talk to your children avoiding eye contact. So, a walk or a car journey. It’s less confrontational and has a natural end point to the conversation when you get to the end of your journey. A longer edition of this article is available by contacting Alice Johnsen. If you have been affected by this issue and would like support please contact Alice.

A walk around...

BEER HACKETT

Distance: Approx 4 miles This walk weaves you for five miles about the parish of Beer Hackett. The village is about five miles south west of Sherborne and a mile north of Yetminster. Park by the church, which is worth a visit. It’s rather large when you consider that the population of the parish is only about 100. Take the footpath heading north from the nearby Church Farm, crossing several low lying fields with clay soil. After half a mile you’ll reach the parish boundary, which follows a stream. Double back and head south east along a footpath, crossing more fields, possibly with lots of cows. Don’t worry if you meet cows when out walking. They’re usually friendly and curious and may nuzzle you; however, if you have a dog, however harmless you know Fido to be, the cattle see a wolf and act accordingly. Continue for half a mile until you reach Claypits Lane (I wonder how it got that name?), a track that takes you north for a quarter of a mile, where you’ll meet a footpath that will take you south-east for five furlongs (a kilometre if you’re still in with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

metric) to the hamlet of Knighton, where you’ll meet the Macmillan Way which will take you south-west for half a mile to Tibble’s Copse. Skirt the copse and head north-north-east, crossing the road and heading north. Soon you turn north-west when you come to the corner of Lower Wood and rejoin Claypits Lane, close to Claypits Farm. Turn left and follow the lane southwestwards past Greenways Farm until you meet the road. Here you turn right and walk west-north-west along the road for half a mile and you’ll be back at your car.

What’s the main problem people present with in therapy?

As a mental health professional and psychotherapist, I’m often asked the above question. Stress, depression including bipolar, behavioural disorders. eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, addictions/ dependencies, relationship problems, stress, grief and loss are but a few –but the overwhelming one by far is FEAR. Statistically, anxiety and panic are at the top of the list; both of which are forms of fear. Fear is usually found lurking around when our mental health isn’t good – and it’s an insidious, nasty, annoying and incapacitating thought and feeling. It’s at the root of many mental health disorders – it may or may not be the cause; but it’s nearly always present. Whether it’s fear of being unhappy, alone, unloved, unappreciated, unheard, physically unwell, disliked, unsuccessful, unattractive, isolated, judged and many other insecurities we have – fear can tend to make us think, feel and behave in unhealthy ways. However, fear is also a basic instinct and emotion; without which humanity probably wouldn’t have survived and thrived. In fact, most living things can become fearful. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological. As most know, we tend to react to it with ‘fight, flight or freeze.’ Fight is fairly self-explanatory, flight is run like hell and freeze is the ‘rabbit in the headlights’ or the ‘caught red handed’ syndrome! None of which are comfortable. We’re often advised to ‘face your fear’ –something I don’t advise unless you have professional support. Forcing someone to do something against their will is not only traumatic; it’s against our basic human rights (if we’re fortunate enough to have them.) In therapy we use various therapeutic approaches to combat fear; including exposure therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy to name a couple of common techniques. Another very common fear is the fear of therapy itself! As individuals we’re not great in owning our character defects and shortcomings. Exposing our insecurities, flaws, mistaken beliefs and generally our shadow or dark side is not easy. We tend not to want to go there, or admit we’re fallible; because most have quite fragile self-esteems and our confidence can easily be toppled. Any suggestion of false-pride or overblown ego is usually met with either denial or defensiveness – as are many mental health problems. So a good therapist needs to have empathy, sympathy, compassion and understanding, plus good skills; so as not to make their clients feel worse. Anxiety is horrible if you’ve not learnt how to control it. The thought of losing control itself can literally be terrifying. Even change is usually not viewed as fun; rather it’s thought of as stressful. HOWEVER, the good news is that anxiety and fear can be successfully treated and living without much of either is incredibly liberating and can totally transform one’s existence – I’ve experienced it in my own life and seen it happen many times to others. n Psychotherapist David Stanton lives near Sherborne.

David Stanton IAC ICPT ISOCS ISSUP Senior Psychotherapist/Counsellor. Trainer and Mental Health Consultant. Individual and Group face to face sessions; also via video on WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger and Zoom. Clinical Supervisor to other Health Care workers. Counselling for Individuals, Groups, Couples, Children, Adolescents and Families. 40+ years experience.

Depression, Anxiety, Trauma, Self Esteem, Relationship problems, Family Dynamics, Bereavement, Eating Disorders, Substance/Alcohol Abuse, Addictions.

Isolation, Loneliness, PTSD, Bi-Polar, OCD, Sexual/Physical Abuse, Self Harming, Death Anxiety, Sex Issues. Lack of Meaning & Purpose, Anger, Phobias, Gender, Sexuality. Social Justice. Con昀ict Resolution. Crisis Management.

Available for Mental Health and Emotional Wellness Workshops, Retreats, Seminars, Training and Talks. Emotional Intelligence and Awareness Educator to all Education Establishments and Businesses.

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Please contact through the websites

www.tatvacenter.com www.edas-addictionservices.com

or telephone - David 07 584 711 488