Health & Wellbeing

A walk around...

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

MOTCOMBE

Park by the Church, which is usually open. After you have visited it (and maybe added to or used their food bank) walk south westward along the road, passing the School, which looks pretty old. I think my Mother and her sisters and brother would have attended it as my grandparents were farming in Motcombe in the 1920s. After nearly half a mile, you’ll find the start of a bridleway on your right, leading northwards. The route can get a bit muddy in places and some of the stiles appear to have been designed for the long legged. There’s often a stream alongside. You’ll pass on your right a line of very ancient trees along a hedge bank which must have been an important boundary centuries ago. Just before a gateway the path swings right then left through a woody patch then continues northward between a hedge and a fence. When you reach some farm buildings, turn briefly left then right to continue northwards. At a junction of bridleways you’ll enter Motcombe Meadows, an 18 acre estate with trees,

allotments, grassland and paths owned by the Parish Council. You might like to explore it on another occasion or pause for a picnic. Take the bridleway heading west for about a mile. There are some good views, especially towards Duncliffe Hill to the south. When you reach King’s Court Wood, join a footpath that leads you north eastwards. After a while look out for a stile in a hedge to your north and head for it. This leads you to a (not very!) level crossing across the railway line. Then carry on to Wolfridge Farm where you turn right and soon you’ll join the road which takes you south, through the village and back to your car. Scores of healthy benefits from the Queen of the meadow

Filipendula ulmaria or Meadowsweet is out now. It is the lovely white, slightly almond smelling flowers that start like a sort of flat umbrella which, as they progress, get rather fluffy. (Not in any way to be confused with hog weed which is also out at the moment.) You will see them on damp roadsides and verges and in boggy meadows where they have the lovely name, Queen of the meadow. It is a very ancient herb and was considered one of the three most sacred herbs by the druids. I am constantly staggered by how clever and advanced these ancient civilisations were in their use of herbs because scientific evidence backs it up. They were just so much closer to nature and more intuitive than us. This, together with a certain amount of trial and error, gave them access to an incredible medicinal world. I find it so sad that much of the knowledge has been lost and is now so ridiculed or dismissed. The flower heads have salicylic acid, from which Aspirin was first made. But unlike Aspirin which can cause ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract, Meadowsweet also has lots of other properties that protect the mucous membranes in both the gastro-intestinal system the urinary tract. As a result, it is used as an antiinflammatory herb for peptic ulcers and gastritis. It has antiacid properties and is good for gastrooesophageal reflux (GORD) and for gastrointestinal inflammation, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (which, for anyone suffering in silence, is extremely common) and being slightly astringent, it is good for diarrhoea, specifically, children’s diarrhoea. You can use this wonderful herb as a tea when you have a cold, and it will encourage sweating and help bring out a fever and of course it helps with pain. It is also very good for the urinary tract and can be used for cystitis as it is a mild urinary anti-sceptic and antimicrobial. It is a diuretic (helping you to pee) and is also used for prostatic enlargement, another extremely common problem for men of a certain age. I put it in a tea to help with arthritis, and digestion to good effect. It can also be used topically on wounds to staunch bleeding. Not only all this but the herb has iron, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and silica all vital elements that keep our bodies healthy. No wonder it is called the Queen of the meadow. Pick the flower heads on a dry day and dry them for a delicious tea. If you are interested in herbal medicine and would like a consultation, please do get in touch at pellyfiona@ gmail.com or 07742 453285

Fiona Chapman is studying naturopathy and herbal medicine at the College of Naturopathic Medicine

New Blackmore Vale, July 23, 2021 Health & Wellbeing We’re all going on a summer holiday Help your skin and

Whether you are planning to get away this year or not, the summer is a good opportunity to take stock. The change of pace many of us enjoy through August is valuable on many levels. I’m not denying the long school holidays can be ageing, testing and sometimes utterly overwhelming – as well as lovely and full Blyton-esque lashings of ginger beer. They are also a good time to check in with different parts of your life. In the general busy-ness of everyday life, it is so easy just to carry on doing whatever it is you do because there’s no time, emotional space or energy to consider doing anything else. But in August, we can change the pace. Take a step back, read around the subject. Take a nap. That sort of thing. It’s not a bad use of your time – particularly if you have been working full throttle for months and months. Are you happy with where everything is heading? Is this what you planned? If not, what are the barriers keeping you where you are? Is it fog or uncertainty in your mind or is it perhaps something more tangible? How can we gain this new perspective, especially with travel still looking somewhere between a bit dodgy and totally pointless (at the time of writing)? Just shaking up the usual routine, spending more time doing different things. That unplanned trip to the beach (we are all so lucky to live near a bit of coast), reading something we wouldn’t normally choose, more time outside. Shorter days at our desks, longer days on our feet. It’s all good food for the mind. I’m certainly looking forward to taking my foot off the pedal for a bit, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking about coaching or my clients or how I want my business to grow the next six months. Quite the opposite – but from a step back. If you get to the end of the summer and feel you have more questions than answers, go to my website to book a call and we can have a look at what’s going on and work out how you can change the bits of your life you don’t want to keep on keeping on.

Alice Johnsen is a life coach based near Sherborne. 07961 080513 alicejohnsen.co.uk

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A mum who makes all-natural skincare products from her home near Mere is using the proceeds to plant trees. Victoria Brunton launched Naturally Kunewyk – making moisturisers, ewe’s milk soap, lip balms and more – last year, after developing her first soap for her son, who suffered with eczema. She soon found a growing clamour for her products, and set about establishing a website. One of her aims is to plant trees with proceeds from her solid moisturisers. Over the last winter, scores of trees went in and are growing well. She said: “Natural skincare was never on my agenda. However this all changed when my son was a baby and was covered head to foot with eczema. Alongside some dietary changes and desperate to avoid steroid creams, I researched and developed a solid moisturiser for him. Compared to all the shop and pharmacy bought creams, nothing worked for him, unlike this. Only natural ingredients shea butter, coconut oil and beeswax did the trick.” Kunewyk Moisturising Bars are available at kunewyk.co.uk.

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New Blackmore Vale, July 23, 2021 Health & Wellbeing Feel and express your emotions to be present and authentic

There was a lot of emotion on display during the recent Euro 2020 competition. Emotions are chemicals released in response to our interpretation of a specific trigger; then feelings follow, which are the conscious experience of emotional reactions. Having had 18 months of the pandemic; most people were full of pent-up emotion and feelings so the football was the perfect release valve. We needed something positive to happen after so much doom and gloom and it was lovely to have some enjoyment and hope. Sport is something that promotes a lot of emotion and feelings in many of us – yet so often in day-to-day life we are encouraged not to show our emotions or to express our feelings. Growing up we take on board unhelpful messages like ‘men don’t cry’ and ‘women are too emotional.’ We have this British ‘stiff upper lip’ that often does us far more harm than good. There is even research now that shows people who are ‘emotionally constipated’ are more prone to being physically unwell. If we store up all our emotions and feelings, especially those like anger, sadness, fear, resentments, hurt; they will usually manifest themselves in some other way such as in negative or selfharming behaviours. Depression is often about inverted anger; anxiety about holding onto fear. As a counsellor I encourage people to share their experiences; as even just being heard can be healing. Not only are we discouraged from showing emotions and feelings; we often don’t have the vocabulary to share them. Many people don’t actually know how to express their emotions or find it difficult to even know what they are feeling. We are not taught emotional idntelligence in school and many people are emotionally illiterate. Our mental health can be greatly improved by learning how to accurately describe how we feel. Sharing our honest thoughts and feelings can raise our selfesteem and give us confidence. Being true to ourselves and authentic in what we say and do is liberating and important in maintaining good mental health; it also helps in all our relationships. Communicating our feelings brings emotional intimacy, which is the cornerstone of a good, healthy relationship. It promotes trust and brings people much closer together; encouraging love, empathy, understanding, tolerance, respect etc. Being

emotionally vulnerable is actually a strength rather than a weakness, as it takes great courage to open up to someone. Humility is a wonderful gift to have and shows that one is emotionally mature. There are so many things that can make us emotionally unavailable these days; so it is important that we take time to really be emotionally present in our relationships and interactions. We can learn so much about ourselves by processing our emotions and sharing our feelings. They help with our intuition and keep us grounded and real. They are the essence of ourselves and bind us together. n David Stanton is a Psychotherapist/counsellor living in the Vale. Telephone 07584 711488. tatvacenter.com Swooping past brightly lit beetles glowing to attract a mate

As the twilight falls towards darkness, I mount my bike and make my way down the trailway that connects the north Dorset towns and villages. The rain clouds that marred the day have thankfully dissipated, allowing me to revel in the rare conjunction of Venus and Mars, the planets of love and war, who tonight are making a loving embrace. Although my fascination for the night sky never leaves me, my mission tonight is to look down rather than up. As I soar effortlessly through the cool night air, my eyes are thus cast towards the hedgerow and grass verges in a quest to see the enchanted green bioluminescence of glowworms and the eternal love story that unfolds in June and July. The fine, delicate crescent moon that floats to the right of the planets is also just perfect as glowworms are less likely to emit their light when the moon is bright. These small, magical creatures are not worms at all, but beetles. It is the wingless female who lights up the darkness with her tail. In order to attract a winged lover, she climbs to the top of a plant or grass steam and shines for up to three hours at a time. Once she has mated, she stops glowing, lays up to a hundred eggs, and then perishes. Her feisty larvae live in the ground for up to two to three years, and surprisingly, even her eggs and larvae can omit the same chemical glow. Last year my son and I counted 55 of them in just a short stretch of the trail. But this year, sadly, the council have wielded their mowers, and so their numbers are greatly reduced as glowworms prefer long, undisturbed grass along footpath edges and verges. Thomas Hardy wrote Return of the Native in Sturminster Newton, and at that time, they were so prolific that his characters could play dice by their light. It doesn’t matter how many times I see glowworms, I cannot help but stop to marvel at the strange green, alien light that they emit. In religious folklore, the glowworm signifies how even in the darkest nights, or moments, there is light. Finding this thought somewhat comforting, I make my way home just as the rain clouds return and the embracing planets dip out of view. Despite this, it is still a breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful night.