2014 – It’s been a good year!

If you had to grade your year, what would it get?

I’ve been pretty pleased with 2014.

My health has been good (slight issue with plantar fasciitis, but nothing in the grand scheme of things)

My blog has grown considerably – Thank you guys – your support is amazing and I love you all.

My business turnover has doubled (not a big ask considering where it started from, but I’m still very pleased)

My partner and I have spent some great time with each other (including a fantastic meal or 5 along the way)

Our dog is getting old, but we have been lucky enough to enjoy her for another year.

I have learned new things (creating websites, seo, hypnotic language patterns, marketing strategies, working with Parkinson’s Disease and much much more)

I have overcome obstacles.

I’ve held parties.

I’ve laughed with friends.

I’ve eaten more than is good for me 😦 but really enjoyed it 🙂

I want to have a great year in 2015 too.

I want to set goals so that I have things to achieve, but I also don’t want to set too many expectations as part of the joy of living is going where the wind takes you…so here goes

1. I want to improve my fitness – maybe start pilates.

2. I want to double my turnover for the business again.

3. I want to have over 1000 followers on my blog.

4. I want to enjoy spending time with my partner, my dog and my friends.

5. I want to learn a new skill that will help someone else.

6. I want to change one thing each month that will improve mine or someone else’s life.

I’d love to know how your year has been and what plans you have for next year – and if I can help in any way – let me know!

Thank you 2014, you’ve been great.

The Plank Challenge

As much as I don’t always like to exercise, even I accept that keeping physically fit is important to your mental health.

The same things that keep your body healthy also help to keep you mentally healthy – lots of clean water, good natural foods and appropriate exercise. Cardiovascular exercise is important as it keeps the blood flowing round our bodies and that includes making sure that your brain has a good supply of oxygen. The best sort of cardiovascular exercise to stave off brain degeneration in diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s also includes mental stimulation e.g. going for a run in a wood as opposed to on a tread mill.

But other sorts of exercise are important too. Planking is a great way to strengthen your core muscles, is easy to do, takes no special equipment and can be started by anybody no matter what fitness level, though you should always check with your GP or health professional before starting any exercise programme.

Increasing your core strength helps to improve balance, improves your posture, makes you a more efficient runner or walker, improves stability, increases upper body strength, strengthens hips and pelvic floor and increases low back strength which reduces risk of injury.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it’s always best to start with achievable goals – so if you would like to increase your fitness, why not start with planking. It will take less than a minute a day to start with – and anybody can commit to that, no matter what time pressures are on them. By slowly building up the amount of time you plank for, you will steadily increase your core strength which will help you to do whatever exercise goals you set yourself next.

If you look it up you will find lots of different 30 day challenge patterns for planking. The one I have added at the bottom is for demonstration purposes only. If you decide to follow one of these you should choose the one that fits in best with your ability levels. If you can do it with a friend or partner – even better – you’ll be able to keep each other motivated and the competition element will keep you doing your best.

I hope you do something today to increase your fitness. It will make you feel better, it will give you a sense of achievement and your future self will thank you for the effort you make today 🙂

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease, sometimes known as PD or just as Parkinson’s is a neurological disease that has made itself at home in my family. My mother has it. Her Mother had it. My Brother has it. There are some thoughts that it may be genetically linked, but it could equally be environmental or lifestyle factors that have caused this cluster of cases.

Whatever the cause, it has made me look at the disease more closely, and as a hypnotist, made me think about ways that I can help sufferers cope with their symptoms, reduce the effects of these symptoms and generally improve their quality of life.

Parkinson’s is a slowly progressing degenerative disease that causes a loss of Dopamine producing brain cells. This lack of Dopamine causes the following symptoms

• Tremor or trembling of the arms, jaw, legs and face
• Stiffness or rigidity of the limbs and trunk
• Slowness of movement (Bradykinesia)
• Postural instability, impaired balance and poor coordination

As well as the motor symptoms listed above it can also lead to sleep disturbance, emotional changes and depression.

Parkinson’s affects about 1 in every 500 people and although it is most common in the over 50’s, about 1 in 20 sufferers are under the age of 40.

Current treatment of Parkinson’s involves anything from lifestyle change, drug combinations and in severe cases, surgery, but hypnosis is rarely recommended by doctors despite it’s ability to relieve many of the worst effects of the disease.

As a hypnotist my aim is to communicate with the subconscious part of the brain – the bit that you’re not really aware of. This is the part that helps to regulate and control your emotions and your hormones. By using hypnosis in the first instance I can help clients manage stress, feel better about themselves and gain control. Secondly I can help them with visualisations and techniques that have been shown to improve muscle control and stability. Hypnosis cannot cure Parkinson’s – to my knowledge nothing can at the present time – but it can make it easier to live with.

If you have Parkinson’s or know someone who has, consider speaking to a hypnotherapist who specialises in working with people who have this condition – and if you have any question please feel free to contact me either by leaving a comment, by emailing me directly at talktherapies@gmail.com, messaging via facebook at  www.facebook.com/TalkTherapies

Good Luck with your journey. I hope you find Balance.

http://www.talktherapies.co.uk