Wellbeing

In my last blog I talked about how important self-care is.

In this blog, I'm going to talk about our wellbeing, especially our mental health.

Lockdown hasn't been easy for many people, but it has especially affected the younger population.

A Bupa article"Powerless Teens at Breaking Point..." stated that:

Three in four 13-19 year olds have experienced physical health issue related to poor mental health since March 2020.

Half have turned to harmful coping mechanisms  - including drink, drugs, or self-harm to alleviate symptoms.  The majority feel pessimistic about their future.

45% of parents admit that they need more guidance on how to talk to their teens about mental health.

This is a sad state of affairs, especially as the teen years can be particularly challenging at the best of times!

I have recently completed some more 'lockdown learning' and have learnt how hand massage can be especially beneficial for our mental wellbeing, how parts of the hand relate to the brain and our emotions.

I have been piloting a hand massage routine online with willing young volunteers who suffer from anxiety.  I have been teaching them a hand massage routine online, explaining how the hand relates to the brain and the emotions, how massage helps release stress-lowering hormones, allowing them to experience the calming effects of this massage.

Having coping mechanisms to turn to can be very beneficial for us all and this hand massage is a great coping mechanism. It has the benefit that it can be carried out at any time too.

Crystals can also give our mental health a boost and help us to cope.

For example, Onyx helps to alleviate overwhelming fears and worries.

Amethyst helps to calm the mind. It is useful where insomnia is caused by an overactive mind.

I am now offering online Wellbeing Hand Massages. They are suitable for everyone, but are especially beneficial for young people.

An online Wellbeing Hand Massage session costs £20 (for approximately 30 mins). During this time you will be shown how to carry out the hand massage and given resources  to learn and practice it at home.

Meditation is another way to help our wellbeing.  I meditate regularly and it helps me greatly. I have written a blog about the benefits of meditation and it can be viewed here 

During lockdown I have been recording meditations for my clients for £5 per meditation.

Here is one that you can listen to for free here

I will shortly be running a 2 hour online Wellbeing Workshop where I will be teaching the hand massage, carrying out some meditations and teaching about crystals for wellbeing and how to use them in our everyday lives.

Please comment below if you are interested in finding out more about any of the above.

Take good care of yourself and your wellbeing

Julie

Reference 

https://www.bupa.com/newsroom/news/teen-minds-living-through-a-pandemic-and-beyond

Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this blog on the condition that the content remains complete and in tact , full credit is given to the author, and that it is distributed freely.

 

Self-Care Blog January 2021

Back in my first blog back in July 2011 I talked about how ‘the times were a changing’ and in 2021 change continues! 

 In England, we are once again in lockdown due to Covid-19. 

As a therapist and teacher, I am unable to do close contact therapies with clients. Despite not being able to have close contact therapies at present, we still need to find ways to look after ourselves physically, emotionally and mentally and self-care is great way to achieve this. 

 Today I thought about how the winter weather, central healing and the fact that we are again in lockdown can affect us. So I had a relaxing bath and had some me-time using my much loved Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic products. I treated my skin to some self-care by giving myself a facial and also by exfoliating my body with Geranium & Orange Exfoliating scrub. 

If you would like to find out how you can give your skin some self-care, I am running free Winter Skincare Self Care sessions on Facebook via a private group/Zoom and other online mediums. 

You can purchase Neal's Yard Remedies Organic products from here 

 I have also done some more “Lockdown Learning’ and did a Self-Massage Indian Head Massage course. I was pleasantly surprised how relaxing giving yourself a massage is! This is now something I am offering to my clients. 

 This is some feedback from one of my clients :- 

 Given that one to one therapy sessions are not practicable in the current lockdown environment, l was very pleased to find that Julie Wootten is offering remote sessions, using whichever communication system the client prefers. I signed up for the Indian Head Massage via FaceTime.  Julie led me through warm up exercises and then moved on through the hands, arms, neck and even my hair was involved at the end! The session left me very relaxed and I was very impressed at the professional manner in which Julie guided me through the remote therapy. I will definitely be back for more! 

 Meditation is another self-care method and especially great for our mind and emotions. I meditate regularly and it helps me greatly. 

I have written a Blog about the benefits of meditation and it can be viewed at here.

During lockdown, I have been recording meditations for my clients for £5 a month for 1-2 meditations per month. Here is one that you can listen to for free at here 

 It was recorded for the energy of 11th November, but it can be listened to at any time! But it will have special significance when an 11 is involved with the date or time of listening – e.g. 11th January, 11.11 am, 1.11pm 

Another of my favourite self-care activities is taking some time out with my crystals. Just by holding a crystal and asking it to help you some way can bring great benefit. I like to sit or lay in a layout/grid of Carnelian, one of my favourite crystals (as regular readers of this blog will know!) For this layout, you will need 6 pieces of Carnelian (I sell mail-order crystals if you don’t have any Carnelian!) 

 This is the layout:-

 

Try this for 5 minutes or longer if you can.

You can read more about the benefits of this layout in my Blog from January 2015 at here.

We should all try and take some time out for ourselves for some self-care, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Why not try some of the suggestions in this Blog or leave a comment with your own favourite self-care tips.

Please comment below if you are interested in finding out more of any of the above.

Enjoy these changing times and take good care of yourself.

Julie

Permission is granted to copy and redistribute the blog on the condition that the content remains in tact and full credit is given to the author