I was recently chatting to a client who I see a couple of times a year when she referred to me as ‘her regular massage therapist’. I realised that ‘regular’ means something different to everyone. For me, regular is at least once per month but for others it might look more like once a year. Whatever your self care regime or budget I highly recommend that you don’t wait until you are broken to take action. Massage, yin yoga, reflexology and relaxation techniques are all a brilliant support for your body and mind but it does take time to build up a regular support schedule and it really pays to get a head start to ensure you can carry on when the going gets tough. It takes time and commitment to build your self care regime. Like taking your hair from dark brown to blonde, you really need to be methodical and committed and not expect a big change in a single session. And, like achieving the perfect platinum bouffant, regular maintenance is the magic ingredient. Don’t stop just because you

Right now, it’s the in between. Friday morning after waking but before rising. Mel Robbins and her five second rule can sod off, It’s bliss here. I almost forgot how peaceful it is to simply be in the moment. Life has felt rushed for so long now but never more so than the online world. Listening to Youtubers and TickTockers in the modern world I feels like I’m listening to the quick-fire round of a game show. Nobody speaks slowly anymore. I get the impression that most online creators think that if they don’t speak at the speed of light they will be left behind. Maybe they will. In conversations I feel that I am expected to answer questions before I have even drawn breath or risk being seen as too slow and void of opinion. There is, it seems, no longer time to collect thoughts and construct a thoughtful answer. If I don’t hit the quick-fire buzzer first, I’m out of the conversation. The world moves so fast now and I fear it is leaving me as a walking head, living from my lizard brain i

Social media has perplexed me for a while but recently it feels stranger than usual and I couldn’t quite identify. Until now. In a recent BBC article on slop AI the writer hit the nail on the head. Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg saw the introduction of social media, when we were all connecting with our old school mates and ex boyfriends, as ‘phase one’. Then came phase two, the extension of this connection to people we didn’t know. People from across the globe with similar interests to us but with whom we only had an online relationship. Everything is fun and enjoyable up to this point, no? Enter phase three and the introduction of AI. A world where we can no longer identify real from fake. A world where we are expected to believe the glitchy videos of momma cats rescuing their kittens a variety of perilous situations and where AI creations can be influencers or music stars. According to Zuckerberg this is the dream. His concern isn’t that AI content is taking over, it is that the quality

The joy of slowness isn’t something most modern humans experience. Perhaps a holiday here and there or the promise of a lazy bank holiday might punctuate our lives but otherwise most of us live life flying by the seat of our pants. I often think of Alan Rickman delivering a blisteringly witty put down as one of his many beloved villainous characters. It reminds me that speaking slowly can be so much more empowering than ranting in a high-pitched squeak. There’s just something far more powerful about taking control of one’s voice. It has taken a little effort for me to learn how to slow down with everyday things. Something so simple as making a cup of tea was often rushed, grabbing a mug, spilling the milk or fumbling with splitting a tea bag whilst I impatiently waited for the water to boil. When this simple process is slowed down however, it just feels a lot more, well, luxurious. Luxury doesn’t have to be Chanel handbags and cashmere pants, it can be simply taking time and therefore

I sometimes wonder if aliens came to Earth (which I’m sure they have) and asked us to explain our society, we might be a little stumped for an explanation. The problem with society is that it always thinks it’s right. Not so long ago, in the Victorian era, women were required to wear corsets to achieve an 18 inch waist. Higher members of society were even furnished with a fainting room in the event that the lady of the house’s corset became so tight it caused a dizzy spell (because heaven forbid they would actually stop wearing the damn corset). We hopefully know better now but I do sometimes wonder, of all the things we think we know today, which of these facts will shapeshift as time moves on and, if this is the case, how can we be so foolish to think that what we know now is correct. There are things that we know for certain. The earth is spherical, the speed of light is 186,282 miles per second, cats are the best and the gravity of Earth is 1g. But there are also things that would

Did you see the bruhaha surrounding former Thorn Birds actress Rachel Ward last week as she dared to put her face out into the world? I mean who does she think she is allowing herself to be seen in public after the age of 25? She has wrinkles and everything! Run away, run for the hills! The way Rachel handled the hatred that came her way was far more elegant than anything my brain could come up with and, for me, she hit the nail on the head by showing compassion for the scared trolls who criticised her for not dolling up for the occasion. She put the truth right out there for all to see that we, as a society, are terrified of aging women. It’s sometimes hard to imagine that there was a time before the patriarchy when women were valued and revered. Help us to return to that time when the crone was a valued member of the tribe, a time when wisdom was worth more than collagen and a long life was celebrated and not seen as an inconvenience. There is a reason mother nature keeps a woman aro