Five hours of sitting and thinking about looking after myself while listening to four great speakers seemed like a nice way to spend a Sunday, and I was right, it was!
Set in the Beauty Salon Riva no6 on Clarendon Road, Vicky Heard from Hooray for the Day Therapies organised this event. It was just the right size for the number of people that attended. Throughout the day there were talks on mindfulness, nutrition and nontoxic skincare; the benefits of using these products and essential oils and how they can help in everyday life from sleeping better to helping with anxiety.
Craig McHugh is a mindfulness coach and he started the workshop by talking about all the little things in life that get on our nerves. From the stress we suffer at work, family and just life in general. He asked us to write down one thing we were worried about on a post-it note. Craig had a strong, powerful way of making you think differently. One thing he mentioned was our relationships with our thoughts and our state of awareness. Dealing with stress and learning about the power of now was something we were all sat thinking over. Apparently 80% of our thoughts in a day are either negative or repetitive which is so sad when you think how quickly a day just flies by. So many times in our day we are either thinking of the past, which might be negative thoughts, or our future where we might be thinking negative things that are going to happen. What we need to do is focus more on the here and now and take positive actions to achieve this and then the future will take care of itself. We were given a few strategies to help with pushing our minds back to here and now.
Tara Knight is famously known as the owner of the Southsea Coffee Co on Osbourne Road and Ginger & Peach which is all about food and catering. Ginger and Peach run a supper club every month which sells out quickly so I was excited to meet our next educator. What I loved about this chapter of our day is Tara was realistic. Her views are very balancing. If you want a cake then eat it and enjoy things in moderation but then think of eating in a mindful way too. Choosing foods with colour and texture will not only be healthy but taste nice too. We talked about nourishing our nervous systems by eating good fats. Oily fish, walnuts and flaxseed oil are all great for us. Lastly, Tara talked about the fermenting of foods and what a great benefit eating these foods can have on our health. Kombucha is a fermented drink that has very low alcohol but you can drink it instead of having that glass of wine and feel healthier for it. We then got given an amazing bowl of food for lunch that had so much colour. Spinach plus beetroot and a hot pink Kraut which is a fermented cabbage. On the top were some delicious green avocado slices and it tasted very well balanced. To compliment our dish we had a glass of Kombucha and I have to say it tasted like a mild cider. For dessert, we were given 4 slices of cheesecake that were made in such a healthy way but tasted divine. Honestly, I did not feel bad about eating all of those. The Southsea Coffee Co sell these slices of cheesecake in store so if you have tried them before you will know just how yummy they are!
Vicky Heard from Hooray For The Day is an event planner but also a holistic therapist and works on certain days at Riva no6. Vicky talked to us about the dangers we don't see in the skincare products we use, from shampoo to soap. Sun cream was a big focus because we use so much of it in the warmer months and there can be a lot of chemicals in these products. We were given a catalogue of skin care products as well as sun cream to buy that had absolutely no toxins in whatsoever. Tropic is the name of the brand and the catalogue looked very good. This was a big deal for me as I’m always worrying about what I put on my son's skin. My order went in for some shower gel and I will definitely be purchasing some sun cream as the warmer weather approaches. Quite often I find that I have sun cream left over so I would rather pay a little more and make sure it is one that is not going to cause any lasting damage to my son’s skin.
I have loved aromatherapy oils for a very long time and really do believe in the power they have to help heal us as well as calm us and help us sleep. Gemma Jenkins was our next educator and she gave us a worksheet to look at ways of mixing oils that can help in our daily lives. I really liked the ‘energy and focus’ one and think this is one I might use again. Lemon oil and Peppermint oil are added together to make an invigorating blend. The aromas that come from these oils give a sense of calm and ease so I will definitely be trying some of these blends in the future. We made up our own blend of oils to take home, my car smelt amazing driving home!
Throughout the day there was a wide range of beverages to choose from. In the morning I had a cup of tea then I drank ginger tea throughout the rest of the session.
Sometimes I just don't feel I give myself enough time to relax and I think we can all be a little bit like that. In the evening I find myself sitting down then falling straight to sleep. Or feeling tired and wired so I stay up later than I really want to, so all these tips have really helped put things in perspective. Vicky from Hooray For The Day has more wellbeing workshops planned for the spring so please have a look out for these by checking out her facebook page or website. I would definitely recommend going on one.
