Health & Wellbeing

62 The West Dorset Magazine, November 4, 2022 Health & Wellbeing Walking West Dorset

with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

WARMWELL

This is a comparatively short walk of less than four miles and takes you through terrain and vegetation unlike that on any other of this series. Park in the lay-by near the phone box and walk south through the village to the church, which will probably be closed but has lots of War Graves, mainly RAF, which will, I’m sure, soon be smothered in poppies! Go back the way you came then take a footpath to your right, which takes you uphill to the north east, passing some horses and the high garden wall of the massive Warmwell House. After about half a mile the path turns right, east, alongside a wood then, at a crosspaths, turn left, northeast. The terrain here is very flat and full of bog plants, which might explain why it’s called Watercombe. You’ll be walking alongside woodland that has lots of watercourses in it. All the many streams and ditches in the area eventually make their way down to feed the Frome. After half a mile the path bends to the left, west, then curves right and left again, going uphill to meet the road. Turn left and go down the road for a short distance until you join a bridleway, part of the Jubilee Trail, heading west. You’re now passing through heathland, much more undulating than before with lots of bracken, heather, ponies and deer. After a while, the way skirts Warmwell Heath, which is Access Land across which you may wander at will. When you come to a cross ways (not Crossways which is on your right!) turn left and head south south east, passing Warmwell Heath again, until you come to the road. Turn right and follow the road for nearly half a mile back to your car.

REMEMBRANCE: Warmwell’s Holy Trinity church has a lot of war graves

youcantalk.net is a wellness and mental health resource launched by Bridport-based Kerry Miller, pictured, and Alex Fender, who now lives in Snowdonia. It features lots of free resources to help people relax and take stock.

Those of you who have read my earlier posts will already know that for me this year has been about creativity and learning new skills. Most recently I’ve been thoroughly enjoying learning about printables: I create a digital file and upload it (starting with Etsy) and anyone, anywhere in the world can buy it and print it out. Before printables became a ‘thing’ you had to order, pay and wait for your cards etc. to be delivered. Now you can buy a digital file and print it out whenever you want and as many times as you want. They are perfect for last minute shoppers, people on a budget, and anyone who has a printer and knows how to use it. I’ve made a start with greetings cards and I’m really enjoying the design part, and I have hundreds of ideas (see also: etsy.com/uk/shop/ youcantalk), and I’d love you to send me yours too. But the tech? Oh dearie me no, the tech! What a sharp learning curve that has been. But it will be worth it, it will save me running up and down to the Post Office, and that is good. So, I’ve been advised to follow trends and mark occasions. Here goes … It’s October. Halloween. Trick or Treat. Starting with Halloween: from a psychotherapist’s point of view it doesn’t quite hold water. Ask anyone who has

I’ve got printables for every

The West Dorset Magazine, November 4, 2022 63 Health & Wellbeing Positive energy to overcome worries

Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing. The rain is certainly starting to make up for the dry summer, the water butts are full, and the drought is now a distant memory. The gardens are back to their full array of colours, which are now the autumn yellows, reds, and browns of the turning leaves. With the approach of bonfire night, don’t forget to check your fire piles for the hedgehogs before you lite them and safely lock up your pets before the fireworks start. Nerine, pictured, (Guy Fawkes) are summerdormant, perennial bulbs with erect leafless stems which have funnel-shaped flowers in autumn. The energies from this plant are ideal for meditation, focusing the mind to concentrate on the thoughts that worry you the most, these thoughts are channeled through your conscious mind to your sub- conscious when meditating, enabling you to get the answer to the problem, or the peace of mind to overcome the situation that is causing the worry, thus putting the problem into perspective. They are ideally planted around seating areas where you would go for peace and quiet. With the end of British Summer Time, the evenings in the garden have now gone unless you have lighting on the patio, and the time spent in our garden is less, although there is still plenty to do at the moment. The healing we get from the outdoor space is going to be a lot less, because we have less time in the garden, so we must make the most of the time we have and enjoy the energy we can receive at this time. There will still be an array of plants within the garden to enjoy throughout the autumn and winter. We must however not overlook the indoor plants and the healing they can offer us.

Orchids are a very popular house plant, the energies from these beautiful flowers are linked to your Chakra’s (which are the body’s energy points) particularly the crown chakra. It cleanses and balances the crown, which allows other positive energies to flow through, thus increasing you overall wellbeing. And the energies of the Anthurium are positive and as a result attract more positive energy. In the art of feng shui you should consider placing the plant in a southwestern location within your house. Here, they can both facilitate good fortune and ward off negative energy. The lovely flowers and the dark green leaves also provide an overall feeling of well being due to the amount of positive energy they give out. Avoid both cold drafts and any direct heat sources, as this will adversely affect the plant. This is just a couple of house plants you could have flowering at this time of year. Any house plants are a welcome addition to the house, at any time of year they can brighten your day up, so don’t forget them, as they can also provide the healing and positive energies we all need to help see us through the day.

occasion you like!

PTSD, depression or anxiety and so on, and they will tell you their ‘demons’ are never far away, in some cases ever present. If only they just showed up one night a year! Speaking again from the point of view of a psychotherapist –brace yourself people – the ‘demons’ are NOT the real problem here. It’s our relationship with them that can cause big problems. I’ll let Russ Harris fill you in on this: (youtube.com/watch?v=vyxc8 89gQtY). Now. Trick or Treat. I cannot stick it. I hate all the darned plastic pumpkins, the fluorescent skeletons, the nylon witches, ghosts and ghouls, rubbery bats and artificial spiders and webs (aka landfill). As for encouraging little kids to knock on strangers’ doors and ask for sweets... let’s not go there. This inspired a card design which I have already withdrawn as, on reflection, it seemed far too cynical and included expletives. I wouldn’t have bought it, and couldn’t imagine who else would buy it or who they would send it to. Anyways, I made something else instead. And I’ll try again next month with the whole ‘marking occasions/following guidelines’ thing. November, Remembrance Day and Movember will soon be here. But I don’t want you to think I’m a totally grumpy old witch, so here’s a list of all the things I love and appreciate about this time of year: The Hunters’ Moon; morning mists; heavy dew; steaming cows (from a distance); cold, clear skies; cormorants fishing in mirror calm seas; rosehips glistening in the hedgerows; red apples gleaming still on the branches; blazing autumn leaves giving way to skeleton trees; the cacophony of starlings, and those multicoloured mini munchkin pumpkin things.