Health & Wellbeing

58 The West Dorset Magazine, September 9, 2022 Health & Wellbeing Walking West Dorset

FROME VALLEY TRAIL: 13th WALK with retired Dorset rights of way officer Chris Slade

This walk is a little over six miles and takes you back to nature, passing through woodlands and water meadows, crossing the Frome several times. Park near the church at Moreton and walk along the track crossing the ford. Continue north-east along the track. About a furlong after crossing another branch of the Frome there’s a path leading south-east, serving a campsite, of which there seem to be dozens in the area. After a quarter of a mile, your path swings left, north-east and soon enters Forestry Commission land. This is Access Land on which you’re allowed to wander freely, but they request you not to do so in the season when there are ground-nesting birds. Continue through the forest along the track that swings around to the south east. At the end of the forest you enter a military domain so you have to keep to the right of way to avoid being shot or run over by a tank. The path continues through countryside although you can see houses to your right. Eventually you reach the road opposite the Tank Museum. Turn right, south, and follow the road round the bend. Just before a camp entrance to the left, you’ll see a public footpath on your right, heading south across a tank training area. You’ll notice a couple of fords that tanks use. Crossing a bridge, you leave woodland and enter water meadows. Ahead is a raised bridge over a section of the Frome that’s popular with swimmers. The path then takes you to the hamlet of East Burton and the road that takes you right back to your car, passing through lots of natural countryside. The road undulates vertically and horizontally so change sides to enable the best view of traffic.

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

Yonks ago someone said to me (without any actual, hard evidence) that only about 1% of what the average Jo/e thinks each day is original thought. Mind. Blown. I LOVED this idea. It made me laugh out loud because it fitted so well with my own direct experience. I suppose I would class myself as neurotypical, an ordinary Jo/e if you like (others might disagree). But because of my job I’ve become pretty good at noticing what my own brain is up to, and I have to admit that for the most part it’s not being wildly creative or original. It’s mostly just chattering about ‘general housekeeping’ stuff, for example what I’m going to eat next. It also offers an ongoing commentary, on the inner and outer world, and flits from past to present to future. We generally get along okay, which I’m pleased about. This 1% idea reappeared in the days and weeks that followed, and it tickled me even more each time, because each time it came to mind again, it proved itself right, again. It was only an original thought once, the first time I thought it, every subsequent presentation was a rehash. Funny! It made me feel really smart and really dumb at the same time, and I liked that feeling. Aside from this being a daft little insider joke I was enjoying with myself, there is

SUPER SPOT: Moreton Ford Picture: Moreton Ford Campsite

Stop me if you’ve heard this

The West Dorset Magazine, September 9, 2022 59 Health & Wellbeing Common elder helps with relaxation

Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing. What a welcome break from the hot weather. The rain is steadily falling and will gradually soak in, providing a needed respite for all the plants in the garden. The grass will start to green up, and you can almost hear the sigh of relief from the shrubs, trees, and the herbaceous borders. The weeds will come back with a vengeance and once again the cycle of gardening will be reinstated. The trees have started to drop their leaves already as the drought has taken its toll on them and some I fear will not recover from the long, hot dry spell. Walking the dog this evening we came across some common elder. It had fruit on it but very small, the leaves had turned brown, and it was dying. There were several in a row all looking the same, but one plant on the end was bursting with fruit, green leaves and in perfect health. The energies from the elder plant work on a psychic level, empowering your ability to trust in your own intuition. The energies from the elder help to calm and relax. Elderflowers have relaxing nervine properties, which support the nervous system through stressful periods. It can help to soothe nerves and anxiety and may assist in reducing symptoms of depression. This in turn reduces negative energy and boosts your self-esteem and confidence. The elder most commonly planted in gardens is the Sambucus Nigra ‘Guincho Purple’ this is a cultivar or the common elder it is an upright shrub with dark green leaves which turn purple then red in the autumn, and the lovely pale pink flower contrast perfectly with the foliage, it grows in sun or partial shade in any fertile soil, if left it can grow to 20ft. Whilst working in a local garden, the silver birch was showing signs of stress, the lawn was completely covered with a layer of small brown leaves, the autumn leaf drop is going to be early this year. All the plants are reducing their foliage in a bid to counter the amount of water available to them. Their energy levels are reduced, and the healing we can receive from them will require us to be within the energy field for a longer period, to receive the same benefit. Silver birch is a very good

ENERGIES: Elderberries clearing plant. The energies provide clarity of vision when meditating. The layers of doubt and confusion are peeled away from your conscious mind to allow a clear understanding of the meditation. They clear the mind of the day’s stresses, allow your mind time to process the clutter within it, sort out and file what is needed, and dispose of the unwanted baggage, this will improve your mental state and your overall wellbeing. The leaves collected will make an excellent mulch once rotted down. If you have enough room for a separate compost bin to store just the leaf mulch, it is well worth doing as this mulch will be ready in just one year. The much-needed rain is very sparse at the moment and with the size of the cracks in the ground we are going to need an awful lot of rain to get the soil back to normal. Let’s hope it is little and often and not sudden downpours as this will cause flooding as the water will just run off.

before but here’s a thought

value in this awareness that is worth sharing. There is a (better evidenced) theory that it is the emotional charge associated with a thought that determines its frequency. After all, a thought without a feeling is just words, right? In my case the emotional charge that went with the thought felt ‘good’. Sadly for many of my clients their repetitive thinking is charged and recharged by a ‘bad’ feeling, something they would rather avoid, not have or get rid of. Unfortunately, the harder they try to avoid, not have or get rid of these ‘bad’ thoughts and feelings, the more frequently they occur. Then there are thoughts about the thoughts. What do they mean? This can be a downward spiral that takes people to very dark place: ‘Am I sick in the head?’, ‘Does this mean I’m a bad person?’ What my unfortunate clients fail to recognise is that these are not original thoughts, they don’t tell them anything new or helpful, or merit the attention they are given. They are, in fact, just words. So what to do? I refer you back to previous posts The Six Core Processes in ACT, specifically defusion, and neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity. ‘But it’s true!’ It doesn’t matter so much if the thoughts are true or not, it matters more whether they are helpful or not. Of course, some thoughts can be very sticky, and many people need their story to be heard before they are ready to let it go. I’ll be happy to hear it. Ordinary Jo/e xxx

By Miranda Robertson

karen@westdorsetmag.co.uk

When Debbie Polden spotted a little shop in Sherborne in 2019 she knew it would be a perfect base to sell her skincare range. The professional grade Canadian products had until then been mainly sold to salons and spas, as salon owners loved the luxurious range with its gorgeous, fruity scents. But Debbie wanted to also sell directly to the public. The old Tourist Information Centre on Digby Road would be the ideal place for her to sell her Eminence Organic Skincare. She snapped it up and set about fitting it out… then the pandemic came along. Undaunted, she started boosting the online orders and managed to weather the storm. While many salons closed their doors Debbie had a brisk online trade to fall back on. She said: “As new business owners we thought this is crazy –salons were closing and it was very scary. But thank heavens for online. We managed to survive as we built up our private customers. “We didn’t have the best year we’ve ever had, but we were fine. Then salons and spas came up with innovative ideas to keep their trade going.” Debbie bought the business from Tracy Smith, who had launched the products in 2006 in Bromsgrove. She and her husband moved north to run the business but in 2019 she figured she could run it anywhere and she returned to Dorset, where she had grown up. As the exclusive authorised distributor for Eminence she supplied 100 salons across Europe and the UK and business was strong before covid reared its head. Now, having built it back up after the pandemic she faces a slowdown in the luxury market due to the soaring costs of living. She said: “This year we’re probably not going to see lot of growth in the luxury market. “If people are cutting back, the one product they must have is a good moisturiser.” If you’re in the market for some seriously gorgeous skincare though, Debbie’s range also includes cleanser, toner, exfoliating scrubs and eye products, as well as lotions and hand creams – all organic. The Eminence range originated in Hungary in 1958 as a small cottage industry. Then two brothers took the range to North America in 1990. Debbie ran a spa in Canada for about 17 years, where she first discovered Eminence and fell in love with their products. She said: “It’s a very active brand – collagen, peptides, vitamins and minerals work hard and the products do a really good job of bringing together ancient herbal craftsmanship with modern skincare tech, using hyaluronic acid and a natural retinol alternative. “The products smell amazing – strawberry, rhubarb, apricot, citrus and wildflowers and a tree is planted for every product we sell.”

GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN: Debbie Polden at her shop in Sherborne and, right some of the Emimence range Quality skincare matters: Just let that sink in, ok?

n The Skinsmith Ltd 01527 834904 theskinsmith.co.uk