PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 17:40:23 GMT

Regularly change the style of activity you do

February 2024

Practising what I preach? - hmm

It is time for me to practise what I preach - ahh. So easy to dish out the very sensible, knowledgeable, worthy advice - but now I need to show I can follow it too!

So how has this happened? Well, I have just taken on a house and garden. I say garden and I believe there is one in there somewhere, but currently its main feature is a ginormous area of brambles with stalks as thick as a big toe and root balls a the size of a small football. “Will you use poison?” I am asked - but, tempting though it is - my instinct screams out against doing this. In trying to attune more to nature and live a more spirit-led life, treating weeds with poison doesn’t sit well with me, and so it will be the spade, secateurs (probably loppers more like) and sheer hard work. Which takes us back to the first sentence in this blog - ‘….practice what I preach….’. I advise my gardening patients “Don’t spend more than 30 - 45 minutes on any one type of task. “You need to make sure you change the way your body is being used so you can rest the muscle groups you have been using and give them recovery time.” Hmmm - obviously easier said than done, I think, as I contemplate the enormity of the task ahead of me. I want to get stuck in and get the job done. I want those brambles gone, so I can uncover the garden beneath and start to draw out the beautiful space I envisage - and I want it done yesterday. Patience is a virtue, we are told, and I’m discovering that I’m not feeling particularly virtuous in this respect.

I think of my patients (patience too) and I look at the work ahead - and discover a cheat �� - I will be out there with fork, loppers and thick gloves digging those bramble footballs for 45 minutes, but then I can do ‘pruning’ by chopping up the bramble clippings into the garden waste bags, and then a quick water of my recently planted wildlife hedge, before returning to the digging. Ah yes - 3 different styles of work without compromising the ‘rate of work’ and still following my own advice and practising what I preach - not sure about braving the cold pack afterwards though!

JULY BLOG

marinaqp44@gmail.com (Marina Urquhart-Pullen) — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 12:12:20 GMT

PACKING FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Exams are done, the kids are off school soon, the summer holiday season warms up (we hope)…….…and the season of the emergency last minute appointments is imminent. So here are a few tips that could help.

��‍♂️ If you want a relatively pain free holiday please try to pack on the kitchen/dining room table and not on your bed. This way you can reduce the amount of sustained bending over and then reaching awkwardly to get that swimsuit tucked right ooooverrr ….there! It will be easier also to lift the bag/suitcase down to the floor with both hands without twisting whilst doing it.

✈️ It seems odd that when we go on holiday we think we are invincible and the normal rules don’t apply - good for my work but not great for you. So please please please don’t forget the usual advice of lifting and carrying your cases and bags: lift straight, not turning as you lift - taking suitcases off the conveyer belts does a wonderful job at challenging this; keep your wheelie suitcase close to you round the corners and not on a long stretch as you drag it round; watch out for the lifting in and out of cars, trains, buses etc; and don’t forget the overhead lockers too.

�� Who would have thought that sun-loungers could be so dangerous? Its a bit of a classic though - like the slouch on the sofa at home. If you can, try to lie back a bit more or sit more upright and not ‘recline’ in a sofa slouch.

�� For the sun lizards - don’t forget to move a bit, even if its just to the bar and back, but a bit of a paddle would be even better - water is quite heavy and can give a nice bit of resistance, so even a walk through the water will achieve some gentle exercise.

�� For those camping?……………. ☔️ Don’t forget the wellies ��

I hope you have wonderful holidays and good memories to share.

earth-to-heaven-osteopathy

PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH

Regularly change the style of activity you do

JULY BLOG

PACKING FOR THE HOLIDAYS