Life right now can feel like a series of broken fragments – shifting shadows that never stay still. There is hardly time to get used to one way of doing things when it is All Change, All Change – hold very tight please! (as Flanders and Swann would sing) – so long as you have your disinfectant wipes to hand to clean the pole or strap before and after.
There are times when I feel more like a cleaning lady than an osteopath or healthy eating writer!
So, how can we find and keep a place of calm within us?
Here are some tips and ideas that I have found helpful these last few weeks and months.
1. Cutting back on caffeine! As well as coffee, that’s tea, green or white tea, matcha – and chocolate. Or making it half-and-half – when I do drink coffee I use a mix of Taylors of Harrogate water decaffeinated with Morrison’s Organic. A fabulous combination. it might be 50:50, or more often 75:25 – far less caffeine, but still a lovely flavour.
Caffeine drives our adrenal and cortisol levels, and also messes with our pancreas and insulin and blood sugar levels. This means we are more likely to crave sugar and is why caffeine is the first food group I cut out in my lunar detox – it makes all the others so much easier.
1a – And also cutting back on alcohol – which gives us all a clearer head, and a clearer perspective on life . . .
2. Being in Nature. Even in the concrete jungle of towns and cities, even in winter, Nature is still there – the determined weeds and tree roots that break up a pavement, the self-sown buddleias by railway tracks. It’s November as I am writing this, and a winter-flowering viburnum bodnantse in my front garden scents the air with sweet almond for me to smell on my way in or out.
3. Finding at least one positive thing in each and every day, no matter how small, and no matter how bad the day. Such as the fact that even with face masks we can still smile, and be seen to smile, and people smile back at us over their face masks – I find these moments of sympathy and connection even with a stranger both heart-warming and up-lifting.
4. Exercising! In this time of Lockdown 2, when we can’t go dancing, or go to the gym or play tennis, squash, golf or even table-tennis, pushing up our heart rate with even a short brisk walk is a great way to use up and lower those pesky stress hormones.
Our cave-dwelling ancestors would have either fought off the marauding tribes, or fled the sabre-toothed tiger, not sat still staring at a computer screen all day. For the winter, I have treated myself to a couple of pairs of waterproof over trousers – with these and my wellies, and a waterproof raincoat, I can go for a walk whatever the weather is throwing at me!
Or explore online exercise classes, plenty of those to choose from.
5. Listening to music 
Put on some music you like to dance to and/or sing along to Whether lively and upbeat, or slower and more expressive – move your body!
Pour your emotions into your dance, into your song.
6.And at the other end of the spectrum – making time for stillness. Even a one minute sit-down gazing out of the window can gentle you down.
7. Breathing – remember to breathe especially if you are sat at your computer for hours on end. There is a simple pattern known as Square or Box breathing, where you picture a square, and going round each side takes a count of 4. Mentally I count:
Breathe in-2-3-4
Hold-2-3-4
Breathe out-2-3-4
Hold-2-3-4
Doing a few rounds of this is wonderfully centre-ing
8. Treating yourself to some good (preferably nature-based and organic) handcream, with a fragrance that delights you. All the handwashing we need to do at the moment is very drying.
And gift yourself the time to really savour the slow ritual of gently massaging it in to your skin, feel it sinking into your skin.
Handwashing between patients is something I have always done a lot of anyway, so I get through quite a lot of handcream as well!
9. Continuing with our sense of smell, you can buy roll-on essential oils (eg Tisserand or Neal’s Yard). Dabbing one of these under your nose, or on your temples helps either to up-lift and energise you, or soothe and relax. Scent is so evocative, and connects with the our ancient cave brain. This is the part of us that freezes with overwhelm, or wants to run away and hide with a bottle of chardonnay.
10. De-Stressing: Bach Flower Rescue Remedy (or other similar offerings, eg the Australian Bush Flower Essences) is a wonderful go-to for stressful times. It is a blend of several different flower remedies. Put a few drops in a jug of water to sip throughout the day.
Individual ones are also available from your local health food shop. Elm comes to mind, as this is particularly good for the overwhelm of now. Or Oak, for when we have too many plates spinning, wearing too many hats, having too many roles in our life. Sound familiar anyone?
11. Limiting how much news you watch, read or listen to It is well known that exposure to too much news increases our sense of stress, depression and helplessness. I confess I mostly listen to the news on Radio 3 or ClassicFM – you get the bare headlines, and that’s it. And that’s plenty, more than enough sometimes.
I hope you find these tips useful, and easy to try out!
The photo of the viburnum is by Manfred Richter, on Pixabay.