Q&A: Yoga for mental health

I’ve been practising yoga for many years.  When I’m ‘on the mat’ I feel centred, it’s space away from everything else in my life and a rare chance to pay attention to my body instead of my mind.  Recently I’ve been attending classes led by Liz Walker.  Liz is an experienced yoga teacher who specialises … Read more

Thinking Traps and how to free yourself

Brain in a heart shaped prison

I’ve written blog posts about all kinds of problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. What all these problems have in common is ‘Thinking Traps’. These are habitual negative ways of thinking about ourselves, others or the world which are unrealistic and lead us into a spiral of anxiety and … Read more

Talking about Depression

Black Dog

Depression is the most common mental health problem, with the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics suggesting that 1 in 5 adults in Great Britain experienced some form of depression in early 2021. Depression impacts the way people feel physically, the way they think and of course their emotions. Symptoms include feeling low … Read more

Recovering from Post-Covid-19 Syndrome

Woman with face mask

Since March 2020 words and phrases which we rarely thought of or had never even heard before started to become common place.  It started with ‘Covid-19’, ‘pandemic’ and ‘lockdown’.  A few months later others started to emerge such as ‘Post-Covid-19 Syndrome’, ‘long Covid’ and ‘long haulers’.  I’m going to stick with ‘Post-Covid-19 Syndrome’ in this … Read more

Celebrating Carers

7-13 June 2021 marks Carers Week in the UK, an annual campaign to raise awareness, highlight the challenges faced by people in this role and to recognise their positive contributions.  This year the campaign is particularly focusing on the unique challenges which carers have faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.  During this time many carers have … Read more