Walking Therapy - come rain or shine

Second Blog – Walking Therapy and Grounding mindfulness

I’m sat here, in my counselling room, looking out of the window at the rain coming down, there’s something quite cosy about being indoors, with a soft light on, and a candle lit. It was only a couple of days ago that the sun was out and I felt the warmth of it whilst outside.

I’m sure many of you will have an opinion of the Great British weather, temperamental as it is, and a little like life itself. Sometimes we may feel cosy being indoors whilst it's raining outside, and other times, may feel the misery of the gloomy clouds.

I love being outside, love nature and feeling the weather, whatever it might bring. I love walking and movement, even if it’s a walk around the block to get myself going and to have a change of scenery.

Since I set up my counselling practice, I have always offered walking therapy, in the beautiful surroundings of Tatton Park, and have especially appreciated it during the pandemic. There’s something very reflective whilst being amongst nature, and movement in itself can help feel like you are beginning to shift ‘stuckness’.

Why am I telling you this?

Well maybe it's about being open to the movement of walking and getting outside, changing your surroundings, or stepping out of your comfort zone, whatever the weather; come rain or shine, from wrapping yourself up warm, to grabbing the sunscreen.

The first step is the hardest: Often, if feeling in a low mood, lethargic or anxious, then the first step is 'even considering' any form of movement, the next step is getting your shoes, and then putting them on. The following steps maybe walking to the door, and then stepping out of the door. Whether going out for a walk on your own, or with someone is easy, or hard for you, any step, and I mean any step, is a step in the right direction. Recognise and give yourself credit to whatever steps you are taking and give yourself acknowledgment of that, you never know, tomorrow, you may take the next step and do more than you had the day before.

Here’s a lovely grounding mindfulness technique to try when out, to connect you with your senses, this can help if your thoughts are running away with you or if you are feeling anxious:

· 5 things you can see

· 4 things you can touch or feel

· 3 things you can hear

· 2 things you can smell

· 1 thing you can taste

And/or

· 1 good thing and you.

Be creative, use this practice to bring the senses to what’s around you, but also of ‘you’ yourself.

If you would like to know more about ‘walking therapy’ as a way of having a counselling session, please feel you can contact me.

So, come rain or shine - enjoy.

As always, take care.

My first blog!

I'm hoping my first blog will be an inspiration to all the technophobes out there. I hope that my honesty and transparency in owning that technology has been a challenge, especially during the pandemic, will allow you to see that I'm human too and that I am facing my fear and doing it anyway!

I have been pondering what to include in my blogs, and thought I'd start sharing video's, articles and interesting reads that maybe helpful to you and that have resonated with me.

I intend to offer resources on topic areas and hope to build a library of these for you to tap into.

As well as counselling, I have run workshops around mental health and well being and look forward to being able to start this up again in person in the near future. The workshops around anxiety and well being, including relaxation coping strategies and techniques were especially rewarding, where myself and my colleague received such positive feedback. Running workshops had been a long term ambition for me, however, the fear of failure in standing up in front of people stopped me from doing this for a long time, and with support and determination, I tackled this and decided to give it a go - I was so glad I did, stepping out of my comfort zone was a stretch, but worth it and provided me with evidence that I can do it.

Why I'm telling you this?

I work with clients to offer a space for them to work through and be curious about their own fears and limiting beliefs that may stop them doing what they want to do, working together to find the right type of coping strategies and techniques, as well as an awareness and understanding as to where beliefs may have come from and how they have shaped who they are today, their relationships and future aspirations.

I love this first video that I'm sharing, it really resonated with me, a poet; Adam Roa, who I found to be creative in how he delivered his message. Hope you get something from it too.

Enjoy.

Take care.