Early summer catch up

 Time has flown again! My mother moved in April from Kent to a care home in Sheffield and that has taken up a lot of my attention alongside work and dog walks; even crafting took a back seat for a couple of months!

I have a few interesting articles and programmes to share on here:

The Guardian has an article on the value of power exercises and how to go about them - including some that you can easily do at home. These are so important as we age to maintain our resilience and prevent the falls and injuries that can be so catastrophic in later life. Power exercises and explosive effort sounds intimidating, but it's just doing a movement that requires effort in that moment such as jumping, skipping or a press up. It can even be achieved by speeding up your ascent of stairs, and you stop before you tire.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/may/28/the-power-secret-simple-everyday-moves-you-need-for-a-healthier-and-happier-life  

The Guardian has other interesting articles on the value of exercise such as weight lifting in facilitating remaining active and mobile in later years:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jun/18/weightlifting-at-retirement-age-keeps-legs-strong-years-later-study-finds

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/mar/09/push-up-power-the-exercise-you-need-for-a-healthy-happy-life-and-eight-ways-to-make-it-easier

The medical twins are back on R4 with new series. This is the link to the episode guide, which includes ones on how much protein you need in your diet; looking after your knees; sleep, and HRT and menopause:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m00298p7

2025 updates including a price rise

Hazel flower and catkins

 It's been a while since my last post - a bit too late now to wish you a happy new year, but I do hope that 2025 is being kind to you so far.

Price increase:

First update: it's been a couple of years since my last price increase and I had intended to leave it a bit longer until my next raise but costs have continued to rise in particular that of the training courses that I need to attend to keep my skills up to date. From April I will be adding £5 to the price of treatments, so 60 minutes will be £50; 45 minutes - £40; 30 minutes - £30. A quick check across Sheffield practitioners has reassured me that this is still very competitive; it is important to me to keep massage financially accessible to as many people as possible. In line with that, I will be extending the £5 discount to those who have been having two or more treatments a month for longer than six months to the half hour appointments. For those who immediately qualified for the discount on longer appointments when I last increased my prices, this will be the first increase since 2020.

What's been on the radio:

This is a fascinating listen about the relationship between exercise, diet and our weight.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002751k

 I can also recommend the earlier programme that is referred to. I have not been able to find the link as yet, but on looking through the archive I spotted many other interesting episodes on subjects such as food and sporting, theatre and dance performance as well as the gut biome and various foods and drinks that are rising in popularity.

Some other useful links:

Essential Somatics has a free mini-course on their website to bring you some movement exercise to help relax and rebalance:

https://essentialsomatics.com/

Yoga with Adrienne has a thirty day 'flow' series suitable for all levels:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLui6Eyny-UzwwBB_riVPMdOF3cmheEPpy

Wishing you all the energy and joy that Daisy has in this photo from the other week!