Wellness & You

After 35 years of cooking professionally and learning everything about food, herbs, growing and cooking I decided to do a complete 180! And at 51 years old, spent a couple of years qualifying as a psychotherapist, life coach, holistic nutritionist, relaxation, meditation and massage therapist, reiki master and reflexologist! And started working for myself, and my business, The Therapy Shed, was born!

The Therapy Shed

My client list soon filled up. But I quickly realised that most people coming to me for massage, counselling, reflexology or whatever, all had other issues. Health issues. They were coming to me because they knew they were not feeling 100% and knew instinctively they needed something to make them feel better but not really what or why

After about 6 months I figured out what was going on - there was usually something in their diet or lifestyle that was causing their illness or disease. Their doctors were giving them pills for their symptoms, apparently not one doctor had asked about their diet, their sleep, their water intake, their stress levels or their exercise and I kept hearing this, over and over again

Car crash!

That was six years ago. Now, add in the restrictions of the pandemic and doctors’ surgeries not really seeing anyone face to face, and people’s health and their care is so much worse. Much worse

In fact, when I thought about the stories my clients were telling me collectively and the evidence I was seeing in my capacity as a health coach, massage therapist and counsellor, from a physical and a mental point of view, I realised I am watching what I can only describe as a car crash on ice!

I can see everyone about to slowly, but inevitably collide, collide with all sorts of health and mental issues and there doesn’t seem to be anything anyone is doing to help them. Their doctors are just prescribing pills to treat the symptoms and giving them more illness from the side effects, not tackling the root causes. What’s worse, is I know how to help them, but no one is listening!

I walk past the pharmacy twice a day on my way to and from work, full of people and always a queue.

Obviously, I help my own clients who ask, where I can with top tips, I give them those nuggets of knowledge and inspiration, I email them information I have stored away and message them to make sure they are OK. I even developed nutritional programs to help everyone with anything

But no one came

I redesigned and rescheduled these programs, which took me 5 years of research and compiling I might add!

Still, no one came

Am I banging my head up against a brick wall?

Then, I have a confession to make…

I nearly gave up

Gave up caring, gave up helping, gave up messaging, gave up researching for my programs

Gave up going the extra mile

Let me explain

I felt like a one-woman warrior trying to fight a huge battle and losing big time. I was trying to help everyone understand that their health issues could mostly be turned around without the pills and medications, if they would just ‘wake up’ and understand what is really in their processed food, why they are so stressed, why they need to walk more, reset their mindset and understand what is slowly killing them, or at least making them very ill, both mentally and physically

Am I banging my head up against a brick wall?

No one understands what is happening, no one is making the connection, they just want to take pills and eat junk food

I started to question my purpose, as I truly believe that passing on the invaluable ‘stuff’ I know is my purpose

“Why do I bother”? I asked myself, “No one is ‘getting it’”, even my own family thought I was nuts!

But then last winter, after some tearful, dark and lonely, winter nights, but nevertheless, standing strong against my own feelings of giving up, I was determined I was not going to let all that research and hard work go to waste. I knew I needed to recalibrate and recharge my batteries, reset my own mindset

January and February had typically been slow at work so I couldn’t really afford it but stuck it on the credit card and did it anyway! I booked 10 days at the end of February with my bestie in Mallorca – where she lives

Epiphany

Wow! Not only did I fill my tanks up, but they are now overflowing. In fact, I have had an epiphany or even several!

Soaking up the big blue skies and clear, turquoise Mediterranean Sea, the energy from the snow-capped mountains, the wildflowers and almond blossom, wild asparagus and wild tortoises, yes tortoises! And the girl chats on our long dog walks down to the cala at the end of Jen’s street (that’s my bestie), was the most body, mind and soul nourishing thing I have ever done.

The change of scenery, Jen, walking, the dog, eating great food, friends, sunshine, and being in all that nature gave me the nourishment I needed to keep on.

Sol de Mallorca

I did a lot of meat-free cooking while I was there, not that I’m vegetarian, or practise any labelled way of eating, I just don’t want to eat the chemicals added to fresh meat, let alone the processed, so actually I think I might start avoiding meat a bit more, which would have only added to my total nourishment experience. I’ll share some of those wonderful recipes in my next blog

Cauliflower, chickpea and spinach curry with cucumber raita and flatbreads

On top of all that, the wonderful connection I have with Jen, her family and Mallorca, recharge my batteries and got me thinking

I realised, we must take time out of our daily lives now and again, especially when we are feeling low, to nourish ourselves, whether that’s spending time with friends or family, or a little time away on our own even, so we can re-focus, get a new perspective and listen to ourselves for what we need to nourish our soul.

So, I re-focused and I have put my dream into action, to hold holistic, wellness retreats, with nutrition at its core, this has always been my 5-year plan, my end game. I thought, why don’t I do it in Mallorca? It is my second home I know it as well as I do my home county of Norfolk, and the rest they say, is history!

Warriors

Those ten, precious days have given me the stuff I needed to keep on keeping on, so, let this inspire you to actively recalibrate, renew and recharge and become a warrior too

I’m excited!

See you soon, Denise x