Holidays At Home - One Week To Go

You have planned your holiday at home; tickets are booked, days at home have been planned and lunches with friends are in the diary. You are all set to go! But there are a few finishing touches that you may want to spend some time thinking about and putting into action so that you are all set for your home-based-vacation.

This is a good time to say that from the very beginning that this series has been created for adults on their own, or with partners. I feel children's holidays have a lot of air time and I hope in this series to give the adults some TLC!

Dress To Impress
Your wardrobe is normally set up so that your most used clothes are nearest to you when you open your door. Take an hour to sort out the work and pleasure clothes - popping the work based outfits to the far side of the wardrobe and the bottom draw so that you don't see them through out the holiday. You don't need the visual stimulus and reminders of normal life. You wouldn't see them if you were going away, so why see them when you are on your Holiday at Home? Sort out day and evening outfits so that you can just reach in, grab what you want to wear and enjoy some colour! With your workout guide in the diary you can also place your gym and swim gear into bags so you are all set to go without a fuss. You could also sort out your accessories so that your work based ones get a break and you get to enjoy the others for a bit.

Feed Your Body
Why not put your body on a bit of a holiday? With all your treatments planned, your Personal Trainer booked, your time in the pool organized or the DVD's ordered, why not look after yourself fully by clearing out all the toxic rubbish from the house and filling the cupboards with food that will help you replenish your inner self? This holiday is all about you - getting you to a better place rather than just staying in a rut at home. With a week before your time off, you have a great opportunity to write out a fantastic meal plan, list all the ingredients and order them on line or get them from the store. The extra nice bits can be picked up at the Farmers Markets. It will probably take you a gentle evening to plan this part, but it is well worth it so that you know you are making the most of your vacation for your total body wellness.

Finishing Touches
With just a couple of days to go, make sure the house is in order. You have taken a month to go through it, making sure it is all sorted out so that you don't have to spend your time off doing mundane house-work, so now is the time to really enjoy it! A few ideas are:

• Wash towels and make them fluffy 
• Put fresh candles around the house
• Make sure you have all the nail varnishes, bubble baths etc in the house so you can enjoy them
• Stock up on a couple of new books and fresh magazines
• Make sure the laundry is all done, ironed and put away
• Put all work based stuff in a box and put it neatly under the study table so you don't have to look at it. 

And Enjoy ...

You have worked really hard to get yourself and your home organized so that you can have a real vacation. It takes more time to organize a Holiday At Home than it does to book a pre-packaged deal on the net, so be proud of yourself for doing such a great job! In the week before your time off, enjoy the haircuts, waxing, pedicures and manicures with a spring in your step knowing full well that you are about to enjoy one of the best holidays! It will be one to remember and I can assure you that all the preplanning, excitement and anticipation will all be well worth it. 

I hope that you have enjoyed this blog series and that it has given you some helpful tips and hints about how to make time on your own or with your partner fun whilst you are based in the place you love the most - Your Home. 

Over the next couple of weeks the blog will be offering up some new ideas on anatomy and treatments, so keep a close eye on the up coming posts!

Get in touch with me through the Cornerstone Therapies Website! 

Holidays at Home - The Two Week Marker.

Welcome back to the Holiday at Home series! If you are using this blog series to help you plan your vacation, then I hope that by now you are really looking forward to some rest and recuperation based in the comfort of your own home.  

This is a good time to say that from the very beginning that this series has been created for adults on their own, or with partners. I feel children's holidays have a lot of air time and I hope in this series to give the adults some TLC!

I hope that after the last blog post you have been able to make all the bookings that you need to with your holistic therapists, personal trainers and hairdressers and have been able to craft out a plan to make you feel special and relaxed, as well as restored and energized. 

As promised, this blog we are going to look at the two week marker.

With two weeks to go before our Holiday at Home I would advise that you sit down with a glass of something nice and take an evening to surf the web. Personally I find web-surfing time consuming, so I will dedicate an evening to it if I am planning something big, (there is no point kidding myself that it will only take a second!). With two weeks to go there is a lot to think about as far as time off. Look at your diary and see what kind of time you are about to enjoy and plan your days around the theme. Here are a few ideas to get your mind and body well looked after during your vacation. 

Exhibitions
Many museums will run special exhibitions that you may be interested in seeing. If you have found yourself on the train gazing at posters during your commute, then make a list of the ones that are near you and that you want to see. Then you can look them up two weeks before your vacation and see if they are still open. I often find that if I take the time to pre-book my tickets at the museums in London I can get great deals on the prices. Also, I can plan to go either in the mid-morning lull when it is a bit quieter, or I will plan to go with a friend. I never like seeing more than one thing a day simply as I find it too tiring to take in loads of new information and fresh scenes, and I would advise that if you are planing things like art trips, make sure you stick to one a day! 

Be A Tourist
Find out if there is a walking tour that you can take around your local town or city. With a couple of weeks to go you will be able to join ones that are already planned, or you can get in touch with the people who run them and they can maybe organize one for you based on your interests. These are often a great way to see places that are often missed, meet up with new people, or have a private view at art collections. Most tour groups now offer great walks for people in wheelchairs, so all can enjoy what the cities have to offer. 

Feed Your Soul

Have a surf around and see where your local Farmer's Markets are and when they will be on. They often publish lists of producers that will be attending, entertainment and if there will be street food to enjoy. It's great to meet all the people that produce the food that you are about to enjoy and get a sense of connection with the guys who make your milk, as well as their cows! It's great to have a wonder around and try new flavors and ask the stall holders how best to use their wares. 

Crafty
I love going to small art and craft shows. These are often advertised on the web, but also look out for them in the back of craft magazines and the local newspapers. Also, take time out to spend a day with a local crafts person who is willing to show you new skills! Workshops are a great way to relax, get inspired and try new techniques. If you are into dressmaking, gardening, flower arranging, book binding, knitting, bread making ... just about anything really ... take time for a few laughs and spend a day enjoying yourself. 

Gigs, movies and concerts. 
No Holiday at Home is planned without a trip to the movies for me! I love seeing the trailers on-line and getting excited about the next releases. Get a list of local gigs, concerts and cinema viewing times so you can plan evenings out, or enjoy the newest DVD releases at home. 

Friends and Family
As you surf the net, don't forget to ask yourself if you want to share your time with people or if you need to recharge alone. Email those you want to be with and send them links to what you have found that may interest them and get booking in the diary. It's o.k to recharge your batteries alone! I often mix and match days during my vacation with lunches and shows with friends and family and then a day pottering away in the garden on my own, enjoying the flowers and getting back to an equilibrium. 

Back to the diary! 
Now you have your diary pretty much well planned. Each day will be fresh and new, you may be out enjoying yourself with energetic people in the city or relaxing in the garden or local park recharging the inner batteries. Either way, let your diary or wall planner guide you. Without this planning your Holiday at Home will just end up being a long list of housework duties and you will not be blessing yourself or your home. 

With two weeks to go you should be really excited about all that you have planned! With treatments and classes already penciled in, tickets booked, journeys planned and gardens to enjoy, you will be getting ready for the final blog post; The One Week Marker! 

Next time we will be looking at the one week to go stage: Getting your vacation wardrobe together, putting work away, and the finishing touches to your plans. 

I hope you are enjoying the posts as you plan how to rebalance your body and your soul through your Holiday at Home. 

Holiday at Home - Bookings

This is a good time to say that from the very beginning that this series has been created for adults on their own, or with partners. I feel children's holidays have a lot of air time and I 
hope in this series to give the adults some TLC!

After the last blog, you will by now have three things sorted out:

Your holiday time will be booked in the calendar for a month or six weeks time.

• You will have decided what kind of holiday you would like: Calming, restorative or energizing. 
• You will have looked around your house and made headway with starting to get it in to shape. 

This blog is going to help with planning your well-being time during your 'Holiday At Home'. 

I have always taken the first two days of my holidays at home to deal with the things that will set me up to feel fantastic during my time off, but I don't want to have them take up time in the middle of the vacation. These are treatments that are great to have and look after you, but you may not feel that they fit into the bracket of things you want to dedicate holiday days to. So, get the calender out and book up these treatments to start your holiday on a high! 

1. Get in touch with your hairdresser. They often get booked up about a month before the time that you want to see them, so get it organized soon. A fresh trim, a re-color, or a total new look will help you set the mood for your holiday. 
2. Make a booking with your Beauty Therapist for your Manicure and Pedicure. You would get these done before you left the country for a holiday and so you should do them just before you Holiday at Home. There is no difference - you are still taking time for you. They will make you feel well cared for and happy feet and toes are always a great thing to enjoy.
3. If you have a regular wax, get it all done before your holiday. You really don't want to be bothering about it half way through your special time off. 

If you are taking a week off instead of two I recommend that you book these for evenings just before your holiday so they don't actually get involved in time off at all. 

Now, these bookings need to be made personal to you as you know whether you would like a calming, restorative or energizing holiday, so use these tips as a starting point and go from there. 

Exercise

 It is important to look after your total body wellness and holidays are a great time to do that. So many people go to Yoga retreats, boot camps, Pilates training, running camps etc. So why not do it from home on your holiday? 

If you are after an energizing time, talk to your personal trainer and ask them if they are available for a few extra slots during your time off. You can concentrate on some high intensity work, muscle training, perfect your running, and get some energy buzzing around. Spend time with them crafting a plan that will up lift you and keep you motivated. The other option is to go to your local gym and ask if they are running mini-courses for adults. At our local pool they offer mini-courses for people to get better at swimming and the gym offers week long morning courses to help with weight training for example. 

If Calming is more your thing, look at your local yoga or Pilates studio and ask if they are running courses or you can book in for a daily session with them in the early mornings. Using the early mornings to work on a gentle form of movement sets you up for your day well and then you have the rest of the time to do other things you want to enjoy. 

If you are like me and work out from home, then get some new DVD's from people you like and make a schedule for the time off when you dedicate time to move a bit more each day of your holiday. You can also mix this with a couple of sessions at the Pilates and Yoga studios, or the gym and pool to make a change, or you can just stick with what you love best! 

What ever you choose to do you need to book it up and make sure it is scheduled into the diary! Studios and Personal Trainers get busy, so you need to make this booking a priority along with your treatments so you are not disappointed when you get to your Holiday at Home. 

Holistic Therapy

As a therapist I know that my diary gets booked up three to four weeks in advance, and so if I am planning my Holidays at Home I know that I need to book my massage and facial appointments with my own therapists at least six weeks in advance to make sure I get time on the couch! 

Massage is great and Holidays at Home allow you to get a couple of extra treatments in. You can mix and match these with relaxing aromatherapy and Swedish based treatments, or you can have a couple that you have never tried before - maybe a LaStone treatment? 

Skin Care Treatments are relaxing and a lot of therapists offer mini-course for skin care so you can concentrate on a particular issue and spend quality time trying to help it. 

Look at what you enjoy the most; massage, facials, reflexology, acupuncture, etc and book it in around your holiday and maybe go for a couple more sessions than normal to make your time off extra special. 

Step back and take a look.

By now you should be able to look at your diary and see a good shape coming together around your vacation. You will be able to see the theme of your holiday and be able to work out if you are going to utilize the mornings for your exercise and holistic therapy so you can get more out of your days, or if you are going to make it a relaxing spa holiday and allow your bookings to make up the bulk of your time. 

In the next blog, we will look at the two week marker: What is out there that you would like to do as far as shows, exhibitions, lunches as well as quality you time.

So get booking and start to get really excited about your Holiday at Home!

Holidays At Home - Intro

Home Sweet Home.

Not everyone wants to go away for their holidays, and not everyone has the opportunity to go to foreign parts. So, this blog series is here to help fill the gap between needing to have time off and the fact that a lot of us stay at home for our vacations. The times that I have stayed at home for my holidays have often been the most fun! This is a good time to say that from the very beginning that this series has been created for adults on their own, or with partners. I feel children's holidays have a lot of air time and I hope in this series to give the adults some TLC!

So, let's begin to plan the holiday. Remember that 'Holidays At Home' do need planning in advance, just as if you were going away, otherwise the time just slips through your fingers with mundane normality. Also, it's a great idea to call it a holiday or vacation, rather than just telling people you are 'staying at home'. The words we use are powerful and if you say that you are on holiday, it means so much more and you can make it feel very special. Remember, the time away from work is supposed to be fun and recharge you both emotionally, mentally and spiritually and this blog series is going to help you through the thinking and planning of it, so hopefully nothing will get missed.

The first thing to do is sit down with your calendar and work out a time that you would like to take a week or so off work. I would personally make it at least a month from your first planning stage, rather than next week. This helps you organize things really well so that you can totally relax and enjoy your time, as well as help build up the anticipation for your holiday.

The next big thing is to ask yourself what you need your holiday to help you with. Do you need to do any of the following?:

• Relax
• Restore
• Energize
• Detox

If you know what you need your holiday to do, then you can plan things that will help you do that. For example; If you have been through a really tough time at work and you want to get some peace, then it's a good thing to start planning how to relax and restore your general sense of being. If you have been through quite a placid time, you are a bit low at work and you want time to think of how you can change things, maybe an upbeat energizing holiday may be for you? Or, if you have had a series of late nights, parties, deadlines and the like, maybe a gentle week of cutting back and cleansing your systems maybe more up your street. At this point it is often a good idea to get the diary out and see what you have been doing up to this point, so you get a good reminder of what life has been throwing at you. It may seem silly, but it has helped me in the past. 

By now you should have a date in the diary to book time off and you should have a clear idea of what you want that time to do for you. 

The third and last part of this blog is to have a look around your house. Is it somewhere that you would like to stay for two weeks? Does it calm you down? Do you like the look of it? Now is the time to get your home into a state that you would like it to be, but not in one go! The reason why I encourage you to look around now before you even begin planning your holiday is so that you have time to get your personal space sorted out. 

Is your bathroom somewhere you could take a relaxing
Time-Out? Simple baby-steps like adding candles
can make all the difference. 

I did this last year with the FlyLady system. If your house is the last place you would want to relax in, (and mine sure was), then click on the website and take a look around at how you can follow the Baby Steps to a clutter free home. The reason why I think this system works is that it is gentle, it's not filling you with guilt and it does actually work! It takes a month to go through the house from top to bottom and this first month is the ground work for some great habits to clear your house, and head, of clutter and chaos. Remember, your holiday time off is not time off to do the chores and decorating!

I love the fact that the first day of 'Holiday At Home' planning means that I get to work out exactly what I want to do for a whole two weeks! The next blog will be the next step of your planning process with ideas and tips on what to do four weeks before your 'Holiday At Home' to make your time special, memorable and above all, personal. 

Side note: (I had this idea for a blog series last year, which was the second year in a row that we decided to stay at home for out holidays. However, I do see the comedy value that it wasn't until I was at the beach yesterday that I had time to sketch it out and plan it! I hope you enjoy it and that it is helpful.)

Picture Perfect

This personal mini-blog is a call to all women out there who are battling with their bodies:

Please stop.

I was in the mall the other day with David and we were looking at the people walking past whilst chatting over a coffee. I had been feeling rather good about my body for about a week and didn't feel too lumpy or bumpy, but after a while I turned to David and said that I thought that I needed to hit the gym when I got home. He turned to me and said:

"Marketing will rob you of all your self confidence and sell it back to you at the price of their product". 

He was bang on the money, and suddenly my blinkers were removed. As women, we are sold the concept that being small, tiny and frankly skinny is the thing to be and anything falling short of that is not attractive.

I was having lunch on my own today in Cagliari and I had a great view of four tables. In Italy floaty dresses and big sunglasses are almost uniform and as I sat there I saw these four tables being taken by couples out for an easy Monday lunch in the centre of the city. Now, the interesting thing that I noticed was that all four women looked each other up and down, worked out how much the outfits cost and how many times they had hit the gym. The men didn't bat an eyelid, they just got on with the conversations.

My question is; Who do we do it for?

If the answer is 'For Ourselves', then why do we beat our selves up so much if we skip a day?
If the answer is 'For Our Partners', they should love us for who we are not what look like.
If the answer is 'Because I have to', then we need to let go of our playground hang ups, poke our tongues out at the bullies and know that we are better than that.

If the fact is that you are battling your body, it means that you are in a constant state of 'Flight and Fight'. If you take five minutes out to Google what that process does to your body you really wont want to be in that daily cycle and more. It's for emergencies only!

There are four basic things to remember when seeking total body wellness:

1. Be Kind To Yourself!
2. Enjoy the body you were blessed with and take time to thank it for what it can do. 
3. Never berate your body for the things that it can't do yet. 
4. Breathe deeply and know that you are way more than good enough. 

Enjoy your evenings and keep life real. 

Jx 

My Pilates Journey.

The Magic Pilates Resistance Ring;
my personal favoriteat the moment. 

I first started working as a Massage Therapist 13 years ago. I worked in a Beauty Studio based in a department store near my home town and I was often asked which type of exercises would work best for my clients, as I still do. In 2000 I remember giving out the advice that I still recommend today to many clients; "try a good Pilates class to help strengthen your back". At the turn of the century here in the U.K it was like giving advise out for some underground sect that only a few people where privileged to know about! There were only two or three instructors in the surrounding area and I can't remember that there was much of an option for doing the equipment based classes. 

Oh, how times have changed, as now we can go to our local gyms and Pilates 'based' classes with about 50 other people! 

Today I want to give you a personal reason why I like the Pilates method so much and why I think it is a good concept for overall body wellness. 

As you know if you have been following my Twitter account and reading the blogs over the past

Don't forget to hydrate whilst
site-seeing!

couple of weeks, David and I have been traveling around Italy. We are here for a month and have been really enjoying ourselves. This weekend we went to Rome and had an amazing time there! But all this moving around has meant that we will be on four planes, seven different mattresses, (with corresponding pillows), over a six week period. I'm also doing a lot of driving, clocking up a loads of miles in 12 days already! So on Sunday morning at 2a.m I wasn't that surprised at being awake whilst my back was having a teenage-style strop at me. I realized as I got out of bed that we had been partying the night before, had walked miles around Rome and done some amazing site-seeing, all in beautiful hot temperatures, and I had forgotten to pack pain killers. 

Had I stretched and done all the things I urge my clients to do? No: The only thing I could congratulate myself over was making sure I drank two glasses of water for each glass of wine or espresso! 

I was hot and sticky and my back ached, so I sat on the edge of the bed and listened to the nightingales and started doing some seated roll-downs.  

This led to an hour and a half of Pialtes. I kept it slow, making sure I held each stretch for a good amount of time, I moved in all directions and got my body back. As I was doing my hamstring stretches  on a blanket folded up on the cool marble floor I thought: This works!

I was so relieved that I  had learnt enough over the past years through some amazing teachers to do Pilates safely on my own and that I could happily stretch out, work my body and make my back pain ease off in such a positive way. By 3:30am I was cooler thanks to the marble floor, but more importantly I was pain free enough to go to sleep. 

For me, Pilates doesn't ask my body to hyper-extend, (which it does too easily), and I can make it as slow or as fast as I like. I can pinpoint different body parts to work on knowing that they are being used not by themselves, but by the kinetic chains around the whole body, making it a full-body wellness program for me. I like the way I can make it a form of fascia release for myself and that it gets better and better each time I practice. I also find it a fantastic form of meditation. 

Personally I don't like the big classes and work best with a one-to-one teacher. Jill Heaton is teaching me at the moment and has allowed me to find my body again after the end of my course last year. I have also enjoyed classes, but I think 6 or 8 people in a class is enough otherwise the instructor cannot refine the techniques for each person

The Reformer Machines are fantastic, but a Mat Class
will give you amazing benefits as well. 

Pilates is hard work! If I don't feel it the next day I haven't done it right. If you are thinking of starting, you need to dedicate yourself and do it about three times a week. If you are going to a class you really have to do your homework, otherwise there is little point. 

Joseph Pilates, the man who 'invented' the exercise routines said: 

"In ten sessions you will feel a difference, in twenty sessions you will see a difference and in thirty sessions you will be on your way to having a whole new body". 

And

"Pilates develops the body uniformly, corrects wrong postures, restores physical vitality, Invigorates the mind and elevates the spirit." 

I would always recommend finding a fully qualifide teacher, such as Jill, who will take you through the basic principles so you can be safe, and then help you find the new you! 

Finally, the best advice I ever had about Pilates and mixing it with other forms of exercise was by a guy who told me: 'You'll never die from a strong core, go get out of breathe!'. Basically he was telling me to mix Pilates with good aerobic work as well so that my heart and lungs also get a good work out! I fully agree! 

One to watch for summer.

Good morning.

Just a quick post this morning to upload a Summer Sunscreen YouTube video David and I made on the beach yesterday. I do so love it when ice-cream, sun, sand and sea constitute as work!

I'm now off to learn Italian numbers and food items down at the market. Remember to breathe deeply and enjoy your day.