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June is Stress Busting month here at Vitality + and we are holding a series of events and activities to help you get rid of those  unhealthy worries.

Our Chiropractor and Reiki Master, Sara,  is holding a special hour of meditation every Thursday evening during June. Open to everyone, this relaxed session gives you time for you! Sara will guide you through some easy to follow meditation exercises to help you relax and throw off the pressures of work or home. The sessions are just £3 each (inc. refreshments). You are welcome to turn up on the day, but places are limited, so we recommend you book first.

If you are interested in learning more about Reiki for yourself, Sara is also running a Reiki 1 course here at Vitality on Sunday 12th June. On this full day course you will learn how to heal yourself using the energy to heal and balance our mind, body, and spirit. The cost of the day is £85 (inc lunch and refreshments). For More information go to http://www.body-at-ease.com/Reiki_Courses.html 

At the end of the month we are holding a Special Stress and Insomnia Open day. On Saturday  25th June, all our relevant  therapists will be available to discuss the different ways to beat stress  or help you sleep. The herbalists, psychotherapist, counselor and chiropractor can provide advice on a range of treatments and will be offering some free massage tasters to help you de-stress. Why not pop along and talk to us?

Exercise and walking in particular, is a recognised way of dealing with anxiety and stress - so the next day, Sunday 26th June, our qualified botanist and herbalist Tim, will be leading an Aromatic Herbal Walk. Starting with a train ride to Irwell Vale, Tim will follow the river back to Ramsbottom, seeking out wild plants that have a distinctive aroma. Some of them might even help with stress! The walk is around 3 miles and will take about 1-2 hours. The cost is £5 and the train fare is £3.70. Please come along for a relaxing and informative afternoon.

Finally, if your idea of relaxing is being pampered with natural and luxuriant lotions and creams, then we can help there too. During the whole of June we are offering all our Neal's Yard beauty care products at 20% Off. This is to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of  Neal's Yard and help you treat yourself  to a bit of luxury. 


 
Herbal Walk 04/29/2011
 
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Easter Monday saw the latest  of our Herbal walks round Ramsbottom. The weather was good and we found many plants relating to Spring and the festival of Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring. Sweet cicley, dandelion and nettle were amongst some of the ancient spring tonics we found and heard about. I was able to try many of them in the field, although several, such as the Ramsons are past their best, and eating raw nettle takes a certain amount of practice not to get stung!

Look out for our next walk on the 26th June when we will be searching for aromatic herbs in the wild.

 
 
Our programme of Herbal Walks for 2011 has now been decided. Following the popular walks this year, we will be running four walks in and around Ramsbottom in the New Year. These walks will be informative and interesting, identifying local plants that have traditionally been used for medicinal purposes and discovering more about the folklore and legend of plant healing.

 The walks will vary in length, suitable for a range of abilities, and take in different aspects of this part of Lancashire’s rich countryside from woodland to riverbanks.

 More details of each walk will be published nearer the time, but for now, put these dates in your diary!

 Monday 25th April 2011 (Easter Monday) –Celebrating Eostre: Help celebrate the pagan spring festival of Eostre by looking for sacred Anglo-Saxon herbs

 Sunday 26th June 2011 – Aromatic Trail: Follow your nose as we seek out medicinal plants with a distinctive aroma.

 Sunday 21st August 2011 – Celtic Legends: In the month of the Hazel Tree, we go in search of trees and plants that were used by the Celtic Druids.

 Sunday 2nd October 2011 – Fruits and Roots: As Autumn establishes itself, we go in search of berries, fruits and roots that provide medicinal help for the coming winter.

 All walks cost £5 each and will be led by Tim Cappelli, qualified herbalist, biologist and experienced walks guide. Please check the website for updates on route details, times and meeting points. 

 
 
Today I had the pleasure of taking a group of members from the Wigan and Leigh branch of the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT) on a herbal walk along the banks of the River Irwell. We were really lucky with the weather - despite the ominous clouds early on - and managed to find lots of plants to see along the way - too many really and we ended up slightly late for our lunch at Irwell Vale Methodist church, who had opened especially for us. It was nice to have such an interested and knowlegeable group, and I learnt a lot from them and hopefully they learnt something from me - so thanks to the lady who told me about the use of silver birch in Latvia, the person who found the St John's Wort that I missed - a big thank you to Jack for organising it and a big thank you too to Jenni at the Methodist Church for the fantastic hospitality at lunch time. You can find out more about the FHT at http://www.fht.org.uk/Homepage/ - If any other groups are interested in doing something similar, please contact us at Vitality - we'll happily cater for your group.
 
 
In Search of the Nine Sacred Herbs of the Anglo-Saxons

A worm came creeping, 
  he tore asunder a man.
Then took Woden
nine magic twigs
and he smote the serpent
that he flew into nine bits...
  

So begins the story of how the Anglo-Saxon god Woden obtained the nine sacred herbs, which they believed had the power to heal all ills.



This herbal walk will take you through the woods and riverbanks around Nuttall Park to find how many of these sacred plants we can find – they may be more common than you think!

 

The walk is led by Tim Cappelli from Vitality + in Ramsbottom. Tim is a qualified medical herbalist, with degrees in herbal medicine and environmental biology. He will help identify these and other plants of interest, tell of their history and how you can use them for common ailments today.

 

The walk is free and open to all and will last about 1  hour. Please bring suitable footwear.

Date: Monday 31st May

Time: 2.00 p.m.

Meet: By the Ranger’s lodge