Self Care

Change is stressful. 

Even the most positive change can be stressful. Even when we want something, if it requires us to change, or a change to our circumstances, it causes stress. 

Yet change happens all the time. 

Think about how many changes have happened to you ove the last year. 

• Have there been changes to your job or the way you work? Are you now working from home all of the time? Do you have to wear a facemask at work? 
• How have your relationships changed? Do you no longer see your …

This weekend I did a meditation retreat, the subject of which was the Medicine Buddha (or Bhaisajyaguru). Working in the healthcare sector I've been attracted to the Medicine Buddha for quite a while so when the opportunity came up to learn a bit more I jumped at the chance. 

From a personal, spiritual perspective it was amazing! If you've never done a short meditation retreat, then I would really recommend trying one.... though perhaps not the Medicine Buddha as your first time. 

But what str…

Six months ago the phrase 'Zoom fatigue' didn't even exist and yet today, it's probably one of the most commonly used phrases in the English language. 

As our lives are moving more and more online, our days are taken up with back to back video calls and it's leaving us feeling exhausted. I don't know a single person who is not complaining about just how tiring video calls are. 

But why? 

According to Andrew Franklin, an assistant professor of cyberpsychology at Virginia’s Norfolk State Univer…

I've just received my second email from someone complaining that they have just received six emails from me in the last minute and they aren't happy.

Neither am I. 

In fact right at this moment I feel like giving up. Life was easy (well easier) when I was research scientist. 

Instead, I write a very humble apology to send to the lovely people who signed up for my free webinar explaining that (despite spending hours working out the exact sequence and dates) my automated series of emails promot…

What the research tells us that can help you at home

Over the last few weeks, myself and some herbalist colleagues have been collating a lot of research about 2019-nCoV, more commonly known as Covid-19 or Coronavirus. We have been looking at research from how the virus interacts with the human body to the research coming out of China on the herbal medicine protocols that have been successful.

There is a lot of misinformation out there so I want to share with you what I've learned - based…

According to a survey published in Reuters, one third of new year's resolutions don't make it passed the end of January. An analysis of the survey concluded that the reason is because we don't make the right resolutions but I would challenge that. Certainly if I am making a resolution it's because it is something important in my life that I want to change. So why do so many of us fail?

The American Psychological Association says it's because we lack willpower. Kelly McGonigal (a researcher …

I've taken a break from the blogging and promoting my business for the last 12 months or so and I thought it was time to explain why and share my story of grief.

At the beginning of August 2018, my little sister took her own life. When my brother phoned to break the news I instantly knew something wrong but I could not imagine the heart-wrenching agony that single phone call would unleash.

My little sister had been suffering with her mental health for a number of years; she'd had support…

I won't lie. It's been a bit chaotic here at The Living Herb over the last few months.

The annual family holiday was swiftly followed by dealing with serious family illness and the stark realisation that I had taken on too much.

We all do it.

Even the most careful planners among us have lapses where we double book, realise we've planned things for multiple weekends in a row, or seem have so much going on in our lives that we feel overwhelmed. I

t's easy to get sucked in too.

When we are dea…

It's Easter weekend and me and Mr LivingHerb have just returned from visiting my uncle.

My uncle is a priest and for many years has worked as a chaplain in various hospitals. This weekend he was planning a funeral so inevitably our conversation turned to not only death but life. After all, spring is the time when natural comes back to life after its long winter sleep.

It got me thinking about how our lives ebb and flow.

When we are young our minds are filled with great dreams and plans, like …