It is now officially spring here in the northern hemisphere and in my little corner of France the blossom is bountiful. I feel like I have emerged from a long, deep hibernation, like some kind of large, lumbering animal. All winter I’ve had the luxury of sleeping in and waking Read more…
I have been writing for as long as I can remember. Stories, essays, travel journals, rants, self-pitying monologues. I’ve lost count of the number of “books” I’ve started and then discarded purely because I’ve forgotten I’d started them in the first place. Sometimes I find pieces of paper crammed in Read more…
It’s a warm day in early March. We’re coming up to a full moon. The toads are busy mating in the pond and it’s the time of year when you feel like opening the windows, going through the cupboards and throwing away all the clutter. I’ve cleaned all the windows, Read more…
Are you a daydreamer? Do your friends sometimes wonder where you’ve gone when you’re sitting right in front of them? I can be off on an adventure of the mind at the drop of a hat, but never more so than the moment in a day when I smell something Read more…
The cold spell we’re having in the Northern Hemisphere has put me in hibernation mode. The woodburner has been constantly on the go and it actually reached minus four here in the Arcachon Basin. I’m sure that must be almost unheard of. Even the beach was frosty and crunchy underfoot Read more…
“A compassionate herb of the highest order” For my final blog to celebrate Aromatherapy Awareness Week I wanted to leave you with something simple. The above quote by Peter Holmes* says it all. Lavender remains one of the most popular and versatile essential oils, an all-time favourite for so many Read more…
One of the easiest and most effective ways to benefit from essential oils is simply….. to take a bath Yes, that’s right. A simple bath allows us to inhale the oils through the steam of the bath and absorb them topically through the skin. It’s almost too easy! In my Read more…
We’ve probably all experienced back pain in some form or another at some point in our lives. I certainly have. In fact it’s because of back pain that I started studying massage and aromatherapy in the first place. Suffering the excruciating pain of sciatica and a herniated disc, I found Read more…
Are you suffering from the winter blues? I think I am! When I was taking the photo in my last post I got excited about the prospect of spring coming. Premature I know, but I’m really aching to feel the sunlight on my face and to see the colour of Read more…
Are you doing some kind of detox this January? A green smoothie challenge? Cutting out cigarettes, alcohol, dairy, gluten, meat, sugar, refined carbohydrates? Getting rid of toxic thoughts and self-limiting beliefs? There’s a lot of talk about whether detox can be harmful or not, especially when done drastically. I have Read more…
The weather today is grey, cold and drizzly. I’ve been burning bergamot, lavender and cypress* in an attempt to evoke thoughts of hot Mediterranean summers, swimming in the sea off the southern tip of Italy, the Greek islands or the coastline of Croatia. In reality I’m sitting in the lounge with the Read more…
“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Read more…
As I was hanging upside down this afternoon in downward dog pose I found myself thinking about the best essential oils to use for yoga. Obviously I acknowledged the thought and let it pass, but it did spark something worth writing about. More often than not it is incense you Read more…
I have rather erratic sleep patterns to say the least. When I’m on a roll I can sleep for hours, dead to the world, oblivious to bin lorries and recycling trucks outside my window, phones, alarms, crying babies. Unfortunately this is rarely the case and more often than not I am up in Read more…
I’ve been re-reading a lot of my aromatherapy books recently and while spending a comfy few hours with Marguerite Maury’s Guide to Aromatherapy I came across this: “The famous love potion of Tristan and Isolde was composed of extracts of frangipani, frankincense, orange blossom and marjoram. These “love” philtres were not Read more…
As an aromatherapist I’m currently in possession of around 50 different essential oils. It’s great for me to have such a large choice at my fingertips and gives me endless combinations to cover a variety of needs. But what if you are just starting out with aromatherapy and still learning Read more…
Yesterday I was making lemon curd. Extra tart and tangy! It’s rather good I have to say (see photo) and I don’t think it’s going to last very long. If you have ever been to a café with me for a piece of lemon tart you will know my signature question: “How Read more…
“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh (A.A.Milne) I saw this quote recently and, remembering my younger Winnie the Pooh years, it really spoke to me. Especially right now at the Read more…