Penny Mckay

Archive for June, 2010

The five freedoms… what’s that all about? The five freeedoms are based on the welfare needs of animals and are as equally important whether you are keeping livestock in your back garden or have a small holding.

What are they then?  

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst - by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour

2. Freedom from discomfort - by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area

3. Freedom from pain, injury or disease - by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment

4. Freedom to express normal behaviour - by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind

5. Freedom from fear and distress - by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

What else do I need to know? According to the Farm Animal Welfare Council “These freedoms define ideal states rather than standards for acceptable welfare” (hmm - interesting)

How do I find out more? For loads more check out www.ciwf.org.uk

Recently I have been trying a spot of barefoot jogging or to give it it’s correct title “Natural Running”. Which in its “natural” state is jogging without footwear (no, not without clothes, though I’m sure they’re doing that somewhere in the world!). I actually read about it in a magazine article and I am one of those people who when they like the idea of something they have to try it. The thought behind ”natural running” is that many of our modern day joint problems and postural problems are more as a result of the shoes we are wearing, the surfaces we are walking on and the habitual way in which we are moving. So for many of us it is about getting your shoes off  on a regular basis, connecting with the earth and actually encouraging your bones, joints and ligaments to do what they do best and that is to absorb the impact on and support the body. So that’s what I’ve been doing. Now don’t get me wrong I have no intentions on becoming the next Zola Budd or anything (though she was incredible and very brave) but once tried running barefoot is incredibly liberating and I am hooked.

Today was the second time for me to brave getting my tootsies out whilst moving at faster than walking pace and the experience was as liberating this time as it was the first.

When I made the decision to take my trainers off for the first time, it was pretty early in the morning and there weren’t too many people about to point and stare at some nutter without any shoes on! And I was at the beach. That seems to help somehow because it is deemed as acceptable to take your shoes off at the beach anyway so I felt somewhat less conspicuous than if I were jogging round the block from home. The decision was also made more for me, than by me, by the sight of the golden sand looking so clean and incredibly inviting, all new and fresh first thing in the morning. The sun was glinting and winking on the sea and seemed to ask it of me. Why wouldn’t you? Why wouldn’t I indeed? So with that off came the trainers and off came the socks and came a sense of freeedom and reconnection that was totally unexpected.

It was the same today. It’s as if the minute your shoes and socks come off your child comes out. Being barefoot is so indicitive and so evocative of that child state of running free with boundless energy and gay abandon without aches and pains. I felt this. But not just this.

What I felt beyond this was every footfall. Each time my foot struck the sand, the sand moulded and mirrored my foot giving “me” total support where I needed it. I actually felt the earth beneath and I actually felt my body respond. It was as if, with each strike there was a wave of response from the earth, that travelled back up through my body.  I also felt a return to something completely unadulterated and totally natural and my body seemed to breathe this incredible sigh of relief  as it let go. Through this sense of connecting down as each foot hit the earth, I was communing directly with the earth and she was responding. My joints were absorbing the impact and supporting me as a team and I just wanted to keep going  in this natural state with the wind in my face and the sun on my back. My feet and legs being rejuvenated by the waves of the sea and the waves of energy from the earth. With that gay abandon of old I splashed through the shallows until the stones at the shoreline (a recently added feature to Bournemouth beach due to an alleged surf reef being built!) finally drove me up in to the soft sand of the beach and back in to my socks and trainers to continue on the promenade. Just fantastic!

So, if you fancy the idea of natural running, jogging or walking too, pick your where and when carefully. Clearly grassy areas are going to be more comfortable then concrete, but you may find you will be doing the dog poo dodge more than jogging unless you can find a no dog area. So if you have a beach nearby I’d head for that option. I’m also not suggesting you do barefoot anything for very long. No, we aren’t use to it, yet, but it is our natural state and I’m sure that somewhere within your physical structure and your psyche you will remember what it is all about. 5- 10 minutes willl be plenty for starters. Combine a walk with a little jog until you feel you are coming alive to your body again.

Finally, if you have any form of joint problem endeavour to connect with your body and connect with the earth in a natural state (without footwear) more frequently. Who knows, it could help?

For more information and courses (particularly if you are prone to injury) check out www.naturalrunning.co.uk with John Woodward who has a background of working with Alexander Technique. How he works is very interesting indeed.

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Aspartame? What’s that? A potentially deadly artificial sweetener (aren’t they all!)

Where will I find it? In food, sweets, cereals, as a sweetener itself such as nutri-sweet, in drinks such as orange squash and fizzy drinks too.

What’s so deadly about it? There are cited to be 92 different side effects associated with consuming aspartame ranging from kidney problems to neurological problems.

What can I do about that? Start checking the lables of what you are consuming. Then stop eating and drinking products with it in.

What else do I need to know? Manufacturers are clever with their marketing and will promote a ”no added sugar” drink so you think its healthy, but if there’s no added sugar there will be added artificial sweeteners. Look for products that claim to have no artifical sweeteners. A little natural sugar is actually better for you long term because your body knows how to deal with it. For many of us it is a drip feed effect, we have been consuming products with this stuff in for years and its not natural, so the body tries to adapt to it, eventually we may become ill. Switch back to naturally occuring sugars such as honey.

How do I find out more? Google it, there is tons of stuff on it and other artificial sweeteners such as sucrolose.

Take a deep breath in now and connect with the power that is the life giving force of the ”in breath”

Can you feel it? 

Can you sense the soft movement of prana as it is called to caress the inside of your nostrils? 

How aware are you of its gently gliding, sliding journey past the back of your throat?

Are you able to notice this wonderful, whispering life force as it arrives deep in the heart of your lungs?

As you draw this breath in, ask yourself, is this an expansive breath? Can you get a sense of your body opening and expanding to welcome this life giving force. Or is there restriction? Do you have difficulty in allowing the “in breath” so subsequently it is shallow and inhibited? Could it be that by restricting your breathing you are restricting your potential to connect with life and for life to connect with you? A shortlived breath that perhaps leads to a shortlived life.

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Well, for me, it’s actually a case of  ” to bed - perchance to sleep” in all reality.

Am I alone in this? Is there anybody else out there who goes to bed tired, yet full of hope night after night? I Truly wonder what it feels like to fall asleep as soon as your head hits the proverbial pillow? I wonder…. 

So I was lying in bed last night wondering, nothing new there. I was pretty relaxed and I wasn’t worrying about anything. You see this is the thing, if I had things “on my mind”, I wouldn’t mind just lying there and I do know the best thing to do if you have “things” on your mind is to write them down so they don’t bug you at night. But I don’t have anything on my mind so I don’t fit  into that category.

Don’t get me wrong, on some level I was enjoying just lying there but only because I’ve been through the being frustrated and annoyed about being awake and I’ve come to terms with the fact there’s no point to any of that because it doesn’t matter how frustrated and annoyed you get, you are still awake! (breathe) As I was enjoying lying there all I could hear was my husbands regular breathing.

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SUNDAY 4TH JULY

10.30AM - 4.30PM at 10 Eastfield Court, Ringwood

£5 entry please

Sessions include T’ai Chi/Chi Kung; Yoga; Voice Overtoning; Movement and the Breath

Kids welcome from 2pm (free)  for Yoga for Kids & Dance for Kids

Breads, Cookies, Cakes and Cupcakes available to buy

Food & Drink provided plus facepainting, paddling pool fun and ice cream!

Prayer ribbons for Haiti and loved ones.

All are welcome!

All proceeds going to the Haiti Hospital Appeal.