She has gained various qualifications in the therapies field. She is a qualified Massage Therapist in Swedish Massage, Sports and Remedial Massage, On-site chair Massage and is a qualified ‘Bowen’ Therapist. In Katys words “Bowen is an incredible technique”. ‘Bowen is a bodywork technique, using gentle stretching of areas of the body using the thumbs and fingers to stimulate nerve pathways. It is a complementary therapy used to reduce pain and increase motor function’. She explained the extensive benefits that can be gained from Bowen Therapy.

Katy then went on to talk about the love of her life hobby wise which is Dancing. She began dancing Ceroc and now dances this along with predominantly West Coast Swing. She is a big proponent of dancing and this was clear in her enthusiasm for dancing and how the benefits of dancing are there for anyone who may wish to start this. She talked about the social benefits, the cognitive benefits and the ability to practice liberating and freeing ourselves through the creative art of individual expression when listening to the music and developing musicality to enhance the dance experience.

She then ended with a recap on Bowen and explained how to access information on this

https://thetherapytoolbox.co.uk/

Monika talked about her journey from her country of origin in “stunning” Slovenia to where she stays now in Scotland. She described her struggle with her health and her weight issue and how this impacted on her esteem and mental health. She spoke about how she managed to lose weight and is happy with this. She is an advocate today however, not so much on losing weight but on health as a holistic lifestyle. She began changing her habits and reaping the benefits of this on a physical and also mental and emotional level. This journey has taken her to the academic world where she is now an associate lecturer at St Andrews University. She is also a Life/Health Coach with her website and Facebook Group (B.A.D. Balanced-Authentic – Deserving) promoting a healthy holistic lifestyle. She has a busy active life mixing being a mother an academic and a lifecoach. She loves exercise and is a competitive powerlifter for Scotland and loves dancing Salsa

John has been involved in his passion for a particular dance, Argentine Tango for 20 years. He is an accomplished dancer and highly respected by his peers from his Teaching of Tango and DJing at Milongas (the tango social dances) throughout Scotland.

He talked about how Tango developed in Aberdeen and evolved into the now ‘Tango Aberdeen’ dance community.

John has had a colourful and vast array of creative activities he has been involved in over many years. He was involved in the first Scottish Snowboarding championship in the 1980’s. He has made and sold jewellery. He can juggle and walk on stilts. He was involved in paragliding for many years until he had some accidents and he decided to hang up his metaphorical paragliding wings. He was still dancing tango at this time however. He has visited Buenos Aires the home of tango 12 times and has gained much teaching knowledge and awareness and love of the culture from these visits.

John was an art psychotherapist for many years. Discussions around several areas of mental health were broached and specifically the realism of the human condition and that “we are all imperfect” and just doing our best. He is now retired and is enjoying his retirement disgracefully by embracing the sport of Kayaking with zeal and enthusiasm and is still involved with his main passion tango dancing and teaching this in Aberdeen.

George talked about his roots in the North East of Scotland and how being close to the sea he began his love of swimming living in Macduff and using the Open Air swimming pool at Tarlair .

He went on to talk about how he then formed the Swim Free Aberdeen group and how it has evolved to where it is now (3.1 thousand members). The group has done several charity fundraising swims for the north east community. He talked about the many benefits that outdoor swimming brings to those who are involved in this which is indicative of its current growth in popularity.

Improvements to our Mental and Emotional Health are obvious benefits from Outdoor Swimming. There is now a monthly swim focusing on ‘mental health’ which has been well attended since its first one in June 2022.

He also talked about how running was a big part of life. George is a ‘Dons’ fan and has been for many years. He travels regularly to see them play.

Alex is from Russia. She travelled from Russia to Scotland in 2017 and has been a resident of Scotland since then.

She works as a reservoir engineer and has become more and more aware of how health and well being is essential in our life.

Dealing with Time management was discussed by Alex and how she has developed strategies to manage her time better that has helped with her day to day work and life balance.

Exercise has become more prevalent in Alex’s life and she talked about how this helps with her to de-stress and get perspective. Running and Yoga. Cross Fit is also  now a part of her exercise routine.

Alex is an experienced Toastmaster (Public speaking organisation). Has held several positions on  the local Clubs Committee. She spoke about the many benefits that this has given her being a member of this organisation.

This is the first 3 episodes of what I hope will be the beginning of more in the future. Providing myself with a forum for my enthusiasm for holistic health matters and to also enable friends to provide there views, thoughts and there experiences.