Climbing mountains

Life seems to have been full of setbacks recently but, for me, it's been an exercise in listening to my body and what it needs at this time.

Today I'm drawing inspiration from one of my favourite spiritual writers, Paulo Coelho. This is his take on climbing mountains.

Of butterflies and bees

I just had to post these butterfly photos since they're the reason for my bee sting. I was engrossed in trying to push some grass stems out the way to get a clear shot of this small tortoiseshell and didn't notice a honey bee in one of the purple thistle flowers. Ouch!

Painted lady

These were taken at Spey Bay on the Moray Firth.

Eventful holidays!

We're just back from our annual trip to Portsoy. Alan took loads of great photos which I will eventually upload. As you can see from the above photo, I was somewhat impeded from taking any - thanks to a boating accident. Alan lost his balance and fell backwards into my wrist.

I'm learning to do everything, including type, with one hand.

I also got stung by a bee and bitten by a tick. Then the car broke down. But it was still a good(ish) holiday.

Glen Etive

Hello blog readers. It's time for another very occasional blog post thanks to Alan. It's the time of year in Scotland when everything looks so lush and green. There must be some advantages to living in a climate with lots of rain.

On Saturday, Alan was hillwalking in the mountains around Glen Etive in the scorching sunshine. He got sunburnt and quite badly dehydrated despite drinking gallons of water. You can see the lovely fresh greens everywhere.

The mountains are Stob Coir' an Albannaich and Meall nan Eun.

Thanks for the photos, Alan.

Tenerife: wild flowers

Are there any blog readers still out there? I've decided to start blogging again now that I've got loads of new photos to post.

Alan and I are just back from 2 weeks in Tenerife where it was very hot and very busy. But with our hired car, it was possible to get away from the resorts into the clear mountain air. At this time of year the wild flowers in the mountains are amazing. There were fields and fields of vibrant orange poppies creating swathes of colour. Convolvulus, red poppies and even purple poppies were dotted everywhere and there were even lots of herbs like dill and rosemary growing wild.

More photos to follow and some Tenerife tales.

Fields of orange poppies in the village of Vilaflor - floral village

Convolvulus - above and below

Full steam ahead

It's been a couple of months since I finished my training in the Netherlands and life has been pretty busy since then. I've finished my case studies, been back to the Netherlands for a reunion weekend with my fellow trainees and last weekend, did my first full weekend facilitating at a TBF training weekend.

Above you can see the lovely group of people who did Level 1 of the Transformational Breath Foundation's Personal and Professional Development Programme (yes I know it's a mouthful!): Reclaim Your Breath. It was an intensive weekend but lots of fun too and the participants found it a very powerful experience. It was great to be on the other side and watch people open up and transform over the weekend.

Level 2 is in May but beginners are still welcome if anyone wants to give it a go. Details to follow in my breathing blog.

This week I'm having an enforced rest as I fell in the shower yesterday, sprained my ankle and wrenched my shoulder. I'm feeling a bit bruised and battered.

I have another 5 weekends to facilitate which is my next challenge. I learnt lots this weekend watching other facilitators working and just hearing all the information again.

And in five weeks time, Alan and I are off to Tenerife for a well-deserved two week holiday. I might even get a chance to take some more photos.

Transformational Breathing Level IV

Goodbye Baarlo, here we come world

Well, it's been a long time since I posted on this blog and it's been a challenging few months but I'm very proud to announce that I'm finally a graduate Transformational Breath Facilitator. I came back from my 3rd week's training in the Netherlands on Friday evening. Exhausted but very proud of what I'd achieved.

I've been thinking back to where I was four or five years ago or even 2½ years ago when I started this blog. I remember being housebound, in constant pain, unable to sleep with multiple allergies, intolerances and an immune system that was haywire. And then I see where I am now in life and how much I've improved, how much better my life is.

The course was very intensive. A couple of evenings when we had workshops, we finished at 11 pm and were up again the next morning. We were breathing ourselves as well as working on other people, preparing for workshops, doing group work as well as studying for the exam in the bit of spare time we did have. But it was well worth it and a fantastic experience. I met some wonderful Dutch and Belgian people. The British could learn so much from their go-for-it attitude to life. No messing around making excuses and putting things off or finding reasons not to do something. If you want to achieve something, just go and do it.

And I now have a new favourite blog. Go check out Griet's Breathing Blog. Griet is from Belgium and her blog is in Dutch but she's got at least one little video clip in English. By the way, adem is the Dutch for breath. Ademhaling is breathing. By the end of the third week my brain started to make sense of a bit of Dutch especially all the words connected with breathwork.

And the future? I now have to facilitate at a number of workshops, do some reading, some more case studies and then I'll be a certified Transformational Breath facilitator and ready to start my own practice. If I want, I can go on and do Level V which qualifies you to hold day workshops and, eventually, training courses and training weeks.

This is just the start of a whole new career and a whole new challenge. I feel very happy and optimistic about the future. And most of all, I remember what a powerful tool Transformational Breathing is and how it can change lives.

A special thanks to Marco who took most of the photos and who was a wonderful trainer. He also talked me through my moments of self doubt.

Breathe Deep

Music night

Exam time

Kasteel de Berckt, Baarlo

The River Maas