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Guest blog: Susan Maire – Sports Massage and Soft Tissue Therapist

Susan Maire is a regular Thursday Yoga class member. We both have regular sports massage with her and enjoy the benefits of doing so. We firmly believe that a combination of Yoga and regular massage helps to keep you in great condition! Susan currently has a great offer on at the moment that new clients can take advantage of, 3 massages for the price of 2, this works out at 3 massages for £60. We will hand you over to Susan from Susan Maire Sports Massage to talk about massage…..

Susan Maire Sports Massage

What is Sports Massage?

  • Massage is one of the earliest forms of physical therapy and was used over 3000 years ago in China, India and Greece.
  • It involves manipulating soft tissue.
  • Soft tissue is connective tissue that has not hardened into bone and cartilage eg muscles, skin and fascia.
  • It’s designed to assist in correcting problems and imbalances in soft tissue that are caused from repetitive and strenuous physical activity and trauma. 
  • A sports massage, prior to and after exercise, may enhance performance, aid recovery and prevent injury.

Q: Is it just for athletes?

A: Not at all! Soft tissue massage can help almost anyone who is experiencing aches and pains, whether they are caused by sport, work or from sitting too much in a car or at a computer. 

Q: Does it hurt?

A: Massage of tight “knotty“ muscles can be uncomfortable as they are released, however as a therapist I believe it’s important to communicate with clients throughout the treatment to ensure that it isn’t too painful. 

I don’t believe it’s a case of no pain no gain!

Q: How long does it take to work?

A: This depends on lots of factors. I’d expect most clients to see some benefit in the day or two after a treatment. However, if an injury has been present for some time it’s likely to take more than one session to correct it. I will usually suggest some stretches to do between sessions too.

Q: Do I need to be injured to benefit? 

A: No definitely not! As with most things prevention is usually better than cure and picking up and correcting tight areas may prevent an injury.

Susan Maire Sports Massage

About Me

  • I’m based in West Kirby and have a clinic room at home. I’m a keen triathlete and understand the love of training and racing.
  • I love what I do as I get to see real improvements in clients’ pain and movement.
  • I have a Level 3 VCTC qualification and full insurance.
  • Sessions cost £30 per hour and I offer reductions for regular clients booking blocks of sessions.

Susan can be contacted via her Facebook Business page, link below;

https://www.facebook.com/susanjmaire/

And by telephone on 07702 827022

If you enjoyed our Guest Blog about Susan Maire Sports Massage then check out our other blogs at: https://pauls93.sg-host.com/blog/

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Pop-Up Yoga – Beach & Park in a cardboard Castle!

Hi Everyone

Just a quick note to let you know that we have a couple of pop-up yoga sessions coming up.

Beach Pop-up Yoga

The first one is on Sunday 5th August at 10:00am at Red Rocks, Stanley Road, Hoylake.

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The weather forecast looks great and we have checked the tide times!!

We will meet at the end of Stanley Road, Hoylake at the gate which leads on to the beach for a 10:00am start.

Please bring a yoga mat if you have one, some water, suncream and a blanket / jumper for relaxation in case there is a cool breeze. Some yoga mats will be available on the day if you need to borrow one.

We will be teaching a traditional Hatha Yoga class with a breathing exercise, postures and a nice guided relaxation to finish. The cost for the class is £5 for adults and £3 for children accompanied by an adult.

Here is a link to the event on our facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/events/955385201332401/

Here is a map of where we will meet;

Park Pop-Up Yoga in cardboard castle – Ashton Park 

Come and join us on Sunday 12th August at 10:00am for a FREE outdoor Pop-up Yoga session with a difference! We will be practicing yoga next to a large cardboard castle that will be built in Ashton Park as part of the Lost Castles event across the Merseyside Region.

French artist Olivier Grosstete has designed cardboard castles influenced by the rich architectural history of the Merseyside Region and they will be built in locations across Merseyside. We are lucky to have one being built in Ashton Park in West Kirby!

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Our yoga session will be a traditional hatha yoga class including a breathing exercise and guided relaxation. This is a FREE family friendly community yoga session brought to you by Wirral Council and Yogasmiths. Please bring a yoga mat with you, we will have a small number of mats that can be used on the day. If you wish to purchase a cheap decent quality yoga mat, Home Bargains have them for £5.

After the Yoga session there will be the opportunity to stick around and be involved in the pulling down and dismantling of the castle after which it will all be recycled.

For more information about the Lost Castles events across Merseyside please see the link below;
https://www.lostcastles.co.uk

You can get in solved in the building of the castle and find out more information here;
https://www.imaginewirral.com/get-involved%20

Here is a link to the event on our facebook page;

https://www.facebook.com/events/225475838110403/

We look forward to seeing you there!

Paul & Steve x

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Congratulations to our Duke Of Edinburgh Award Yoga Students!

We have been delighted to have been able to introduce yoga to a group of young women completing the Duke of Edinburgh award via our weekly yoga classes.

Faith, Katie and Maisie have been regular attendees at our weekly classes to fulfil the requirements of the Duke of Edinburgh for physical activity / sport.

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They have been and continue to be regular attendees along with their friend Esme. We have been very pleased with their commitment to their yoga practice and their progression within yoga. It was with great pleasure that we were able to sign off part of their Duke of Edinburgh award as assessors and wish them good luck in completing the rest of their award.

If you are completing the Duke of Edinburgh award why not consider attending yoga classes to satisfy the Sports / physical activity requirements!

As they are all under 16 they attend with a parent / guardian and we are pleased to have 2 of their parents as regular attendees to our classes now as well! If you are interested in attending our yoga classes with somebody under the age of 16 please see the student resources tab on our website for details of consent forms that need to be completed.

Namaste

Paul & Steve

The Duke of Edinburgh Award

Please see below for information about the Duke of Edinburgh award, taken from their website;

Since its creation in 1956 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, the DofE has gone from strength to strength. Guided by the same set of principles and by young people themselves, it’s as relevant today as it was then. The DofE Award was based on Kurt Hahn’s Moray Badge, run by him while Headmaster at Gordonstoun School.

A flexible programme that helps to develop young people for life and work, the numbers speak for themselves: 93% of participants feel that DofE has helped them to work in a team and 84% feel that they have become a more responsible person.   From 1,000 DofE Awards achieved in year one to 142,961 last year, we have both a rich history and a bright future. Why not let our timeline and our young people tell you more?

The DofE has a positive impact on young people’s lives, in terms of their personal development and employability, and on wider society, from charities gaining active and engaged volunteers to businesses hiring work-ready recruits.

Demand remains high. With increasing numbers of young people wanting to take part in the world’s leading youth achievement award, it’s our ambition to give another one million 14 to 24-year-olds in the UK this life-changing opportunity by 2021.

Thanks to our fantastic team of employees and volunteers and the generous donations made by our supporters, we look forward to doing just that.

Find out more here;

https://www.dofe.org

Read our other blogs here: Blog

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Mental Health Awareness Week – helpful tips to deal with stress

At all of our weekly classes this week we discussed Mental Health Awareness Week and the topic for this year which is stress.

Stress has been shown to be one of the main contributory factors in triggering a mental health problem. Research has shown that two thirds of us will experience a mental health problem during our lifetime.

In the spirit of Mental Health Awareness week we decided we would start the conversation about mental health and ask our yoga students to share their tips and ways of dealing with Stress.

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We had our Stress board at all the classes and students all wrote down on a post it note what they do to deal with stress.

At the end of this week we had a mountain of post it notes with lots of helpful tips and ideas. We typed them all up and entered them into a special website of wizardry which came out with a wonderful word cloud with the most common suggestions in a bigger font. Here are the results;

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The top 3 helpful suggestions were going for a walk, talking to someone and doing yoga! Have a look at the word cloud and see if there are any ideas that you may like to try next time you are feeling stressed.

We would like to sincerely thank all of our students for taking part in this activity and sharing their own personal strategies for dealing with stress. Sharing our ideas can help others and remove the perceived stigma around Mental Health. The greater our awareness of Mental Health is and the knowledge that many of us will experience a mental health problem in our lifetime will help those who are suffering in silence. There is no need to suffer in silence, talk and reach out. People have lots of tips and strategies that may help you too.

Paul & Steve

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Mental Health Awareness Week – Mindfulness taster session for UK Bike and Go / Merseyrail – West Kirby

Thank you to all the lovely cyclists that came to our morning Mindfulness taster session. This was held on the cliffs at Cubbins Green in West Kirby. The event was organised by Merseyrail (@Merseyrail) and the UK Bike and Go (@UKBikeandgo) scheme where you can hire bicycles from train stations across the UK.

You can find further details and information on UK Bike and Go here;

https://www.bikeandgo.co.uk

We were pleased to take part in this event to highlight Mental Health Awareness week which runs from 14th -20th May 2018.  The focus this year is on stress and how we cope with it.

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

Exercise such as cycling (and yoga!) and a mindful purposeful relaxation meditation practice are great tools in tackling stress and its effects.

Mindfulness of breathing and yoga breathing exercises can help reduce the stress response in the body and help us to find a calmer experience of the present moment.

Research has shown that two thirds of people experience a mental health problem in their lifetime and that stress is a key factor. Finding practices to help reduce stress and to   deal with stressful situations is a helpful way of trying to find a calmer more peaceful experience.

Cubbins Green provided the perfect setting for the guided Mindfulness relaxation session with lots of beautiful birdsong and sunshine!

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