Hello lovely Bay of Plenty members.

Some of you may know I have taken over from Phil our lovely Lakes and EBOP Facilitator and now support the whole of the Bay. We are very lucky that Phil will not be leaving us completely and will be still holding the men’s and mindfulness online groups. We wish him all the best in his new adventures.  Even though I may not be able to get down as often as Phil, I am really excited to slowly get to know our members in those regions and will pop down to the social groups every now and then.

In Tauranga we had a lovely Open Day, we were able to showcase our new premises and it wasn’t raining! Thank you to those who came, we really enjoyed having a nice chat and catch up with you all.

As winter is nearly here, it’s getting colder, the mornings are darker, and more people are coming down with illnesses. Sometimes this is a lot to take in. So here is a little tool for you to help your beautiful bodies cope with everything you carry. Firstly, notice how much stress you are carrying through your shoulders? Take a moment to let them relax and drop away from your ears. Maybe you are carrying a lot of things on your shoulders (People looking for support / advice) but just for now, let them relax and soften. Now notice how tight it feels in your belly and thighs. The psoas muscle there carries a lot of tension. You may have tense about a week ago and its still there. Tightness there can lead to additional knee, back and ankle pain. Take a big breath through your nose for the count of 5 and breath out through your mouth. Focus on your tum, thighs, hips or knees … Let everything soften as you breathe out. Repeat this breath, sighing it out a couple of times to soften those key parts of your body. You may even want to do this lying on your front to help open up those areas and the back of the lungs.

Till next time take care 😊