PAULA GIVES US A BOOST!

What a beautiful day for an early morning walk - Spring is really here!  A surprise waited for me when I went to pick up Jenny - Paula, the holistic therapist at Skin and Tonic, was there to join us.  She had already been on a run!  She is always a bundle of energy and gives us a boost...

At the start I passed on a walking tip, that I had gleaned from Nina Barough, the founder of Walk the Walk, a breast cancer charity raising money and awareness through power walks.  She suggests, "Imagine that you are holding on to a lottery ticket between your bottom cheeks!  It makes you more aware of your posture and of keeping your hips tilted slightly forward - and will give you a toned bottom." Well, we all tried it and set out with good intentions but, as soon the conversation got interesting, I know I forgot all about it!!

We took Paula on one of our favourite walks, which takes us over farmland, through footpaths, bridle ways and has the Charlton Viaduct as a dramatic backdrop.  We searched for some dandelion leaves to feed to Paula's rabbit - not so easy to find when they aren't  in flower!  She told us about her latest clients, the ones with four legs, who were racing at Cheltenham last week!  She loves treating horses and in many cases, she sees to the owners and riders too...  She says that if there is something out of balance in the rider's body this will transmit to the horse!

Another tip from Nina Barough - "if you have a walking buddy, do as the professional athletes do; take it in turns to be the pace setter, so that one of you is always pushing things forward."  Whenever we are with Paula, she is always the one in front...  As you can see, we tried a selfie but didn't get the camera down low enough to get the whole of Paula's head in!!