I've been doing Yoga for a few months now. I am really enjoying it; the balance of increasing fitness, increasing flexibility and de-stressing is something you don't get in an aerobics class where you can't see the instructor for the seat dripping down into your eyes! Yuck! The class I go to is on a Saturday morning from 10.30am to 11.30am at Merthyr Leisure Centre. For £3 a class per week, it's a snip and far more economical than £36 per month for gym membership!

Many people think that yoga is just stretching but yoga is really about creating balance in the body through developing both strength and flexibility. This is done through the performance of poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits. The poses can be done quickly in succession, creating heat in the body through movement or more slowly to increase stamina and perfect the alignment of the pose.

There a a wide variety of yoga styles. Some are more aerobic and designed to heat your body up, some are more focussed on perfecting the pose.

Ashtanga Yoga: This type of yoga is sometimes called "power yoga" due to the primary focus being to create a powerful flowing movement. These types of yoga often include classic strength and stamina routines such as lunges and pushups, and are more often used by people who are seeking a more challenging workout. Ashtanga might be suited to a person who as successfully overcome a minor back injury for example.

Hatha Yoga: If you see a class described as Hatha, it will likely be a slow-paced stretching class with some simple breathing exercises and perhaps seated meditation. This is a good place to learn basic poses, relaxation techniques, and become comfortable with yoga.

Vinyasa Yoga: Vinyasa is usually a fast-paced type of yoga with lots of different poses. Other than starting with a sun salutation, no two classes will be alike.

Kundalini Yoga: "Kundalini" refers to the energy of the base chakra, which surrounds the base of the spine. The principle behind Kundalini yoga is that in freeing up this area, we can unleash the unlimited potential that lies within that energy center. Expect lots of core work on your abs and around the spine with Kundalini yoga -- and perhaps even more sitting than usual.

Yoga fits really well with Reiki, and even though one comes form India and the other from Japan, they both focus on holistic wellbeing, energy flows and have chakra energy centres in common.

We went for a cycle ride around Bute Park this afternoon.· I'd wondered around the Park back in my Uni day, as the halls of residence I lived in for a few years is just off the top of the Park.

Bute park is an easily accessible·56 hectare green haven in the heart of the city. It is flanked by the River Taff, Sophia gardens, Pontcanna Fields and Cardiff Castle. Cardiff's biggest city centre public park, was originally created as the private garden to Cardiff Castle by Head Gardener Andrew Pettigrew for the third Marquess of Bute between 1873 and 1901.· In 1947, a significant proportion of the grounds were given to the people of Cardiff by the fifth Marquess of Bute, along with Cardiff Castle and Sophia Gardens (further portions of land were purchased and leased by the council to create an extensive park).· The Victorian garden layout still exists, but since 1947 the park has been extensively planted with trees to form the Bute Park Arboretum.

All around the Park are wide paths, accesible for Sunday afternoon strollers, dog walkers, pram pushers, joggers and cyclists alike.· There was a real community atmosphere there today with people from all walks of life, cultures and languages taking their time to enjoy the good weather and a few moment of relaxation. The weather was glorious and it was really warm in the sunshine; some people were sitting down against big old trees reading books, some were sitting on the grass having a picnic, others were pushing children on bicycles newly released from the constraints of stabilisers!· Some people were rowing down the Taff amidts yells of 'Go on!' and 'Well done!', so there may have been a race on. There were signs around the Park guiding the runners of the half marathon held in the morning where to go and how many miles they had done.

All in all it was a realy lovely, relaxed afternoon with lots of fresh air, sunshine and a Burger King in the middle, finished off with an orange and chocolate cookie...purely for the purposes of maintaining energy, of course!

Yesterday, I went to an open day at a complementary therapy centre in Cardiff and had a taster session of 'Shiatsu'. I'd been interested in shiatsuit for a while, but knew very little about it. I was really impressed by the therapy and it's whole body impact. Here's an extract from the Shiatsu Society's description about Shiatsu:

"Shiatsu is a therapeutic practice that can support individuals in moving towards greater health and well-being.

Shiatsu is a relaxing treatment and can be beneficial for back pain, stress, headaches, whiplash injuries, neck stiffness, joint pain and reduced motibility and many sports injuries amongst other ailments.

Shiatsu is a Japanese word meaning "finger pressure". It is a new name for the oldest form of medicine - healing with hands. Everybody has the healing power of touch and responds to touch. It is a natural ability that people are now beginning to recognize again.Shiatsu uses hand pressure and manipulative techniques to adjust the body's physical structure and its natural inner energies, to help ward off illness, and maintain good health.

Shiatsu is characterized by its great simplicity. It grew from earlier forms of massage, called Anma in Japan (Anmo or Tuina in China) which use rubbing, stroking, squeezing, tapping, pushing, and pulling to influence the muscles and circulatory systems of the body. Shiatsu, by contrast, uses few techniques and to an observer it would appear that little is happening - merely a still, relaxed pressure at various points on the body with the hand or thumb, an easy leaning of the elbows or a simple rotation of a limb."

After a family bereavement, we decided to go to Pembrokeshire to visit family and do some chillaxation. We strapped our (newly acquired)bicycles on to the back of our trusty van and headed off.

We've only recently bought bikes. It was very much to do with my ever pressing need to fight the flab! So, with my £45 pink bike from Gumtree, matching pink helmet and, actually, matching pink hoodie which I bought in the Eisteddfod, I am now actively working to beat the bulge!!

We also managed to time it right and got the kites out just when there was no rain but a decent bit of wind! Having not flown a kite for a long LONG time, it was a real buzz to be yanked across the field and watch my husband climb the tree to rescue the big kite!!!

I'm not a big gym fan, so it's good to be able to do some other activities to get fit and loose a bit of weight. So, cycling, swimming, kite flying, poi spinning. What next? That jobbing club I was thinking about? I'll let you know!!

We visited the Edinburgh festival for the very first time this year, after a few years of 'promising to go'. After looking at the hike in flight costs, we decided to drive, so stayed in Lancaster on the way up and Liverpool on the way back.

We stayed in Kirkhill Mansion, about 10 miles outside Edinburgh. We had no trouble at all driving into the middle of festival-ville and parking. The car parks are plenty and costs are on a par with other UK cities.

We saw 5 shows, from pantomime, to Japanese 'comedy', to theatrical performances. The piece de resistance were the Japanese Taiko drummers and the Chinese State Circus. Who could believe that 3 people could make a whole church vibrate and that it was possible to unicycle with one foot!?!! We also saw some street performers and stalls doing excellent portraits and I was lassoed by a lovely knife throwing texan!

We're planning to go back next year and we're already planning our trip! If you haven't been you must go! Definitely something to add to your 'do before I die' list!!

So, what is emotional intelligence or EQ (emotional quotient)? Well, it's pretty much what it says on the tin. It's having intellect about emotion; both your own and others. It's about having the ability, either innate or through training, to understand why you or others act in a certain way; what makes you or others 'tick'; about the office politics, with the little 'p'! The book to read s that written by Daniel Goleman, who talks about EIQ as the missing link, the missing part of IQ. The concept has been around since the 1930s but
Read More seems relatively little used in the workplace.

Daniel Goleman identified the five 'domains' of EQ as:
1. Knowing your emotions.
2. Managing your own emotions.
3. Motivating yourself.
4. Recognising and understanding other people's emotions.
5. Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.

You can buy Daniel Goleman's 'Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ' at Amazon

You can take a mini, simple EQ test here: http://www.ihhp.com/quiz.php I did this quiz and was impressed by the simple but thought provoking response. The test only took a few minutes and the feedback gave tasty food for thought! There are lots of test around with varying degrees of detail and accuracy, so have a search around to fnd one that you feel comfortable with.

It is said that for various reasons and thanks to a wide range of abilities, people with high emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life than those with lower EQ even if their classical IQ - intelectual quotient is average.

Here are some suggestions for developing your own EQ:

http://www.redraventherapy.co.uk/aboutus/blog.html/199-emotional-intelligence-july-2010.html

Reflexology, Thai Foot Massage, Reiki and Indian Head Massage can off set the effects of stress on the heart and the overall health of the body. Complementary therapy attempts to treat the body, mind and spirit as a whole system by getting to the root of the problem and not looking just at the symptocalmwaterms. It can help the body to reach a place of deep relaxation where it can balance the body systems.

Through the relaxation process the body is more capable of dealing with the stresses placed on it by daily living and those associated with work, family life, illness etc. Complementary therapy can gently nudge the body towards improved functioning of the system by improving lymphatic drainage and venous circulation, simulation to the nerve pathways, and muscle relaxation.

Sufferers of stress have noted that they feel a lot more relaxed and indeed tend to feel less stressed after a session of therapy. They have also noted a reduction in their stress levels as a result of the treatment

Reflexology is believed to encourage the release of endorphins, the body's natural feel-good hormones, well documented in their ability to relieve stress.


Coaching to Stress Less

The modern world is stressed to be max. If you need to find a way to deal with your stress and re-engineer your lifestyles to achieve a calm, healthy, well life, coaching can help. Coaching can help you explore methods of limiting stressful activities and find ways to help your body and mind to de-stress. You may want to explore on the stress busting activities or increasing physical activity to promote wellbeing. Whatever you decide is the right path for you, Coaching can help you map and travel that path