Poem: Selfless Listening ………… November 26, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Listening, Poem, Selfless.add a comment
When I ask you to listen to me
And you start giving advice,
You have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and
you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have
To do something to solve my problems
you have Failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen, All I asked was that you listen –
Not talk or do, Just hear me.
When you do something for me
That I can and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact
that I do feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational,
then I can quit trying to convince you
and can get about the business of understanding
what’s behind this irrational feeling.
And when that’s clear,
the answers are obvious
and I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense,
when we understand what’s behind them.
Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes,
for some people–
because God is mute and He/She doesn’t give advice
or try to fix things.
So please listen and just hear me.
And if you want to talk,
Wait a minute for your turn,
and I’ll listen to you. –
-Ralph Roughton, M.D.
Stretch and Breathe Exercise November 26, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in De-stress, Exercise, Health, Relax, Stretch and Breathe.add a comment
Note:-
Move slowly and keep your awareness on your breath
- Stand with your feet slightly apart and parallel, hands by your sides
- Weight even between heel and the ball of your foot.
- Inhale – lift your hands to meet at chest level in the prayer position
- Exhale – bring them down slowly by your side
- Repeat 3 times moving with the breath.
- On the next inhalation, bring your hands to prayer position then stretch them above your head, keeping your palms together
- Exhale - bring them back to the chest, then to your sides
- Repeat 3 times moving with the breath.
- Inhale, bring your hands to prayer position, then stretch them above your head as before
- Exhale, stretch your arms all the way out to the side then bring them down again
- Repeat 3 times moving with the breath.
- Inhale, lift the arms overhead for a count of 9
- Exhale, bring them slowly down for a count of 9
- Repeat again this time stretching up as high as you can from the lumbar area to the tips of your fingers.
- Upon Exhalation bringing down to your sides and focusing on having your feet firmly planted on the floor.
- Pause for a moment and keep your attention focused on the breath while standing still for a moment with your hands in prayer position
Benefits:-
Combining the movement with the breath has a profoundly relaxing effect.
This helps to bring balance back to the entire body and releases tension from the mind also.
What is stress? Letting go Of tension & going with the flow of life! November 24, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Health, Paula Hynes, Stress.add a comment
by Paula Hynes
What is stress?
Stress can be defined in many ways and as we know there is ‘good stress’ referred to as Eustress and ‘bad stress’ which is referred to as Stress. Author of ‘The Stress Barrier’, Pradeep Chadha describes stress as “a gift from nature that has been given us to deal with threatening situations.”
Stress is the mental and physical reaction we make to help us adjust to various situations.
The Health & Safety Executive in the United Kingdom defines stress as “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demands placed on them”.
Every moment of every day our muscles and nerves are in a constant state of tension. A certain amount of tension is necessary and is a fundamental sign of life, this is Eustress. We all need a certain amount of stress in our body every day in order that we function and generally get through life. When tension levels in the body increase and go beyond a certain point it becomes stress. Stress becomes bad or negative and damaging when we remain in a constant state of stress for a long period of time.
—–Go with the flow —–
Remember stress and stress-related problems
are part of the flow of life
A build up of negative, destructive tension and stress can have a detrimental effect on the mind, body and the soul.
At the very least it can lead to exhaustion or burnout and at the very worst – disease or even death.
Learning to let go of tension and go with the natural ‘flow’ of life can have many rewards. Many of us have lost the ability to ‘listen’ to the body and how to tune into our intuition by listening internally to what feels ‘right’.
Some may be aware of an inability to relax but still remain unable to recognize this inability as a sign of extreme tension and/or stress being held in the body. The result may be that they turn to others who know more about their bodies than they do e.g. pharmaceutical companies, doctors, psychiatrists and so on.
We live in an age of the ‘quick fix’ and have come to expect speedy answers and responses to everything we do or want to know. Today’s lifestyle and its inevitable pace contributes to the separation from our body and mind leaving many with the sensation that there is ‘something missing’ or indeed a feeling of helplessness when it comes to their own health and well-being.
Releasing Stress from the Neck & Shoulders November 24, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in De-stress, Neck and Shoulders, Refresh, Release Tension, Wellness.add a comment
The following exercises will take just a few moments to complete and are very effective in helping to release tension from the head, neck and shoulders and reduce headaches.
Chin-to-chest
• Inhale and as you exhale slowly lower your chin to your chest
• Creating a long, gentle stretch along the back of the neck.
• Take several slow deep breaths with the chin down.
• Lift the head back up on an inhalation. Repeat three times.
Ear to shoulder
• Inhale and then as you exhale slowly lower your right ear toward your right shoulder
• Breathe into the gentle stretch created along the top of the left shoulder and left side of the neck.
• Take several slow deep breaths.
• Inhale and raise your head back up.
• Repeat on the other side
Neck Roll
• Follow the instructions for ear-to-shoulder
• Then roll the chin down toward the chest
• Across the chest and up the other side.
• Inhale and as you exhale roll the chin down across the chest and up the other side
Seated Neck Stretch
• Sitting on your chair, feet firmly planted on the floor
• Taking a hold of the side of your chair with your left hand
• Take a deep breath in and elongate your spine as you do
• As you exhale lower the right ear towards the right shoulder
• Inhale come back up and Repeat on other side
Change Simply: A Talk on Preventing Cancer with Bernadette Bohan November 24, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Bernadette Bohan, Health, Tips.add a comment
According to Bernadette the five main changes we can make to help prevent cancer and serious illness are as follows:
• Juicing raw vegetables every day
• Juicing Wheatgrass
• Bringing essential enzymes and Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids & B17 into your daily diet
• Cleaning our water
• Taking care with personal hygiene and personal care products
• Juicing raw vegetables every day
Dietary experts now recommend that we take between 5-10 pieces of fruit and vegetables into our daily diet. Bernadette maintains that because of preservatives, sprays etc on vegetables it is best to spend that bit extra to buy fresh organic vegetables for juicing. You can be very creative with juices and can with one class containing a variety of different vegetables you can easily take in the required amount. She favours vegetable juicing over fruit juices because of their natural cleansing and detoxing capabilities.
She gave a few ideas such as Grape Juice, Apple and Carrot (include the pips) or for cleansing and healing the bodies’ systems you can use green vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, cucumber, cabbage and celery etc. Best to take the cleansing juices in the morning.
When it comes to Juicers she recommends a masticating juicer and not the more common centrifugal juicers as there is no waste and it is more effective in extracting every bit of natural water, minerals and enzymes from the vegetables and fruits juiced.
• Juicing Wheatgrass
Wheatgrass is becoming the biggest selling natural product in the health market. It is simple to grow on a window sill at home and half a glassful of it’s juice each day is powerful in the fight and prevention against cancer. Wheatgrass is loaded with proteins, vitamins and essential enzymes. 1oz of wheatgrass juiced is equivalent to eating 2lbs of the freshest organic vegetables.
Bernadette grows her own from winter seed grade grass in a seed tray in her kitchen she goes through quite a lot of the grass as she juices it each day but costs very little, the seeds cost about €1 per kilo.
• Bringing essential enzymes and Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids & B17 into your daily diet
Essential fats are commonly referred to as “brain food”. They are not naturally produced by the body and must be provided by us to balance and maintain our hormonal system, boost our energy levels naturally and feed our brain. Our diets generally lack a lot if not most of these fats but changing to bring more into our daily food is also excellent to help with pmt and the menopause.
Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids can be obtained from seeds, nuts, oily fish etc. Using seed and nut oils is an excellent way to these fats too.
All fats and oils should always be kept refrigerated. Could try a product called Vdos Choice Oil from healthshops.
Probiotics is an essential enzyme required by the body. Probiotics are the good bacteria in the body which is often very low in western diets. Particularly important to keep the immune system strong. Helps food allergies and conditions such as candida, digestion disorders and bloating.
Try Vdos Super 6 for the full blend of enzymes needed.
B17 are thought to be the missing foods in our diets today. Essential in fighting and preventing illness. You can stock up on this vitamin by adding seeds into homemade breads, onto salads, sandwiches, eating apricot kernels, almonds and adding a spoonful of linseed on to your breakfast cereal.
B17 vitamins are proven to hit cancer dead on and must be used in conjunction with essential enzymes.
• Cleaning our water
Bernadette recommends that if you were only to make one change in your life from today you should clean your water. Water is the food of life and it’s purity is essential to our health.
Fluoride is a major cause of cancers while chlorine is now linked to rectal and colon cancers. Pure water will contain neither of these elements so it is well worth testing the water you use at home and at work etc. You can easily check the purity and quality of water by purchasing a small pocket sized water meter for approximately €25 each. With such a meter pure, clean water will gauge between 0-20. Bernadette tap water in her home gauges at 284 while here in Mullingar we tested a glass of water in the Greville House Hotel and it gauged 154!
She recommends that you consider investing in a water purification system for your home. A system that works through four separate stages of filtration and uses a reverse osmosis action is considered to be the most effective and generally costs between €570 and €600.
Bernadette urges us to drink approximately three litres of clean water each day because “cancer cannot survive in a hydrated body”.
• Taking care with personal hygiene and personal care products
Bernadette reminds us that “the skin is a carrier and not a barrier” and that at no time in history have our bodies been exposed to so much chemicals. Years ago there were no chemicals in our personal care products but over the past 40-50 years as this industry has expanded around the globe the amount of chemicals have increased beyond belief.
She lists the following chemicals as just some of the chemicals we now have absorbed into our skin and body each day as part of our personal hygiene and care routine:-
1)Sodium Laurel (Laureth) Sulphate — a very harsh detergent that is used for it’s bubbling ability and found in all our hair shampoos, shower gels, bubble bath etc
2)Fluoride – Fluoride is a poison and research shows that there is enough fluoride in a tub of toothpaste to kill a child.
3)Propylene Glycol – is a brake fluid and anti freeze product found in most skincare products, makeup, moisturisers etc
4)Deodorant and Anti-Perspirants contain a form of aluminium that helps to prevent sweating. Aluminium has been linked to Alzheimer’s for twenty years. Under the arm are some of main lymph nodes in the body and research on breast cancer shows that most women who develop breast cancer tend to develop it on the left side or under the left arm – this is now believed to be linked to such products and the fact that, as most women are right handed, they tend to spray slightly heavier with the right hand under their left armpit.
5)Talcum Powder – Is now believed to be one of the main contributors to ovarian cancers. Bernadette strongly recommends that you never use talcum powder on any part of your body or a child’s body.
Bernadette Bohan is the author of The Choice, a bestselling account of how she twice faced cancer and emerged victorious.
Other websites recommended :
Recommended reading :
Basic Breath Meditation November 24, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in De-stress, Guided Relaxation, Meditation, Relax.add a comment
Lie in a comfortable position, taking a little time to ensure you are warm enough.
Take a deep breath, hold and release x 2……….Just relax now and breath normally as you feel you body being supported by the floor beneath.
This is a time you have set aside for yourself today. Nobody has any expectations of you and there are no demands being placed upon you….. This is your time to relax and you have all the time in the world.
Just relax now…..r-e-l-a-x……that’s good
The most basic object of meditation is the breath. Your task here is simply to observe the breath following it with your mind without trying to influence it. Breath observation is basic meditation. It will help you to relax and relieve any tensions or stresses you may be holding in your body and mind. It will clear a space for new experiences including healing.
Lying comfortably now with your back straight, breathe in and out through your nose. You may wish to focus on the movement of air at the top of your nose or the rising and falling of your chest. Start practicing now as you listen to my voice. Breath is a continuous wave with no beginning and no end. Follow the contours of this wave, in and out, rising and falling. If you find your attention drifts away, just bring it back to the breath – always come back to the breath. When you put your attention on the breath you are resting your mind. It is the safest focus for attention, much safer than noticing thoughts or mental images. Now practice, as you listen to the music – relax and focus on your breath. I am going to stop talking but I’ll come back from time to time to remind you to keep your attention on the breath.
Always come back to the breath. If you find your attention has wandered to your thoughts or to images in your mind’s eye, simply bring if back to the breath. Always come back to the breath………Remember the continuous wave of your breath and the sensation it causes at the tip of your nose as you keep your attention on the rising and falling of the breath…….Always come back to the breath.
Now we are going to concentrate on our connection to the universe by focusing your awareness on your breath. Keep it there throughout this guided experience. Follow the rising and falling of your chest, the expansion and contraction of your breath. At the centre of your being are Rhythm, Pulsation, Expansion and Contraction. For the next moment or so concentrate and experience this rhythm.
Now as you breathe consider that everything in the universe is pulsating, oscillating between two poles. The ocean tides advance and recede. There is the daily rhythm of day and night. There are natural cycles of growth and decay. Every atom is vibrating. Every wave of energy is oscillating. Your breath, the centre of your being, is part of this universal rhythm. As you focus on your breath for the next few moments experience it as your connection to everything in the universe. At the smallest and largest extremes of scale in the universe, everything pulsates and breathes.
The expansion of the universe is perhaps just one inhalation of the cosmic breath. Everything breathes in this universe. When you identify with your breath, you tune into universal connectedness. Continue to follow your breath with this new awareness……….If your attention is straying remember to always come back to the breath.
Now ……relax and listen to the music and concentrate on your breath and in a moment I will count from one to five. At the count of five you will open your eyes and take with you the understanding of your connection to this universe. 1….2 coming out slowly now……..3…..at the count of 5 you will open your eyes and feel wide awake, alert and in perfect health…….4…..5 eyes open wide, feeling fine and energized.
Avoid stress while moving house! November 19, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Relax, Stress, Tips.add a comment
By Deirdre O’Flynn
They say that moving house is one of the most stressful things you’ll ever do. And they’re not kidding. Buying or selling is bad enough, but most people are probably doing both. And if you’re moving with children or animals, the stakes get even higher. Mortgage problems, buyers who pull out, property chains, dealing with solicitors, leaving a house you love, settling kids into a new school … well, it’s no surprise it’s so stressful.
“Moving from one house to another is essentially a whole new area of change,” said Karen Belshaw, VHI Healthcare stress expert. “Change brings lots of psychological stress; you’re leaving behind your old life and familiarity and moving into the unknown.” It’s hard to stay sane, which may be why occupational psychologists Sandi Mann and Paul Seager have written a book to help people move with the minimum of stress. In ‘Upping Sticks, How to move house and stay sane’, they’ve drawn on information from their own survey of house movers and what makes their blood boil, and they add loads of tips, character profiles, case studies and checklists to help people relax and stay chilled as they sell their home, find and buy the new house, cope with moving day, get children – and even pets – through the move, and finally settle in and meet the neighbours.
“The mere mention of moving house can bring some people out in a rash,” said Dr Sandi Mann, who lectures in organisational psychology at the University of Central Lancashire and is a consultant specialising in stress and emotions. “We all have basic psychological needs, such as the need for shelter, security and stability. “People also like to have control over their lives, but it can be difficult to retain this control during the moving process; other people control whether our house offer will be accepted, whether our house will sell, whether our possessions are moved safely, whether our amenities are connected in time. This lack of control can be deeply frustrating. And there is so much to do and so many decisions to make that the whole thing can seem totally overwhelming.”
So, how come some people can move lock, stock and barrel five or six times without breaking a nail? “If you have a positive perception, you’ll generally make the best of situations,” said Karen Belshaw. “Make a list of the advantages of the new house and location and read it often and spread it around the family. Other people may have a negative perception and be unable to see the positive unless someone points it out to them. But that may be learned behaviour, so you need to ask yourself, ‘What’s my perception? Have I listed the positives? Who am I listening to?’” People often find moving house difficult because they consider it as one major event, but this is one process that can take months. And, guess what, people don’t like and aren’t built for dealing with stress over prolonged periods of time.
“We need to realise that we’re creatures of habit and give ourselves time to adjust to a new routine. We expect ourselves to click in straight away and our expectations are very high,” said Karen. “Recognise that moving house is a big physical undertaking, so it’s important to take 20 minutes every day to go for a walk or a swim, to clear your head. Eat well and sleep well. It’s also a psychological undertaking: make a plan of what you need to do, and make sure you stay in control of yourself talk. Even on removal day, so what if the removal guys are late, so what if something breaks. Keep the big picture in mind. And if you stay on top of that, everybody will be better because they look to you, particularly your children. So if you get in a flap over a broken mirror, they’ll pick up the tension and get in a flap too.” (Source: Upping Sticks, Dr Sandi Mann and Dr Paul Seager, White Ladder Press www.whiteladderpress.com)
Top 10 Tips for Coping with Change
1. Know yourself. Recognising that you find it difficult to cope with change is an important step to coping with the major life changing event of moving house.
2. Identify your worries. Writing down your concerns can be helpful and puts things in perspective.
3. Talk to someone. If you’re part of a couple, you need to be on the same page. Even if you are not part of a couple, having a mate to bounce ideas and concerns off can help bring perspective to the process.
4. Anticipate change. Make allowances by either trying to plan a less stressful work environment at moving time or building in some stress-reducing time (eg. visits to the gym or a health spa).
5. Expect to feel unsettled. The lack of roots and feeling of personal territory can make us feel insecure and uncomfortable.
6. Know that there is an end. Once the upheaval is over, you will feel settled and secure again.
7. Hang on to the familiar. Stick to familiar routines, seeing familiar people and going to familiar places.
8. Make time for change. A couple of days off work can ensure you settle in and give you psychological security.
9. Find the good. Focus on the good aspects that the new house offers.
10. Don’t panic. Panicking prevents you from thinking clearly and seeing the broader picture.
Shedding the Past – Say Goodbye to Your Old Life
1. Neighbours. Leaving them can be a wrench. Good neighbours are somewhere to leave your spare keys, to borrow sugar from, to leave your kids with for half an hour. Don’t underestimate the psychological effect of losing all this. However, stay positive.
2. The house. You love the view, the conservatory, the morning sun. You will soon have plenty to enjoy in your lovely new home, and without all the clutter!
3. The neighbourhood. The local park, the convenient corner shop, the friendly pub, the quiet ambience – all this can be hard to say goodbye to. Overcome this by visiting your new place and checking out the surroundings.
4. Memories. Ahh, the big one. The kids growing up, playing in the paddling pool on a hot day in the garden, or building dens in the lounge. Memories exist most strongly within us. So, be reassured that you can take them with you, along with your furniture and clutter.
*Previously published in Irish Examiner
Managing your anger! November 12, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Lifeskills, Relax, Tips.add a comment
by Deirdre O’ Flynn
Everybody gets angry – some people express it explosively, while others bite it back only for it to become a damaging pot-boiler. Shouting at the kids in the back of the car because the traffic is gridlocked is anger – it’s just misdirected. Equally, simmering resentment against your partner or a work colleague is also anger – you’re just suppressing it, creating an atmosphere of tension and conflict, which no-one can fix because no-one, probably including yourself, knows its source.
In 10 Simple Ways to Beat Stress Forever, author Suzannah Olivier says the most important tip in the book is to leave long-term anger behind. “If you are angry with your parents for the way they brought you up, angry because something bad happened to you or your family, angry because of a divorce of financial problems, angry because of anything – it is time to let it go. You cannot grow, develop, learn or prosper emotionally if you hang on to old resentments,” she said, adding that you cannot change your past. But you can change your future.
So, how do you go about managing the anger that besets all of us.
ANGER IS NATURAL
Accept that anger is a natural emotion. It’s what you do with your anger that’s either good or bad. For instance, you may be furious at how one colleague is treating another work colleague. What do you do with that emotion? Do you join others in sniping gossip, suppressing your anger and building up resentment? Or, do you take that anger in hand, smooth it down and tackle your colleague?
SIMPLE AS A, B, C
There’s an ABC to anger, according to Limerick psychotherapist Michael Horgan.
A is the Activating Event, that comment from a friend, that beep of a horn from the car behind.
B is your Belief and perception about that event: was your friend trying to wind you up or was she just being as tactless as she is to everybody. Is the driver behind reminding you the traffic light has gone green or implying that you’re blind?
C is your Consequential Reaction: do you brush a slight off or do you get angry?
“Your belief and perception is the moment when you can catch those angry thoughts,” said Michael. “It gives you a moment to distract your thoughts, to become self-aware.” By knowing your own triggers and pausing for breath, you can more easily brush off an incident.
EXPRESS YOUR ANGER.
If someone says something hurtful to you, and your immediate reaction is to bite back a reply, saying instead, ‘It’s okay, it doesn’t matter’, watch out.
“That will always catch up with you,” said Michael. ‘Venting’ may not be a good idea either, as your anger, liberally and wantonly expressed, can hurt others, without actually solving anything. “If you could see the effect of it before you say it, that’s where restraint comes in. It’s much better to have a ‘good expression’. Say to your partner, ‘When you did that last night, I felt hurt’. Don’t say, ‘You made me feel …’ because the feeling is yours and you need to take ownership of it, just as your partner has to take ownership of his behaviour. Very often you’ll find that a calm clear expression of yours takes the heat out of a situation and a perfectly reasonable discussion follows. Just don’t get into a slanging match.
APOLOGISE.
If you’re in the wrong, put your hand up and accept responsibility for it. ‘Listen, I’m sorry, I spoke out of turn’ can go a long way towards acknowledging the impact of your actions and words on the other.
Author Suzannah Olivier says that you don’t have to say ‘sorry’ for what you said, if you feel you were right, but you can apologise for the way it was said. Apologise for having a row and not a discussion. Make sure you recognise an apology, even if it’s not in words. Many men resist apologising because it seems superficial, too easy. Instead, they’re more likely to act – to make dinner, help clean up, seek your input at a meeting. Accept the olive branch and move on.
TIME OUT
If tempers are frayed and voices rising, take time out. “Hot thoughts make hot heads,” said Michael Horgan, adding that a little self-awareness helps to calm your mind. Just like there’s no point trying to reason with a child in the throes of a tantrum, similarly, no progress will be made shouting over each other. “Anger builds in anger,” said Michael, making any attempts to reason with someone a waste of time. ‘Can we discuss this later?’ will defer the debate until calmer waters when minds will be clearer. And, often, in the interim, you’ll start to see the bigger picture, that, really, being five minutes late is not the end of the world.
*First published in Irish Examiner
About the Author
Deirdre O’Flynn is a freelance journalist based in Co. Wicklow, who has contributed to the national media for 16 years. She also runs SpellCheck editorial services, a copywriting, training & PR bureau, with clients among the SME and community sector. Check out her business on http://www.spellcheckeditorial.com where you can register for her monthly Write Ideas ezine.
Anorexia symptoms are reduced by massage therapy. November 12, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in Health, Massage, Wellness.add a comment
Relax. Refresh. Revive. 10 Minutes to a new you! November 12, 2009
Posted by instituteoflifeskills in De-stress, Guided Relaxation, Health, Paula Hynes, Refresh, Relax, Stress.add a comment
by Paula Hynes
Sitting in a comfortable position……………………. close your eyes and breathe gently for the next few moments…………..
With your eyes closed ……………….. become aware of the area of your body that is approximately one inch below your naval………………………..
As you place your attention there, inhale gently and imagine the breath being drawn downwards as far as you can comfortably go………………………………… Exhale fully now and allow that area to gently relax…………………………repeat three more times……………………………..
If your attention wanders gently bring it back to focus on your breath and on any sensations that you may begin to feel in your body………………………………………………..
With each exhalation breath feel yourself letting go …… and with each inhalation slowly fill your body and the space around your body with revitalising energy…….. Keep sending the relaxation downwards as the revitalising energy surrounds you refreshing your mind and body…………………. luxuriate in that feeling for the next couple of moments………………………….
Now feel the sensations of relaxation and revitalization permeate all areas within you ……………………….
Now bring your attention back to this time and place becoming aware of your surroundings ……………………
Feel the floor/chair that is supporting your body and start to wiggle your fingers and toes……………………..
Take a deep breath in and take with you the relaxed…….the refreshed and revitalized feelings that are now part of your day …………………………. stretch your feet and arms as your exhale and open your eyes whenever you feel ready to do so …………
Paula Hynes is a Founding Director of the Institute of Lifeskills in Ireland and an Educator specializing in stress, natural health and Lifeskills.
Paula may be contacted directly at e‐mail: phynes@instituteoflifeskills.ie
