» Listings for 2015

1. Neil Patrick Harris Hypnotises the Oscar nominees with a hypnotic spiral

   Posted on 9:45am Wednesday 4th Feb 2015

   Neil Patrick Harris is best known in the UK for appearing in the sitcom How i met your Mother but he is really a song and dance man who has appeared in many musicals on Broadway. He has hosted numerous awards shows including the Tony awards where he is always keen to dazzle with an opening dance number.

   This week he attended the Oscar awards ceremony luncheon where all of the 195 nominated actors, directors and behind the scenes team get together before the actual event on February 22nd.

   He will be hosting the evening and he took the opportunity to show off to the crowd by pretending to hypnotise them into having a great time on the night. Normally the Oscar host does not attend the lunch but only turns up on the evening so perhaps many suspected that he had something up his sleeve... or in his jacket as it turned out.

   He quipped to the crowd... "Some of you are good friends and some of you I just got a chance to meet for the first time but we are all going to be spending Oscar night together, where everything will be hilarious,"

   And then he reached in and took a hypnosis spiral out from his jacket, pointed it to the nominees and said..

   "Everything will be hilarious," he paused for a moment and then repeated. "Everything will be f***k*ng hilarious!"

   I doubt that he really has the ability to hypnotise people if that is the way he does it, but I don't doubt that he will hypnotise in his own way when he hosts the Oscar ceremony for real!

2. Yes I'm a grown up and I love colouring in!

   Posted on 9:17am Wednesday 4th Feb 2015

   Guest blog by Joanne Marie from Breathe Holistic Therapy in Kidderminster...

   I am not a naturally calm person.  I had a tendency to churn things over in my mind and inevitably this could lead to anxiety.  I was one of those swans……calm on the surface but paddling like crazy underneath. 

   The realisation that stress was damaging my well being and happiness lead me to make some big changes in my life. After discovering the wonderful relaxing effects of reflexology. 

   I knew others could benefit too. I established Breathe Holistic Therapy in Kidderminster and I’ve been happily relaxing people for the last 8 years, but most of us can’t employ a massage therapist on call so how can we relax easily at home?

   Crafting is well known for its calming properties. I have ventured into many forms of craft but if I’m honest I’m not naturally creative and I’m just a little bit clumsy! I’m not sure my kitchen has never quite recovered from the candle making experiment.  I did however have a secret way to relax which harnessed the tiny threads of creativity that were lurking inside. I was a closet colouring in fan. Give me a colouring in book and some pens and I could happily lose myself, relaxing and forgetting any of those churning thoughts.  For years I encouraged my son to join me just so I could indulge in my own guilty pleasure. I have to admit that star wars characters, cars and robots weren’t exactly perfect subjects but I still loved the process of gradually filling the white page with colour.

   Little did I know that my secret was actually incredibly fashionable with the stylish ladies of Paris. It appears I was ahead of my time. Stressed mothers across the Channel are just like me reaching for their colouring in books. Ever stylish, their books are somewhat more artistic than battling star wars figures. Truly beautiful colouring books are sold as “art therapy” and specifically marketed for reducing stress and anxiety.

   But why is it so relaxing? Colouring in requires focus and for me feels quite meditative. I am completely in the moment, not analysing the past or worrying about the future.  I also love the freedom from concern about failure or doing things right.  Sitting and colouring is a refuge from the demands of life, it is a moment of freedom.  When immersed in my colouring I almost feel like I’m in a hypnotic trance. You can feel creative and peaceful, and above all I find a genuine happiness in the process.

   In France the colouring in for calmness books can outsell cookery books; they have been embraced as a really practical easy way to lower stress and anxiety.  If you feel the need to relax and escape for a few minutes every day and you aren’t lucky enough to have a reflexologist or hypnotherapist on call then I would recommend taking a look. A book and some felt tips could be one answer to you stress management needs.

   Bio

   Joanne Marie is a reflexologist who loves to see the fantastic relaxation benefits experienced by her clients. Breathe Holistic Therapy was established in Kidderminster in 2008. Joanne is also trained to work with pregnant clients.  She has a son who loves reflexology almost as much as she does!