And Breath….

Being a parent can be exhausting and hard work at times for anyone, being thrown into the world of special needs on top of that can at times be suffocating.

As parents we put the needs and happiness of our children first and as a mum to a son with special needs and a ‘normal’ (I detest that word!) son I have found over the years that I forget about me, I forget about looking after myself, taking time out for myself and taking the time to just breath.

Recently I have taken a whole weekend to myself and attended a health and wellbeing retreat in the Lake District, a weekend of putting me first, looking after me and recharging my emotional and mental wellbeing.

The retreat was held in the beautiful setting of Wasdale Hall on Wastwater Lake. The youth hostel was fabulous, surrounded by snow topped hills, it couldn’t have been a more stunning place. The retreat was run by Kate Chartres from Kate Chartres Therapy, www.katechartres.com
Kate is a skilled therapist and has over 20 years of experience in the mental health field, and Holly Jay from Balance and Breath yoga.

Upon arriving I didn’t know quite what to expect, I had never stayed in a youth hostel before and was a bit apprehensive about the room sharing but it was great, our room was essentially just somewhere to store our belongings and fall into bed on a night time, along with the late night chats and laughs we had!

During the days we had morning yoga (great start to the day) and evening yoga (so relaxing in the evening), lake dipping (I did this one morning and yes it was absolutely freezing but amazing!). We did breathwork sessions – to help reduce stress and improve relaxation rapidly, reiki drumming and hypnosis – involving focussed attention, this practice allows modification of behaviour to create lasting improvements, learned about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) – tapping on meridian points in the body to reduce distress/ pain rapidly whilst using cognitive statements. The combination of all these sessions gave me the opportunity to learn more about taking care of myself and be able to learn techniques to use in everyday life, especially on one of those days where you just feel like giving up!

And of course in between there was plenty of opportunity for free time to relax, read, take a walk, enjoy the scenery or go to the local cafe/pub for some lovely food 🤩

I know to some talking about our emotions and mental wellbeing it’s scary, embarrassing and as a mum I sometimes feel like you are expected to just get on with things, after all it was my decision to have children, but it wasn’t my decision to have a child with special needs and the lifetime of uncertainty it brings, I love my boys with all my heart but when I had my eldest son and we found out at birth he had down syndrome a little bit of me died in that moment along with the life I had dreamt about for him and us. In one moment our whole world changed, we had to alter our world to give our son the best life we could and part of that is making sure we are the best version of ourselves and looking after ourselves.

I have got better over the years at trying to look after myself but it is definitely a work in progress!

If any of my beautiful friends and special needs mums or dads fancies the chance to escape reality for a few days and join me on one of the retreats I can guarantee you will come away feeling rejuvenated and energised and you will definitely get the chance to just breath…..