Stress Monkey Solutions

No words needed from me on this one.

This is the energy we bring to line dancing on a Monday night in South Lochs.
And to somatic yoga on a Thursday morning in Borve.
And to qigong online on a friday afternoon.
Life is short. Move your body. Have some fun while you are at it.

Gentle Movement & Relaxation, for carers.
Caring keeps your nervous system on alert. You're listening for the next need, planning the next task and staying ready for whatever comes. Over weeks and months that becomes the normal setting, and rest stops feeling possible even when you do get a minute.
Your body needs real time out to come back down. That isn't indulgent or selfish. It's how you keep going without running yourself into the ground. When the nervous system gets a chance to settle, sleep, mood, patience and energy often follow.
Our Gentle Movement & Relaxation class is a quiet hour for exactly that. Slow, easy movement, simple relaxation and time to let your body remember what rest feels like. Nothing to perform, nothing to get right, and you can go at your own pace.
All welcome, and carers especially.
Monthly, Thursdays, 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Solas Day Centre
Thursday 8th October
Thursday 12th November
Run in partnership with Alzheimer Scotland.
No need to book. You can just turn up on the day.
If you would like to reserve a place for 8th October, you can book here: https://bookwhen.com/stressmonkey/e/ev-s3q57-20261008163000
Come along and give yourself an hour. The rest of it will still be there afterwards.

If the idea of getting to your mat feels like too much, start here.
These are all things you can do before you even get up. Child's pose, a gentle twist, legs up the wall — they take about fifteen minutes and they shift the nervous system from braced to ready in a way that coffee alone does not manage.
Worth trying on a slow morning.

Homemade sugar free millionaire's shortbread. And yes, it tastes exactly as good as it looks.
If you are managing energy, hormones, anxiety or blood sugar, cutting back on refined sugar makes a genuine difference to how your nervous system functions day to day. But that does not mean giving up the good stuff entirely. It means finding versions that work better for your body.
This one is a game changer. If you want the recipe, let me know.

Really pleased to see this directory coming together after meeting with the project earlier this year.

It’s a lovely resource for finding activities, groups and opportunities that support health, wellbeing and connection across the Western Isles — and I’m delighted that my classes are now included too.

For anyone who’s been wondering what’s available locally, it’s well worth having a look through. And if movement, yoga, Qigong or gentle ways of supporting mobility and wellbeing are something you’ve been thinking about, you’ll find details of my classes in there alongside lots of other local offerings.

Great to see everything gathered together in one place.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19D1p3Y8fT/

New website launched to help people age well in the Western Isles

NHS Western Isles is excited to launch a new website, designed to help older people across the Western Isles find activities, services, healthcare and support in their local communities. The new page has been launched today as part of International Day for Older Persons.

The new Ageing Well website has been developed following a year-long IMPACT Demonstrator Project, delivered in partnership with the Western Isles Integration Joint Board and NHS Western Isles. The project set out to understand what helps people age well in the Western Isles and identify what barriers might make it more difficult for people to access support and stay connected within their communities.

Ageing well is about staying connected to the people and places you know, maintaining independence, having choice and control over your own day, and being able to access support when you need it.

Throughout the project, discussions were held with various stakeholders, including community groups, people with lived experience, third sector organisations, and health and social care staff. A consistent message emerged that finding clear, accessible and up to date information about local support and opportunities could be challenging.

In response to these concerns, the Ageing Well website was created to bring together information on activities, groups and services for older people across Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra, in one place.

The website includes:
➡️ Activities and groups you can go to, searchable by island and by day.
➡️ Services and organisations that can help you, or the person you care for.
➡️ Short guides on staying well, each pointing to fuller advice elsewhere.

Accessibility was a key consideration from the start. The header carries three text-size controls, a high contrast toggle, a print option and a skip-to-main-content link. The site includes text size controls, a high-contrast viewing option, a print function, and a skip-to-main-content feature. A built-in text-to-speech tool also allows users to have content read aloud, with simple controls to pause and resume playback.

The site is run by NHS Western Isles and the Western Isles Integrated Joint Board. It was developed through the IMPACT programme, funded by UKRI ESRC and The Health Foundation.

The website can be accessed here: http://ageingwell.wihb.scot.nhs.uk/.

Best not to take yourself too seriously!
Making friends on Uist

Returning to yourself is not a dramatic event. It tends to happen quietly, in small decisions.
Keeping a promise you made to yourself. Noticing what your body actually needs rather than what you think you should want. Protecting your time and space without over-explaining it.
In somatic work we build this from the ground up — not through willpower but through the nervous system learning that it is safe enough to trust your own instincts again.
If that feels distant right now, it is a reasonable place to start from.

Even the Moon has boundary issues.