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The Whole Health Coach, Bantry, Cork (2025)

17/07/2024

... if you're local to Bantry, West Cork, I can also come to your own home for massage therapy 🙏
Benefits to this include not having to drive immediately after your session, therefore extending that wonderful feeling of relaxation post-treatment.

Massage therapy is great for relieving tension in muscles, and calming the nervous system, so being able to stay home and relax immediately afterwards is a big plus ✨

I'm also lucky enough to be on the massage therapist team for the beautiful .hideaways (have you seen the view from the cabins? It is stunning!) and I've recently started with (who have some amazing facilities, including sauna and seaweed baths).

Alongside massage, I offer personalised 1:1 or small group yoga sessions (online or in person locally).

The yoga I teach focuses on detail, alignment, safety, fun and laughter through your practice 🧘🏻‍♀️

I want you to feel curious about your experience, and confident in your body. Yoga is a beautiful way to get to know yourself better, to build compassion for yourself and others - and to have fun!

As someone living with a chronic health condition, I can confirm that both yoga and massage are wonderful for working on the mind AND body.

Including both of these healing modalities in my life has been hugely supportive, in strengthening my body and soothing my soul.

If you'd like to book in, just send me a DM to discuss your needs 🙂

12/07/2024

A match made in heaven? 🌸

Well, I'm basically addicted to the smell of lavender, so I'm biased.. but there is anecdotal and scientific evidence to show that inhaling lavender essential oil can reduce anxiety, calm the sympathetic nervous system and aid sleep.

Diaphragmatic breathing is another must-use power tool in your health arsenal. It can aid digestion, reduce blood pressure and also calm your nervous system 🎉

Your diaphragm is a large, dome shaped muscle which sits underneath your lungs and is attached to your sternum, the bottom of your rib cage and your spine. It helps you breathe!

But most of us don't actively engage our diaphragms when we breathe. We tend to let the chest rise and fall, in more shallow breaths, and forget about pulling that air down, into the abdomen, and feeling your belly expand and contract. This can happen for lots of reasons (being busy or distracted, and especially when we feel anxious or stressed) and then it can become habitual. Unconscious.

This is one of the reasons we use the breath as an anchoring point in yoga 🧘🏻‍♀️ It brings you back into your body, focuses your awareness, and calms you down.

So, combining both of these tools together could enhance the soothing, calming effect they both have - and I don't know about you, but I think we could all often do with extra soothing and calming 😅

Spending even a few minutes a day, breathing with intention, pulling that breath into your belly, and perhaps having lavender essential oil diffusing near you, could help calm your nervous system and leave you feeling more grounded afterwards. Worth a try 😉

This doesn't need to be done in or around a yoga or exercise practice either. You can do it anywhere, anytime! I don't always sit down with some sort of ceremony to practice diaphragmatic breathing.. do it while working, reading, walking, washing up, whatever works for you. Each time you do it, it's having beneficial effects on your physical and emotional body ✨

10/07/2024

⚠️ chronic condition alert ⚠️

Also, standard awkward smile showcased above - a common expression you'll see when someone takes a photo of me 😅

I had another long day trip today, which meant the usual packing of various health care items, and I thought I'd show you what that looks like.

Photo 2: the frustratingly large array of supplements I'm currently taking to improve general health (and this photo doesn't actually include them all). I sincerely hope that this pile will reduce in the future.

Photos 3 + 4: My trusty tea flask and the best herbal tea I've ever had 😉 Not only does this tea taste great, but it's got beautiful ingredients such as lemon balm, dandelion, nettle and lavender flowers, which are really supportive for the bladder, kidneys and soothing the nervous system.

Photo 5: a TENS machine for abdominal/back pain.

Photo 6: my hot water bottle. Granted, I tend not to take this out with me, but it's an absolute daily essential for abdominal and low back pain.

Photo 7: my medical pouch, to complement my supplements pouch 😅 This is the bag I always hope I don't have to dip into, because it means my symptoms have ramped up to the point that natural, holistic methods aren't doing the job to calm them anymore.

Today was a good day. I only needed the tea.
Some days, I need it all.

I find the unpredictability of my health to be quite tiring. You've gotta pack for the worst outcome, but hope for the best. You've gotta try and stay grounded and calm, because otherwise your anxiety alone might set things off (ah, the intricate link between our thoughts, feelings and our physical health). A beautiful, highly sensitive system.

Having said all this - I'm so much better than I was a few years ago, and that's due to a combination of holistic and allopathic medicine.

I'm grateful that I now have enough energy to learn, and then to take that knowledge to teach and support others (currently through yoga and massage, and soon, through health coaching and nutritional support).

02/07/2024

Would you look at my face and think that I experience chronic health symptoms?

Probably not.

This picture was taken on a recent trip to Dublin so that I could have a consultation in The Coombe hospital (ongoing investigations).

I'm smiling here - in this moment, I was feeling good, feeling happy ☀️ However, many other moments throughout that day, I was feeling a variety of physical symptoms that ranged from uncomfortable to painful - and actually, because of this, I was also feeling emotional symptoms.. anxiety, irritability, worry!

I don't have photos of those moments. I couldn't really capture my internal experience in a picture anyway.. 🤷‍♀️ I guess that's what I'm highlighting here. So many people have various physical (and emotional) chronic symptoms, and you certainly can't tell just from looking at them.

I had to pack carefully and thoughtfully for this day trip. I've mentioned this before in other posts, but I need a variety of different things with me to support my body and my mind on longer trips.

I find that it's often a chicken-and-egg situation in regards to what can make my symptoms flare..
Is it physical, and that sets off the emotional stuff, or is it emotional stuff (like feeling anxious about my body on a long trip) that sets off the physical stuff..?
Either way, I feel safer and more grounded when I know I've packed well and can do the best to support myself throughout the day.

As with many holistic health workers, I started studying yoga, health coaching and nutrition because of my own experiences. I've felt goddamn awful in my body at times, and I've also made some tangible, and manageable, changes that have led to me feeling a hell of a lot better (mostly) 😅

So I'm studying, and learning, so that I can support others to feel better too ✨

I'd love to hear from you in the comments - tell me about your own health challenges 🙏
#2024

31/05/2024

House sitting, and happy ☀️

I've mentioned in previous posts that I have a strong desire to travel, but that the difficulties with my health make travelling feel scary. What if I have a flare, and I'm in pain, in the middle of a new city, or on a long flight?

I don't have a reliable daily experience of my health and energy - some days I'm good, but most days I'm on a sliding scale somewhere between "good" and "really not good" 😅

This means that I have to be careful and strategic about how I move through my life.

House sitting is becoming a really great way for me to experience new places, but do so in a way that feels safe. It means that I have a base to come back to each day, that's not busy and crowded, or noisy and uncomfortable. It means I can bring a big bag containing all the things I need (physically and mentally) to look after myself.

I currently work and study mostly online, which means I'm lucky enough to be flexible with where I work from.

All in all - 10/10 would recommend house sitting for anyone suffering with chronic health issues that still wants to travel 😉

24/05/2024

Think of something beautiful you have experienced today.

Take a minute to close your eyes, and check in with your body.

How does it feel this evening?

Is there anything it needs?

Are you tensing muscles without being aware of it?

Take a long, deep inhale, pulling that breath down in to the belly.. and exhaling slowly through the nose. Repeat as required 😉

Slow, intentional and nervous system soothing.

Have a great weekend ☀️

20/05/2024

A rare photo of me NOT looking incredibly awkward (because I didn't know it was being taken). You need to surprise me yno, like, ambush photography 😂

I was in Clare overnight this weekend, and due to my chronic and often unpredictable health issues, I find that spending time away from home can make me anxious (a real downer for someone who is desperate to do more travelling).

There are things I need to bring with me to 1) provide a soothing placebo-like effect, and 2) actually treat a flare if I start to have one.

Those things include my (many and varied) supplements and vitamins, a flask of hot herbal tea, a hot water bottle and a course of emergency antibiotics

As I say, some of these things aren't always needed. They exist to provide me with some peace of mind, which in turn helps to keep my health steady by keeping my nervous system calm (diaphragmatic breathing also really, really supports this).

Over the years, I have seen how clearly linked the state of my nervous system is to the occurrence of ill-health flares.

Regardless of the state of your health - are there things you carry with you that help to keep you feeling safe and comfortable when you go on little trips?
#2024

01/05/2024

🩸Did you know that your menstrual cycle is now considered your fifth vital sign?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommend that it's considered as a vital sign of female health, after body temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure and respiration
(breathing) rate.

This tells you just how much you can learn about your general health by tracking your menstrual cycle 🤯

It's not just about bleeding once a month, or trying to plan or avoid pregnancy. The length of your cycle, the colour and consistency of your bleed, and the various physical and emotional symptoms you experience throughout the month tell you a LOT about what's going on inside your body, and with your hormonal health.

Observing and tracking your menstrual cycle (that's the whole month, all four phases, not just your bleed) is a free and fascinating way of learning about your body and general health.

I've recently started using to get even more insight about what's happening throughout the month. Tempdrop is a wearable basal body temperature monitor, and it helps you to track whether or not you have ovulated.

Ovulation only occurs if a whole host of other delicate hormonal processes have happened, so each month, tracking your basal body temperature (and other signs like cervical mucus and mood/energy) allows you to get a good understanding of what your hormones are doing, and what they might need from you in way of support next cycle.

Interested in learning more? There are some amazing female health experts out there, and I'd suggest starting with .vitti and 🩸❤️

These women are an absolute wealth of information. You'll be glad you started 😉

23/04/2024

📢 re-branding 📢

Previously, I have studied nutritional therapy with and I also hold certifications in yoga teaching and holistic massage ✨

I am currently studying health coaching with the and I am absolutely loving it! This course is teaching so much, and showing me how to combine everything I've studied and use this knowledge to be able to support you in making realistic, sustainable and holistic changes to your health and wellbeing.

Come September, I'll begin offering 1:1 appointments where we can work together to get you feeling healthier and happier 💪 In the mean time - I'm excited to start taking case studies, and putting this information in to practice! *insert happy dance*

In light of this, I decided to change my Instagram handle to something that relates more clearly to what I'll be offering, so I've chosen The Whole Health Coach 🙂

The logo is temporary, I'll update the final design towards the end of the Summer.

I'm excited to get this going, and look forward to hopefully working with some of you soon 🙏

12/04/2024

Some Friday food prep 🤤

🔸Tomato, turmeric and lentil soup
🔸Lentil dhal
🔸GF banana bread with 85% dark chocolate chips

These meals are full of goodness - turmeric for it's anti inflammatory properties, lentils for their fibre and protein content, onions and garlic for their prebiotic properties and sulfur compounds (to support liver detoxification) and the banana bread, although its the "treat", is fairly low in sugar and contains other healthy ingredients such as almond flour, eggs and coconut oil.

They are quick and easy to make, taste great, and can also scratch that itch (you know the one, the voice in your head demanding you eat something fatty and / or sweet right this very minute? 😅 )

One of the biggest things I struggled with during the slow process of switching my eating habits, was finding recipes that didn't feel overwhelming to make, and actually tasted good (this, of course, is always important, but especially when you're swapping your taste buds over from processed foods to more whole foods).

So when I find recipes I like, they tend to get made on repeat 😉
#2024

14/02/2024

Hello from your friendly neighbourhood yoga teacher 👋.. or something 😂

I remember when I started practicing yoga and was looking for classes, feeling quite confused by all the words that often preceded "yoga".

Examples of these words would be: Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Iyengar, yin etc ... and another common word would be "Hatha".

So I just wanted to demistify this a little.

The first words I mentioned are styles or "types" of yoga - they have distinctive ways of conducting their yoga classes (for example, in Ashtanga classes, you practice a set sequence of poses, and you synchronising your breath with movement).

The word "Hatha" simply refers to practicing physical yoga asanas, and breathwork, which means that many of the styles of yoga that we practice in the West could be called Hatha yoga.

So each class you go to will look different, and it's worth looking up the word used to describe the class to figure out whether you think it'll suit you 🙏

I'm a Hatha yoga teacher, and I'm currently studying applied anatomy in yoga, so that I can make my classes more accessible for people.

I don't teach in one of the styles I mentioned above - my classes are focussed on inclusivity, exploration and self respect.. although, I should probably come up with a snappier line to advertise, eh? 😂

Happy Wednesday everybody ✨

18/01/2024

Take a look around you

There's a bit of beauty everywhere 🌺 But sometimes we need to be still to see it.

Do you find stillness hard? I know I often do.
Savasana is one of the harder poses for me to be in - not because it's difficult for my body, but for my mind.

A couple of different approaches can be taken to try and ground yourself in your body, and quiet the mind, but my two favourites are focused breathing and / or using my senses to count what I can see, hear and touch.

There are so many ways to play with the breath! Perhaps the easiest to start with is simple, diaphragmatic breathing.

Place one hand just below your bottom ribs, at the top of your belly.

Take a nice, slow inhale, and experience your belly expanding, moving outwards as the diaphragm contracts and pulls sweet air in to your lungs.

If you're someone who tends to breath in the chest and has trouble connecting to the diaphragm - no worries. Imagine, as you inhale, pulling your breath down your throat, down the chest as it expands, and then letting it fill the corners of your ribs. And then repeat. Repeat until you feel your belly expanding. Notice that you feel a little calmer, a little quieter internally.

Diaphragmatic breathing has many more health benefits than just calming your nervous system. Interested? I'll do another post on the other benefits soon 🙏

#2024

The Whole Health Coach

17/07/2024

12/07/2024

10/07/2024

02/07/2024

31/05/2024

24/05/2024

20/05/2024

01/05/2024

23/04/2024

12/04/2024

14/02/2024

18/01/2024

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