Feeling Safe, Staying Well: Mental Health, Vitamin C & Travel Remedies
So the Met Office have officially confirmed we have had more sun in the month of April 2025 than we did the entire year of 2024, it’s been incredible hasn’t it? I have been busy watering my plant pots to the sound of birdsong.
I recently discovered a brilliant app called Merlin Bird, the world’s leading app for birds. Just like magic, it will help you identify birds you see and hear; I can now recognise the call of a Chiffchaff, it’s 100% free so download it and give it a go. It will bring you joy : )
Abundant Yoga continues in the garden at the Priory Hotel, we are still practicing our gentle yoga on the croquet lawn and last weekend we were able to practise on the river edge and hear the splashing of the water, it was a beautiful life-affirming morning and a great start to the weekend. You can see a time-lapse of us on my Instagram Reel. Through the summer at the Priory Hotel and until September, we are starting our Saturday class at 9am and a NEW Outdoor class on Friday mornings at 9:30am. We wer outside at Hartland Stud for our evening Ashtanga Class last week, too. Simply beautiful, as the swallows are roosting, the sun is setting and it’s warm outside, I feel very grateful to do what I do, and to love what I do. I hope that gratitude shines through when I guide you ❤️.
This month we are in my astrological star sign, Gemini. The Tissue Salt for Geminis is Kali.Mur. In the multi-faceted month of Gemini we tend to experience opposite energies. So I am expecting to experience joy and things that might not give me so much joy. It’s all about finding the balance of opposites in a mercurial month, be flexible in mind and body.
I have been having a spring clean on my website, HUGE thank you to Nina who has been doing the hard work.
I value your input too, as I want to make the experience for you to be informative, easy to navigate and book appointments, re-book yoga classes and follow up appointments. If you too need a spring clean of your website, Nina’s link is at the footer of my website - check her out, Aligned Expressions.
Enjoy this month’s letter and here’s to your good health!
Warmly,
Mia
Amelia Coutisson RSoH
Feeling Safe in MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
It was Mental Health Awareness week recently and I wondered what this meant, for me and my family. The word that instinctively sprung to mind was: safety. I thought I would share what ‘safety’ means for us.
Safety is an emotional feeling and something that we all want to feel yet some can feel unsafe within themselves due to intrusive thoughts, or being fearful in their environment. Safety provides a sense of security and freedom from fear or anxiety, enabling us to thrive and function optimally. It influences how we navigate the world, form connections, and pursue our goals.
The significance of feeling safe cannot be overstated, as it directly impacts our stress responses, which in turn affect overall health and happiness. Our nervous system is connected to our adrenal system so our emotions have real effects on our body systems.
Bessel van der Kolk is a Boston-based psychiatrist, author, researcher and educator since the 1970s working in the area of post-traumatic stress. He explains how our emotions are stored in our body in his book, The Body Keeps the Score. It is not until we feel emotionally safe that we can heal, let go and be our true authentic self.
School can feel overwhelming for children. My daughter, B, might occasionally take what she calls a ‘mental health day off’ when she needs it. I tell the school she is taking a Mental Health Day Off so they understand it’s not a physical issue but that her mind needs a rest and reset. We could all do with a bit of self awareness followed by self care. Be a bit more like B!
There is safety in the work place. Mentalhealth.com talk about safety in detail. Feeling safe is a fundamental human need, vital for both mental and physical health.
When it comes to my mental health I make sure I have firm boundaries; I go to sleep early (asleep by 10, no later than 11pm), I limit caffeine intake, I now drink occasional organic coffee at home and ask for a single shot when out. Organic coffee is not sprayed with nerve affecting pesticides and one of the clear benefits is a reduction of the caffeine shakes. I limit my contact with people who might upset my state of calm. I am ‘sober curious’; I no longer drink alcohol as alcohol is a depressant and destroys our gut microbiome where 90% of our serotonin (happy hormone) is made. I practise regular yoga to keep my mind and body flexible, strong and grounded. I listen to soothing music and I also listen to dance music to lift me (I love music). I make time for self care, I make sure I am doing activities that bring me joy, such as walking my dog, listening to bird song and more recently I have started to make time to sit and string semi precious beads and pearls into necklaces and bracelets, which brings me joy. In these practices of self care and joy I find I am filled with happiness and contentment.
What sparks your joy, can you make time for it? You can culture safety in your life and it all starts with nurturing your mind.
Want to talk? I'm ready to listen, book in here
MY FAVOURITE VITAMIN - VITAMIN C
Those who know me know I take Vitamin C daily. I take it in the form of Sodium Ascorbate (SA), it’s a powder and I add it to water and drink throughout the day. It is anti-inflammatory, helps with constipation, nourishes our skin cells (we are mostly made of skin, inside and out) and it helps with hay fever symptoms, dehydration (it is an electrolyte) and supports gum health. Personally, I take a minimum of 4000mg (4 grams) daily, sometimes as much as 10 grams spaced through the day, more if I am ill.
It was watching Dr Suzannah Humphries’ lecture on Vitamin C on YouTube that took me down this wormhole - fascinating and enlightening. She talks about finding our Bowel Tolerance, the limit of SA we can take before our guts rumble or stool increases - worth a watch (WATCH HERE)
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI EXPERIMENT
The University of Helsinki conducted research exploring the effects of vitamin C on infections, including the common cold. Several studies have shown that vitamin C supplementation, particularly in higher doses (up to 6-8g/day), can reduce the duration of cold symptoms. These findings suggest a dose-response relationship, where higher doses may lead to greater symptom reduction.
(https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/publications/vitamin-c-and-infections)
Key findings: University of Helsinki research on Vit C:
Research suggests that vitamin C may have preventative and therapeutic effects on various infections, including pneumonia and tetanus.
The review also suggests that the effects of vitamin C against infections should be further investigated.
Dose-response relationship: The studies revealed a significant dose-response relationship between vitamin C dosage and the duration of the common cold.
No evidence of placebo effect: one study showed that the observed reduction in cold duration in the vitamin C group was not due to the placebo effect.
The British Medical Journal also talk about the benefits of Vitamin C, go on, geek out and read it. It may well change your life for the better: https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1626/rr
HOMEOPATHIC TRAVEL REMEDIES
Not that we need to go anywhere whilst the weather here in the UK continues to be glorious, those travelling might benefit from Homeopathic Remedies for Travel. Travelling itself is extremely stressful on the body and its organs - on the subject of Vitamin C, when we travel we might like to take a minimum of 10 grams throughout the day. You can add the powder to your water bottle and fill up once through the security. I always carry a bag (labelled).
Are you fearful of flying?
Do you suffer from travel sickness?
Do you get sunburnt?
Have you ever had food poisoning on holiday?
Homeopathy is excellent for all the above. I make up travel kits on request. I made one recently which included chlorine, for the effects of spending all day in the swimming pool on our skin and respiratory system, it’s a good one for the water babies!
Arsenic helped me when I had steak tartar on holiday and 24 hours later had to rush to the loo - I had two little pills and nothing else happened, woke up the next day back to normal. Arsenic I hear you say! It’s a non-poisonous remedy : )
Travel sickness has an emotional aspect to it; feeling of out of control, new environment, anticipatory anxiety, bad smells, fear of germs, fear of people and crowds, fear of deep water.
Control of one’s environment, due to past trauma, is very relevant. When I prescribe travel sickness pills, it’s a bespoke prescription to work on the emotional aspect of travel that makes one feel nauseous.
Sunburn can be avoided yet sometimes it’s a painful accident. Remedies such as Sol (sun) can be given back in potency along with other remedies to support skin repair such as aloe vera, silica (if you have access to an aloe plant slice open the leaf and put the leaf jelly side down on the burn until it’s absorbed then repeat - instantly cooling); burn remedies such as causticum or belladonna; zinc and our friend vitamin C - taken in homeopathic form as well as adding Sodium Ascorbate and liquid to water. Magnesium for calming the nervous system helps too.
If you are planning on travelling please do get in touch, your homeopathy kit could be the best thing about your holiday.
