Return of the Light Episode 2 - BREATHE

If you’ve got cabin fever and are ready to head out and about then we’re here to help

Wellbeing editor, Rebecca Frank and author of The Slow Traveller, Jo Tinsley, are taking some deep breaths as they head outdoors to blow (or even rinse off) the cobwebs with a bracing walk or a sauna and a cold dip. We will be also be finding ways to keep warm while appreciating nature and satisfying the urge to get growing again.

Editing and music by Arthur Cosslett. Season 5: Return of the light is supported by Blackdown Shepherd Huts

Small Ways to Live Well is a podcast from The Simple Things, a monthly magazine about slowing down, remembering what’s important and making the most of where you live.

If you are in the UK, you can choose an immediate start subscription to the magazine at http://www.icebergpress.co.uk/subscribe and receive the current issue straight away. Or buy current and back issues here.

Editing & music by Arthur Cosslett

To read:

Weathering: How the earth’s deep wisdom can help us endure life’s storms by Ruth Allen (Ebury)

Just Add Nature: Embrace the healing powers of nature and increase your sense of wellbeing by Rebecca Frank (National Trust)

To go and do:

The Eden Project, Cornwall 

Sheffield Winter Garden 

The Japanese Gardens, Tatton Park, Cheshire 

The Japanese Garden, St Mawgan Cornwall 

Jack and Jill Windmills, West Sussex 

Cley Windmill, Norfolk 

The Line, London 

Beach Box Spa, Brighton

Stamner Sauna Garden storytelling 

Oakhill Ponds, Somerset 

Ty Sawna, Gower Peninsula 

The British Sauna Society

Glen Dye Cottages

On the blog:

The Swedish concept of Fika 

Beachcombing: Things you can take home from the seaside 

Yarn Bomber’s Toolkit 

In the February GLIMMER issue: 

Another Country: If holidays seem a long way off, get a tiny taste of travel thanks to landscapes, culture and food from aboard

Jam Jar Gardens: Planting hyacinth bulbs in mason jars

Flavour of the Weeks: Jenny Coates’ nature diary project Jenny Coates’ 52 Weeks of Nature Art

Transcript

Becs Frank (00:11):

Hello, welcome to Small Ways to Live Well, the podcast from The Simple Things, a monthly magazine that's all about remembering what's important, slowing down a little bit and taking time to live. Well, I'm Rebecca Frank, the Wellbeing editor, and this is the second episode in our new season, which is all about celebrating the return of the light. As we edged a little bit closer to spring, we're calling this episode Breathe, and I'm joined by regular contributor Joe Tinsley, author of The Slow Traveller. Together, we're going to take some deep breaths as we head outside and blow or even rinse off the cobwebs with a bracing walk or a cold dip. Find ways to keep warm but still get our nature fix and satisfy the urge to get growing again. Hi Joe. How are you? Ready to go on about?

Jo Tinsley (00:53):

Yeah, I'm good, thanks. Yeah, no, I'm definitely feeling ready to come out of hibernation by now.

Becs Frank (00:57):

Yes, so am I. Gosh. So before we start, I just want to make a quick mention of our sponsor this season because we're so happy to have on board the longtime supporter of the Simple Things Blackdown Shepherd's Huts. If you've not seen a Blackdown Hut before, I urge you to go to their website and have a browse set aside some time because they are heavenly and they're completely versatile, which I actually hadn't really appreciated. So whether you want a space to work or chill or a therapy suite, if you're a practitioner, perhaps there will be a hut there to suit your needs. Personally, I am particularly smitten with the sauna cabin, which is absolutely beautiful. It's built to traditional finish sauna standards and you can get them to accommodate up to six people depending on which type you go for. And you can even get a cold plunge bath on the deck where you can lay back or sit back and look at your LED starlet ceiling. Well, we're going to be talking about the benefits of hot and cold later, aren't we, Joe? So more on that soon. And again, a big thank you to Blackdown for helping us to broadcast.

Jo Tinsley (01:55):

And speaking of cabin fever, we're halfway through February now, and for families it's half term, but for everyone it's kind of feeling like it's time to get out and about, but also at this time of the year, the weather can be anything, can't it? It's a really bright, beautiful blue sky cold today, but storms can come in at any time. Yeah, I think any opportunity, you've got to get out there and embrace it, but how do you feel about this time of year?

Becs Frank (02:18):

Yeah, you need to seize the moment. I completely agree. If I'm honest, I think I've said this before, I'm a kind of summer girl really. So while I appreciate some of the cosiness of winter, I'm a bit over it by now and I'm yearning for warmth and sunshine as you say on a day today. I can really enjoy it and my spirits, I can feel my spirits rise. I'm in the mood for some adventure as well. And just something a little bit different. So there was a piece in our February issue, which particularly appealed to me, which is all about places where you can go in the UK not too far from home and get a sense of being abroad. So just maybe some sites or foods or things that give you a little bit of a sense of being in a different country. Did you see that feature, Joe?

Jo Tinsley (02:57):

I did, yeah. I really liked the part about how foreign plants can transport you to different climbs.

Becs Frank (03:03):

Yes,

Jo Tinsley (03:03):

There was this craze for Japanese gardens beginning about 150 years ago where people started to import Japanese plants and daily homes would dig ponds and plant ACEs and cherry trees like Taten Park in Cheshire where I used to spend lots of time when I was a kid. I just think these are sort of places that can transport you to really far away places at any time of year, aren't they? And I know you are particularly a fan of glass houses, aren't you? And domes and things like that.

Becs Frank (03:27):

Yeah, yeah. I like that feeling of, well, the sun through the glass and also the warmth as I've just been saying. That's what I'm really missing. I mean, I'm a huge fan of the Eden Project. I've been several times,

Jo Tinsley (03:38):

Me

Becs Frank (03:38):

Too, down in Cornwall and you are really in the rainforest and that it can get up to 35 degrees in there. So I'm in my happy place. I always have to take a moment out when I get to the Eden project. It's a bit too bad. And the other shock is when you come back out or there's the Mediterranean ones a bit cooler and I just love seeing, again, like you said, the different plants and the flowers and the olive trees and just things that mind me of being on holiday. There's also one, a great glasshouse in Sheffield, which is where I'm from and it's called the Winter Garden, and this is free for anyone to go to and it's a nice kind of little place to go on a chilli day in the city to just have a bit of a respite and just, there's incredible plants. I think there's over 2,500 plants in this huge building and there are various places you can go, aren't there?

Jo Tinsley (04:22):

Yeah, they're everywhere. And even I was thinking about pine plantations, it is the opposite, isn't it? It's not very tropical. It's sort of brings to mind this kind of Scandinavian landscape, but it's loads near me and you might think that they're these rigid lines with not much growing there and not much extra there, but there's so much wildlife there. We've got adders in our local wood, you can get goshawks, you can get night jars, long-eared owls, shorted owls. Not all in the ones local to me, but in different ones around the country, there's so much to sort of see in hear.

Becs Frank (04:51):

So picturesque as well, isn't it? Particularly on if we get snow, if you can go to a pine forest then, I mean you really will feel as though you're in Scandinavia, won't you?

Jo Tinsley (05:00):

Exactly, yeah,

Becs Frank (05:02):

For a different feel. We've also got, there's a lot of vineyards in this country now, so you don't actually need to go to France or Italy to go and kind of do a walk around. This is quite a good time of year to go as well that it's quieter in the autumn. They're kind of harvesting. So particularly as we move into spring, it's quite a nice time to go and have a tour.

Jo Tinsley (05:18):

And they always kind of face the sun as well, don't they? So you're getting that aspect.

Becs Frank (05:21):

Exactly,

Jo Tinsley (05:22):

Yeah,

Becs Frank (05:23):

Which is really, really nice. Do a little bit of wine tasting maybe. Yeah, exactly.

Jo Tinsley (05:27):

Definitely feels like you're on holiday and food and drink can transport you as well in the article. This idea of adopting the Scandinavian customer, Fika, I dunno if I'm pronouncing that right.

Becs Frank (05:36):

Love a bit of Fika,

Jo Tinsley (05:38):

Which is Sweden's answer to the British tea break.

Becs Frank (05:40):

So

Jo Tinsley (05:40):

It's all about stopping for coffee and a cake. Cinnamon

Becs Frank (05:43):

Bun.

Jo Tinsley (05:43):

A cinnamon bun. Exactly. Yeah.

Becs Frank (05:46):

My favourite.

Jo Tinsley (05:47):

Or just any food that reminds you of the places where you love to travel. It's just like being intentional about taking that moment out because it's definitely that time of year where you feel like you need to be transported somewhere

Becs Frank (05:57):

And hot and spicy food does that for me as well. Going for a curry or eating some Thai food will transport me, but away from a much as I love it, kind of stodgy comfort food that I eat a lot of at this time of year. But sometimes even me want to embrace the elements and get outside and be weather beaten and gulp in the fresh air. And I mean, a beach walk is probably the best place for that, isn't it? Don't you think?

Jo Tinsley (06:23):

Yeah, I think beach walks and coastal walks, they're all fantastic at this time of year. And I think beaches, especially in the winter, they're empty. You can take the dog most of the time.

Becs Frank (06:34):

Yes, that's true.

Jo Tinsley (06:35):

Yeah, there's less people. It's a completely different experience, but especially after storms, more stuff washes up. So you can get these interesting seaweeds to press like driftwood, mermaids, purses, which are like empty shark egg cases. That's such a great though. Yeah, there's always interesting things to find, but also the rock pools, so the seaweed has died back, so you can see more in the rock pools

Becs Frank (06:57):

Of course,

Jo Tinsley (06:58):

And it's a good time for fossil hunting, not only quieter, but also the rough sea kind of erodes more,

Speaker 3 (07:03):

And

Jo Tinsley (07:04):

So you often find more fossils scattered around the beach. I got a charm of endorse it and you can come back with pocketfuls of

Becs Frank (07:11):

Ammonites. Yeah, it's great down there, isn't it?

Jo Tinsley (07:14):

Not just a one-off find. So

Becs Frank (07:16):

That's brilliant. I mean, that's a great half term activity. We're looking for something to do with kids, isn't it? Going down to the beach and doing a bit of fossil hunting or just looking to see what you could find or for anyone, because it really, the sea probably doesn't look so inviting and beautiful at this time of year, but there are other things to look at and there's lots of fun to be had on the beach as well, isn't there?

Jo Tinsley (07:35):

Exactly. Like flying kites, like careering down sand dunes, building sand forts, all of these things you can do in the winter as long as you've got the right clothes. So

Becs Frank (07:44):

Yeah, I think there's something quite special about beach in winter as long as you wrap up warm, but you can also head to estuaries and salt marshes where you could also find some really quite interesting wildlife. Absolutely. Yeah. Can't you? And the landscape really allows that this time of

Jo Tinsley (08:00):

Day. Yeah, yeah. Like migrating birds, it almost like walk, go and watch the Starling. A lot of kind of seabird on mass sort of things that happen over winter that are really spectacular.

Becs Frank (08:11):

And when the landscape is a bit bleak and there's no leaves on the trees and things, it's nice to have something. Maybe the weather's not so great, it's nice to have a focus to your walk as well. I remember we did a piece on windmills.

(08:24):

It was an outing feature and it really sort of struck me as that they're so beautiful they, and also again gives you that feeling of not really being in England. I mean we used to have 10,000 mills in the UK really working mills now they're only 140 remain of which only 40 are in working order. So these quite very special. Obviously Norfolk's a kind of obvious place where you probably, if you've been there, you will have seen the windmills. Interestingly, they weren't built there to grind the grain. They were built for water pumps to drain the boards and so they could preserve the farmland that

Jo Tinsley (08:58):

Yeah, no, I did know that. Yeah,

Becs Frank (09:00):

It's lovely to go there. And they're obviously dotted all around the country, aren't they?

Jo Tinsley (09:04):

And you can even stay in them like Jonathan Creek. Yeah, yeah. I read in that feature that there's this stylish BB windmill in clay, which I've seen in real life. I didn't realise. That's why James Blunt, as I saying that James Blunt grew up so you can actually stay in

Becs Frank (09:16):

These actually,

Jo Tinsley (09:17):

Yeah, he did. Wow. You can actually stay in these places too.

Becs Frank (09:20):

That's so cool. I always think of them being so tiny, a little kind of bi. I've looked at the ones you said I've sort of gazed, you know how you sort of gaze at people in their holiday accommodation,

Jo Tinsley (09:32):

Live vicariously

Becs Frank (09:34):

Walking past slowly and thought what an amazing place that would be to see. But you can find them in cities really. There's one in London in Brixton, I think.

Jo Tinsley (09:42):

Yeah, I think it's a nice idea to have you say a focus, a reason, a theme or something to go for your walks. And even if you're in a town or a city, there's often so much art or statues or something like that that you can go and see.

Becs Frank (09:55):

Yes.

Jo Tinsley (09:56):

And especially when landscape outside isn't looking as green or as inviting, then a city walk can actually be really nice.

Becs Frank (10:03):

I agree.

Jo Tinsley (10:04):

There's intentional sculpture trails. I dunno if you've ever been on the line in East London, and that's goes from the Greenwich Meridian between Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the O2 and there's all these sculptures along it. Really amazing ones 115 metre high coiling sculptures and one,

Becs Frank (10:19):

Yeah, it's incredible.

Jo Tinsley (10:20):

It's like a double helix of shopping trolley. It's really bizarre and wonderful sculptures.

Becs Frank (10:26):

And I particularly like Bristol as well, don't you? And we're both in the west country now, and I love the art and the buildings there, the street art. Yeah, I think it's the fact that I don't even follow the trail, it's just by walking around and being surprised by something around the corner that I wasn't expecting. Or even just the colourful

Jo Tinsley (10:45):

Houses like in Bristol or Brighton. And often people sort of paint their own murals on them or they get other people painting on them in an unexpected way. But yeah, it's just something so bright and colourful when it's, it

Becs Frank (10:56):

Really makes you smile.

Jo Tinsley (10:57):

Yeah, it really did.

Becs Frank (10:59):

No, it did. And a lot of these places were built, so Barbara Heckworth and Henry Moore, this art was created to kind of sit in the cities originally. So just because you can't get to a beach or out of your town, there's no reason why you can't go and appreciate some different scenery. When I was in North Wales last year, I was amazed by the yarn bombing. There was so much of it in the different villages and it can't fail to cheer you up when you come across this kind of incredible knitting on this post box or a traffic cone or all sort of just dotted around. It's brilliant.

Jo Tinsley (11:32):

Now that I don't live in the city, I don't see that much anymore. But what I do see is fairy doors because I live near Glastonbury. So you go into any of the woods near here in Pilton or Glastonbury,

Becs Frank (11:42):

We have 30 doors in our local woods.

Jo Tinsley (11:44):

Yeah, I kind of want to add one because I just love this idea of doing something that's simply to make someone smile or to bring wonder to a child or I just think it's something that's so small that you can do

Becs Frank (11:57):

Well, you should add one Jo. I think that's a great idea, and I think you must know this, going out with a young child, it's kind of all about wearing the right clothes at this time of year, but it's also about taking the right snacks. Taking the right snacks, making sure you've got fuel. So what have you got any favourites?

Jo Tinsley (12:12):

Yeah, I mean, what do I like taking out? I mean, I always like taking a thermos of something warm out with me. And I think there's a real sort of nostalgia to that, whether it's thinking of, there

Becs Frank (12:23):

Really is

Jo Tinsley (12:23):

Memories of road trips or family picnics or fishing trips, however you spend your childhood. And I like to think I'm planting the seeds of this with my 4-year-old at the moment. So when we go to our local woods, we always take a thermos of hot chocolate and we have a sitting place that we go.

Becs Frank (12:36):

Nice.

Jo Tinsley (12:37):

It's really incentive if someone's got tired little legs that we're going to have some hot chocolate there. So yeah, I think, yeah, hot chocolate and biscuits is a nice one.

Lisa Sykes (12:55):

The patch, a short story by Veronica Henry. We were all given one on our way out of the memorial service, a tiny little packet of wild flower seeds and on each one in her handwriting was written, sprinkle these in memory of me, cat kiss, kiss. I pushed the packet in into my handbag, unable to believe she was gone because I could still feel her and hear her laughing voice in my head. I could still imagine exactly what she would say about every decision I had to make from what to wear to her funeral, not black. It's draining at our age to what to do about the woman at work who was bullying me. You are worth 10 of her, babe. Go for that promotion. She won't be able to touch you. Then the trouble was I didn't have anywhere to plant the seeds. I lived on the top floor of an ugly block of flats near where we were brought up.

(13:45):

It was funny because it's once been a rough area where no one wanted to live, but now it was up and coming and I still couldn't get used to people being impressed when I told them I lived in St. Edwards. Nevertheless, I had no garden, not even a balcony. So the seeds stayed in my handbag until one night when I was walking home late through the swanky square of Victorian houses. We used to lust after most of them were flats now, but still out of reach with their sash windows and curly balconies in the middle of the square was a garden for residents only kept firmly locked to keep riffraff like us out. If you lived there, you got a key. When we were teenagers, Kat and I used to climb over the railings late at night and lie amidst the rose beds, we drank cans of cider and shared the earphones plugged into her iPod, staring at the sky.

(14:35):

We live here one day she used to say, we'll get a key to the garden. That night I climbed the railings again. I found a patch of bare earth and tipped the seeds out of the packet, treading them into the soil hoping that the rain and sun would work their magic. And then I sat on a bench, it was far too cold to lie on the ground and played Kat's playlist on my phone, reliving every moment of our time together, the shopping trips, the nightclubs, the crushes, the hangovers, the makeovers, the holidays. And then I went home and applied for the promotion that could change everything. She was up there making it happen for me because I got the job. And next spring, as I walked through the square, I saw a little patch of wild flowers, pink and jello and purple as bright and beautiful and brave as she had been.

(15:23):

They lifted my heart and I felt the sun on my face as I looked up and saw for sale sign in the window of one of the flats on the square. If I sold my flat together with my increased salary, I could just afford it. I gazed at the patch of wild flowers rising out of the earth against the odds if they could do it, then so could I phoned the agent and made an offer. Less than two months later, I got the keys to my new flat, but more importantly, I had a key to the garden. Every year I plant a little patch of flowers in her memory and every year

Jo Tinsley (16:09):

That was a really moving story. I think it's a really lovely idea to plant something in someone's memory, a reason to pause and remember every time that you see it and it changes every time you see it. I think that's really, really nice.

Becs Frank (16:22):

It really is, isn't it? And there's a life lesson in that story somewhere as well, isn't there that we can take from nature about patience. We're going to be talking a little bit more about life lessons from nature later on in this section, so keep listening. So it's that time, isn't it, with thinking about planting and seeds and we're dying to get out there and get into our gardens, but we're not quite ready yet, are there? No,

Jo Tinsley (16:48):

There's not very much to do. Yeah. I always find this at this time of the year in February and March that I've got this enthusiasm. I've got this sort of pent up sort of ideas of things that I want to do. I want to plant grow things, but it's a bit too early to be planting lots of things.

Becs Frank (17:03):

So it's the time to plan and dream.

Jo Tinsley (17:06):

Exactly. And there are jobs you can do in the garden at this time of year, but they don't seem as exciting as getting, they're

Becs Frank (17:11):

Not very creative.

Jo Tinsley (17:14):

No, not very creative. But yeah, you are right. It's a good time to plan. It's a good time to sort of draw your plans, browse seed catalogues, and sort of think about the one thing you're going to do differently in your garden this year. It's a nice opportunity.

Becs Frank (17:26):

I think I could do with a bit of that, just a little bit more planning and a little bit more research. I'm a bit kind of late and predictable in my planting and growing.

Jo Tinsley (17:37):

I'm a bit early and enthusiastic

Becs Frank (17:39):

And then all my seedlings die

Jo Tinsley (17:41):

Because we should get together. We should get together at the right time of year.

Becs Frank (17:45):

I was inspired by a piece we did on the ish seeds, and that was all about these heirloom varieties of vegetables that they look a bit different. And also you are connecting with the gardeners of the past. And so I think I'm going to get some catalogues and have a look and try and be a bit more ous in my ettes and salad leaves this year.

Jo Tinsley (18:05):

I think that's a nice idea,

Becs Frank (18:06):

But there are ways aren't there. So when you've got that urge to grow and to get outside, you can bring nature into your home and get your fix in different ways.

Jo Tinsley (18:19):

Yeah, for sure. You mean sort of planting house plants or planting things and windows sills

Becs Frank (18:24):

And just

Jo Tinsley (18:25):

Bringing nature inside?

Becs Frank (18:26):

Yeah, no, exactly. And just seeing things bloom in your house. There's nothing much to look at in the garden, but there's a lovely little project, a kitchen table project in a February issue. It's basically just with some mason jars or jam jars, and you plant your highest in bulbs in there and all you need is some gravel in your bulbs. And then obviously you can make two or three, pop them on your window sill, pop them in the middle of your kitchen table, and then it just gives you that nice little kind of early feeling of spring.

Jo Tinsley (18:52):

That's nice. So you can also make nature a focus of a creative project. So in the February issue, I did an interview of Jenny Coates who kept a weekly nature journal to record the natural world unfolding over the course of the year.

Becs Frank (19:04):

Yeah,

Jo Tinsley (19:05):

I mean it's really beautiful what she did.

Becs Frank (19:07):

Very beautiful. Yeah,

Jo Tinsley (19:09):

Really inspiring. But what I also took from it is just how much you can achieve from committing to little and often and also the benefits of doing some things gradually over the course of the year.

Becs Frank (19:18):

Yeah, I think that's a really good point because you could look at it and think, well, it's so beautiful that it's not something that I would be able to achieve. Well, I would feel like it's not something I'd be able to achieve because I'm not very confident artist. However, there are very different ways of getting into it, aren't there? And getting started,

Jo Tinsley (19:36):

I found it really encouraging that Jenny says straight away, she's got a shortest attention span, a tendency to get excited about other projects like most of us, and that she rarely succeeds at regular creative habits. And I think it was just because it was something that came naturally to her. So she was taking a break or had left her role as a head teacher after 20 years, and she was walking every day to help clear her head.

(19:56):

Just on these walks she started to sketch and then she started to share these sketches online and then she started to get people's enthusiasm for them. And the accountability that helps you keep going. You don't have to share things online, but however you find that accountability is really important I find. But then once she got into it, it becomes really mindful. You start to notice more, you start to see the textures and the colours and the shapes, how a landscape is composed and it changes how you see things. So it doesn't have to be about being an artist or creating something really beautiful. No, it's more about your response to

Becs Frank (20:29):

That. No, of course. You don't need to show anybody, do you?

Jo Tinsley (20:32):

No,

Becs Frank (20:32):

I have kept journals sort of intermittently through my life or diaries, different kind of forms of recording, but I don't tend to make them hugely visual, but sometimes I might stick something in. But I like the idea that it can be just photographed as well, couldn't it? It doesn't. And also people say often when I've spoken to people who have created these journals is that their confidence and their creativity has just kind of bloomed as they've done it more. And so I think at this time of year will be a great time to start because you're going to see so much change over the next few weeks. What lovely mindful project to do that will help you to connect with nature. And we all know how connecting with nature is good for our wellbeing because I mean, I've talked about this before a little bit, but the book that I researched just at nature, there's a whole chapter on life lessons from nature. When we're out there and we're noticing it and we're connecting with, we start to even with unknowingly adapt these lessons. So one for me will be that accepting and embracing imperfection in my drawings. And there's nothing perfect in nature is there?

Jo Tinsley (21:32):

No, it's true. It's true. And I think also about this idea of having sort of a fallow time, so having a bit of a time to pause about to get really busy.

Becs Frank (21:42):

Yeah, you're right.

Jo Tinsley (21:43):

Do you know what I mean? In nature, but also in our lives. And there's more to do, there's more social commitments, more places to go, isn't there later in the year. So just accepting that this time of year is a bit quieter. And allowing that I think is a nice lesson for nature.

Becs Frank (21:57):

Sometimes we're impatient, aren't we? And we're always keen to get to the next thing, and in a few weeks things suddenly get so much busier. They get busier in the garden, they get busier in our lives and we'll be thinking, oh, why didn't I enjoy that Nice quiet, fallow time. Exactly.

Jo Tinsley (22:12):

Yeah.

Becs Frank (22:13):

So yeah, we're enjoying a bit of the fallow time, aren't we? But just also that nature's unpredictable, like life's unpredictable. It's messy. You'll do some things right, you won't finish some things, some things will fail, some things will succeed. And I guess that you just learn that next time you'll do it differently or you'll try something. If it's a seed that doesn't grow or fails, you'll try a different variety perhaps. So I think, yeah, we'll have our mental breather and enjoy our mental breather, plan our jobs in the garden, and perhaps try not to rush into things too much. I mean, it's also interesting to think about how the different kinds of landscape affect us and make us feel. There's a great book by Ruth Allen called Weathering, and I think Ruth, don't you? She's a geologist and also a therapist, is that right? And takes people on these. She's an eco therapist, so a lot of her work is done with people outdoors. And she talks a lot about how the different types of landscape help us to heal in different ways. And I think that's just fascinating

Jo Tinsley (23:15):

And just help us to reflect on things or might be a conversation starter. So she talks about how we need edges and boundaries as a place to challenge ourselves and grow. So how spending time at a physical edge of something might help us get that perspective on a predicament. And it, it's really interesting reading her perspectives and how then you can start to reflect on your own walks.

Becs Frank (23:36):

Yeah, yeah, it really did make me think. And just also getting that physical space, that breathing space that you need sometimes, like we were saying with beach walks, and maybe it's climbing to the top of a hill or standing on a sort of precipitous edge, probably not too close to an edge, but it does help to give you perspective. Yeah, it's true. So I think that's fascinating, and you had a really lovely thought, Joe, which I think if people are feeling it can be challenging at this time of year and it can feel like the good weather and the spring is never going to come. But you had a nice thought about how the kernel of one season's in the other, can you explain that a little bit?

Jo Tinsley (24:13):

Yeah, yeah. It's something we touched upon in the podcast before, this idea that yeah, the kernel of one season is inside the other. So how even in the depths of winter, in the winter solstice, you can see signs of spring because that is when things turn, that's when the days start to get longer.

(24:27):

Right in the middle of winter, there's more light coming and you're, I just think it's a really nice thought to touch upon. And then there's always, even at this time of year, there's always, if you scrape back the leaves, there's this new growth coming.

Becs Frank (24:41):

The new growth's incredible, isn't it? It's just makes you hopeful, doesn't it?

Jo Tinsley (24:46):

Exactly. And there's actually two different sort of beginnings to spring. Yeah. So it depends on your perspective. So there's the astronomical spring, which starts on the 20th of March, which is on the sort of vernal equinox, which is when we have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Then there's meteorological seasons and meteorological spring starts on the

Becs Frank (25:06):

1st of March. Right, okay.

Jo Tinsley (25:08):

They kind of divide it a bit more three months of each sort of thing.

Becs Frank (25:12):

Yes, that makes sense. Yes. That's why the argument over when spring actually starts.

Jo Tinsley (25:19):

Yeah. And I always think 1st of March, you can always feel so much, there's birds that are nesting, there's flowers that are coming up, there's blossom on the trees, there's black form blossom coming. I think it's there. Even if you don't believe that, that's when it officially starts. There are so many signs of spring, just in a couple of weeks from now,

Becs Frank (25:36):

We could look out for the first bird songs. And the missile thrush is one of the first birds, garden birds that we might see with the tiny little brown chevrons on their chest, and they have this lovely greyish hue to their back. So just if you just open your eyes and perhaps get your sketchbook out or notepad and just make a little note down these nice first signs, these uplifting signs of spring, it'll help to get you through these dog end of winter days that we've talked about in the podcast for this season. We're having seeing the light moment, aren't we? And I think there's been quite a lot in this episode that has made me think about things, but I was thinking about cold water immersion and how that great, that makes you feel, and all the evidence about how good it is for us. And I was thinking about trying it again myself and trying your whiskey breathing, so I'm not just going to be doing it when I'm in a sauna every now and then. Although yes, black downland would really like one of your sauna, I'm going to have a go at that and perhaps try some cold showers as well, or some cold dips.

Jo Tinsley (26:39):

It'd be really interesting to see how if it felt different when you had that sort of top-down control over your breathing and your body, whether getting into cold water felt more enjoyable or you felt more in control of it. Yeah, no, I look forward to hearing.

Becs Frank (26:52):

I'll let you know.

Jo Tinsley (26:53):

Yeah, do I think for me it's just that idea of fallow time. I'm always, always a fan of giving myself permission to have some time off time and to not always be productive. Things are about to start getting busy. And so yeah, I love that idea from the feature that you can just allow yourself to have some fallow time at this time of year.

Becs Frank (27:12):

Yeah, great. I like that too. Well, thank you. I think that brings us to the end of this episode. And thank you again to Blackdown Shepherd Huts for their support. And if you haven't decided whether like me you'd like a sauna cabin or if it's a spare room hut that would suit you, then head over to their website and we'll put the link in the show notes and have a look for yourself. And if you'd like to read our February issue for more on beach walks and places to find warms and a holiday feeling, you can take out an immediate subscription from our website and you'll get the issue right away. So the link again, will be in the show notes. Thank you, Joe. It's been really nice to chat with you. Yeah,

Jo Tinsley (27:49):

Thank you. It's been fun.

Becs Frank (27:51):

And I'll be back next week with Lisa, who will be back from her holiday, all relaxed and refreshed and ready to chat about how to look after yourself in our episode. Thanks.