Month: January 2019

What a daunting task it can be choosing a therapist.  How to start?  How to navigate your way through the sea of therapists out there to find the ‘right one’?

To begin with, it can be helpful to give yourself a period of trying out.  Don’t rush this process.  Take your time to find someone you have a connection with, someone that has an approach that resonates with you.

Bear in mind that it’s usually best to have a few sessions with a therapist to give you a chance to really know if it’s right for you.

I always say that the first massage with me is rather like ‘shaking hands’……………..

Your body is unfamiliar with the new surroundings and ways of working.  By the second time you visit, your body and mind will relax far more quickly and deeply, knowing what to expect.  With each progressive session, your body learns and can release a little bit more – and at the same time, I will be learning more about how your body responds to the treatment, adapting the session accordingly.

The only way to truly find out how I work is to bite the bullet and come for a session.  However, I have tried to paint a picture with the following points:

• To facilitate your feelings of comfort and nurture, I work from home so can guarantee you a warm, cosy and friendly environment with essential oils diffusing into the air to enhance the experience.
• An Epsom Salts foot bath will be waiting for you on arrival, to enjoy whilst we briefly discuss your session.
• I warm both the massage couch and the massage oil, and begin each session using a heated wheat bag – all contributing to deep relaxation of mind, body and spirit
• Your massage is your time to release, relax and focus on gaining what you need from your time with me. Chat only inhibits this important process, so I advise against it when you are on the couch.
• Lastly, I offer bespoke massage, not working to a generic ‘pattern’ regardless of your body’s needs, as massage therapists with limited experience do. Between us, we discuss and decide what each session will comprise, depending what you need on any given day.

You can find out more by going to the ‘Massage’ page on this site.

My approach will not be right for all, but I believe there is a therapist out there to suit everyone.

Most of all, it’s important that you enjoy the journey of finding who is right for you, and know that nothing is wasted – every treatment you receive, whoever it is from, will form part of your healing journey.

To encourage you to try out my way of working, I offer an ‘Introductory Offer’ price for the first session, to all those local to Wells.  (£45 for a 1.5 hrs, usual price £55).

Just drop me an email if you fancy taking advantage of this offer. (enquiries@StephanieHiller.co.uk)

With love

Steph x

The long break over xmas/new year is great – a time to totally switch off, what could be more healing?

This year found me away from work and home, catching up with family, eating delicious festive food, drinking mulled wine (a particular favourite of mine!), reconnecting with the child within as I joined in games at family parties….and so on.

I had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  However, am I alone in thinking that by the end it’s really rather lovely to get back to the familiar old routine?

I derive great comfort from the day to day ‘timetable’ I set myself.  It reminds me who I am, and I find it nourishing and nurturing to mind, body and spirit.  It creates that true feeling of ‘coming home’, both physically and spiritually.

Of particular importance to me is my ‘daily practice’ – a combination of meditation, chanting and yoga, completed before breakfast and after which the ‘day proper’ commences.  Whatever my day throws at me, I feel well prepared to handle it as long as I have set myself up with this triangle of grounding practices.

Yesterday, I was chatting to someone about finding time for meditation – how to fit it in to an already busy day.  I explained what I do is consider that my meditation is not actually a part of the day – it happens before the day starts.  This way, I don’t feel I am squeezing it in to my day.  Equally, there is no sense whilst sitting that I should be doing something else.  It takes place out of time, as it were.

Another reason my body feels a certain relief to be back to the familiar, is a return to more regular sleep patterns.  Holiday times tend to find me late to bed, late to rise – making me neither healthy, nor the other things we won’t even mention.

Bodies like to know where they stand.  They understand rhythms, cycles and thrive best with regular patterns.  I can’t say I always stick to the rule of 8 hours a night sleep, plus rising and retiring at the same time each night, but I do my best.  I almost have a sense that my body has missed the early mornings most of all.  It seems to thrive on being up before everybody else in Wells!

Furthermore, it goes without saying that I missed all my lovely clients, my chocolate-making, my walks and bike rides in the beautiful Somerset countryside, my weekly choir rehearsals, my friends and many other things.  However, in answer to the question I set in the title, the 2 things I missed the most were my good old meditation cushion and my trusty yoga mat.  All seems well in the world when I make time for these in my life.

So, here I am in 2019, wondering what the year holds for us all.  It will be an interesting year, that’s for sure!   Whatever happens in it, I wish you all a happy, healthy year ahead with much sunshine and joy-filled days.

Until the next time

Steph x