Sabbatical

Hi all

I guess I have taken a sabbatical from writing my blog. It has been a long time!

It has been a very tough year or two and have found life quite difficult.

I have been trying to build a client base for my Thai massage, which is rather difficult as not many people know about it in South Africa. The people who have had Thai massage have had it in Thailand on holiday so they do not understand the long term health benefits. As one of my regular clients said to me last month, "Thai Massage is a way of life".

Caleb is now in High School. He is doing grade 8. He is completing his Waldorf curriculum and then he will be doing Konos How 1. We are also doing Apologia General Science. Hannah is doing the science with us.

Hannah is doing grade 6 at this stage. Sheth is doing grade 3.

I have found schooling difficult in the house we are renting as it is really small. There is no room - I haven't been able to paint a blackboard on the wall and have no space to store one. The eating area is tiny. We have worked in the lounge and kept going obviously, but I have not enjoyed it.

The good news is that we have just bought our own home. A three bedroom, which we will convert into a four bedroom as the one bedroom is 4.5m by 6.5m. This will give is two rooms of 4.5m by 3-ish m.

There is a lounge, dinning room, kitchen, family bathroom and en suit! All this compared to our two bedroom, kitchen/lounge and en suit bathroom that we have now. We also have a granny flat which we will be renting out.

There is lots of work to be done on the new house. I love renovating and building, so we are going to have fun.

More to come soon.

Crashing

Well I must say that I have definitely neglected my blog! It has been a really busy year so far for me.

I have been exhausted most of the year and to be honest I do not know how I have managed!

Three months ago I went to have reflexology. My friend Robert is a reflexologist. He said that I have a lot of stress in my body. He also picked up thyroid and stomach problems. Besides that the treatment was fantastic.

I have been feeling so run down, exhausted and grumpy. It was getting worse as the months ticked by.

Two weeks ago I went to an iridologist. She was phenomenal! She asked if my appendix was removed. it was when I was 12! I have an under active thyroid. My adrenal glands are under too much pressure from stress. My liver, kidneys and gall bladder are all taking strain. My digestive system is not functioning properly, and to top it all off I am anemic and have candida systemically.

She was surprised that I was able to do every thing that I do. According to her I should not be able to get out of bed!

The first plan of action is to get rid of the candida. She has put me on a very restrictive diet and given me a herbal tincture plus a very good pro-biotic to take. She says it should take three weeks to clear.

I need to eat more protein and if that doesn't help soon enough then I will get some chelated iron to help the process.

The pro-biotics will help the candida and my digestive problems.

The organ problems are hormonal, so we will look at treating for that next month.

The adrenal system taking strain is because of my holding in stress, and she suggested kick boxing, screaming into a pillow or something similar! Not sure about this one, but I will ponder it! When I feel a stress attack I have got a smoothy recipe that I am to make and drink.

So, all in all, I need to stop getting stressed!

Thai massage again

I have started to do craft markets with the Thai massage. I love working at craft markets. The atmosphere and vibe is great. The children and Greg also love going for the day.

I do markets at the different Waldorf schools. I do this as I homeschool using the Waldorf curriculum and feel that this is a great way to have the kids around certain aspects of Waldorf. The organic foods, the beautiful art work and the down to earth people.

I also do house calls. I charge more for these as I factor in my travel.

I do not do Hawaiian massage at the markets as you need to remove your clothes for this massage. It is the most wonderful, relaxing massage if done in a quiet place.  

Now I just need to build a client base.

Thai massage

This is the first time that I am writing about me. Normally my life is the children, their schooling, knitting for them or other family and friends and my husband. I love all these things with a passion or I would not do any of it.

Last year I hit the middle age crises stage! Well when I went into it deeper, Rudolf Steiner talks about this and he was dead on right down to the exact month.

Me, being a person who doesn't wallow in self pity, started to make plans. I made lists and lists and more lists. Then I prayed, never ceasing, as we are told to do. I wrote lists about things I wanted to study or businesses I wanted to start. I would get frustrated as we have no money for any of the above. And, I prayed more.

My dad asked me if he could come stay with me for a while as he has got a lovely lady friend and they were coming to see us. I am always happy to have people, so said yes.

Dad and Maureen came for dinner. Dad was staying here and Maureen with her friend.  

Maureen was going to be teaching Thai massage and LomiLomi Hawaiian massage while they were here, so that she could cover the cost of the trip.  

I joked with Greg and asked him if he had money on the credit card so that I could do the training. Maureen asked if I was serious and when I said yes she told me she would gift me with the training. I was ecstatic to say the least.

It took a lot of planning as I homeschool, but as this was something I really wanted - I made it work. Dad looked after the kids. I planned all their school work and had it ready for them.

I did about a month of training, coming home exhausted, as it is physical, and I was learning about muscles I had forgotten existed in my body. I had a lot to read and try to retain, and I was finding it quite difficult. I had last studied 18 years ago. I was marking and checking Caleb and Hannah's school work in the evenings, eating and going to sleep exhausted. I was enjoying myself intently!

What I did:

1. Thai reflexology foot massage

2. Thai introduction

3. Thai level 1

4. Thai level 2

5. Traditional Hawaiian massage level 1

6. Traditional Hawaiian massage level 2

7. Traditional Hawaiian massage level 3

               

Wow what a blessing.

Now the work began. I had to do my case studies.  I got really overwhelmed as I had done all the courses back to back and now I had to somehow sort it all out in my mind. So, what I did was start doing the case studies for the Thai introduction  massage. When I got those done, I sent them off to Maureen who by now had gone back.

I then did my case studies for Thai foot massage, and then for Thai level 1 and then level 2. By this stage the massage was part of me and my love for it was growing daily.

Greg bought me a beautiful chocolate brown leather massage table for my Hawaiian massage and a floor mat for my Thai massage.

Maureen came back a couple of months later and I helped her to teach Thai massage at one of our local international beauty colleges. This just helped settle it all for me. I love doing massage.

Last week we went to see my oma who is turning 88 this week. She told me that my great opa had also been a masseur in Holland. And, that my opa's brother, who now lives in America, was also a masseur until he retired. They did Traditional massage.

So the conclusion that I have come to is that massage must be in the genes.