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OK so The Kitchen may be closed while we all stay safe. But are you missing your sweet treat fix from our menus? Why not try our recipe for a delicious Soft Chocolate Cake with Crème Fraîche and Honeycomb? A delicious dessert for a special night in. Ingredients Serves 8-10 200g best quality plain chocolate (at least 72% cocoa solids)200g unsalted butter140g caster sugar8 egg yolks8 egg whites For the caramel sauce: 300ml double cream85g unsalted butter100g muscovado sugar To serve: Crème fraîche and honeycomb to serve Method Preheat your oven to 145c and lightly butter a 25cm springform cake tin. Line the tin with baking parchment – ensure the paper up the sides of the tin is 3 or 4 inches higher as the cake will rise. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water until smooth and glossy then remove and set aside. Put the sugar and egg yolks into another bowl and whisk together until they are pale and thick and leave a trail on the surface, then gently fold this into the slightly cooled chocolate. Now you need to whisk the egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl until soft peaks are formed. Do not aggressively whisk them as you will over-do them. Next, very gently fold them into the chocolate mix, taking care not to knock the air out of the meringues. Place into the cake tin, then into the oven and cook for approximately 45 minutes. It will soufflé up during cooking and may crack, but don’t worry, this is normal. Allow to cool in the tin. Whilst the cake is cooking make the toffee sauce by combining all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow the sauce to reduce slightly, then remove it and cool to room temperature. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin and cut into portions. How big they are really depends on you, then drizzle with the sauce, add a generous dollop of crème fraîche and a sprinkling of honeycomb. Truly delicious. Enjoy! The Kitchen’s sweet treats are always a winner. While you can’t have your fix in our beautiful restaurant you can try this at home! Show us how you got on by sharing your pics on Instagram. Just use the hashtag #restorationyard

Looking to bag a wardrobe winner for a little less? Here’s our good news…the Restoration Yard SALE is now officially open. Yay. That’s 30% off selected womenswear, menswear and accessories online NOW. Check out ready-to-wear from Part Two, Ottod’ame, Masai, Selected Femme, blank, Vilagallo and Pom Amsterdam in our womenswear department. Is accessorising more your thing? Scarves from the same collections are 30% off too. Oh and not forgetting those sartorially inclined men – this exclusive 30% discount applies to all Selected Homme items. But what to pick? We’ve made it all a little easier with the RY team’s Sale Edit. Or simply enjoy shopping your way through all that’s now in our RY Sale HERE. THE RY SALE EDIT It’s all sooooo gorgeous so we thought we’d give you a little steer to some favourites from us to you. From the minute they hit the rails the ‘RY’ team falls hard for the collections they buy. So who better to give you the highlights of the Sale than the team who knows each gorgeous collection inside out? Enjoy their Sale Edit and happy shopping. The Slouchy Sweater Selected Femme Bailey Slit Jumper WAS £45 NOW £31.50 Merchandiser & assistant buyer Becca loves this little Selected Femme Bailey Sweater £45 NOW £31.50. Becca says: “It looks so cosy, super easy to wear, and is such a great price.” RY Style Tip: Team it over silky printed skirts and dresses with trainers for a relaxed casual look. The Animal Print Wedge Vilagallo Susan Shoes WERE £89 NOW £62.30 Marketing manager Shelley adores these Vilagallo Fuchsia Leopard Susan Shoe WAS £89 NOW £62.30: “I think these are fun and would look lovely with white jeans in summer for a fresh and modern vibe. Love. Love. Love.” RY Style Tip: We love these with cropped white jeans or Capri’s to showcase an ankle tan! But a stronger look as we head into summer will be shorts with bare legs. The Statement Blouse Vilagallo Dover Embroidered Shirt WAS £120 NOW £84 So our Krista in retail is a big fan of Pom Amsterdam’s blouses. Her favourite is this gorgeous Pom Amsterdam Lucky Charms Blouse WAS £120 NOW £84 Krista says: “A Pom Amsterdam blouse is an amazing addition to you closet.” RY Style Tip: Team with Pom Amsterdam Bayou trousers WERE £125 NOW £87.50 The Floral Print Dress Pom Amsterdam Flower Play Dress WAS £170 NOW £119 So make like head of retail Sisi and buy into this gorgeous Flower Play Dress by Pom Amsterdam WAS £170 NOW £119. Sisi says: “The fluidity of this fabric and the beautiful print make this dress a real luxury to wear.” RY Style Tip: We love a long summery printed dress like this paired with trainers for that dressed-up-dressed down feel. The Classic Shirt Selected Homme Wayne Shirt WAS £55 NOW £38.50 Selected Homme is a team favourite in-store and now it’s online. Events manager Stephen says: “I love these contemporary classics with a twist.” Personal favourite? This Selected Homme Wayne Shirt WAS £55 NOW £38.50 with its killer whale print. RY Style Tip: For a modern preppy look wear buttoned-up over jeans with a pair canvas sneakers. The Boho Blouse Primrose Park Sandy Silk Pink Leopard Blouse WAS £119 NOW £83.30 The marketing team’s Nic is simply adoring new-to-store label Primrose Park. Nic says: “It’s hard to choose between these tops but I love a bit of animal print so this Primrose Park Sandy Shirt £119 NOW £83.30 in pink leopard one has my vote.” RY Style Tip: Wear easy over a denim skirt or cut off shorts for that thrown-together lazy summer day vibe. The Geo Print Dress Selected Femme Faleena Dress WAS £110 NOW £77 OK so ‘RY’s’ Becca snuck in with two of her favourites. But we couldn’t miss this off our Sale edit as its a showcase wardrobe winner. The Selected Femme Faleena Dress WAS £110 NOW £77 is a sure thing says Becca who loves its geometric print. RY Style Tip: This dress is standalone gorgeous but try it also over wide legged trousers. The Showcase Shawl Pom Amsterdam Tequila Fun Shawl WAS £105 NOW £73.50 Who doesn’t love a showcase shawl? Store Manager believes the right one will take you everywhere – OK so just now that’s a bit limited but this Pom Amsterdam Tequila Fun Shawl WAS £105 NOW £73.50 is great for making a statement in Zoom meets. She says: “This scarf is double sided, so really its two in one. Perfect for when we do eventually get to go on a lovely holiday.” RY Style Tip: Simply throw over a simple tee and jeans and you go from mundane to marvellous. The Animal Print Dress Masai Nakata Animal Print Dress WAS £199 NOW £83.30 Our food & beverage manager Gillian bought this Masai Nakata Animal Print Dress WAS £199 Now £83.33 early in the season and its been a wardrobe hero on several occasions. “I simply adore the print but the cut is also super flattering and I always get compliments when I wear it,” says Gillian. RY Style Tip: This dress is an all year winner. In warmer climes it stands alone with bare legs and metallic sandals but in winter try it over a polo neck and boots. It’s a Sale Edit win.

By Jen Wood Jen Wood is an emotional wellbeing coach, psychotherapist and wellbeing consultant. She is based at Restoration Yard in Dalkeith Country Park and during the Covid-19 pandemic, is helping us through these strange times addressing issues we all face in our new isolation. Here Jen addresses how to build strength and wellbeing while coping with loneliness. This post includes two short hypnotherapy sessions. A time of loss of connection Relationships are at the core of mental health and wellbeing. If we have good relationships, we typically enjoy increased wellbeing, better psychological health and we live longer. Some studies show that positive social connections can have similar health benefits as stopping smoking. During this Covid-19 crisis and our enforced lockdown that opportunity of face-to-face connection has been unavailable – leaving us to learn how to cope with loneliness. The impact of loneliness is unique to the individual For some of us, shielding, social distancing and lockdown has meant rediscovering the joy of uninterrupted family time at home. For other perhaps more introverted amongst us, it may have given a welcome break from the pressure to socialise. However for many people who live alone, this has been an increasingly difficult time, feeling lonely and isolated from their colleagues and community. The level of anxiety is building up, as many of us know people who have been unwell, or have tragically died. We are also warned that ignoring our mental health and wellbeing needs at the moment will risk a rise anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and other mental-health issues. Loneliness has reached epidemic proportions according to the Office of National Statistics, with 2.4 million adults already feeling lonely before lockdown. Unemployment, financial worries and separation of families and friends are known risk factors for mental health. Poor mental health, and stress, can cause reduced immune function and we need our immune systems to be in tip top shape just now. Small things like smiling at the bus driver or chatting to the person at the till point in M&S can increase our happiness, and these things are unavailable to us for now. For some of us, it can feel like our whole lives and now being lived through the same screens, losing the separation that some of us find helpful or necessary between work and life. It’s also important to point out that loneliness and isolation don’t impact everyone equally. A young person may experience social loneliness when they can’t meet up with friends, while an older adult may experience emotional loneliness, particularly if they have been widowed recently. But what can we do to help us to cope with our loneliness? Here are some suggestions: Practice gratitude – write down 3 things at the end of each day that have brought you joy or a sense of achievement. Stay in contact using technology ~ FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp and Messenger video calls and Houseparty can give a range of options to see and speak to each other. I have been speaking to one person each day (out with my usual work conversations) to maintain connection. Plan activities to do with others at home ~ I have participated in an online cookery class with friends, each of us joining from our own kitchens. It was a lovely way to feel connected and have a nice pot of soup at the end of it! I’ve seen others have virtual dinner parties, poetry readings or dance parties. Restoration Yard has a programme of virtual wellbeing classes which can be accessed here. Why not arrange to do classes with your friends from the comfort of your own home. We even have HITT PT classes and mindfulness and stress management classes. Self-care ~ even when you don’t feel like it, or especially when you don’t feel like it. Why not create a self-care plan and ask a friend to be your self-care accountability partner? You could share your intention for the day and what you are grateful for at the end of the day too. Connect with others who may be lonely ~ We feel better when we reach out to others. Ask for help if you need it (see below) ~ Sometimes a call to a friend is enough, but there is help out there if you need it. Mental health care is a bit like pain relief. It’s a lot harder to sooth the pain when it’s excruciating. Prevention is always better than cure. Practice Compassion (to self and others) ~ If we can develop more compassion towards others and ourselves, we can increase our general life-satisfaction, as well as our emotional and psychological wellbeing and mood. There are a range of ways to develop self-compassion, and I have recorded an affectionate breathing practice and a suggestion for soothing touch, both of which you can listen to here. Click to hear Jen’s Affectionate Breathing session (4mins) Click to hear Jen’s Soothing Touch Session (2mins) Jen is offering online Mindfulness Meditation (Mondays) and Reduce Stress – Feel Good (Fridays) classes via Zoom on Mondays and Fridays at 12noon. Jen also offers individual wellbeing coaching, therapy and mindfulness sessions via Zoom or by phone. To find out more, head to Jen’s website.

By Head Chef Colin Halliday Ingredients Serves one 2 x potato sconesCouple of glugs of Scottish rapeseed oil2 x cubes of unsalted butter (I use Graham’s)100g baby spinachSea salt and freshly ground black pepper (I use Malden’s sea salt)2 x large, fresh free-range eggsAbout 50ml shop bought hollandaise sauce (we make our own at RY, but creating it at home can be tricky and often wasteful)Few pea shoots to garnish Method Wash and dry the spinach removing any large stalks. Heat the rapeseed oil in a frying pan and once hot add the potato scones. Once they are coloured on one side, flip them over and add a knob of butter. This will not only add flavor, but also give them a nice golden colour. While the potato scones are cooking, heat a saucepan, add the remaining knob of butter then the spinach. Don’t worry if you don’t think there is enough butter as the spinach carries an incredible amount of water and will create an emulsion. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. For the perfect poached eggs, the key is the freshness of the egg. It’s as simple as that. The fresher the better and preferably at room temperature. The older an egg gets the more the proteins repel each other causing a runny white. So, bring about four inches of water to the boil in a saucepan then add a couple of teaspoons of white wine vinegar and a good pinch of sea salt. Now turn it down to a simmer. Crack your eggs into ramekins as it’s easier to drop them in the water one after the other. Cook them for three minutes and you will achieve a set white with a runny yolk. Turn the potato scones out on to a clean j-cloth to absorb any excess fat then place on a warmed plate. Squeeze almost all of the buttery water from the spinach or you will end up with a big puddle on your plate. Top with the warm eggs, spoon over the hollandaise sauce and finish with a couple of turns of black pepper and the pea shoots if so desired. Perfect with a glass of fresh orange or a hot mug of coffee. Enjoy! The Kitchen’s Head Chef Colin Halliday has an impressive CV including stints at Gleneagles, Edinburgh’s The Caledonian Hotel and as Nick Nairn’s executive head chef. Colin heads up the team in The Kitchen and for our weddings, corporate and private events.

By Jen Wood Jen Wood is an emotional wellbeing coach, psychotherapist and wellbeing consultant. She is based at Restoration Yard in Dalkeith Country Park and during the Covid-19 pandemic, is helping us with some of the problems we face from coping with uncertainty to working from home and today, comfort eating. This post includes a short hypnotherapy session. Why we comfort eat Difficult emotions can be a response to one of our basic needs not being met. It might be a need for safety and security, or connected and close to the people we love. This can manifest as a physical discomfort in our body, like a knot in the stomach or a lump in the throat. The natural tendency is to try and get rid of uncomfortable feelings, and we all have our familiar habits or safety behaviours, that we use to try and comfort ourselves. At times like this we don’t always eat to satisfy hunger, but for comfort, to relieve stress, or as a reward. If you’ve found yourself eating more when you’ve been physically distancing, self-isolating or working from home, then you’re not alone. There is a surge of stress and anxiety at the moment, and when we are stressed, we often crave sweet and carb rich foods. These foods give us short-term energy hits and produce dopamine which is the chemical messenger associated with motivation and reward. Stress causes higher levels of cortisol, which can increase appetite. Why it makes us feel worse, not better Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn’t fix emotional problems and usually makes us feel worse. The original emotion remains and we can feel guilt and shame for overeating and can beat ourselves up for not having more willpower. To make matters worse, if we put on weight this can trigger that inner voice which tells us that we are ‘not good enough,’ which many of us are familiar with at the best of times. The occasional use of food as a reward or celebration isn’t bad, but when responding to our unmet needs by stuffing them down with eating becomes our default coping strategy, then it’s time to change. When we use food (and other similar things like alcohol and drugs) to comfort us, we learn that the reward circuit of our brain (the nucleus accumbens) which is associated with comfort eating, is also associated with addictions. In addition to that, the effect on our motivation when we comfort eat can impact our ability to choose healthier ways to deal with our emotions, leading us to put on weight and feel increasingly powerless. What can we do? Learning to recognise emotional eating triggers is the first step to breaking free from food cravings and compulsive overeating. Here are some ideas to help you overcome emotional eating: Know your triggers by keeping a food and mood diary… Download your food and mood diary here Some common ones are: Stress or anxiety Depression Loneliness or isolation Tiredness Boredom Habit We can also have a tendency to comfort eat if that’s been a pattern for us in the past. Keep a food and mood diary and understand which emotions you tend to numb with food. Find alternative ways to respond to your triggers. If you’re stressed dance to your favourite track, practise some breathing or grounding, do some exercise, go out for a walk or smile to release the happy hormones. Schedule in some worry time, or practice some breathing and grounding. If you’re depressed eat together as a family if possible, or connect with friends and share intentions at the start of the day and gratitude at the end of the day. If you’re lonely or isolated, contact a supportive friend or colleague, give yourself a hug (that releases happy hormones too) or cuddle the cat. Join a social media group and ‘share’ meals or recipes. If you’re tired, have a break and do some self-care. If you’re bored, do something that you enjoy, even if it’s for one minute. That’s all you need to shift your attention away from food. STOPP and Pause Give yourself five minutes before you give in to comfort eating. Use the STOPP acronym: Stop Take a breath Observe – what am I thinking, feeling in my body and reacting to? Pull back – see the bigger picture and imagine how someone else might see this. Practise what nourishes me – what’s the best thing for you to do in this situation? Feel your feelings As yourself, how you can allow yourself to feel any difficult feelings, briefly, rather than stuffing them down with food? We can practise allowing ourselves to feel, which is a better long-term strategy for developing resilience. When we do this, it’s important to meet these feelings with a bit of kindness and compassion rather than judgement. Eat Mindfully Eating while you’re working, on the internet, watching Netflix or on your phone, can mean eating on autopilot. Your mind is elsewhere and you may continue eating even beyond the point of feeling full. If you practice eating more mindfully, you can help focus your mind on your food and the pleasure of a meal and curb overeating. If you can allow yourself to savour your food, you will find yourself slowing down and enjoying your food more, and probably losing a bit of weight as well. Success comes in small steps, and as you practise these techniques, you will find that your emotions will no longer trigger that urge to numb yourself with food, and your emotional wellbeing and resilience will increase. Hypnotherapy can be a helpful support when we are developing new more nurturing habits, so I’m offering a short session to help you through this difficult time. Click to listen to Jen’s hypnotherapy session (13mins) Jen is offering online Mindfulness Meditation (Mondays) and Reduce Stress – Feel Good (Fridays) classes via Zoom on Mondays and Fridays at 12noon. Jen also offers individual wellbeing coaching, therapy and mindfulness sessions via Zoom or by phone. To find out more, head to Jen’s website.

Inject a little colour into your world through your wardrobe and your home with some beautiful sun-baked brights. Think beach huts at sunset. All those pinks, oranges and blues, toasted slightly in day after day sunshine. Your world needs a little pop of colour from this gorgeous palette. THE EDIT Check out our edit of beautiful sun-baked brights from The Store at Restoration Yard. They will transform your wardrobe or your home with their vibrance as well as give you a little bit of joy every time you look at them… The Shirt Dress Vilagallo Bianca Dress £175 Adore this sun-baked bright shirt dress by Vilagallo. We love the contrast colour flashes of sunset orange on pink. Wear it belted over bare legs as the summer warms up or try it over jeans and sneakers for dressed-down casual look. The Pouff Bombay Duck Pinwheels Embroidered Pouff £165 Floor cushion, foot stool or table? You choose. With this gorgeous embroidered Pinswheels pouff by Bombay Duck you will add personality to your space through its splash of colour. The Shirt Vilagallo Dover Embroidered Shirt £129 We love the ‘Refresher’ stripes in this Dover shirt by Vilagallo. The colourful zing of colour on white reminds us of deckchairs by the beach. Try it over white jeans and espadrilles. The Throw Tweedmill Herringbone Lemon & Ocean Throw £59.95 So Tweedmill throws are a favourite staple of all the team at Restoration Yard. This season we are adoring the new colourways. This lemon and ocean blue combination is a hot favourite. Yes, this Tweedmill Herringbone Lemon and Ocean blue throw nails that hazy days of summers spent on the beach nostalgia that we are hitting with this sun-baked colour trend. Just adore.

Jen Wood is an emotional wellbeing coach, psychotherapist and wellbeing consultant. She is based at Restoration Yard in Dalkeith Country Park. She’s worked from home for 10 years and has some insight for those of us who have been thrown into it at high speed during this Covid-19 outbreak As a freelance wellbeing consultant, coach and therapist, I have chosen to work from home for the last 10 years. I had time to think about and plan for it. The difference for many of us now is that many organisations have had to implement working and learning from home changes with no time to plan or mentally prepare. As humans we generally struggle with rapid change. We also don’t react well to situations which are outwith our control. Our brains respond to it as a threat, which can trigger unhelpful coping strategies. Here are some of my suggestions for creating your own working from home survival guide: Have a positive morning routine I love creating positive habits starting from waking up. I suggest to my clients that as soon as they wake up, they sit on the side of the bed with feet on the floor and spend a mindful minute feeling grounded through their feet and body. If you try this, notice your posture, imagine a thread on top of your head pulling you up so the spine lengthens, and the shoulders relax and the chest opens. Body language can influence mood. Then you can set your intention for the day, which could be ‘This is/will be a good day.’ If that feels a bit unlikely, try ‘This is a good day in some way,’ as it opens the way for possibility of something good. Focus on what you can control We can’t control the current ‘lockdown’ situation, which triggers our stress hormones. However you can counteract this by changing your focus onto what you can control. This could mean deciding where you’ll be sitting, dressing in a way that helps you feel confident, and setting your intention for the day. It might be not watching the news or spending a lot of time on social media. You can also learn to control your thoughts, which can change your emotional state and improve motivation. Have an achievable ‘To Do’ List At the end of each day, write your to do list and goals for the next day so that you have clarity/ focus and you do not have to waste time in the morning. This has also been proven to improve sleep quality. Also, don’t have too much on your list. If you have 10 things, and you only manage to do seven of them, your brain will focus on the three that you failed to achieve and you may feel like a failure. I encourage clients to focus on One Thing Per Day. Then when they achieve that they have a boost of dopamine (happy hormones) which encourages them. Have a ‘Ta Da’ list of achievements This is a list of what you have achieved in your working from home day. If you pay attention to what you’ve achieved rather than what you’ve failed to achieve, you will develop more of a positive growth mindset. Schedule in fun/pleasure We need this more than usual at the moment, to offset any anxiety we might be feeling. I use a Mastery and Pleasure schedule, to ensure that we balance out the essential with the pleasurable. Fun could be watching a funny clip on YouTube, spending half an hour being silly with the kids or pleasure could be listening to your favourite tune and having a quick dance in the kitchen. Go outside or exercise if possible Breathe, take off your shoes and socks if you have a garden, and feel the grass under your feet. Have a walk round the block. It’s very helpful to keep our lungs healthy! If you can’t easily exercise outside, try a yoga or fitness class from home – check out our Wellbeing Lab schedule of online classes. Kids are welcome too so it’s a good way of getting them some exercise as well as positive mindsets. Move between meetings Using technology can be very exhausting. I suggest taking a moment to move and stretch between each Zoom meeting or call. It’s partly exhausting because we’re getting used to working in a new way. Also, with Zoom and other online meeting apps, we’re closer to each other in comparison to when we might be sitting in a room with them, and that in itself is more intense. Have a solution focused mindset Many of us have an inner critic with a very loud voice. If the inner critic says ‘you’ll never be able to get that done,’ imagine turning down the volume of that voice, then imagine how things would be different if your wise self said ‘I wonder how I could get that done.’ A tiny shift in perception can create a big change. The voice with the most power is the one we listen to. Juggling kids with work? Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you can keep the kids relatively occupied and settled, you are doing well. Even if you can’t, you are doing well. It’s an extremely difficult situation for parents, especially if they are having to work from home. I always remind parents of the benefit of being compassionate. Ask yourself, what’s the most compassionate thing I could do right now? The most compassionate thing might not be online lessons, but a hug and a biscuit! We don’t have a rule book to follow for the current situation. We’re making it up as we go along. Practice gratitude Notice the little things that you’re grateful for. If there was a silver lining in this cloud, what might it be for you? For me it’s spending more time at home with my partner and dogs. For you it might be having more time as a family or realising your network of caring friends. Tiny things are great to start with. Perhaps it could be additional time for morning yoga because you don’t have a commute. Stay in touch with each other I’ve been talking to people about physical distancing and social proximity. We need contact with people to survive. This is how we evolved, and there is great technology available now to allow us to keep in touch. This is particularly important for those who are in ‘lockdown’ on their own. Consider having an accountability partner whom you check in with at the beginning and end of each day. You can encourage each other when you’re struggling, and congratulate each other when you’re not having such a good day. Share your To Do and Ta Da lists! At times like these, we all go through roller-coasters of emotions, and it can feel good to support colleagues when they need it. Team meetings are great too. We are all in the same boat at the moment, so if we connect with each other when we’re struggling, and savour the good, we will get through this and be stronger and more resilient. Jen Wood is available for online consultations via her website

Jen Wood is an emotional wellbeing coach, psychotherapist and wellbeing consultant. She is based at Restoration Yard in Dalkeith Country Park. Here she offers some tips on how to keep our minds healthy in these uncertain times. I understand what an uncertain world we seem to be living in today. Amid this pandemic, the social distancing and self-isolation, there is a lot of fear and information overload. My intention is to share some simple, evidence based tips to help us shift this panic into resilience. My ‘how to survive social distancing and self-isolation’ guide. One way that I’m getting through is to focus on improving my ability to soothe my nervous system. When we have something positive to focus on, we are less susceptible to the tidal wave of panic. Our attitude and our levels of stress impact our immune system, so at the moment it is so important to practise calming and finding ways to boost. I’m sharing three things today to help in surviving uncertainty and building resilience. Keep connecting and building relationships We are hard wired to connect, and being disconnected can shorten our lives. In this period of social distancing, I’ve been encouraging people to think of this as physical distancing but social closeness. When we become socially isolated, it can cause stress, inflammation, rumination and reduce the effectiveness of our immune systems. Tip – could you connect with one person each day who may feel isolated, and let them know you are thinking of them? This will help you both, so really is a win win. Breathe consciously Breathing is one of the fastest and simplest ways to settle an anxious nervous system. Developing a breathing practice can bring our soothing system online, allowing us to access a part of the brain which can help us to make better decisions. It can increase our Heart Rate Variability which increases our wellbeing and quality of life. Tip – start to bring attention to your breath as you breathe in and out through your nose. Notice how cool the air feels as you breathe in, and warmer as you breathe out. Use this awareness of the breath to tune into the state of your nervous system. You might become aware of some of the physical signs of anxiety such as shallow and irregular breathing. As much as possible, try to accept your breath as you find it. Then deepen the breath as you feel the abdomen expanding as you breathe in, and flattening and softening as you release the breath. Notice how that feels. Then, become aware of the speed of the inbreath. If you are breathing in for a count of 3, then breathe out for a count of 3. Then see if you can slow it down to breathing in for 4 and out for 4, and finally breathing in for 5 and out for 5. If you can do this for 3 minutes, you will start to settle your threat system and activate your soothing system. I will talk you through this in the video below. Don’t panic There is a lot of fear and panic around. Most of us have never experienced a pandemic before. Uncertainty is extremely difficult to cope with, and it activates our threat system, our ‘fight and flight’ response. This releases the hormones cortisol and adrenaline which suppress our immune response. The most important thing we can do for our immune system is to calm down. Use STOPP. First, visualise or imagine a red STOP sign. S = Take one slow, deep breath. O = Observe what you are thinking and how you are feeling in your body. Where is the focus of my attention? What am I reacting to? Is it fact or opinion? P = Pull Back. Take the helicopter view and see the bigger picture. Is there another way of looking at this? What advice would I give to someone else about this? How important is this right now, and will it be as important in 6 month’s time?P = Practise what works. What will be the most helpful thing to do? Jen Wood is an emotional wellbeing coach, psychotherapist and wellbeing consultant. She is based at Restoration Yard in Dalkeith Country Park and consults on our Wellbeing Lab schedule. As well as posting her advice and tips here, Jen is currently offering sessions online (via Zoom). jenwoodwellbeing.com

So you want to get greener and cleaner in your home? This month Emma Rawson of Sustainable Living tells us how in two new workshops in Restoration Yard – Sustainable Kitchen and Natural Cleaning. In this five minute interview she tells us why and how she created her amazing Sustainable Living workshops that we are excited to host on March 28th and 29th. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself pre-Sustainable Living? I’m a teacher and mother of three young boys living in Melrose in the Scottish Borders. My background is in Sustainable Development and in the past I have spent time travelling and setting up grassroot projects in Central and South America. I have been a geography teacher for 15 years and I’m now working in pastoral care running two boarding houses at a prep school. My job involves working with people, being creative and organising school events. When did you start Sustainable Living – was it something you were doing for yourself anyway? I switched to natural cleaning a couple of years ago and, owing to family and friends asking me about recipes and ideas, I decided to teach a couple of workshops last May. It was a good opportunity to pass on ideas as well as educate about sustainability and reducing single use plastics locally. I have since run three series of workshops with a fourth starting this summer. I intended to start with two workshops and have now run 26! The majority of people who have attended one workshop have then come to more – the ideas that run through all of the workshop are interlinked. What inspired you to start the workshops? As a family we are involved in a lot of community-led initiatives, for example river cleans on the Tweed. My husband, Tom, teaches Environment Education. He has also worked to make Melrose a recognised Plastic-Free town – the first in the South of Scotland. It was a natural progression from us making changes at home – such as glass milk bottles, plastic-free alternatives in the kitchen and a more sustainable way of day-to-day living.I became increasingly aware of chemicals, toxins and preservatives in cleaning products and I was reluctant to use them around the home, especially with having young children.There is so much information around about natural cleaning and natural skincare and people often find this overwhelming. In the workshops I give clear instructions and give people the confidence to make their own products knowing that they are safe for them, their families and the environment. Where do you gain all your knowledge? I read a lot of books, follow ideas from traditional recipes and then experiment and adjust ingredients until I find a recipe that works. At each workshop all of the ingredients are natural and biodegradable and we use no preservatives. With every product that we make, we go through the health benefits of each ingredient so that everyone leaves with a clear understanding. What are the benefits of natural cleaning? • With no toxins or preservatives, natural cleaning is safe for everyday use.• You know exactly what you are putting on your surfaces, windows and bathrooms. This is particularly good to know if you have pets or young children.• Improved health and wellbeing with natural, biodegradable ingredients. Better for those with sensitive skin, allergies and asthma.• You aren’t washing any nasty chemicals into the water system and damaging the environment.• You can refill your glass bottles following the recipe cards, therefore, reducing your single use plastic.• Three Natural Cleaners are versatile and effective enough to clean your whole house.• Overall, making your own Natural Cleaning products is easy and cheaper than buying them in the supermarket. How easy is it really – can anyone bring natural cleaning into their home even if their lives are hectic? By learning to make each product in a workshop environment, it is easy to understand the process and the reasons for using each ingredient. Everyone takes home recipe cards so that they can repeat and refill their bottles and jars. What can people expect from one of your workshops – give us a little insight into how they run? The workshops are a friendly get together where like-minded people can enjoy learning about and making new products as well as sharing their ideas.