New to Salted? Start here...

A gentle commitment to both you and me. The weathered ones. Let's see what we can grow together.

Salted (adjective): having developed a resistance to disease by surviving it

Dear one.

I’m right here with you.

With you as a writer.

With you as a creative.

With you as we navigate the choppy seas of midlife.

My wish is simply that my storytelling finds land with just the right people, at just the right time.

And that these words’ raw honesty, their freedom, their vulnerability, their rebellion, and their truth speak deeply.

Why Salted?

I first came across the term ‘salted’ in Raynor Winn’s bestseller ‘The Salt Path’, just as I began hiking the 630 mile coast path, which starts in my home town of Minehead, Somerset, and finishes in Poole, Dorset.

As I sweated and strode my way along that hot, sticky, crumbly coastal track on a particularly rigorous leg of the trip, I was reminded of Raynor’s use of the word. How she felt ‘salted’ by the beating wind, the unrelenting (at times) sun, and '(more often than not!) the driving rain, all accompanied by the sea salt spray and ruddy tan that only coast path hikers can proudly accomplish.

As I struggled and swore and stomped that path, I thought back over all of my work. Over all of my years. How I too felt truly ‘salted’ by life.

I think that moment led me here. To Substack. To you.

And now, having come through the other side of an eclectic variety of employed jobs, a handful of self-employed businesses, a few (hundred) creative projects, and my fair share of episodes of paralysing emotional and mental burnout, I can finally see how all of this work can be brought together, into one wonderful space, one portfolio, one place to show up online, fully and completely myself.

And it’s right here.

Too overwhelmed, already?

I’m looking out for fellow creatives (yes, you!) and those who feel a little too weathered by life so far. I’ll send you gentle reminders to take care out there. Content will be occasional in frequency, but generous in quality. You definitely won’t be inundated, or overwhelmed, by letters from me.

My occasional words will be curated with care and consideration, with posts published no more than twice per month (and often even less than that).

Ways you can support Salted:

I have pivoted, and then ‘re-pivoted’ on having a paid offer. I feel the self-imposed pressure too greatly to make promises of consistency I simply can’t keep. So, for now at least…

My words are free.

Free to be written.

Free to be read.

Free.

However, should I ever turn ‘paid subscriptions’ back on, your financial support should you choose to provide it (£3.50 monthly or £35 annually) will simply keep me in daydreaming space, thinking time, yoga play, tea-drinking moments and plenty of fountain pen ink and notebooks.

That is all.

Either way, I’m grateful. I love you just the same. And thank you for being here.

In the absence of a paid option, you can instead support my writing in the following ways, with gratitude:

• RESTACK

• SHARE

• RECOMMEND

These are wonderful Substack features. If you have your own publication and love what I do, know that a restack (click the circley arrow thingy below) or share of a post, or recommendation of Salted as a publication, will be so appreciated.

Luisa’s Bio

For the best part of the last decade as ‘The Yoga PT’ I’ve gathered over 500 hours of senior yoga teacher training and more than 1,000 hours of specialist fitness qualifications. I’ve run popular personal training and yoga retreats, bootcamps, classes and worked with hundreds of women one-to-one, both online and in-person. I’ve also created and led a number of community projects, and owned a handful of different small businesses.

In 2019 I began freelance writing for magazines, particularly those that focus on women’s health and environmental sustainability.

And I proudly have a day job with a county-wide sports charity, managing a unique gym supporting individuals referred by their GP for exercise; those who live with long-term health conditions, including cancer, joint replacement, mental health difficulties, pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, menopause symptoms, and more.

I live a stone’s throw from the sea, on the edge of Exmoor at the border of West Somerset and North Devon, where you’ll find me in ‘The Yoga Cabin’, my own dedicated one-to-one yoga and personal training driftwood studio (and writing cave!) Before I did this I worked for Avon & Somerset Constabulary for eleven years, wearing a very hot and itchy uniform and picking people out of gutters on a Saturday night. My adorable family include a very patient husband, two pretty cool tweens, and an incredibly lazy lurcher. Oh, and Rudolph, our red VW campervan ;)

Right now I’m enjoying hanging out on Substack, having left social media entirely in January 2023.

The Yoga Cabin, in all its glory. Throw the windows wide and listen to the ocean…

Are you ready?

So, dear creative, dear reader, will you join me in The Yoga Cabin? Knowing that, without the distraction of social media, this is now the only place I show up to online?

From this weathered woman, with love,

x Luisa

Me and Melanie Sykes, yoga-ing in my natural habitat. Love this photo (even if lovely Melanie makes me look a bit dinky!)