This was supposed to be a book...

And why it isn't

‘SALTED: (adjective) having developed a resistance to disease by surviving it’

Well well well. Here we are. I truly hope this first post finds you safe, healthy and present. And what a beautiful space to be! If you are used to receiving my Tiny Letter emails, these will now be replaced with this calming space instead. Substack has welcomed me with open arms, like an old blog-style friend, pulling up a comfy armchair with my favourite mug of steaming tea. No noise, no Reels, no selling. Heaven. I hope you like it here too.

Social media, Instagram in particular, has again sucked the life-force out of me and I’ve once more gone-to-ground. Do you struggle with this yo-yo cycle of feeling the deep need to serve and motivate and inspire, and going completely ‘on’, and next minute feeling like you need to hide and burn everything down, and so go completely ‘off’ Instagram, I wonder?

This summer I worked with a wonderful coach, Johanna Rossi, in her course ‘Back To You’, to recover myself, my creativity, and some kind of even keel. Pushed off course due to global events (perhaps), unresolved chronic early-life trauma (most likely) and a crushing friendship breakup (most definitely) in recent years, I have been floundering in the tides of striving, pushing, and people-pleasing, in some desperate attempt to regain my equilibrium.

No more.

Burnout caught up with me hard this Spring. I could feel it brewing, and have for almost three years, but I just could not stop the ‘trying’. So engrained are these habits, these beliefs, these thought patterns, that no amount of confidence-building poetic memes or pointy-shouty informational Insta videos could pull me out. This culminated in a month from actual hell, this May, where my physical, nervous system and hormonal health fell to pieces and I broke, laying howling on the floor for much of the time. I needed real people, in real life, to help. And most of all, I needed myself.

The people that have rescued me this year?

• my husband

• my children

• my mum

• my very few close girlfriends (I chose well!)

• my yoga class and clients

• my gym team and members

• Johanna, my coach

• my perimenopause doctor (although she’s still on the fence about it being perimenopause, could actually just be how my cycle is when it’s not being synthetically controlled, as so many of our cycles are these days!)

• my sleep therapist (chronic insomnia could well feature in future posts)

Along with:

• woody, coastal hikes, daily, with Monty-Blue, our lurcher

• daily morning yoga

• my work - both paid and voluntary

• herbal teas

• red wine

• chocolate oatcakes

• fresh coffee

• writing out my emotions

• reading fiction at bedtime and ditching the heavier non-fiction (for now)

• watching the waves, and getting in them when the tide/weather is spot-on

• growing herbs and citrus trees outside The Yoga Cabin

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Some brighter moments from this Spring…out hiking the South West Coast Path

Reaching Lands End hiking from Minehead (over 3 mindful years and 18 trips!)

Continuing to learn from and tweak campervan life, every time we go away (NB kids are sleeping in the tent next time!)

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So, to the title of this post, and yes, this was going to be a book.

Back in October 2021, ‘Salted’ was an excitable, frantic flurry of brightly coloured Post-It notes, sprinkled all over The Yoga Cabin, ready to be formed into the perfect book proposal. I’d done all the courses, researched all the agents, and I was ready. It very nearly made it, with beautifully thought-out chapter headings, taking the reader on a fluid journey through their chronic health problems, through living with hormonal dysregulation, taking them by the hand and guiding them alongside me on my coastal walks. But, then, in March and on into May, the waves of overwhelm descended on me with even more ferocity than before, I was washed with depletion and lacking in any capacity, and so, it was never going to be a book.

At least not yet.

This, for now, is the home for it. This is where it belongs, and I hope, where you belong too. A newsletter/blog about living what I’ve come to call a ‘coastful’ life, whether you are anywhere near the sea or not.

I write for weathered women, those with fingers scorched by life, those exhausted but still hopeful, those with a dull ache in their bones and a tear in their eye, but their faces still turned to the sun.

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My hopes for content here?

I will post when something comes to mind that I feel you may need to hear, without any self-imposed, strict schedule.

Topics I adore exploring are: the rawness of overcoming adversity in our lives; seasonal awareness and how we thrive by growing cyclically; and how immersing ourselves in the great outdoors can be the best reset for both our physical and mental wellness.

I’ve worked professionally as a personal trainer and yoga teacher for the best part of the last decade, specialising in delivering safe physical activity for those of you living with long-term health conditions. Bodies and minds fascinate me, equally.

I love to make the most of the coastline here, and teach yoga on the beach during early mornings each summer. Many of the women who join me on their mats by the shore are ‘weathered’ by their lives, but still determined to keep flourishing. You’ll hear about these Sunrise Sessions first, here, as well as any rare opportunities for one-to-one availability at my private studio, The Yoga Cabin.

All of this with the aim of bringing you ease, self-trust, comfort, and a feeling of that ‘coastful’, laidback lifestyle, no matter where you live.

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I would so love to hear from you if anything of these words speaks to you. Click the ❤️ or let me know in the comments below. You don’t need to battle on alone. As I share with my yoga students, a little encouragement when opening your heart is always helpful.

And maybe, just as the definition for the term ‘salted’ above, we too can develop resistance to our struggles…simply by surviving them.

Salty wishes,

x Luisa