My Loyal Herbal Walk Companion

Some of you who have read my blog posts, attended my events or visited me for holistic healthcare will have heard me speak of my loyal herb walk companion, my dog Whisky. 

I am sad to announce that my dear faithful friend of the past 11 years passed away before I left for my travels after becoming ill following a diagnosis of mouth cancer, on the night following a fantastic workshop I led on Kitchen Remedy Making. 

What a challenging day of highs and lows...

Her death came at a difficult time, during a very busy month as I was preparing for a big trip to the Far East, but perhaps because of this, it was a real invitation for spiritual growth.

Her actual passing was so beautiful. I am grateful I was able to be with her when she left, at home, peaceful and surrounded by candle lights. Her funeral on the beach was infused with sweet smelling herbs. 

Her last months were a journey for me in exploring holistic pet cancer care, truly experiencing unconditional love, letting go, and a real opportunity to empathise with all those living with cancer and their loved ones.

My dissertation for my BSc (hons) degree in Herbal Medicine was in Herbal Management for Grief in Life-Threatening Illness. So I felt incredibly fortunate to be so well supported by the feedback on supportive methods I received on this from herbalists that I had surveyed throughout the UK.

Although this was a difficult time for me, it was a real gift in helping me realise my ability to push through my supposed limits.

Good bye dear Whisky! Fare well on the next phase of your soul travels. Your love, loyalty and spirit remains forever in my heart...

This post is dedicated to all experiencing the suffering of illness & loss, past, present and future with love and healing. 

P.S. If you wish, you are welcome to view some of the photos on Facebook of my amazing adventures with Whisky and her beautiful herbal funeral.

Remedy Making from Your Kitchen Cupboard

Did you know that we have wealth of natural first aid solutions already in our kitchen cupboards?

Last month I was honoured to be invited to share my knowledge on this topic as a guest workshop leader for Healthy Living in the 21^st Century Meet Up Group by this group’s dynamic host, Jane Jamieson of Enabling Health.

I had the pleasure of taking the 30+ enthusiastic workshop participants, ranging from complete newcomers to herbal medicine to experienced therapists and herbal practitioners, on a whirlwind trip of our ‘Spice Cabinet Superheroes’.

We passed around each ‘Superhero’ around the room while we sniffed and sampled, sharing our healing experiences of each one.

There was such a lively atmosphere that the time just flew, so I had to use my spice-charged superpowers to demonstrate the remedy making at lightning speed. 

These remedies included: 

Ginger Warming Oil

Four Thieves Vinegar

Sleepy Poppy Seed Truffles 

Sage Tooth Powder

I will share these recipes here on the blog for those who couldn't make the live event on a later date.

In the post workshop feedback I was happy to hear that the participants were eager for more, so I'm happy to announce that I'm running an 8 week course exploring kitchen cupboard remedies at a more leisurely pace.

The Kitchen Cupboard Remedies 8 week evening course on Tuesday evenings starting 15th October 7pm-8.30pm. 

This will take place at an exciting vibrant new independent health store and complementary health centre, Natural Foods Etc. opening on Saturday 5th October 2013.

At this series of 8 hands-on herbal remedy workshops we will craft and taste a range of remedies for a host of common complaints, with your own handmade samples and kitchen first aid booklets to take home after.

We will learn to make a variety of lotions, potions, lozenges, creams, oils and ointments using ingredients found commonly in your kitchen.

Book your space online: click here to visit website

Click here to find event on Facebook to invite your friends.

I look forward to seeing some of you on the course.

To your natural health! 

Fiona Morris helps heart-centered creative professionals, health practitioners and wellness adventurers who are ready for expert support to create a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness. 

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes. 

For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk and join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NourishandFlourish

Testimonials from Healthy Living in 21st Century Meet Up Group

I had a great time running the Kitchen Cupboard Remedies Herbal Workshop last month for the Healthy Living in the 21^st Century Meet Up Group.

I was delighted to get such glowing feedback afterwards so thought I’d share it here with you to give you a glimpse of what to expect at my upcoming Kitchen Cupboard Remedies 8 week course starting Tuesday 15th October.

Here’s what Jane Jamieson of Enabling Health and Host of Healthy Living in the 21st Century Meet Up group had to say,

“WOW!! What a fantastic evening - Fiona was so knowledgeable and everybody enjoyed her friendly welcoming style. Brilliant! Thank you Fiona for a wonderful evening. I know many of us, including myself, were left wanting more. I am really keen to try the ginger warming oil, because I can think of loads of uses for that for my massage clients.”

It was also lovely to get a review from Suzy Gow about her experience attending the workshop in her Healthy Edinburgh Blog. You are welcome to check it out here.

Here are some comments from the anonymous feedback forms…

"I am a trainee nutritional therapist and this adds so much to my naturopathic “toolbox” – thank you so much! Lots of pearls of wisdom." 

"Wonderful meeting everyone. Really useful advice from Fiona – can’t wait to try it all at home." 

"Lovely! Fiona’s friendly and informative personality made it a very enjoyable evening. Thank you." 

"Very interesting! Thank you! Fiona is a superb presenter."

"Fantastic session! Thank you very much Fiona for sharing your knowledge – definitely left wanting more!"

"Very informative and good fun. Thank you."

"Very interesting and informative. Lovely delivery. Lots of care gone into whole evening. Thanks!" 

"Very informative, good ideas, friendly atmosphere." 

"Really interesting. Thank you. Needed a bit more time!" 

"Got me thinking about what I can do myself. Very interesting!" 

"Lots of lovely herbal suggestions. Enjoyed. Thank you."  

"Nice almond truffles – yum! Got me thinking I’ll make some of these things. Thank you for presenting!"

Thank you to everyone who came along that evening and Jane for a fantastic job facilitating this event.

It's a real thrill for me to see so many people getting excited about one of the great loves of my life - Traditional Home Made Herbal Remedy Making.

I look forward to seeing many of you at other local holistic health events and my upcoming herb walks, courses and workshops!

Warmest wishes,

 
P.S. Click for info about the upcoming evening class course on Kitchen Cupboard First Aid starting Tuesday 15th October.

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals, health practitioners and wellness adventurers who are ready for expert support to create a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness. 

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes. 

For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk and join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NourishandFlourish

Superhero Snacks: Adventures with Superfoods!

To celebrate the arrival of a new range of organic superfoods at my clinic at Neal's Yard Remedies, Edinburgh, I decided to run a series of four 'Superhero Snacks' workshops to empower people to create a range of delightful treats at home using these nutrient packed energy and immunity boosters.

So, if you are around and about the Edinburgh area in the next few months, I warmly invite you come along to learn how to blast away those mid morning and mid afternoon energy dips with your own home made sustaining superfood snacks.

Enjoy a fun evening with your fellow super heroes and heroines, creating mouth-watering morsels to super charge your days and nights!

Sample some tantalising herb-infused tit-bits and go home empowered with new skills and delights to share with friends and family.

The first episode in our plant powered 4 part series of hands on herbal workshops kicks off on the evening of Wednesday 23rd October. 

Superhero Snacks ~ Part 1: Fuelling Up 

Part 1 of four hands-on herbal workshops

with Fiona Morris, Medical Herbalist 

Venue: Neal’s Yard Remedies

102 Hanover Street, Edinburgh EH2 1DR

Date: Wednesday 23rd October 2013

Time: 6.30-8pm

Cost:  £10

Spaces limited so book early or join the cancellation list.

Phone Neal's Yard Remedies Edinburgh to book on: 0131 226 3223

Or email: edinburgh@nealsyardremedies.com

Workshops are booked individually. Look out for all of Fiona’s four upcoming Superhero Snack Making Workshops at Neal’s Yard Remedies Edinburgh…

Part 1. Fuelling Up – Wed 23^rd October 2013, 6.30-8pm

Part 2. Blast Off – Wed 20^th November 2013, 6.30-8pm

Part 3. A Force of Nature – Wed 22^nd January 2014, 6.30-8pm

Part 4. The Final Frontier – Wed 19^th February 2014, 6.30-8pm

Also coming to the Nourish and Flourish Blog soon is my monthly Superfoods A-Z series originally written for Neal's Yard Remedies Edinburgh's email newsletter to introduce you some of these herbal stars' finer points, starting with A for Ashwaganda ~ Herbal Horse Power!

To your plant powered wellness!

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals, health practitioners and wellness adventurers who are ready for expert support to create a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness.

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes.


For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk and join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NourishandFlourish

Create Your Optimal Wellness Treasure Map

Looking for new ways to sustain a healthy mind and body balance?

Want to discover a wealth of methods to boost your health and well being naturally?

Are you ready to access your inner resources to promote greater energy, clarity and focus?

Is it time to commit to your self care to enhance the lives of others and inspire those around you?

You are in the right place.

Envision yourself in a state of Optimal Wellness...

As a Medical Herbalist and Holistic Wellness Expert specialising in preventative health, I believe that each and every one of us has the potential for Optimal Wellness.

This blog is a space where I share my own adventures in Optimal Wellness with the Nourish and Flourish community, exploring safe, effective, natural methods to boost energy levels and vibrant living. 

Here also you will find contributions from my colleagues, talented healers, mind-body therapists and educators, invited to offer their gifts as guest bloggers to share their skills and wisdom and encourage us to flourish together. 

Whether you are already an expert health practitioner or a complete beginner to natural health care, by regularly visiting this blog and signing up for my free e-newsletter, over time you will receive precious information to be able to piece together your own Optimal Wellness Treasure Map.

 image courtesy of Scott Howard

I dedicate this blog to raising awareness of nature's abundant healing gifts and remedies for our collective holistic health and wellness, so do come back and share your own inspiring stories and adventures in healing here. 

Knowing how hard this journey can be on your own, and for those of you ready to be supported on your journey to wellness, I have created my signature Optimal Wellness Programme.

I'd be honoured to be your expert guide on this adventure and support you all the way through both the challenges and the triumphs.

On your Optimal Wellness Programme, together we create your personal Wellness Treasure Map on a series of 8 one to one holistic healthcare sessions. These are designed to fully support you as an individual and structured at a pace to suit you. I work with you as one of your dream team to build your own solid foundation for flourishing health and vibrant wellness. 

You may choose whether a gradual, slow and steady year long pace matches where you are at right now, or whether a more varied pace works best to fit in with your current lifestyle. Alternatively, you may be ready to dive into a fast paced turbo-charged programme of a couple of months.

Whichever path you choose, whether simply joining our Nourish and Flourish community or taking a self care commitment and quantum leap into the Optimal Wellness Programme, your treasure map awaits. 

Discover your ancient key to unlock the golden chest within, releasing hidden strengths, and revealing the state of vibrant health and freedom that is your true self.

To your Wellness Adventure!

To explore more about the Optimal Wellness Programme, click here. 

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals, health practitioners and wellness adventurers who are ready for expert support to create a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness.

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes.

For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk 

& join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/NourishandFlourish

How to Create a Heart and Money Mindset

 

Do you run or are you thinking of running your own business? 

Do you have the emotions and mindset to attract success?

Come to this fundraising webinar on How To Create a Heart and Money Mindset with Alisoun Mackenzie on Monday 12th August, 7-8pm BST.

My friend Alisoun is the creator of The Heart Centered Network and is off to Rwanda in six weeks time. She would love to raise enough cash to send one of the kids she works with to university for 4 years (approx cost of $2,000).

Alisoun's running this fundraising event next month and I wonder if you'd be kind enough to share it with your friends, in your groups, through your facebook pages, or to your list, to bring benefit to as many people as possible.

The event is being recorded so people can listen to it at any time - so for only £10 people will get a recording that could significantly change their financial future and that of a young genocide survivor.

Here's the link to the event: http://heartmoney.eventbrite.co.uk/

Or if you know anyone who'd like to donate, here is the link to Alisoun Mackenzie's fundraising page for Create Global Healing / Project LIGHT - http://bit.ly/gKcGpS

Create Global Healing / Project LIGHT is a charity helping young orphan genocide survivors from Rwanda cope with the trauma of genocide, teaching business and leadership skills to build sustainable businesses and create better futures for themselves.

Alisoun is also my own fantastic business mentor. So I can personally highly recommend her heart felt and practical trainings first hand!

Amazing value and life changing content for just £10 that also benefits others. Win win! 

I will be attending and would love to share experiences and insights afterwards with you :)

Thank you!

Wishing you love and prosperity,

P.S. You can find out more about Alisoun's work on her website: http://alisoun.com/

And, here's that link again to share with your friends and colleagues...

How to Create a Heart and Money Mindset - http://heartmoney.eventbrite.co.uk/

Feel free to cut and paste any of the text above to help get the word out. 

image courtesy of http://alisoun.com

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals and health practitioners explore new dimensions in holistic healing, who are ready for expert support in building a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness. 

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes. For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk

Growing Your Community 1 – How To Get Over 2500 Likes On Your Facebook Page (Part 1 – How I Grew My FB Page)

I particularly enjoy helping heart-centred creative professionals and health care practitioners like myself to flourish in their life journeys. Lately, I have had several requests to share how I have so many likes on my facebook page.

I have been asked: “How have you got so many followers? Have you been going a long time? Do you pay for advertising? It's amazing that you have so many here and a real credit to you!”

So, in this article I would like to share with my lovely readers how I have attracted over 2500 likes on my facebook page, and then share 8 top tips for how you can do the same!

If you have a group, business or subject that you are passionate about, you may have created a facebook page as a platform to connect and interact with like-minded folk.

After enthusiastically setting up your page, inviting everyone you know to join, and sharing some great content, you may soon find that you have reached the limit of your contacts and now struggling to build your community and getting little or no response for your efforts.

As much as your nearest and dearest love you, other than a few select loyal pals, the majority of your personal facebook friends are not that interested in herbal remedies and inspirational quotes from your favourite personal development gurus (in my case any way!).

After several frustrated efforts to boost your numbers, you get despondent and wonder how exactly do people get so many followers?

Here’s my growing facebook biz page story…

At the time of writing this post my page has 2651 likers. I set up my Nourish and Flourish facebook page in February 2011, almost two and a half years ago now. I did this partly just to jump on the bandwagon. Many businesses seemed to have their own facebook page by then so thought I'd better join in.

I also saw it as a great way of sharing my passion for all things holistic natural health and herbal mind-body wellness in a more focused way and reaching more people than through my personal page alone.

What I did initially was to go to similar themed pages (eg. holistic health and wellness) and liked and shared their pages, visiting as my Nourish and Flourish page, saying hello in a post and what I like about their page and posts, inviting them to share their content on my page, commenting on and liking their posts.

I have never yet paid for advertising. I think all my followers used to get all my posts before, whereas now only about 10% do. I set my page up before FB changed the viewing limitations in the past year so, compared to setting a new one up now, I think I was fortunate in getting a head start with page and post exposure to my existing community. 

So it was easier for people to get all my posts before, and 'like' them which encourages their communities to visit the page and 'like' as they will sometimes see pop ups of what their friends like.

But that was then, and now is now! I am now getting more likes than ever before, and you may think how can you do the same?

So without further ado, visit Part 2 to see what you can start to implement right away to grow your facebook community…

Click here for Part 2 of Growing Your Community – How To Get Over 2500 Likes On Your Facebook Page (Tips 1-6)

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals and health practitioners explore new dimensions in holistic healing, who are ready for support in building a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness. 

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops & courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes. For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk

Growing Your Community 2 - How To Get Over 2500 Likes On Your Facebook Page (Part 2 – Tips 1-6)

Welcome to Part 2 on how to grow your facebook community to over 2500 likes!

If you missed Part 1 with my story of how I grew my Nourish and Flourish facebook page, click here first and I’ll see you back here shortly…

Here are my tips to growing your facebook community to over 2500 likes:

Tip 1. Send friends personal invites.

I sent auto invites to all my FB friends to ‘like’ my page, but I think only 10-20% of them did as not all my pals are into natural health, and are probably as bombarded with requests for their time and attention as you are!

If you send personal friends a private message with a link to your page and a friendly personal message, they may be more likely to give you a ‘like’, but don’t take it personally if they don’t.

You can ask them to share your page on their walls too and if possible come to visit your page and say hello and give feedback. It may help if they have a page that you can promote for them too!

Tip 2. Search for like minds.

Visit and ‘like’ similar pages to yours and ones that you feel personally drawn to. Connect with other pages with a similar theme ie. holistic health, herbal remedies, nutrition, natural living, wellness, heart centered, etc. in my case.

Search with relevant keywords and view the pages that your favourite pages like for more inspiration and connections. The more the merrier, like away! It makes for good content in your page news feed for sharing on your page later.

Tip 3. Join the discussion.

Go to other pages as your page and get involved! To do this, click on the cog wheel in the top right hand corner of your personal page and select your business or community page. Leave complimentary and engaging comments on their pages, and ask questions, particularly on threads with a lively discussion and lots of likes and comments.

If people like your comments and posts on others pages, it increases your visibility and encourages regulars on their page to click through to visit yours.

Others in the same thread get updates on their personal page when someone else has submitted a response and if they like your reply or interested in your page name, other people in that thread may notice and may click through to your page and like it!

Tip 4. Be friendly.

Leave a private message and wall post to let them know what you love about their work, posts, and feel of the page. Visit their website links on the About Me tab to find out more about them and make it really personal.

Invite them to visit your site and share their content on your page in a personal message with a link to your page. You will get a far better response and form genuine connections than cutting and pasting a generic response.

Tip 5. Credit where credit’s due.

Like other pages’ posts and share them on your page, with a credit to the page where you sourced it with a hyperlink to their page. To do this, type @, followed by their page name and select it when it appears below to create the link (note: not all pages do depending on their settings).

The more you do that, the more people will repay the favour if their theme is somehow in sympathy with yours. Not everyone will, but that's ok.

Doing this helps also to increase your visibility. Your post will show on their page too in the ‘posts by others’ section (again, depending on settings).

Tip 6. Give shout outs!

If you really like a page, share not only their posts, but their entire page with your community. This is a huge compliment that gets you noticed by the page owner, who may choose to engage with you by sharing your posts and leaving kind comments in return.

To do this, go to their page and click on the cog wheel next to the ‘liked’ button under their main picture banner on the right hand side. Then click ‘share’ on the drop down menu.

These 6 tips above should help you get the ball rolling… 

If you are ready for even more tips, click here for Part 3 of Growing Your Community - How To Get Over 2500 Likes On Your Facebook Page (Tips 7-8 and Bonus)

Fiona Morris helps heart-centred creative professionals and health practitioners explore new dimensions in holistic healing, who are ready for support in building a firm foundation of self care and healing methods for flourishing health and wellness. 

Fiona is a Medical Herbalist promoting optimal well being through holistic health and herbal workshops and courses, wild remedy walks, wellness consultations and programmes. For more info and free report on Fiona's Top 10 Tips to Nourish and Flourish visit: http://www.fionamorrisherbalist.co.uk