Are you coughing and sneezing? Are your eyes red, runny, and itchy? You could be suffering from seasonal allergies. If you are feeling miserable, it is best to rule out something more serious with a medical professional. Allergies in spring can be triggered by pollen or mites. Here are some preventative measures: *Check the weather forecast for pollen counts before going outside. *Avoid the outdoors early in the morning or if it is very windy.*Clean your house to get rid of dust and mites. Over-the-counter remedies can be effective for symptoms if they persist.
Community News
Profile: Valley Health and Fitness
Valley Health and Fitness is the Cowichan Valley’s complete fitness facility! Originally established as the Body Barn Gym in 1997, Valley Health and Fitness has been serving Cobble Hill and surrounding areas for over 28 years. The facility offers a diverse range of fitness equipment, services and products to help members achieve their fitness goals in a clean, user-friendly facility. Valley Health and Fitness strives to maintain a family-oriented atmosphere where everyone is welcome. Members range from 13 to 90 years of age with various fitness levels from beginners to elite. Check them out today!
Caring for Your House’s Exterior
On Vancouver Island, you might be surprised to find that moss, lichen, and gloeocapsa magma (which causes black staining or streaking) on your roof are quite common. Unfortunately, many companies remove these materials improperly, using metal wire brushes that can leave your roof in worse condition than before.
At 123 Exteriors, we take a gentler, contactless approach that effectively removes moss in one simple treatment without causing any damage.
We are a small, friendly local company committed to our work. In addition to moss removal, we also offer window washing, power washing, and gutter cleaning—everything your home’s exterior needs, provided by people you can trust.
Make life easier—call 123 Exteriors!
Osteopathic Therapy Promotes Healing
Osteopathy is a manual therapy that promotes healing by focusing on the skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves, and connective tissue, and optimizes how they all work together. Gentle movements are used to address chronic pain, injury or stress. Osteopathic Therapy is offered by Meagan Dick. Meagan has been registered for massage and osteopathy with the Canadian Massage and Manual Osteopathic Therapists Association since 2012 and 2020, respectively. She graduated with honours in both her 2200-hour Massage Therapy Diploma and 1180-hour Osteopathy Diploma from the Manual Osteopathic College of Canada. Osteopathic Therapy is covered by most extended health care plans.
Caring for the Caregiver
Caregiving for your loved one through serious illness can be overwhelming. It’s a role that can be isolating, exhausting and often unacknowledged. Cowichan Hospice offers a weekly group to support caregivers (alternating between online and in-person). Each participant’s circumstances are unique – some are partners or family members of people with cancer, dementia, or other medical conditions. The group share the common experience of supporting their loved ones, helping them feel connected, understood and less alone in the midst of the challenges of caregiving. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Lisa Chileen at [email protected].
Meet the Counselor: Claire Gunzel
I am a licensed master professional counsellor and an ICF-certified coach at Alchemy Wellness Counselling. I work with women to develop and enhance mental health and well-being, as well as embody and communicate boundaries. The pressures of your day-to-day lives, being pulled in so many directions, whether it be career, romantic partnerships, family, and friendships, while entering mid-life, are vast. I get it! Through compassionate, practical support, I help women reconnect with their inner authority, navigate complex and changing relationships with their bodies, partners and friends. I’m here to help women cultivate joy and resilience so they can live with clarity, confidence, and a deeper sense of personal alignment.
Hearing Loss and Balance
Hearing loss is one of several factors that can cause falls. Individuals who have even a mild degree of hearing loss are three times as likely to experience accidental falls. Studies have shown that wearing hearing aids improves balance compared to an individual who does not wear hearing aids but who has hearing loss. There are three major ideas for why hearing loss can affect our balance: 1) hearing loss causes less awareness of our environment, which means less awareness of people or activities around us; 2) hearing loss decreases spatial awareness, which makes it harder to know where you are compared to your surroundings; and 3) hearing loss uses more brain energy, which means there is less energy for balance.
BINGO: Give or Get What’s Needed
Once you have named and normalized your feelings, the next step is to respond with care. Ask yourself, What do I need right now? Sometimes the answer is to give yourself something: a break, comfort, movement, or connection. Other times, it is to reach out and get support from someone else. In the BINGO model, G stands for Give or Get What’s Needed, a reminder that self-regulation is not about doing it alone, but about meeting your needs with kindness and intention.
Remove Blocks with Emotion Code
Blocks with money, wealth and abundance aren’t just about mindset – they can also be caused by trapped emotions from your past or even inherited generationally. They may include feelings of fear, anxiety, rejection around failure, or shame or even ancestral patterns of hopelessness and struggle. By using the Emotion Code, these specific emotional energies can be identified and released from your body. By clearing and releasing these blocks at the root, it becomes easier to feel worthy of abundance, take inspired action, allow more prosperity to flow freely, and to truly go from “Stuck to Unstoppable”.
Nutrition for Seniors
March is Nutrition Month—a timely reminder that our food choices play a vital role in overall well-being, especially as we grow older. A balanced diet filled with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins helps support energy levels, brain function, and heart health. Staying hydrated is equally important, so drinking plenty of water throughout the day is key. Meal planning can make a big difference in maintaining proper nutrition. Smaller, more frequent meals may be easier to manage, and including calcium-rich foods like dairy products and leafy greens can help support strong bones. Good nutrition fuels both body and mind, helping us stay active, healthy, and independent longer.
Emotion Code for Addiction Support
Addiction can be a way to numb pain from past trauma and stuck, trapped emotions. The Emotion Code works as a supplemental tool by finding and releasing those specific stuck energies. Although this is not a cure, this process may help in lowering the emotional pressure that drives cravings and addictive behaviours such as the need to shop or hurting yourself or others. Used in conjunction with other therapies, it can support recovery by addressing the source of the deep-seated hurt, making it easier to build a healthier, happier life. Go from stuck to unstoppable.
