A former hairdresser herself, Vanessa is a teacher, healer, author and artist who founded the Centre of Energy Medicine and Healing Arts to provide accredited training for people to discover and develop their own healing skills and intuitive abilities.
She has also written two books: The Art of You and Auras: Awakening Awareness. Vanessa will be working with the team on their wellness education, designed to help hairdressers reset, take stock and embrace their careers with a refreshed energy.
We caught up with Vanessa to find out her top tips for hairdressers in lockdown, as we start to prepare – hopefully! – for reopening.
If you still haven’t found a routine, now is the time to put one into practice. It gives you a sense of purpose each day, which is something you can use after lockdown, too. Meditation is a brilliant habit to start each day.
It doesn’t have to be sitting still with your eyes closed either, either. You could put on some meditative music as you wake up and spend some time coming into contact with your breath, doing some slow movements and soft swaying.
Try to follow what the body wants to do, rather than doing what you ‘think’ you should be doing. Just ten minutes a day will make a really big difference and if you can get into the garden to do it when the weather is warmer, even better.
Coming back to your breath and being aware of it is really helpful. It might sound silly, but remembering to actually breathe consciously throughout the day is extremely beneficial to your stress levels.
For example, if you’re talking a lot and quite quickly, take a moment to stop and breathe; you’ll notice the difference it makes to just stop, be aware and breathe.
Movement is really important. It doesn’t have to be going for a run, although that can be very helpful for some people.
It could be something very gentle – and it’s important to be gentle with yourself so the body feels safe, especially if you’re anxious or stressed. Yoga is great for anxious minds, or try other gentle movements, like dancing to music you love.
If you don’t like meditation, something different to try could be art. Get a piece of paper and some colouring pencils and just go into yourself.
Connect with your breath, sink into the body and just allow colours and shapes to emerge. Some people connect much better this way than with meditation, so give it a try.
If you have any divination cards, take a second whenever you’re feeling all over the place to stop and pick a card to focus you.
I make Happy Cards, but any kind divination card will have a supportive message that will bring you back to focus. They can really help stop the mind from overthinking and running away with worries and anxiety.
It’s OK to feel sad or down. Think of your feelings as energy: sit with it, feel it, cry if you need to – but know this isn’t forever.
See the feeling as energy that needs to pass through – remember, emotion is Energy in Motion. Allow it to pass through you, but acknowledge it and don’t suppress it.
