This weekend, I went to a talk on the Buteyko method, led by Chris Drake.

The Buteyko Method is an extraordinary and effective approach to reversing a diverse range of chronic diseases and health problems. It is based on the idea that a dysfunctional breathing pattern, disturbs the human organism and is the genesis of many health problems. And improving our breathing has a profound effect on reversing these conditions.

So basically, aggressive conditions such as asthma and psoraisis are caused by an imbalance of CO2 i the body. When you increase the Co2 levels, using the holding of breath and shallow breathing, these conditions abate. The practice requires a level of commitment to developing your skills in the technique. But the patient has total control. You can take responsibility for developing a technique that will heal you, instead of being dependent on any number of drugs and remedies for symptomatic relief, that result in side-effects you cannot control.

Why doesn't everyone know about this?

For more information on clinical trials, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method, please use this link:

http://www.buteyko.com/

For those of you interested in taking the training, with Chris Drake, who brought the practice to the UK in 1996, please contact martharoe@googlemail.com.

wishing you a healthy future - Erica

I made a little resolution to stop ranting about poorly delivered business, but I have felt compelled to put fingers to typepad to express exasperation with Royal Mail.

Do you remember, back in the day, that if you wanted a letter to arrive the next day you would put a first class stamp on it? now, to ensure overnight delivery, you will need to pay £4.70 for a regular envelope's worth of reliability.

The other day, I was at my local market and got talking to a postie. We were discussing the strike last year. He said that the real reasons the strike had taken place were twofold:

firstly, staff objected to the fact that business junk mail is prioritised by Royal Mail because they get more money for it. So, on Mother's Day, a huge pile of cards are left waiting, whilst junk mail gets sent out. So whether you're waiting for a cheque in the post, a confirmation of a new job or a card form your beloved, you can be safe in the knowledge that after the flyers, brochures, leaflets and life insurance quote you don't want or need have arrived, your crucial mail will follow.

Second, he told me that the CEO of Royal Mail had received a £300,000 bonus in 2007. How muc do you think each postie received? A cheque... for 97p!!! 97p! How can you even have the guts to write someone a cheque for not even a pound as their annual bonus!!!

But it's getting worse. Royal Mail have closed three post offices down here in Brighton and the queues and the stress of getting a letter posted now is something else. It's like queueing for Wimbledon without the strawberries. As far as we could tell, all of those small post office concessions were doing decent business and providing a useful community service, so why stop? Staff at the remaining post offices tell me they get constant grief about the queues but that management refuse to employ more staff.

Why doesn't Mr CEO hand back his bonus and use it to improve service delivery?

And lastly, not content with causing stamp-rage, making Mother's feel unloved and giving bonuses that won't even buy you a lottery ticket, now Royal Mail are affecting our democratic process! Last month, the Liberal Democrats elected themselves a new leader. It was a close call with just 50 votes between the two candidates. And then... five days later, 500 postal votes arrived!! These could have changed the result, but the Lib Dems are far too nice to battle it out in an undignified fashion so they upheld their decision.

What next for Royal Mail? Maybe they're planning to merge with McDonalds and sell us crap burgers while we wait in line? Maybe they wish to enter the Guinness Book of Records for longest and angriest queue in the UK? Or is there a secret plan afoot, to get the nation walking over to nan's house, on the Isle of Skye because that way, at least her 90th birthday card will actually get there!

answers on a postcard. Haha.

Now, please will you get in touch if you'd like a free worksheet? Our new website will be up in June and so many fab things will be on it, but, in the meantime, if you'd like a worksheet/resource for your clients/students/self, please get in touch.

If you let me know a bit about you and your client group, I can send you something that will be just right.

Go, on, a genuine freebie... erica@thelifeproject.co.uk

I am absolutely fed up with the amount of time I waste on the phone to call centres for barclaycard. Today I spent 2HOURS trying to arrange to get a card delivered that was agreed a month ago! I was, i am ashamed to say, crying with rage and frustration. Everytime I got through the infernal music and the powerlessness of being on hold, I was greeted by an Indian call centre that seemed to delight in my misery and where the staff kept making out that they could not spell, listen or help.

I got cut off 4 times! How can it be ok to put the phone down on someone you are supposed to be customer servicing??!!!

Then I went up to the local branch of Barclays and asked them to sort it. AND THEY HUNG UP ON THEM TOO!

I went back to the office and searched the web for an actual UK contact number for Head Office so I could make a complaint and have them sort it out. But no, they told me I couldn't speak to anyone and that I would have to write a letter if I wanted to complain and refused to help me solve my problem.

How is it that this company has got that arrogant that they feel they:

1. Do not need to do their job (well or at all)
2. Are quite happy to let Mr Five pounds twenty five an hour take the rap from me instead of having the courage to face the music - isn't that what the big cheese is paid for? To take responsibility?
3. Allow their reps to hang up on people!

Compare and contrast Namesco, where you can send a direct email called Tell The Boss and then the Boss writes back to address your concern. Compare the Co-Op, where everyone who answers the phone sounds genuinely happy to be speaking with you and will resolve your problem whilst you are on the phone without putting you on hold.

I expect that us entrepreneurs ARE probably more demanding customers because we are thinking a lot about customer service, the needs of our clients etc. When did striving for excellence become so unfashionable? I want to offer an excellent service, a quality product, at a fair price. I believe it the win/win. How can it be satisfying to be so crap?

Mr Barclaycard Cheese, come and have a post, if you think you're hard enough. Sheesh.

I was in Berlin last week (no CCTV! A total liberation, one forgets how much we censor ourselves these days) and was invited to participate in a drumming workshop. I didn't know anyone and my experience of drumming is limited to playing the tambourine badly in my band days. But it was too amazing!

Here's why.

1. Everyone was equally welcome whether they had been drumming for a while or were totally new to it.
2. You could pick up any instrument you wanted and play with it, explore it and then pick up another.
3. Then you could learn from how others made use of it and explored it.
4. Every so often, you would look up from your activity and observe the smiling faces, the closed eyes, the different rhythms contributed by each person.
5. You felt the movement between a real flow and fusion between people and the experience of discord, uncertainty, change.

It's amazing how connected you can feel to a group of people you have shared an experience with, whose names and background you don't know and who you may never see again. I want every single workshop I run to be as rich. And as safe. Come, come!

Top Tips on Setting Up a Business

This is as much for me as for you (as in "Hear's our Graham with a quick reminder....")

1. It takes as long as it takes

and it always takes longer than you think - whether it's website design, working out your acocunts package or getting your first client - patient and gentle seem to be the name of the game.

2. Follow The Breadcrumbs

The people and things you think are useful may not end up as predicted. Sometimes, we followed a lead that didn't seem to be going any where and then were totally surprised by an amazing outcome. Other times, we've learned that what we thought we wanted to do wasn't viable or we just didn't like it.

3. Be Careful Who you Take Advice From

Our new company is like a precious little seedling. We don't want it squashed or trampled on by negativity, bad vibes, over critical self righteous gits or people who don't share our vision. so we've learned to be careful about who we work with and what we tell them.

4. Play To Your Strengths

I have learned that we don't have to do everything together - there are osme things i am better at e.g. Schmoozing people and some things he is better at e.g. designing a great course. And that's fine. We are still equal partners, but we bring different things and hurrah for that.

5. Take Time Out

We took three days out last week and got three new leads in that time - you don't have to be doing in a visible way all the time. Thinknig happens best when the mind is relaxed. Also, time out gives your Universe the opportunity to show you results. It's a bit like some lab experiment - try, wait to see resuls, assess. If you throw everything you have intot he pot, how will you know what has been successful?

6. Take Care of The Rest Of Your LIfe

I don't want an amazing job at the price of my health, friendships, relationships and sanity. Besides which, we're The Life Project, we're all about the balance and wholeness that makes life happy. So we need to live it! Hurray! to the beach!

7. Don't Fall for Business Bullshit

Business advisers are trying to make a living too - but they have one angle on things - cash flows and projections and business plans and yawn yawn. It took us a while to trust that we know best about how to create our business and not to take as gospelt he buisness model of others.

8. Working for Yourself Rocks

today we...played the piano, went rollerblading, talked to the cat, did some psychic development stuff, alllocated roles and responsibilities, had a spot of lunch and sent some great emails. This evening I've been happily clearing my desk because i had fun puttering all day. No more 9-5!

9. Doubt Is A Killer

Naturally you're going to have moments when you brick it and moments when you wonder why you bother and moments where a nice steady job at TK Maxx seems just the ticket. It's natural for us to have doubt and healthy as it alerts us to possible risks and keeps the motivation high. But doubt kills the spirit. It takes the fun out. So whatever it is you are currently working towards, stay positive and just do the next thing and then the next thing and hey presto, next time you look up, its a whole new world!

10. Have faith and trust yourself.

You're here for a reason
Yes you can.
Everything can be seen as an opportunity to grow if you look at it right.

"Whatever you dream of in life, begin it. Boldness has power and magic in it."

Erica xxx

Top Tips on Setting Up a Business

This is as much for me as for you (as in "Hear's our Graham with a quick reminder....")

1. It takes as long as it takes

and it always takes longer than you think - whether it's website design, working out your acocunts package or getting your first client - patient and gentle seem to be the name of the game.

2. Follow The Breadcrumbs

The people and things you think are useful may not end up as predicted. Sometimes, we followed a lead that didn't seem to be going any where and then were totally surprised by an amazing outcome. Other times, we've learned that what we thought we wanted to do wasn't viable or we just didn't like it.

3. Be Careful Who you Take Advice From

Our new company is like a precious little seedling. We don't want it squashed or trampled on by negativity, bad vibes, over critical self righteous gits or people who don't share our vision. so we've learned to be careful about who we work with and what we tell them.

4. Play To Your Strengths

I have learned that we don't have to do everything together - there are osme things i am better at e.g. Schmoozing people and some things he is better at e.g. designing a great course. And that's fine. We are still equal partners, but we bring different things and hurrah for that.

5. Take Time Out

We took three days out last week and got three new leads in that time - you don't have to be doing in a visible way all the time. Thinknig happens best when the mind is relaxed. Also, time out gives your Universe the opportunity to show you results. It's a bit like some lab experiment - try, wait to see resuls, assess. If you throw everything you have intot he pot, how will you know what has been successful?

6. Take Care of The Rest Of Your LIfe

I don't want an amazing job at the price of my health, friendships, relationships and sanity. Besides which, we're The Life Project, we're all about the balance and wholeness that makes life happy. So we need to live it! Hurray! to the beach!

7. Don't Fall for Business Bullshit

Business advisers are trying to make a living too - but they have one angle on things - cash flows and projections and business plans and yawn yawn. It took us a while to trust that we know best about how to create our business and not to take as gospelt he buisness model of others.

8. Working for Yourself Rocks

today we...played the piano, went rollerblading, talked to the cat, did some psychic development stuff, alllocated roles and responsibilities, had a spot of lunch and sent some great emails. This evening I've been happily clearing my desk because i had fun puttering all day. No more 9-5!

9. Doubt Is A Killer

Naturally you're going to have moments when you brick it and moments when you wonder why you bother and moments where a nice steady job at TK Maxx seems just the ticket. It's natural for us to have doubt and healthy as it alerts us to possible risks and keeps the motivation high. But doubt kills the spirit. It takes the fun out. So whatever it is you are currently working towards, stay positive and just do the next thing and then the next thing and hey presto, next time you look up, its a whole new world!

10. Have faith and trust yourself.

You're here for a reason
Yes you can.
Everything can be seen as an opportunity to grow if you look at it right.

"Whatever you dream of in life, begin it. Boldness has power and magic in it."

Erica xxx

Did anyone else see the Dispatches programme "Children Who Kill?" It left me so frustrated with the level of youth service provision in the UK and so excited about what TLP is doing to change this. I really do think that Children are the most discriminated group in the uk today. Take the 700,000 children estimated to be living in poverty in London alone. Unlike adults, children do not have access to a free market nor do they have the financial resources to make empowered decisions about where they are and what they do. If you want to do belly dancing classes, learn a language, give up work, you can. Yet, if you are under 16 and there is nowhere for you to go to escape a violent home, your education system forces you to study things that do not interest you in ways that leave you shamed and frustrated and you're excluded from fun and safe activities and opportunties because of financial or social barriers, you've got it tough.

The Summerhill dramatisation on CBBC was a great reminder that children have a mind of their own and they can choose for themeselves. Furthermore, given the freedom to do so, they most often make choices that are for the highest good of themselves and the community. TLP is currently developing a project called "Community Catalyst" that develops young people to act as community leaders and collaborators and enable them to reclaim community space for activities that are to the benefit of all.

I'm so happy to see the Government committing resources and time to the redress of this inequality. It helps us to remember that the human rights of a human being are non-negotiable, whatever that being's size or age.

Erica

Ok, I'm a member of a group called CSR chicks which is supposed to be all about CSR professionals sharing info and inspiring each other, but seems to have been reduced to a "To Let" and "buy my conference" list.

for those unfamiliar with the term, CSR stands for corporate social responsibility - it is about companies learning to be nice and to be accountable to the communities they serve and reside in, not just their shareholders.

See below for me taking a stand!! Comments most welcome!!

Dear Chicks,

> I've noticed over the last couple of months quite a high attrition rate, with

> members asking to be unsubscribed from the group. I wondered if a brief

> discussion on the intention of the group and its members might be

> useful.

>

> One thing I have become aware of in CSR, as in the Equality and

> Diversity Agenda, is that there is a stealthy, bureaucratic process that creeps in to
help us miss the point. Instead of addressing real issues around people's
experience,the service we provide and it's impact on society, we are at risk of
becoming box tickers and our agenda is seen as "outside" of the core business.

> Several of my clients tell me how they have been literally relegated to a broom
cupboard for an office.

I'd like us to share experience on how we make a genuine impact to

supporting the society in which we exist, balancing accountability with the

capitalist drive for more and more profit and providing a service driven by genuine
integrity.

>

> To my mind, Corporate Social Responsibility can be divided into three

> activities:

>

> 1. Exploring how staff, customers and stakeholders are supported and

> engaged with by the organisation e.g. The pressure on British farmers to provide

> cheaper and cheaper milk, stealth charges by banks.

>

> This can involve bringing to light some of the less than transparent or

> equitable practices that affect these groups e.g. Is consumer labelling

> accurate?

>

> 2. Supporting organisations in taking a longer term, responsible view

> and appropriate action around sustainability, environment etc e.g. What will

> be the environmental impact of all our spare mobile phones? Or converting my

> car to veg oil won;t do any good if the rainforest or crop land is commandeered to

> produce it.

>

> 3. Embedding the concept of "service". Thomas Moore said that the

> trouble with modern society is that it lacks "soul". We may have a process in place

> to handle customer complaints, but do we have a process or practice that takes on

> customer suggestions? How much do we consider staff and customer needs to be a

> priority?

> Have we fallen again into the dynamic of win/lose and given up on the

> possibility of win/win?

>

> I would very much like to hear stories of people and organisations who

> have had a real impact in these areas. much of what I have seen of CSR strategy

> seems to involve "mitigating" against the damage organisations do with trusts

> and grants, rather than pro-active action to reduce it. Let's hear some good

> news! Prove me wrong!

>