Just by the popular walking route from Keld to Muker in Swaledale, where it rises up from the River Swale above East Gill Force and looks down the straight line of White Wallis Scar, there is a rabbit proof fence.

The track runs along one side of the fence and on the north side is a south facing meadow that is closely cropped by sheep and rabbits. It’s a rather nice bit of grassland and on a sunny day a good place to stop for sandwiches to admire the view to the top of Kisdon Force – which is a popular spot for intrepid wild swimmers who pick their way down the narrow rocky path into the gorge to get to the pool below the waterfall. 

I’ve seen a few interesting plants in the grassland, the occasional spotted orchid and every now and then a field gentian, but I think it’s too heavily grazed to allow any real rarities to grow. But on the other side of the track, and beyond the rabbit proof fence, there is an absolute blaze of yellow rock-rose. It quite takes you by surprise and is like a carefully planted garden even though it is completely natural. Keeping the rabbits away allows the wildflowers to grow.

A few weeks ago I went on a course about anxiety. One of the good things about going on a course is being with other people who are familiar with the same feelings of constant worry and how those feelings translate themselves into the physical symptoms of sleeplessness, fatigue and muscle ache. Acknowledging that a MH condition is real and not a self-indulgence you can ‘snap out of’ is helpful for finding a pathway to relieving symptoms and avoiding a downward spiral.

The course gave us all sorts of useful tips for self-treatment. Using light finger pressure in lines along the top of the head, forehead and eyes; finger pressure in a circular series of points around the abdomen to be followed in sequence; and humming-bee breath.

To do this you close your eyes and relax your face. You then place the tips of your index fingers on the cartilage that partially covers your ear canal. Then you inhale and gently press your fingers into the cartilage as you exhale whilst keeping your mouth closed and making a loud humming sound while exhaling.

It’s quite funny being in a room full of people all sounding like bees humming! The course leader told us that the technique creates instant calm, may lower heart rate and relieves frustration, anxiety and anger. It’s one of those things to practise regularly so that it becomes an instinctive reaction at times of anxiety, though it’s not something I’d like to do in public. I need a quiet place on the moor or a room at home on my own. It does seem to work though.

Do you have any tips for self-treatments that you use to relieve symptoms of anxiety or other MH outbreaks?

Rowan on the Moor

A Moodscope member