Nicky Smith – författare

This is the perfect introduction to using massage, yoga and acupressure to balance the body's natural energies, with easy-to-follow techniques shown in 400 photographs. It is a unique approach to unlocking your inner energy using a combination of yoga stretches and pressure-point work. You can gain greater awareness of your body and mind, to improve your physical health and find a new spiritual stillness and strength. It includes a complete body routine to follow for a total in-depth treatment, plus shorter routines to concentrate on specific areas of the body. It features bodywork specially devised for pregnant women and older people. It provides bodywork to ease everyday complaints such as headaches and an aching back. All techniques are illustrated with step-by-step photographs, with more than 400 photographs in total. This powerful form of body work uses the body's own energy lines, combining gentle yoga stretches with massage techniques and also introducing elements of other popular healing approaches, including acupressure and reflexology.The book begins by outlining this ancient healing therapy, its origins and objectives, and then explains and demonstrates the elements and requirements of a typical session. The core of the book is a comprehensive full body treatment, working through each area of the body sequentially. With over 400 specially taken photographs, this is the perfect guide to the subject, providing absorbing background information and clearly illustrated step-by-step routines.

This is the first published overview of the archaeology of urban common land. By recognising that urban common land represents a valid historical entity, this book contributes towards successful informed conservation. It contains a variety of interesting and illuminating illustrations, including contemporary and archive photographs. Historically, towns in England were provided with common lands for grazing the draft animals of townspeople engaged in trade and for the pasturing of farm animals in an economy where the rural and the urban were inextricably mixed. The commons yielded wood, minerals, fruits and wild animals to the town's inhabitants and also developed as places of recreation and entertainment, as extensions of domestic and industrial space, and as an arena for military, religious and political activities. However, town commons have been largely disregarded by historians and archaeologists; the few remaining urban commons are under threat and are not adequately protected, despite recognition of their wildlife and recreational value. In 2002, English Heritage embarked upon a project to study town commons in England, to match its existing initiatives in other aspects of the urban scene. The aim was to investigate, through a representative sample, the archaeological content and Historic Environment value of urban commons in England and to prompt appropriate conservation strategies for them. The resulting book is the first overview of the archaeology of town commons - a rich resource because of the relatively benign traditional land-use of commons, which preserves the physical evidence of past activities, including prehistoric and Roman remains as well as traces of common use itself. The recognition of town commons as a valid historical entity and a valued part of the modern urban environment is an important first step towards successful informed conservation. An important consideration for the future is maintaining the character of town commons as a different sort of urban open space, distinct from parks and public gardens.