“A consultant reveals the true side of PR in the jewellery industry”…Retail Jeweller in the April issue
Also announcing this week the new client win at JRPR HQ: MollyBrownLondon. Very exciting news to follow at Molly Brown HQ in a few weeks…watch this space industry peeps.
My Jewellery Life
Sam Roddick was on a mission last night. The mission? To enlighten us with her knowledge of sex.
Sam is enchanted by sex. On a psychological, emotional, intellectual, political or historical level, the subject of sex fascinates and most importantly, sex is to be enjoyed. Setting up her business in the sex industry 10 years ago exactly, she continues to be captivated at “how sex affects us as a society, with its hidden secrets which can unveil us as a nation.”
Hosting the exclusive salon last night in her erotic boutique in South Kensington, Sam revealed to her audience everything she has learnt in the past decade; exploring, relishing and embracing the whole journey, shebang, world – of the joy of sexuality. With child-like wonder, we were a captive audience hanging onto Sam’s every word for fear of missing any of the priceless tips she was selflessly throwing our way.
How refreshing to learn something new since leaving school…urm that’s hardly saying much if you went to school in the UK (on this subject matter!). She educated us with a theatrical, yet grounded repertoire that spanned centuries of history, the philosophy behind the subject, academic know-how and practical tips and techniques learnt directly from experts in the field. Her tone was an equal mix of gentle femininity, British tongue-in-cheek, sharp wit and little girl vulnerability. She wanted to share with us her passion and her font of knowledge with a teaching style that was coherent, super intelligent and just made so much sense.
“We re-designed sex shops in the UK”. Coco de Mer was the first sex shop of its kind in existence in this country, “the truth to my journey, I explored sex to heal myself and used sex as my mode of expression”. In past 10 years in the UK, “sex has changed positively. On an emotional, sexual and physical level, we have opened up”. The book that changed Sam’s life journey with such impact was The History of Whores, which depicts how through history women have actually lost the power, having once had all of it, “we have lost our social and political standing”.
Sam educated us on many factors, including, “when you realise sex is an expression and not an act, your spirit expresses itself on an intellectual level in an authentic way, and it can heal anything”, pain and negative memories. She points out that, “sex is a process, not a goal-orientated thing”. Once you get the desire for the goal out of your head, it can only get better. Most importantly it is about being in control, enjoying yourself and being totally liberated.
When Sam declared, “I want my Gucci handbag without the slave labour”, it seemed to sum it all up. She reminded us that her business is hedonistic, equally egotistical and universal. Not many of us were aware of the fact that “hedonism comes with a strict form of code and ethics to be adhered to….the pursuit of hedonism is not pleasure, but happiness”. Minimizing pain is the objective, “pursuing happiness through the greater happiness of us all.
“You are the choreographer, the director”. Sam invites us to use our imagination in the bedroom, and be anything but predictable and “expand your repertoire”. She tells us we are the “tool of talent; how you express yourself is up to you”. Through the exploration and opening up of your lover, with utmost comfort and equal dynamics, inevitably you will open up and gain more trust.
No matter whether the audience were in a relationship or not, Sam reiterated the fundamental importance of self-pleasuring, suggesting we use visualisation and set a scene, using soundtracks, creating a fantasy setting. The more you creatively self-pleasure, “the more you open up to have an exploratory relationship”. It heightens your confidence too, even blindfolding yourself when on your own and opening yourself up to your senses. We just got liberated.
We learnt that sex manuals are a far more erotic read than erotic literature and were provided with a reading list for homework, including Anais Nin, Nancy Friday.
We got into pairs to check out the silk blindfolds and guess different aromas and food products. We were shown techniques and tips for love eggs, bondage, spanking (“can get you high”) and foreplay, toys….all compliant of course.
My personal favourite line of the night, “It’s unfortunate to be cool in the bedroom, better to be a fool than cool”.
The price per salon is £69, naturally.
x
http://runninginheels.co.uk/articles/womens-boxing/
Ladies, lend me your ears. I have a secret to disclose and I urge you to take advantage of it quick, before this noble and wholly unselfish deed runs out! Yes, noble is how I would describe my current state of mind for I am about to divulge hard and fast facts about fitness session that will pretty much immediately change your mood, body and fitness level. I have found the ultimate IT BAG; this particular one doesn’t cost a couple of month’s mortgage instalments. No lady. It also doesn’t hail from a glossy, global brand such as Mulberry, Balenciaga or Chloe. The It Bag I am talking about is the punch bag.
I have never known a sport where weight loss and toning is so incredibly fast and noticeable – your body actually changes shape A regular 2 hour boxing training session will get you fitter than any ‘class’, you will go down a dress size sharpish and your natural shape gets fabulously toned, exactly where you want it to. Add to the mix the unadulterated chemical-free high and pure pleasure from punching the life out of a punch bag or smacking a pair of pads held in front of you by a hot (straight) alpha male. And one more thing – any irritable angst / annoying niggle you’ve felt during the day is simultaneously released, pretty much on impact. NB. It helps if you imagine the face of the one who has caused the niggle on said bag. Trust me, ,– those jabs are SO much more powerful when you do this!!).
Boxing, with circuit training to boot, is where it’s at girls. Another thing, if you are a yoga aficionado, you can mix it with the boxing training, however there is no psycho-babble here and definitely no time to contemplate our overly-exfoliated navels. Just let it all out and vent!
Sessions take place mostly in mens gyms across the UK. The place where I feel very much at home is All Stars, in West London’s Harrow Road. http://www.allstars-gym.co.uk/. The trainers have the patience of a saint, especially with me, who had no clue how to skip and the style of my upper cuts for a while were looking a little comical. What a marvellous way to end a day at work – whether you work from home (a sanity boost for freelancers) or at the officeSince discovering boxing as a twice/thrice weekly 2-hour session, I have found myself to be calmer, less uptight, a friendlier person (on the roads and to my family) and sleep is definitely deeper. And another thing – it has to be the best gift to yourself – it is incredibly cheap compared to yoga or Pilates. In a time of cutting back on gym memberships and the things that make us feel good, this has to be a must-do, guilt-free weekly activity.
Boxing is of course hugely beneficial for boosting a lady’s confidence and her self-defence reactions. No complaints either from being in extreme proximity to sweaty guys (being the minority sex in class is fabulous too, and a rarity at a yoga or ‘legs, bums, blah blah’ class at the gym). Forget psychoanalysis, psycho-babble, self-help; get a bag, some gloves, don’t forget the wrist straps, and practice that jab. Let your anger out and forget the OM-ing. In our world of ipods, laptops and face-less twittering, reality TV and box-sets, it so refreshing to have social interaction and physical contact during recreational sport.
With boxing you let it all out, you sweat (sorry girls you perspire) and ‘real life’ disappears for the duration. Don’t lose your concentration for one second. The expression ‘one blink and you’ll miss it’ resonates here. The release of endorphins is mind-blowing and the after-effect is amazing.
Boxing training is a full work-out; for the mind, the body, and the soul. For me at least, there is still that feeling of being a little naughty, revealing that you like to smash the living daylights out of something as hard as you possibly can. Quite frankly it is the most empowering extra-curricular activity in which I have had the pleasure of partaking. Do nice girls go boxing? I think so.
Q: How did I get into boxing?
A: Always had a ‘lock’ at the back of my shoulder, literally behind my heart; pain, but not excruciating – dormant. In times of stress and tension, it spoke out in pain, almost like my subconscious in times of angst. After years of massage, yoga, swimming, jogging, acupuncture, you name it I have tried it to release the pain, it was not until I visited an Osteopath (Byron Spiers) who, after two sessions of trying to snap and twist my body, load it with needles, was professional, candid and succinct.
His diagnosis: the complaint was not treatable with any form of massage or indeed my beloved yoga, and not to spend any more money or time on these therapies – ‘Juliet you just need to let it all out and take up high impact exercise’.
I spent a month researching a host of local (and not so local) boxing schools. I finally found All Stars, Harrow Road. A truly wonderful bunch of guys run the joint, take an interest in all the students and are making their voice heard for the 2010 Olympics. Skipping, weights, mat-work, circuit training also thrown in.