List of All Articles with Tag 'al'

A Shohei Ohtani trade seems unlikely at the MLB trade deadline, but let's pretend. What's the best trade offer every NL East team could offer?Shohei Ohtani seems reluctant to play on the east coast, instead preferring to sign with a low-key team out west. The San Francisco Giants, Seat...

You may remember life before the internet, but your kids don't. To them, internet access

Three former military officers told Congress they saw unexplained flying objects and one of them claimed the US

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau placed greater emphasis on portfolios such as housing and the Treasury Board in an

Ireland crashed out of the Women’s World Cup after Canada came from behind to beat them 2-1 on Wednesday. Spain and Japan reached the last 16 with a game to spare. Here, the PA news agency takes a look at all of Wednesday’s action. Spain cruise into last 16 Jenni Hermoso and Alba Redondo scored twice as Spain thumped Zambia 5-0 to reach the last 16. One of the tournament favourites made the knockout stages with a game to spare having already beaten Costa Rica in their first match. Teresa Abelleira opened the scoring before Hermoso and Redondo took charge as Spain eased to victory. Japan ease past Costa Rica Japan also qualified for the last 16 with a routine win over Costa Rica. Quickfire first-half goals from Hikaru Naomoto and Aoba Fujino saw the 2011 champions through. Japan and Spain will battle it out for top spot in their final Group C game when they face each other on Monday. Canada fight back to break Irish hearts Ireland bowed out of the tournament after Canada came from behind to win in Group B. Captain Katie McCabe gave Ireland the lead when she scored straight from a corner after just four minutes. Megan Connolly’s own goal levelled just before half-time and Adriana Leon grabbed Canada’s winner eight minutes after the break. Picture of the day Post of the day Quote of the day I'm just heartbroken for the girls because of how we played. I'm just heartbroken Ireland captain Katie McCabe Up next Group E: USA v Netherlands (2am, Wellington Regional Stadium)Group E: Portugal v Vietnam (830am, Waikato Stadium)Group B: Australia v Nigeria (11am, Brisbane Stadium) Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Tottenham owner Joe Lewis indicted in the US for ‘brazen insider trading scheme’ 5 talking points ahead of England’s final Ashes Test against Australia From colouring zones to custom coffees – Inside England’s World Cup base

A professional cuddler who makes a living giving clients hugs has said people travel from all over the globe to receive the cuddle therapy she offers which is “far less intimate than a massage” and helps people from “all walks of life”. Natasha Wicks, 44, from Coventry, West Midlands, says that despite criticism, cuddling is scientifically proven to release happy hormones like dopamine and that a lot of her clients are “the big spoon in life” and go to her for emotional support that they do not have at home. As such, many of her clients are caregivers and most of them join Natasha for two-hour hugging sessions, costing £70 an hour. The sessions vary depending on what the client wants, some having “emotional hugs”, others talking more and some wanting to “sit at opposite ends of the sofa with our legs and feet entwined”. Natasha became a cuddle therapist in 2015 and, while she has had comments online from people criticising the practice, she said that her family and friends were unsurprised when she first started giving professional cuddles. She said: “They all said to me that I give the best cuddles so it’s not surprising that I’d start doing it as a job. “It’s very much what I do, I help people and want to make people feel better. It’s a natural thing when someone is going through a tough time to want to give them a hug. “Cuddle therapy might not be as widely accepted in society but it’s far less intimate than other things like massages which are seen as normal.” Prior to becoming a cuddler, Natasha originally trained as a CBT therapist and counsellor. She said: “There’d be situations where I would be talking to someone and they’d really need a hug, but obviously, you’d have professional boundaries in place and it wouldn’t have been appropriate. “It was just a really natural thing. One client had finished her final session and we had agreed that she wasn’t my patient anymore so we hugged goodbye. She said to me that she’d wanted to do that for a long time and I thought ‘me too’.” Looking into cuddle therapy, which she said was increasing in popularity in 2014, Natasha took a training course. By 2015, she was a qualified cuddler and started taking on new patients for cuddle sessions. Natasha provides a minimum session of one hour but said most people go for at least two hours, sometimes longer if they are receiving more than one type of therapy. She said: “I always give people a hug on the doorstep when they arrive and then they’ll come in and relax, and we’ll have an initial chat about what brings them here. After that, I’ll put on some ambient music and we’ll have a cuddle on my cuddle sofa. “It can be daunting coming into a stranger’s house and I can tell the difference in them from arriving to leaving. The first hug they might be angled away from me but when we’re hugging goodbye, I can get my head in between their neck and shoulders and you can almost feel that a weight has been lifted from them.” There is not one type of person that visits Natasha for cuddles, but she says that a lot of her clients are caregivers. She said: “There’s all sorts of people who come for a cuddle, from people who have moved away from home for the first time and just want a mum hug all the way to people in their 80s. “I’m inclusive of all genders and all ages. I get a lot of clients who are the carers of their family and they are so busy looking after other people, and probably giving the hugs and support to other people, that they don’t have that for themselves. “A lot of people that come to see me are generally people are the big spoon in the life – they take care of others and don’t want to show a vulnerable side to people because they don’t want people to worry that they can’t cope. “I get a lot of carers, a lot of NHS staff, a lot of mums, a lot of people that are in a world where they have to be the strong one in the situation and they just want to be able to come here and let their guard down.” Natasha’s priority is to make people feel at ease when they arrive as she said it can be “nerve wracking” turning up at someone’s house for a hug. Setting out clear boundaries prior to meeting, the therapist has said that the patients she has welcomed into her home have all been respectful. She added: “I always say to people that when your body relaxes, your tummy might crumble and mine might too, but that people don’t need to worry about it. Sometimes people fall asleep and they might snore or fart, it’s just natural things that happen. It’s happened twice where someone has got an erection and that’s fine, I have boundaries and we’ll just change position. “I want people to feel reassured that, as soon as they get in, they feel comfortable.” Despite the unconventional therapy, when Natasha first took on cuddle clients, she said her family were completely “unsurprised” and the step from CBT therapy to cuddle therapy was a “natural evolution”. While Natasha focuses her time on a holistic approach for treating people, she noted that there is also neuroscience behind cuddles. According to the 44-year-old, physical touch activates the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex and cuddling releases oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. Now, Natasha also does EMDR therapy and is a mental health swim host, and has clients travel from all over the globe to receive her hugs. She said: “Working from Coventry is brilliant because I’m only nine minutes on the train from Birmingham Airport and people come to visit me from all over. I get a client from Belgium, someone from Ireland and people from all over the UK who come to see me. “I wanted to find a sofa bed that just looked like a big comfy sofa for cuddle sessions. I’d started off with a big L shaped sofa but after about five years, it was sagging a bit, there’d been a lot of healing done on that sofa and it was time for a new one. “Now I have a sofa bed in my living room that I use as my cuddle sofa. It’s in the living room and it’s used for everyday life, watching TV with my partner, having people round and also for my work.” Breaking down the taboo around cuddle therapy, Natasha hopes more people will embrace the alternative treatment. She added: “As it’s become more popular, more people are becoming qualified as cuddlers and I think that’s great. “I’ve had comments online before of people thinking it’s weird or not understanding but there are other things we accept in society that are much more intimate than cuddles, like massages. “It’s not weird, it’s actually a really lovely thing to be able to make another soul feel better for a while.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live New warnings about ‘concerning’ rise in at-home cosmetic dentistry What is ‘beer tanning’ and why are experts warning against it? Christian Cowan: Designing is like dreaming

Port of Rotterdam and Koninklijke Vopak NV have been asked to submit construction and funding plans for a

Bumble Inc. is building on the success of the popular friend-finding mode on its dating app and launching

Donald Trump signaled his claims about the 2020 presidential election being rigged against him will feature prominently in

US aviation regulators announced two new steps to tighten the process of approving airliner designs, actions required by

By Giulio Piovaccari MILAN Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said a production target of one million vehicles in Italy

Volkswagen AG plans to invest $700 million in Xpeng Inc. and jointly develop electric vehicles in China as