Sometimes not even a well stocked pantry is enough to revive tired and stressed souls this time of year.

But fear not – Clay provides extra nourishment beyond your stomach — we have a whole new team of therapists upstairs ready to soothe your cares away through a combination of remedial massage, kinesiology, Chinese medicine, acupuncture and natural medicine.

Clay is all about a holistic approach to health, and therapists Jessica Hill, Liam Crockett, Tina LaRocca, Nadine Bertalli, Sally Woodhouse and Sabrina Williams share this philosophy.

Jessica Hill specializes in remedial massage, deep tissue massage and blissful Hawaiian lomi lomi massage. Her hot stone massages are nothing short of transcendental on a cold winter’s night. Her focused remedial technique involves a nurturing & flowing approach that relieves pain and stress. Jessica has studied on the Hawaiian islands of Kaua’i & Moloka’i  in Temple Style Lomi Lomi and her style seeks to emulate the grace and flow of oceanic waves. Jessica weaves the grace of Aloha throughout her treatments to support, nurture, transform and empower.

(Contact Jessica on 0432010078.)

Local mum Tina LaRocca is an experienced Kinesiologist and Remedial Massage practitioner. Her approach to healing is to consider the whole body and subsequently identify and treat the underlying causes. Tina incorporates Craniosacral release into her sessions of Kinesiology and Remedial Massage as well as offering full one hour sessions of Craniosacral release – this is a gentle yet profound method for enhancing the function of the nervous system and returning balance and mobility to the entire body. Tina also treats pre- natal and post- natal women and children.

(Contact Tina on 0406357563.)

Since receiving  a Diploma of Remedial Massage from Endeavour College of Natural Health in 2009, Liam Crockett has built a regular clientele by offering a mixture of Remedial and Relaxation Massage. Liam uses techniques such as deep tissue massage, muscle energy techniques, trigger point therapy and stretching to treat stress or injury related complaints.

(Contact Liam on 0421889565.)

Nadine Bertalli practices kinesiology at the Treatment Centre every Friday and Saturday. Nadine comes from a science background and has had a long-standing passion for Eastern and esoteric philosophy. This allows her to bring a balanced and grounded approach to her kinesiology practice. Factors such as stress, emotional states, physical injury, poor nutrition and hormonal changes can create imbalance, illness and disease — Kinesiology works to identify and clear the cause of imbalance, restoring you to a natural state of balance and well-being.

Nadine creates a safe, non-judgemental space dedicated to healing, and her approach is one of warmth, compassion and sensitivity. She is particularly interested in helping her clients feel calm, clear and inspired. These issues may specifically relate to anxiety, confusion, feelings of overwhelm, lack of motivation or a lack understanding of life purpose.

(Contact Nadine on 0423 493 255 e: nadinebertalli@yahoo.com.au w: www.nadinebertalli.com.au)

Sabrina Williams has been practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine for over seven years. She’s trained in Acupuncture, Natural Medicine, Chinese Medicine, dietary therapy and has extensive knowledge in Pediatric Medicine.

Like the Clay clan, Sabrina knows her food, and what it’s like to run a family business! Before embarking on a career in Chinese medicine, Sabrina was an owner and chef in her family’s Italian restaurants before launching her own successful restaurant career. Sabrina’s expert knowledge of food and nutrition informs her practice and helps her to educate people about the role diet plays in maintaining optimum health.

A local mum from Lees St primary school, Sabrina is passionate about helping people maintain overall wellbeing and her clinic focuses on stress, infertility, women’s health, pediatrics and pain management. She’s worked with some of Australia’s leading doctors of Chinese Medicine, including Ian Holmes, a specialist in sport injuries and preventative medicine at his Martin Street clinic in Brighton and Steve Clavey, specialist in women’s health and couples infertility. Sabrina frequently gives talks to the North Carlton Maternal Health Clinic.

(Contact Sabrina on 0437440221.)

Through the use of kinesiology, Sally Woodhouse can ascertain what has left you feeling stressed out and disconnected, and provide you with the support you need to make some significant changes in your life.  Kinesiology can help you get your life back on track by first ascertaining what has left you feeling stressed out and disconnected. When we’re out of balance we can feel stressed, depressed, and frustrated. Our relationships start to suffer, and our body might be complaining a bit too – cue aches and pains, skin problems, digestive issues, low immunity, and disturbed sleep. Sally recognises that it’s all too easy to lose sight of what we really want to achieve in our lives, and then every day becomes a battle… Sally can help you to step back, reassess and realign to get you back on the right path.

 (To find out more about Sally and the way that she works, please visit www.sallywoodhouse.com.au or get in touch: 0423 505 988, sally@sallywoodhouse.com.au. )

With a team like that upstairs to call on whenever we need them, expect us to be levitating off the floor next time you see us!

 

{ 0 comments }

We’re back, babies

by Prue on May 15, 2013

Did you miss us? It’s been quite a stretch between posts — mostly because we’ve been busy stocking the shelves and producing small humans.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

What’s in the freezer

by Prue on July 26, 2012

Woky and Tom have skillfully fitted a freezer in a clever spot in between the new room and the main room. [click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

You may have noticed if you are a regular at Clay that our dad Wokkie has become a regular fixture around the place.

What you might not have realised is that Wokkie brings a wealth of relevant experience to our shop.

Mr Warwick Clay became a vegetable farmer at 15 and worked as one for the next 35 years. Towards the end of his farming career six semi-loads of seasonal Clay vegetables were being sent per week to the wholesale market. We feel lucky to have an experienced man of the land who knows good produce.

Given his years of experience in the industry Wok has many contacts. Many of the suppliers and contact in the wholesale market have been there for decades and remember Wok from his farming days.

There is even one supplier, who we buy organic heirloom vegetables, who worked on our farm for many years growing vegetables with dad.

That supplier is Wayne Shields from Peninsula Fresh. On his Mornington Peninsula farm he specialises in heirloom vegetables such as French radishes, rainbow radishes, chioggia beetroot, purple carrots and mixed heirloom carrots (as well as other classic vegetables lines).

For those who aren’t familiar with heirloom vegetables, they are ancient varieties of vegetables which haven’t been used in modern large-scale farming. Meaning, they are often interesting varieties that date back hundreds of years to when there was many different types of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, etc rather than just one of each (which is often what we see now).

Since we’ve been stocking these wonderful heirloom vegetables for a while now, I’ve collected quite a variety of recipes and will be sharing them on the blog in coming weeks. That’s right, at Clay you get farmer’s knowledge from Wok, health advice from Prue and cooking tips from Tom. No need to go anywhere else! All you need to do is ask, this is the kind of personal service we love to offer.

{ 0 comments }

We have expanded

by Prue on June 29, 2012

We have finally got the back room finished and stocked. Thank you to everyone for their suggestions on products, we got a lot of great ideas and had fun working through how to put it all together.

The idea we settled on was a dedicated organic and preservative free wine room with select beer and ciders, complimented by a broader selection of fine foods and chocolate. Some of our favourite new things include: Monsieurr Truffe chocolate range, Spitfire Mustards, a mexican food section including tortilla presses / flour and sauces like Tapatio, the acclaimed Cullen Diana Madeline 2010 and the customer favourite Hochkirch Pinot Noir.

Next time you are in be sure to climb the stairs and check it out.

{ 1 comment }

We’re expanding!

by Tom on November 13, 2011

There’s lots of energy in the Clay shop at the moment (which is why this blog has been a little neglected!) since we’re busy renovating.

Clay has been open for just over three years and it’s cute little shop full of indulgent goods and balanced with healthy delights. Think cheeses and chocolates and organic fresh vegetables and herbal medicines… But we’ve run out of room!

So for the last four months we’ve been planning to open up the back room. It previously served as a storeroom but will now have its own lease of life as an extra part of our shop. If you have been a fan of our shop, this is very exciting news and it means we are able to do everything a little bigger and better.

We’ll be expanding our produce in the front. Out the back there will be a whole wall of shelves to be filled. When we first opened we built our range based on the feedback we got. We have lots of ideas but we want to hear your suggestions and requests to help fill the shelves as well. So please comment or send us a tweet or ‘like’ us on Facebook and tell us. Or, you know, just come in and demand a product and we’ll do our best.

We hope to keep this shop an ever-changing being. We’re here for the long haul and always want to improve and expand and adapt. Cross your fingers and hope for the best, because we want the second room of the shop to be open before Christmas!

{ 1 comment }

Vegan Friends

September 19, 2011

To all my Vegan friends and lazy eaters are you getting enough vitamin B12? It is mainly found in dairy, fish and poultry and it is essential for living a healthy life. You really need it. It is water-soluble so you need it every day. If we don’t get any all sorts of things start [...]

Read more

treatment centre

September 19, 2011

natropathy feeling Better Naturally!! Naturopathy is about tapping into your body’s natural ability to heal itself. It can help you achieve balance on a holistic level and is useful for treating specific health conditions as well as improving general health. My approach is to identify the underlying causes of your health condition while managing your [...]

Read more

Co Yo: Seriously addictive

July 12, 2011

We have a new yoghurt in our fridge thats converting the regular yoghurt eaters.

Read more

Seasonal risotto of wild pine, and chestnuts

May 27, 2011

Just had a fresh delivery of pine mushrooms today, and for the first time ever we have organic chestnuts. Because wild mushrooms and a large majority of new season nuts are in season at the same time, I thought a take on a classic recipe might help inspire Autumn cooking. It combines two freshly harvested [...]

Read more