What makes Amy Masters Yoga different? 

Amy is a down-to-earth yoga teacher and spiritual guide who combines yoga with ancient practices such as aromatherapy, astrology and spiritual awareness to aid you on your journey towards your best self.  You can immerse yourself in her intuitive, inspirational, power and healing, and discover your inner goddess. 
Healing is in Amy’s soul.  From finding the practice of yoga as a teenager to working as a paediatric nurse, her natural empathy and a powerful connection with an inbuilt spirituality drives a strong urge to enlighten others -  like a ‘cosmic mother’ nurturing personal growth.
Amy has been a qualified yoga instructor for four years but has held her own routine practice close for fifteen years.  As well as being a reiki practitioner she is also a qualified astrologer and feels drawn to use these skills more to help people on their life journey.  Uniquely Amy is interested in astrological yoga, a bespoke yoga session designed particularly to meet the needs of a person’s own individual needs:
 
“An astrological natal chart is a snapshot of the sky at the moment you were born. In essence, at the moment of your first breath is when you come into accord with the energies of the universe. That remains fixed throughout your lifetime. Your natal chart gives clues to your major life lessons, shows your destiny, reveals your personality traits and hidden desires, as well as points the way to your soul’s purpose".

With a growing knowledge of the ancient Indian science of Ayurvedic healing (bringing harmony through all aspects of life being in balance) involving the use of essential oils, natural treatments like oil hair masks, medicated oils, and foot massages, Amy offers powerful health benefits to your mind, body and spirit.
Amy’s personal experience of parenting has given her insight and understanding into the needs of mothers and babies as they adjust to their new and growing relationship.  Her insight from her own experience as well as that of being a paediatric nurse means Amy has unique skills from which to offer holistic care and attention to new Mums.  Weekly yoga classes for post-natal mums and new babies cover physical movement for the post-natal body, stretches to relieve aches and pains, baby massage techniques, as well as take home tools to help adjust to changes brought about by motherhood that will help support body and soul.
Amy runs hatha and yin yoga sessions in Levin and Palmerston North.  Aside from offering the restorative benefits of yoga, the new mums and bubs sessions offer valuable social interactions between new mums.  Using aromatherapy oils to infuse her yoga sessions with extra benefits offers divine invigoration for the senses.
Amy wants to embrace other women who have a thirst for their own fountain of love and happiness, helping them to honour themselves by giving them space and time to explore new methods of self-care, allowing them to take a breath from everyday life, and find the rejuvenating power within.   Amy guides women to explore previously unchartered territory aiming to achieve healing, wellness, and relief from the rigours of life by enhancing and expanding their inner dialogue.  She hopes that, like her, women will be ‘forever practising’ and learn to master these skills themselves. 
Workshops designed to help women reconnect with their femininity in a healthy, safe and embracing environment happen throughout the year, and helps to awaken their inner goddess.  Positive self-talk and self-love lead to female empowerment as Amy assists an awakening to women’s spiritual femininity and helps form deeper connections with ‘soul sisters’ within the workshops.  Other workshops focus on aromatherapy, meditation, yoga, and pampering, as well as ‘make and take’ workshops using special aromatherapy oils.  A red tent group focusing on uplifting and building emotional villages for women is also in the ideas stage.
You can focus your ‘inner eye’ on Amy’s yoga sessions and workshops by following her facebook page ‘Amy Masters Yoga’, her skills may be the answer you’ve been searching for.   

For Rachel and Jimi Sarich the locksmith industry has given them the security to grow their family, their business, and their lives.  With their business management systems, core values and a loyal and secure team in place they’re ready to pass the baton onto a new generation of entrepreneurial locksmiths who want to take on this exciting, evolving industry and create their own story.
 
So what’s the story with Armstrong Smarter Security?

It all started as a family locksmith business.  Jimi’s dad Jim owned a local locksmith company and eventually Jimi found his interest piqued into checking out the industry.  Moving to Wellington to work on his apprenticeship he was given some great advice ‘treat it like a hobby’.  Jimi followed this advice, and to this day maintains that attitude to his trade. He really enjoys what he does and the challenge of working through problems.  Upon completing his apprenticeship at the age of twenty, Jimi moved back into the family business.

Meanwhile in Foxton, Rachel was working towards her pharmacy diploma and ironically gained her best grades in security.  Little did she know that security would become a big part of her life. When an unsuspecting Jimi walked into the pharmacy that she worked in and received a complimentary blue hair streak from energetic pharmacy worker Rachel,   I guess you could say their eyes ‘locked on’ to each other and the rest was destiny.

Soon Rachel and Jimi were both working in the family business and bringing their youthful enthusiasm with them.  They both laugh and scoff at the memories they have of being so energetic and full of ideas.  They took the opportunity when it arose to buy a share of the family business and make their mark. They were more than just full of ideas though.  Rachel and Jimi both come from extremely hard-working entrepreneurial families and confess that they just didn’t know any differently.  Initially they just worked and worked, attempting to do everything and anything as much as they could.  Eventually they learned to push the pause button and identify strengths among their staff allowing them to let others take on roles that they didn’t need to be in control of.   Jimi and Rachel are proud of their staff and the fact that they all hold the same core values.  In the security industry trust and reliability are essential – and so is hard work.

Joining the Armstrong Franchise was a turning point for Jimi and Rachel as they took the structure that Armstrong had already locked in place and flourished with their guidance.  With a strong, secure relationships with large commercial clients and Armstrong’s strong business development and guidelines Jimi and Rachel were able to push their business past barriers that had stood in their way previously.

While Jimi’s focus and passion had been on the locksmith side of the business, they knew that technology was evolving that they needed to keep up with.  With the at times serendipitous addition of key staff that brought new skills with them, their Armstrong Smarter Security branch grew to new heights whilst remaining the strong and loyal company their clients had come to depend on.

When it comes to clients Jimi, Rachel and their staff all agree on one thing – great, reliable, service is key.  They really care about their customer – that is what secures the core of their business, ‘customers at the heart of it all’ says Charlene from a computer across the room .  So who are their customers?  Well it’s a diverse group from individuals to businesses, and corporate and high level defence security. Jimi is modest about the importance of his role, and even while Rachel alludes to it she is restrained.  It seems that you can count on these two to keep your security secrets safe.  What I did gleam though is that Jimi has travelled in order to secure the safety of New Zealand Embassies and is trusted by some extremely high level people in New Zealand. On the day of my visit to their Palmerston North Armstrong branch the staff were delighted to receive morning tea from a thankful customer that they’d gone to great lengths to satisfy. 
 
Rachel and Jimi Sarich have achieved a great deal within their business and on the side have taken on some projects to really see what they’re capable of.  For Rachel this was a brief stint trying her hand at some property development of which she was successful – although she downplays the effort this required.  They have in recent times purchased the Wellington branch of Armstrong and have enjoyed turning the tables and reinstating the family back in the business by going into partnership with Jimi’s Dad Jim.
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After sixteen years and a huge amount of success Rachel and Jimi are ready to spread their wings and see where the wind takes them.  They’ve got three kids that they want to spend more time with and a long held desire to travel.  They know they’ll be leaving an excellent team of capable staff to continue their strong business ethic into the future, and are excited for a new owner to come in and secure their place in this thriving industry.    

​With a long career in banking and business you might think that Steve Davey didn’t have an interesting story to tell, but you’d be quite mistaken.  For a start, his voice gives away no sign of his Irish roots – Steve moved over when he was six (and still retains memories of soldiers in the streets and rubber bullets) but immediately found his kiwi accent and about the real meaning of ‘bringing a plate’.

Since moving to New Zealand Steve has grown up in Palmerston North and is a proud ‘Palmy Boys’ Old Boy. He didn’t follow his education path to university but jokes that he has held the world record for the longest holiday- job ever. He wasn’t banking on his part-time job at the bank going on past the school holidays but Steve was still there twenty five years later as the regional manager – proving that hard work can be just as effective at achieving success, as getting a university degree.

A natural curiosity about how things work, as well as being thrown into situations where he had to think on his feet, found Steve thriving with the challenges and loving the diversity of roles he filled at the bank.  It was there that Steve found his passion for business and with his ear to the ground discovered an opportunity that would fulfill his own yearning to give a business of his own a crack.

Manawatu Business Sales is that business for Steve.  When he discovered that the majority of business owners were part of the baby boomer generation and that they would soon be looking to ‘get out’ or retire from their businesses, Steve realised that there were going to be a lot of businesses on the market.  With his expertise and networks from his long career, passion for business, and dissatisfaction with how businesses were sold, aligning himself with ABC Business Sales was the perfect choice to enable him to offer great service to his clients.

Steve’s been run off his feet and is thriving with the opportunity to unleash his full potential.  He’s a creative thinker and is proud of the problem solving he’s had to do in order to achieve the best results for his clients.  He’s got a new purpose built office and is adding team members to help him manage his bulging portfolio of clients.  Every day offers new challenges, which is exhilarating for a creative thinker like Steve who’s been released from years in the vaults at the bank!

Steve’s no slouch, he also plays in a masters football team – a game he has been playing since he arrived here- and is a Manchester United fan (remember that’s short for fanatic).  He coaches football too, and despite retiring from the game three times he has been drawn back to it in equal amounts. Aside from his dedicated exercise, Steve clocks up an impressive score of fit bit steps while on the phone to clients, he prefers to move about rather than being chained to his desk , and so is an animated figure around the office.
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Exuding ‘busy-ness’ in his life, family man Steve likes to cook and subjects his children to his experimental dishes inspired by TV cooking shows (he was a little bashful about this as well as his eagerness to catch the Masterchef finale).  It can be hit and miss but he enjoys the challenge, the creative outlet and the good food (most of it is good he reckons).

At Manawatu Business Sales, Steve goes above and beyond for his clients, he just can’t help it.  He won’t shrink away from a challenge and wants to get the best outcome for everybody.  Steve won’t settle for things that he believes just aren’t good enough and constantly searches for new and better ways to achieve good results. He enjoys the diverse relationships he shares with his clients and is pleased when he receives updates about the new paths they follow after the sale of their business.

When you talk to Steve you won’t find a pushy in your face salesman, what you will find is a quietly confident, respectful, laid back guy.  He’s a genuine person that you can trust - consistent, caring and motivated.  He has an easy way about him that is neither too laid-back nor too serious – I’d say he’s right where he needs to be to connect with the wide range of people he deals with in business.

If you've got a business to sell you can contact Steve Davey on 06 358 8842  

If you know a thing or two about where to go for good coffee in Palmerston North, then you’ll probably be familiar with Thorne Coffee.  Claiming its space unapologetically and with aplomb this bustling coffee shop offers takeaway coffee, milkshakes, cold drinks and exceptional buns, as well as space on comfy couches and tables out the front, or a snug hidey hole out the back where you can enjoy your coffee unobserved whilst reading a book from the well stocked book shelf , or even discover the hidden softer side of the owner .

You will meet an eclectic (I actually hate this word but it is suitable here) range of people brewing around the vicinity of Thorne Coffee on George St, from business people to artists and politicians.  It’s a bit like Palmy’s version of Central Perk from American sitcom Friends, a real life drama for outspoken thespian Damian Thorne to serve up more than just coffee.  After talking to Damian, proprietor extraordinaire – it turns out that this piping hot coffee shop was born to donate life to its bigger sibling shop – Thorne Clothing.

Like most start-up businesses the first few years can be tough, luckily Damian is tough too.  He’s specifically told me not to say that he has ‘a passion for fashion’ in fact he replaced it with “clothing is what I give a shit about”.  Let’s just say that Damian created Thorne fashion store in September 2015 because the fashion scene for men in Palmy is pretty threadbare and Damian loves fashion and textiles.  It has proven a tough market to break into but Thorne is threading its way into the market and stocking an increasing range of handpicked clothes for the discerning buyer.

Damian’s skills are vast, he says he’s always had to work hard to support his love of acting and this has lead him to Sydney and London among other places where he has worked in many fields from catering to men’s fashion and everything in between.  He’s the chairperson of the board at Manawatu Theatre Society and admits – he’s more suited to working for himself.  Although this is his first time running his own business he feels that it is a natural fit given his past managerial roles and work experiences but it’s not without its challenges.

Shopping local, hell, even going to a shop at all is important to Damian.  He wants people to come and touch the fabric, and hear the stories behind his labels.  One of those labels  Simon Hart is by a Palmy guy that Damian knows from his school days, who now makes shirts – you don’t get much more local than that.  He’s also got a delightful range of Doc Martens, and even a range of t-shirts of his own label (Damian T- for the guys who disappointed their Fathers). T-shirts with designs by a tattoo artist are of vast appeal, especially to a younger market.  There are Happy Socks and Happy Undies (more than just how you feel when you’re wearing them, this is a label from Sweden), Manbags from Italy made from real Italian leather by real Italian Men, and a select range of shirts – not your boring business shirts, ones with interesting fabrics like Liberty Art fabric from London Shirts.  There’s also street wear, and more coming, including a range from popular label illicit. Quite a lot of Thorne clients are women buying for their partners, it’s certainly the place to get the classic Christmas man present of socks and undies – Thorne will give that present a quality edge.  

Away from bustling crowds there is space at Thorne for you to have a relaxed look around, for Damian to tend to your fashion needs, and for you to find something that is not mass produced and worn by every second person in Palmy.  Purchasing a Thorne product means supporting a local business, keeping a dream alive, and getting a fashion item that has been thoughtfully chosen by a fashion guru.  Trust me, Damian is obsessed with image, and the strength of his brand; he would not be seen dead in unfashionable clothing!

Damian prides himself on his customer service, he is exquisitely attentive to his customer’s needs,  and wants your experience at Thorne to be enjoyable, for you to walk out with a quality item you can smile about.  Thorne is not the only fashion shop on George Street but he is the only one targeting the male market.  If you’re a guy that cares about image but hates shopping, Thorne will see you uniquely clothed without battling your way through the crowds at the mall. And if you’ve visited adjacent fashion stores on George St and would like to share the joy of new clothes with your favourite man, pop into Thorne Clothing and get him a present too.
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Thorne Clothing is stitching its way into the fabric of the male fashion scene and with little competition for unique male clothing stores in Palmerston North you could find yourself feeling pretty darn special in some exclusive Thorne Clothing.