You might be someone who describes excruciating pain in your lower back so much so that you are frightened to bend, reach and twist despite all of your scans and x-rays being clear; it might feel so bad that it stops you sleeping; on top of that the pain might be affecting your work and causing stress. You might wonder if it’s fascial dysfunction because this does not show up on traditional scans and x-rays. You might wonder if you have internal scar tissue that can be resolved by treating the adhesive areas to rehydrate the tissue. You might wonder …

Emotions and Chronic Pain Read More »

When pain persists, it can become all consuming. Chronic pain conditions often present, not just as one symptom, but as a group of symptoms that have a global impact on the entire body. That’s why, for chronic pain, the approach needs to be different. One of the fundamentals of Myofascial Release is we address the symptoms but look elsewhere for the cause. The symptoms are the alarm bells and we can quieten them down easily enough, what we need to spend more time nurturing is your nervous system. That’s where the magic lies. Whether I’m using Myofascial Release or coaching, …

Shifting the focus on Chronic Pain Read More »

Are you still tired despite getting lots of sleep? Check out this article which explains how, by getting the right kinds of rest, you can start to feel more restored ✨

How do you feel when you move your body? Maybe you’ve started a new year workout regime, maybe you garden, walk, swim or any number of other things to get your body moving. But it’s not what you do I’d like to talk about, it’s how you do it. Movement nourishes us, not only by stretching, strengthening and toning but it’s also an opportunity to check in with ourselves and improve our emotional wellbeing. When we move and adjust the postures in which we hold our bodies we directly influence our nervous system; this in turn directly influences reactions like …

Mindful Movement and Chronic Pain Read More »

Thoughts Emotions Sensations … most people are comfortable with the concept of thoughts, we all have them and, to varying extents people are happy to share them (sometimes too often!) However, when it comes to FEELING, ie emotions and sensations, things tend to be less clear. Emotions begin in the body. Anxiety is an emotion which can show up as a sensation like tightness in the chest, tightness in the stomach, heart palpitations and so on. These sensations drive our thoughts and our emotions; we end up over thinking, we worry, we feel frustrated, we get more anxious and we …

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I’m skiing this week and this phrase keeps coming to my mind! It’s been snowing today and the conditions have been pretty tough, I was working really hard to get down the slope, resisting the snow rather than trusting my intuition and going with the flow, then along came an instructor for me to follow and hey presto just like that I stopped resisting and just followed his tracks, no over thinking, no resistance, just flow. I was in exactly the same situation I just felt so much better! The same principle can be applied to so many situations, chronic …

Resistance adds to the suffering of Chronic Pain Read More »

Track 1 covers, in simple terms, why chronic pain can develop and how mindfulness practice can help. This will help you understand you can take back control, rather than letting your pain control you. Listen to 8 Tracks over 8 days Link to the series here: https://freedomwithin.aweb.page/p/07956441-8575-4272-af46-62a510979e6d

Stress gets a bad press, so much so it would be easy to think that stress is bad, but actually some stress is a good thing. The way our bodies respond to perceived threat prepares us for immediate self-preserving action: this is known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. On receiving a distress signal about a threat (such as a stalking tiger, or a dunking in cold water), our brain triggers the sympathetic nervous system by causing a burst of adrenaline to be released from the adrenal glands; this increases the heart rate, pushing blood to the muscles; widens airways …

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Pain is a tool your subconscious mind uses to protect you from danger. Your response (moving away from the dangerous thing or holding an injured body part) stops you from getting hurt / more hurt. So your subconscious is just trying to keep you safe, that’s great right? Yes of course, but not when there is no actual danger! – as can be the case with chronic pain. Your nervous system responds the same way whether you are facing an imminent threat to your life (eg running from an escaped lion), or something stressful like a looming deadline or an …

Mindfulness for Chronic Pain Read More »

Pain is a tool your subconscious mind uses to protect you from danger. Your response (moving away from the dangerous thing or holding an injured body part) stops you from getting hurt / more hurt. So your subconscious is just trying to keep you safe, that’s great right? Yes of course, but not when there is no danger! – as can be the case with chronic pain. You can’t always control the things that cause you stress (aka the danger) but you can learn to respond differently and this makes everything so much easier to deal with. If you’d like …

In a Regulated Nervous System, Stress and Pain keep you safe Read More »