When was the last time you had a good belly laugh? When we grow up we get busy, we focus on work and family commitments and forget to make time for pure fun. What’s more, when we do find ourselves with some leisure time, we’re more likely to switch off in front of the TV or computer than engage in fun, rejuvenating play like we did as children. But play is essential, and not just for kids! Too often, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we stop playing. When it comes to play, there doesn’t need to be any point to …

Play time isn’t just for kids! Read More »

Great to see this research paper on the positive effects of ScarWork following surgery. This study involved people who had been through cancer related surgery. Results were impressive. Symptom improvements included reduced itching, frequency of discomfort and sensations of numbness. Patients also reported benefits including improved appearance, texture, mobility, well being and acceptance of scars. I have access to the full paper so please get in touch if you are interested to know more.

It’s here!! The Coaching Programme for Chronic Pain This has been very a long time in the making – I’ve had to work through some resistance of my own to putting this out in the world – But it’s here now and it’s such an honour to share it! The Programme is the culmination of the SIRPA (Stress Illness Recovery), Trauma Informed Coaching and Embodied Processing Practitioner qualifications I’ve gathered over the past two years, not to mention the influence of my bodywork practice. I am always learning, from my clients as much as anything else. The Programme isn’t prescriptive, …

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You will likely have heard the phrase, psychosomatic. In medical terms, psyche means the mind and somatic means the body. Psychosomatic Pain is where the mind (the psyche) creates physical (somatic) symptoms in the body (the soma).  This does NOT mean you’ve made it up.  For our purposes we will refer to psychosomatic pain as Neuroplastic Pain because neuroplasticity is how the brain forms new neural connections. Neuroplastic Pain has also been known as TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome) by a well known pain doctor, Dr John Sarno, as well as PPD (Psychophysiological Disorder). Ask about the Chronic Pain Coaching Programme …

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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 …

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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 »