Spring forward this season with Shiatsu.

February 11, 2016

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Marco Cavallaro

In the UK the cold and darkness of winter urge us to slow down.

Winter is Yin in nature; it is inactive, cold, and damp and therefore a more sedentary winter time can leave us feeling physically stiff, frustrated and prone to migraines, IBS and depression. This spring prepare yourself for returning to a more relaxed, active and happy lifestyle with Shiatsu.

During the winter months it is more difficult to wake in the mornings and struggle in to work, and the overwhelming desire is to curl up on the sofa in the evenings to watch the wealth of winter dramas while indulging in high fat foods. Now the evenings are getting lighter and the spring bulbs are in bloom we begin to feel like facing the world again but the lethargy of the winter months may be hard to shift.

Officially, spring begins in the West on the 21st of March on the Spring Equinox. In contrast the Chinese feel it begins at Chinese New Year (Monday 8th February 2016), when the light is returning and the early signs of new growth begin. In both systems, the basic energy is the same; a feeling of new beginnings and a fresh start. Surprisingly often we do not feel the anticipated happiness expected at this time of year. Often, people feel frustrated, anxious and depressed as the energy builds in a body slowly waking from the hibernation of winter.

Shiatsu treats the liver and gall bladder meridians at this time of year to support the Wood element in regaining balance in the body. These are strongly linked to muscle function and tendon elasticity and when they are depleted stiffness and muscle aches occur. A Shiatsu treatment at this time will leave you feeling physically balanced and revitalised, ready to spring forward into the new season with rejuvenated muscle function and a positive frame of mind.

The Wishing Well Axminster Cancer Support - Could it help you or a loved one?

“Wishing Well” – Axminster’s cancer support group

“Wishing Well” is a support group for people affected by cancer, and for their carers.

The group is hosted by Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre, Chard Street, Axminster on Thursday afternoons from 2.30 until 4.30pm and is open to all affected by cancer including families and carers.

We provide a safe, supportive and informative space where people experiencing cancer, including people who have recovered from cancer, can get together and share experiences and support one another.

We believe Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre is the perfect place to host this group, we are centrally located in the town and near to a car park.

 

We offer refreshments on arrival and a spacious and comfortable meeting room.

The Centre is also the venue for complementary therapy treatments.

Our complementary therapy practitioners are very supportive of ‘Wishing Well’ and many are happy to offer people attending Wishing Well the opportunity to receive treatments.

Complementary therapy treatments for Wishing Well have been made possible due to a bursary fund for cancer support which was awarded in part by Macmillan and in part by Devon Community Foundation.

Currently Wishing Well has 26 registered members and the group has enjoyed a range of talks and workshops on subjects including Nutrition, Yoga, Art and Breath.

We are always looking to expand what we offer so please get in touch if you are willing to run a workshop or deliver a talk on a health, wellbeing, exercise or art/ craft activity.

Feedback from our speakers/ workshop leaders and from our attendees suggests that ‘Wishing Well’ is a much needed and appreciated group.

‘I first went to Wishing Well whilst still on chemotherapy and found it a relief to be able to talk to other cancer sufferers without having to explain myself. We can all support each other with our varying experiences.

Attending talks and learning more about complimentary therapies and cancer specific dietary advice has been most helpful.

Through Wishing Well I was able to attend a mindfulness course which has proved very helpful during difficult times.

Knowing there is a local cancer support group in Axminster is very reassuring’.

Chris Edwards

‘I enjoyed the art session because it was good to speak to other women living with cancer. Having cancer and coping with treatment can feel isolating even if you have lots of friends and family around’

 Ruby Cole

'Wishing Well at Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre provides valuable support and a source of accurate information for clients. I valued meeting everyone at the talks I have given at this lovely meeting place and hope the nutrition advice was helpful.'

 Liz Bray - registered nutritional therapist at Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre www.body-balance.co.uk

Pregnancy Massage and its benefits.

During pregnancy your body goes through great physical and emotional change. You may have a sore back, swollen ankles or feel a little apprehensive about the change a new baby will bring. 
Here are some ways that pregnancy massage may help you with one or indeed all of these challenges....

Physical benefits of the treatment can include:
Reduced swelling in areas such as ankles and feet by stimulation of the lymphatic and circulatory systems.

Pain reduction in areas of stress such as the shoulders, lower back, and legs by the use of specially tailored therapeutic massage techniques. 

Emotional benefits of the treatment can include:
The beginning of a positive bond between mum and baby by the production of the hormone oxytocin being stimulated during massage. 

Time out from your busy schedule to think about and concentrate on this new baby (this can be especially helpful if you already have children that often take up much of your time and attention). 

Emma is trained to the one of the highest levels of remedial massage available in the UK and even has a special couch where you are able to lie on your front (stomach and baby safely cradled) to relieve weight and pressure. If you would prefer a seated or side lying pregnancy treatment then this is also available. For more information or to book contact Emma on 07717310198. 

Couples Counselling - It started with words written.

Our journey began with words—words written down because talking was too tough:

I’m not happy.

You’re not happy.

I hate that you speak to me so disrespectfully and dismissively.

I hate that I respond in kind and I feel disappointed in myself every time I do so.

I feel angry—and I don’t want to feel angry.

I feel broken.

Enter Gillian.

With Gillian’s guidance, [Husband] and I have learned to communicate, to connect, to compromise and, in doing so, to reconstruct a relationship that we’d decided was done.

* * *

When we first met with Gillian, [Husband] and I had agreed to continue to cohabit for two more years—to provide a stable home life for our daughter while she completed college—and then, in all likelihood, to go our separate ways.  Two-and-a-half years on, we find ourselves committed to a marriage that may be stronger than it’s ever been.

There are many people who question the efficacy of relationship counselling or couples therapy and, granted, it can deliver results only if both parties are open and honest, and engage with the process.  To that end, I sometimes ask the (many) friends who tell me that they or their partners would ‘never go to counselling’ why they would visit a doctor if they were sick or had broken a bone, would take their car to the mechanic if something were rattling or the exhaust had fallen off, yet would never consider visiting a couples counsellor to help them to mend a fractured relationship?

The answer is sometimes that the impact of therapy can also be affected by the quality of the counsellor or therapist—and this is certainly true.  [Husband] and I had already experienced two constructive interventions and two that we’d found damaging by the time we found our way to Gillian; we were naturally wary of whether she’d prove the right ‘fit’ for us—even though she came highly recommended by a friend.

We needn’t have worried.  It may be that Gillian simply ‘gets’ us; I think it more likely that she gets the measure of most of her clients and adjusts her approach accordingly.  Either way, each of our sessions with Gillian—whom we see most often as a couple, but sometimes individually—has moved us ever farther from the hurt, angry, ‘broken’ place in which we were when she first met us, and ever deeper into the compassion, understanding and mutual support that [Husband] and I each want within our marriage.

That marriage remains a work-in-progress—and I would argue that it always should, since complacency and old (bad) habit can scupper the very best of intentions.  It’s also true that no relationship exists within a vacuum; hence the period during which we’ve been meeting with Gillian has seen [Husband] and I necessarily negotiating our way through issues including parenting a teenager entering adulthood, making difficult work decisions, and supporting the extended family through illness and incapacity.  In each of these regards, we’ve valued immeasurably the steer that Gillian has offered—and her gentle reminders to always keep ourselves and our relationship in sight.

* * *

Two-and-a-half years ago, had you told us that we would recover the love we’d lost—be able to speak to each other with compassion, understanding and respect—we may have found it hard to swallow such a tall tale.  Today, [Husband] and I may feel that we still have work to do before we believe that we’re ‘there’ (wherever and whatever ‘there’ may be)—but we both agree that, thanks to sensitive therapy, we’re walking that path hand in hand.

If you are looking for a couples/relationship counsellor contact Gillian Perrow on

01297 32530 / 07877721297

gillianperrow@btinternet.com

www.axminstercounselling.co​.uk

Mindfulness - be kind to yourself

When I started the Breathworks 8 week Mindfulness for stress course I was already familiar with meditation and mindfulness but had let my home practice slip.  I was also feeling very stressed and overloaded due to pressures at work and an emotionally difficult personal time that I was experiencing.  I was hoping that this course would teach me the skills to approach stressful situations differently and to be kinder to myself.

Kath (the tutor) was a calming presence right from the start, with a very kind, peaceful and friendly approach.  We were welcomed to the first session with gentle group introductions and our well-presented home study course overview booklet and our meditation practice c.d.’s.  Our home study was very enjoyable with meditation, movement and mindfulness practice for our daily lives, it was easy enough to follow but also challenging enough to fully engage the mind and body.

Each session started and ended with a gentle guided meditation which I found a perfect way to relax and settle and to open my body and mind to my own awareness and experience.  The meditations increased in length as the course progressed which felt a very natural and gentle progression.

The course was presented in an interactive and easy to understand way with guided meditations, mindful movement, poetry, gentle role play and discussion.  I found it very beneficial that Kath facilitated easy going discussions alongside the teachings which was delivered in a very engaging and thought provoking way and at just the right pace to keep us focused on the practice of mindfulness throughout each session.  Although Kath guided us through the course over the 8 weeks, we were also encouraged to explore our

own ideas in relation to our own experiences, which created a feeling of being valued as an individual as well as interest and belonging in the group. 

The course has allowed me to feel like I can breathe again.  I now find that I am dealing with potentially stressful situations in a much calmer way.  I am much more aware of my mind and body experience in the moment, and so rather than just reacting mindlessly to difficult situations or experiences I can now accept them more easily which helps me to ‘let go’ rather than dwell on them.  I really don’t feel so rushed and pressured all the time and my thought process has become much clearer.  I have also noticed that I am being more kind to myself which is something that in the past I have found difficult.  Thanks to the course I now have a regular mediation practice again which I now find an enjoyable and empowering experience rather than being ‘something I have to do’. 

Aches and pains - why suffer?

When you approach your ‘three score years and ten’ life allocation you come to assume that it is ‘normal’ to have aches and pains, stiffness and an increasing lack of energy  - at least I did. But after I ‘merely’ mentioned the lethargy in passing to my GP and was given a blood test which then led to a diagnosis of colon cancer, I dramatically learnt not to make such facile assumptions again. So a few years later when I became aware that the fairly constant rumbling pain in my left knee and shin and the periodic sharp shooting pains up from my toes seemed not to be going away, I  didn’t let myself put it down to  ‘old age’ but I presented myself to my GP.  No clots were found when I was given a leg scan in case I had a thrombosis , but , since no other diagnosis presented itself, all  I was then offered was a selection of painkillers and this ‘we can’t think of anything else’ solution was certainly not reassuring.

I have been involved with alternative medicines on and off throughout my life and I instinctively began to try to work out what to follow up regarding this increasingly debilitating aching leg.  A friend suggested I might benefit from Myofascial Release, about which I had never heard, but after some researching I arranged to meet up with Emma Gilmore early in 2014.  I have seen her pretty much every three weeks since then and, yes, the treatment has – bit by bit – made an enormous difference to my leg and to my general well being. Twelve years ago I dug up a whole garden, but before I met Emma I had got to the point where I didn’t have the flexibility or the inclination to bend or reach over to pull up even a weed – but now, whilst I might not yet dig up a whole garden, I will attack and tidy a bed of shrubs and flowers and even undertake pruning (when does not require a ladder). Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

Myofascial release therapy works on the knowledge that an intricate labyrinth of myofascia weaves its way throughout our bodies covering and surrounding every muscle, bone, nerve, artery and all internal organs and, because it is a continuous structure, it connects every part of the body to every other part. Myofascial release is just that – a means of releasing myofascia that because of trauma or inflammation has been damaged or has lost its pliability. Because the myofascia is connected all round the body any damage in one place can have a spin off impact in other areas of the body.

The myofascia release therapist, after taking a case history, will want you to remove your top layer of clothes and lie on a table. He/she will then put pressure on parts of the body that s(he) thinks may have relevance to the presenting problem – often it will be an obvious area (on your neck if you have presented a sore neck), but often it can be elsewhere, which, through the connections of the myofascia network, might also be influencing the problem. The hand pressure is placed for many minutes, quietly, gently. Apparently the therapist can often feel activity or heat under his/ her hands and, with practice, the patient can begin to feel tingling or twitching in response in other parts of the body. For me, with each treatment I have become increasingly aware of what is going on in my whole body whilst I am lying under the therapist’s hands.

Let me give an example from my case – this left leg and foot. Obviously in the first sessions,  pressure was mainly put on parts of that leg, but it was also put on parts of the other leg which sometimes led to responses (twitches, tingling) in the first leg. Then Emma began to wonder if the base of my back had any connection with the pains in my leg – I have had recurring back pain for twenty years – so she worked on that and there were a couple of times, for example, when to my amazement the pressure on my back triggered the profound shooting pains up from my toes, so something was certainly happening! (And for the record, my back has definitely improved as a result of her work there, too.) By now in my treatment journey, the pain and discomfort in my left leg had all but disappeared but we had become aware that there was a tendency for my ankles and feet to get puffy, particularly in the right leg. By now Emma was working on the scar of my colon cancer operation. In the operation I had had many lymph nodes removed which might now be affecting the leg and the causing the oedema. In recent treatment sessions, when she has been putting pressure on my leg – note, my leg -  I can have quite strong twinges underneath my scar of my stomach : nowhere else, just underneath my scar. And this is where we have got to so far – I am hoping, nay expecting, that the work on my scar will help my oedema, that it will assist in strengthening both legs and that it will help my battered colon, not to mention my body as a whole. It is not the end of the journey for me by any means. 

If you need any more information Emma Gilmore our resident Myofascial specialist will be on hand to answer any questions about  your health issues.

                                                                             http://www.schoolofbodywork.com/

Rosen therapy - I wasn't expecting that!

Rosen method - Linda Rock- Therapist of the month.

A friend of mine suggested I try Rosen therapy as I am a busy mum of 2. I hadn't really heard of this therapy before and just thought it might be something like a massage. Oh how wrong was I! I made the appointment one afternoon after a lot of cleaning up and I had glanced at the leaflet thinking it connects the physical to the mental and it's a gentle way of holding the muscle to release blockages. It didn't really make sense if I am honest but my friend swore by it.

When I got there I went into a beautiful relaxing room at the Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre and realised just how much I had been on the go this last week, month and probably year. Linda took down my details and a thorough check about my medical history. Before Linda left the room she asked me to take my clothes off down to my underwear. So glad I did have time to change them. I lay face down on the couch and Linda came back in. At first Linda touch different parts of my body in a really gentle way and I didn't think anything was happening until Linda asked a question particular to me. Instantly I felt a little sick and then my tummy rumbled. It was like Linda had read my body. I have a lot of tension in my stomach area! I just wasn't expecting that sudden type of movement just from very gentle touch.

At times there was a little tear as Linda continued to work, which wasn't unpleasant at all - a release. I turned over and Linda touched my shoulders very gently unlike a massage. My shoulders due to loads of tension were very tense indeed but after a few touches they felt they had dropped several inches. By the end of the session I was completely relaxed. It was a completely new experience and after the first session I felt more relaxed and ready to start to accept the situation which was holding so much tension in my stomach. And as the days have gone by it has made me listen to my body a little more. It was a unique experience and I can't wait to find out more. If you want to know more and you have possible unresolved tension in your body then I would suggest Rosen.

Linda's Reply - "Thank you so much for articulating so clearly your Rosen experience . 

It's great to have your feed-back and I am glad that you found the session helpful.

Kindly, Linda."