A quick way to to unwind is to notice that there are moments of okayness.  Not every moment is bad or hectic.   One of my practices was to take a deep breath and say to myself: “in this moment I’m okay”.    Or “in this moment I feel alright”.      

By noticing when I feel lighter, okay, awake, calm, peaceful and DRAWING MY ATTENTION to it, I realised that things weren’t bad all the time.    It gives me a sense of relief!

The more I appreciate the periods of okayness, the longer they get!    
​

Take a moment to listen to your thoughts about yourself.
How you feel about your body?
Your state of health?
Do you like the way you look?

Many people would say:
I am too fat, too thin, too short, dumpy, stupid.... and so it goes on.


This week I saw a three minute video about a woman who hated her body.   It struck a chord with me... I realised that I quite often verbally beat myself up!     I want to share this video with you - it's about a woman who chose to look differently about her body. Click here to look at this video (it is a promotional video but the message is well worth hearing).

So often when I work with people, I get a sense that they don't like their body, or the part that is hurting them.   For some it is their hormonal system because they can't conceive a baby, or it makes them moody, or menopausal.   For others it is their "pain in the neck" or "pain in their butt".   I have noticed there is a kind of tension that sits in the body, and it appears when we go on a negative self talk rampage.    Many a client will tell you that during a session I have asked them to breathe deeply and SMILE into their body.   To appreciate it - after all the body still keeps working, even if we have a poor diet, bad posture, don't move enough, laugh enough, play enough.    

This is the analogy I give to my clients about our self talk:
Let us pretend you work in a factory.  You have been there a long time and some of the machinery is a bit unpredictable, which affects your output.      

Boss A comes in.  This person is always grumpy with you, telling you what is wrong, making you feel useless, picking holes in you, yelling sometimes. How do you feel?   Do you shrink down?  Do you dread Boss A? Would you grumble and complain outside of work?  Would you even want to go to work?  And if you had a good idea about how to make things better, would you tell this Boss?   Probably not.

Boss B comes in.   This person really likes you.   They praise you for your work, despite the difficult circumstances you are working in.   They tell you what they appreciate about you, admire you.  How do you feel now?    Stand up tall?  Feel proud and appreciated?  Do you look forward to showing up at work?  Would you be willing to share with this Boss any of your good ideas for improvement?  Yes, because they are likely to be well received.

I believe it is like this with our body.   When we berate it, it shrinks, constricts and gets tense.   When we love and appreciate it, it softens, relaxes, gives us feedback, and tells us what it wants.    

Every cell in the body is connected.   If I were to stamp hard on your toe, every part of your body would know about it, right?   So it only stands to reason that when we are internally beating ourselves up, the body responds.

I have noticed that when I really care and speak highly about my body to my body, a type of new wiring happens.   I get ideas how to look after it, I make different choices about my health and activities.   

How do we love our bodies?:
1.  Talk to it in a loving/caring manner (even if it hurts)
2.  Ask it to tell you what it needs and imagine getting wired up - painful body part to the brain - so that the information/inspiration can come to you on how to help it
3.  To consciously do caring things for your body... have a bath, do a relaxation exercise, take a walk, have a nourishing meal.

Injuries to the back occur more often in the muscles than in the skeleton or nerves because the muscles are under the greatest amount of daily stress.   Back muscles work constantly to provide support for your spine.  If your muscles are weak and underdeveloped, almost any activity can result in a muscle strain or tear, and that carries with it the added risk of damage to a vertebra, nerve or disk.

The greatest risk comes with lifting a heavy object.   The muscles’ ability to undertake any given task without injury depends on their strength and flexibility.   How we perform a task is also important.

Sometimes an muscle strain is just waiting to happen!  For example I do a lot of massage which leaves me with some muscles built up and others weak in my back through the constant leaning forward motion.  Last year I went for a bike ride and rode a bike which was a bit too big for me.   I was leaning forward more than I was used to and the muscles were straining.   I did have a bath that night to relax them, and in the morning they felt okay.... UNTIL I went make my bed!   I stretched forward and suddenly the over strained muscles went "ping" and I had a muscle strain.  Think of it like a rubber band.. it gets tight with our posture and daily use of the muscle - we get used to this and don't notice the pain/tension.   Then we do something different and it gets tighter still and then one day we just stretch it too far and the rubber band/muscle gives out "ping".      So one thing to be aware of with back injuries is that they can be an indication of something that has been developing for a very long time.   For proper healing to take place we need to look at the whole body structure.

When we have an injury, other muscles around the injury site tense up.    Actually they act as splinting or bracing to preventing the body from further movement to the injured area  - it’s a natural response.     This reduced movement and sensation of pain prevents us creating more damage to the area.   In time the tension should reduce, but this is not always the case.   The tension or holding pattern becomes a habit.   Long term tension causes a collogen (string like protein) to be deposited in the area, forming hard knots in the affected muscles.   This is why it usually takes longer to heal an untreated old injury than a new one, as the muscles have been trained to be in a new position.

The ideal treatment for a new injury is

1.  Rest
2.  Ice (to bring down inflammation)
3.  Compression - if you can wrap your back with strapping or bandages to give it support (this is not always possible)
4.  Get proper advice for treatment from your physio, osteopath, qualified massage therapist or GP

Then we need to change the muscle habits - as they no longer need to strap/support or protect the weak area - its time the muscles started working properly as a team again
 

1. Gently stretch and move the muscles (obtain correct advice as to the correct exercises)
2. Use massage to break up the collogen and bring back movement in the fascia which surround the muscles
3. Use heat to bring blood flow into the area
4. Begin exercises that strengthen the weak muscles and stretch the strong/tense ones

For several years I had a very sore neck and shoulders.   This was caused by a boating injury where I actually damaged my hip.   Because my hips were crooked my head sat differently on my shoulders – and this caused neck pain.    After a year I decided to go to a gym and met an osteopath.   He assessed me, put my hips back into alignment and gave me exercises to do in the gym.   After several months the weak muscles in my body became toned, and the overtoned muscles relaxed and stretched (they did not have so much work to do).   Gradually my body formed a new habit and I no longer had pain in the neck.

This information was copied and paraphrased from the following books:   
Facilitated Stretching – R E McAtee and J Charland
Stretching and Flexibility – K Laughlin
Overcome Neck and Back Pain – K Laughlin
PilateSystem – T Blount and E McKenzie

Do you ever wonder where to go in your life?
How do you know when you are ready to take on a new direction?
Are you waiting for the right time?

I recently had some tuition with Christian Pankurst on this very topic.   As we are at the start of a New Year I thought this was the right time to share it with you.     I will summarise what he said:
 
Everyone has an inner GPS.    It is our guidance system.    Just like a vehicle, we have to turn on the GPS to get it started – this means being prepared to listen to your inner self and act.   

Then we have to type in a destination of some sort.   At this point the GPS doesn’t know exactly in which direction our vehicle is pointing, so it cannot give directions until we actually start to move forward.    This is where many people get stuck.  They don’t move, so no directions are issued.   

Once the vehicle starts to move, the GPS tells you where to go.  This often comes with a good feeling/insight/hunch.  It is usually followed by a confirmation of some sort which links back to your desired direction.   It may even ask you the turn around, to face the correct direction!    

It gives you directions one turn at a time.   You don’t need to know the whole route.     If you get off track, the GPS corrects you until you get back on track.    If you feel you have typed in the wrong destination part way through (as you now have new information) you can change your destination on the GPS.     
 
A personal story....
Every year I go away for two weeks on holiday.   It’s a relaxing time where I really switch off from work.   I always read a lot and spend time on my own reflecting upon my direction for the forthcoming year.    This year I read about some prophecies about the future.   I thought long and hard about what difference I can make in my part of the world.   I had two choices, learn more about plant medicine, or learn more about relationships and real love.    Both looked viable - I knew I would have to study more and that I would also enjoy either option.      

When I got home I talked to a friend about the prophecies.    It was a very frank discussion about probabilities:  what could happen, what to prepare for, and how would I live my life irrespective of what actually occurs.    When I told my friend about my two choices I was surprised to find that I felt heavy and “closed down” when I talked about plant medicine, and I felt deeply moved (tears were in my eyes!) when I spoke about relationships and real love.    Right there and then, the decision was made.    Now I am on the move again, my GPS is ON!

Summer is a time when our fire element is strong.   It is a time of passion, dancing, it feels good to be alive, a time of high spirits, to go out to events, to socialise, to wake early and enjoy the long days.  

The fire energy is meant to open the heart and bring warmth and joy to our inner being.   There is a sense of respect for ourselves and others.  However, sometimes the fire gets too hot - we feel impatient and hurried, which can lead to a type of arrogance, disregarding or feeling frustration with people, rage and hatred. We can appear edgy, merciless or stern, especially if we can’t express our passion for life and have fun. 

An overheated fire element can put pressure on the physical heart and the circulatory system and cause our hormones to go out of balance.  Fire symptoms can manifest as high or low blood pressure, pain in the chest or in the back behind the heart, buzzing in the ears, bloodshot eyes, red or white nose, shortness of breath, flushed complexion and hastiness.

Water is the element that balances this heat: swimming, walking by the water, gazing at the sea, taking a bath or drinking water cools our fire.   Water moistens our heart and stops it from getting too dry.

As a source of emotional harmony, it is also through the heart that we experience warmth and tenderness.  Just as the heart has always been a symbol of love, so according to Oriental medicine, it is the organ of love and affection – both as receiver and giver of emotional warmth. The focus of sensitivity and feeling, the equanimity of the heart and mind is fundamentally responsible for ensuring a well-integrated and contented emotional life – as well as a balanced mind.  Most psychological problems will subsequently involve, at least to some degree, an imbalance within the fire element.

The enthusiasm and spontaneity that reflects the heart in harmony can become, when under stress, a feeling of nervousness and agitation.  Moreover, the natural sensitivity and passion of the fire element, if it blazes out of control, can result in an individual who easily becomes over-excited and is quickly hurt. Nervous exhaustion and insomnia are often the consequences.

So what helps the fire element get back into balance or strengthens it?

·         Dance, song, mime, acting, theatre, opera, drama, comedy, performing arts in general

·         If you experience highs and lows, ground yourself by gardening, cooking or doing a craft.

·         If you feel impatient, hasty, anxious take a dip in the water.  Allow yourself to relax and float – to be supported and       cooled by the water.

·         Practice being grateful every day – this gives a feeling of satisfaction, inner peace and trust.

·         If you feel hatred and rage – look to the underlying emotions of anger and fear. Too much fear extinguishes the inner fire and enthusiasm and spirit.   So we need the practicality and creativity of earth to calm our fear.  Practice earth chi kung, eat regularly, have a stable home environment.   Face the fears with intelligence and a clear mind – this gives wisdom.     

·         If you feel deep seated anger then you need to work on your metal element: practice breathing chi kung, obtain some counselling, play an instrument or meditate.

·         If you feel impatient and hasty then you need to slow down.  Take very slow walks daily and smell the roses.   Use an affirmation like “I let go and trust in the process of life”.   Sleep more.  Use the bone breathing and bone dreaming meditations. Swim leisurely, have a quiet holiday, paint or sculpt.  Impatience is a side effect of denied anger feeding insensitivity and impatience.   Stimulating and cultivating creativity and sensuality, providing a safe and hospitable place where creativity can be channelled, will progressively transform impatience and hastiness into high spirit and enthusiasm.

·         If you have fits of rage practice water chi kung and figurative arts until you are able to do the most tedious kind or work without feeling impatient.  Be careful with alcohol intake as this is fuel to a fire and can cause an explosion!

·         Have regular relaxation/sensual massage.

Reference Marin, Giles; Five Elements Six Conditions; North Atlantic Books, Berkley, California, 94712: 2006

Sore backs are often a reflection of how much stress we have in our life. It comes in many forms:

1.       Incorrect diet, alcohol and drugs chemically stress the body

2.      Our posture, repeated movements or heavy lifting physically stress the body

3.      Having a heavy workload or working with difficult people emotionally stress the body

4.      Doing too many things at once, or being overwhelmed with work mentally stress the body

There is healthy stress where you want to get things done, which is motivating (eustress) and bad stress, which provokes a negative response in the body (distress).

Distress has an affect on the adrenal glands and their associated hormones.  If we have distress our “flight or fight” response is activated.     This is necessary if you are being attacked by a wild animal or  in a dangerous situation: increased breathing, pulse rate, blood pressure and sympathetic nervous system activity all enable us to react quickly and get to away to safety.     

However these days we are triggered into stress by an angry customer or boss, making a mistake in our work or just having too much work to do.  Instead of running, fighting or taking action (which uses up our stress hormones), we sit still!    The hormones are left racing around our bodies with no place to go.    Moving burns these chemicals off and the body is able to process them, but if we stay still they remain in our muscles and tissues in the form of chemicals which cause tension and pain.   The muscles are then pre-stressed, especially the neck and back muscles.  If we have repeated stress this tension builds up.   Hypertension (permanently raised blood pressure) occurs leading to heart conditions and other diseases.

The good news is that there is a way out!   Actually several ways out….

1.       Having a healthy diet which contains nutrients that support our muscles and bones.   This diet needs to be adjusted according to how much exercise we get.    For example the muscles of an active person require more minerals and carbohydrates compared to someone who has a sedentary lifestyle.    

2.      Regular exercise - in different forms.   This enables you to gently stretch the muscles that are too tight and tone the ones that are weak.   Some people do walking and swimming, some do cycling and running, Some do gardening and swimming. Some play a sport and go to the gym. Or you could attend an exercise class that works specifically on the muscles.   When you use two different types of exercise the muscles have a more balanced workout.

3.     When you do have a stressful day, use an active form of exercise that gets the heart rate up and body moving to burn off the chemicals built up in the body (ready for the flight and flight).    

4.     Manage your stress levels. Explore and develop new skills for dealing with stress.  Learn how to communicate when you are feeling stressed and how to say "no".  Relaxation counteracts stress:  When you relax your breath slows and deepens, your blood pressure goes down and the brain puts out chemicals which make your muscles relax.  Develop a relaxation process through deep breathing, meditating, or using a relaxing visualisation technique.    

This information was copied and paraphrased from the following books:   
Facilitated Stretching – R E McAtee and J Charland
Stretching and Flexibility – K Laughlin
Overcome Neck and Back Pain – K Laughlin
PilateSystem – T Blount and E McKenzie

If you are a woman, dealing with moods are part of your life.   

Our hormonal cycle, health of our organs, stress levels, past experiences and
state of mind all have an impact upon our moods. Being  able to experience the highs and lows of life can be quite a ride. Emotions are  part of being human and make up the tapestry of life.   There are times when it is appropriate to be angry, it moves us towards making positive change in our lives.   Other times its okay to be sad - grief is a natural process of letting go.  But sometimes we get stuck, and this "stuckness" can stay with us for years.  Unresolved issues of the past
takes away our enjoyment of the present moment.   
 
Prolonged moods, such as depression, anxiety, fear or anger can affect the chemistry of our body.  Once our chemistry is out of balance it then feeds into accentuating our moods.  Likewise, if our chemistry is out of balance through poor diet, alcohol and drug use, then our emotions will be affected.

What helps our moods:-

Firstly we need to balance the chemistry in our bodies.   A healthy diet  (avoid alcohol), along with herbs which calm our emotions, tone the organs and balance the hormones.  Very often if we experience prolonged stress our adrenal glands become exhausted.   Licorice tea acts as an adrenal gland tonic (not to be used with high blood pressure).Calm the mind.    This could be through meditating, using visualisations, deep breathing practice, or doing an ascetic activity that requires your concentration i.e. gardening, painting, sewing or dancing.

Deal with the issues.     If you have problems or work, suffer from long term grief or anxiety, feel constant fear - get help.    Sometimes all we need is a trained listening ear to unravel how we feel and some new skills for dealing with feelings when they
arise.

Learn Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).   We are always going to have issues and feelings coming up.  So why not learn a tool which you can use whenever you want to deal with them? This is a marvellous skill which can shift negative feelings very quickly.  
Love yourself.    Often our health and well-being is out of balance just because we beat ourselves up with our words and thoughts!    Imagine if you were an employee doing the best job you could and your employer said you were no good.  How would you feel?    Crushed...Deflated....Discouraged.      Now imagine if that employer said you were "awesome".   Would you feel Excited...Enthusiastic...Keen....Proud?  In chi kung we use a practice called The Inner Smile where we send loving thoughts to our inner self and develop self love.  Its simple and easy to do.

Learn how to breathe.    Put a hand on your chest and one on your tummy and take a breath.   How do you breathe?  In the upper chest or tummy?  Do you breathe shallow or deep?   Rapid shallow upper chest breathing causes anxiety.  Slow deep tummy breathing causes relaxation.  Our breath is related to our nervous system.

Transform your emotions.     There is an ancient practice I use called the Six Healing Sounds.    It uses movement, sound and colour to transform negative emotions into positive ones.  Let us say our body is like a garden in which plants grow.  The
weeds are like negative emotions and the vegetables are like the positive ones (virtues).    Like weeds, negative emotions contain energy and nutrients, and if we compost them in the garden, then the energy and nutrients from the weeds can be used to enable the vegetables to grow.     Likewise when we use the Six Healing Sounds, a composting of emotions happens and good feelings/virtues are able to  develop.

Muscles have memory.

This is why it takes time for them to heal.    When we have an accident or use our body in the wrong way, the body remembers the position we have adopted to prevent us from feeling pain.   It becomes a habit!  So to change the alignment of the muscles requires regular treatment and/or exercises.    In short, it’s a re-education process.

Muscles memorise particular movements, especially frequently repeated ones, carried out over a long period of time.   Once they have been firmly implanted in the memory functions of both muscle and brain, it is difficult to change them.  For example, if you work at a desk, you will have a particular way of sitting.  It is uniquely your way of sitting.   When you try to change your posture for any length of time, you will experience discomfort because your muscles want to return to the position to which they are accustomed.   Also the moment you take your attention away from the new posture, you will automatically return to the hold one.    This is why exercises, massage and stretching are an important aspect of retraining your muscle memory.  

Some postural problems have an emotional basis.   People who carry an emotional burden can often be seen to literally carry it on their shoulders, which have physically bent under the weight.   People who lean forward and/or stick their chin out might be in a hurry or moving ahead of themselves (too keen).

Some physical problems are inherited – although the emotional posture passed through the family may also contribute to it.   

However there are ways to retrain our body and to optimise our posture/movement.    Pilates, Feldenkrais, Yoga, Nia, Tao Yin Chi Kung all teach the body better ways of standing, sitting and moving.    The natural body prefers movement options that take as little effort as possible, so when we train it in new ways the mind begins to record the pattern.    Over time the new way of moving becomes its preference and the body automatically selects this option.  Thus making it more efficient and pain free.

This information was copied and paraphrased from the following books:  
Facilitated Stretching – R E McAtee and J Charland
Stretching and Flexibility – K Laughlin
Overcome Neck and Back Pain – K Laughlin
PilateSystem – T Blount and E McKenzie

Sitting is something we don’t do very well.  We sit balanced on one hip bone, then we shift to the other.   Or we cross our legs.    Here is what a good sitting posture is like.

1       You should sit evenly on both sit bones with your thigh supported by the seat of the chair

2       You should be able to place both feet flat on the floor

3       Your knees should be slightly apart in order to support your weight, and your feet should be under your knees

4       The back support should be a high as your shoulder blades.

Here is an workplace assessment you might light to try.   

Sometimes I see people sitting at work.  I often see them looking like the person with the red circle rather than the blue.    Long term this puts pressure on your lower back and neck.  It only takes a few minutes to adjust your chair and it can have many years of benefit to your whole body.


This information was copied and paraphrased from the following
books:   
Facilitated Stretching – R E McAtee and J
Charland
Stretching and Flexibility – K Laughlin
Overcome Neck and Back
Pain – K Laughlin
PilateSystem – T Blount and E McKenzie