Acorn Health Blog

By Sally-Anne Marler – Intuitive Card Reader & Angelic Reiki Practitioner

There has been lots of talk about Empaths and Energy Vampires recently – some of the top specialists on this subject include Dr Christiane Northrup and Judith Orloff to name a few. So what do these terms refer to and what do they mean?

Essentially it’s all about energy! How your energy can be affected by other people, situations, events – even certain foods, drinks (especially caffeine and alcohol).

Some people that fit into the empath category may have been called overly-sensitive or highly sensitive by others. These people have natural empathy for others, but what makes someone an empath – is that they can usually feel the feelings of others, or at least pick up on them to some degree. This isn’t about taking on social cues and reading non-verbal communication. It’s about being able to tell what someone is really feeling (usually by feeling it themselves through a felt-sense)…behind the mask, the facial expresssions and the words they are using.

An Energy Vampire – is someone who can leave Empaths feeling tired, drained, overwhelmed, or even a little bit sad for no apparent reason. They often have narcissistic tendancies, can be very good manipulators but charmers on the outside. They tend to blame everyone else for everything, have gaslighting behaviours (making you question yourself, your choices, what really happened etc). They can only see how something affects them – and so have very little empathy.

The danger is when you get a relationship dynamic between an Empath and Energy Vampire. More so for the Empath for obvious reasons. Being in one of these relationships long-term can have detrimental affects to your mental and emotional health.

I have many clients that fall into the Empath category. Their energy is greatly affected by the energy vampire – I’ve been in this situation several times myself as an empath and know only too well how dangerous it is. I work with clients to help them feel a bit clearer, lighter and stronger energy wise.

Here are the top 5 signs you’re an Empath:

1. You know that you can pick up on other people’s feelings and may either internalise this as your own feelings or suddenly notice a change in your mood around certain people.

2. Being around a lot of people at the same time leaves you feeling tired and overwhelmed. This might mean you tend to avoid big social get togethers.

3. You may have developed an intolerance to certain food groups and be more sensitive to things like caffeine or alcohol. Your immune system will have taken a hit and it can manifest in this way. If this is the case, always seek medical advice in the first instance.

4. You’re intuitive. You have a sense of knowing, or you may have a strong gut feeling about certain things. You might be highly visual or can just feel really in tune with your guides/angels/the universe.

5. You’re a giver. Let’s be honest, being on the receiving end of anything isn’t really your strong suit is it. You find it easier to give because you want to help and sometimes feel like you don’t deserve to receive. Asking for help, taking a compliment or being open to new and exciting opportunities may be hard for you.

I hope you’ve found this useful and if you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with me: sally-anne@thecreativeyou.co.uk. I offer intuitive readings and angelic reiki to help you gain the insight, guidance and support you need going forwards.

Sending you much love from my heart to yours.
Sally x

By Anne Marie Allen Reflexologist, Reiki Practitioner & Massage Therapist

Cold weather and heating means most of us can feel our skin getting dryer, this can make our skin look dull and feel tight, other signs of your skin becoming dry can include:

– Fine lines

– Cracks appearing

– Rough feeling and looking skin

– Itching

– Tightness

– Dull looking

– Redness

– Peeling or flaking

Luckily we don’t have to put up with it, a few simple changes to our daily routine can make all the difference:

1. Drinking more water, car heaters, house fires and radiators are drying your skin out, drinking more water helps skin to stay plump and beautiful.

2. It’s tempting on a cold day to have a hot shower or bath but try opting for a warm bath instead as hot water drys skin out.

3. Moisturise during the day and at night, a few times a week – treat yourself to a really intensive moisturiser overnight. My bathroom cabinet must haves are Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm and Rosehip oil they smell beautiful and are both super moisturising. I apply one of these just before bed and leave it on all night, in the morning my skin is super soft, it’s well worth investing in.

4. Essential fatty acids found in nuts, fish and flaxseeds are a great way to keep skin hydrated, looking plump and young. Flaxseeds are a great choice to sprinkle in smoothies and on yoghurts – it’s not got much taste so it blends in beautifully with your food without taking the taste away.

5. Exfoliate, excess dead skin cells prevent moisture from sinking in properly. Exfoliating once or twice a week then moisturise immediately after to see softer, smoother skin.

6. Waters not the only way to hydrate your skin – water rich foods such as watermelon, celery, apples, oranges, kiwi, tomatoes, cucumber will help to keep skin hydrated and with the antioxidants contained inside these foods they’ll help to protect your cells from damage too so it’s a win win situation!

7. Regular facials which include exfoliation, steaming and face masks can help to keep your skin hydrated, nourished, clear and younger looking.

I offer holistic facials using Neal’s Yard Products, please feel free to book in for one of these facials, helping your dry skin by giving it the hydration it needs.

By Anne Marie Allen Reflexologist, Reiki Practitioner & Massage Therapist

You may know what chakras are, you may have heard the word knocking around every now and then or maybe it’s a completely new word to you and you’re thinking what…?

Your body is much more than the physical body that you can feel, its made up of an energy body too which extends beyond the physical body and consists of many layers commonly known as the aura. Chakras pronounced “cha kra” are energy centres within the body. There are seven main common chakras, these help to regulate all the bodily functions including the emotions.

The seven main chakras are:

Base Chakra – Career, money, security, sense of belonging, our foundation, our sense of survival money, food, related to spine, rectum, legs, arms and circulation.

Sacral Chakra – Connection and ability to accept new experience and others, abundance, well-being, pleasure, sexuality, related to the reproductive organs, kidneys, bowels and immune system.

Solar Plexus – Confidence, being in control of your life, life direction, self-worth, self-esteem, ability to channel, personal power, related to central nervous system, pancreas, liver, digestive tract, skin.

Heart Chakra – Love, relationships with self and others, self-acceptance, joy, inner peace, tenderness, related to heart, thymus, lower lungs, circulatory system, immune system.

Throat Chakra – Self-expression, our ability to communicate, the truth, related to thyroid, respiratory system, teeth, vocal cords.

Third Eye Chakra – Intuition, sense of purpose, direction in life, imagination, wisdom, ability to think and make decisions, related to pituitary gland, eyes, senses.

Crown chakra – Connection to the divine, inner and outer beauty, connection to spirituality, pure bliss, related to pineal gland, brain and nervous system.

In order to feel fabulous, well, full of vitality and energy we need to take care of our chakra health. Illness and disease first start as negative energy in the aura, only when its ignored, built up and it’s reached the physical body does it manifest as illness or dis-ease. Chakras can go out of balance, life nowadays is stressful, draining and demanding. Everyday stresses can cause our chakras to go out of balance! Thankfully nourishing them and gently putting them back into balance isn’t difficult.

When our chakras are balanced we feel energised, vital, relaxed and centred, when they’re out of balance we can feel irritated, not quite our self but not sure why, emotional, irrational, angry, spiteful – an imbalance can also manifest its self as pain, illness or dis-ease.

Over the next seven months I’ll be concentrating on one chakra a month starting with the base chakra in the next newsletter. There’ll also be recipes, affirmations, hints and tips, treatment offers to help balance your chakras as well as ways you can balance your chakras at home throughout the month on Facebook, so don’t forget to like and follow us to ensure you don’t miss a thing!

Show your best self at that job interview

By Sally Race Clinical Hypnotherapist

We’ve all been there, you see a job
advertised, its perfect for you, maybe even your dream job. You have all the essential
qualifications and experience and complete an application form amazingly. So
you get offered an interview, which you’re so excited about! Hurrah!

Then …. the nerves set in, you know that
you’re going to dry up, your memory will fail, you’ll spill any drink they
offer you and /or say something stupid. A million possibilities of something
going wrong go through your mind and you may lose sleep as the interview date
comes closer, maybe even consider cancelling the interview.

In reality you know that you can do the job
fabulously, so why all the negativity and stress?

Its just how you’ve learned to feel for
lots of possible reasons, but what you need to know is that you can learn to
feel differently.

Here are my top tips for interview prep;

1, Do your prep. Learn about the company,
read the job spec and have a guess at what questions they might ask and think
about how you could answer them. Read up on anything related to the job that
might be helpful.

2. Correct labeling. You will feel nervous,
we all do at interviews, but you can choose how to interpret that funny feeling
in your tummy and your strongly beating heart. Nervous anxiety or nervous
excitement? They both have exactly the same feelings/symptoms and remember that
this is your dream job, so, choose to label this as excitement J

3. Be active. In the days leading up to
your interview, DO NOT be a couch potato! The funny nervous feeling you
experience are a result of a hormone release into your blood stresm,
activity/exercise help to release these from your system (it can also help you
sleep better and releases endorphins – win – win).

4. Affirmations. Write yourself a list of
positive affirmations and recite them with passion several times a day. Here
are a few affirmation examples;

*I can be amazing in this role

*I look forward to showing the interview
people how I can do this role

*I’m excited to be going for the interview

*This interview is a great opportunity for
me to practice being amazing at interviews

*I’m excited to be able to tell them about
all my relevant skills and knowledge

5. Notice your self talk and thoughts,
correct then whenever needed. Those negative thoughts don’t usually disappear
overnight, like anything that you want to change, it takes a little practice.
So notice whenever a negative thought pops into your head or out of your mouth
and change the wording. i.e. “I feel really nervous about my interview.” Change
to “I was nervous, but now I’m excited to show them that I can do the job
well”.

6. Power pose! Yes, your read that right.
You know that you can tell how someone is feeling by their posture right?
Slumped shoulders, head drooped down, you know they’re not feeling great and no
one wants to feel like that.

You know the postures that show people to
be confident, happy, excited etc don’t you? Well, they are the poses to
practice, winning ones, confident ones. Obviously you don’t want to be throwing
your arms up in the air in the interview as if you are crossing the finishing
line as the winner of a race, but practicing this in the run up to the
interview (even in the loo just prior to the interview) is perfect. You see,
our feelings result in postures, but it also works in reverse, when we adopt
these power poses, they start to change our feelings. Try it, give Mo Farrah’s
pose a go, or throw your arm/arms up in the air like a winner, put your hands
on your hips like the ‘wonder woman’ pose.

7. Remember what this is really about. This
is just an opportunity for you to show the people in the room how well you can
do the job and how you’d like to work with them. This is after all what they
want to hear. Be passionate, it isn’t really about you, its about the job 😉

I hope my tips help, if you feel you could
benefit from a little more help, then hypnotherapy and NLP could be the answer
for you. Consultations to find out more, are free of charge and completely
confidential.

Sally J