Acorn Health Blog

By Rebecca Sheldon – Specialist pregnancy massage therapist

Let’s face it, during pregnancy the majority of women will suffer with some kind of back or pelvic pain. There are lots of little things you can do to ease this discomfort, I hope the following will help you get more comfortable enabling you to enjoy your pregnancy a bit more.

*Use a pregnancy wedge or pillow to help you sleep. There are a selection of cushions & supports available for use during pregnancy. Personally I found a pregnancy wedge & cushion between my legs helped me get more comfortable in bed but lots of mums swear by the pregnancy pillows. The idea of these is to support bump and keep your pelvis in a more neutral position.

*Think about how you move & the tasks you are doing, simply changing the way you get out the car can make a massive difference to pelvis pain (always keep your knees together).

*Try pregnancy yoga, there are regular weekly classes run locally. These focus on relaxation & gentle stretching but also being among other ‘mums to be’ can bring another wealth of knowledge about coping with back & pelvic pain (among other stuff)!

*Get the exercise ball out, these are super comfy for sitting on whilst pregnant & encourage good posture.

*Book a pregnancy massage, great for soothing those aching muscles & relaxing you. Make sure you choose someone who has done an additional pregnancy massage qualification & is insured for pregnancy massage.

*Seek help – let your midwife or GP know that you are suffering with back / pelvic pain; they can refer you to an obstetric physio if they feel it is necessary. They may also be able to discuss different birthing positions that are more suited to those with pelvic pain.

Most importantly don’t be afraid to ask for help from friends or family with tasks that cause you discomfort, pregnancy is hard work & people will be more than willing to help you out.

acornnaturalhealth.co.uk

What you feed your mind determines your appetite

By Sally Race Clinical Hypnotherapist

Sounds strange? Well, its true!
Much like your body, your mind also responds to what it is fed. Eat a healthy nutritious diet and you’ll be healthy (and happier), feed your mind healthy thoughts and the same will happen.

So what do I mean when I say ‘healthy thoughts’?
I’ll give you an example. In my role as a hypnotherapist, I see people who want to change the way they feel. Many of my clients experience anxiety and when I ask them what they want from the hypnotherapy sessions, their answer is often ‘not to feel anxious’ or ‘to get rid of the anxiety’.

Question; What do you want to change in your life? (remember your answer… we’ll comeback to it).

At that point, I put in a rule; your answer must not include any negative words, such as ‘not, don’t, rid, anxiety, stress or anything else that has negative connotations’. So, what do you want?
This is the point that often has people scratching their heads, often starting a sentence and then realising it has a negative word slipping in and stopping again.

Coming back to your answer, are there any negative words in there? if so, can you change it so it contains none?

Why do I do this? Why do I make people sometimes struggle to change that sentence? Because what you think feeds your mind. If your thoughts are full of what you don’t want, then your mind will be too focused on that to focus on what you do.

Experiment: DO NOT THINK OF A BLACK CAT! Whatever you do, don’t let a black cat thought enter your head, no, don’t do it, don’t think of a black cat at all.
So, how was that? did you manage it, or is that furry little feline still in there?
My guess is probably. So if your goal, your desire is to be rid of anxiety and you keep thinking about it in that way, your mind will be focused on anxiety, want it or not.

Time for new healthier thoughts
Our subconscious minds love repetition. Whenever we repeat something (and it doesn’t matter if its a thought, words we speak or hear or something we do), our subconscious mind takes it on board and puts it on autopilot. Eventually we just do/feel/say things without thinking about them. This is brilliant as it means that we can multi task better and be faster, however, if we feed our mind with the wrong things to put onto auto pilot, we automatically end up with that we don’t want.

So its time for change (if you are ready). Every time you catch yourself thinking something in a negative way, STOP. rephrase that thought into a statement of what you want and repeat that instead.

‘I don’t want to be anxious’ could change to; ‘I feel free and happy’
‘Get rid of anxiety’ could change to; ‘I feel more confident and comfortable everyday’.

In essence, feed your mind with what you want and your mind will take you there, maybe not today or tomorrow, but be consistent and it will and you will notice.

acornnaturalhealth.co.uk