Acorn Health Blog

By Laura Kirkman, Professional Sports and Thai Yoga Massage Therapist

Sports massage consists of a range of techniques that are proven to be really effective for alleviating any postural imbalances or to help particular muscles that get stiff and achy and are not performing as well. A postural imbalance can happen from a number of reasons but it generally means a particular group of muscles are being overused or underused and it causes a knock on effect to other muscle groups, as they will have to work harder to compensate for the imbalance. When you have been out of your natural posture for a while it can gradually start to affect you, you could start to feel pain and discomfort in area’s that are usually fine.

So as a Sports Masseuse my main aims are to effectively get the muscles back into a good working order by massage and personalised after care, so that you are back in alignment with your natural posture and feel pain free again. Depending on the state of your muscles, further treatments could be required to get the best possible results for your body. This will include discussing a treatment plan that suits you the best with how frequently you can have treatments and roughly how long you would like to receive them. At the end of each session I will go through stretching and strengthening exercises that can help maintain the effects of the treatment. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference actually doing the exercises can help with your overall treatment!

It could mean a shorter treatment plan if you continue these exercises and if you really implement them into your lifestyle anyway that you can. You will always be feeling better and experiencing less pain than before, you will also have the knowledge to effectively manage your own pain. I will also be much happier to see you in the future as well for any further top-up treatments.

Common professions that would benefit from a Sports Massage include (but are not exclusive to..)
* Desk-based jobs
* Driving jobs or long-driving commutes
* Intensive manual labour jobs
* High-stress jobs
* Health Professionals (Drs, Vets, Therapists etc…)
* Parenthood

I will be covering each one in a little more detail on my next blog (part 2) if any relate to you – please click on and have a read. Finally I just want to say that Sports Massage can help to release the built up tension within your body and it’s my job as a Sports Masseuse to help with that process so that you can feel happier and healthier.

By Anne Marie Allen Reflexologist, Reiki Practitioner & Massage Therapist

From the previous blog we know the base chakra is about the basic survival such as security, health, safety, food, warmth but how can you tell if you’re out of balance…?

Here are seven ways to tell if your base chakra is out of balance:

1. You have hoarding or overeating tendancies.

2. You never feel like you have enough food, money, sex or material possessions often feeling worried about things such as money and work.

3. You often feel restless, you may find it hard to stick to things such as the same job for very long drifting from one thing to another.

4. You often experience feelings of insecurity, anxiety and feeling frightened.

5. You find it hard to let go and trust.

6. You can often find yourself being quite negative and critical either towards yourself or others.

7. You suffer from pain/discomfort in the legs, knees, spine or sciatica. You may have varicose veins.

8. You may have experienced depression or suffer from low moods.

9. Issues concerning bowel problems, constipation frequent need to use the bathroom, impotence can be indicators of your root chakra being out of balance.

10. Problems moving forward in life and/or feeling stuck in a rut.

These are just some of the ways a base chakra imbalance can show itself – the good news is there are so many ways to balance this chakra, throughout April I will be posting daily on my Natural Touch Facebook Page different ways that you can help to balance your base chakra. A balanced base chakra will leave you feeling safe, comfortable, abundant and secure, feeling able to live in the present with passion while moving forward in life.

By Anne Marie Allen Reflexologist, Reiki Practitioner & Massage Therapist

The base chakra also known as the root chakra or Muladhara Chakra is the first chakra and is located at the base of the spine. The base chakra is your foundation – without a balanced base chakra you won’t have the security, stability or rootedness which is needed for true, lasting change.

It is linked to the basic survival needs such as security, survival, warmth, food and safety and the colour of the base chakra is red.

Whether you feel secure and safe now often isn’t the cause of the imbalance, situations from the past even as far back as childhood can be the cause of the imbalance.

Imbalance in the root chakra can show itself as:

Restless, frightened, insecurities, greed, resentfulness, envious, criticism, pushing your body too far, not resting when you need to, gossiping, putting self or others down, negativity, procrastination, problems letting go e.g. fear, mistrust, anxiety, fears, nightmares, constipation, eating disorders, grounding to the earth, living in survival mode all the time, feeling like you can’t get enough. You may also experience problems with food for example overeating or starving, money problems, sex, and hoarding material things.

The root chakra is associated with your:

Colon, bladder lower back, legs, feet, knees, sciatica, prostate, gonads, ovaries, testes and sacrum.

How to balance and heal the base chakra:

There are several ways to balance the base chakra, here a few suggestions you can try but for more information or to book in for a Reiki session to assist you with this please get in touch!

– Yoga

– Meditation

– Sounds

– Colours

– Crystals

– Affirmations

– Essential oils

– Reiki

– Reflexology

– Diet

– Exercise

Special offer – a free Red Jasper Crystal with your Reiki Treatment!

Over the next four weeks I’ll be posting lots of affirmations, tips and blogs to help you balance your base chakra as well as posting some questions that you can think about to help you unearth any blockages and go really deep to find out which beliefs and past experiences are stopping you from moving forward. As from April – when you book in for a Reiki Teatment each person will recieve an organza bag with a Red Jasper Crystal to take away with them and keep absolutely free to help them work with their base chakra balancing! (This only applies to one treatment and expires at the end of April). There will also be weekly competitions to win a free treatment so make sure you don’t forget to like and follow us to ensure you don’t miss a thing.

By Helen Duffy – Nutritional Therapist

Hello! My name is Helen and I am a fully qualified Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist. I trained for three years with the College of Naturopathic Medicine in London and Birmingham and am registered with BANT (British Association of Nutritional Therapists) and the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council) who assure that all their members are well trained, qualified and insured.

So what is Naturopathic Nutritional Therapy and how could it help me?

Some people simply want to check that they are on the right track with healthy eating, a kind of ‘nutrition MOT’ if you like, but most people I see want help with a particular condition or symptoms.

As a Nutritional Therapist, I recognise that each person is an individual with unique requirements and histories. This means that I take the time to explore your current and past health and lifestyle in order to define a personalised nutrition plan designed exactly for you and what you want to achieve rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Nutrition has to be one of the main elements, along with our genes and environment, that determines how our bodies will cope in the world we live in. You often hear the phrase ‘You are what you eat’ and, absolutely, this is so true in many situations. However, there is maybe, a more accurate phrase ‘You are what you absorb’ as many people can seem to eat nutritious, healthful foods, yet still something isn’t quite right. Maybe they still lack energy, still find it difficult to lose weight, still have that annoying PMS each month, still have blood pressure a little bit too high or achy joints in the morning. This may be that regardless of how much nutritious good food you are eating, if your body isn’t able to do something with all that goodness, it’s just passing straight on through (if you know what I mean!).

In a Naturopathic Nutritional Therapy consultation we look beyond a person’s set of symptoms to find the underlying imbalance in the body which is preventing the person from feeling their best. On many occasions, this may lead back to the person’s gut and poor absorption of nutrients due to years of prescription medication, stress or inappropriate food choices, to name a few. Nutritional Therapy works with a person (often alongside their GP and current meds) to rebalance and optimise the body systems in order to achieve health and vitality.

What happens in a consultation?

An initial consultation lasts about an hour and during this time I will need to know as much about your current and past health and lifestyle as possible. We will then identify goals that you would like to work on and agree how much you are prepared to change in your current nutrition habits and lifestyle. I will then develop a personalised plan focussing on these areas which will be sent to you 48 hours after your consultation. There may be some short term nutritional supplements or functional testing recommended so that we can really pinpoint exactly what is going on inside you body and therefore focus your plan more precisely. Most people will work with their plan for 4-6 weeks and then return for a follow-up appointment to see what progress has been made or address any difficulties that have arisen. One important point to make here is that your plan won’t necessarily be about eating less of all the things that you love, it will be about eating better and allowing your body to experience the health and vitality that comes from feeding each and every cell in your body exactly what it needs.

As Hippocrates said, ‘Let food by thy medicine; let medicine be thy food.’ Your body will thank you for it 🙂

For a FREE 15 minute chat to find out how Nutritional Therapy could help you, contact Acorn or email helen.duffy@northstarnutrition.co.uk

www.acornnaturalhealth.co.uk