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 Laura Kirkman, Professional Sports and Thai Yoga Massage Therapist
Sports Massage is very useful at identifying postural imbalances as well as getting to the root cause of why you’re experiencing pain in a certain area. A postural imbalance in itself can cause pain for certain individuals but left untreated could turn into chronic pain. Just so you know having a postural imbalance can affect absolutely anybody, any age, any gender, any career path!

So what I’m proposing to you is why not try a course of Sports Massage instead of being on pain relieving medication for the rest of your life. A course of Sports Massage Treatment could be a couple of sessions or over a couple of months or even over a year, as our bodies respond differently to treatment and we are all unique to our physical ailments and how they effect us so there is not a one treatment plan fits all.

A course of Sports Massage starts off with a detailed consultation to find out more about your lifestyle, your occupation, what pain you’re experiencing and what you would like to achieve. We will then talk about a plan together to see how often you can come as I know massage can be seen as a luxury but my prices are very reasonable so hopefully I have something to suit all. Each treatment I do is tailored specifically for you, with the pressure as light or as deep as you like, I like to work within your pain threshold. After the treatment I can demonstrate stretches and strengthening exercises, which can really help minimise and manage your own pain at home whilst going through the treatment process.

Here is some info on postural imbalances as I’m sure it sounds a bit scary for some but don’t worry, as it’s not. A postural imbalance can occur just from day to day life and it may not create pain for everybody. A good way to explain it is almost like how your sub conscious mind works but transfer it to the body, so its positions and postures that the body gets used to that aren’t necessarily good for your posture. The longer this happens without your attention been brought to it you drift further away from the bodies natural alignment, when not in alignment or balance this is when you can start experiencing pain. In general when your made aware of it you can then actively start to change these postures and positions.

Get in contact today to arrange you’re free no obligation Consultation to see if this course of Treatment could benefit you.

Written by Laura Kirkman

A Sports and Thai Yoga Massage Therapist based at Acorn Natural Health Centre

By Laura Kirkman, Professional Sports and Thai Yoga Massage Therapist

How did the receiver of Sports Massage get tight achy muscles in the first place?

All the examples listed below are based on my personal experiences of working with different clients through out my career so far and what I’ve found to be common problem areas with certain roles. I’ve tried to categorise them to cover a lot of different roles and I do apologise if I’ve missed some out.

Desk-based jobs

This covers literally any job that involves sitting at a desk. By sitting down at a desk for the majority of your week, this can put stress on the shoulder and neck muscles from typing, focusing on your screen and most likely slouching. Speaking of typing, in some cases people can even get repetitive strain (tendinitis) in their wrists and forearms. From being in the seated position this can also have a big effect on your thigh muscles and the lower back, as overtime the muscles get use to being in this position and can get gradually shorter and tighter.

Driving jobs or long driving commutes

Your body is in a similar position to someone doing a desk-based job so you may have similar problem areas but driving will have a bigger impact on your body. It is common when driving manual to utilise parts of your body more than others, which can put extra strain on the muscles that are used more frequently. For example your left leg for the clutch, left hand for gears and not to mention the rotation of the neck when performing manoeuvres.

Intensive manual labour jobs

This includes electricians, plumbers, builders, plasterers, and tillers Etc. These kinds of jobs may seem great because they are rather physical but apart from that a lot of the work can be very repetitive, usually requiring the tradesman to be in awkward positions and spaces for long periods of time which is not the norm for the body. Some of these jobs may require the use of one dominant hand, which will cause an imbalance to the body as one side gets stronger and the other side can get stiff from the lack of use. Also remember some of these tradesman will also have to drive a long way to do a job as well and be affected by long commutes too. The muscle groups that are affected will vary with the trade.

High Stressed Jobs

Do you have lots of deadlines to reach that can sometimes seem inhumanely possible? Or your job is based in a fast paced stressful environment like any of the many roles in the food or retail industry? If you’re not relaxed and happy and feeling stressed in your workplace the majority of the time, your workplace qualifies as a stressful environment. Stress has many numerous negative effects on the body but today we will keep it muscle related. One of the most common areas affected by stress is the neck and shoulders as most people unconsciously hunch and hold their shoulders up causing tight and knotted muscles in the shoulders, which then in turn effects the neck causing it to be tight which can then in some cases lead to tension headaches.

Health Professionals

Doctors, vets, nurses, hair dressers and groomers alike are sometimes under huge amounts of stress (depending on what your role entails), each day to help and care for others but often in the process they forget to care for themselves. Some of these jobs could involve being on your feet for long periods of time, wearing correct footwear can help a lot but this can still have a big effect on the leg muscles. Some of these roles can involve desk time and probably a lot of it as well with a big workload to take care of which relates back to other examples. Let’s not forgot the roles, which involve moving heavy or non-heavy objects/people/animals even with the health and safety measures to how you do this correctly and it can still definitely have a big toll on all the muscle groups that are used in this actions in the long run.

Post Pregnancy and Parenthood

Whilst your body is going through pregnancy and in the later stages of the baby growing, your body is constantly adapting to the babies weight and size. So your centre of gravity is constantly off balance and can take some time for the body to get back to normality afterwards. The muscles that are greatly affected through all this changes to the female body are the majority of the back and the majority of the leg muscles. As these are the muscles that adapt the most to help the female body be able to carry a baby and still be able to move around, also the back muscles are probably achy from not being able to sleep properly at night time.

Then into parenthood you now have this little precious bundle of joy that requires you as a parent to pick up a lot and to also pick up after them. So your body is now doing all these extra movements that the body is just not use to yet. Well your arms are probably going to be the first thing you notice are now in pain more often, followed closely by the rest of your body and lest not mention the effects that lack of sleep does to us.

Sports People in all your glorious forms

Even though this is an article looking at certain roles that aren’t sport but there is also an equal amount of sports people that would probably benefit from a sports massage. Sports people; regular gym goers, joggers/runners, all types of contact sport, football, swimming, hiking, cycling, semi pro to pro athletes and any other sports. Whatever your status sometimes help is required to help you perform better, shorter recovery time or to help with an injury. Sports Massage can help pre and post event to help your muscles warm up or to assist with cooling down. Through sports massage I can help identify areas that you need to work on more, either by stretching or strengthening techniques. As each sports person in their own field uses very different muscle groups to one another I cannot provide an example of which muscle areas are affected the most.

So what do we need to think about…

Most of the modern lifestyles don’t allow the time for you to truly look after yourself and to connect with your body. Sports Massage can help to release the built up tension and to help you feel happier and healthier. Maybe enough to motivate you to going to that gym or yoga class you always wanted to try, start going on regular walks in nature. No matter what you do in life always try to look after your body as you only have one and it’s best to take care of it.