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 Sally-Anne Marler Creative Awakening Coach, Intuitive & Energy Healer

We all have the ability to tap into a part of ourselves that is wise, supportive, knowledgeable, loving, creative, expansive, all knowing and in tune with our higher good and life purpose. The problem is, we don’t develop this connection and end up rationalising, assuming, second guessing, doing what is expected and taking action based on what we think we should do. As Einstein so rightly points out, we’re forgetting the beautiful gift that lives inside each of us.
I’ve spent a long time, working on and developing the connection to my inner guidance and wanted to share a few things that I’ve discovered in doing this.

1. Your inner guidance can show up in many guises. It can be presented to you as a ‘hunch’ or gut feeling. This is probably the most common form and widely experienced sensation. We’ve all had this feeling at one time in our lives – maybe there’s many times that you can think of but we fail to trust this source and shrug it off, only to find out later we should have gone with our gut!
2. It’s a whisper – not a loud voice in your head. It’s gentle, loving and kind. How many times do you have thoughts that feel quite harsh and self-critical? This is the ego, trying it’s best to keep you safe based on your past experiences by ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Your ego isn’t as you might assume – it’s true nature isn’t based on negativity. It’s what we develop as part of our personalities, as part of our survival kit growing up, our behaviours, defences, coping strategies – all of that is ego. It’s connected to survival and doesn’t care about how you survive, often leaving you feeling frustrated, restricted, untrusting and without much faith or hope. When you start to quieten your mind, however you might do this – with music or meditation or practicing mindfulness – listen out for the quiet whisper and ignore the loud thoughts telling you the latest you can’t, you mustn’t – don’t try or trust…etc, etc.
3. It’s connected to something bigger. We hear more and more about working with the universe and the universal laws that are always at play. The law of attraction is a common one that suggests like attracts like for example. People talk about guardian angels and spirit guides, the divine, then there are Gods. Different ones for different religions that support people’s beliefs in something bigger or a ‘higher source’. The point is that we are part of something bigger – regardless of our beliefs or lack of them. Once we learn how to tap into this ‘higher source’ which we can do through our ‘higher self’ a lot of light bulbs start flashing – well they did for me! It’s like being given a bird’s eye view over your whole life and the ability to objectively review it to make the necessary changes you want and need to move forwards with confidence and meaning. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not an easy process and you can’t ‘short cut’ what you need to face, heal or learn once you embark on this inner journey but I can guarantee you, it’s worth it!

There are many ways to develop your inner guidance and work with it. I developed mine through creativity and expression, metaphor, using oracle cards, meditation, creative visualisation, reflective practice, recognising syncronicities, numerology, astrology, dream interpretations and so on. I’m running a beginners guide workshop to help others connect to their inner guidance system as I feel we need to start honouring the gift not the servant and everyone should have the ability and confidence to tap into their inner guidance to help and support them along the way. If you’d like to book your place please book here to do so – this is running at an early-brid offer of £32 if you book before 7th July. I also offer 1:1 coaching if you’re interested in embarking on an inner journey – my coaching program is called Brilliantly Shine and start from £55 for an introductory session & welcome gift. Perfect if you feel you’re an empath, struggling to connect to meaning or purpose, have regular feelings of sadness, anxiety or depression or just wanting to learn more about yourself, increase confidence and self-awareness.

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.