Acorn Health Blog

By Eileen Strong Therapeutic Massage & Holistic Complementary Therapist

What is meditation anyway?

It’s really just a state of being when your mind becomes quieter. You have less thoughts per minute. That doesn’t sound like much until you stop and notice how many thoughts you are having every minute! If you try sitting down with a piece of paper, and mark it with a tick every time a new thought comes along, you will see what I mean.

So when you notice the noise and chatter in your mind, you can simply decide to slow things down so you feel less bombarded by them. When you learn to meditate, you learn to listen to your thoughts in a different way, observe them and manage them, so they begin to feel less overwhelming.

Your brain has a range of different operating frequencies, depending on what you are doing in the course of your day. I like to think of this like the gears of a car that you adjust to travel smoothly at the speed you need. So as your mind grows quieter and more calm, it begins to slow down though it’s gears and that, in turn, triggers the activation of many wonderful chemical/hormonal reactions in your body that have a whole range of benefits.

And as your mind and body become more relaxed and balanced, your emotions benefit too. This is why the holistic approach to health and wellbeing is so effective, because then benefit the whole person, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually.

So its win-win really. It can just take a little practice. There are different types and styles of meditation, so it’s worth trying as many as you can to find which works best for you. Here are just a few of the recorded benefits:

– It reduced levels of stress and anxiety

– Helps reduce physical pain and boost the immune system

– Lowers blood pressure

– Increases blood flow to the brain and improves your powers of concentration

– Promotes deep sleep

– Balances the emotions

– Helps your develop deeper self awareness

Developing a regular meditation practice, either daily or a few times a week, even for 5 or 10 minutes (whatever you can manage in your routine) can really make a difference.

You learn techniques during meditation that you can embrace within the rest of your day, to help you feel calmer and less pulled about by the people and the world around you.

And of course, the more you feel like that, the better decisions you make.

And the better decisions you make, the better your life becomes. Simples.

So why not give meditation a try. At Acorn, my classes use guided meditation/visualisation with a focus not only on relaxation, but also on self healing , empowerment and positive life changes.

We also have special guest teachers along from time to time so that you can experience other types of meditation too (such as our very popular Zen Meditation night last year with my good friend Jibul from Peak Zen .. and we have a few more lined up too, so do keep your eyes peeled for those!)

Here’s our upcoming dates:

Introduction to Meditation Weds 11 April 7-8 pm £8

Suitable for new starters and people who are a bit rusty, an informative and experiential evening. What is meditation? How do you do it? Why would you want to? And could it be fun?

4-Part Series – Meditations for Wellbeing Weds 2, 9, 16, 23 May 7-8 pm £7 /£20 prebooked

Meditations that cover a mind, body, spirit and emotions them to give you a broad experience and plenty of benefits.

NEW Monthly Meditation Mastery Class Weds 7 March, Weds 4 April 7-8pm £7 / block book discount available

A regular monthly class for people who have had some experience and are making meditation a part of their daily life, to help you become the master of your meditation practice. Guest teachers from time to time.

Do get in touch with us to register your interest and book a place. Pay on the night.

Contact Eileen direct on 07745 409059, email eileen@eileenstrong.co.uk or Acorn.

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!

By Mark Clutton, Clinical Hypnotherapist & Mindfulness Teacher

We all know what relaxation means ……but what about Mindfulness? Mindfulness has been getting a lot of publicity in the last several years and pops up in all walks of life from schools to large corporations.

What is it?

It’s a collection of techniques to help us retrain our brains from going into automatic behaviours and thought patterns linked to the “flight or flight/stress” responses that causes us to become anxious, have negative repetitive thoughts and keep triggering our stress hormones. When we get like this we are frequently living in our heads, locked into patterns of negative behaviour, irritability, feeling overwhelmed etc

NB – it is not a spiritual/religious practice.

Some definitions of mindfulness:

– Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

– A state of psychological freedom that occurs when the attention remains quiet, without attachment to any particular point of view.

– Waking up from a life lived on automatic pilot and based in habitual reacting.

– Mindfulness is the ability to make choices to respond rather than react and not fall prey to habitual reactive patterns.

– A way of treating yourself with kindness and compassion reducing self criticism, not judging your thoughts, or yourself, or your emotions. Applying these techniques to others in your life.

– Becoming aware of what is going on in your head – and not taking the bait.

What about Relaxation?

– Freeing the body and mind from tensions & anxiety.

– Consciously using the mind to relax the body and direct the stream of thoughts.

– A physical and mental state where the body is still and the mind is focused on particular internal imagery whilst being detached from, but aware of, the immediate surroundings.

So what are the benefits of using these techniques? What can they do for you?

– Decreases stress, anxiety and irritability.

– Memory function improves, increases in physical & mental stamina.

– Improved immune system, brain functioning, improves mood.

– Can assist cardio vascular function, and with reducing hypertension.

I’m currently running workshops that will cover the basic techniques, give you the opportunity to experience them and try them out, learn real world skills to help you control your stress and anxiety levels and reap the benefits of a different way of experiencing the world. You will also learn what mindfulness is not, and its limitations.

Course materials will be provided as part of the cost. To book in for the next available workshop click here. For more information get in touch!

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