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Acorn Health Blog

What we love is great health...

...and we like to write about how we can all achieve better health, naturally. Sometimes tips on how you can DIY to better health and sometimes on the therapies that can make a difference to you, your health and wellbeing.
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Meditation Musings with Eileen

Workshops & Classes Posted by JadwigaPosted on Thu, February 23, 2023 11:21AM

Meditation?? Nah, not got the time for all that!!

By Eileen Strong

Facts of life:  we’re all busy!

So you’ve heard all about the potential physical and mental health benefits of Meditation.  It is, after all, always being featured in the latest Health & Wellness magazines, E-zines, Blogs, Pods, Celebrity “secrets of my success” interviews, etc etc etc.

BUT .. you’re busy! Life is hectic! It’s full of demands on your time that you simply cannot escape from and you’re pretty full on already without trying to cram something else in.  Sound like you?  We’re all the same in that respect.  Life can be pretty full on and we all have stuff to do, and roles to fulfil: carer, worker, brother, sister, mother, father, lover, worker, student, house-keeper, shopper, run-a-round, rescuer … I bet you could probably add a few more roles to that list of your own. 

And if you know you’re a bit of a stress-head, or you suffer with anxiety, overwhelm, overthink, or stress-related symptoms of illness,  you will most probably already  SUSPECT that Meditation would probably be a good thing for you to get into … BUT .. you’re busy!!! You’re just never going to fit it into your already busy, hectic day! 

Well, let’s see if we can help you find a way, because as the famous quote by Henry Ford/Buddha/Yoda/OtherGuru goes ….

“If you want to get something different from what you’ve always got,

you’ve got to do something different from what you’ve always done”

So, back to last month’s Meditation Questions on what the whole idea of Meditation is for you, how long do you think you need in order to Meditate?   1 or 2 hours of sitting cross-legged on a cushion on the floor with an empty mind, humming “Ommmmmm” to yourself?

Well, that is an option for you.  And that IS a practice for many thousands of people who regularly meditate.  If you read our Acorn newsletter last month, you’ll recall the 3 simple factors I highlighted about Meditation that everyone should know and none of them are difficult.  And there are also many many MANY different ways to DO Meditation.  We mentioned a few of those last month too.  (Here’s the link for last month’s blog on Meditation if you want to check back for a 3 minute read:   Meditation: What’s it mean to you?)

What’s all this mean for me? 

What all this means is  that simply by  INTENDING to do it, we can shift ourselves PDQ from our busy, stressy, doing, fretting, over-thinking, over-worrying state, and within a minute or so,  drop into what I call a more “meditative state of being”.  i.e. being calm, focused, yet relaxed.  Yep .. in just a minute or so. 

How cool is that? And -more importantly – how many minutes are there in a whole day?

Well, 24 hours in a day.  Let’s delete 8 hours of those for a good night’s sleep (Meditation can help you with that too, by the way, if you need it!) which still leaves 16 hours with 60 minutes in every hour.  Let’s do the math. 16 hours x 60 mins = a whopping 960 minutes.  Could you promise yourself just  1, 2, or 3 mins of that, every day, to introduce some regular Meditation into your life.  Just 1, 2 or 3 mins for YOU?  Investing in YOUR physical and mental health?  You – you beautiful soul –  deserve that at the very least, and I know you can do that, with just a bit of determination.  So why not give it a go?

HOW, exactly, can you fit it into a busy day?

Well, take a look at your day.  It might seem absolutely rammed full of all that “stuff” you have to do.  Think about all the routines, or little habits, that you already have in place in your day.

Morning face-wash, morning cuppa, breakfast, morning dog-walk/school run, mid morning coffee break, lunch break. How about the afternoon, tea-time, time to exercise, evening family time, pre-bed relax time, bed-time.  Look at all those habits and routines you already have in place .. and ask yourself, where can I add (or include) 1, 2 or 3 mins to just stop and BREATHE?  And if you’ve got more time, like a whopping whole 5 or 10 mins YOU time, try it then too?  

So what do I do then, if its all so easy?

 Of course, there’s a bit more to meditation to simply stopping, and breathing.  Or .. is there?  Well, it’s a great place to start.   You might be quite surprised what a difference just that teensy little 1, 2 or 3 minutes can make.

Literally, just STOP, and BREATHE.  This is a very mindful practice.  It’s a great place to start, really it is!  Could you do it for the next 7 days? 

Why  not give it a whirl.  Let  us know how you get on with this!  We’d love to know!

Want to learn more?

I’m delighted to be hosting a monthly meditation class here at Acorn in the studio.  If you’re fairly local to Heanor, why not come along and join us. 

 It’s very friendly, informal and welcoming .. and you’ll learn loads about Meditation, how to do it, get to practice it, and meet some other folks too who are finding out more about it just like you, and beginning to reap the rewards of it in their lives. 

This isn’t a same-old same-old class either; we don’t do anything by halves here at Acorn Natural Health Centre!!

Regular members of the class can expect to:

  • Get well practised in the basics of a solid Meditation practice for use at home and other times in your day!
  • Practise  different Meditation techniques (there are hundreds; that should keep us going for a while!!) A great opportunity to just have a go!  Have fun with it too, why not?
  • Enjoy a beautiful, relaxing Guided Meditation every month (a different theme each month, usually aligned with the seasons, for some variety!)
  • Meet guest Meditation Teachers from time to time whom I invite along to join us so you get a fresh perspective and new experience .. all good!
  • And other exclusive bonuses just for class regulars.

To pre-book your place on Eileen’s upcoming monthly Meditation classes, visit EileenStrongCoaching-Events and buy a ticket,  or for any extra help with anything discussed in this Blog,  contact her direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com



SPECIALIST WELLNESS DAYS at Acorn – how can we help you?

General Health & Wellbeing, Therapies Posted by JadwigaPosted on Thu, February 23, 2023 10:47AM

By Eileen Strong 21/2/23

Last  month, we shared with you our idea for hosting specialist “Wellness Days” at Acorn.    Each of our Practitioners has some very specific specialist skills, experience and knowledge that can be combined with a genuine passion to help you, dear reader, enjoy an awesome Wellness Day experience that we know you will love.

This initiative was initially inspired by World Cancer Day .. with a wonderful team of specialists here at Acorn who are super-passionate about helping people on their “cancer wellness journey”.  So whether you (or a loved one) are experiencing treatment now … or, are now fully in remission and have experienced the rigors of cancer treatment in the past .. we CARE! 

Yet we want to find out how we can absolutely create a beautifully supportive, nurturing, and practical  experience for you at Acorn that will help you fill in any gaps that perhaps have been missed so far .. a bit of extra support if you need it, brainstorming, inspiration, motivation, pure TLC … treating you as a whole person, mind body and spirit. 

So once again, may we invite our readers who have any experience of Cancer to participate in our Survey.  Thank you to everyone of you who took the time to do that last month, we really appreciate what you have shared with us so far.  And of course, we’ll be branching out into other specialist areas too !! 

Help us to help you .. and others too – complete our Survey

Please take just 2 minutes out of your busy day to  click below to complete this very short, concise Survey – it will help us to plan and select our Top 3 most  important services that we’ll offer to our clients on the Wellness Day.

Click to Complete Cancer Wellness Day Survey

Just fill in the survey, then click SUBMIT.  You’ll receive a confirmation from JOTFORM to let you know it’s been sent.    Thank you so much for taking the time!  We really appreciate your help.  (Feel free to remain anonymous on the form if you prefer to do so, but if you do share your name and email address, we’re happy to get back to you personally)

Alternatively, please email me direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com to register your interest and receive the survey direct to your inbox.



Meditation Musings with Eileen

Workshops & Classes Posted by JadwigaPosted on Thu, January 26, 2023 10:33AM

Meditation .. what’s it mean to You anyway?

By Eileen Strong

Did you know .. that there are 100’s of different ways to “do” Meditation?

I was talking to a guy just before Christmas who had been warned by his GP that he really needed to get his blood pressure a bit lower.    I asked him if he’d ever done any Meditation, or had he thought of learning how to do it, because Meditation can and does tick all the health and wellbeing boxes for the majority of people who try it and get into a regular practice of some sort. Lowering blood pressure is just one of many of those benefits.

  “Oh no,” he said, shaking his head.   “I’m not into all that kind of hippy-woo stuff!”

And I thought to myself, oh, that’s such a shame, if only you’d just give it a try! And what did he mean by “hippy-woo stuff” anyway?

Well, I do know what he means by “hippy-woo!”  Many people think of the social revolution of the 1960’s/early 70’s when they hear the word Meditation, and associate it with .. well, whatever else he associates it with that doesn’t appeal to him about hippies or woo.

Isn’t it a peculiar thing how we all seem to have our own different ideas about Meditation.  I mean, what is it that pops into your head when you hear the word “Meditation”?  

A Tibetan Monk sitting in a cave? 

Maybe a hippy with a guitar, smoking a joint?
Or maybe it means  “meditating” on a problem, and being in deep thought?

Or engaging in some kind of religious prayer or pagan ritual perhaps?

Or maybe you do Yoga or Tai Chi and  just associate Meditation with those or some other relaxing practices.

Truth is, it’s all those things, and more.  There are moving, walking, talking, dancing, sitting, standing, cross-legged, singing, talking, humming, Omming, out-of-body, pain-relief, mindful, compassionate … and a whole lot more Meditations!  Meditations you can do in a minute, or over a couple of hours?

And you know, every different “sort” has it’s own rewards and it’s own benefits. 

I first starting teaching Meditation in 2014 and I like to keep things simple and easy to do.  Maybe I’m just a bit lazy like that.  But why make life more complicated that we need to?

So,  I personally just like to highlight 3 things that 98% of different meditation practices have in common.

Simple Fact No 1: We all breathe while we’re doing it.  Yep. Otherwise, we wouldn’t still be here having this conversation right now.

Simple Fact No 2: We can all attain and enjoy deeper states of calmness and peace while we’re doing it.

Simple Fact No 3: We are mentally alert, yet physically relaxed while we’re doing it.

When we meditate, we can shift ourselves out of our busy, stressy, doing, fretting, over-thinking, over-worrying state, and – simply by deciding to do so – drop into what I call a more “meditative state of being”.  i.e. being calm, focused, yet relaxed.

Even just knowing we can shift from stress-mode to relaxed-mode within the space of 60 seconds is empowering in itself! Would you agree? 

Did you even realise you can do that?

And would you like to find out how easy it can be to do that too?

And, then some, what ARE all those health and wellbeing benefits of Meditation anyway?

We hear about it all the time these days in health and wellbeing circles everywhere, you’ll find it practiced all over the world, and it’s been around for 1000’s of years!  So, there must be something to it, right.

Would you like to find out more about Meditation and how you can easily learn to do it for yourself?

Why  not come along to the monthly Meditation Class that I host here at Acorn.

It’s very friendly, informal and welcoming .. and you’ll learn loads about Meditation, how to do it, and meet some other folks too who are finding out more about it just like you.   

And  before I finish, I’d like to add that I still go to other meditation classes myself too! 

The day we think we know it all

is the day we stop learning.

Would you agree? When there’s 100’s of different ways to “do” it, why just stop there?!

To pre-book your place on Eileen’s upcoming Meditation classes, visit EileenStrongCoaching-Events  or contact her direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com for more information.



WORLD CANCER DAY – 4 Feb – how can we help you?

General Health & Wellbeing Posted by JadwigaPosted on Thu, January 26, 2023 10:26AM

By Eileen Strong 25/1/23

The  “Hidden Costs of Cancer”

I’m very pleased to be able to be able to offer what I refer to as “cancer wellness” and “cancer support” services to those who are on their cancer journey.  I refer to it as “Cancer Journey” because even if a person experienced surgery or cancer treatment in the past, and is now living and enjoying life to the max while in remission from cancer, the treatment process itself can leave a person with many after-effects that leave them feeling very different from “who I was before Cancer”. 

I was really interested to find that this is the theme MacMillan Cancer Support is using this year in recognition of World Cancer Day on Feb 4.  

If this resonates with you, you may like to find out more about that from MacMillan direct.  Here is an extract and link to their website . 

MacMillan Cancer Support
For World Cancer Day on 4 February, we’re talking about the hidden costs of cancer. Alan, Helen and Judith share their stories about going through cancer and some of the challenges people may not be aware of”. Click here to visit MacMillan World Cancer Day

Using this as  a timely theme for this year’s World Cancer Day, I would really like to reach out to you if you are one of those people  on their “Cancer Journey” and invite your feedback .. because here at Acorn, we’d like to be able to do more to help you too.

Our “Cancer Wellness” Initiative at Acorn

We’ve got a team of Practitioners here who want to hear how we can do that.  This is an exciting initiative  for us, because whilst we are already providing a number of cancer wellness services, it helps us to raise awareness of the some of the lesser known challenges of living with the effects – and after-effects – of cancer treatment.  

Let’s just have a quick chat about some of those very same challenges  that my own cancer-journey clients, family members, friends and colleagues have discussed with me.  You might find some of them quite surprising .. and this really is just scratching the surface: 

  • Ooh ssshhhh don’t use that C World! ?!  Some of us really feel very very uncomfortable about using that “C” word. I mean C as in Cancer of course.  Nobody is denying that a cancer diagnosis IS a serious thing and something we don’t like to have shoved in our faces.  But then, 30 years ago, we had the same issue with Mental Health.  Oooh, don’t talk about it; just bung folks in a mental health hospital and give them electric shock treatment; that should sort the job out. Shouldn’t it? Well no,  but it seems that there was a real stigma about mental health issues at that time; when only now are we being more open about it, with celebrities and even royalty openly discussing their mental health needs.  Is it the same for the “C” word now?  Take a deep breath. Just say it. It’s cancer.  It’s not necessarily terminal.  The more we find out about cancer with the advancement of technology and science, the more people are surviving it and living longer.  There are more cancer survivors than ever before.
  • Social Needs – Following diagnosis, you notice that some friends or colleagues “go quiet” when you walk in the  room, or even cross the road, when they see you (or your immediate family) coming. “They just don’t know what to say to me”.  Imagine how this might  feel if it happened to you, whether in good health or otherwise.
  • Victor V Victim Mindset  – Close family, or members of your immediate “social support” circle keep telling you how sorry they are to hear about your terrible diagnosis .. when what you want to hear is less Doom and Gloom and a more pragmatic approach, because you don’t want to feel like a helpless victim; you want to feel optimistic and positive, not negative and disempowered.
  • Not Walking On Eggshells – Your brave ever-smiley face is actually .. just a brave, ever-smiley face.  You’re feeling a lot more inner turmoil than you care to admit.  But you haven’t found a way to let yourself be your authentic self, and just let your mind-body-emotions connect. It’s more important to be the strong one who holds it all together, just like you always have done.   Does that sound like you?
  • Rebuilding Body Strength and Resilience – Following treatment, your digestive tract has been damaged; sexual intercourse is uncomfortable (even if you feel  like doing it), you are constantly managing fluid retention and risk of oedema; not to mention wrestling with your new false teeth and lack of salivary glands.  You didn’t find out about all that till later.
  • Hormones have gone haywire and you feel a bit like an emotional omelette. Your fuse is short, and your sense of humour seems to have done a complete by-pass.  Your energy levels also dip and dive leaving you slightly manic or low and depressed in a heartbeat. Where did that “old you” ever go? 
  • Mental health; recurrent ruminating that affects your sleep patterns .. The memory of the day you got your diagnosis still haunts you; the look on your doctor’s face, the tone of voice, the words .. even after years in remission. Ugh.
  • Loss of Confidence , Self Esteem, and Poor Body Image … we get that don’t we even when we feel relatively healthy.   When you’re trying to find a way to come to terms with the now you, these are just some of the challenges you may experience. 

And the list goes ever on.  This really is – as I said before – just scratching the surface.  Everyone’s experience is different, and unique to them.

 Thing is, you’ve survived it all, and you are still here .. and you want to stay here too and live as full and active a life as you possibly can.  

Tell us how we can help you?

Do any of those specific challenges above resonate with you? Some of the key resources we can help support you with are:

  1. Safe, specialist, massage & comfort-touch based relaxational therapy
  2. Nutritional advice to specifically address minimization of symptoms during treatment and promoting after-treatment recovery
  3. Counselling to help strengthen body image, rebuilding self-esteem and confidence, dealing with loss and grief
  4. Expert Relationship Advice to help navigate the stress, strain, and even breakdown of relationships – our nearest and dearest can worry inconsolably about us, and they feel some stress and strain too. 
  5. Guided visualization and meditation techniques to help creative a positive mindset and induce the proven power of your own inner mind-brain-body medicine.
  6. Gain insights into your body’s energetic (bio-resonant) frequencies and overall energy image, to highlight which areas might need some extra TLC as you move forward on the next part of your health and wellbeing journey. 

The beauty of this offering can be that it helps to significantly reduce the overwhelm of knowing where to exert your energy and resources at a time when you need it most.

Help us to help others – complete our Survey

Please take just 2 minutes out of your busy day to  click below to complete this very short, concise Survey – it will help us to plan and select our Top 3 most  important services that we’ll offer to our clients on the Wellness Day.

Click to Complete Cancer Wellness Day Survey

Just fill in the survey, then click SUBMIT.  You’ll receive a confirmation from JOTFORM to let you know it’s been sent.   Thank you so much for taking the time!  We really appreciate your help.  (Feel free to remain anonymous on the form if you prefer to do so, but if you do share your name and email address, we’re happy to get back to you personally)

Alternatively, please email me direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com to register your interest and receive the survey direct to your inbox.

For  more  about Eileen, visit EileenStrongCoaching.com



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