Is it the physical brought on by the emotional?

As a therapist of 15 years I have treated people from all walks of life, ‘Is the physical brought on by the emotional’ is something I ask myself with every patient I see. Not that I necessarily tell them that but I will listen to their story of why they seek my help and make little notes in my head!

It’s an interesting dilemma especially when the physical discomfort is so acute or chronic depending on its manifestation.

Reflection I find is a really powerful tool that can work for everyone and helps me process my experiences. I once had a patient come and see me for a food intolerance test. He presented me with symptoms of constant headaches, pain in his sinuses, cheek bones aching, stomach issues possibly IBS and always fatigued with his sleep sometimes completely erratic. He had private health care and which afforded him to have lots of tests done, however no problems with stomach or sinuses showed up in any test.

Our conversation during the session enabled me to find out about his diet, which was relatively healthy apart from a lot of coffee, his life style including work and leisure time. On the whole the allergy/food intolerance test showed that some foods were a problem but nothing that really could cause all his apparent symptoms. Aside for the test I ran, I found out that he had a really stressful job which, in all honesty he wasn’t enjoying at all, he didn’t want to be living in England as he was previously based in New York for 6 years and had built a life there when he was suddenly forced to move due to the bank he worked for going bankrupt!

I discussed foods to cut down on, coffee being one and as I am also a homeopath I gave him some remedies to take. I also suggested that he come and have some Cranio-sacral therapy with me, as I thought that this was more an issue to do with how he expressed his stress. I thought his body was expressing his stress physically and that it did not necessarily mean that was something medically wrong. I always advised him that seeking medical advice was necessary to rule out anything sinister was always a good thing, as I’m no doctor!

So we embarked on Cranio-sacral therapy which is a treatment where I listen with my hands to bone movement, tissue movement and fluid movement within the patient’s body to work out where the body is holding onto any restrictions. His first session was amazing. My findings which the patient confirmed experienced tightness in many bones of the head and his fluid tide, being his cranial sacral fluid, was really low therefore I could understand his constant tiredness.

What was completely funny was that he thought that I was giving him a head massage, but when I told him that I was not moving my hands at all and that was his own head moving, he did not believe me! In fact, as we continued with weekly sessions, I had to give him a mirror to prove that I was not moving my hand’s, because the sensations he was experiencing was so strong!

What was discovered was that he was under so much stress that his head, which was causing the most discomfort went into this pattern of behaviour, causing the headaches, cheek bones aching and his sinuses constantly blocked and not draining, especially when his stress was high, which was for him most of the time. What the Cranio-sacral sessions did was change his bodies’ pattern of behaviour, so relieving the pressure in his head when his stress took over.

It really is amazing what our bodies do under stress and after 2 months of medical tests, which all came back as negative, we changed his chronic condition and physical manifestations of stress. But over-all, for him it was about him understanding how his mental stress evoked this physical response and how he needed to have that recognition and not think there was something drastically wrong with him physically.

I think  many of us don’t understand our bodies and it may well be because we spend so much time in our heads, being in mental or emotional state that we forget to check in with our physical selves to see whether or not there is a connection. Most times we don’t understand that connection but it still amazes me how having a couple of sessions of cranio-sacral helps get the patient to comprehend the symbiotic relationship and change how our bodies express trauma physically.

Claire

I have had a hard year and had to make some adjustments to be able to continue doing what I do best, being a therapist and being able support my clients who come to me with their own stress issues.

I have passed the clinic over to a new company, The Docklands Clinic who will be expanding it and making it look brand new again! The good news is that myself and my therapists will still be based at the clinic and will continue to see clients and give them the support they need. I am looking forward to being able to just do my treatments and not be involved in running the clinic as Exceptional Health. I am also excited at working with the Docklands Clinic and supporting them in the new venture. Please note their web site www.thedocklandsclinic.co.uk and have a look to see what they have on offer for you.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported me over the last 7 years and I hope to continue offering the exceptional treatments by a team of professional therapists.

Nothing much will change as you will still be able to contact the clinic on the same number and e-mail on the same address at info@exceptionalhealth.co.uk. the schedule will be as follows for treatments:

Tuesday 5pm – 8pm- Angelina Pfeifera-  Sports massage

Wednesday 10am – 6pm – Claire Stiling- Deep tissue massage, Cranio-sacral therapy, Homeopathy, Allergy testing

Wednesday 5pm-8pm – Lin Mirams- Acupuncture

Friday 10am – 8pm -  Claire Stiling – Deep tissue massage, Cranio-sacral therapy, Homeopathy, Allergy testing.

I am also looking to bring in more therapists so please look at web site for more information of whats happening.

I look forward to seeing you all at The Docklands Clinic.

Well alot has gone on and yes my teeth are still quite white which I think is great on how long the treatment lasts, Amanda did say I was to do a follow up session as she would like to take my teeth a little more whiter! I really will think then that I should live in Hollywood!

I have been very busy trying to get Exceptional Health full with more therapists and offer more of a range of treatments. I am happy to say that Laser Active have joined us (www.laser-active.co.uk ) and also Nataliya Robinson (www.perfectskin.org.uk) has joined also and is offering a range of beauty treatments, some which appeared on 10 years younger on Channel 4, this I may well have a go at! All the information of treatments are on our website. Both are offering introductory offers so don’t derlay in taking advantage of their offers.

Lastly I have just skyped my brother in the USA, to wish him a belated birthday only to realise it was today and the date was wrong on my watch! He is at the hospital with his wife, who is expecting her 3rd child, and although the due date is the 20th they have decided to have an induction today! I think its because its a boy thing, same birthdays and also we can do pretty much what we want to change nature nowadays! Do I agree with it, not at all as I feel that childbirth is such a natural thing that to do it that way is much better for mother and child! It still amazes me how much society today designs the way they we have babies, scary!

I hope to write on this more regularly, she says!! Claire

Now that I have had it done, to which it took 3 months for Amanda from Ice Whitening to convince me to have a go. I was worried that my crowns, to which my top front teeth  are would not change and I would be left with strange looking coloured teeth at the front! (And just for the record, they are crowned because I knocked them out as a clumsy kid, not because I was fighting nor eating lots of sweets!) Well impressed I am, in truth I had nothing to worry about at all.

The procedure is quite simple, not at all painful and some would say it stopped me from talking for an hour!! Amanda, checked my teeth, explained everything she was doing and the reasons why. She made me feel very at ease and like it was the most normal thing to have done!! I even manged to have a little nap. The laser comes in 15 minute bursts, and then teeth are checked each time and the gel is put on the teeth again then the laser does its work, all really simple and completely pain free.

After, all I had to do was rinse my mouth and smile! What must be done after is a white food diet, which I can’t deny I have found hard to do, but trust me when I say, it’s really important to do. Why I have struggled is because I am quite anal about eating vegetables and fruit and because I am not allowed them I just want them even more!

So I can highly recommend it to anyone, its safe, non-invasive and the practitioner is lovely. Treatments are available here and their web site is www.IceWhitening.co.uk

Will I have again in about 3 months time, yes why not! Claire

I had my daughter in July 04 and I can honestly say it was a fantastic experience and I did not go through the NHS at all! Nor, did I go through the private route either as I certainly could not afford £4,500.00 to have an independent mid-wife. I was lucky enough to have a friend/colleague who was a mid-wife and said years ago that if ever I got pregnant she would be my mid-wife, so took her up om her offer.

My main reason for opting out of the NHS, anti-natel classes, reading any kind of book was because of all the years I have been treating pregnancy I listened to all the fear that women were feeling about what could happen and also I was birth partner to a friend of mine, who had her son in hospital. She was 3 weeks late and the doctors threw so much fear at her for not wanting to be induced I could see the stress mounting!

Child birth has been performed for thousands and thousands of years and is  the most natural phenomenas going. Because we know so much more science and how our bodies work, women have so much information at their finger tips and one can google anything! My only issue with the whole information knowledge is how it incurred the fear and therefore more stress throughout.

I don’t believe in the ‘what if’ as no-one knows what will happen to them tomorrow, next week, next year. Yes we can plan our lives but can anyone honestly say the life goes to plan?

I had my daughter in 3 hours, my first pregnancy and yes it could of been some luck but could also be because I did hold any fear what so ever. All I knew was the following.

1- It was going to be painful

2- It was only going to be intense for 45 seconds of the contraction to it’s peak then come down again.

3- My job was to push that baby out!

This is how I approached the birth of my child and my mid-wife laughed at me as she told me that she knew that I would get it done like I did because I was so focused on what I had to do, which was push, that from the time my waters broke to her arrival was 3 hours!

Again one could argue that being a therapist and treating pregnancy for a lot of years that I knew what I was doing. My answer to that was I so did not! All I knew was the 3 sentences above, I knew I had to trust it, believe that it was such a natural thing to do.

I am not saying that child birth is easy, I just wish that there was not as much fear attached to it and doctors need to understand that women are not machines as they seem to just want to get baby out and the whole natural approach to childbirth has been lost somewhere. It could be so much more stress free for women nowadays if we maybe had a little more positive information and less of the negative about the what could happen. I feel that this helped my luck if you want to call it that!

I was also thinking of trying to get something together to help women focus on the fun of child birth but will keep you posted on whether I ever get that together, LOL !!

We offer a lot of therapies for fertility, pregnancy, homeopathy during and for labour, osteopathy, cranial osteopathy for pain, massage, reflexology. I hope you find this interesting and would be more than happy to discuss my experience with anyone or help getting the fear turned into trust ready for the birth of a child.    Claire

It’s that january thing, the amount of people both professionally and friends who are abstaining from alcohol for this month! Was it that so much drinking was done or we just feel like it was as it was Christmas or we drink lots either way and a month off makes us feel healthier regardless of the rest of the year!

I know I probably sound quite mad, but these are questions I think about and often ask people because on the whole I don’t think we quite realise how much we actually do drink. I always say I am not a drinker, this is partly true, but I could drink a few glasses of wine without really noticing and if I drink more than once a week it passes me by. There are times where I have not drunk anything for weeks, again I don’t really notice that either! I am lucky really because I get violently sick so know that I can’t mix drinks nor drink to excess and cannot handle being very ill the next day anymore! (I am no longer in my 20′s!!)

There are more cases of fatty and cirrhotic liver now amongst people that are just sitting at home having a bottle of wine and thinking I’m not out drinking so it’s not really drinking! Actually it is! This is why I go back to the question on why we  don’t take note of how much we drink generally over the year and think about that!!

Lastly, food detox, January is not the time to do it, it’s too cold! Best time to do a de-tox is March onwards and best to do at least a month!

If you are considering getting your bodies fitter, why not come and have a massage which will help circulation, muscle fatigue, aches, pains and promotes a stronger immune system by pushing out some of that Christmas excess!

I hope that 2011 brings everything you wish for! Claire

Has it been a mad time for everybody? I thought I had been quite organised this year and bought presents as I went along only to realise that I had bought hardly anything and up until yesterday I still had at least 5 people to buy for! Luckily I have reduced that down to 2, but my biggest stress is realising I now need to go into the West End!! Ahhhhhhhhh!

So, once again it has become stressful, all last minute and yet I never seem to learn from previous years! I have to get the stress down, so I am drinking copious amounts of Chamomile tea! Even my 6 year old is having her own type of stress, unfortunately it is expressed in tantrums but hey I would get arrested for behaving like that as an adult!

I am lucky enough to have this clinic and some wonderful therapists at hand. Sports injury for those pulled arm muscles from carrying heavy bags, full of gifts! Homeopathy when the struggle on public transport becomes so over-whelming due to the crowds. Acupuncture when my adrenals have gone into over-drive from lack of sleep due to too many late nights!

The other reason I choose to look after myself is because Christmas is so full on not only with work, but the socialising we do and I find that when the actual day comes I am so exhausted I become ill. The amount of times I have got sick (in my past) as and when I finally stop!

 Sound familiar?

It’s because our bodies spend so much time in hyper mode that when we do finally stop, the body gets to express what it was holding onto. I did used to get ill most Christmas holidays but luckily I tend to look after myself better and know when my body is telling me to slow down. Because of the festive season and in my opinion many of us live in their mental and emotional world that they tend to not really notice the physical until it is too late and you’re ill!

My tip to help is to check in with your physical self once in a while and notice what the body is telling you, because believe me it can tell you a lot before you get hit with illness!

Merry Christmas from Claire