 In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spleen governs the thought.
A deficient Spleen will change the healthy process of “thinking” into the unhealthy “overthinking” or “overanaylsing”. Overthinking drains our energy and makes us unhappy. It keeps us stuck in a loop, which prevents us from finding any proper solution. In Chinese Medicine, the Five Elements Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water each correspond to specific organs, emotions, flavours, seasons creating a holistic understanding of health. The Earth element corresponds to the Spleen, late summer, and the sweet flavour, governing worry. Worry can be viewed as a different form of “overthinking”: with fear rather than confusion. The sweet flavour corresponds to the Earth element, governing stomach and spleen. These organs are all about feeling centered, grounded and nurtured. When out of balance, we feel jittery, in our heads, constantly craving food (sugary foods or carbs) or needing things out of our reach to feel satisfied, comforted and fulfilled. If you have deficiency in the Spleen system, you may get:
Some tips to help your Spleen Qi. Rest your brain Concentrating, problem solving and worrying take a lot of energy. Just like an endurance athlete might become exhausted from training without enough rest, you can become exhausted when you concentrate or think continuously without a break. Make sure that you take a 10 minute brain break for every hour of brain work, e.g. working on the computer, studying, reading information that requires concentration, working out solutions to problems etc. Any thing that allows your brain to switch off will help, like going for a short walk, putting a load of laundry on, tending to a plant, getting in the garden, or just staring out of the window for a while. Learning meditation or breathing techniques can bring yourself back into the present moment, calm the mind and let go of the past as we cannot change what has gone before. Diet tips
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 Happy New Year! I hope you've had a good break this Christmas time and you feel you have rested and rejuvenated and raring to go this year.... or not?
As you ease into the New Year you may be thinking about taking better care of you, ways of reducing stress and anxiety or pain in the body or a wish to improve energy levels and better sleep. Struggling to get going after Christmas? Christmas is a time where there is so much pressure on us to be perfect and for some of us it’s always a relief when it’s over. We feel pressure to buy the perfect Christmas tree and decorate it perfectly, find the perfect presents, cook the perfect meal etc… then on the day it gives us pleasure to see others enjoying themselves but you’re too exhausted and stressed to enjoy the day yourself. Are you the one who is running around doing all of this? Maybe it’s time to allow yourself some slack and not worry about getting it right to please others. Many of my clients that come to me for Shiatsu find it hard to completely relax because they’re holding tension in the body either due to taking on too much responsibility, fear of letting go, holding it all together, holding on to the past, fear of failure, striving to be perfect and doing more and more instead of saying I am enough. These can be patterns learnt in childhood, a need to please a parent for example to get validation or praise. If you’re feeling any of the above symptoms of stress or anxiety, pain or overwhelm, book in for a Shiatsu massage to help ease you back into the New Year and give your body and mind time to relax and unburden yourself of these pressures in a safe and supported space.  In the Five Element cycle the Earth phase is Late Summer, it represents support, holding, nurturing, nourishment, receiving and abundance. It gives us the ability to nurture ourselves and others. The Earth element comprises the Stomach and Spleen meridians and share the role of digestion. Just as the stomach accepts food and drink on a physical level, the same process is reflected on a mental and emotional level. The stomach also helps us decide what is good for us to consume and discerns what should be digested and what should be rejected.
Symptoms such as a dry mouth, stress and tension in the jaw muscles causing clenching and teeth grinding at night, bleeding gums, bad breath, indigestion can be due to a stomach imbalance. Other symptoms can be nausea, vomiting, headaches, hiccups and excessive burping caused by rebellious Qi or Qi flowing upwards. Healthy Stomach Qi needs to flow downwards but sometimes Stomach Qi can become rebellious when it starts to flow in the opposite direction and rejects the nourishment it needs. Trust enough to receive… On an emotional level, when we lack trust in the earth or in our ability to be nurtured, it can cause anxiety and worry. Due to this lack of trust it becomes difficult for us to receive and as a result we try to exert control or take care of everything on our own. It can affect those who didn't receive the nurturing they needed during childhood. The rejection of food or nurturing can also lead to eating disorders such as anorexia. Try to reduce worry The emotion of worry is associated with the Earth element, it tends to knot the Qi in the stomach. When we worry about things in the future, it changes your body chemistry. When you worry, your body sees you worrying and thinks this is the mode you're most comfortable in. The body co-operates with your thoughts so for example if you're worried or thinking about about a disease, that disease will come see you. If you worry about the worst things that might happen in the future, they're the things that often happen. Try to reframe into positive affirmations by trusting that all is well and will work out in the best positive way works best for your body, health and wellbeing. Helping your Stomach Qi
If you’re struggling with digestive issues or any of the symptoms above, Shiatsu is a wonderful treatment to receive and feel nurtured, supported and cared for to bring back balance in the Stomach and Spleen energies. Book in with Sarah and get your digestion back into balance
My own journey
I know what it's like to experience anxiety and panic attacks and how it interferes with daily living. My own experience of panic attacks started in my early 20's, I was busy working full time and had split up from a relationship. I noticed changes after my father died when I was 18, feelings of not being able to cope. I was very close to him and always felt supported and protected. I looked for a replacement relationship that could support and protect me in the same way my father had. Of course this doesn't really happen and I ended up giving my power away to someone I thought would or could support me just for the sake of being in a relationship. This lead to unhappiness and a continual searching for someone to help me feel safe and needed. I wasn't happy being on my own and this affected my sleep at night, I was always in 'alert mode'. My panic attacks usually started if I didn't feel comfortable or safe in an environment or company of others, in other words not being my true self. This also stems from not being able to express my feelings when I was young, which lead to the need to please others (needing approval from my father) to take the focus off myself. Low self-esteem and approval seeking. In some cases sufferers of anxiety and depression also struggle with low self-esteem and approval seeking like myself. If this is you then your well-being is probably being affected by your level of confidence, how much you value yourself and what you think of yourself. Low self-esteem is associated with self-criticism, self-doubt, suppressed anger, and shame and social isolation. It can also lead to self-punishment or self-harm and in my case the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. What I have learned along the way in my journey is it's not about fixing anxiety, because anxiety is there to protect us; it is about your relationship with anxiety. I understand now that I wasn't able to support myself when I was young and needed others to do this for me, I had very low self-esteem and was always looking for approval from my father because I lacked confidence. Through lots of self healing and learning Shiatsu it has helped me take back my power, feel confident and believe in myself. My steps of overcoming anxiety
I have helped many clients overcome anxiety in my treatments and I can help you If you have had enough of anxiety, stress or depression controlling your life, it's time to take action. Shiatsu uses gentle “listening” touch and respectful dialogue and presence to help you reconnect with feelings and emotions that have been held back and locked away in our bodies. As you become more aware of the roots of your problems, the barriers that have been created can begin to dissolve, the muscles can relax and let go leading to more physical ease; liberating your potential to live a life you really care about. If this resonates with you, please contact me to arrange a Free 15 minute consultation. We can talk about what is going on for you and how I can help.  In the Five Element theory, an emotion corresponds to a certain internal organ. How does each emotion affect our health and wellbeing?
Learning to let go and live in the moment is the key We hold our life in our body; everything we learn and all our emotional reactions to life's experiences are carried within us. Our emotional journey empowers us to move forward but sometimes we forget when it's time to let go and make space for new learning. Sometimes we move on from difficult times but feel we are still reliving them. Shiatsu and Energy healing helps you release old emotions stuck in your body so you can live at your highest potential in the present.  Tiredness, exhaustion and insomnia are some of the most common stress-related symptoms that affect our health, causing nervous fatigue brought on by continued stress. Our bodies naturally cope with short periods of anxiety or worry as long as we’re able to rest and recover afterwards - but how many of us have time to rest and fully recover?
Our adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys. They secrete a number of hormones that help regulate the body including adrenaline which rapidly prepares our body to spring into action in stressful situations. When they become overworked they produce excess levels of cortisol as a reaction to the body’s fight or flight response. This prevents the adrenal glands from producing other hormones we need to live. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), adrenal fatigue is seen as a deficiency in the Kidney energy. Kidney energy or Kidney Chi gives us the impetus, willpower, stamina and strength needed to carry out our everyday activities. It is the catalyst for every energetic reaction in our body, when our Kidney Chi is low our whole body is starved of energy. How we store and use our energy Our kidneys are like a rechargeable battery... when a battery is being recharged it builds up a store of energy to be used later when needed. Similar to a battery, the stored energy in our kidneys is used throughout our everyday activities and recharged when we relax, rest and sleep. When we feel tired but continue to push ourselves, we may have a coffee or other energy drink in the hope that it will give us more energy. This is only a temporary energy boost and instead depletes our energy stores even more. If we don’t take time out to restore and replenish our energy levels, over time our batteries become drained to the point where our body struggles to sustain us. Exhaustion can cause difficulty sleeping as our internal battery has become so drained it has lost its storage capacity. It can’t hold an energy charge anymore, ending up with us feeling tired and unable to relax. The ability to relax and the ability to feel energised go together. Recharge your batteries with rest and relaxation When we hold tension in the body this is a sign of fatigue, while relaxation is a sign of good energy reserves. There are a few changes we can do to help ourselves in lowering our stress levels: • Give yourself permission to rest more by taking time out in the day especially if you work long hours. • Reduce the intake of stimulants such as coffee especially in the afternoon and sugar intake. • Take the pressure off yourself to get things done in the day, there is always tomorrow. • Ask for help and share chores at home. • Practice moving meditation techniques such as Qigong or Tai Chi which is a series of slow movements working with the breath and helps cultivate and strengthen your own internal energy store. • Gentle walking in nature helps decrease stress levels and helps ground us. When we allow our body to connect with the earth, we enhance our mental, physical and emotional well-being and create a more sound, clear way of thinking. Balance and moderation in everything. Listen to your body, if you feel tired... rest. How Shiatsu can help The causes of exhaustion and insomnia is different for each of us, receiving a Shiatsu treatment where emotions and symptoms can be explored in a safe and supportive way enables us to relax and allows the body to heal and let go of tension, blocked, stagnant and imbalanced energies. I offer the time and space to explore what’s going on and bring healing to the mind, body and soul, allowing you to take control of your life and bring yourself into peace, ease and balance. |
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