No More Sleepless Nights For You

I'd love to help you sleep soundly again

Have you spent years being the person that gets up during the night to look after your kids? or finish a work project or 10 for your employer or customer? You really can sleep well again. It is a myth to believe that it is not possible for you get good quality sleep back into your life.

Getting good quality sleep is so beneficial to your overall health. You know that already, right? Improved energy levels are a given when you sleep. It significantly improves motivation and ensures you fully participate in life. Sleeping really does mean life feels easier and less stressful. So many studies to choose from but his one .https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep/32.1.55 clearly demonstrates my next point. Your concentration levels significantly improve and this means you are a lot more productive in your work, so you get an incredible amount done so much faster!

Sleeping leaves more time for the fun stuff! With quality sleep you have a more balanced life and clarity on the direction you are heading in. If you want to get in touch with the younger you, enthastic about life, good quality sleep is essential. Your body thrives on restful sleep.

There is a short term place for medications, of course, but most people don’t like the side effects. That foggy brain is no better than your lack of sleep. If you have been self medicating, and losing yourself with a glass or 2 or bottle of wine…. you are moving further and further away from what you truly want in your life.

Lets not forget better sleep, means you look healthier because you are healthier. There is nothing more charismatic than a calm confident version of you. We all want to know how that person is that fabulous, or more precisely how they achieved it.

Life is short & getting good quality restful sleep is absolutely essential to life.

If you would like information on improving your health including sleep please click on the subscribe don the bottom of the page. I will send you my free handout with useful pracical simple steps you can follow.

"Acupuncture at Anytime of your Cycle is Effective for PMS" Review

Pre Menstrual Syndrome is one of the most common gynaecological issues for women.

In this blog I am going to talk about pre menstrual syndrome, discuss a review of many studies (RCT) and talk a little about what you can expect during a visit to a good Acupuncturist.

In this review a total of 15 studies, comprising of 1103 cases, were included. This review showed that acupuncture at anytime of the month is effective for PMS. I have found this to be true in my practice also. I am specifically referring to pre menstrual syndrome. If you have symptoms like bloating, nausea, headaches, moodiness, tearfulness, cramps, headaches, breast tenderness, water retention and back pain. It can be one of a combination of those. If you are putting up with PMS every month, you really don’t have to.

The review tells us that, there are lots of different recommended protocols (treatment strategies) for Pre Menstrual Syndrome but no one single agreed protocol. In layman’s terms, that means a specific placement of a combination of needles. However, it’s important to note, that all Acupuncturists will all use some of the same acupuncture points. There will be commonalities.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It allows for flexibility in treatment.

Once you are going to an Acupuncturist that is qualified and a member of one of the professional organisations, Acupuncture Council of Ireland or the Acupuncture Foundation Professional Association they can do a correct Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis, and you will get results.

Of course, it is always beneficial that the Acupuncturist has a very good understanding of any health issue from a Western Medicine perspective, because firstly that is the language we are more familiar with in the West. It is easier for you to understand what is being explained to you about your issue. This is important. Secondly, it’s important when going for any treatment that the Acupuncturist has a good understanding of your overall health, and history previous to you current problem. Finally, it allows for better communication with your health care provider, your doctor or nurse

Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory has inbuilt flexibility, so approaches can be tailored to the person in front of the Acupuncturist. One of the major differences between Chinese and Western Medicine is that the same disease in Traditional Chinese Medicine e.g. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Migraine or PMS can have 5 or 6 different patterns. A pattern simply is the combination of signs in the body that you are asked about when you first meet your acupuncturist. In other words your complete medical history. This is combined with tongue and/or pulse diagnosis. Sometimes palpation, is used, where gentle to firm pressure is applied. with your consent and sometimes the ear is observed. Usually it’s a combination unless your practitioner specialises in specific type os diagnosis. I specialise in using pulse diagnosis, as I have found t to be most accurate. Some of the questions you are asked during a first consultation may seem unusual, but only because you won’t have been asked those by your GP.

Two examples:

What is the quality of your sleep like when you attend for a pain in your knee.

Questions about your menstrual cycle when you come for headaches that are not necessarily associated from your GPs perspective. .

For other gynaecological issues , timing can be very relevant. Make an appointment and the Acupuncturist will discuss a plan of action, dependant on your problem.

The review found that

“overall, acupuncture significantly increased the effective rate of PMS compared with medicine and sham acupuncture. Subgroup analyses showed no significant difference among different intervention time to start acupuncture treatment.” 

FACT Acupuncture Improves Balance and Posture in Fibromyalgia.

Acupuncture is as good as physiotherapy for improving balance and posture for women with fibromyalgia. A study that lasted 13 weeks, which is a reasonable time, for any of us to think, it’s an option worth trying. The physio group worked on core strength. That’s a good thing. We all know that it is beneficial to have a strong core.

The acupuncture group was 2 sessions a week for a total of 10 sessions. Thats 5 weeks of treatment. Just a little over a month. Only 3 needles were deemed essential and anatomical (your body) locations chosen.

The conclusion of the published study I am referring to here was, no significant differences were found between the acupuncture group and the physiotherapy group.

On a side note… You do realise that an acupuncture needle is only as thick as a hair on your head, right?

I would definitely add in a few auricular needles (tiny needles that are used for the ear so smaller). Possibly scalp, needles that glide in, almost flat on the scalp. This gives so much more value to my clients, in terms of how they feel on an emotional level. It also helps with sleep, anxiety and lifts that feeling of the weight of the world on your shoulders. When I am working with people who have fibromyalgia, or any chronic health issue (lasting 3 months or more). I give as much support as I can. I know exactly what it feels like to have ongoing health challenges. I also know people are unique and my experience and yours will be unique too. It always depends on the person in front of me, where you are at and what your needs are clinically, in other words, in my professional opinion.

There are always choices we can make for our own health.

Priority Lists and Health

We all have service providers we go to on a regular basis. In the area of health, we have our GP, our Practice Nurse, our Consultant, our Dentist and very very valuable and perhaps somewhat not considered a priority our Hygienist. Ah yes most likely this the women reading here.

The men, and forgive me if I appear sexist here, but in my experience men are of the belief if it ain't broke don't fix it. We all get cracks along the way gents. You may not worry about the aesthetics but statically you die younger, so read on please. Attending your annual health check is perhaps reassuring for some, but are you living la vida loca until you fail it...

Ladies we are not off the hook either, how many unused yoga mats, meditation apps, oil burners, inspirational books and gym memberships have been used once and sometimes never. Or is that just me? We are specialists in the well intentioned.

It is our human nature to show up when we need something 'fixed'. In our heads it happened suddenly or overnight! Often people are are a loss as to why now. And shock terror it will cost how much to fix me and/or it will take how long to sort out! You can't just fix it now?

Our most valuable asset is our health. I went to my hygienist today. Perhaps this will inspire you to see yours.

I Want To Get Back On The Horse

Connection - it's always about connection to the parts of your life that you truly value. Your values are part of you.

Not a single person has ever said more money, more beauty, MORE!!

I ask people when I start to work with them, tell me 5 things you want back in your life or things you want to achieve by the end of this program.

When you have lost hope you stop dreaming. I want people to dream again.

There was so much emotion wrapped up in this. For the previous 2 years, she couldn't even touch her horse. She couldn't smell his presence. She couldn't hear his breathing. She couldn't say his name.

The first day she walked to see him she put her face on his and breathed with him. It took a little longer than the initial reconnection to get back on.

Damn right she got back on that horse. That is why I love my job

This lady had a diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I am very careful in expressing what I have to offer to my clients. I did not make any false promises to this lady. We started with 3 sessions of acupuncture. We had lots of discussion. Lot’s of opportunity for her to discuss this with her doctors, before she made her decision to work with my in my capacity as a Chinese Herbalist. I also used Acupuncture and of course Nutrition. She was as committed as I was. 110%.

Chinese Medicine Rocked My World

If I didn’t walk into an acupuncturists clinic, 24 years ago, and experience first hand the effects of Acupuncture, I never would have had the tools, to support my years of hospital visits and stays. Serendipity I think.

It was too late, in many ways, to reverse some of the physical damage that had already happened. Sometimes, it is just too late. However, a seed was planted on that day. I wasn’t prepared to envisage a lifetime of complications. I started to realise there are other options out there. Not once ever, did a nurse or doctor or healthcare professional recommend I could benefit from anything, other than the medicine they provided. We know Western Medicine has many limits. For some, because they had no knowledge of anything else. For others, because they flatly refuse to recognise anything, other than what they fundamentally believe as the solution.

I’ve had many conversations with people I both trained and worked with, trying to figure out, why they were and are not open to recommending or trying alternatives for themselves or others. From every angle, in my opinion, it all comes down to fear. Fear of losing a licence to practice, fear of the unknown, fear of being perceived as different to their colleagues, fear of admitting to themselves or others they don’t have all the answers. It is so completely crazy to be so rigid, when working with people who are all so unique., We are so diverse, culturally, environmentally, monetarily, societally, our diets, activity levels, belief systems etc etc…

In my role as Practice Nurse, I met people everyday of the week that I knew could have benefited from complementary or alternative approaches to their health and wellness. Not only from Chinese Medicine, because no one system of medicine has all the answers. I believe there are options for everyone. I am not stupid. I am not fundamental in my beliefs. If I break my leg I want an orthopaedic surgeon not an acupuncture needle! For chronic health issues, I want ;an awful lot more.

I didn’t have the confidence back then to shout it from the rooftops. ‘Look for something that works for you.’ Now I do.. I felt, at that time, I didn’t know enough about other options. I do now. Knowing that there had to be other options for the people I was meeting and for myself, I went in pursuit of answers. And there began my second career.

How do you navigate social media in your life

Part 1.………….To say the view out my back window is a heaven of sorts is no exaggeration…Whether you believe in a heaven or nirvana or on to your next life, the importance of gratitude in this life cannot be underestimated. Gratitude, the new buzz word, is a valuable daily practice.

...Part 3

Do you think, the issue you need to be concerned about is social media and how it impacts you? It’s an interactive medium. It’s takes two to tango. I think we instead need to focus on gratitude, and on that little bit of heaven that already exists in our lives. Those thoughts don’t just happen. That needs commitment. Social media provides a distraction. I’m not sure it does much more than that for the person you are or I am. It certainly hasn’t made anyone I’ve ever met feel fabulous about themselves. In fairness social media did not invent fabulousness. At some point in your life, if not now, you compared yourself to others, and rated yourself accordingly, to your scale of whatever societal norms or marketing genius you were exposed to. Nobody ever felt fabulous all of the time. It is though important to feel fabulous occasionally. Peace regularly and grateful no matter what.

We now know we can change the physical anatomy in our brains. It’s called neuroplasticity. If you want to get excited about something in your life, get excited about knowing that. Not about a social media post! Your body has the ability to grow new neurons, new pathways, new ways of thinking, new ways of feeling. You create the pathways you focus on. You might not be in a great headspace today, but in you lies the ability to become your version of fabulous occasionally. More often than that, is probably a sign of madness! Or perhaps, which is often the case, you realise you already are amazing. Somedays you believe it and others meh not so sure.

The view outside my window is not manicured green lawns or Dermot Bannons new garden. It’s a little wild, untamed, and loved. I am so grateful I can see it. I can walk outside and experience it. I can take a deep breath and fill my lungs with clean air. I can remember running through it as a child to my den in it’s corner.. with the family doggo at my childhood side. It is now vibrant alive surrounded by Winter colours and so am I. Heaven is a relative thing. Just think about your own version. The gratitude you have for your idea of heaven feels the same for everyone, who experiences gratitude.

Where do you find gratitude and how do you set your intensions everyday. I know you probably know this already but here you go regardless. Get yourself a notebook if you like to write. I've lost every notebook I've ever had so that was not the choice for me!! Alternatively, open up a new document and everyday you tap on those keys. This one I like.It’s in writing so I have committed to it. It is a statement in black and white and on some level my brain responds to that. This next option I don’t have the self discipline for, but you may have. Of course, you don’t have to write it, but you have to commit & create the habit of every morning when you wake up, it is the first thought you consciously think of. Then you sit with those thoughts for 5 minutes.

• I am grateful & I am on my way to feeling fabulous.

• I will meet and share the experience with people by smiling and making eye contact and thats it. A positive exchange. Stop and chat or not.

• I will make positive choices the are beneficial to my body.

That is all. Those 3 lines are plenty. Then you add actual experiences under each line. It doesn't matter if you are writing I am grateful for the bowl of cornflakes I just eat. Noooooo please don't do that to your body, salt and sugar are not things to be grateful for! I jest but stay away from the flakes! It is not what your content is that matters. If it is something simple like, I am grateful I woke up today, and therefor I am on my way to feeling fabulous. great. You keep going. You keep doing. You consistently train your brain and it becomes easier. You begin to see the beauty of life everywhere, in yourself, in the world, in the people around you. It is everywhere when you look.

3 lines of whatever works for you.

If that is all you write when you start that is more than enough. If you have a bad day fine, gratitude for the good ones and on you go. Gratitude grows. It takes on a life of it’s own.

Navigating your way through social media becomes much easier. No algorithm in the world can suck you in for very long, once you know in every sense of the word, you do dno’t need it in your life, to make you feel the fabulous. You already are. I’m not anti social media, it is a very useful tool. I just use it in the knowing it is not my reality, it is a reality all out there on it’s own.

How Do You Navigate Social Media Part 2

Previously…

‘My day has been fantastic.’ How many posts on social media do we see on a daily basis, that tell us this! Beautiful quotes. Beautifully designed. Pictures or videos of beautiful people smiling at us fabulously. Daily exposures or reminders. Deciphering the authentic in life these days becomes trickier.

Continuing to part 2…

Lets take siblings. How can that be that your outlook is so different? You grew up in the same environment. Well it’s because life changes, and society evolves and stuff happens in families. Perhaps you were diagnosed with a childhood illness? Perhaps your Mums pregnancy with you was different. Perhaps there was more money around when you were growing up, and you had more opportunities that your siblings. It doesn’t make either of your opinions better, it’s just the formation of different perspectives. There are so many variables. Nothing stays the same. Experts debate on nature over nurture and visa versa constantly.

Is it not true that our internal environment is as significant as our external one with our thinking minds?

I am more fascinated by the internal one, the physical self and how that impacts our thought processes. I believe if you respect and take responsibility for yourself, you will in turn take joint respect and responsibility for the external environment. If you don’t think your physical health is a priority to look after, how can you trust your thinking and your decision making?

How is that true you might ask. Well try this, when you have a cold with lots of phlegm how’s your concentration? When you have back, knee or hip pain where is your focus? When you are under a lot of stress how are your decision making skills? When you just found out your 14 year old teenager is using recreational drugs, where do your thought processes spiral to? When you are craving fast food and you eat it frequently how’s your mood? When you drink too much alcohol does you body and mind work as efficiently the next day? You simply cannot separate your physical body from the rest of you, because that completes you as a person. If you have chosen to disconnect from that, it’s the best place to start, to get your head into the space you want it to be. Feeling physically stronger will change your perspective on everything. It takes time, with many rewards to motivate you on your way…

PART 3 FRIDAY

How Do You Navigate Social Media

Part 1

To say the view out my back window is a heaven of sorts is no exaggeration…Whether you believe in a heaven or nirvana or on to your next life, the importance of gratitude in this life cannot be underestimated. Gratitude, the new buzz word, is a valuable daily practice.

‘My day has been fantastic.’ How many posts on social media do we see on a daily basis, that tell us this! Beautiful quotes. Beautifully designed. Pictures or videos of beautiful people smiling at us fabulously. Daily exposures or reminders. Deciphering the authentic in life these days becomes trickier.

We all have our own ways of analysing who or what we believe. It all depends on which end of the spectrum resonates with you in your interactions with any of the platforms out there. There are so many, and they are meeting a perceived need by people. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Tic Tac or whatever your fancy is. How we analyse depends on our life experience, particularly in your formative years of childhood. Some of us are moulded in a very secure environment. One where encouragement was provided and age appropriate honesty was pervasive, the good the bad and the ugly of life, so to speak. Alternatively, criticism may have been the order of the day…everyday. Love may have been conditional and displays of emotion discouraged. The good ole Catholic ethos of children should be seen and not heard is familiar to some. Do what God tells you or tells your parents to tell you. Straight to hell otherwise. Kinda bleak hey!

Coming from ‘your’ place of self esteem, are you the total sceptic who believes all forms of social media are rubbish? Logically can this be true. Might it not be fun or useful? Or are you the person that believes if I do what they say or if I look like that person, my life will be so fabulous… or at least more fabulous than it feels right now. Logically can this be true? Might it not be better being you? Some of you are screaming, at least inside your head, well of course that can’t be, because I’m right and that is utter nonsense. Just remember the person sitting next to you believes the same thing, only they are at a different end of that knowing spectrum. Oh yes and they are one of your siblings… or you best friend or your partner. Easier to disagree or agree if you are fundamentalist in your views, but perhaps a dangerous stance to take.

Part 2 next week…

I don’t remember the conversation that day, but I remember how I felt…

Its been 10 years since I received that phonecall. It’s cancer, it’s stage 4, there are mets. Disbelief….Acceptance….Gut wrenching heart breaking pain. This is why I volunteer in ARC cancer support.

It’s funny how time creates distance and lessens the intensity of emotion. But also, how easily I can tap in those feelings, when I allow myself to go there. Most days the missing is there but it is less intense. The mad thing is, he half jokingly said ‘you won’t even miss me when I’m gone’, or ‘you won’t even think about me’. I hope he realises, wherever he is, that could not be further from the truth! I miss him. There is not a day that goes by, that I don’t think of him. Ironically, when he was alive, I spoke to him less than I do now! Reflecting back, he was always in my thoughts. The irony of humanness, has meant time melted away any anger or hurt in our relationship. It is gone and only the feeling of love remains. A gift from him.

I am for sure more understanding of him as a person as I move on in years. Wisdom comes with understanding, and time creates more opportunity for learning.

Learning is an inevitably for those of us that choose to let go of ego. This allows us to experience the complexity of human emotions and behaviours in a more simple way. The simple version of life, love and forgiveness is all the is required. Us humans like to complicate life it seems.

I am interested now in how my behaviours impacted our relationship, but that conversation can never happen. I know I wish I listened more. I’m not sure why that conversation could not have happened then either.

I am so grateful for the opportunity we had that night on the sofa in front of the fire. It was Christmas night. We were watching a stupid Western that neither of us could concentrate on, because of the giant bloomin’ elephant in the room, death and dying. I still have that DVD. As I watched him beside me I started to cry. And he started to cry. I had only ever seen him crying twice previously. Still, in that moment, all he wanted to do was protect me from hurt. All I wanted to do, was to protect him and always have him in my life. I wanted to take his pain away. I wanted to allow him to feel safe instead of scared. He told me I would be fine. I couldn’t tell him the same. So I cried more. He, of course, is still is in my life because he is part of me. But the pain that night is something I treasure and will never forget. You cannot feel that kind of pain without absolute love.

The second moment in time I am truly grateful for is that day when we were in the hospice, just the two of us in that room, listening to classical music….in hindsight he much preferred jazz, dixie land to be precise. I felt it might hurt him as he was so weakened by the disease. It felt to jazzy for me. He was sleeping a lot at this point and he woke. Our eyes locked in time. I told him how much I loved him, and the power of those words when they were reciprocated is one of the biggest gifts he has left me with. No man will ever love me like he did. How did I never realise that before he left! He was no saint, he made mistakes as we all do. He was far quicker to forgive than I was. I’m still working on that one, this blog is a nice reminder. Another gift or lesson he left me.

I appreciate what he did for me far more now. I know he knew I loved and love him. I should have told him more.

Occasionally, sometimes more than occasionally, random moments in time, the thought comes, and I miss him with the same intensity. Thats ok. Thats love.

Thanks Dad.