What to expect from a sports or deep tissue massage.
First let me reassure you if you haven’t been to us before that we don’t do any unnecessary nakedness. If you want you can wear gym shorts but it is no necessary.
On your first visit you will be asked to fill out a consultation form and we will discuss why you booked. At the start of subsequent treatments we may ask you about your response to our last treatment or if there has been a long gap, your reason for booking. If there has been a significant gap we may ask you to fill out a consultation form again, especially if it has been archived.
While we are all able to use oils, we tend to use a sports wax as it doesn’t stain your clothes and it is odorless and one brand we use is nut free too. During the massage we will use fingertips, knuckles, hands, elbows, and forearms to treat you. You may be asked to breathe deeply as we works on tense areas. Most of our clients want deep pressure. However there are times when we need to use a lighter sustained pressure on some restrictions to achieve a myofascial release.
We may get you to move position on the massage bed to give us better access to certain muscles or to treat the opposing muscle. For example, if we have worked on your upper back we may need to open up your chest, particularly your pec muscles.
We may stretch your muscles ourselves or ask you to move your body in a certain way to stretch it or to see how it reacts to the movement.
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Natural ways to reduce anxiety – Part 3
What I want to share with you know is probably the simplest and easiest method of reducing anxiety, you can do it anywhere and it costs nothing. Its called breathing. Yes I know we do it all the time. But when you get anxious we begin to breathe rapidly and shallowly from our upper chest. This breathing breath from your upper chest is why you get tight neck muscles as they can get overused as they help to move the top rib we breathing. What I am talking about is breathing deeply or calm breathing.
Calming Breath- Take a long, slow breath in through your nose, first filling your lower lungs - put your hand on your belly and you should feel it move out as your breath in. Then breath into your upper lungs.
- Hold your breath to the count of "three."
- Exhale slowly through pursed lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach.
- heart rate slows
- blood pressure decreases
- muscle tension decreases
- growing sense of ease in body, calmness in mind

Does nature restore you? – Part 1
A few years ago now, I moved to London and one of my concerns about moving to London was that I would loose easy access to open green spaces. I have always found that walking through natural green spaces which feel very open have always had a restorative affect on my mental health and general sense of well-being. I know that now I live in London I am very lucky to live within walking distance of Blackheath, so I can still get my "nature top up". My reaction to nature, made me wonder if their is any scientific evidence of the benefits of nature on health. A narrative review from Mount Royal University in Canada looked at how contact with nature could help the emotional & mental well-being of cancer survivors. Researches were encouraged by findings that concluded nature could have a positive impact on the well-being of cancer survivors. Gladwell et al show that lunchtime walks in nature-based environments may provide a greater restorative effect and may improve essential recovery during night-time sleep, potentially enhancing physiological health. While it may be difficult to take a nature-based walk at lunchtime, it is much easier in the summer to take one in the evening. For those of you that may be thinking, "walking through parks is all very well for you Joanne, but where am I going to find the time for that!". Please read on... In 201o researched in the UK looked at evidence from 1,250 people in 10 studies and found fast improvements in mood and self-esteem from green exercise. (Green exercise is defined as activity such as walking, cycling, running, climbing etc in nature). The study found the strongest impact was in young people and just five minutes of green exercises can boost mental health. References Ray H and Jakubec SL (2014) Nature based experiences and health of cancer survivors, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 20(4): 188 - 192 Gladwell, V.F.; Kuoppa, P.; Tarvainen, M.P.; Rogerson, M. A Lunchtime Walk in Nature Enhances Restoration of Autonomic Control during Night-Time Sleep: Results from a Preliminary Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 280. Barton J and Pretty J (2010) What is the Best Dose of Nature and Green Exercise for Improving Mental Health? A Multi-Study Analysis Environ. Sci. Technol., 2010, 44 (10), pp 3947–3955

Do self hypnosis CD’s really boost resilience?
As things are now back to full swing after the summer holiday, and before things get too budy, I wanted to share with you a piece of research that while being 3 years old is still highly relevant. Researchers were looking at the effectiveness of listening to self-administered hypnosis stress reduction CD's to boost resilience. Eleven subjects took part in the study, all healthy, normally coping and functioning individuals - were provided with a self-administered hypnosis stress reduction CD, to be used for a minimum of 5 days a week over a 12 week period. The CD contained two different hypnosis tracks, one to be played before sleep (25 minutes in duration) and the other to be played in the morning (lasting 7 minutes). The aim of the CD was to recondition the stress response, by minimising the participants "excessive emotional and physical reaction to perceived work and life stressors, while facilitating their coping skills and resilience." Chronic stress and anxiety have been associated with inflammatory changes in the body, and high level of inflammation have been lined to a number of acute and chronic conditions. Blood tests were used to measure the level of inflammatory response and self-reported measures (using the StressScan assesment) were taken pre and post intervention. While the study size is small, it provides some suggestive evidence that a self-administered stress reduction program that is time efficient may be clinically effective for modifying the stress response and boosting resilience. Reference Schoen M and Nowack K (2013) Reconditioning the stress response with hypnosis CD reduces the inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and influences resilience: a pilot study. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 2013; 19 83-88 http://www.ctcpjournal.com/article/S1744-3881(12)00088-6/abstract

