How holistic treatment with Tuina Massage can help

Holistic treatment is based on treating the person as a whole, not isolating one area of the body from the other and incorporating the energy flow of Qi to bring back to homeostasis.

Tuina is an ancient form of Traditional Chinese Massage used for centuries. Based on a holistic health approach of treating the person as a whole to balance the energy flow of Qi in the body.

Qi is the energy of everything and is from our vital force to the vapour of the air we breathe.

If you have a reoccurring injury, illness or issue then it is best you look at finding what caused the imbalance in the first place, the core of your problem. I use a blend of Acu-Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Acupressure, Dry Needling, Cupping, Guasha, Kinesiology, Lymphatic Massage, Moxibustion, Myofascial Techniques, Reflexology, TCM Remedial Massage and Mind-Body Medicine therapies to alleviate anxiety, mood disorders, pain, PTSD, stress with expanding or contracting the physical to spiritual layers of energy and unblocking any stagnant energy and releasing trauma held within the mind, body or soul.

A simple explanation for a holistic approach to a problem with constant pain or tightness in your Anterior Tibialis – the front outside area of your leg between your knee to your ankle.

Structural:

  • Gait system – cross/crawl walking could be out. Look at shoulders, hips, knees, ankles and/or feet.
  • Any or all the different areas of the gait system could be out or the Golgi’s, tendons, ligaments or muscles need to be realigned with acupressure, massage techniques or meridian balance or massage.
  • Flat feet.
  • Gait system – walking could be homolateral or contralateral.
  • Gait system because there is a coordination issue not crawling properly and the brain and gait system are not integrated.
  • Gait system – not walking properly with homolateral or contralateral since walking as a toddler, or as a teenager or adult from an injury or accident and integration has been compromised.
  • Myofascial release on any of the myofascial trains that connect various areas of the body.

Biochemical:

  • Imbalance of electrolytes as it is a Water Element muscle for the bladder
  • Not drinking enough water – dehydration may cause hypernatremia
  • Drinking too much water – over hydration and may cause hyponatremia
  • Issue with the bladder having incontinence which also involves the organ of the brain or nerves connected to the spine and/or brain

Psychological: Anxiety, Fear and Phobias

  • Fear of water
  • Fear of drowning
  • Fear of social interaction or external environment
  • Loves looking at the water as long as it is calm
  • The flow of the water and how it moves can indicate the different emotions and other elements and/or meridians at play

Spiritual or Electromagnetic Layer:

  • Brain
  • Nerves
  • Organs – brain and/or bladder
  • Salt water is what our plasma is made up of

The gait system is complex and since studying Kinesiology in 2005 I have found that the majority of people have tension in the Anterior Deltoid muscle of the upper arm just below the shoulder on the front. Tension in this muscle relates to the gait system, gall bladder and swinging movement from side to side – hence why the shoulders, hips, knees, ankles and feet are at play. The Anterior Deltoid is a gall bladder muscle and relates to anger and frustration.

Physical and emotional aspects can be corrected holistically by balancing the gall bladder muscle or gall bladder meridian or gall bladder acupressure points on the side of the torso of the body to the head like a map of Australia – the wood element as it is part of the gait system.

Holding or tapping emotional stress points GB 14 or placing your hand over your forehead can help you feel better.

Anxiety, depression and stress can grow if we don’t learn to breathe, walk and talk with ease.

Our connection to what surrounds us externally and what we feel internally affects how our body responds.

Clean water, clean food, regular exercise and regular maintenance on ourselves is the key to health and wellness.

Chinese principle is to promote health and longevity promoting qi flow with Tuina Massage.

The power of words and how they can control you

Ever stood still and thought about how words can affect you and how you feel?

Looking at it simply; our feelings can get triggered by the words we hear (from others and ourselves).

Hearing something like “You’re not working fast enough” might cause feelings of hurt, anger, frustration or fear.

And when we feel like this our bodies react to it. Anger can cause our body to tense up. Fear can cause the body to be in a constant state of high alert/panic. Feeling hurt can make the body feel sluggish and lethargic. All of which cause the body to work at a less than optimum level. Causing our bodies to work extra hard, or to shut down all together.

Your body listens to your words and thoughts. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with reality, but revolves solely around your perception.

Eg, Your body will react a certain way when it ‘thinks’ there is a snake on the path, but it wont react if it ‘thinks’ there is a branch on the path. Therefore what you think and say is incredibly important.

One of the most common phrases that can cause you to feel stuck are the words “Have to”.

Please take a minute to do the following exercise:

Think back and make a list of some of the sentences you have said or thought that started with the words “I have to…..”

In a private space, take a few deep breaths into your belly, and try to relax your body as much as you can.

Once you are feeling relaxed, I’d like you to focus on the different things that you have written down.

Eg.         I have to go to work

I have to clean the house

I have to cook dinner

I have to visit my mother

I have to……

I have to……

And notice with every statement how your body reacts and feels.

Does it feel heavy or light, tensed or relaxed?

The words “Have to” tells the body that you have no other choice. And the fact that there is no choice creates a feeling of being burdened with another chore, making us feel heavier.

This also means the brain is not on the lookout for any other opportunities because it has not been given a choice.

Now, what if we changed the heavy energy we get  from “I have to” into a lighter one, and telling the body and brain “we have a choice!”

Rewrite your list of “I have to….”  By replacing the words with  “I choose to….”

Then take a few more deep breaths as you sit with each of the “I choose” statements and notice how the body is feeling now.

Remember that all we can do, is to make the best choices we can, with the information we have in that moment, and what feels best for us, at the time.

As time moves on we might get different information or have learned more. You are always allowed to change your mind at any time! Your choices are based on what you knew and how you felt at that point in time, and was the best possible choice for you at that moment.

So it is always important to reflect and check in on those choices, and make sure they are still working for you. (And if not…. change your choices!)

I would like you to challenge yourself, and ask “Do you really HAVE TO?? And according to whom?”

Have a read from the example below from someone who feels stuck in their job.

Person A: I have to go to work!

Challenger: Why and according to whom?

Person A: According to my partner and myself, I have to earn money to provide for my family.

Challenger: What happens if you did not go to work?

Person A: We would be living on the streets, and I don’t want that.

Challenger: So you have a choice: to go to work or live on the streets?

Person A: I suppose there is a choice, but I don’t want that.

Challenger:  So in other words: “You choose to work, because you want to be able to support and provide for your family”

Person A: When you put it like that…….. It does feel better.

Challenger: Great! But if you do not like the job have, why not change it?

Person A: I have to, I can’t find another job that pays enough.

Challenger: If there was another job available would you take it?

Person A: Yes, I would.

Challenger: So “You choose to stay in this job, until there is another one available”.

Making a statement that says “I have to stay in this job even though I don’t like it” puts the brain to sleep, as you have already made up your mind, it believes that it’s not negotiable, so no need to look for any other possibilities.

Making a statement that says “I choose to stay in this job to provide for my family, until I can find a job I enjoy better“ forces the brain to wake up and be on the lookout. So it will stay alert and scan your environment for other possibilities and opportunities.

Feel the difference.

Set a challenge for yourself and change your thoughts and words from “I have to” 🡪 “I choose to”   and you will start to feel a lot more in control in life.

3 Steps To End Your Body Burnout

Are you stuck on the “busy” cycle – over-doing, overwhelm, perfectionism, people pleasing – and now your body is feeling burrrrrrned-out?…Energy, mood, gut & other inflammatory issues?

Have you hit a roadblock with your GP?

Dr Google failing you?

Even the diets, supps & naturopathy protocols aren’t quite getting to the root?

Because…try as you might, your symptoms keep coming back & you can’t seem to relax?

Yep that was me too – a chronic over-doer, with a body that was screaming at me!

If this is you now – you’ll want to continue reading on to discover the missing steps you likely haven’t taken yet…

Step 1 – Test & Treat Body Systems

After working with over 2500+ burned-out clients in the past 15 years, the three main symptoms I see when a person is in a state of body burnout are energy, mood and gut issues. Other associated symptoms look like: hormonal imbalances, autoimmunity, skin issues, chronic body pain, low immunity, sleep issues, brain fog and headaches.

You might be ticking a bunch of these off in your head!

Now the thing is, you can’t have symptoms in the body without there being a body system imbalance, specifically in your neuroendocrine system (brain, adrenals, mitochondria, sex hormones), gastrointestinal system (pathogens, microbiome, digestive organs) and your detoxification system (detox pathways, methylation, inflammation, oxidative damage). These imbalances aren’t tested by regular GP’s or medical specialist, but they can absolutely cause symptoms and major dysfunctions in the way you feel, if they are out of whack.

So if you haven’t yet worked with a functional medicine practitioner to test these body systems, and therapeutically supported them, this is an important first step to heal from body burnout.

But it’s not the only step.

Step 2 – Heal Deeper “Metaphysical” Root-Causes

Step 2 involves looking at the deeper root-causes, that caused your body systems to burnout in the first place. This is where we start asking WHY? Why do you have adrenal fatigue? Why do you have leaky gut? Why do you have blocked detox pathways?

Yes, some of these things are related to your lifestyle and environment (we’ll get to this in Step 3), but even deeper – and more crucial than that – is looking at how you are BEING.

Stress is a major root-cause in people running “busy” patterns doing allll the things, and it also literally burns-out body systems – your adrenal glands, your neurotransmitters, your gut function, your immune system.

But the thing is – stress isn’t an “outside” thing. Stress is always internal, and how you are responding to your external world.

If there are hidden dysfunctional beliefs about yourself (I’m not good enough, I’m unworthy, I’m broken, I’m flawed), as well as hidden unprocessed trauma stuck in your body, triggering and heightening your stress response, this MUST be addressed in order to end your body burnout.

If you don’t, your nervous system will continue being dysregulated which will block your ability to heal your body systems, and/or you’ll continue running “busy”, overwhelm, stressed patterns that led to the health issues in the first place. This might look like over-working, eating sugar or drinking coffee to get through the day, doing things (even things like healing protocols) out of force and fear.

You will never get better. Period.

So, start looking deeper into why you’re sick in the first place. How have you been programmed? How can you rewire the deeper parts of yourself so that you can heal?

Step 3 – Nutraceuticals & Lifestyle Support

When the deepest part of yourself has been (or is in the process of being) rewired, you are now ABLE to heal. Step 3 to end your body burnout is to optimise your body systems and your lifestyle.

With lab tests back, you can now start therapeutically supporting imbalances in your body systems – with exactly what YOU need. There’s no guess-work anymore. We can see clearly where imbalances lie in your three main body systems, and can create a therapeutic nutraceutical protocol to rebalance and support your body.

And now you’ve reprogrammed deeper dysfunctional “busy, burnout” patterns, you can start dialling in your lifestyle to support the healing of your body and optimise your health long-term, with more ease and flow.

This looks like optimising your nutrition based on what your body needs to heal and thrive. For example, if labs showed up candida overgrowth, a low-carb diet will assist to reduce levels. Or, if you’re recovering from adrenal fatigue, eating regular macro-balanced meals will help stabilise blood-sugar levels, which will then support stress hormones.

Reseting your sleep-wake-cycle is also essential, as the majority of healing takes place while you sleep. Everyone is different in terms of their ideal bed time and wake up time. For example, I am definitely not in the 5am camp! My body much prefers a good solid 9 hours, from 10pm – 7am. The journey for you is learning how to listen to your body, to discover what YOU need to thrive.

Movement is also critical. If you’re in a state of body burnout, and you’re doing lots of exercise or feeling more crappy after exercise, you’ll want to reduce the intensity and load, as too much movement can put more stress on an already stressed out body. Pare it back to walks, yoga or stretching. And if you’re sedentary, start working on increasing steps, and adding in mini 2-minute movements into your day.

Keen To Go Deeper?

If you’re keen to dive deeper into how to implement these 3 steps into your life, so you can finally break-free from the body burnout cycle, I’d love to invite you to our (free) webinar: 3 Steps To End Your Body Burnout, held on Mon 28 May, 7-8pm AEST.  This event is being held in celebration of Natural Medicine Week!! 🙂