You still have time to get a discounted treatment with Simon Heale, the head Sports Therapist at Corehealth. Simon is an experienced therapist and specialises now in running and sport related injuries. As a runner himself, he is experienced in the day to day management of injuries, and thrives on educating athletes, for that is what we all can be, into self-care. He now employs various psychological methods to ‘get runners to the line’ whatever the goal is, including Mindfulness and ACT.

happy running…..

With

Simon Heale LCSP NRHP

Sports Therapist

Mindfulness Coach

If you are training for a Spring marathon, be it London, Paris, Brighton or other smaller but no-less worthy events, then treat yourself like the athlete that you are and get a Marathon MOT with Simon Heale.

At this stage of your training you will be entering your toughest month, putting yourself through a lot of strain and fatigue. Elite athletes get treated daily to enable them to maintain performance and flexibility, so why not take a leaf out of their book and train healthily and not punishingly.

You can avoid and treat typical running related injuries such as Runners Knee, Achilles Tendonitis, Gluteal and hip pain through regular massage, guided stretching, foam rolling and correct training scheduling.

Simon is currently treating marathoners and ultra-marathoners using Sports Massage, Acupuncture, Hypnotherapy, K-Tape and general common sense advice.

Generally Simons advice is to have a massage the day or a few days after your longest run or if you have niggles then before your heaviest session.

You want to get to the line, to the start, so theres no point knackering yourself in training, or running your best run a month before the start. Simon can get you to the line in a physically ready and mentally sharp condition.

Simon has run 8 London Marathons as well as several other big city races, including the Two Oceans Ultra-Marathon in Cape Town, South Africa. His extensive knowledge of running injuries, training preparation and maintenance tips will insure you train effectively and healthily.

To get your Marathon MOT or for any advice please call Simon on 07932 393972 or email him here.

http://kmmassagetherapy.co.uk/news-articles/

Kirsty is offering her Saturday massages for only £35 until the end of January.

Saturdays 10-2

To book an appointment: kirsty@kmmassagetherapy.co.uk

The workshop will cover several Mindfulness exercises and meditations for you to get a flavour, group discussions around the Stress Response and an insight into the core area of Values.

This is an introduction to the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme, an 8 part Mindfulness training programme.

Cost:          £30.

Venue:      Corehealth Studio

Time:        10:30am till 2:00pm

To reserve your place email simon@corehealthsuite.com or call 07932 393972 for more information

Mindfulness Courses:

The next daytime MBSR is starting on 18th April and the next evening class will be starting on the 15th April 2013.

If a group training is not to your liking I also run 1-1 MBSR trainings.

Please contact me for more information.

Kirsty’s therapeutic massage treatments are tailored to the client’s individual needs.  Your emotional, physical and spiritual well-being is considered when designing an appropriate treatment.  Each treatment is unique and a range of techniques are used from gentle holds to kneading, mobilisations as well as deep tissue techniques targeting specific areas of tension and tightness in the muscles.  The massage can be soothing and relaxing or invigorating and energising depending on the needs and requirements of the client.  Kirsty also incorporates trigger point massage techniques which can help to relieve muscular pain and tension.

Benefits of the treatment include:

- relief from muscular pain
- release of muscular tension and tightness
- relaxation and stress management/ relief
- improvement of circulation
- relief from headaches

Treatment:  Holistic and Deep Tissue Massage.

Phone:  0784 145 1156

Email:  kirsty@kmmassagetherapy.co.uk

Location:  174 Weston Park, Crouch End, London N8 9PN

Web:  www.kmmassagetherapy.co.uk

Times:  Saturday 10am-2pm

Rates:  1 hour treatment £45: 90 minute treatment £60

Special offers:  10% off your first appointment, book 5 treatments get the 6^th for free

Whilst working in the accounting industry for 8 years, Kirsty discovered firsthand the wide ranging benefits of massage, helping to relieve stress and physical tension during that time.  Kirsty decided that she wanted to share the benefits of massage with others and qualified with an ITEC Level 3 Diploma in Holistic Massage and an MTI Level 4 Diploma in Holistic Massage in 2012.

The treatment will begin with a short consultation to ascertain each client’s health and wellbeing, in order to create an appropriate massage treatment and to tailor it to their individual needs.  Due to her background Kirsty has a good understanding of the stresses and strains associated with a busy work environment, how these can manifest in the body and how massage can help alleviate them.

She does regular CPD to expand on her existing skills and knowledge of bodywork and most recently has attended workshops on pregnancy massage, onsite chair massage and trigger point massage.

Testimonials

“Having a massage with Kirsty I felt so well looked after.  She took a lot of time upfront to really understand my history in terms of any injuries or ongoing pain I may have been feeling, in order to tailor the treatments to maximum effect.  Throughout giving the treatments Kirsty was highly professional and really understood how to work all the muscles in order to give a wholly relaxing and invigorating massage.”  [Leyla – Coaching Manager ]

“Thanks so much for fitting me in this weekend Kirsty, your massage really helped with my neck/shoulder spasm and pain!”  [Caroline – Marketing Executive in the Charitable Sector ]

“Kirsty is a very responsive massage therapist who tailors the massage so you truly feel your needs have been addressed.”  [Nadra – Massage Therapist]

This  workshop is an opportunity to explore your relationship with your health: why you do what you do and how you go about doing what you do. How our attitudes and intentions affect the way we may exercise and indeed how we care for ourselves.

In this 2 hour workshop we will be looking into the principles and practice of Mindfulness Meditation, Values and Key Life Domains, and establishing workable and achievable health/life paths. This is also an opportunity for anyone considering the full 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training, to dip your toes into the gentle and clear waters that is mindfulness.

The cost of this introduction into Mindfulness is £20.

To book your place please email Simon@corehealthsuite.com or call him on 07932 393972

You can live a rich and meaningful life

You can live a life free from debilitating stress, anxiety or depression

You can have a life of improved health, fulfilling relationships and meaningful work

What happens to you when you read these apparently bold statements? What thoughts are going through your mind? What feelings are present in your body? What has happened to your breathing?

If any of the statements above illicit strong or familiar responses such as unhelpful, challenging thoughts, or resonant, uncomfortable feelings in your body, then I have good news for you.

You are human!

We all experience thoughts and feelings that challenge, nag, remind, worry us on a daily basis. This is what the mind does, it is constantly searching for answers, surveying the landscape for clues, threats and possibilities: for our survival.

But whereas our more primitive ancestors needed this mechanism to stay alive, we have less need to be on the alert to the extent that most of us are. The mechanism we do have is the ability to notice what we are noticing. Then we are able to make a clearer choice of what needs to happen. This is responding rather than reacting.

One way to learn how to respond to this world and all it presents to us, one healthy way, as there are plenty of unhealthy options (food, drugs, alcohol, excesses of all kinds), is this thing called Mindfulness.

The following is an extract from an article in the Harvard Health Publications:

It’s a busy world. You fold the laundry while keeping one eye on the kids and another on the television. You plan your day while listening to the radio and commuting to work, and then plan your weekend. But in the rush to accomplish necessary tasks, you may find yourself losing your connection with the present moment — missing out on what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. Did you notice whether you felt well-rested this morning or that forsythia is in bloom along your route to work?

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment — and accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness is now being examined scientifically and has been found to be a key element in happiness.

Ancient roots, modern applications

The cultivation of mindfulness has roots in Buddhism, but most religions include some type of prayer or meditation technique that helps shift your thoughts away from your usual preoccupations toward an appreciation of the moment and a larger perspective on life.

Professor emeritus Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder and former director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, helped to bring the practice of mindfulness meditation into mainstream medicine and demonstrated that practicing mindfulness can bring improvements in both physical and psychological symptoms as well as positive changes in health attitudes and behaviours.

Mindfulness improves well being

• Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life.
• Being mindful makes it easier to savour the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events.
• By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.

Mindfulness improves physical health

If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered the benefits of mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can:

• help relieve stress
• treat heart disease
• lower blood pressure
• reduce chronic pain
• improve sleep
• alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness improves mental health

In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including:

• depression
• substance abuse
• eating disorders
• couples’ conflicts
• anxiety disorders
• obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Some experts believe that mindfulness works, in part, by helping people to accept their experiences — including painful emotions — rather than react to them with aversion and avoidance.

It’s become increasingly common for mindfulness meditation to be combined with psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. This development makes good sense, since both meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy share the common goal of helping people gain perspective on irrational, maladaptive, and self-defeating thoughts.

How to Practice

Some types of meditation primarily involve concentration — repeating a phrase or focusing on the sensation of breathing, allowing the parade of thoughts that inevitably arise to come and go. Concentration meditation techniques, as well as other activities such as tai chi or yoga, can induce the well-known relaxation response, which is very valuable in reducing the body’s response to stress.

Mindfulness meditation builds upon concentration practices. Here’s how it works:

• Go with the flow. In mindfulness meditation, once you establish concentration, you observe the flow of inner thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judging them as good or bad.
• Pay attention. You also notice external sensations such as sounds, sights, and touch that make up your moment-to-moment experience. The challenge is not to latch onto a particular idea, emotion, or sensation, or to get caught in thinking about the past or the future. Instead you watch what comes and goes in your mind, and discover which mental habits produce a feeling of well-being or suffering.
• Stay with it. At times, this process may not seem relaxing at all, but over time it provides a key to greater happiness and self-awareness as you become comfortable with a wider and wider range of your experiences.

Practice acceptance

Above all, mindfulness practice involves accepting whatever arises in your awareness at each moment. It involves being kind and forgiving toward yourself. Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about noticing our thoughts, feelings and body through the lens of various Attitudinal Qualities which include:

• Non-judgement
• Kindness
• Gentleness
• Non-striving
• Acceptance
• Trust

Some tips to keep in mind:

• Gently redirect. If your mind wanders into planning, daydream, or criticism, notice where it has gone and gently redirect it to sensations in the present.
• Try and try again. If you miss your intended meditation session, you simply start again.

By practicing accepting your experience during meditation, it becomes easier to accept whatever comes your way during the rest of your day.

Cultivate mindfulness informally or learning to SLOW DOWN

In addition to formal meditation, you can also cultivate mindfulness informally by focusing your attention on your moment-to-moment sensations during everyday activities. This is done by single-tasking — doing one thing at a time and giving it your full attention. As you floss your teeth, pet the dog, or eat an apple, slow down the process and be fully present as it unfolds and involves all of your senses.

Exercises to try on your own

If mindfulness meditation appeals to you, going to a class or listening to a meditation tape can be a good way to start. In the meantime, here are two mindfulness exercises you can try on your own.

Practicing mindfulness meditation

This exercise teaches basic mindfulness meditation.

1. Sit on a straight-backed chair or cross-legged on the floor.
2. Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
3. Once you’ve narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and your ideas.
4. Embrace and consider each thought or sensation without judging it good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.

Learning to stay in the present

A less formal approach to mindfulness can also help you to stay in the present and fully participate in your life. You can choose any task or moment to practice informal mindfulness, whether you are eating, showering, walking, touching a partner, or playing with a child or grandchild. Attending to these points will help:

• Start by bringing your attention to the sensations in your body.
• Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air downward into your lower belly. Let your abdomen expand fully.
• Now breathe out through your mouth.
• Notice the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation.
• Proceed with the task at hand slowly and with full deliberation.
• Engage your senses fully. Notice each sight, touch, and sound so that you savor every sensation.

When you notice that your mind has wandered from the task at hand, gently bring your attention back to the sensations of the moment.

Key Points

• Practicing mindfulness improves both mental and physical health.
• Mindfulness involves both concentration (a form of meditation) and acceptance.  Deliberately pay attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment.
• It takes practice to become comfortable with mindfulness techniques. If one method doesn’t work for you, try another.
• Mindfulness is not just meditation, that is an element, it is about living more mindfully.

Invest in yourself

The effects of mindfulness meditation tend to be dose-related — the more you do, the more effect it usually has. Most people find that it takes at least 20 minutes for the mind to begin to settle, so this is a reasonable way to start. If you’re ready for a more serious commitment, Jon Kabat-Zinn recommends 45 minutes of meditation at least six days a week. But you can get started by practicing the techniques described here for shorter periods.

Learn Mindfulness or Give Yourself the Gift of Stillness

You can of course begin right away learning to notice, bringing an attitude of mindful awareness to your daily experiences. You can read all the books, listen to all the audio available, but the best to learn  is to practice, practice, practice.

Formal mindfulness training has been shown to be the most effective way to learn how to use mindfulness to help with stress, anxiety, depression and to focus yourself onto what is important for you, on what you want to live for.

I am offering 1-1 trainings in Mindfulness, specifically the system that Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered called Mindfulness based Stress Reduction or MBSR. This is typically an 8 part/week programme which gives you all the tools, formal and informal practices, insights, home-tasks to make mindfulness an integral part of your life.

There is a consultation process to assess whether Mindfulness is right for you at this time of your life. Learning mindfulness can be the most rewarding experience and gift you can offer yourself but it can well be an extremely challenging process. You may want to change what doesn’t work for you right now, but it doesn’t mean its going to be a comfortable ride.

So I say again:

You can live a rich and meaningful life

You can live a life free from debilitating stress, anxiety or depression

You can have a life of improved health, fulfilling relationships and meaningful work

You can, by investing a little more time into your life, by slowing down a little, by noticing moment to moment your experiences with gentler attitudes than you might normally use, by being more mindful.

If you are interested in learning mindfulness, please email me simon@corehealthsuite.com

Special Offer

I am offering a special Early Bird price to learn Mindfulness.

1-1 Training:If you book now for the full 8 sessions,( this will normally cost you, for 1-1 training £380), you will pay only £280

Group Course: £200 for the 8 part training

If you are interested in learning mindfulness, please email me simon@corehealthsuite.com

To take advantage of this Early Bird offer of £360 for the MBSR training, respond NOW and email me.

Many thanks and begin noticing….everything….

Simon Heale

Mindfulness Coach and Trainer

Parts of this article have been taken and adapted from Positive Psychology: Harnessing the Power of Happiness, Personal Strength, and Mindfulness, a special health report published by Harvard Health Publications.

Other useful resources:

All books by Jon Kabat-Zinn:

‘Full Catastrophe Living’

‘Wherever you go, There you are’

‘Coming to our Senses’

Jon Kabat-Zinn: watch him on this You Tube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc

The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu

Learn Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

 I am excited to announce that I am now able to offer MBSR trainings at Corehealth. MBSR is the standard 8 part structured process to learn Mindfulness and apply it to your life.

Mindfulness is simply:

‘Paying attention in a particular way,

on purpose

in the present moment

non-judgmentally’  Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is increasingly being employed throughout the medical and mental health fields as the standard method to deal with depression, anxiety and stress. Rather than over-medicate, learning how to notice what is present (emotions, thoughts and feelings), to give it space and respond with freedom rather than in an automatic, reactive way: this is the MBSR training.

For more information on how Mindfulness can help you live a richer and more meaningful life please go http://www.learnmindfulness.co.uk

This is the site of my teacher Shamash Alidina and has all the information you might need to know more about Mindfulness.

As an introductory offer I would like to offer you this 8 part course for just £45 per hour for 1-1 training (normally £60) The course can be run over either 6 or 8 sessions.

There is further discount if the course is paid in full prior to commencement.

For more information and to sign up for the MBSR training please email me at simon@corehealthsuite.com or call me on 07932 393972

If you are interested in attending an Introductory workshop to Mindfulness please email or call me.

Group trainings will commence in 2013.

Many thanks

Simon Heale LCSP NRHP

Mindfulness and Performance Coach

Remedial and Sports therapist

I have chosen this topic to publish or post first partly because the article was handed to me and partly because eating and consumption in general is such a large part of our daily activities. Whether we are aware of this consumption or not is, for me, what the article is drawing attention to. Of course it ‘sensationalises’ the activity of the raisin exercise and it misses the point entirely regarding food and conscience, but it raises the important questions around conscious behaviours and choices and unconscious habits.

The responses beneath the article are of special interest too, not least because of the reaction it stirs up in certain individuals, almost as if they are being challenged or threatened in some way. The ‘I haven’t got time to sit and  stare at my food’ response and the ‘ stop staring/eating and get on with work’ jibe gets to the heart of what the article is highlighting: that we can perhaps afford to ‘stop and smell the roses once in a while’, to slow down perhaps, replenish our stores before our next adventure or task.

This can be a breath, a minute of mindful awareness, walking mindfully, working mindfully and indeed, eating with a greater mindful awareness.

The problem of any article about mindfulness is that it is written and then read. Mindfulness can only be experienced: by doing. Allow mindfulness to work for you, explore its realms of possibilities for yourself and allow your experiences of living more mindfully to enhance your life moment to moment in whatever way works for you.

I am currently holding Mindfulness classes on Thursday evenings and Friday mornings. These classes are opportunities to explore how mindfulness can work for you, to discover the various practices and principles and if you then choose to take a more formal mindfulness training course.

I have been practicing mindfulness formally for over a year and will be taking my practitioner training later this year.

I hope you enjoy the article.

Simon

Mindful Eating – How to Think More and Eat Less

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