Tuesday 21 October 2014

Forest Bathing Is Good For You


Forest Bathing is actually something done with your clothes on.  It’s the practice of spending time in nature to relieve stress.  In Japan, where it is a recognised therapeutic practice called Shinrin-yoku, the Forest Agency has designated over 30 official sites for this restorative practice. 

Of course we feel the effects instinctively when we take a walk in nature - we feel good - and it's not just the exercise; living in Scotland we are fortunate to have access to incredible countryside.  Also, not that we need convincing, but science has confirmed this through numerous studies that show being in nature lowers blood pressure and cortisol levels (stress hormones), and has many other benefits to health and wellbeing.

Twenty years ago I lived in London and access to green space was limited and along with exercise, I used regular acupuncture as a way to manage my energy and negate the affects of stress.

So if you can’t head for the woods you can experience similar benefits for your wellbeing and health in Edinburgh with acupuncture, or as one of my patients once put it, "You can't beat the warm glow of having your energy waves bent back into shape."

If you would like to know more of how Cognitive Hypnotherapy can help with high blood pressure and stress or how to manage your energy with acupuncture, please feel free to call 07887 682291 or email.

If you go down to the woods today...

All good things,

Tom



Cognitive Hypnotherapy Edinburgh
Edinburgh Acupuncture & Oriental Herbs
Life Coaching


Tuesday 2 September 2014

Changing You - See It Happen!


[Cognitive Hypnotherapy Edinburgh]


Changing how you feel about yourself can seem hard, impossible or even improbable at best.  And yet you instinctively know you can do it.  

Your instincts are correct.  The brain's amazing ability to grow new neuronal pathways to change your life is limitless, which is why human beings are so good at learning, changing and adapting.  As a Coach and professional Cognitive Hypnotherapist in Edinburgh, I help clients do exactly what you can see.  


It works because your brain is designed to constantly make and break neural connections as you think new thoughts, make different choices and create new habits; you can literally change your brain’s biology and actually change your life.  And if you can change a little, you can change a lot...

Here is a real-time brain scan showing new neural pathways being made, it’s pretty incredible stuff:




This happens in you every day, to the degree that you encourage it. 


Feel free to make contact to see how I can help you be more fulfilled in your life.


All the best to you,


Tom


Cognitive Hypnotherapy Edinburgh
Edinburgh Acupuncture & Oriental Herbs
Life Coaching 


Acknowledgement: As I understand it, this video is from the wonderful work of Dr. Joe Dispenza.


Monday 20 February 2012

Acupuncture for Children

[Acupuncture in Edinburgh]


This little fellow was angry.  There were tears, kicking out, screaming at the top of his lungs - the whole show.  Pretty impressive stuff; I was watching an infant have his nappy changed on video - footage a colleague had filmed in his children’s acupuncture clinic in Seattle. 



The next shot was of the same baby having some acupuncture: was this really the same child?  He was gurgling, interested, looking around and making all the experienced treating children, I wouldn’t have believed it.  But there he was, chirruping away as my colleague gently inserted a few tiny needles and then after a few seconds removed them.  A few words of what we call ‘lifestyle’ advice – usually diet – and he and his mum were on their way.

Increasingly in this country and around the western world the above is becoming a more common occurrence.  Acupuncture has an enormous amount to offer in the paediatric health arena.  It does not by any means take the place of a mother/child:doctor relationship, but at times there is little a GP can offer and this is where medical techniques passed on down the millennia have a part to play.

For instance Theresa - names changed - brought little Karen (13 months) into the clinic as she’d been vomiting a lot for the past five days and was a wee bit out of sorts.  On examination, Karen had some extra redness in her cheeks and a slightly swollen abdomen.  Her sleep had been disrupted and she had diarrhoea which was pretty smelly.  I asked about her diet and it transpired they had just returned from a family holiday in Italy two days ago.  They had taken a villa which had an abundance of fruit growing all over the place – edible grapes and figs especially.  An infant’s digestive system is a very sensitive apparatus and takes a while to develop from processing nothing (foetus), to mothers milk - ‘babe in arms phase’ - to soft solids, and beyond.  And so when faced with something it’s not used to and in this case lots of it, food can get a bit stuck in the system. 

This causes something of a blockage, what we call ‘Accumulation Disorder’ - where the food stays too long in the digestive tract, “over-rotting and ripening” as the Chinese would say; the normal downward flow of energy in the system is prevented and so it ‘rebels’ back up causing vomiting!

In little Karen’s case, my job therefore was to clear the blockage to allow the resumption of a normal flow of energy.  This entailed pricking four points on the hand and telling Theresa to give her plenty of water and stick to simple food if she was hungry.

I had a call the next day, “Karen’s not been sick again, and a couple of hours after getting home, after one massive poo, her diarrhoea completely disappeared and she sat up, crawled and began laughing again!”

Children can respond very quickly to energy medicine sucha as acupuncture but sadly not all complaints can be cleared as quickly as Karen’s.  However, straightforward Accumulation Disorder, is very simple to treat and can be the root cause of many infant complaints: insomnia, learning difficulties, vaccination complications, recurrent colds, coughs and more.

I appreciate the thought of allowing a relative stranger to gently insert needles into your child is counter-intuitive to a mother’s sense of protection.  But when you begin to weigh up the possible short-lived discomfort against the sleepless nights, or recurrent cough and so on, intuition can begin to tip the scales.  Besides, it may be less of an ordeal than changing a nappy!

If you’d like to find out more about how acupuncture can help you or your child, please go to www.graceful-change.co.uk

Tom Lawrence


Edinburgh Acupuncture & Oriental Herbs
Cognitive Hypnotherapy Edinburgh

Life Coaching