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It’s been 4 years since I last popped in for a check up with my naturopath, Marnie Downer. In those past 4 years I have undergone some huge changes in my life – from working in the fast paced world of agency PR while running this website, to leaving the PR world behind for a part-time job at lululemon with dreams of growing the website to a full-time gig, and then unexpectedly starting a high-stress business from scratch for the next 3 years. During that time my body & mind were pushed to their limits. I lost 10 kilos, gained it back again & had at LEAST 2 mental breakdowns in the process.

While I’m in a much better place emotionally & physically now and I’m a big believer that everything you experience is valuable and full of lessons, I can’t help but wish I’d kept in touch with Marnie while I was going through it all so she could have helped me care for myself a little better!

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Today I went to see her again for a very different reason than I have previously, and I’m going to suggest that you should do the same (with her, or another naturopath that you like the look of!) no matter what is going on in your life.

Right now, I’m in a really good place. I enjoy my job, am completing yoga teacher training, have 2-3 days off a week, am learning to cook and meal prep nourishing meals, getting Wellness WA back up and running, sleeping well, low anxiety, learning to run, starting personal training again next week… I could go on as there really are loads of things I am happy about and grateful for in my life at the moment.

However, how often do we only seek help when things are dire? When we’ve well & truly hit the wall. Ground zero. Nowhere else to go.

What if we flipped this and continued working to improve ourselves and our lives when things are already going well?

With this in mind I decided to book in to see what I could tweak and improve in my “pretty good, most of the time, except when I drink wine, eat chocolate & smash a packet of chips” health & wellness routine, so that I can run with the good things that I’ve already got, and maybe add a few little improvements here and there to see even greater results.

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It was well worth the appointment and I learnt that the next steps for me personally are taking an activated vitamin b supplement to improve stress resilience, drinking licorice tea to support my adrenal glands, upping the hot water with lemon for overall vitality & making sure to make my green tea with 80 degree water instead of boiling so that all the goodness is intact.

I also feel really empowered knowing that someone has my back nutritionally, knows my full medical history & diet and is making her recommendations based on my personal body makeup and goals.

I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to a naturopath (Marnie or otherwise) – they can tell you all kinds of things you never knew about yourself and your body, and I find I learn something new every single time I have an appointment. Whether you have an acute issue, are feeling a bit stressed or even are just tired all of the time, there is help available and it’s only a phone call or an email away 🙂

So, have you considered seeing a naturopath before? Are you in a dire situation physically or mentally? Or are things going pretty good but maybe they could be just a little bit better? Let me know – my passion for this area has been reinvigorated and I’d love to help point you in the right direction!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Greens greens greens! There are so many products around these days that make it easy to get a daily dose of green goodness into your hard-working body.

While a green smoothie each day is always on the cards, when I’m wanting to turn it up a notch these are my 3 go-tos for a little extra boost 🙂

1. Matcha Powder – one of the most popular superfoods of the past year or so, Matcha is said to deliver an antioxidant hit with a gentle energy buzz, making it perfect for those who are usually sensitive to caffeine (myself included!). Throw it in your smoothie, bake with it, add it to cold water & shake, pancakes, you name it. With so many Matcha companies around, I like to keep it local with Matcha Tea Co.

2. Clipper Decaf Green Tea – a LONG time fave of mine! You wont believe how much your skin improves if you drink 2-3 cups of this each day. All the goodness, zero caffeine!

3. Sun Chlorella Tablets – Concentrated doses of tiny, green nutrition – these are my new lifeline when I’m not able to have a green juice or smoothie, I carry these around with me and pop one whenever the need for a bit of a nutritional boost arises. They contain 22 vitamins & minerals, help the body renew itself, are a form of vegan B12 & also help the body to remove toxins. I get mine from The Little Organic Society.

I’d love to hear what your favourite way to boost your daily intake of greens is!

Be well,

Annette

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Body language is a familiar concept to most, and the impact it has in our interactions with others is huge. But what about the 'conversation' our own body has with ourselves? It feels increasingly difficult these days to tune in to our bodies and the messages they send our way. Whether it be a job that keeps us constantly in our minds, endless technology distractions or the demands of looking after others, there can be precious little time in modern life to really connect with ourselves.

Meditation and yoga can be very helpful in this respect. There are also powerful approaches such as Somato Respiratory Integration (SRI) which I started working with about 18 months ago. SRI is a series of twelve simple exercises using breath, movement and touch designed to increase levels of perception in your body. Each of the exercises relates to a state of consciousness, such as feeling stuck, disconnected or conflicted in life. The approach was developed by Donald Epstein, the creator of network chiropractic. You can read about my experiences of Network Spinal Analysis here!

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Although simple, SRI is extremely profound. I recently worked with Ginette Hillman of Evolve Wellness Coaching , an experienced SRI facilitator who operates from the Fremantle area. The session starts with a conversation so that Ginette can ascertain which of the twelve exercises would be of most benefit to you. You then move onto a comfortable massage table and Ginette gently guides you through the relevant exercises, which involves placing your hands in various positions on and around your body, focused breathing and using specific phrases to express the state of consciousness you are working with.

In the weeks leading up to the session I'd been feeling pretty out of sorts – anxious, overwhelmed. As I worked through the SRI process I felt a strong emotional release and also some 'tingles' and coughing, as trapped energy was freed up. After the session I felt an incredible sense of lightness and the underlying anxiety that's plagued me for weeks has magically transformed into a deep peace. I'm sleeping better too.

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Ginette is wonderful to work with. She is extremely caring and understanding, which enabled me to feel safe and relax into the process. She has an intuitive gift to sense how you are feeling, including where you may be 'stuck' or disconnected, and to gently coach you into greater awareness and openness. Once you've had a series of SRI sessions with Ginette to learn and refine the technique you can also self-practice, making it a very empowering healing tool. In addition to SRI Ginette offers wellness coaching – see www.evolvewellnesscoach.com for more details.

Introductory Course 6 weeks

1 hour introduction to SRI plus 5 x 30 minutes sessions $297

An Introduction to the Discover Stages of Healing; stages 1,2,3

♥ Reduce stress and fearfulness
♥ Connect with your bodies messages and feedback

SRI Ongoing Sessions 30 minute sessions $47

How do you check in with your body? What do you find most helpful?

Article by a very 'zen' feeling Karen, holistic health coach and owner of Conscious Cravings whose mission is to inspire people be more nourished with food, life and love. Find her on Facebook!

Be well,

xoxo

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wellness |ˈwelnis| n the state or condition of being in good physical and mental health :

What do you know about your health and wellbeing? Do you assume that you’re in tiptop shape just because you’re not fighting a cold or don’t have any aches and pains? I used to think a bit like this. I was always under the impression that how I felt physically, reflected exactly what was going on inside. Truth is, there is so much more to our inner health and wellbeing than we actually know about, and sometimes the smallest change in behaviour can have the biggest effect.

I recently completed a Wellness Package at A Fine Balance, a physiotherapy and clinical nutritional practice located on Green Street, Joondanna. Having never had the opportunity to take part in a package like this, I was really keen to learn more about my body and changes I could make in my lifestyle – being a bit of a perfectionist, improvement is something I’m always on the hunt for!

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The first part of the package is a clinical consultation with AFB’s clinical nutritionist Joanne. This was a one hour appointment where Joanne assessed all aspects of my diet and lifestyle to work out where I may be limited in achieving optimum wellness. After reviewing my current situation, she proceeded to advise me on ways in which simple diet alterations would be beneficial to my wellbeing. This included dietary recommendations as well as nutritional supplements to complement my diet.

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One of these recommendations has changed my life. I have been suffering from headaches for over a year now and after a series of medical tests and checks I was ready to accept that maybe I was destined for a life of debilitating headaches. Not the case apparently! The miracle cure has been a magnesium supplement called BioCeuticals Ultra MuscleEze Energy®. The supplement provides a high dose of magnesium, which is essential for the healthy functioning of nerves, muscles, bones and heart rhythm. In my case, my neck and shoulder muscles were craving a bit more of the old magnesium, since I started taking it I probably get one headache a week now – sometimes none!

I left my consultation with Joanne feeling inspired and ready to make some changes in my diet. I didn’t forget this feeling either, not long after I left the clinic, an email from Joanne came through with some handy diet tips as well as suggested meals and recipes. Talk about motivation! I’ve since taken a very conscious approach to making sure I consume more foods which produce an alkaline environment and help to control inflammation in the body. I believe this has played a major role in helping combat my headaches too, keeping inflammation levels down and helping to support a healthy and balanced immune system.

I returned a few weeks later to continue my Wellness journey at the hands of AFB’s remedial masseuse, Emma Gater. Remedial massage is the blissful combination of deep tissue massage techniques and works to release tension in the soft tissues to increase circulation, relieve pain and promote healing throughout the body. It is also mighty relaxing!

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Posturally speaking, my next and final stop was a clinical Pilates class and postural assessment with clinic owner and physiotherapist Roshan Singh. This Pilates class was nothing like the reformer and mat classes I attend religiously, it was a customised session which assessed my core strength from head to toe and identified particular weaknesses and strengths.

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One thing I found particularly interesting was finding out that I actually have muscle wastage in my left thigh muscle as a result of a knee injury from my high school days! I have since been working on building up and strengthening that muscle, to prevent further injuries later in life. Roshan then took a look at my posture, which is the poor victim of various daily wear and tear. It doesn’t really take much to get yourself all straightened out, but the difference a small chin tuck for example can make is huge in the long run.

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The Wellness Package at A Fine Balance costs $350 (valued at $513) includes:

• 1 full clinical nutrition consultation
• 1 follow up clinical nutrition consultation
• 2 half-hour massages
• 1 postural assessment with a physiotherapist
• 2 Clinical Pilates classes
• 1 take home massage ball

The package must be used within 3 months of purchase.

Call A Fine Balance on (08) 9444 9663 or email reception@afinebalancephysio.com.au to book.

Think about how comfortable you want to be in your old age, and start working towards it now. Give your body the absolute best it deserves, look after it and nurture it with good food and rest and listen to it when it speaks to you. For it is the investments we make today, that will be worth it tomorrow.

Have you ever considered a wellness package before? If so, what would you like to gain from it? Leave a comment below as I'd love to hear from you!

Review by Lucy Anderson.

Be well,

xoxo

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I recently had the pleasure of attending an appointment with Amy O’Brien in West Perth to discuss my wellness goals and work on a plan together to attain optimal health. The 1 hour session included a consultation, acupuncture treatment and some herbs to take home with me. I first connected with Amy via email, and before attending my initial consultation Amy sent me some preliminary information including directions, a description of what the treatment would involve and some tips to help me prepare for my treatment which I found really thoughtful and helpful.

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Having never tried acupuncture or Chinese medicine before, I was a little tentative as I stepped into the clinic, however Amy put me at ease straight away. We chatted for around 20 minutes about my health and lifestyle as well as what I was hoping to achieve in terms of my overall wellness, with Amy asking me plenty of questions along the way. She then took my pulse, explaining that ‘blood deficiency’ is a common condition in Chinese medicine, and that my treatment would focus on warming the body and building the blood, which would in turn help to do things like nourish my skin and reverse the effects that stress has had on my body.

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The consultation was followed by an acupuncture session, which I have to say was very relaxing! For those of you who have never tried acupuncture before and are wondering whether it will hurt: the answer in my opinion is definitely no. I felt a slight prick as the needles were inserted, but they are so fine that you feel the pressure more than any pain. Once the needles are in you don’t even feel them anymore. Amy targeted certain areas of my body to focus on building the blood and creating mental clarity. She then left me to chill out for around twenty minutes while the needles worked their magic.

Amy took a very holistic approach during her consultation, providing me not only with direct treatment but also with general lifestyle and diet advice. One of the main points she raised was to make sure I was getting enough oxygen, which would help build the blood. Remembering to stop and breathe is something yoga has taught me, and it may seem trivial but it can work wonders for stress and mental clarity and is something we so often forget to do on a typical day in our busy lives.

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At the end of our session Amy provided me with some herbs to take away with me as well as a personalised write-up of my treatment goals and some tips to help me achieve these, with some further information on what she had discussed with me during the consultation.

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Overall I found the session to be well-rounded, relaxing and informative. Anyone who has taken Chinese herbs before would probably agree with me when I say it is a bit of an ‘acquired taste’, but it is exciting to increasingly see science backing what ancient tradition seems to have known and understood for centuries. I would definitely recommend Amy’s services as a qualified, registered practitioner and she can be contacted by email, on Facebook, or at her website www.fabuloushealth.com.au

Her clinic is located at Suite 7, 3 Lawrence Ave, West Perth.

Have you tried acupuncture or Chinese medicine before? If not, have you ever thought about it? Leave a comment below! 🙂

Reviewed by Alice Unwin, Chinese medicine and acupuncture convert!

Be well

xoxo