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Continuing our series focusing on all the treatments we offer at WNT this time we are focusing on 'Other Treatments' - read on to find out about what these are and the practitioners who offer them. (And see our earlier focuses on Acupuncture and Massage) Our interviewees here are: Veronica Massa - Facial Therapist extraordinaire Laura Devonshire - Reflexologist, Reiki and Sound healing practitioner Miha Rosta - Acupuncturist and Holistic Coach (here with his holistic coaching hat on) Please tell us a bit about your individual approach and style of treatment?  My approach is 100% natural and holistic. My training background comes from clinical and holistic therapies rather than beauty training which makes my sessions really individualized and focused on the overall wellbeing of the person rather than just limited to the skin. In creating my treatments, I didn’t want to follow a brand but develop them through my experience and knowledge and using my own hand-crafted pure botanical skincare that, over the years, has proven healing even for the most sensitive skins. I create unique therapeutic sessions integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine and Face Reflex Therapies, Clinical & Spiritual Aromatherapy, Women Mysteries, Energy and Sound Healing and Plant Spirit Healing.  My intention for my clients and holistic treatments is to create a space for deep nourishing rest. A space where they can press pause on their busy lives and leave feeling relaxed, grounded and at their most optimal. When it’s the first time working with a new client we will talk through an in depth medical history and lifestyle consultation then start with a general check-in for all subsequent treatments. This is so I can ensure each treatment is tailored specifically to meet them where they are at the time: physically, mentally and emotionally and work accordingly. When working with reflexology and reiki I use my hands to listen and guide and when working with my singing bowls, I listen to how they ‘sing’ to help identify areas and aspects that may require attention. Each of the modalities I work with help to down regulate the nervous system, bringing the mind & body out of the ‘fight, flight, freeze’ response, into ‘rest, digest, repair’, where the body’s own natural healing processes take place. The body’s innate wisdom knows what it needs to do to heal and rebalance, for me it is about helping create an optimal environment to encourage homeostasis.  What I have found over the years of working with people in Mental Health care and as an Acupuncturist is that the most challenging situations are a result of stuck, stagnant mental patterns and beliefs. Which lead to inter-personal challenges and health issues. By changing how we relate to ourselves, we can create a huge impact on how we relate to our life and thus actualizing the desired change. In my approach I utilise my expertise of: - Chinese Medicine, and its understanding of how mental health relates to physical disease - Reflective practice, which I find the most fundamental aspect of learning about ourselves (and each other!) - Embodied practices of Tai chi, Qigong, Self-massage and Meditation, which are excellent at supporting us on our journey towards joy and freedom - The framework of Buddhism, Daoism and basic Psychology so we can put things into a different perspective. Allowing deeper processing. What kind of clients do you mostly treat?  Although men are also welcome, my ideal clients are women that, in their busy lives, need to find a calm moment for themselves to pause, reconnect and re-balance. People come to see me with all sort of health issues that are addressed during the sessions, as well as receiving support in the healing process while receiving palliative health care. Facilitating self-healing is at the core of my work and so my treatments are delivered with caring attention and a heart-centred approach. My sessions work strongly on stress release/management and stress related symptoms as well as emotional & facial tension release. We don't realise how much tension can build up in the muscles of our face, we use our face hundreds of times a day and communicate through our facial expressions. Expressed and suppressed emotions may result in an accumulation of facial muscle tension which the specialised techniques of reflex therapies may steadily dissipate - achieving a corresponding improvement in your sense of well-being. Any health issue and imbalances can benefit from facial therapies and in particular Facial Reflexology including deep emotional disharmony and trauma, post stroke symptoms, hormonal imbalances, ADHD, pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, lack of concentration and memory to just mention few... or as a regular practice to maintain wellness and well-being. People don’t have to be affected by a medical condition to enjoy the benefits of Facial Reflexology – as it is very calming and grounding, it will help you to cope with stress and keep your health in optimum condition.  I work with a range of clients of varying ages. I have on occasion worked with children with wonderful outcomes, however on the whole my clients are adults, often with very busy lives, juggling many different responsibilities and the sessions help them to unwind and destress. Reflexology in particular has a wonderful gift of helping to slow down busy minds and brings clarity of thought and decision making ( one of the MANY beautiful benefits). I work with clients to support them on their fertility journey, with helping to regulate menstrual cycles, overall support for the endocrine system, preparing for IVF and managing stress and anxiety levels whilst navigating through their journey. I support expectant mothers throughout their pregnancy, helping to manage the full range of symptoms: from morning sickness to aches and pains, constipation and sleep disturbances, all the way through to labour preparation. I have also supported birthing partners, teaching them some of the reflex points to help during labour.  Most of the people I see for coaching are those who are having difficulty in terms of personal relationships. We work on those issues by establishing clarity over their priorities, creating healthy boundaries and introducing practices that support them in dealing with any arising overwhelm. In my eyes, Self-compassion and self-care are the foundations for resolving most of our romantic and familial relationship issues. What do you enjoy about using your therapies to work with clients?  An open face is an open heart. Our life story is written in our face. The face displays our thoughts, feelings, emotions, stresses and joys effortlessly and instantaneously. Taking care and attention to your face has a tremendous affect not only to your skin and the way you look but on a deeper level, rebalancing emotions, causing confidence, positivity and self-love to flourish. I see my facial therapies as a way of “healing through the face”; they are soul nourishing practices that help cultivate self-love, self-awareness and mindfulness for empowerment, re-harmonizing the emotions, and realigning with the true self. By working on the face, we can have direct access on the nervous system. The face is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. Its closeness to the brain means that stimulus perceived by your senses take the shortest possible route to the control centre of the body to potentially address your health imbalances. It is not a case that most of our senses - vision, smell, hearing, taste - are in our face so that the messages to the brain have a short route to travel.  I love how deeply and profoundly the holistic therapies support my clients through all the different chapters of their lives. It’s really beautiful to see how relaxed clients are when they leave and how this accumulates over time. I feel it is important to have time and space to turn one’s attention inwards and tune into the subtleties that can often get missed living and working in a busy city and world. I feel really grateful to be able to help support them and give them some space to ‘fill their cup’ and go back into their day feeling nourished and revitalised 💫  For me, this work is about connection and freedom. Building a framework between the clients and I, where we can kindly explore their wishes, desires, fears and concerns. Where they can feel more intimate with themselves, so they can share this intimacy with those they love. My favourite bit is about hearing how they feel more confident in standing up for their needs and slowly making progress towards their desires. What clients say: 
 "I wholeheartedly recommend Laura to anyone looking to heal, destress or just relax. The reflexology session I had was amazing!"
"I can honestly say I felt like a new person after my session." "It felt like a week’s holiday in one hour!" "The treatment has left me feeling very calm relaxed and with less aches and pains." "I thoroughly enjoyed my reiki session, Laura couldn't have been nicer and the treatment felt very intuitive and personal. I came away feeling better in myself but also with an improved understanding of how I can continue to heal in my own time." "It felt like being in good hands and the relaxing effect stayed with me for a while. I felt rebalanced. She could also identify areas of attention I had not talked about."
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With Karen joining us this month it felt like a good time to reflect on the range of therapies we now have on offer at WNT. It is our 10th anniversary this October – wowee 😊😊 – and over the decade we have had an alphabetic spectrum of treatments and classes from Acupuncture to Yoga with everything from Feldenkrais to Sports massage in between. So what do we have on offer now? Well, starting with massage where WNT began, we have a great range to choose from Sports and remedial massage with Tessa – Advanced booking required to see popular Tessa with her highly adept intensive treatments. She works with all sorts of athletes and desk-bound bodies to help free up stubborn tensions and encourage freer, more efficient movement. Tessa really is a master of her trade working with a range of deep tissue and trigger point techniques and using acupuncture needles in some sessions. Relaxing deep tissue massage with Erika – Erika has been in the massage business for over 20 years and her lovely strong hands work intuitively around the body, their experience meaning your body has easy confidence to relax and feel some relief. You can read Erika’s blogs and see how thoughtful, interesting and considered they are and her massage treatments are in the same vein, very nourishing. Tuina massage with Mihaly / Mike – Mihaly (also known as Mike) is a more recent addition to our team and we are so glad he joined! Mihaly has a lovely, peaceful, warm presence and his Tuina massage is very careful and intuitive. Tuina takes placed fully clothed and works along the meridians like acupuncture (which Mihaly also practises). This is a great treatment with Mihaly since he is a natural therapist and can help you work with acute and broader issues alike, often helping with lifestyle support. Philippa also practises tuina massage and tends to incorporate it into an acupuncture treatment when she feels it would benefit rather than offer it as a stand-alone treatment. And now we have another experienced pair of hands in Karen with Shiatsu. Similarly to tuina, Shiatsu works with meridians to open up stuck energy and uses stretching and pressure on points to help release and find relaxation and ease. Karen has been working in South London over the past 2 decades and her experience and skilful practice is a welcome addition to our team. And then we have a wealth of Acupuncture on offer too, which you can read more about in our blog, Acupuncture at WNT - three different approaches, who should I see? In brief, we have Philippa with a traditional TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) background and almost three decades of experience working in a broad range of professional settings, both privately and with the NHS. Philippa works a lot with women’s health, including menstrual issues, fertility through to post-natal recovery and menopause. Philippa’s treatments tend to be primarily pure acupuncture though she often incorporates some tui na massage into the treatment. Mihaly is also TCM trained and his treatments tend to be more of a blend of acupuncture with tui na massage and incorporates his background in martial arts into his approach. Mihaly’s interest is in the mind-body connection and developing this this both informs and is an outcome of his practice. Tessa uses acupuncture needles in a different way, her training is in Medical Acupuncture or Dry Needling which can be useful in treating musculoskeletal issues and helping to release stubborn tensions. Tessa uses these as an addendum to her sports massage treatments, incorporating them when she feels they’d be beneficial and the client is keen. And then we have some other treatments which are currently all offered by lovely Laura on a Saturday: Reflexology is Laura’s main practice, her warm and welcoming presence is popular with clients who report feeling the benefits of her kindness and empathy as well as her knowledgeable treatments. This foot treatment has an uncanny way of working on the whole body and can be profoundly relaxing and restorative as well as effective on specific aches, pains, digestive and menstrual challenges.
Reiki is another of Laura’s offerings and clients find this energetic work helpful in encouraging the body’s own healing capacity, a nourishing hands-off treatment that helps support the body emotionally and spiritually. And last but by no means least, Laura’s other skill is in sound bath healing and she offers one on one sessions at WNT – amazing sensation having bowls placed on the body and ‘played’ so you feel the vibrations and benefit from the deeply resonating sounds. This is a pretty special thing to have on offer and worth checking out if you have never experienced it. Reflexologist, reiki and sound healing practitioner Laura Devonshire looks at the various aspects that comprise holistic wellness  What is Holistic Wellness? The word ‘Holistic’ derives from ‘Holism’, with Greek roots ‘Holos’, meaning whole, complete, entire. Holistic Wellness is looking at a number of elements relating to a person and their way of life that contribute to them feeling at their most optimal. Each of these parts are intimately connected and if one part is out of balance it has an impact on all the other parts. Therefore, we cannot only focus on one part in isolation, we must consider all parts to have a full picture and understanding of how a person is. Below are 5 aspects that contribute to our whole way of being: Physical Wellbeing – this relates to our body and its associated systems functioning optimally. For this to happen we consider a number of influences: the foods we eat and a balanced diet, the amount of, and quality of sleep we have, keeping hydrated and daily exercise/movement. They all play a huge part in contributing to our physical energy levels and how our bodies cope and respond to daily demands, medical conditions and dis-ease. Mental Wellbeing - an optimal state of mental wellbeing does not mean an absence of stress but more one’s ability to process and juggle the events of day to day life. Our mental wellbeing changes and we can experience highs and lows, it can change daily, weekly, monthly, even hourly depending on our life experiences. When we feel in balance and flow, we make healthy choices, maintain healthy boundaries and are able to be fully present in the moment. Emotional Wellbeing - our sense of self, our self-esteem and how we think, feel and relate to ourselves and others. It is being able to recognise, feel and process our full range of emotions: joy, anger, stress, sadness etc... and our ability to communicate them with others. Our emotional wellbeing includes developing emotional resilience to be able to adapt and cope with changing situations. Our emotional wellbeing is intimately connected to our mental and physical wellbeing, it is estimated that 75% of illnesses are caused by stress. Spiritual Wellbeing - an aspect that will look different for each person as it’s such a personal part of one’s overall wellness. Spiritual health relates to our sense of life-meaning and purpose and how we experience and integrate this into our lives. Taking time to do the things that ‘light your fire’, finding the things that inspire you and make you ‘feel alive’. It may mean taking time to sit quietly in contemplation, having a mindfulness practice. Or conversely could be more dynamic and involve activities like dancing or singing. Spending time in nature can be really soothing for the soul and cultivating a sense of being connected to something greater than ourselves. Social Wellbeing - relates to the connections we have with other people. This can be with family, friends, community, common interest groups ie: social, work, sports, spiritual, religious etc... Overall as human beings we are wired for connection, however, one person may thrive in small intimate settings whilst another may thrive in larger groups. Having connections where you feel supported, heard and held can have a significant impact on our overall wellbeing. We can see how each of the above parts has a significant impact on how we feel on a day to day basis and how they continually interact and overlap: How we think and feel affects us physically. What we eat affects us mentally and emotionally. How we move and how we socialise affects how we feel. So although we have broken the whole down into parts to explore different aspects of the whole, they each contribute to the whole and also each reflect the whole. As we understand each aspect of ourselves and what does/does not work for us we can implement appropriate self-care practices to support each aspect of our lives. Sometimes we develop an image of how we are and what we are like and don’t allow ourselves to explore other possibilities. Acknowledging that on different days and at different times in our lives we may need different things and giving ourselves space to explore and room for change. Taking an holistic approach to your wellbeing does not replace medical advice or treatment when it is needed, but regardless of any existing health issues it can be really beneficial in supporting your current and future health and wellbeing.  |
AuthorBlogs from the WNT team. For our blogs from before June 2020 please see individual profile pages - it's a good way to get to know practitioners too. Archives
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