Unity Physiotherapy & Wellbeing

This is a really important listen, especially for healthcare professionals who work with people in pain. Lots of important points in this.

The latest Action for Happiness Calendar is Meaningful May. These calendars generally have some great focus points, I particularly love this one. This may be because in both physio and coaching I help people explore what’s meaningful and connect/reconnect to it and I do my best to stay connected to what’s meaningful and live a values based life as best I can. Meaning and purpose are interwoven throughout my book which is pending publication too.
I would love to hear how you get on with follow the focus points in this calendar.

Did you know that as well as 1:1 physio pilates-yoga appointments I offer 1:2 and 1:3 appointments?
What are the benefits of this? Here’s a few:
⭐️ A 1:1 physio pilates-yoga assessment ensures that I understand you and any pain or health conditions. This helps tailoring of the movement and breath practices, as well as making this effective and safe.
... ⭐️ The movements and practices are tailored to you.
⭐️ The increased attention you get helps build greater awareness.
⭐️ A 1:2 or 1:3 (after your 1:1) reduces the cost and you get to enjoy tailored pilates and yoga with your family and friends.
⭐️ Improves flexibility, strength, fluidity of movement, coordination, balance, core strength and more.
⭐️ Helpful for things like anxiety, confidence, self awareness, concentration and more.
⭐️ Can help you move with more ease, change or manage pain.
Where:
⭐️ This can be at your home, in the clinic or at your place of work.
People doing my current classes have told me how much they are going to miss them and are grateful that once every 3 or 4 weeks (maybe fortnightly) they have the option of a 1:1 or a small 1:3 class.
People have said the calm, safe, non-judgemental, supportive atmosphere provided is important to them and that they have benefited from this. Other common feedback has been about gratitude for the tailoring and attention to detail. I’m pleased people can take a lot of awareness and learning into what ever classes they choose to do. Recently someone said my classes are unique. This could reflect everything I combine into classes and 1:1 appointments. My teaching is based on many things, some of the important ones:
👉🏻 Physiotherapy knowledge and skills. 👉🏻Yoga & pilates training, knowledge and self practice. 👉🏻 Teaching meditation & self-practice. 👉🏻 5 years experience of teaching classes & many years integrating yoga and pilates into physio 1:1 appointments. 👉🏻Compassion. 👉🏻 Understanding living with pain. 👉🏻 Coaching knowledge.
If you would like more information on this or would like to book a 1:1 or a small group session (if you have already had a 1:1) please get in touch.
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A really good short video on living well with pain. Bronnie Thompson’s shares what happened after being told there was nothing more that could be done. As Bronnie says it is important to understand your unique picture as part of living well with pain. This is something I help people explore.

Do you live with persistent pain? Some thoughts on managing flare-ups from Bronnie Thompson in this 1 minute video.
If you need help deepening understanding and building strategies for things like managing flare-ups I can help you explore these. I’ve specialised in persistent pain and live well with it. I’m passionate about helping people do what they love, move more and live well.

‘Conflict is a part of life’ by Psychologist Stan Stedi. This is a interesting article about conflict, including where it comes from, the importance of compassion and some helpful steps towards compassionate helpfulness, forgiveness & assertiveness.
‘Conflict is in our very nature. Every day, large or small, human conflicts are all around us. But conflict is simply a result of problems being tangled up with the darkside of human nature emerging from innate protection and com...petition motivations that have evolved over millions of years to help us survive, and that come with difficult tradeoffs. How can we disentangle ourselves and our problems from these more primitive motives and manage conflict better? By activating some of the best bits of what it is to be human, especially the awareness, wisdom, strength, intention and commitment…of COMPASSION....’
https://www.linkedin.com/pu…/conflict-p art-life-stan-steindl
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An interesting read on pacing as a strategy in pain management.

The Stroke Association have done their first tv advert, this is a powerful one minute video. Please share to raise awareness that stroke can happen at any age, it’s often life changing and there is support from places like the Stroke Association and Specialist Professionals. I’ve specialised in stroke within neurology, get in touch if you would like any help.
https://www.stroke.org.uk/rebuilding-live s…

Good Luck to all of you running the London Marathon tomorrow! All your training and hard wok has prepared you physically and mentally, remember the mental focus and prep tomorrow is important too. It’s nearly time for #Londonmarathon2019

This is a short powerful video from Joletta Benton about learning to live well despite pain being present. Pain is complex, many things contribute to it. Joletta talks about some important things in this three minute video including the importance of a values based life (doing what you value and is important to you).
I’ve specialised in pain and live well with it myself, if you would like to learn to live well again and do what you love I’m here to help you.

This is helpful to remember...

A great reminder to move regularly. Can you add some more movement into your day today? Making it fun adds benefit too. A great saying to remember is ‘motion is lotion.’

I watched this humbling inspirational video this morning after Matthew Low, Physiotherapist, shared it on twitter. This video was made by Dr Kieran Sweeney, a GP, academic, and author, who passed away in 2009 from mesothelioma. It is an essential watch for all healthcare professionals. It is heartfelt and really shows the importance of compassionate care, understanding the person, mindful language and ‘being with’ someone.
This has had a profound affect on many twitter colleagues that have viewed it so far. It’s made some of us reflect deeply. I aim to keep compassion at the heart and foundation of my care and this has reinforced how essential it is. I will always do my best to hold compassionate space and ‘be with’ people, walking alongside & understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3TignNvHNx4

Did you know you can have your say on what’s important to you in Lincolnshire Healthcare as part of ‘Healthy Conversations 2019’ https://lincolnshire.nhs.uk/healthy-conve rsation

As part of some changes, here is some exciting news...
🙏🏻 I’m planning some self development workshops later this year. These workshops will combine my physiotherapy, coaching, neuro linguistic programming, and compassionate mind training knowledge and skills.
🙌🏻 I would like to ensure what I’m offering is what you feel would be helpful for you, so please comment with:
... ⭐️ What workshops would be helpful for you? What would you like including?
⭐️ Would you like a mindfulness workshop as part of the series being offered? I know a wonderful teacher who would lead a brilliant workshop.
Two workshops I’ve planned to include are stress management, and exploring your self-talk and self-compassion (as part of exploring your relationship with yourself). I’ve been pondering some of the workshops a while, they can now have a bit more focus and be launched!
Each workshop is likely to be 2-3 hours, at the moment there are 5 potential workshops in the planning stages. They can be done individually or as a linked series. So, you can dip in and out, choosing what’s most helpful for you, or you can choose to do them all.
Please share what you feel you would benefit from in the comments and share with your friends and family.
Enjoy the lovely sunshine today, that’s my plan for the day ☀️
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Changes are afoot....
As a lot of you know my work involves helping people explore what’s most helpful for them and making changes to live well. This includes readdressing the work life balance when needed, I have recently readdressed by own to prioritise my health & wellbeing more.
As great as it’s been running the clinic on Newark Road along with more pilates/yoga classes it’s not something I can sustain long-term and look after my own wellbeing at the same time.
...Continue Reading

Happy Easter to you all, hope everyone enjoys the lovely weather we are having. The clinic is closed until Wednesday 24th April (I work in the Lincolnshire Pain Service Tuesdays & Wednesdays, on these days I can be contacted after 4pm).