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Ceremony for the Seasons

We invite you to join us for a ceremony to celebrate the seasons of the year.

A Ceremony / Sound healing / Fire pit ( where possible) and Feast.

Our recent one for Autumn Equinox is featured below.

Book your place by emailing:

[email protected]

 

Samhain -31st October 2024 – private event

Yule – Winter Solstice- 15th December 2024 1600-1800

Imbolc -1st February 1600-1800

Oestre – Spring Equinox -22nd March 1600-1800

Beltane – 30th April 1900-2100

later dates TBC

Please Arrive 15 mins before start of event. Bring a mat / blanket / cup and plate / contribution to a shared feast.

Likely to last 2 hours.

£25 each.

Ceremony for the Seasons2024-09-22T14:22:42+00:00

Indigo Attunement Massage Training Course

Are you a massage therapist looking for a new modality to add to your toolbox? Then Indigo Attunement Massage might be for you.
This one day CPD course is available online and in person at our studio in Hampshire UK.It is accredited by the FHT.

Having developed this new modality which combines my experiences in the performing arts, clinical massage, psychology and healing, I now bring you the opportunity of learning and practicing this fabulous treatment.

When I massage I attune to the individual guest. I use verbal and non-verbal communication. I dance or practice tai Chi as I change my positions and release muscles, fascia lymph and energy. I use my breath as I would in music or theatre, to expand or contract a feeling. I use metaphor to help people internalise complicated emotional difficulties.

Learn simple techniques to engage more deeply with your client, moving blocks and enabling a sense of balance

This course will have you and your clients buzzing from the effects. it replenishes energy for both of you.

Book a place on our next training day. Saturday 3rd September 2022. [email protected]

Indigo Attunement Massage Training Course2022-06-23T12:06:06+00:00

Baby Massage

5 week Baby Massage course.

Get in touch to book your place.

Beautiful Setting with changing lights and sounds. Learn how to massage your baby and meet other parents.

40 minute session with free refreshments.

£40 per person per course.

book by emailing me at [email protected]

Baby Massage2022-05-19T14:56:10+00:00

The physical and mental effects of Covid led home working

The physical and mental effects  of COVID led home working.

 

Working with people, I see patterns and trends come and go. Newly formatted old fashioned concepts begin their next cycle and I see areas for development and enquiry.

 

Since March many people have started to work from home. They come to me as massage or therapy clients and there are a new set of presentations that might be familiar to you too.

 

Tension through the neck and shoulders.

A clamped jaw 

A pain in one glute (buttock)

Brain fog

Fatigue

Weight gain

Mood swings

Gastrointestinal problems

 

The physical symptoms are partly to do with the change in movement. People will

Sit at their makeshift desk without thinking about the ergonomics of their setup. 

 

Tip: Try to sit on an upright 

chair .Raise your laptop to eye level. Sit squarely with your feet flat on the floor, upper legs parallel to the floor. Place a rolled up hand towel at your lower back .

 

Every 45-60 minutes .stand up walk around and rotate your arms backwards ( back stroke swimming) This will allow your shoulders and hips to release.

 

Don’t work when curled up on the sofa as one side of the spine and hips will be strained.

 

Try to offload at the end of each day. If you don’t have someone to do this with, try writing the annoyances down. Shoulder, neck and jaw pain is often a mental block as well as a physical pain. When we “shoulder” a burden, taking on a responsibility without the resources to make changes, the energy remains in that area of the body. Likewise when we have to “bite our tongue” to avoid hurting feelings or for confidentiality, the tension remains in the neck and jaw. 

 

In these current times where much is unknown and plans change frequently, there is much tension in these areas. 

 

Tip: gently massage your neck , stroking downwards from ear to collarbone. Use the tips of fingers to draw circles at your jaw. Allow these muscles to relax. 

 

If you’re looking for tips on wellbeing or would like a personal consultation , in person (Berkshire UK) or online do get in touch.

 

[email protected]

 

 

The physical and mental effects of Covid led home working2020-10-21T08:52:34+00:00

From Music to Mindfulness Massage

Some of my new clients ask what style of massage I do. Why it is different to other places they have gone to? So here is a story about how I moved from music to mindful massage.

I began as a musician, loving the feeling of emotions living and moving through me via listening to , playing and immersing myself in music. Following this path led me to University and still I was intrigued by this connection between how we feel emotions in our bodies, expanding this to include other art forms, drama, dance, martial arts, visual and performance art.

I moved from studying to practicing and sharing this creative flow with others. My work stayed parallel to teaching and at that time the Arts were well funded and communities were encouraged to explore issues creatively. As my specialism, I followed the funding from Minority groups such as working with those with a disability, and developed into transforming this into work related learning in theatre when the we joined the EU. People still wanted to be creative but at that time, the only way to access funding was to create a programme which was work related. I headed up a number of companies, which used theatre and performance as tools to learn social and communication skills. I worked alongside Dancers, Actors and Visual Artists to create stunning immersive theatre experiences, long before these were a mainstay of the West End arts scene

By this time in the mid 2000’s, the arts were becoming marginalised in education, New assessment criteria meant that learning was to be quantified with measurable results. The arts, notoriously difficult to assess, were marginalised on the curriculum, specifically because it was difficult to grade them. Not only the curriculum in schools, but the aspirations of the young people were curtailed as societies begn to place less importance on the arts. My own work moved to focus on Inclusion ( the next buzzword in funding). I worked using music and the performing arts to help those with Learning Disabilities, be creative to the best of their ability. The key with inclusion is to take each person as an individual, assess with them and their networks (family, friends, professionals) and create a learning programme that specifically works for them.

At this time Sir Ken Robinson (who sadly passed away last week), talked about how schools were killing creativity. Not the teachers, who still wanted to enable this mind body connection through the arts, but the policy makers. As a believer that “If you want to see change , then you have to be part of the process”, I took an MA in Inclusive Education to further the debate.

Fast forward 10 years, the arts all but gone in schools, and the new buzzword is “Wellbeing”. After slimming down the breadth of education to remove the arts, we now see the rise in Mental Health difficulties across the country. We began to teach emotional literacy and recognised the need for people to have strong communication and social skills. But the subjects that provided these were diminished.

I moved into the field of wellbeing and massage after my own need to reintegrate mind and body. The massage work I do now, is enhanced by the work that came before. I also spent three years working alongside Chiropractors and Osteopaths and learnt clinical approaches as well as business skills. My massage style combines learning from my whole life. I see each discipline as a tool in my toolkit. My improvisation work alongside working with those who were non verbal, has attuned my practice and means that I can read people well and tailor their treatment to their needs and interests and learning style.

When I massage I attune to the guest. I use verbal and non verbal communication. I dance or practice tai Chi as I change my positions and release muscles, fascia lymph and energy. I use my breath as I would in music or theatre, to expand or contract a feeling. I use metaphor to help people internalise complicated emotional difficulties.

I continue to be fascinated by the work, and would love to share more about this with others, to enable each of us to live our best lives. Wellbeing is the new arts, Schools will come full spiral, and education hopefully will continue to seek to develop whole people.

Do get in touch, if I can help. Morag

 

From Music to Mindfulness Massage2020-08-28T18:27:57+00:00

Mindfulness in a time of unknowing

Hi Indigo Spring Fans,

I hope you are all finding ways to keep in balance during this coronavirus lockdown. As we navigate this unknown our moods will rise and fall as we try to find balance in these uncertain times. It is typical for the brain to seek to control in these situations and because Coronavirus takes the control away from us we seek it in our activities and interactions with others.

 

Are you finding yourself short tempered with those in your household? Comments from others online who have different experiences and opinions? Are you seeking control through baking or cleaning or self medicating? Again all typical responses to traumatic events.

 

Sometimes we reach out for something that will make us feel more balanced. And at this time, that place is within. Breathwork and minfulness can help our minds and bodies integrate this change.

Whilst I can’t do hands on work (and I’m missing it terribly) I’m offering online sessions 1-1 using a variety of other tools in my therapists bag.

 

Here are some short videos to help on the way. Hope you enjoy.

 

Love Morag x

 

Mindfulness in a time of unknowing2020-04-29T11:12:36+00:00

Helping Others

One of the things that gives me joy in life is helping others. It gives a sense of well-being that comes with compassion to other people and helps understand each other and our differences.

When going through my own difficulties in life, it was the people who showed unconditional love and friendship, kindness and understanding that made the real difference. When you are really out of kilter, you sometimes have no capacity to think beyond yourself, your own needs, and your own safety. Friends who would text “thinking of you” and expecting nothing in return. Family who would rock up with food when you couldn’t even think of eating. People who would offer to take your kids out so you could just do nothing. People who said “ I don’t understand your illness but I’m here anyway. They made the real difference in helping me to get well again.

At that time, I was aware that I couldn’t  think of others and wondered if I’d ever get back there again.  Now I’m more balanced, I can look back on how I was and observe how I’ve changed.

I always loved helping others but I sometimes didn’t see how it drained me. I helped others before seeing to my own needs. Maybe I looked for validation through my kindly acts? I don’t know. Certainly there was a point at which I no longer observed my own balance.

Now I’m back in a positive  space, I have to watch my own levels. Of energy, health, exercise, nutrition, alone time or with others. This has become key in my ability to help others. I work as much or as little as I can to remain balanced and cut my cloth accordingly.

I’m so happy to be able to help others in my work as a massage therapist and singer. I also wonder how else to help others in the future?

I have skills that I no longer use. I see the young adults coming through life with a different set of skills than I had at that age and wonder if some of the ones that changed are going to be needed in generations to come.

Relaxation without stimulus. Social interaction ( particularly with people you don’t like). Waiting. Communicating. Getting on with the plan. Reflecting and improving,  Giving yourself a break. … just some of my thoughts. I’ll work on that, but please add more to the list particularly if you have ideas for how to improve.

We don’t have to have the answers to everything just make a first move. Helping others has health benefits to us too:

 

How does helping others help you?

It lowers blood pressure – which will reduce stress on the heart

It reduces depression and anxiety

It helps us produce oxytocin which gives us joy and encourages further compassion

It improves our sense of optimism by engaging vagus nerve, also helping with digestion and happiness

It lowers stress which improves organ functions

Smiling helps us reduce cortisol which improves immune system.

It improves our self esteem, giving us satisfaction and a sense of purpose

When we give back, new synapses form in our brain which increase our motivation and attention.

We live longer

 

Tell me how you help others or have been helped.

 

Be the friend you’d like to have.

 

xxxM

 

Helping Others2020-01-20T12:48:54+00:00

Find Your Happy

I thought I’d lost my happy. My happiness in simple things, my joy at the sun shining or raindrops down the windowpane. I truly believed that I would never feel that way again, free and at peace.

But this week a veil has lifted. The cloud that I hadn’t even realised was there, blew on by and let the sun shine once more. I still had moments of anxiety or uncertainty but now it was  different. Let me tell you a little about it.

I used to be happy and carefree, even with money troubles and life’s ups and downs, I found great delight in my children and exploring the world with them. I grew up through being their mum. I was driven and determined and I found work that pushed these skills and made a difference in the world. I defined myself through these roles.

It all changed when I had an accident at work which left me with PTSD and anxiety. It doesn’t matter what caused it now, because it is about the changes within that I would like to reflect on.

My brain no longer worked and my thoughts could not be relied upon to be truthful. This is devastating ! It is difficult to make any decisions because the brain can’t sieve truth from opinion or the levels of danger. Everything could  be life threatening and each noise, movement, change in light, could be about to kill me. My brain reacted as if it was about to die each time a change happened around me. This would happen at least 20 times a day. I retreated to my bed where I was safe. I needed help with everything, and couldnt sleep for the flashbacks.

 

Over the following years many things contributed to my recovery: Unconditional love from my family and close friends. Talking Therapies. CBT. EMDR. Medication. Yoga. Mindfulness.Massage. Time. Empathy for  myself.

Without my family and friends I wouldn’t be here today. They rang and messaged and visited whenever they could, knowing that none of us knew if I’d get better, but loving me anyway. If there is one thing you can do for others, it’s Keep in touch. No-one knows what to do or say, it’s the fact you have made the connection that makes all the difference.

Go to the Doctor. It’s tough but combinations of treatment really do help. I didn’t want medication because I didnt want to believe I had a mental health problem. I self medicated with alcohol and codeine. It was only when my therapist pointed out that this was the wrong medication for my illness and that I was doing myself harm, that I tried, anti depressives. They make a real difference but don’t help alone.

Talking therapies were invaluable and although really hard work to do, I chose to view them as my work. I felt ashamed that I couldnt work and provide for my family. So this was something I could push myself to do. EMDR involved revisiting my most traumatic moment, over and over again, until the memory had less reaction to me. I would return home each week from therapy in tears and feeling worse. But over time the memory seemed more cloudy.

I was encouraged to return to Yoga which I had enjoyed previously. At first my teacher would collect me for class and I could only lay on the mat. Gradually I remembered how to breathe deeply and began mindfulness classes. This isn’t for everyone but the essence is to find an activity that makes you happy. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just do it when you can. Or encourage your friend or family member who may be struggling to return to or discover an activity they enjoy.

I felt confused that I could do an activity but not work, not realising that so much of my self worth was linked to my professional career. With a lot of persuading I took iceskating lessons which enabled me to bond with my step daughter. It was scary and loud, but I didn’t feel someone else would kill me. If I fell, then it was my own doing. Gradually I began to heal.

It took time before I could move onto thinking about what I would do next, and a long time before I  dared to try something new. I took a  massage course and  began to help others once more. I had to learn to give empathy to myself.

Now I love being a massage therapist. I work part time and have to be really proactive about not working too hard ( or my anxiety attacks worsen).

I now pass on to others the trick of giving yourself some love. Think about someone or thing your give unconditional love to, your children or children  in your family, your pets? If they make a mistake or need a hand, think how calmly you talk to them. Now focus on the part of you that isnt working so well right now. It might be something in your mind, or equally a physical probem like an injured knee. Talk to that bit of you as if they were your child/pet. Talk camly, allowing for change to happen. Loving unconditionally, whether it mends or not. This has made the biggest difference to me.

Finally, the veil lifting. I got closure. I received an apology that the incident at work had happened.

So if this story resonates with you or your loved ones, remember these few things that can make all the difference:

  • Keep in touch with your family and friends, even if you don’t feel great. 
  • Go to the Doctor and take the help you can.
  • Find an activity that makes you happy. 
  • Loving yourself and others unconditionally

Good luck with your journey. I hope you find your happy. It makes such a difference when you reframe the things that matter.

 

Love Morag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find Your Happy2019-05-28T13:51:54+00:00

Speak up

Do you ever feel misunderstood? Ever give up on activities because they don’t quite the meet your expectations? Does the cynic in your head continually put you off? Maybe it’s time to learn how to speak up for yourself.

Our inner monologue can often be misguiding when it speaks negatively. Showing you binary options, yes or no, right or wrong. Life is rarely black or white and learning how to monitor our negative self talk can help us achieve more balance in life.

This January I have joined a gym for the first time ever. I have already decided I don’t like running or cycling as they hurt my knees. I have started to try out the various classes on offer, and wanted to tell you a little of my experience,

So I bravely don my bikini and enter the pool for aqua class.  I have no idea what to expect. The bright young girl instructions the class demonstrates the movements from the side of the pool, whilst holding dumbbells. I try to copy and can hardly move, Each time I put the float into the water my feet lift off the bottom. I laugh  and try again, no improvement. She wants us to lunge from side to side. Again my feet float . I laugh nervously now, turning round to see the other 23 people in the class moving quite fluidly. Just to put this into context, I’m in my mid 40s and am one of the youngest in the class, many in 60s and 70s. I’m feeling disheartened. The class finishes and I go to leave, asking my neighbour about why I floated up. I’m assuming my high body fat level is just creating me into a float, She tells me I have to use force to push down.

I recount this tale to my friends and family with great hilarity but also embarrassment as I have no strength,

I booked to go to the class again today but with a question for the instructor. I realised that the problem was that the pool was too deep for me, At 1.54 m in a pool of 1.3, only my head was above wate. I asked the instructor if she had something I could stand on to lift my shoulders out of the ware. Sure she said handing me a step from step classes. Of course. It took only a quick moment to speak up, and n9w I can do the movements with…. well not with ease but with much more success than last time.

 

Inculd have given ul, my brain told me I was rubbish and that I couldn’t do it. But I spoke up, asked for help and then succeeded.

 

Speaking up doesn’t need to be difficult, doesn’t need to be aggressive, but being heard makes a reall difference

 

good luck in whatever you are doing to look after yourself,

 

x Morag

Speak up2019-01-14T15:44:42+00:00

Take a massage this summer

The heatwave continues in Britain and many of us find ourselves behaving as though we are on our summer holidays.

Relaxing afternoons and evenings in the garden, with friends, by the river or sea, in pub gardens and generally relaxing in the sun. New activities and fondly remembered ones, days at the races and weddings galore.

What is not to like? Whilst we typically enjoy a week or two in these 30+* temperatures on holiday, we rarely experience this in the UK whilst we continue with our daily lives. Work, school, life etc, can take its toll in the heat,

What happens to our bodies?

Our bodies need lots of extra fluid and nutrients in this hot weather. It is important to keep water with you during the day so that you can hydrate when needed. People can become light headed or dizzy, sluggish and lethargic without sufficient water. Our habits change too, we may miss out on our regular exercise classes and muscles can stiffen and contract, or we may take on more extreme or sporadic physical activities as we have fun. One of the most common injuries we see in the summer is that of people playing sports that they haven’t played for years, the brain remembers the moves and the muscles over stretch. As we use our muscles in different ways tthe lactic acid build up can become entangled in the muscle fibre and cause knots .

If we carry on with our daily lives at the same pace as in colder weather, we may stiffin up from the reduced water in the body whilst sitting for hours at the computer or in the car.

How can massage help?

Pulled muscles  – Massage can help by stretching contracted , tight muscles, improving circulation to ensure the right balance of nutrients reach the muscles.

Tiredness – It helps with the lethargy often experienced in hot weather, by releasing feel good hormones around the body.

Swollen legs – It helps with swellings or odema, by encouraging the lymphatic system to flow more freely.

Stress – Massage lowers blood pressure and rebalances all 13 systems in the body

Headaches – Indian head massage relieves pressure in the head neck and shoulders, it uses acupressure, lymphatic drainage and massage to soothe nerves and tiny muscles.

Pregnancy massage – massage heps women during pregnancy ( after 12 weeks) reduce swellings, ease pulled muscles and relieve pelvic girle pain

Sports injuries  – deep tissue massaeg helps work muscles deep under the surface that may have been overworked through exercise and sports.

 

Massage is is a time to rebalance the body and summer is an especially good time to do this

So enjoy the summer, keep cool and covered up, and take a massage to help you feel like yourself again.

 

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take a massage this summer2018-07-09T11:01:35+00:00
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