Speak From the Body

Tips on how to re-emerge after lockdown, as well as time away for any other reasons including surgery, compassionate leave, illness, holiday, retreat or giving birth.

For the full show notes:

https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/reemerge

What if everyone realised that the true expert is within? How different birth and humanity could be if decisions were made around love rather than fear. Birth choices and embodying birth. 

For the full show notes: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/maha-almusa

How to effortlessly bring intentionality and sacred rituals into everyday tasks as well as opening up to the unseen world around you and reconnecting with womb wisdom as the seat of power. Talking to Chloe Isidora, author of ‘Sacred Self-care’: Everyday rituals for a more joyful and meaningful life’

For the full show notes: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/chloe-isidora

https://www.chloeisidora.com 

Instagram @chloeisidora

Do you feel overwhelmed about using spices to enhance your cooking? Learn how to layer flavours with whole and ground spices to create tasty dishes.

For the full show notes: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/ren-patel

If you’ve been transfixed by ‘Normal People’ or ‘I May Destroy You’, it might have something to do with the powerful intimate scenes. In this episode I’m speaking to Ita O’Brien, Intimacy Coordinator and founder of Intimacy on Set, about consent, choreography and storytelling.

Full Show notes: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/ita-obrien

A conversation about learning through play and movement and inspiring potential and self-leadership in childhood. The role of teaching to create a space for play where it’s safe to make mistakes.

Full Shownotes: 

https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/alison-kriel

Resources:

Alison Kriel website

Twitter

Above and Beyond Education

Bryn Llewellyn from Tagtiv8 Ted Talk

Why is it that two people can experience the same stressful event, but have very different outcomes? In this episode I speak with Steve Haines, chiropractor, craniosacral therapist and TRE teacher about deepening feeling, changing the narrative and addressing pain and trauma.

Show notes: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/steve-haines

In the 50th episode of ‘Speak From the Body’, I’m speaking with Kerstin Uvnäs Moberg about her pioneering research on oxytocin. She shares how the research has progressed, so what was originally thought of as a hormone of motherhood (birth and breastfeeding), is now understood to be a crucial part of growth and healing for everyone, men and women, young and old. Oxytocin is released with touch and pleasure and inhibited by stress, and we talk about the implications of this in Lockdown.

SHOW NOTES: https://www.avni-touch.com/podcast/kerstinuvnasmoberg

These are heavy times.

There have been big themes of illness, isolation, suffering, hypocrisy, violence, injustice and inequality that have been headlining the news.

Climate change, politics, race and class inequality, a global pandemic. Our world as we’ve known it is in intense change.

It’s noticeable that more and more people are using their voices and their platforms to stand up and be counted and share their voice on the things that matter. 

This gives me hope. If we join together as a collective, we can create the change that’s needed.

But there are times when you can’t ever see a way out of the distress.

In this episode I wanted to share some ideas so that you can keep going, even if you’re in despair, and your heart feels heavy and shattered.

Dr. Jessica Drummond is the CEO of The Integrative Women’s Health Institute and author of Outsmart Endometriosis. She holds licenses in physical therapy and clinical nutrition and is a board certified health coach. She has 20 years of experience working with women with chronic pelvic pain, facilitates educational programs for women’s health professionals in more than 60 countries globally, and leads virtual wellness programs for people with endometriosis. Dr. Drummond lives and works with her husband and daughters between Houston, Texas, and Fairfield, Connecticut.

In this episode we talked about:

• Jessica started to incorporate a Functional Medicine approach in her work as a Physical Therapist after personal experience of adrenal fatigue related to Epstein-Barr and secondary infertility
• Working with nutrition and pelvic or chronic pain clients
• The American healthcare system is complex and costly
• The Integrative Women’s Health Institute https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/
• The power of listening and trusting that the patients knows themselves better than anyone
• Burnout for clinicians as cogs in the healthcare system is rife
• Giving people autonomy over their schedule, to enable a more personalised and cyclical life, could hugely improve productivity
• Work will forever be changed post-Covid-19
• The Industrial Revolution working day of 8am-5pm is aligned with the male hormonal health. Male testosterone peaks around 7.30am, drops off around 12pm and declines by 3.30/4pm
• Now we have more accessibility to work remotely, and for different hours
• Some kids are studying better during lockdown as the old schedules don’t have to be adhered to
• People will start to create their own schedules and their own ways of working, which can enhance productivity
• Endometriosis can be pointed to by: family history, history of GIT symptoms, pain during intercourse, painful periods, bladder pain, vulvar pain, fatigue and anxiety, infertility
• Diagnosis of endometriosis is by laparoscopy
• Surgery is advised in teens or twenties
• Functional nutrition to optimise the immune response
• If lesions are not seen on imaging, it does not rule out endometriosis
• Relating to others who have also had a chronic/ mystery illness
• Having to make complicated decisions without having all the information
• An anti-inflammatory diet, close to paleo to optimise digestive function
• The benefits of simple cooking techniques
• Daily herbs and spices such as garlic, oregano, rosemary, ginger and tumeric
• “Nutrition is a huge needle-mover”
• The power of a consistent meditation/ mindfulness/ prayer practice to calm the nervous system and as an antidote to modern life
• Committing to sleep better: turn off blue light exposure around 8.30/9pm, have exposure to daylight for setting the circadian rhythms, having a buildup of adenosine (burning the energy that builds up during the day), balancing blood sugar levels
• To determine the right intensity of exercise, ask yourself “do I feel nourished or depleted” straight after, 2 hours after and the next morning after exercise
• Walk for 30 minutes a day
• 10 minutes twice a day of bodyweight strength training
• Prior to ovulation is when testosterone and oestrogen levels are at their highest, so where you can push the workout and performance. In the luteal phase, post-ovulation, maintain those gains. Just before the period is a great recovery time e.g more sleep, stretching, walking
• Space to slow down and keep things in balance

Resources:

Outsmart Endometriosis – Jessica’s Newest Book!

Outsmart Endometriosis: Relieve Your Symptoms and Get Your Career Back on Track

Nutrition for Relieving Pelvic Pain: Fueling the Patient/Practitioner Healing Partnership

Nutrition for Relieving Pelvic Pain: Fueling the Patient/Practitioner Healing Partnership

Mira Manek is a wellness consultant and the author of Prajna—Ayurvedic Rituals for Happiness. Her first book was Saffron Soul, a cookbook focusing on healthy Indian vegetarian and vegan recipes, published in 2017. Mira also has her own café Chai by Mira in Kingly Court, inside Triyoga Soho. www.miramanek.com @miramanek

• We recorded this episode during lockdown in the UK. Tools that Mira has found helpful during this time include running and doing online classes on alternate days, making chai and sitting outside on sunny mornings.
• She’s aware of the link between exercise and diet on how she feels, and prioritises good habits to feel well during this time
• Mira used to have digestive issues and knows the impact of snacking rather than eating cooked meals
• The blessing of connecting with nature and seeing what you wouldn’t normally notice
• Consistent actions helps towards results 
• Journaling e.g 3 things you are grateful for, or asking yourself “How do I feel right now? How do I want to feel? What actions will get me there”
• Evening stretches, breathwork, listening to a podcast. Seeing how things are 
• 3 things for the body, 3 things for the mind, 3 things for the soul
• Tuning in each day to see what your mind and body needs 
• Daily activities such as walking, stretching and breathwork can be done in a meditative way
• Candle meditation is said to strengthen the eyes 
• We transmit our energy into our food when cooking, so creative and positive energy is helpful
• Mira comes from a large Indian family and grew up eating home-cooked Gujarati food. Her diet changed at a new school aged 17 and she put on weight. Mira then started dieting and developed a difficult relationship with food. Coming back to home-cooked food was healing for her. She learn to cook Gujarati food when she was 30.
• Going back to simplicity for more nourishment
• Traditional medicine and body types, so there’s uniqueness

Resources:

https://miramanek.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Rituals-for-Happiness.pdf

Miramanek.com

@miramanek

Naomi has been teaching yoga full time since 2002. Over this time she has developed a deeply compassionate style of teaching that emphasises the therapeutic benefits of yoga and also its potential to uplift and inspire. In 2012, she set up Yoga on the Lane with the intention of creating a dynamic community of teachers and students united by their commitment to practicing mindful, breath-led, vinyasa yoga. And then, in 2015, she designed the 200hr Yoga on the Lane Teacher Training Programme, which has set more than fifty brilliant new teachers off on their own paths. In October 2019 her first book, Yoga: A Manual for Life was  published by Bloomsbury, and is currently being translated into six languages.

In this episode:

• Adapting from having a neighbourhood yoga studio, ‘Yoga on the Lane’ in Hackney, London, to an attic studio teaching classes online during lockdown
• The surprising intimacy of continuing classes online and connected community
• ‘Yoga: A Manual for Life’ came out in 2019 
• The reality of being on screens more 
• A time to renew, challenge and push boundaries
• Managing highs and lows and finding balance with Type 1 diabetes
• Daily space to meditate or practice yoga to support energy levels and lessen anxiety
• The link between autoimmune conditions and empathetic personality types
• ‘Little and often’ practices are little moments for yourself
• Many people don’t ever have their ‘Teacher’ or a lineage, but we can all tune into our own experiences and find our own way
• Noone ever feels ready
• Naomi joined the Royal Ballet School at 12 years old and was in a competitive environment but experienced camaraderie and deep friendship
• In the Royal Ballet Company from 17 until 21 and retired following a stress fracture in her foot
• Contradictions between ballet and yoga - working on turnout (Charlie Chaplin stance), so standing with parallel legs was a challenge initially 
• Initially Naomi practiced Bikram (hot) yoga and brought competitiveness, striving and pushing to her practice.
• She studied pregnancy yoga with Francoise Freedman founder of Birthlight and her soft, rounded approached opened up a new way of teaching
• Not a hierarchy but a collective
• Celebrating what your body can do
• The power of yoga beyond the mat
• Evolving from an extreme yoga practice to one that’s more poetic 
• “Connecting to the body and feeling part of an experience beyond my skin”
• Yoga is democratic- everyone is breathing. 
• Naomi remembers creating meditative space and doing visualisation as a child
• Retreats at Gaia House 
• Explore meditation by finding a space, making time, and start by sitting and watching the breath for 2 minutes
• The nervous system can’t take on too much change at once, it wants to shift gently over time
• Sit with your hips higher than your knees, against a cool wall
• You can create a shrine for yourself with an image that’s meaningful and a candle to burn if you want to, but these are extras
• If you’re struggling with sleep, try not to implement practices just before going to bed. Instead, affirmations such as “I am resting well” or “I am supported by my sleep” can be helpful to repeat throughout the day. Then, a restorative yoga practice later in the evening can be supportive, such as lying with the legs above the wall to drain the effort of the day, or lying over a cushion on the belly. Some yoga postures in the morning can help to raise energy levels if you haven’t slept well
• Practicing with children as a playful exploration and embracing the chaos. Seeing children as guides in order to break through patterns

Resources:

Yoga On the Lane 

Yoga: a Manual for Life book 

Instagram

Instagram: Yoga on the Lane 

Touch is our first sense. It’s how we engage with and explore our world. 

Touch is key to survival. We quickly pull away from something sharp or hot, but nestle in towards warmth and comfort.

 Right now, we need to be retreating into our homes for the safety of ourselves and one another.

Human beings are social beings. Even if you’re a strong introvert like I am, we need human connection and contact.

Touch may be high up in your list of love languages (If you don’t already know about this, it’s a book by Gary Chapman where we each have an order of preference of ways we show and receive love. As well as touch, they are words of affirmation, receiving gifts, acts of service and quality time.

Our love languages are often different from our loved ones and it’s an important part of communication to know about one another. 

So for those who know that they need a lot of touch, it’s particularly challenging.

The Massage in Schools project many years ago showed increased concentration and less loneliness, stress and bullying when pupils gave one another simple and clothed massage.

For babies, kangaroo care where they are worn in a sling or held helps their growth and cognition. And skin to skin between parents and their newborns 

Helps to deepen bonding.  I recommend that parents return to skin to skin as often as possible especially when they face bumpy times such as teething or sleep issues. 

There’s a term that I’ve only come across recently called ‘skin hunger’ , that describes the lack of touch that many people are experiencing.

We still need touch in our lives. 

It’s part of our humanity.

Touch deprivation affects our health. 

In whatever ways you can, try to connect with touch in your daily life. Here are some ideas:

• Feed your skin with light skin brushing or when you’re applying shower gel. Consciously connect with each body part in a state of gratitude for what your body does for you each day.

• Use thicker creams such as shea butter that need a little effort to work into the skin.

• Stroke or gently brush your hair. Give yourself a scalp massage.

• Apply essential oils to your pulse points. I’m going through a rose phrase, but cedar wood is grounding and lavender is calming.

• When you’re washing your hands, do it with your full attention so you can stimulate the receptors on your palms and between your fingers

• Treat your feet to your softest, fluffiest socks.

• Wear fabrics such as merino wool, bamboo, silk, brushed cotton or cashmere that feel sumptuous against the skin.

• A weighted blanket helps to feel more grounded and safe.

• If you’re isolating with loved ones, cuddle up as much as you can. Have a daily hug for more than 8 seconds to get the oxytocin, or hormone of connection, flowing.

• For those that are caring for very young children and are maxed out on touch, submerge your body in a bath as often as you can, especially with the lights dimmed or even off to close the senses, like a homemade sensory deprivation chamber.

• We need to avoid touching our faces when we are out and about for risk of infection, but with well-washed hands, give yourself a face massage. The top of the upper lip is a very soothing place to touch if you’re feeling anxious or unsettled, as are the ears.

I have an episode with an eminent researcher on oxytocin and touch coming out in a few weeks time. The new understanding is that oxytocin is not just the hormone of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding, but it’s one that we need at all stages of our lives and for men and women and so touch is vital for us all.

We need positive touch to lower our stress hormone levels and help us to feel more connected and calm.

Our hands express what’s felt in the heart. So whilst we need to limit touch outside of the safety of home, we can connect by kneading bread, crafting, growing plants and filling our senses with things that evoke us such as beautiful music, comedy and poetry. In Pablo Neruda’s words, ‘Hands make the world each day’.

Reading:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/skin-hunger-coronavirus-human-touch?fbclid=IwAR3tCSTzQgo69UdgF6wk7Vuyrek6NNmO8pVckPdECOZne3Mk_DgnX9dEYYc

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/21/skin-hunger-touch-saved-me-from-unbearable-loneliness-what-will-we-become-without-it?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.5lovelanguages.com/

Mac Macartney is an author, an activist, and an international speaker. He is the founder of Embercombe in Devon, a centre that seeks to explore and promote the profound regeneration of land, society, and people.

Over a period of twenty years Mac was mentored by a group of indigenous elders. During this training and ever since, he has attempted to bring two worlds together – an ancient world-view that emphasises relationship, interdependence, and reverence for life with the significant challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

Mac is the author of a recently published new book entitled The Children’s Fire, heart song of a people. He has delivered four compelling TEDx talks.

• Embercombe is a 50 acre valley on the foothills outside Dartmoor Park in Devon, UK. It has 20 acres of woods and a lake. The valley is rewilding from the field system. Embercombe is a centre to ‘touch hearts, stimulate minds and inspire committed action for a truly sustainable world and in relationship with nature’’
• Mac had a leadership development consultancy and one of his clients offered him a piece of work that was likely to make a lot of money in 1996. The company was later sold to Warren Buffett for an undisclosed sum.He was offered money to bring his dream to life in 1999
• When speaking to audiences, Mac tries to give people a felt experience of what he talks about
• Heart-based leadership and serving higher and deeper purposes
• Building and re-building community
• Bringing spiritual selves into alignment with our physical, mental and emotional selves
• “We are so lost as a species, that we are self-harming, and almost entirely ignorant of where we sit in the wider scheme of things”
• “Being in love with life and knowing that, we too, are loved”
• “The insane story of the economic model that we follow”
• One of the methods to try and save the environment has been to monetise it
• Cities don’t have to feel alienating from communities and nature
• In the future, cities will be redesigned to enable food-growing, education, engaging older people so they feel they belong and increasing access to wild nature
• The depth of perspective and insight of the past
• Reverence and respect for those that went before us and won the freedoms we now enjoy
• Living with wonderment
• Nature is all around us
• Hippos once lived in the River Thames!
• The bones of sabre-toothed tiger, cave bear and hyena were found in limestone caves near Devon
• Making sense of history and creating civilisation that draws on the mistakes and successes of the past
• 3 questions to revisit over and over: 

• What is it you most profoundly and deeply love?

• What are your deepest and most profound gifts?

• What are your deepest and most profound responsibilities?

• Empowering children to help them grow and be resilient and dream
• The forgotten value of what elders bring
• Nature Play, Australia 
• Becoming frightened of nature
• Unless we go into risk and the unknown, the comfort zone shrinks
• Our failure to be adults is forcing the next generation to be old before their time as they compensate for the state of the planet
• The qualities of play and curiosity
• Self-respect as a deep respect and aligned relationship with ourselves
• Responsibilities for community and society
• Realising what makes life worth living when we are under threat
• The garden as a place of prayer and deep connection
• Tiny shrines such as houseplants and troughs on the window ledge to acknowledge beauty
• Cooking as alchemy
• Bringing ourselves to any activity with kindness, generosity, open-heartedness and attention
• Kith and Kin, Mac’s year-long mentorship journey
• The Journey, a residential programme at Embercombe

Resources:

Mac Macartney

Embercombe

Twitter

https://macmacartney.com/writer/

https://macmacartney.com/portfolio/kithandkin/

TED talk

A Line In the Sand

Dr Deepa Apté is a fully qualified Indian medical doctor, Yoga teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner. 

She lectures widely on Ayurveda and Yoga and regularly writes articles for, and features in, magazines and the press. After having run successful practices in India and Germany, she now runs her practice from The Ayurveda Pura Health Spa & Beauty Centre in London where she offers Ayurvedic consultations, individual Yoga sessions and workshops.

She lectures as a guest speaker at numerous international health and wellbeing exhibitions and is the lead lecturer of the Ayurveda Pura Academy. As a post graduate lecturer at University of Wales, Dr Apté is an experienced teacher with knowledge on both theoretical and practical aspects of Ayurvedic medicine and treatments.

As well as running her practice Dr Deepa Apté helped to set up Ayurveda Pura in the UK and is the lead Ayurvedic practitioner in charge of products, their production and ingredients.

• Dr Deepa Apte studied to become a medical doctor but continued her studies by training to become an Ayurvedic doctor and yoga teacher. Since she moved to London from India she focussed on Ayurveda and Yoga
• Her medical background comes in useful for teaching students and seeing clients with medical presentations
• Ayurveda means ‘science of life’. “There is nothing un-Ayurvedic out there”. It’s a natural, holistic science that draws inspiration from the environment around us
• Ayurveda addresses body types/ constitutions: vata meaning air, pitta meaning fire and kapha meaning water + earth
• Vata types are active, restless and creative
• Pitta types are focussed, sharp and hot
• Kapha types go with the flow, are patient and stable
• We are born with a unique constitution, that will never change. There will also be a body type based on lifestyle and environment factors
• The analogy of the original constitution you are born with being like a solid surface and the body type being like dust on the hard surface
• Five approaches: food, herbs, manual therapies, yoga and lifestyle
• Even though Ayurveda is an ancient science, it is relevant today because it reflects the world around us
• General routines include: a hot drink (water or tea) upon waking to stimulate the digestive fire, eating only when hungry, ensuring eliminations are clear each day
• There are two types of hunger. The first comes from the stomach, the second comes from desire and is not true hunger
• 70% of illnesses are believed to arise from sluggish digestion. Ginger and lemon tea 3-4 times a day can help to correct constipation
• Writing by hand for 15 minutes each day helps to feel younger from the inside. This activity uses the 5 sensory functions as well as the motor functions and helps to keep the nervous system to be active and maintain memory
• Eat according to your body type. Food has medicinal properties. Avoid raw foods.
• If you find it hard to have a hot meal at lunch when you’re working, then have a herbal tea alongside your food
• For kapha-related imbalances, symptoms such as water retention, mucous congestion and heaviness mean that restricting dairy in the diet is helpful
• For vata-related imbalances, dryness is a common symptom and cooked dairy is beneficial
• Applying oil for massage is ‘snehana’. ‘Sneha’ means love, ‘ana’ means to apply. This means that the application of oil offers love and care to the receiver
• There are important energy points, known as marma points that can be addressed in self-massage. These are gateways into the body. Four important points: middle of the palms of the hands and middle of the soles of the feet. These relate to the heart and lung regions
• Apply warm oil for massage. First in an anti-clockwise direction to remove toxins and then clockwise to nourish with prana (energy)
• Oil on the navel point is the entry of life and is calming
• Massage over the heart region
• Massaging over the third eye (between the eyebrows) brings about change in the hypothalamus and pituitary 
• Massaging over the crown chakra: find the point by taking four fingers from the eyebrows and then four fingers on top
• For someone with insomnia, try massaging the marma points for 5-10 minutes with warm oil. Then have a shower and go to bed
• Sesame seed oil is suitable for all body types, especially in colder environments. It has good antioxidant properties to stimulate the immune system
• In warmer climates, coconut oil is a good option
• If you don’t have access to oil, massage without it
• Herbs can be taken daily and don’t have adverse effects with allopathic medication
• Lighting a candle or incense stick each day for a mindful moment
• Panchakarma is a cleansing process to rid the body of excess doshas
• Detox and cleansing are two different terms
• Ama is a toxin and is produced when the digestive fire is weak and can lead to illnesses
• Excess vata can cause nervous illnesses
• Excess pitta can cause acidity, inflammation and ulceration
• Excess kapha can cause water retention and mucous congestion
• Pancha = 5, karma= actions. Therapeutic vomiting, purgation, medicated enemas, nasya (nasal oil application), and blood letting. These are applied over 2-3 weeks, with the body cleansing in a specific order
• After panchakarma finishes, you have to slowly adapt to everyday life
• There are different ways of fasting for different body types. It’s about the withdrawal of the 5 senses. Fasting is recommended for stress and insomnia
• Rest during the first days of the menstrual cycle, avoiding exertion and inversions
• Oil-pulling with sesame seed oil can help to regulate the menstrual cycle
• The sub-lingual veins beneath the tongue directly drain into the heart
• The tongue is like a map of the whole body
• During the period, the downward flow is strong and should be enhanced. Tampons and mooncups should be avoided

Resources:

Dr Deepa Apte

Ayurveda Pura

Instagram

Facebook Page

Natalie Meddings is a doula, active birth yoga teacher and mother of three. She has written two books on birth, How to Have a Baby and Why Home Birth Matters and founded and runs the pregnancy support site, Tell Me A Good Birth Story. She lives in South London with her husband Danny and three children, Constance, Pearl and Walter. 

• Natalie suggests that each woman should start with biology when thinking about birth and then consider the environment that would best suit the biology
• “Birth isn’t a process or experience, birth is an urge”
• Go back to basics and strip out cultural opinions, prejudice etc and people start to consider the option
• Many people have preconceived ideas about birthing at home without ever having experienced it! Many midwives and doctors haven’t attended to a homebirth
• For uncomplicated pregnancies, Natalie describes home birth as the ‘best of all worlds’ as a birthing environment
• There are times where a medical environment is necessary for a safe birth
• Natalie helps to highlight the gulf between reality and perceived reality in relation to homebirth
• The taboo of birth sometimes means it’s not explored fully
• “People get birth and breastfeeding the wrong way round. They think they need to go to classes to learn about birth and they assume that breastfeeding will come naturally. It’s the other way round. Breastfeeding is a learned thing”
• The need to look at clinical evidence and physiological facts rather than bias
• Birth is an elimination
• The home environment allows the woman to attune to the signals from her body such as swaying her hips, perhaps no longer wanting to go outside. She’ll feel a ‘gear shift’ which will lead her to a space, often the smallest and darkest room in the house
• We can’t control birth, instead we have to provide for the urge
• Oxytocin soars in the home environment, as the woman has privacy and freedom of movement there
• Herd mentality of most people having their babies in a hospital mean that home birth numbers are so low
• At the first midwife appointment, most women don’t receive information about homebirth as a safe choice that is recommended
• In the UK, a home birth could be better phrased as a woman having a midwife at home. She may still transfer in to hospital for an epidural or assistance if needed but she would have started in the optimal environment with a trained, skilled midwife
• The outdated term of an ‘untrained pelvis’ that suggests that if a woman hasn’t given birth, it’s unknown whether her body will be able to birth
• “Homebirth is not an either/or”
• Some people become too invested in homebirth and stay at home at all costs, rather than transferring to hospital if needed
• Michel Odent (the well-known obstetrician) describes how oxytocin has been unchanged in its chemical form over time 
• What does the body need in labour? Safety, privacy and quiet 
• Oxytocin as the hormone of desire. The analogy of birthing in a hospital environment being like a blind date, where you have to work to get the oxytocin going
• Many women switching to homebirth during lockdown due to Covid-19
• Anxiety can sometimes force you into a primal place
• For many women in the UK, home birth is no longer available to them due to Covid-19. This could be mis-communication regarding transport into hospital if needed
• Statistics for outcomes following home birth, in terms of fewer complications, are better than any other environment (labour ward, free-standing birth centre etc)
• Hutton et al 2017, meta-analysis confirms that birth at home is safe for mother and baby. There is no significant rise in risk, regardless if first time mother, second baby etc.

Resources:

www.comfortandlove.co.uk 

www.tellmegoodbirthstory.com

Lastly, the Facebook Tell Me A Good Birth Story page is the main social media 

Natalie’s books: 

How to Have a Baby: Mother-Gathered Guidance on Birth and New Babies

Why Home Birth Matters 

I wanted to record a short episode that speaks to you if you’re going through a crisis. 

This is a time where things are stripped back to what’s important and what’s not. In some ways this can be really liberating, as you can pay attention to what you really need to and completely ignore everything else. 

• Keep life simple. Drop the expectations - this is the time to make do. People have different ideas of what ‘coping’ looks like. Whatever works for you is fine, even if it looks messy to someone else.
• You do you. We’re all different people and have different preferences and resources, so what works for one person won’t be the right plan for someone else.
• Try to allow uncertainty and crisis to guide you inwards. Even in the most rocky times, there’s a quiet place somewhere inside, like the eye of the storm. Some ways you can access that state might be through closing your eyes and just connecting with your breath, or the sounds around you. This allows your nervous system the chance to rest and reset.
• Ask for help. Many of us pull-back when we’re not feeling ourselves, but I really want to encourage you to reach out to someone you trust and ask for help. People are often happy to help lighten the load.
• Allow all the emotions. It’s not easy, but emotions are like the weather- they can be very changeable. And sometimes they can be a bit tangled, so sadness can show up as anger and we aren’t our most articulate or easy-to-read selves. It’s healthy to allow emotions to be expressed. If it helps you, you can move your body as an expression of the emotion, or journal what you’re feeling. If you’ve experienced a shock, you might be feeling quite numb. That’s ok and it can take a little time to feel settled enough for emotions to show up. Shock is often held in the diaphragm, the main breathing muscle, so a hand on the belly will help to breathe lower down in your body. Touch is a wonderful way of feeling safe so ask for a hug if that’s possible, or cuddle up with your cat or dog. If you’re on your own, then anything tactile like a comfy blanket or velvet will feel soothing.
• Make a list of around 5-8 things that help you to feel better. Write that list on your wall calendar or in your diary and then try to do at least one thing on the list each day. And talking of days….You might find that you’re experiencing a whole range of moods - that’s totally normal and makes it even more important to go gently and check in with what you need, rather than imposing something that’s hard to keep up with.
• Things that generally help me to feel better are being in nature, being in silence, moving my body, cooking, colouring in, taking a nap, giving myself a foot or hand massage.
• Look for beauty and joy. Notice colours, textures, scents and sounds around you. If you’re feeling  raw, you might need to dial things down so your senses can settle, but a sunrise, or blue sky, or a flower or the sound of someone giggling can be like sensory medicine. 
• Gratitude is a great thing to connect with, even in the darkest days. One of the most profoundly funny, joyous moments of my life was immediately after a close friend died many years ago. So in the depth of grief, it’s possible to access such pure joy. Gratitude is a balanced, steady state and it’s especially helpful if you’re swinging from one state to another. Noting down 3 things you are grateful for each morning or night-time can be an uplifting

Janey Lee Grace is an Amazon No 1 Best-selling author, commentator, and co-presenter on the UK’s

 biggest radio show, BBC Radio 2’s  Steve Wright in the Afternoon. Previously she was a backing singer with George Michael and Wham!, Kim Wilde, Boy George and had her own Number 8 chart hit with 7 Ways to Love as Cola Boy. 

Janey has written five books on Holistic living including the number One Amazon best seller Imperfectly Natural Woman and currently writes columns for many magazines, and offers PR and media training.   She hosts the annual Janey Loves Platinum Awards to recognise the best in natural and organic products and services. After ditching the booze in January 2018 Janey has launched a podcast ‘Alcohol Free Life’ and runs The Sober Club focusing on sober self-care.  

In todays episode: 

• “Alcohol is the only drug we have to normalise not taking”
• Alcohol is ingrained in our culture for all manner of social occasions 
• ‘Grey area drinkers’ - there’s a broad scale of people’s relationship with alcohol
• Rather than asking “am I drinking too much”, ask “would my life be physically and mentally better without alcohol”
• The link with anxiety
• It might be difficult in the initial phase of ditching alcohol
• Benefits are so widespread including weight regulation, or less concern about weight, and improvements to sleep, skin and joints
• Mental benefits included a renewed sense of hope and clarity, and feeling brave enough to do something they’ve always wanted to do such as starting a business or travelling or doing something creative
• “Alcohol steals your joy and being sober can make you brave”
• Janey started The Sober Club as she realised there were lots of resources to help people stop drinking alcohol, but she wanted to align with her experience of holistic living (e.g mindset, meditation, self-love)
• Stopping the term ‘giving up drinking’ as you’re never giving up anything. Janey uses the term “ditch the booze” instead
• Janey had tried to ditch the booze for many years. She interviewed many Hay House authors and the conversation was often about self-love, but she wasn’t practicing it herself. She describes it as inauthentic as she was controlled by alcohol and didn’t know how to stop
• Clare Pooley’s book : The Sober Diaries helped Janey to stop drinking alcohol on New Year’s Eve
• Deprivation isn’t a good tactic psychologically. The new approach to sobriety spins this on its head for a more positive approach
• The fear of being ‘sober shamed’ for not drinking alcohol
• Prepping in advance by telling people that you’re not drinking (for whatever reason you choose) and calling the venue ahead and seeing if there are some alcohol-free options
• The rise in alcohol-free drinks for grown-ups
• Your good friends will support you in not drinking alcohol, and if they don’t, it’s time to cut them loose
• 0% alcohol is the biggest area of growth for some drinks brands
• Some people replace alcohol with sugar. The craving for sugar can be a chemical imbalance that requires support 
• Turning to exercise can be a good replacement for dopamine as well as other aspects of self-care such as yoga, walking in nature, meditation, hypnotherapy
• Sitting in stillness even for 5 minutes is helpful and can then be increased over time
• It can be confronting to engage with feelings instead of numbing out with alcohol
• The brain isn’t fully developed until 21, so drinking before that age is damaging
• Alcohol is linked with over 200 illnesses, including 7 types of cancer, not including mental health issues
• The impact on others
• Alcohol is the number 1 most harmful drug
• David Nutt’s book ‘Drink? : The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health’
• Lifesearch did a survey where they found that 24 million people self-medicate with drink and drugs
• Seek professional help if you are clinically dependent on alcohol
• Mindful drinking
• A period of total abstinence (at least 30-90 days) rather than just reducing intake 

The Sober Club

Janey Lee Grace 

Imperfectly Natural 

TED Talk: ‘Sobriety Rocks - Who Knew’

Janey’s Podcast - Alcohol Free Life

Founded in 2013, Pause Global offers bespoke retreats and coaching for leaders. Led by a team of human transformation experts in beautiful locations around the world, Pause retreats have been attended by leaders from HSBC, Mars, BP and the United Nations. 

The Pause method is based on the best-selling book by Danielle North, an international board level executive coach. For the last 15 years, she has helped teams and leaders across the world to pause in order to reach their next level of brilliance.

The philosophy of the Pause is simple, if you're going to perform in a world that's speeding up, sometimes you need to slow down... 

In today’s episode:

• Danielle experienced burnout nearly 10 years ago

• Productivity is often valued above rest. ‘Busy is better’ is an adage that many live by

• For many people, the focus is on the outer world (goals and targets) rather than the inner world (thoughts, feelings, values and beliefs). Accessing the inner world requires being slower and more restful

• An enforced pause provides a space to go inward and connect more deeply to what matters, and to get much-needed rest

• You can go inward simply by sitting for a few minutes, ‘turning the eyeballs inwards’, and following the breath into the body. “Eyes are the windows to the world, but they are always looking outwards”

• Exploring the inner landscape takes a little time, space and consciousness

• When Danielle experienced her burnout, she was living and working in Singapore. As soon as she was able, she returned to the UK and went to a farm in Cornwall for a week’s holiday. She realised that she was unwell and extended her stay month by month in order to allow herself to recuperate.

• “Piece by piece I discovered what I needed”

• Pause evolved from an idea, into Danielle’s life’s work

• Signs of needing to pause: being excessively busy, unable to switch off or “tired and wired”, chronic exhaustion, finding it hard to cope with even simple things, brain fog, crying a lot

• Some doctors don’t acknowledge burnout

• The World Health Organisation recognises workplace burnout 

• White space in the diary is a simple idea. Instead of going from one activity to the next, allow space to breathe. It’s like a running paragraph without any full stops. White space is time to do nothing and it can be planned into the diary. This might be easier to experiment with on a weekend

• Having some space to meander

• Opportunities for self-reflection and re-aligning with the things that matter to you if you can stay curious at this time

• Alice Walker: “What it is referring to in this hexagram is something that I am going to call “the pause.” The moment when something major is accomplished and we are so relieved to finally be done with it that we are already rushing, at least mentally, into The Future. Wisdom, however, requests a pause. If we cannot give ourselves such a pause, the Universe will likely give it to us. In the form of illness, in the form of a massive Mercury in retrograde, in the form of our car breaking down, our roof starting to leak, our garden starting to dry up. Our government collapsing. And we find ourselves required to stop, to sit down, to reflect. This is the time of “the pause,” the universal place of stopping. The universal moment of reflection.”

• From the I Ching, “if we don’t slow down and pause, then life will do it for us”

• Retreating at home. Setting the space to keep returning to. A cushion, candles, incense and a plant or piece of nature all help to create a beautiful space. Putting things you love, and putting love into the space. You might use the space to turn inwards, do some breathing, journalling, meditating, reading or anything you choose

• Using sage or palo santo or essential oils in the space to clear the energy and then build in love. Have the space contain or hold people so it feels safe and comforting

• Care, love and attention are palpable in a space

• Are you waking in the morning feeling sufficiently rested? 

• Matthew Walker - ‘Why We Sleep’

• Low lighting in the evening and making the bedroom a nice place to go to

• Danielle’s suggestions for working from home: keep your routines as if you were going to the office, delay turning on your devices, use the ‘travel time’ to do something nice for yourself, get dressed! Have proper breaks, set a finish time

• Peloton are currently offering a free 3-month membership so you can exercise from home https://www.onepeloton.com/

• Belonging and connection are important aspects that come from the workplace

• Deeper the connection to the self with yoga, meditation or Qi Gong

• Being in nature helps to amplify a sense of belonging

• Get creative with virtual connections

• Being ok with ambiguity and learning to trust

Resources:

Pause Global: www.pauseglobal.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauseglobal_/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pauseglobal_

Danielle North’s first book Pause: How to Press Pause Before Life Does it For You https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pause-Press-Before-Life-Does/dp/B06XK8BP4R/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=danielle+north&qid=1584994232&sr=8-2

Danielle’s new book ‘Sleep Meditations’ is out in the Summer:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleep-Meditations-anxious-adults-drift/dp/1783253576/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1584979046&sr=8-1

Nicola Dunn was born and raised in New Zealand and came to the UK in her early 20’s. 

After following an initially conventional study path she took a sharp turn in her early 20’s and took her first step into the world of health by studying nutrition and then psychotherapy. After individual psychotherapy she studied group and family therapy which led her neatly to family constellations and a trans-generational approach. She has worked extensively in the NHS, has taught constellations for the last eleven years and more recently co-founded ‘The Constellations Academy’.  She has run Family Constellations Workshops and given talks about systemic work in the UK, Hong Kong, Canada and Europe. Europe.

•  
• Nicola is a psychotherapist and studied family constellations after having a body ‘hunch’
• “There’s a great truth in the body, that if we listen to, can lead us in the right direction”
• Nicola’s background was in body-orientated psychotherapy and the interface between Eastern and Western approaches
• Constellations are systems-orientated, including biological systems. Constellations look at elements within healthy systems and seek to find coherence
• Systems could relate to family systems, businesses or a piece of creative work
• The founder was Bert Hellinger, a German philosopher and psychotherapist who died last year in his mid-90s. He was responsible for the global sp
• Other notable people involved in systemic constellations include Virginia Satir,
• Bert Hellinger was introduced to the concept by Thea Schönfelder, a German child and adolescent psychiatrist 
• “The magic is in the integration”
• Constellations is very interested in creation, starting at conception and valuing the synergy between men and women or partners
• Constellations are a moment of grace. There’s a possibility of new information coming in
• The synergy between someone coming for a session to do with something in their life that they can’t get to flow, and trans-generational trauma and history in their extended family. It’s not necessary for them to know the details of their family history
• Constellations are not fully understood, but there is a vast amount of experience
• A person can experience constellations in a group setting or ‘desk-top’ or with internal imagery
• Issue-holders work on their own issues, representatives stand in and represent members of the family. Representatives receive information when they stand in the room
• Connecting with the collective unconscious
• Families have the narrative about their history. This narrative is not sufficient to deal with the issue in front of the person. Things that are unfinished or uncomfortable tend not to be included. Situations in the family history include children that died early or were born out of wedlock, parents people lost in war, relatives left in a war-torn country. Grief and pain are unstandable reasons for a family to make an edited life history
• Listening to the gaps in the story
• Information comes through that helps to validate for the issue-holder
• Constellations can be fast-moving and gives an expanded view and experience to given an opportunity for change
• Standing in the family soul. Those that are more sensitive (emotionally or creatively) have a greater fine-tuning to that which is not resolved in their family soul
• Sometimes people try to replicate the past by their own suffering instead of walking into their individual futures. 
• If you honour someones’ life, fate and choices, it’s strengthening and stops the replication of entanglement
• “Use your own life wisely, as life is such a gift”
• Order matters e.g which twin was the first born
• Cultures that are closer to their roots have reverence for their ancestors
• Standing in the maternal or paternal line is a strengthening experience and a sense of being part of a continuum
• Addressing creative blocks with systemic constellations . What needs to be resolved in a family system to be able to continue with a creative project
• Regarding family businesses, the forces of family have greater strength over purely business decisions
• The concept of ancestral gratitude is familiar in constellations and for generations in the future
• Using constellations to bring people into coherence on a countrywide level
• Regarding the coronavirus pandemic: how rapidly we have had to change our behaviours. Giving up things that may give pleasure but aren’t for the greater good. Needing to communicate and be more caring. Society is a collection of linked, small groups. Compassion for suffering.
• Individual psychotherapy and constellations can work well together
• Using the body as an instrument of truth
• “The spirit is willing but the flesh is wise’, Bert Hellinger

To contact Nicola: 

https://nicoladunnconstellations.com/

The Constellations Academy

https://nicoladunnconstellations.com/constellations-academy/