KINETIC CHAIN RELEASE & PSOAS RELEASE

Kinetic Chain Release is a simple yet effective way of re-balancing your body by working with the inter-connective tissues that are often over-looked. KCR can help bring about relief to some of the following conditions – chronic fatigue, neck, shoulder & back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, migraines, scoliosis, IBS, and sleep apnoea – and is a relatively quick and simple process.

I’d had a KCR adjustment last year with Katy West when she corrected an imbalance in my leg length with my right leg being 3/4inch shorter than my left. A long history of chronic back, pelvic and leg pain which is always worse on my right side had probably contributed to this. I returned this year as Katy was going to do a psoas release technique on me and they are always better done after another KCR adjustment.

This time my right leg was only ½ inch shorter. The imbalance probably having been caused this time by my slackness in continuing the very brief stretching exercise required every day for 3 months afterwards. Although this takes only a few minutes, a trip away interrupted my routine and my usual self-discipline evaporated.

Whilst lying on the treatment couch Katy adjusted my feet and ankles and as I rotated my feet and I could feel the slight pops as the joints and bones settled back into place. Then with my legs bent she told me to squeeze my knees together. When she said “is that all you can manage?” I was a little dismayed feeling a bit puny but following the adjustment she re-tested this and my knees had gained a grip of steel that would’ve impressed Rambo.

Laying on my side she did further adjustments, one in particular released a lot of trapped giggles that bubbled playfully to the surface and had us both laughing our heads off. I loved the sideways stretch that was similar to ones I’ve had at the osteopaths and really enjoyed the gentle neck and skull release.

I was curious about the psoas release for a few reasons – one is that it’s part of the connective tissue that’s attached to our spines and runs through our pelvic area and onto our upper legs. It’s the muscle that helps us pick our legs up, so pretty vital. I feel that my psoas muscles are pretty contracted and my groin and leg muscles are fairly tight despite swimming and doing yoga regularly.

I’m writing about these soft tissue adjustments giving release from physical pain and problems but they can also bring trapped emotional issues up as well, as they harbour those equally well and behind many physical complaints also lye emotional and spiritual aspects. Our bodies are just reflections of that. Liz Koch has written extensively about the somatic influence of this “juicy and dynamic muscle” which in some spiritual philosophies has been called the “muscle of the soul”.

Lying back on the table, Katy instructed me to relax as she gently sunk her fingers down into the left hand side of my stomach, just above my hips, following the movement of my breathe. It sounds uncomfortable but my body welcomed it and invited her in. As she went deeper I experienced a couple of uncomfortable spots but it wasn’t painful. As she pressed down she could feel bubbles escaping from the psoas, trapped toxins and emotions fizzing up to the surface. Sometimes I could feel them too, a pretty unusual experience. Afterwards it felt much more open and spacious on the left side, like my muscle had relaxed into a more horizontal position instead of being so tensely strung.

She repeated the same process on the right side but here it felt quite different – more guarded and congested. Again I could feel my body wanting it but not knowing quite how to allow it. It was more uncomfortable but strangely when more pressure was applied that released. I felt more light-headed and tired than when she did the left side. This was a very deep and intimate experience. It’s not everyday someone pokes their hand through your side and reaches right into your core but I felt very safe in Katy’s care and am glad I experienced this soul muscle release.

To book a KCR treatment please call Katy West on 07866 594665 and checkout the following sites:

www.rebalanceyourself.com

https://sites.google.com/site/atimeforhealing/kinetic-chain-release-kcr

Kambo – Frog Medicine – April 2013

 

It’s been a long slog of a winter in Britain – feels like it’s lasted a year or more and everyone’s batteries are running real low, including my own. So when the opportunity to do Kambo or frog medicine came round again I jumped at the chance!

This is my fourth time taking this shamanic medicine which is secretions from the giant monkey frog in Brazil. The practitioner burns small holes in your skin, just in the top couple of layers and then the secretions are placed on the burn marks. Obviously it gets into your lymphatic system very quick this way.

Traditionally it’s given on the leg for a woman and the arm for a man. A more spiritual experience is said to be gained from burns on the left side of the body and more physical healing obtained from the right side of the body. However as this medicine has travelled out of the jungle and been mixed with other cultures, it’s now being applied in patterns that follow the meridians in Traditional Chinese Medicine or even sacred geometry patterns.

The tribes in the jungle have used it for a malaria treatment and also for dispelling the negative bad luck or panema that can surround a person. It’s also used to gain strength and stamina for hunting, a treatment for snake bites and a general tonic. The secretions which are packed full of peptides acts like a toxin to your system. First producing a hot fever – sweating, redness, heart pounding. Then purging – vomiting or needing the toilet. Then a cold fever – cold, chills, weakness. It takes about half an hour to an hour to work through your system.

It’s also been used with great success for treating depression, pain (because of the dermorfine and deltorfine present) infections, strengthening the immune system, detoxing the liver and is being researched for its abilities to treat Parkinson’s disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS.

Some of the peptides present in Kambo have now been isolated and produced synthetically and are being sold for research purposes but there’s much about this medicine the laboratories haven’t figured out yet.

I have witnessed amazing healing through it – decades of depression gone in one treatment for one person and a six week chest infection clear up overnight after just one application. I myself take it for pain, detoxing, and strengthening my system, mainly using it for physical reasons. Although for more chronic conditions a more intensive course of treatments is usually needed. But it’s different every time and for each person that’s what I find so fascinating about this process.

This time I had the medicine applied directly on my lower spine where I experience chronic low back pain, especially in the sacral, lumbar and right sacro-iliac joint area. I had a very quick reaction within seconds I could feel the hot fever coming on strong. Very quickly needing a trip to the toilet and then a lie down in a quiet corner as it did its magick. I also had low stomach pains – like bad period cramps but these reduced when told to breathe into them.

I had a strong reaction to it this time, much stronger than last time. My face swelled a lot which has never happened before and I was only able to croak quietly. I’m never sick on Kambo but the others all had strong purges. I seem to take the longest to recover from it as well. I was astonished when one person who took it after me was off out the door soon after for a meal with friends. Respect! Me? I wobbled off home for a light meal of vegetables and rice and a good eight hours sleep.

The next day my lips were still a bit Angelina-ed and my face a bit puffy but boy did I feel good. I was up at 5am doing my meditation and yoga followed by a long day of work, a job interview and meeting up with a friend who thought I’d dropped ten years in age because of my froggie face lift. I felt fresh, clean and strong and was on the go till late at night. No painkillers needed. Today I still feel strong, bright and clean. My skin looks amazing the swelling is gone and still no painkillers. Also I’ve noticed two issues that were bothering me emotionally seemed to have just dropped away, I feel like I’ve just transcended them. Awesome! I didn’t set the intention for the medicine to work on these issues, but if it was that then I’m grateful these things have been healed too.

Kambo is not the most pleasant or comfortable experience to go through. The best word to describe it is intense! But it is over quickly and the after effects are very much worth it. It’s not something to be undertaken lightly though, but if it does feel like the right thing for you, do some research and go to an experienced practitioner. Do not buy the sticks online and treat yourself.

Good sites I’d recommend include:

http://www.ayahuasca.com/spirit/kambo-the-spirit-of-the-shaman/

http://www.heartoftheinitiate.com/files/Kambo-Scientific-Research-Healing-Treatments.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kambo-Healing/118113754878294

International Womens Day on BCFm 93.2

Wow! what a busy few weeks it’s been co-ordinating the BCFm’s International Women’s Day broadcast event. The whole schedule will be devoted to female led programmes, features and music. It all kicks off with the One Love Breakfast show at 7am which will be launched by Ali Grant, Chairperson of BCFm. The Breakfast crew will be fronted by BCFm regulars Harriet Robinson and Mel Mason as well as being joined by Kizzy Morrell from our sister station Ujima FM.

The OLB show will also feature a live link up with Christina Robino, our roving reporter for the day, from the “Breakfast on the Bridge” event at the Avon Gorge Hotel. New police commissioner Sue Mountstevens will be joining us in the studio along with Kimberly Le Blanc who’s organising a fabulous fundraising event for Womankind later on in the evening featuring BCFm regular Bashema, Poppy Perez and and Bucucrasu.

We’ll also be talking to a wide range of guests during the day including world renown health expert Dr Rosy Daniel, Gill Nicholson and Rose from African Initiatives who’ll be  hosting their 3rd Annual International Women’s Rights Conference “Women’s rights – Women wronged” on the 9th March with guest speakers Kerry McCarthy MP and Danielle Radice.

We’ll also be linking up with the first ever Regional Fair Trade awards at the Colston Hall hosted by Levi Roots where Christina will be talking with Bristol Link with Nicaragua honey producer Agueda Ordonana who will be speaking about the importance of Fair Trade for women and the community of Puerto Morazon.

Jane from the Fawcett Society will be telling us more about the history of IWD and Lucienne Boyce will be discussing Bristol’s Suffragette legacy. Dawn Taylor will be coming in to talk about the amazing work of Bristol Rape Crisis.

We’ll also be hearing about some of the many events happening in the city for the day as well as hearing how IWD is celebrated in different cultures. And as it’s International Women’s Day we’ll be featuring contributions from Bristol’s beautiful and diverse community.

The Somali ladies will be on in the afternoon and am happy to announce that the Shout Out crew will be hosting an hour drive time show. La Ventana Latina will be on in the evening followed by a newly reformed Chinese Connection. It was lovely welcoming back Jade Yang Pang and Laura Kan to the studio last night who’ve come back for this one-off special occasion. 

We’ll also be supported by Passion Fm and Radio Salaam Shalom and Burst (Bristol Uni Radio) during the evening. What a jam packed schedule we have! It’s been a lot of hard work but its been awesome working with such a fabulous team of women who’ve really pulled out all the stops to make this happen. A schedule of the day’s programming will be posted soon

International Women’s Day on BCFM

Just had another busy day organising the International Women’s Day broadcast event on BCFM for Friday 8^th March when the entire day’s schedule will be given over to female led presenters and features.

Kicking it all off will be the One Love Breakfast show with Harriet and Helen who will be joined by Kizzy and Amy from our sister station Ujima FM. We’ll also be featuring a live link up with the “Breakfast on the Bridge” event which will be raising money for the Women for Women International who support female survivors of war and civil strife and our guests will include the new police commissioner Sue Mountstevens.

Silver Sound, our show by the over 60’s, will be talking about the history of the suffragette movement and celebrating Bristol’s role in that and Real Women will also be on air with presenters  Aisha Scott and Sangeeta Dewan.

During the special two hour edition of Vivacity we’ll have live link ups with our reporters from the Fawcett’s Society “Confronting Women’s Poverty” event at the City Hall. And we’ll also be at the Colston Hall for the Regional Fair Trade awards presented by Levi Roots. Fair Trade is a vital tool in tackling poverty in developing countries by providing a fair price for goods produced and allowing women to build skills, generate income and educate their children.

As its International Women’s Day we’ll also be celebrating Bristol’s rich diversity and feature contributions from the Somali ladies, the Latin Window with Rosabel Portela Barrios, and the Polish and Chinese community. It’s been fascinating to learn how differently the day is celebrated in different countries.

Natalie, Rose and Mitch from Shout Out, our popular show for the LGBT community will be taking over a drive-time slot and Burst featuring students from Bristol University will be in their usual Friday night slot. I’m also pleased that on this unprecedented broadcast event at BCFM we’ll be supported by two other esteemed members of our radio family – Passion FM and Radio Shalom Salaam.

We’ll also be welcoming many more interesting guests to our studio and hearing about some of the many IWD events that will be happening in the city that day, plus featuring some fantastic prizes for our listeners.

What an amazing and exciting day it’s going to be and I want to say in advance a huge thank you to all the team for their hard work and efforts on this project. There’s a huge amount of events and campaigns happening now which honour the struggles and celebrate the successes of the sisterhood and I’m privileged to be meeting so many of the talented and inspiring women who are behind this. May this feminine energy continue to rise up.

My Yoga Challenge at Bristol City Yoga….

Yay! Big up to me for completing my January yoga challenge I didn’t get to quite as many classes as I’d hoped thanks to snow, life the Universe and everything but it’s been a delight from start to finish.

I finally got to try out the Women’s Yoga class on a Tuesday morning this week – my first free Tuesday for ages. Usually run by Ali but she was away so Gladey was the replacement teacher. Beginning with a yummy cuppa Bengali Spice tea whilst in a circle, this class aims to bring more of an awareness of the Shakti energy to the practice as well as our menstrual cycles and how this energy affects our moods and energy.  It was very nurturing and encouraging of us working to our own limits. I’d gone along with my lower back, right hip and leg muscles in spasm so was very careful but am happy to report it loosened up those muscles and eased the pain greatly. Gladey also treated us to some gorgeous snacks at the end of the class – dried fruit, nuts and the most delicious chocolate buttons. A perfect end to such a wonderful class.

Today I did my third Ashtanga led class – Madonna eat your heart out! Poses that were challenging at the start of the month have become much easier, well all except those dreaded balance ones. A curse be upon you tree pose! And I’m even managing to spread my tiny toes apart at bit  - something I thought would never happen.

I’ve met some lovely people in the Bristol City Yoga family, tried new teachers, postures and styles that have refreshed my love of the practice.  I’ve loved the Yoga Challenge and I’m especially loving my new yoga body. Thanks BCY – you rock! 

Access Consciousness Foundation Course – London – 25&26th Jan 2013

After a very wobbly and emotional week I booked myself on the Access Foundation course in London last week end with Julia Hogg. I’d managed to trap myself into some insane behaviour that kept looping round and round and I needed to get off this not-so-merry-go-round. This is unlike me and it was really freaking me out and no doubt my poor friend who was on the receiving end of this madness.

Access Consciousness is huge in the States where it started and also in Australia. It’s fairly new in the UK but is taking off rapidly. It’s a “set of tools and processes to help you change areas of your life that aren’t working for you,” shifting outdated judgements and points of view that are keeping you stuck. It works on different levels as well as different lifetimes and dimensions.

I first came across Access when listening to Rikka Zimmerman’s radio show on the World Puja Network. I was caring for my seriously ill mother at the time and the show really helped me get through that challenging time. At first, it sounds really weird. They use this clearing statement to shift a lot of stuff and this makes no sense to your logical mind. But as they say in Access if your logical mind could work everything out, wouldn’t it have done so by now?

I next met Access when visiting an old friend in the US. She’d recently trained in “the Bars”, one of its core practises. This is not a glorified pub crawl, although Lord knows we did enough of those in the past. The Bars uses 32 different points/bars on the head. These include money, creativity, aging, hopes and dreams, body and sexuality. It’s great for treating insomnia, pain, eating disorders, stress, ADHD, menopausal symptoms to name a few.

My friend generously ran a whole bunch of sessions on me over the holiday and I had some real shifts in the chronic lower back pain that I’ve had since childhood. It also helped me reduce my pain meds, I also “forgot” to take my anti-depressants and stopped chewing my fingers, a habit I’d had since aged 9. I was so impressed I took a couple of classes to train in being a Bars practitioner. Access is a bit way out there. It’s quite different to many practises I’ve tried but it’s simple, effective and fast. Just what we need in these hectic times right?

The next level is Foundation and in this class we learnt another body healing process that’s great for trauma and injuries and more tools for helping you make this reality work better for you. I loved the teacher, Julia Hogg. I perceived a great deal of integrity from her and she was thorough and patient with all of our questions. Yet she made the class light hearted and fun.

Access is all about oneness – judging and excluding nothing and getting you to open up to a world of infinite possibilities. I also like the fact that they talk about bringing change into the world so it becomes a more “collaborative, creative and cohesive” place to live. This is no self-indulgent naval gazing practise for sure.

Access is about the nearest I’ve come to experiencing magic in my life, without pulling rabbits out of hats. It helped me see how I’d been limiting myself in my recovery as well as helping me to see, perceive and receive the world differently and become a more conscious creator within it. How does it get better than that?

If you’d like to book a session of the Bars, you can call me on 07817 557570 or email shivanifox@gmail.com

If you’d like to find out more about Access Consciousness visit: http://www.accessconsciousness.com

The Yoga Challenge – Bristol City Yoga, Backfields Lane, Bristol BS2 8QW

Wow! feeling great after another Ashtanga yoga session at BCY. Laura is currently in India on a teacher training course so it was the lovely Gladey who took the class today. I love Gladey as a teacher and have been going to her classes in St Werburghs Community Centre for a while now. Thankfully she went easy on us as it was so cold today. My body is way less bendy in such frosty conditions.

Despite the weather it was a busy class, and we soon got down to the bending and stretching, upping and downing that dog and I’ve never been so happy to do Sun Salutations as I was today – warming my body up and metaphorically bringing the sun’s energy down into my body.

I’m extra pleased today because I almost very nearly got into the crab pose. I’m just lacking in the upper body strength to push my upper body up by my arms. I think I must’ve lifted the crown of my head about 2 inches off the ground today for a few seconds. But hey that’s further than I got last time I tried. This yoga challenge must be doing me some good!

Scott’s Hatha Flow class yesterday was also very busy – a great class and very do-able in a lunchbreak. I’m sad that I didn’t get to try his Hatha Flow class last Friday followed by Morven’s Restorative class because the studio was closed down thanks to the snow. This Friday I shall be on my way to London for the week end so will miss it again this week. But there’s still a few days next week to go. The January yoga challenge will of course soon be closing but the studio offers other yoga passes and card schemes where you can pre-pay for a block of lessons, save yourself some cash and carry on the momentum. More details at info@bristolcityyoga.co.uk or 0117 9244414

Almost there…..