Health – Page 3 – Royston Frederick's Alternative Therapies

31 Aug

Learn how to meditate

I believe that meditation should be practiced everyday for our daily wellbeing. Meditation can help balance us on a mental, physical and spiritual level. I look at it from the perspective that the mind is the gate keeper at the gates of the spirit and in order to pass through we have to quiet it to reach our true selves. We move through our lives connecting and disconnecting to things within and around us and in some instances to our peril. Without understanding who we are we are unable to make simple decisions within our lives. Sometimes we find that the choices we are considering or have considered has left us feeling unbalanced inside. These feelings leave what I would call strings, stagnant energy, and energetic blockages throughout the body.

To help release these energetic or physical disturbances the parasympathetic nervous system needs to be activated. Stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system helps promote digestion and slows or shuts off non-essential functions within the body giving your body time to rebalance itself. This can be done through quieting the nervous system using meditation, yoga, energy work (Reiki, Jin Shin Jyutsu, etc.) or listening to positive relaxing music.

Do you suffer from lower back pain?

Do you stand or sit for long periods of time throughout the day? A common symptom I see clients exhibit is lower back and hip pain. Without variations of movement your body can experience postural problems which can affect the lumbar spine, sacral, hips and feet. Other problems that may occur are freezing or seizing of the hip joints, tense hamstring and in some cases tight quads. Read More →

12 Jul

How massage helped me

At 34, I was a passenger in a new car that was side-swiped by a vehicle in the neighbouring lane, damaging the driver’s side door. The impact took us by surprise, but it wasn’t a significant impact — or so I thought. All I remember is my right elbow hitting the passenger door.

An hour later I was in the police station, giving a statement, when suddenly I started feeling severe shooting pain from the right side of my neck down into my hand. The doctor diagnosed me with whiplash and soft tissue damage throughout my back. I lived the next nine years in and out of pain. The pain was aggravated by poor posture, as I had a desk job and did little to no exercise. What I remember during the first two years after the accident, was that I would choose health over money any day. Read More →

08 Jul

The power of the breath

Sometime in your life you may have heard of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. To keep it simple and non-scientific the sympathetic nervous system is our fight or flight response. This part of the nervous system can induces stress, anxiety or states of depression. I think of it as never turning off the lights, electronics, and anything with power in the house. The parasympathetic nervous system on the other hand is our rest or digest system. When you meditate you are basically telling your body to relax or shift down to a lower gear like in a car or when you fall to sleep.The objective of this post, is to show you as the reader how to do a quick meditation in order to relax your parasympathetic nervous system. Your focus is on your breath not any external influences. This easy meditation will teach you how to relieve stress in your body by consciously listening to yourself breath in and out. Most people I’ve encountered tell me that they can’t meditate because they can’t quiet their mind, or they don’t have enough time to commit to it, or they need to be more active and meditation is too slow for them. The purpose of meditation is to connect with your mind, body and spirit and by doing this you have to tune everything else out. Meditation slows your mind down relieving stress a major cause of anxiety and depression, which can lead to other forms of disease within the body. Meditation teaches you to listen to what your body needs amounts other things.

How to create a pain-free office setup

Some of us spend our days doing a lot of sitting, rather than engaging in the well-rounded physical activities our bodies were intended for. If you work in an office or at home, the videos below describe how to setup your office chair and workstation so they are ergonomic, which means they are both comfortable and prevent injury. The information will provide you with the basics on how to limit structural and mobility injuries that can affect your neck, back, chest, hips and legs.

In addition I advise my clients to do the following:

Stretch daily. This which will further limit structural and mobility issues. Simple stretching techniques can be incorporated into their daily routines.

Take breaks every 15 minutes. Anyone working on a computer should also take breaks every 15 minutes to re-adjust their eyes. Our eyes are made to continuously move, which naturally strengthens them. Such movement reduces your chances of getting headaches, migraines, and vision issues.