Autumn the time to slow down!

Autumn - a time for us in Australia to slow down after the activity of Summer. A time of celebration with our Easter and Anzac Day celebrations and commemorations.

Easter or as it is also known 'Eostre', began as a fertility ritual, hence the symbol of eggs, performed in the fields in the days before industry and office buildings and factories. Its timing here is still based on the Northern Hemisphere calendar, but in its place of origin it was Spring, which meant the planting of crops and procreation for animal and humankind alike.

With the rise of Christianity this time of year then also became associated with the rising of Jesus Christ from the dead - another symbol of birth and beginnings.

And Anzac Day a time to remember those who went to war and did not return to our homes but not to leave our hearts. A day to celebrate our freedoms and the peace & harmony in our wide, brown land of diversity.

The nights are chilly, but the days are still warm. This is time to gather your thoughts and your provisions in readiness for the stillness of winter. Enjoy your days in the disappearing sunshine - time for stolen moments. Where you can indulge in both summer headiness and winter cosiness all in one day/night.

Pop in for an autumn tune-up plan - body and mind - with one of our lovely practitioners and maintain body fitness and control, don't let the change in the weather be your reason to get flabby! We offer five classes a week so you can stay in shape and be ready for Life!

Special offer to the first 10 clients to call 9817 8766 will receive as a gift 2 for 1 vouchers to the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival.

We wish you all joy and the causes of joy now and always!

The Source of Wellness Team

Coffee, so much a part of our lifestyle

Coffee, it smells so good, so how can it be so wrong? It wakes you up in the morning, keeps you going in the afternoon, is a symbol of relaxation, a time-out, an after-dinner digestive, it is more than a drink it is an activity - the thing by which we socialise with friends, family, even strangers. Coffee is the greatest elixir to a range of needs in our society - yet none of them include our internal health!

Coffee contains caffeine. One coffee is all it takes to prevent your body absorbing water for up to 2 hours. So when you sit at the cafe and drink a big glass of water before or after your coffee - it's wasted. The water goes in, but caffeine inhibits your cells from accepting any of it to help cellular respiration, causing dehydration, and it passes through your body without being absorbed and is expelled as urine.

So if you have coffee with breakfast, one at morning tea, one at afternoon tea, one after dinner - that means during your entire day your body is starved of water - the one ingredient vital to cellular activities and good health. It increases your body's agitation, the lack of water adversely affecting the transmission of nerve impulses increasing restlessness, overstimulating thought processes, increasing irritability and causing sleeplessness.

Cutting down or cutting out coffee from your diet is a challenge - caffeine is addictive physically. It is also a challenge socially. Consider alternatives - hot chocolate, herbal tea, dandelion tea, decaf. If you are on double-shot cappuccino - wind it back to a mocha (half chocolate, half coffee). If you are up to 4 a day, come back to 2 a day and replace the other two with a non-caffeine hot drink.

And bad news for tea-drinkers it is the same as coffee ... go herbal, and improve your health, improve your sleep, calm your nervous system, slow overactivate mind processes. Remember to change a bad habit you need to replace it with a good habit, and if the pull to have coffee is strong speak with Payal, our homeopath, or Andrew, our psychotherapist to break the habit.

Low Back Pain & the role of Core Strength muscles (Research)

In Australia, low back pain (LBP) is the second most common reason people seek medical attention after upper respiratory complaints (Buchbinder, 2001).

The curious aspect of low back pain is that patients with pain and patients without pain have similar deficiencies and degeneration in the spine. Therefore spinal changes cannot be the cause of chronic low back pain (Bogduk, 2004). So what is?

Research has focussed on the role of deep abdominal and spinal muscles controlling the joints between each vertebrae of the lower spine and between the spine and the pelvis. And whether there are differences in muscle function between low back pain sufferers and people without pain.

Hodges and Richardson (1996) found that people with low back pain had a ?significant? delay in activating the deepest abdominal muscle - Transversus Abdominis ? and the supporting muscles between each vertebrae before movement.

Whereas they found that people with no back pain contracted these pelvic and spinal stabilisation muscles before movement, thus protecting their spine from compressive or shearing forces during activity and preventing pain.

Research by O?Sullivan, Twomey and Allison (1997) of patients with low back pain enrolled in a core strength program compared to patients undertaking conventional exercise with follow-ups at 3-, 6-, and 30-month intervals found the core strength exercise group had reduced need for medication and treatment. Whereas the control group experienced a ?lack of change? over the 2.5 year period.

What an ad for Pilates! If you experience ongoing back or neck pain, please call to discuss your particular circumstance and how Treatment and our Pilates program can help. We cater for beginners to advanced. Classes are Wed 5.45pm, Thurs 10am and Sat 9.30am. See our website for Class Prices and for the full references quoted above please email us.

Living Meditation

Meditation, is something we can incorporate into everyday life. Generally we think of meditation as sitting in a quiet space and clearing our mind of the chattering stream of thought.

This is called 'sitting meditation'. To practise 'living meditation' is to create a state of mindfulness. When you move, move with awareness of yourself, your body, your position in space. When you pick something up, think of how to bend effectively using a squatting posture, using your legs not your shoulders.

When you pull a chair out or close a door, do so with mindfulness, do so gently. The act of using your mind in this way creates peace, creates calm not only in your mind but also your body, slowing the speed at which your physiologic processes happen.

When we get busy - we become distracted. We move hurriedly, we speak at speed and with irritation, we breathe faster and high in the chest, reducing our oxygen intake, reducing the amount of this vital resource for normal peaceful body function.

If you have small children, a stressful boss, your first response is to breathe quicker and shallower reducing your oxygen intake, increasing body stress. Use 'living meditation' to first become aware of the change to your mindful state and breathe. Breathe more slowly, more deeply. Breathe as if your breathe enters through your lower abdomen (under your navel) and out through the same portal.

Combine awareness of your breath and your actions to slow yourself and calm your physiology - this is 'living meditation'.

Enjoy living. The Inspiration workshop with Ani Neradilkova focusses more on using your breath to be in touch with living.

An Autumn Bounty!

What's New

We've got a Spring bounty in Autumn.

We have a new phone number 02 9817 8766. Please call to make appointments or to ask questions and remember if you get our answer phone please leave a message. We return your call as soon as we have finished treating our current client or running the current exercise class.

And we have EFTPOS, accepting debit and credit cards (all cards except AMEX and Diners).

We have more practitioners joining our lovely team - meet:

• Betty Concina (Exercise Instructor & Personal Trainer). Betty runs our Boot Camp & Pilates on a Saturday morning and is available for Personal Training sessions on Tues, Fri, Sat. She has a heart of gold but also knows how to ensure you find your motivation to succeed in exercise.
• Payal Kinariwala (Homeopath). Payal is a real whizz with all things unsolvable by modern medicine. Her medicines have no side effects, are all natural and above all they work! Everything from mood swings, stress, sleeplessness, hair loss, children's tantrums, rashes and more.
• Hongxiu ('Nelie') Gao (Acupuncturist & Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner). Hongxiu is a very experienced practitioner who uses acupuncture, acupressure, vacuum cupping, and herbs in the Traditional Chinese way. She treats musculoskeletal aches & pains, hormonal & nervous system imbalances, migraines, weight management, women's health and more.
• Andrew Callinan (Somatic Psychotherapist). Andrew provides a wonderful counselling and coaching service for individuals who are ready to explore a different way of approaching and resolving an aspect of living. Andrew works with a range of issues such as feeling overloaded, relationship issues, childhood experiences, grief, parenting troubles and more. He works with both adults and teenagers.
• Julie Westcott (Pilates Instrutor & Reformer Trainer). Julie is leading our Thursday Pilates Body Control class, and also providing one-to-one Pilates using her Reformer machine - great for people who are pre-Pilates fit, or to minimise the impact of over-activated areas (eg shoulders) which interrupt the effectiveness of your normal Pilates workout.
• Rachel Szabo (Pilates Instructor). Rachel is a very experienced instructor who is with us for the medium-term and leading our Wednesday night Pilates Body Control. She has the whole range of Pilates knowledge from basic beginners to the super-advanced, with the exercise to make you work stronger no matter where your start position is now.

We have said a fond farewell to Brenda Beach, who has gone to Fitness First in Parramatta, and Michele de Gidro who is devoting more time to other endeavours. We wish them well on their new paths.

We have two wonderful workshops in the next few weeks, please call 9817 8766 to book:

• Crystal Sound Healing Meditation with Lia Scallon. Monday 1 May 7pm-9pm $35, and
• Inspiration with Ani Neradilkova. Sunday 28 May 10am-6pm $330

And we have introduced pensioner discounts for remedial treatment with a Pensioner Card.

We have beautifully presented Gift Certificates for your special someone, click here to see an image. Get your loved one started on an exercise program, or a relaxing treatment, or a health overhaul. Posted at no extra cost in a Special Burnished Gold Birthday Envelope.