“Few skills are more essential than the ability to settle your body. If you can settle your body, you are more likely to be calm, alert and fully present no matter what is going on around you. A settled body enables you to harmonise and connect with other bodies around you, while encouraging their bodies to settle” Resmaa Menakem from ‘My Grandmother’s Hands’
Understandably, this time of uncertainty has been challenging on different levels: whether that is fearing for our own health or that of a family member, managing a busy workload whilst feeling under-resourced, or feeling grief at being separated from the people we love most; what has been very visible within my own practice is just how profoundly many people have seen their emotional health and well-being impacted.
I’ve been very aware as a therapist, that anxiety continues to be very much in the foreground for many people; the bodily and emotional expression of which causing very unsettling, and sometimes debilitating, symptoms, such as palpitations, chest tightness, digestive discomfort, restlessness, insomnia, fearful and spiralling thoughts, chronic pain, amongst other symptoms. Many of these physical embodiments of stress and anxiety are the reason that a significant number of my patients have needed acupuncture over the past year.
What is often overlooked, is just how much our perception of safety, or experience of anxiety, is shaped by how well the nervous system is able to respond during times of stress. If the nervous system isn’t functioning as it should, this may lead to a heightened stress response, which can become chronic. When this happens, sometimes our bodies need a little help to settle back into the comforting background bass note of reassurance, security and stability.
Acupuncture and Qi gong for soothing anxiety
Just as acupuncture can be a potent way to calm the nervous system, the body can also be a vital ally in helping us to signal to the nervous system that it’s time to relax and de-stress, which leads to improvements in mood, well-being and resilience.
My upcoming Qi gong workshop will teach you essential and practical tools for settling the mind and the body. During the workshop we will draw on the nourishing and grounding practice of Qi gong, to help calm a heightened nervous system response, bring awareness to the regulating support of deep belly-breathing and the earth as a steadying ballast in our lives.
Qi Gong: Resources for Challenging Times Workshop
York Yoga studio
Saturday 25th September 2021 – 10.15 to 11.45
Cost: £15 (in studio) £12 (at home via zoom)
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How do we settle back into the steadying support of the body and the ground, when feel anxious and unsettled, and our thoughts become unanchored? This 4-week course is an opportunity to be guided through the Shibashi form, which is a deeply relaxing, gentle and flowing moving meditation. These sessions will teach you essential tools, drawing on the nourishing practice of Qi gong, to reconnect to this vital support…
At home with Qi Gong: Meditation and gentle movement to soothe and calm
Mondays from 10am – 11.15am
Online 4-week course, starting Monday 27th September 2021
Cost: £40 If you’d like further information, or are interested in attending, please contact me via email at nickyjanethomas123@gmail.com or message me on 07583-291616.
