Headaches that start in the shoulders are very linked with the Kidney Meridian and our Stomach Meridian (Neck extensors)

Shoulders are metaphysically all about carrying the weight of the world, feeling overwhelmed with stress and worry.

Emotions like anxiety, fear, dread and distrust can sit in the upper trapezius muscle linked to our Kidney meridian causing us to hold tension that leads to a headache.

It may loosen with a massage or a chiropractic adjustment but until there is a shift in perspective and a change made around what initially caused this pattern of fear to come online, the tension may become a pattern.

Where are you focusing on the ‘worst case scenario’?

Are you prioritising fun?

Where could I be hanging onto the past?

Our skin is our largest organ of our body, it is what protects us from the world.

Often skin complaints like a rash are internal irritation, anger or frustration manifesting through the skin.

Acne or pimples can be linked to feeling like you don’t belong and putting up barriers to protect yourself.

They can also be linked with self judgement, self criticism and lack of self confidence.

If you have had persistent skin issues and changing your diet, drinking more water and even treating it topically doesn’t seem to be keeping it better, it could be time to explore some of these metaphysical links.

Where are you trying to hide yourself/keep yourself safe?

What is causing you an intense amount of frustration or angst internally?

Our Triple Warmer Meridian also known as ‘San Jiao’ or our ‘Triple Elixir Meridian’ is our Meridian that controls our fight, flight, freeze response.

It is linked to our adrenals, so anytime we are running on anything beyond our actual reserves we will be taxing this energy system.

When out of balance our immune system can be impacted and our ability to tolerate and manage stress is compromised.

It is not linked to a specific organ but rather gets its name from our three burners, our thorax, abdomen and pelvis.

Also linked with our hypothalamus, the part of our brain that governs appetite, digestion and regulating our body temperature.

Keeping our stress levels low and eating a nutrient rich diet are both supportive ways to keep this Meridian happy.

Inversions are also a really nice way to bring the energy back into the abdomen and pelvis area, plus all the added lymphatic benefits for our immune system.

I invite you to do ‘legs up the wall’ pose today ‘Viparita Karani’ — this is a beautiful one to do before bed to calm the nervous system.

Knowing how to Self Regulate is a necessity not a luxury.

The way we do it is ever changing and our tool kit needs to be regularly updated depending on our energetic/physical and emotional needs.

I am a big believer in empowering my clients to leave their session with the necessary tools to integrate the shifts and changes initiated in their balance.

This may be a breath work practice, acupressure points, mantra, or a specific request from their body that we uncover through the balance— more often than not it’s more than one thing and this builds as they get more in tune with their body and their intuition.

This is a gift that is so valuable in this world so geared to consistent productivity and forward momentum, being armed with the tools specific to you takes you out of a fear frequency and into one of internal safety.

What are currently leaning into regularly as your self regulation tool?

Our ears hold over 200 acupressure points.

Here are three that will quickly calm your body and mind.

‘Shen Men’

Calms the mind, relieves stress, pain, anxiety, insomnia.

‘Point Zero’

Balances the body

Helps to regulate hormones, calms the brain.

‘Tranquilzer point’

Sedating and relaxing, use to treat anxiety, high blood pressure and chronic stress.

Also known as the “Valium Point”

Do each point bilaterally.

Our Gall Bladder energy in its balanced and aligned state is what carries us through life with courage to trust our own discernment and lift ourselves out of any lower vibrational states or circumstance.

When out of balance we can physically feel tightness in our neck and shoulders, headaches and tension. Emotionally we may feel stagnant in life, trapped by circumstance — a limited perspective.

I invite you to use Gall Bladder 21 bilaterally where our neck meets our shoulders, if you are pregnant please don’t use this point, instead work with Gall Bladder 44 which is on the outside of our eyes.

Take a few breaths here until you feel a shift and notice what changes for your body, mind and life.

I am passionate about working with children for many reasons.

The main one being that I have witnessed how profoundly these sessions can be for young minds.

Making them feel seen, heard and understood.

Helping their body and mind to integrate and process their emotions.

Giving them the language to communicate their feelings without judgement — in turn decreasing reactivity.

As well as Nervous System regulation when they are caught in patterns of hyper vigilance affecting their sleep, mood, friendships and general enjoyment in life.

This work helps them to stay in love with life, welcome their creativity and uniqueness — things that I feel the school system sometimes fall short in doing simply due to lack of resources or awareness.

This is what a session in progress looks like for a 10 year old.

I like to think of our Stomach Meridian as our “processing meridian” — often we struggle to move on from or integrate experiences or traumas until we can make sense of them with our mind.

This can keep us stuck in life, unable to move forward. When we work with the Stomach Meridian with the intention in mind to “unpack” our emotional baggage we can initiate the process for our bodies to move through what our minds cannot make sense of.

I like to remind myself that whilst it is natural to try and make sense of things with my mind, you cannot think your way out of a problem, you need to actively move through it by moving with the flow of life.

The point that I invite you to work with today - Stomach 12, supports us in moving through our emotions and accessing any long held grief or stagnation. I like to couple this with some work into the lymph nodes around the collarbone to really “take out the trash” so to speak!

Our Kidney Meridian is best known for fear and anxiety but it also houses some of our most grounding points in our body.

When I notice my clients disassociating from their bodies when we tap into a big topic, memory or emotion their Kidney switching point tests up for correction.

Often we don’t even notice that we are disassociating, it can be as simple as getting swept up in the thoughts around those memories or sometimes it is because we feel uncomfortable in our bodies.

It is always best for us to process in real time and stay present in our bodies when possible.

This point under the collarbones is a great one to have up your sleeves for when you are feeling a bit scattered or a big triggered. Place your fingers there and rub and feel yourself landing back into your body in this present time and space.

Our Small Intestine Meridian helps us to sort and discern what we need to physically and emotionally integrate and process or release and let go.

When out of balance we can feel a sense of confusion about where we should be placing our attention or how to move forward in life or a certain situation.

Due to its location travelling up our arms from our pinky fingers, over our shoulder blades and finishing at the front of the ears - things like shoulder tension can indicate a stress in the small intestine meridian, where we may be “shouldering” a burden for others and may be feeling a lack of gratitude or appreciation.

Today I challenge you to take an audit on where you can call back some of your energy, where may you be giving your attention or focus to something that is not your responsibility and how can you reclaim that energy for you to make more space for joy in your life?

Our Spleen Meridian runs from the outside of our big toe nail up the inner leg to the groin then up either side of our midline to Spleen 20 and back down under or arms on both sides. It is often associated with emotions and energies such as confidence, self assurance which can often be linked to experiences of rejection or perceived disapproval from others.

The other really interesting aspect is the theme of ‘towing the family line’ - behaviours that we have taken on from a young age out of a need for belonging or approval from our family, especially our parents.

These are often outdated behaviours or belief systems that were never our own and hanging onto these and living by them is in some way keeping us small.

One of the most common ones that seems seemingly harmless is ‘People Pleasing’ I challenge you to look at this habit of saying yes when you mean no or agreeing with people when your body is saying something else as a form of manipulating the energy to elicit a certain response. It has been a reframe that has really helped me.

Being in integrity with ourselves is the healthiest way for us to live. It is the only way to live a totally embodied and congruent life with your entire body and being.

I invite you to try massaging Spleen 20 bilaterally when you feel that grasping energy coming in, that need for instant gratification - notice what behaviours don’t feel aligned and notice the stories you have around them.

Cedarwood has many physical and energetic benefits.

My go-to use for it is to ground myself back into my body especially before bed. Popping a few drops on your feet and wrists has a lovely calming affect on any stress or tension, it also has a slight sedative effect by lowering your blood pressure and breathing rate which relaxes the nervous system.

Children are so sensitive to your energy, they will often mirror back to your emotions or feelings you are experiencing in a big way.

This can be most confronting, especially when you have been consciously or unconsciously trying to avoid working on certain things or areas of your life.

In Kinesiology we muscle test your body to see whether you are surrogating (holding onto) anyone else’s energy.

The most common surrogation pattern I find is children for their parents or main care givers.

This is not something to fear, this is an empowering reason and motivation to do the work and keep your energy in check.

Making time for regular self enquiry is a brilliant place to start, noticing and paying attention to what is working for you and what isn’t

Become mindful about where you are spending your time, who and what you are engaging with and what you are absorbing on all levels, nutritionally, socially, environmentally etc.

Be really honest and vulnerable with yourself.

This isn’t always an easy task as a large part of our choices and actions are happening unconsciously. This is where Kinesiology can be a really supportive tool to bypass the conscious mind and get really clear on what is going on internally for you on a physical, emotional and energetic level.

I work with Mums and their children to find tools and practices to help make the unconscious more conscious in their daily lives and interactions.

This empowers them to have a real self responsibility and awareness of their internal experience and how it affects their reality and perception.

These sessions can be so enlightening for Mums sitting in with their children listening to them communicate in a really different way.

This work is so special.

Our Governing Meridian is our support system, our structure - it governs all the yang functions of our body.

When out of balance you may feel unable to stand up tall, you may feel burdened by your mind or by others or overly controlled and potentially self destructive.

When in balance we are able to stand tall in our power, we feel a healthy sense of self responsibility and integrity, our lives feel structured and aligned.

It is also associated with our largest organ in our body - our skin. With that in mind, a really nice way to look after this meridian is to really be conscious about what you are putting on your skin, what you are absorbing. Also making sure we are getting enough Vitamin D.

It is also closely linked to our Pineal Gland, so getting out in that early morning sun to activate this gland will help support our circadian rhythms (our sleep/wake cycles)

This practice is a really great technique to have in your tool kit for those times when you are feeling overwhelmed, anxious and burdened by decisions.

It aids in rebalancing our emotions and releasing pent up energy.

The physical effects of ESR include a general sense of lightness and relaxation and a lifting of mental fog.

Your vision will feel clearer and your hearing more acute.

Children respond quickly and easily to ESR so it is great to use regularly.

This technique works by activating reflexes called neuro-vascular points which bring more blood to the frontal lobes of the brain.

Back brain thinking is our survival response mode, when we are caught here we are moving from automatic reactions based on our alarm and vigilance response as well as responses based on past experiences.

Frontal brain thinking is creative so from this space we can generate new options and new ways of looking at old problems, as well as new possibilities and alternative solutions.

Our stress chemicals seem to have the effect of reducing front brain/back brain and left brain/right brain integration and thus prevents us thinking creatively under stress.

This technique reverses this process and has the effect of reducing or erasing the biochemical trigger to the old stress memories and therefore relieves stress.

Breathing through our left nostril has a calming effect on our nervous system - it is associated with more feminine aspects of our being and prompts a more introspective mood.

It brings us into deeper states of receptivity, it is also associated with coolness and the moon.

It activates our right brain activity, being our more intuitive and artistic and thought forms.

This is a great activity to do at any time of day, especially good before bed, before meditation or after a lot of time in deep focus.

I invite you to do this for a minimum of 11 rounds or for a maximum of 5 minutes at a time.

This exercise helps to stimulate the production of T-cells, which are primary immune factors produced by the Thymus Gland.

It is also referred to as our ‘higher heart’ energy centre as it is just above our heart chakra.

I practice this daily, especially when I have had a heavy conversation or interaction, or if I have been in a busy place like a shopping centre - it helps to bring up my own energy/life force and release anyone else’s energy that I may be carrying.

You especially know that this is needed if you start to feel like you are feeling things on behalf of other people, this happens all the time but especially if you are highly sensitive or empathetic.

It is a nice reset into your own energy.

Use statements like “I am 100% in my own energy” “I am 100% (your name)” and try and smile as you do this

Do this until you feel a shift and allow all feelings of worry, nervousness, anxiety and stress to melt away.

Our Heart Space is where we love and connect from. We always house that love within us it is just a matter of whether we are able to access it in the ways that best serve us.

Any self doubt, lack of confidence, detachment from our desires is really just a disconnection from our heart space.

This is a beautiful one to regularly check in with.

Today I suggest that you connect and massage your Heart 6 acupressure point on the underside of your wrists on the pinky finger side, this is what we call our ‘accumulation’ point for our heart meridian, a point that holds stress and tension from any heart breaks or defeats, any time you have felt betrayed, even by yourself.

Accumulation points can bring up frustration and anger so if that arises, stay with it, breathe through it and your body will thank you for the chance to release. Anything that arises you may journal to unpack or it may just be the physical release that you need today. Come back to this exercise whenever you are feeling a little lost on your path to get back to your true heart space.

Up your water intake for the rest of the day to aid in any energetic or emotional shifts.

Our Lung Meridian holds the key to how we give and receive in our lives.

We either grieve and let go from a space of expansion and trust that the next right thing will arrive for us or from a space of fear and contraction that we will not survive without it.

We go through a million mini endings and beginnings every single day and how we cope with these will have an affect on the energetics of our Lung Meridian.

With a balanced Lung Meridian we breathe easily, our chest will feel light, our heart will feel open. We grieve from a healthy space of trust that we are whole in ourselves in every state. We take responsibility for ourselves and we feel aligned on our path.

When our Lung Meridian is out of balance we may feel heavy chested, unable to connect fully with life, to breathe in the new, to receive support or love. We may feel overly protective of our space and even material things, living from a space of victimhood, blame or lack. Life is happening to us not for us.

A quick way to take an audit of where our Lung Meridian is at is to sit and practice 1 minute of box breath (inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4) notice as you breathe where there may be resistance. Resistance on the inhale may indicate that you are not feeling totally safe to share/give yourself to life at the moment. Resistance on the exhale may indicate an inability or lack of capacity to receive life at the moment. Use this information to empower how you move forward. Notice how certain thoughts can instantly change our breathing too, choose whether they are expansive thoughts or whether they are making you contract.

Massage Lung 1 point to release any stress in the meridian, taking long, slow, deep breaths.

Lung 1 can be found on both sides of your body, mid way along your collarbone, 2 fingers width down your chest. Add some eucalyptus oil to make this a little ritual.

Our Central Meridian is the storehouse for all of our Yin meridians and the feminine energy within each and everyone of us.

It is our conception vessel, the birth of ideas and life.

It also relates to our Brain, so when out of balance we may feel confused, overwhelmed, overly consumed by goals, obsessive, and like we are living purely from the mind. Problems may feel insurmountable and our expectations of ourselves and others may be unrealistic which leads us to feel agitated.

When in balance new ideas and perspective flow easily to us, we feel focused and have clarity of thought, we feel emotionally present and aware and able to stand in our own power.

We ensure this median is clear before every session to get the most out of your balance.

If you resonate with any of the indications of imbalance you can balance this one at home by following the steps below:

Pop 1 drop of peppermint oil on your finger

Rub firmly on Conception Vessel point 21, our Heart Blossom Point - located in the dip between our collarbones.

Close your eyes and take three deep breaths

You should feel lighter and more focused.