Connecting the feet to the body when we turn (full body turn video).

Here is another JEMS video, building on the Listening Foot one. 
The intention is to practice integrating movement through the body, so as we turn the upper body we feel the connection with the feet travelling up through the leg and facilitating the turn. This makes for a smoother movement, and shares the effort across a larger area.

As well as foot sensitivity and mobility, this also integrates the movement from Thigh Slides; as you turn as well as awareness of your feet and legs, feel for the movement coming from your ribs as they rotate into the space behind you. Explore how the movement feels for you as it travels from your feet up into your shoulders and out through the crown of your head.

Due to Covid-19 lockdown the video was made at my home rather than the Clinic.



full body turn video link

Some useful links and a spring walk.

Some links to sites that may be helpful at this time:
Mind:
https://www.mind.org.uk/coronavirus-we-are-here-for-you/https://www.mind.org.uk/coronavirus-we-are-here-for-you/
Sheffield Community Helpline:
https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/home/your-city-council/coronavirus-support-for-people
NHS Every mind matters:
https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/anxiety/?WT.tsrc=Paid_Social&WT.mc_id=Respond&fbclid=IwAR1e2YnQt_mXo5g1BtlZp1NDq8W2aITcf_uFfYx4Gh4dnT5eTXEqWSuKGOU

I love immersing myself in the sense of place when I walk in our local woodland, taking time to absorb the colours, textures, scents and sounds. I find it grounding, deeply relaxing, a release from stress, anxiety and unhelpful recurrent thought patterns. If I have a mild headache I sometimes find it is gone soon after entering the woods; when living in London I found working in the community walled herb garden in Brockwell Park had a similar benefit. Often I have the woods to myself but at this present time there are more people around as they are limited in where they can go for exercise so I try to get out early when it is quieter and I am more likely to spot wildlife.

I love the white flowered stitchwort that is now appearing alongside the bluebells, and the new beech leaves hanging soft from the branches before they fill out and stiffen. 

The paths are lined with cow parsley, sometimes reaching my shoulder height. I passed a big patch of comfrey in flower on Saturday, a herb that I used to use together with other herbs such as Calendula officinalis, lavender and Hypericum perforatum to make a healing ointment  for the skin because of its allantoin content. Herbalists decided a long time ago not to use comfrey internally and are now discouraged from using externally as well because of its pyrrolizidine alkaloids that are toxic in large or accumulated doses. I still enjoy seeing it, it is a handsome plant and wonderful for bees. 

A gorgeously vibrant green is everywhere with the new growth and many of these plants used to be part of our diet in the days when the new season for farmed vegetables was only just beginning and we would often be suffering from mild scurvy after the winter months. Chickweed, nettles, cleavers (wash then stand overnight to infuse in cold water for a delicious drink), ramsons, hawthorn and linden leaves, garlic mustard (or Jack-by-the-hedge, as my partner calls it), cuckoo flower, dandelion leaves.... it's a list that just goes on and on and I enjoy welcoming them all back. I sometimes wonder if we are hardwired to love that green because it draws our attention to plants containing beneficial nutrients. If you would like to try them for yourself there are plenty of recipes out there, beginning with Food for Free by Richard Mabey. Do check carefully that you have identified plants correctly before you eat them! There have been a number of cases of poisoning due to mistaken identity, from people making tea from foxglove leaves instead of comfrey to picking and eating deadly nightshade berries mistaken for bilberries. It is also best to avoid the Umbelifferae family; as with mushrooms the poisonous ones can be easily confused with the non-poisonous unless you know what you are doing. However, many plants can be picked with confidence so enjoy a little bit of food for free, and the connection with nature that comes with them.

Moving the spine to share the load (spinal elasticizer video).

This is a lovely, gentle exercise to encourage movement to travel through the whole spine, segment by segment, so all the vertebrae are joining in to support each other. I am sitting on a Swiss ball but this is very suited to doing whilst seated on any firm surface. If you feel protective about your back due to a history of injury and/or pain, you can keep to a very minimal, gentle movement whilst sitting on a chair. Please note that whilst these exercises are gentle you are responsible for yourself when doing them in your own environment. Explore, be gentle with yourself and enjoy.
Spinal elasticizer

 Please note that due to the Covid-19 lockdown the video was made in my home rather than the Clinic.

Get that upper body rotating... (thigh slides video)

This exercise is called Thigh Slides and is an excellent way to explore the alternating forward motion as our torso counter rotates above our legs when walking or running. This elastic movement generates energy that is released into the forward propulsion and so takes some of the effort away from muscles such as the calves. It is an example of parts of the body moving independently of each other whilst maintaining a connection and collaborating to achieve efficient movement.

It is also an excellent way to relax the back and help restore ease after long hours spent sitting.

Please note that due to Covid-19 lockdown the video was made in my home rather than the Clinic.
Thigh slides link

Breathing exercise (video)

Here is a video I made around week six of the Covid-19 lockdown (hence my leisure clothes and a band to hide the hair!). Times of stress can cause the chest to feel tight and change our breathing. This exercise may be helpful in promoting relaxation together with a sense of being grounded and reconnecting with your body.

There is also a video by Joanne Elphinston on YouTube, made during the lockdown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmgHaprWFF0&fbclid=IwAR2twV32h-TWFFU_2TYnk_fnfqmBtI6uH9eXNVHUCxFyFZVrn646CJFcNr4

Listening foot exercise (video)

Seeing how uploading a video direct to blogger works. This is a learning process for me! Listening Foot is a fundamental exercise for movement, literally giving you a foot to stand on that will affect how the rest of your body interprets and responds to the environment and activity. This video was made during Covid-19 lockdown so I am not in the Clinic.

....and now it is May.

First of all, the link below is for a dance class: disco funk! Ten minutes that will get you both moving and smiling :-) Just skip the ads after the first few seconds to get straight to the class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgDppkLnImI&list=PL0f7PvMpTH07hlhoritKpOjPx2Yc_WEWz&index=27&fbclid=IwAR08zEMmW0K3nhh9q6CW5CFOqrx1LYlNB1jsNNWBIbTFMRQ7NNloyanjDlg

I am working on getting some videos up on here demonstrating some beneficial JEMS exercises to help keep you in touch with your body and moving beautifully. I have been sending the ones I have made so far to some willing guinea pigs and had very useful as well as favourable feedback so it shouldn't be much longer before they are here! Main issue is my lack of IT competence.

You may not be able to book in for a massage treatment anytime soon as social distancing continues but I am still available through email, text or telephone if you need someone to talk to in confidence, whether to voice anxieties or vent frustrations. Please do feel that you can contact me.

I have been using my daily exercise to walk our elderly dog in the local woods which are changing so rapidly now. First there was the cheery yellow of the lesser celandine and the grellow of wood spurge, followed swiftly by the beautiful wood anemones, more every day, and then the first few tentative bluebells became a glorious carpet of shimmering purple blue.

The yellow archangels appeared together with wood forget-me-not and wood sorrel; as the earlier spring flowers faded back the creeping buttercup, fool's parsley and pink campion came springing up in their place. I picked wild garlic leaves to make pesto (delicious spread on toast accompanied by mushrooms and Swiss chard cooked in butter, plus scrambled eggs) and now their flowers (also delicious)  are filling the woodland with their aroma. The open space of the winter woodland has transformed into an enclosed green world as the leaves open to form the tree canopy, obscuring the architecture of branches and trunks. The birdsong is at its most impressive at this time of year. I always find the woods a calming, restorative space but I am missing my brisk walks to work and back. On the days when the hound wants only a short, slow amble I grab my touring bike after dropping her back home and cycle up and down the local streets for twenty minutes to get my heart rate up and strengthen my legs. Here is the view from our house so you can see we are quite high up; some evenings I just cycle up and down our road a few times!

Do stay safe and take care of yourself.