Marie Ayres - Chiropractor & Pain Coach

I fully endorse all these ways to sit 👇

Day two - just when I thought I couldn't learn any more neuroscience, I learnt more neuroscience. Now I feel like 🤤

Mastersessions 2024 in York, Day 1!

https://www.facebook.com/100062967771959/posts/805105944931657/

Equality and equity are two important ideas that help us understand how to make things fair for everyone. Here's one way that helps me think about the difference between equity and equality:

Equality is fairness through uniformity, and equity is fairness through a recognition of individual needs.

If everyone gets the same—equality—this is fairer than some people getting something and others nothing. However, if a group were to go bike riding, as in the sketch, if everyone had the same bike, then it might work well for one person but not fit at all for a child or a shorter person. And if you had extra gear, young children to handle, or a disability, getting the same bike might not work at all.

In contrast, equity considers each person's individual needs to give everyone the same opportunity. Since getting the same bike doesn't meet everyone's needs, this might involve getting a bike that is the right height, or has a child seat to allow a parent and child to ride together, or other adaptations to accommodate someone with a disability. This way, everyone can ride comfortably and safely. Equity is about understanding that everyone has different needs and making sure those needs are met so that everyone has a fair chance to succeed.

By focusing on equity, we can ensure that everyone has the support they need to do their best, even if it means giving different kinds of help to different people.

I am self-educated in this and don't consider myself an expert, so I'd be happy to receive guidance or links to articles for further education if you have them.

Other related sketches on sketchplanations.com - the curb-cut effect, one-size-fits-men, how to draw a bike

https://www.facebook.com/100063494284635/posts/956633059796495/

So many people believe a long established myth - that the movement they have today, and the posture they have today, is "theirs", I.e. their genetic legacy, an inevitability.

How might it feel to know that it is a snapshot in time, just a platform on the journey we are making.

If you choose to get off the train, then yes, that becomes your destination. If you stay on the train however, who knows where you might find yourself?

Every day is a new chapter: new cells to instruct, new neural pathways to connect, new possibilities to explore, old beliefs and habits to examine and perhaps unpack and leave behind. Just choose to stay on the train and keep moving.

https://open.substack.com/pub/richmondstace/p/motion-is-lotion?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=vw0a

Motion is lotion 5 reasons movement matters for overcoming chronic pain

Hapus Dewi Sant, Welsh peeps!

Here I am popping up on Be-ing Directory's page.

Marie Ayres is a McTimoney Chiropractor. She has a relaxed and informal way of working with people with an emphasis on support and coaching in a safe and inclusive space.

Marie invites you to work with her to reclaim your sense of agency and get on with life again, with comfort and ease in body and mind.

You can find Marie and other healing practitioners like her on be-ing.online, an online wellbeing directory.

If you're a practitioner, join our community.

Coalescence

I love these cold sunny days.

Be More in '24

Be more in '24
What a bore
Because all this time
You've been perfectly fine

Since you were born
You've been on form
Not a diamond in the rough
You have always been enough

If you must be more in 24
Be more you
That will do
Very nicely, thank you.

https://www.facebook.com/100064747658712/posts/783709297130652/

Try these affirmations for heading into the new year. 💗 Wishing you a 2024 full of health and happiness.⁠
⁠
📸: Thank you @ harmonywillowstudio⁠ on IG

Box breathing can help us focus on the present, reduce stress and anxiety by lowering cortisol levels, and generally relax and be calm.

Box breathing involves four steps repeated in sequence, each for an equal count:

1. Breathe in
2. Hold your breath
3. Breathe out
4. Hold your breath

It's called box breathing or square breathing, as the four equal steps are like the sides of a virtual box. Counting to four is typical, though it can be more or less.

Because of box breathing's simplicity and effectiveness, it's also used by the Navy SEALs—for example, ex-Navy SEAL Mark Divine can lead you through box breathing on video.

I find meditation surprisingly difficult and the steps and simple counting of box breathing help me stay focused and free of distraction as well as any other technique. Even a few cycles of box breathing before a difficult conversation, a public talk, or after a challenging spell with our children helps me stay cool and be better.

Perhaps box breathing will be the ideal prelude to reflection on the past year and on the year to come.

Thanks for following this year!

When we work together, this 👇will not happen.

Doctors rank patients' own assessment of their illness as least important in diagnosis – new study Doctors dismiss patients’ ‘subjective’ symptoms over their ‘objective’ evaluation.

But how does Djokovic manage to sleep with all that racket going on?

The virtuous cycle of exercise and sleep
One of the best virtuous circles. One of my more surprising recent reads has been Novak Djokovic’s Serve to Win about diet, discipline, going gluten-free and physical and mental excellence. The guy certainly knows about excellence and it was neat to learn his philosophy on eating — the book contains recipes — and taking care of yourself including some serious respect for sleep. This sketchplanation is just one of the reason’s why. Since reading it I’ve put an alarm on every night to remind me to respect sleep. Night!

HT: P Baer

The Welsh Government is interested in hearing more about the experiences of adults who live with persistent pain.

Please take a few minutes to complete their survey, or to learn more and register your interest here 👉 https://buff.ly/3QPKjL7

The survey is open until 30 November 2023. Please like and share so we can get as many responses as possible!

If your chiropractor doesn't know about Cognitive Functional Therapy, consider finding one who does. https://theconversation.com/what-is-cognitive-functional-therapy-how-can-it-reduce-low-back-pain-and-get-you-moving-207009?fbclid=IwAR3C4iYiB5unCwoAaHA4OTv4teDFHLzcB99O257hMZ1ubNNcZjl9pFNkDLU

What is cognitive functional therapy? How can it reduce low back pain and get you moving? A new therapy aims to undo some of the harmful and restrictive patterns patients have been taught to ‘protect’ their back from pain. Instead, they’re learning to trust and move their body again.

The only poor posture is an uncomfortable posture.

Is good posture overrated? Back to first principles on back pain For ages, bad posture has been assumed to cause back pain. Now some physiotherapists are rethinking what we should be doing with our spines

Check out my beautiful new website!

marieayres.co.uk

Relax - nothing is under control!

Let it go where it wants to go

At Think like a Tree we're very keen on 'design' whether that be designing the life you want, or designing your livelihood or your business.

Strong design frameworks, such as our Think like a Tree design cycle that we share in the Think like a Tree programme, ensure that you are observing your life, creating a vision and then putting in place all the necessary groundwork to ensure that your vision will come into being in a successful and healthy way.

However, because this is a holistic process, guided by living systems, we support you to build flexibility and adaptability into your design, so that when life's inevitable changes happen, you are able to make most of the opportunities that arise.

One of the flexibility and adaptability principles is let it go where it wants to go. This allows us to consider what energy is wasted when we fight against something that is pulling in another direction, and how letting go of the need for control can be beneficial for our wellbeing and for the outcome of the project or endeavour.

Here's an example of how you might use it in the context of designing the life you want.

Step one in our design cycle is Observation, so you'll be looking at your life as it is now, and without the usual judgement that we heap on ourselves.

Step two we invite you to consider your Vision - we give you lots of tools and resources for this, including looking at your passions, transferrable skills, and your values.

Say from these activities you identified that you wanted to leave your current job that was harming your wellbeing and explore a new career, then we would support you to put in place a design for what that new career might look like.

Shifts that we frequently see with people who come on the programme is a shift from a career that has been extracting mentally and physically (such as working in the health professions), or from a career/employer that is badly aligned with ethics that people and planet need.

Design outcomes are as diverse as participants, but let's take an example of someone who chooses to set up a not-for-profit sharing outdoor skills. Their design contains all measure of useful plans for bringing this into the world.

Then a few months later their collaborative approach brings someone new into their network, who suggests a slightly new direction that is perfectly aligned with the organisation's purpose. That person has the financial backing and the skills to help bring this to life.

This is a let it go where it wants to go moment. Ultimately you decide - you don't just slide into a new project - let it go where it wants to go is an active decision. But guided by this and the many other natural principles you can make effective decisions on where to place your energy and resources.

And this will be beneficial for you, your health, wellbeing and any people and projects that you are involved with.

If you would like to find out more about the Think like a Tree programme you can check out the website www.thinklikeatree.co.uk

Many of us have a tough inner voice that shows up when we're struggling with big feelings. A voice that reflects how we were talked to as children when we were feeling this way.

But as I was reflecting on this, I was also thinking of the less overtly harsh but more generalized messages we received around always trying to "cheer someone up" when they're feeling bad. We were encouraged to always try to make the 'bad' feelings go away because they're uncomfortable and no one likes them, no matter how appropriate they are.

"You just gotta stay busy"
"Let's get ice cream!"
"Aw, don't feel that way. Cheer up!"

You're likely hard on yourself when you're anything other than happy because you've never been encouraged to just be with the feeling and listen to it.
To just sit with it tenderly and with care, to appreciate it for what it's showing you, and to let it move through you.

You weren't taught to validate the hurt and sadness and the anger and the pain. To see that they're real and that those feelings matter. That YOU matter, and if you're feeling those things, you deserve comfort, love, and protection and help navigating them.

Mostly, we're taught to ignore, distract, suppress, or we're outrightly shamed when we're in that tough emotional space. So it makes sense that that's how we tend to view it and talk to ourselves as adults when we're feeling deeply.

The next time you're in a tough emotional space, try meeting it with compassion. Make it okay for your body to tremble, for the tears to flow, and for the discomfort to be there. Remind yourself that how you feel matters, and that you do deserve tenderness and comfort. Ask yourself what you need, and be gentle with the answer.

The algorithms are all over the place lately, so I've decided to start sending daily texts to those who are interested. If you'd like daily reminders texted directly to you around things like self-attunement, boundaries, self-love, and more, register at the link below.

https://hdly.me/theeqschool