Holistic pregnancy, birth and post-natal treatments.

Pregnancy is a time in a womans life that is filled with so many emotions, thoughts and feelings, and it is most definitely a time where massage is hugely beneficial.

“Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be”
Carrie Fisher

There is a lot of misinformation around what is and isn’t ok during pregnancy. Anybody can give a pregnant woman a massage, but not everyone has the training and understanding to give a good massage during pregnancy!

What makes a pregnancy massage good? Knowledge, confidence and experience. Don’t settle for anything less, you and your amazing human growing body deserve the best, most blissful, balancing, energising massage available!

“The most blissful due date massage today, all rested and relaxed now for when bubba arrives”
Nisha, Altarnun

My specialist training with Wellmother means I have the knowledge and experience to work with pregnant women confidently, offering not only safe but deeply effective massage.

Enough about me, what about you? Pregnancy is a wonderful and miraculous event, some people thrive with pregnancy, others struggle, wherever you are at in your pregnancy, massage will support you in feeling your absolute best.

Women leave me feeling light, free, flowing and in touch with their ever changing body. On a physical level nausea and headaches can be greatly reduced. Pelvic pain from SPD, PGP and sciatica can be eased, hormonal balance restored, water retention reduced, blood pressure lowered. Muscle tension relieved, inflammation reduced.

On an emotional level stress and anxiety can be greatly reduced as the work I do is not only body work, but hugely informative. As an ex active birth coach I can help inform you and answer your questions regards birth and your choices. I can point you in the right direction for services to support your birth choices and help unpick your pregnancy and birth worries.

Pelvic pain in pregnancy is very common, but this by no means has to be put up with. By rebalancing the muscles around the pelvis, reducing inflammation and giving you guided exercises to follow the discomfort of PGP and SPD can be greatly relieved.

Another benefit of massage in the later stages of pregnancy is that it can greatly assist in optimal foetal presentation by releasing certain areas of pelvic tension and also facilitating some deep fear release, your baby can be naturally encouraged to move gently and of their own accord should that be the right thing for them.

And of course, the relaxation and hormonal balance combined with the oxytocin release you get during a massage can be just the thing encourage labour to start naturally. A wonderful way to mark your elusive due date!

Generally, pregnancy massage is an hour’s treatment costing £50, but should you want some extra guidance, or specific work on fear release then a 90 minute session might be called for costing £75

Or if you would like to do some deeper work on birth preparation check out my 121 positive birth coaching

Post Natal Massage

The birth of your baby can and will bring joy, exhilaration, exhaustion, sadness, happiness, fear, growth, confidence and many other profound changes and challenges to your life. The body of a new mum has been subjected to enormous strain, feeling stretched, strained and fatigued by the pregnancy and birth exasperated by the sleeplessness of caring for your dependent baby 24/7. The mind of a new mum is fuddled by hormones, strained with responsibility and fuzzy with deep love.

Peace, bliss, love, kindness and understanding…this is post-natal massage

Receiving specialized post-natal massage is a wonderful way to heal, relax and ease your body and mind following your pregnancy & birth. Soothing to stretched muscles and ligaments, increasing blood circulation, and therefore increasing hormone levels which can boost breast milk production whilst lowering the stress hormones by flushing the system which will help induce good deep sleep when you get the chance to!

“I actually missed my pregnancy massage as baby came early so I came for a post-natal massage instead. I have since come for a treatment every month as part of my self-care and self-love. I always leave feeling relaxed and refreshed knowing a good night’s sleep is guaranteed”
Beth, Delabole

But post-natal massage is about more than just relaxation, it is an opportunity to come back to your ‘self’ to have closure on the pregnancy and birth, and this is offered both practically and ‘energetically’. The reiki infused lomi lomi massage that I give will both energise and balance you, giving back some of what was given out during your pregnancy and birth.

Lomi lomi nui post-natal massage is your moment to regain connection with your body, to top up on much needed vital energy. It is a much-deserved moment of bliss. You will be held and supported, mind body and soul. Deeply healing and restorative, a safe space to make sense of all you are feeling, time to honour yourself and everything you are doing and all you have become.

Post-natal massage can be done with or without your baby, it is all about what is best for you as a woman. If being away from your baby for a few hours is not something you are happy or comfortable with then my years of experience working with post-natal women has enabled me to provide a flexible approach to this treatment, it can be done with your baby, allowing time and space to feed and nurture, or without baby to focus all the attention on you, and give you a break, whichever best suits you at the time.

“I didn’t lose myself when I became a mother, I found myself”
anon

You will feel refreshed and glowing after your treatment, your mind will be more settled, your body more balanced. Everyone benefits from a mum having a post-natal massage, everyone!

A post-natal massage can be for 1 hour at a cost of £50, or 90 minutes at a cost of £75. Or if you would like to incorporate some baby massage in your session book in for 2 hours or £90 and I can introduce you to the joy and connection you can experience with infant massage.

Birth Trauma Recovery

Do you have feelings of deep sadness, hyper vigilance, depression, anxiety, insomnia or fear. Do you constantly replay your birth, do you suffer mood swings, have feelings of not coping. Does the thought of experiencing birth again fill you with dread?

The lasting effects of a traumatising birth can be long term and debilitating.

Traumatic birth may not present as classically as you may presume. Often the women that I work with who have been traumatised by birth start with “I don’t know why it has affected me so badly because it wasn’t like I nearly died or anything” And this is the point, a traumatic birth is not a text book thing, and it is often those who have not “nearly died” who have slipped through the support net.

PTSD after traumatic birth is a very real and very disturbing psychological injury, it can lead to a number of different responses. The joy of your new baby is often over shadowed by the feeling and thoughts that are attached to how you were treated during your birth. It is how you felt during your birth that has the lasting effects.

“I had a natural home birth, it was supposed to be beautiful, but I keep playing it over and over in my head. On paper it was beautiful, but for me it was terrifying, I was so vulnerable and unable to ask for help, I don’t think I can go through that again”
Anon

If you have experienced a traumatic birth, if you feel that your mood and actions now are not positive, perhaps you are constantly anxious, perhaps you constantly replay your birth in your head, perhaps you feel disconnected from your loved ones, can’t sleep, can’t function properly,

desperately want to shake these feelings off but seem unable to then these are all signs of possible PTSD.

I am pleased to say that there is a solution to this sort of injury. The 3 step rewind process is a simple yet hugely effective NLP and hypnosis technique that literally unhooks the emotions attached to your birth experience, allowing the body to reset itself. In just one session the strong negative emotions attached to the memory can be lifted.

Do you avoid situations where you may have to think about, or talk about birth? In doing so survivors of traumatic birth can feel isolated and lonely, often avoiding the help that is available to them. With 3 step rewind there is no lengthy recount of events needed, the initial rewind session will take around 90 minutes in total, and the effects can be felt almost immediately, in the form of deep relaxation and a sense of release, and over the coming days this feeling settles in and becomes your new normal.

If you have experienced traumatic birth and are concerned that it is having a long-term effect on you and your family then please call me to discuss whether the 3 step rewind technique for traumatic birth recovery is suited to you.

“I feel lighter, more clarity, free of fear. The knot (of emotion) has gone, it’s just not there, I feel like I can breathe again for the 1st time since having (my baby)”
Joanne, Truro

An initial session of 2 hours is required at a cost of £100. Often one session is enough, I will follow up with you to check how you are feeling. If further sessions are required, they will be 90 minutes at a cost of £75.

I strongly recommend that body work is taken alongside rewind as the connection between mind and body is crucial in healing.

Birth preparation

Every woman who is giving birth deserves feel like an absolute goddess, to feel confident, supported, loved, fierce, beautiful and all powerful! This is not about how you birth, it is about how you feel and I have combined my experience as an active birth teacher with all the holistic mindset and personal growth tools to provide you with the ultimate pregnancy and birth preparation.

Within your coaching sessions you will gain all the education you could possibly want about birthing actively; you will better understand the process of birth and how you can support it naturally. Your partner will feel confident in how to support you during labour and birth and beyond. We will deal with anxiety, fear, choice, self-worth, communication and birth language. These sessions are built around building confidence in yourself, opening up communication between you as a couple, releasing fear, owning your choices and your birth experience. There is a combination of practical elements (massage, nutrition, optimal positions etc) Mindset work (journaling and affirmation creation) Spiritual (meditations, hypnotherapy and personal connections) and personal coaching (goal setting, decision making, communication)

Each session is developed with you in mind. You will receive a comprehensive ABC birth planning guide as well as a personalised E book which is your very own positive active birth manual for you to refer to and study.

For full details of what is covered in the course please email me. Positive birth coaching is charged at £60 an hour. As a general guide 2 sessions of 2 hours each are required. This price includes your own personalised holistic birth plan and guide for all birth scenarios, a totally flexible and comprehensive plan that you put together with my guidance and expertise that will be your key to feeling confident, well informed, listened to and respected during your birth.

Reflexology

This is fully focussed on your feet, and funnily enough not really anything to do with your feet! How utterly blissful it is to have somebody dedicate an entire hour to massaging your feet, and what a wonder that it is so much more than just a foot massage, it can have a profound and deeply healing effect on your mind body and soul.

The reflexology I do transcends that of the physical, I see many deeper meanings in what I find in people’s feet, this is what makes my work truly holistic. Unravelling the messages found in the feet, encouraging a depth of relaxation and healing. You are immersed in many layers of peace, the music, the oils, the warmth of the bed, the eye pillow the calm serenity of the location and the room. Infused with beautiful reiki healing energy, crystals, energy dowsing and sound healing.

Bliss is yours for the taking.