Jennitherapy Blog
Reflections on living well and staying healthy
Why Your Baby's Due Date is Completely Wrong!
If you are pregnant or ever have been, you will know that very often the first thing people ask you is when is baby due? So ingrained in our culture is the idea of a due date, it may often be one of the first things we do ourselves. Yet we don’t recognise that the very idea of a due date is artificial and that setting one is in fact a medical intervention in itself.
Why we don't all automatically need HRT for menopause
Today for the ‘nth’ time I have heard from medical sources that nature never intended us women to live beyond our fertile years and that therefore menopause is a modern condition that we ‘suffer from’.
I am furious such nonsense is being peddled as the basis for official medical guidance, which tends to see menopause as a condition of deficiency that needs to be fixed by HRT - ‘to replace what’s been lost’. I’m not against HRT at all when it is an informed choice based on an individual’s specific case history. I’m against women being told their body is inherently unable to manage menopause because nature never meant for us to survive.
Ladies, we are not deficient, we are coming into our power!
Why We All Need Extra Vitamin D
Did you know that you can only generate Vitamin from sunlight when your shadow is shorter than your actual height?
This means that even on a sunny days, we are unable to make any vitamin D through sun exposure at our line of latitude in the autumn and winter months.
Can You Really Breathe Your Baby Out?!
As someone who works with a lot of pregnant women, birth is something I get to talk about quite a bit! Someone recently asked me whether it was really possible to breathe your baby out having heard it mentioned in a conversation. The short answer is, yes with the right breathing it is possible and it does happen. Let me explain how that can work.
First of all though, I would like to remove any concept of judgement around birth, and what is a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ way to birth…
10 Ways You Can Support Someone With Cancer
Thankfully these days, most often a diagnosis is not a death sentence; but it can be life changing. Diagnosis and treatment can be a frightening, bewildering and challenging process. Numerous studies have found that cancer survivors who have strong emotional support tend to adjust to the changes cancer brings to their lives more easily, have a more positive outlook, and often report a better quality of life.
Reflexology Support for Women with Endometriosis
Endometriosis has been brought to the public eye in recent months by actress Lena Dunham sharing her story about taking the radical decision to have a hysterectomy with the hope to stop the crippling pain she has experienced for years. Hers is a very severe case, and not all women have the same degree of symptoms, however it does highlight a very under-diagnosed and under-recognised issue that affects the lives of an estimated 1 in 10 women.
Benefits of Having Regular Reflexology
This is usually the third question I get when meeting new people, the first being “what’s reflexology?” and second “does it really work?”. The third is then either, “I have this problem can you help?”, (often the answer is yes, and if not then I usually know someone who can!) or, “there’s nothing wrong with me so it can’t really help me can it?”. Actually yes it can and here’s why:
What I Never Knew About Hypermobility, Diastasis and POP
I was aware that hypermobile people can be attracted to yoga as they often have much more joint flexibility... so, my intention was to learn more about the condition to better care for my students. What I wasn’t prepared for was a big revelation about my own health problems following the birth of my daughter!
Yoga for Hayfever Part 2: A Really Cool Breathing Practise!
Hayfever can cause inflammation and so you may find your head and throat or whole body feels over heated. Luckily for us, years ago in the days before air conditioning and refrigeration yogis developed a breathing practise to help counteract this.
How to control your stress, and not let it control you!
Everyone experiences stress of some sort or another in their lives, and in the right setting a little stress can actually be good for us. So what can we do to keep our stress at a manageable healthy level? There are two main areas to address
Are you struggling to keep your New Year's resolutions? Small steps and self-nurture are the key!
We often say that the New Year is a fresh start, however, if you’re anything like me, you may not feel very refreshed after the Christmas break. It can be a stressful or demanding time with all the shopping, cooking, travelling and family politics, and so we don’t necessarily start the year raring to go!
Tips for staying healthy and sane this Christmas!
As much as we think of Christmas as a time of celebration it is also for many a time of stress and potential conflict! So to help us all to come out the other side feeling rested and calm here are a few tips that I and my clients have found useful over the years: