The Autoimmune Summit (free, online event!)

Learn how to prevent and reverse autoimmune disease at the world’s first free online summit all about autoimmunity! Nearly 40 experts in the fields of Functional Medicine, nutrition, and autoimmune disease will explain how leaky gut, genetics, and environmental triggers such as toxins, food sensitivities, infections, and stress all play a part in the development of autoimmune disease.

If that sounds like you, or you just want to learn more about preventing, treating, and reversing these conditions, The Autoimmune Summit is for you! The information you will learn will put you on the road to better physical, mental, and spiritual health. Plus, it’s FREE and online from November 10-17, 2014.

Join Amy Myers MD, author of The Autoimmune Solution, and educate yourself about more natural ways to treat autoimmunity. Diagnosed with autoimmune hyperthyroidism during medical school, her mission is to help others avoid dangerous conventional treatment and prevent and reverse autoimmune disease naturally!

Register for FREE now at the following link:

https://dm186.isrefer.com/go/summitreg/CHH/

The Autoimmune Summit is online and FREE from November 10­-17, 2014!

Here are a few of the incredible presenters:

With nearly 40 expert presenters sharing their wealth of knowledge, this invaluable (and FREE) resource is intended for you or someone important to your life!

Better yet, if you register today, you’ll have access to the following FREE GIFTS…

Watch the first talk of the summit:

And, download Dr Myers’ favorite 12 gluten-free and dairy-free recipes! These nutritionist-designed and doctor-approved recipes are simple, delicious, and easy to make.

Come listen to The Autoimmune Summit from November 10-17, 2014! Register for FREE at the following link today: https://dm186.isrefer.com/go/summitreg/CHH/

• Have you, a friend, or family member been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?
• Do you have a family history of autoimmunity and want to learn how to prevent it?
• Or are you a healthcare provider who wants to better treat your autoimmune patients?
• Mark Hyman, MD, A Functional Medicine Approach to Autoimmunity
• David Brady, DC, ND, The Role of Infections in Autoimmunity
• Alejandro Junger, MD, How to Detox in the Modern World
• Jeffrey Smith, GMOs and Their Role in Leaky Gut, Inflammation, and Autoimmunity
• Sarah Ballantyne, PhD, The Problem with Grains and Legumes in Those with Autoimmunity
• Stuart Nunnally, DDS, A Biological Dentist’s View of Autoimmunity
• Jeff Bland, PhD, Why Autoimmune Disease is Not “Being Allergic to Yourself”a
• Dan Pardi, Sleep is More Important Than You Think. Here’s Why.
  • How your body uses sleep as a time for healing and repair
  • The affect of light and dark on your hormones
  • How adequate sleep increases physical and mental performance
  • Tips to reset your sleep cycle for optimal health and well-being

https://dm186.isrefer.com/go/summitreg/CHH/

How to stop stress fast!

Want a way to stop stress in its tracks? 

Often there is nothing that we can do to change external circumstances - or what is stressing us out - but we can alter our emotional response. One very simple but powerful technique helps to release distress and bring more coherence to heart rhythms and as a result quickly neutralizes the effects of stress. The Quick Coherence technique, developed by the Institute of Heartmath, takes only one minute to do once you’ve learned the technique.  If practiced frequently, it can have a huge impact on how the body responds to stress.

 

The Quick Coherence Technique

 

Step 1: Focus your attention in the area of your heart or the centre of your chest. You may place your hand over your heart to keep your focus there.  If your mind wanders, just keep shifting your attention back to the area of your heart while you do steps 2 and 3.

 

Step 2: Heart Breathing – as you focus on the area of your heart, imagine that your breath flows in and out of that area.  This helps keep your mind focused on the area of the heart allowing your heart and breathing rates to synchronise.  Breathe slowly and gently in through your heart (to a count of five or six) and slowly out through the heart (count five or six). Do not force the breath, just allow the breathing to be smooth and easy.  Continue to breathe until you find a rhythm that feels natural.

 

Step 3: Heart Feeling – as you continue to breathe through the area of your heart, recall a positive feeling.  Imagine a time when you felt good inside and try to re-experience it.  This may be a feeling of appreciation or care for a special person or pet, a place you enjoyed or an event. Allow yourself to feel this good feeling of appreciation or care.  If you cannot feel anything positive, don’t worry – just try to find the attitude of appreciation or care.  Try and sustain this feeling by continuing the Heart Focus, Heart Breathing and Heart Feeling.

 

The technique may feel a little uncomfortable at first, building coherence is a process and takes practice.  Just keep a genuine intention of creating a heart feeling.

 

Start by practicing the technique several times a day.  Make some notes about what commonly triggers feelings of anxiety, anger or stress.  With practice you can reset your system into increasing coherence.

 

By Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC

Charmaine Shepherd is an acupuncturist and Coherence Coach, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression. Available on Kindle! helping people regain their health with the use of natural treatments.

How to stay healthy during times of stress

 

We all know the saying “I am worried sick” but how does stress impact on our health? We all have been in situations where we felt that a situation was making us ill, for instance, working with a bullying boss or worrying about the health of a loved one.
Many illnesses are directly linked to be caused or exacerbated by stress, naming only a few:
 

·         Cardiovascular disease
·         Inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, skin problems, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
·         Digestive disorders
·         Headaches and migraines
·         Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
·         Fibromyalgia
·         Cancer
·         Immune system dysfunction
·         Diabetes
·         Hypertension

How can stress or our emotions contribute to the development and maintenance of these conditions? We have known for a long time that certain illnesses are linked to stress, such as experienced in a strained marriage, losing a job, financial worries, being unhappy in your job, caring for someone who is chronically ill or working for a difficult boss. Often there is no easy solution to the problem and we may feel powerless to change the situation.

Exciting new research has helped us understand how unmanaged stress can alter our genetic expression and thereby give us the tools to help prevent illness during times of mental and emotional strain.

Researchers have found that chronic stress changed the activation of genes in immune cells allowing for higher levels of inflammation. In both humans and animals, immune cells are released from the bone marrow every day. Stress produces more inflammatory cells which is meant to protect the body from threats such as viruses, but when the inflammation continues for long periods of time, it increases the person’s risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity to name just a few. In fact, researchers from the Ohio project found nearly 3000 genes were altered in mice that were placed in stressful situations.

In human studies about 400 genes have shown to be altered in individuals experiencing a low-grade sense of uncertainty or threat over a long period of time leading to significant effects on the body.

Worrying about stress isn’t necessary though, there are very simple techniques that you can use to alter the stress response and immediately halt the damage to the body. In fact, a little stress is good for the body, it can drive us to achieve our goals.  It is only when our emotional responses to stress becomes negative and the body becomes overwhelmed by stress, that our physiology changes to have a negative impact. For instance, the studies showed that situations that we feel we have no control over tend to have the biggest impact.

 

Often there is nothing that we can do to change external circumstances but we can alter our emotional response. One very simple but powerful technique helps to release distress and bring more coherence to heart rhythms and as a result quickly neutralizes the effects of stress. The Quick Coherence technique, developed by the Institute of Heartmath, takes only one minute to do once you’ve learned the technique.  If practiced frequently, it can have a huge impact on how the body responds to stress.

 

The Quick Coherence Technique

 

Step 1: Focus your attention in the area of your heart or the centre of your chest. You may place your hand over your heart to keep your focus there.  If your mind wanders, just keep shifting your attention back to the area of your heart while you do steps 2 and 3.

 

Step 2: Heart Breathing – as you focus on the area of your heart, imagine that your breath flows in and out of that area.  This helps keep your mind focused on the area of the heart allowing your heart and breathing rates to synchronise.  Breathe slowly and gently in through your heart (to a count of five or six) and slowly out through the heart (count five or six). Do not force the breath, just allow the breathing to be smooth and easy.  Continue to breathe until you find a rhythm that feels natural.

 

Step 3: Heart Feeling – as you continue to breathe through the area of your heart, recall a positive feeling.  Imagine a time when you felt good inside and try to re-experience it.  This may be a feeling of appreciation or care for a special person or pet, a place you enjoyed or an event. Allow yourself to feel this good feeling of appreciation or care.  If you cannot feel anything positive, don’t worry – just try to find the attitude of appreciation or care.  Try and sustain this feeling by continuing the Heart Focus, Heart Breathing and Heart Feeling.

 

The technique may feel a little uncomfortable at first, building coherence is a process and takes practice.  Just keep a genuine intention of creating a heart feeling.

 

Start by practicing the technique several times a day.  Make some notes about what commonly triggers feelings of anxiety, anger or stress.  With practice you can reset your system into increasing coherence.

 

By Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC

Charmaine Shepherd is an acupuncturist and Coherence Coach, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression. Available on Kindle! helping people regain their health with the use of natural treatments.

 

 

Worried Sick? How stress makes you ill by altering your genes (and what you can do about it)

We all know the saying “I am worried sick” but how does stress impact on our health? We all have been in situations where we felt that a situation was making us ill, for instance, working with a bullying boss or worrying about the health of a loved one.

Many illnesses are directly linked to be caused or exacerbated by stress, naming only a few:
 

·         Cardiovascular disease
·         Inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, skin problems, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
·         Digestive disorders
·         Headaches and migraines
·         Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
·         Fibromyalgia
·         Cancer
·         Immune system dysfunction
·         Diabetes
·         Hypertension

How can stress or our emotions contribute to the development and maintenance of these conditions? We have known for a long time that certain illnesses are linked to stress, such as experienced in a strained marriage, losing a job, financial worries, being unhappy in your job, caring for someone who is chronically ill or working for a difficult boss. Often there is no easy solution to the problem and we may feel powerless to change the situation.

Exciting new research has helped us understand how unmanaged stress can alter our genetic expression and thereby give us the tools to help prevent illness during times of mental and emotional strain.

Researchers have found that chronic stress changed the activation of genes in immune cells allowing for higher levels of inflammation. In both humans and animals, immune cells are released from the bone marrow every day. Stress produces more inflammatory cells which is meant to protect the body from threats such as viruses, but when the inflammation continues for long periods of time, it increases the person’s risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity to name just a few. In fact, researchers from the Ohio project found nearly 3000 genes were altered in mice that were placed in stressful situations.

In human studies about 400 genes have shown to be altered in individuals experiencing a low-grade sense of uncertainty or threat over a long period of time leading to significant effects on the body.

Worrying about stress isn’t necessary though, there are very simple techniques that you can use to alter the stress response and immediately halt the damage to the body. In fact, a little stress is good for the body, it can drive us to achieve our goals.  It is only when our emotional responses to stress becomes negative and the body becomes overwhelmed by stress, that our physiology changes to have a negative impact. For instance, the studies showed that situations that we feel we have no control over tend to have the biggest impact.

 

Often there is nothing that we can do to change external circumstances but we can alter our emotional response. One very simple but powerful technique helps to release distress and bring more coherence to heart rhythms and as a result quickly neutralizes the effects of stress. The Quick Coherence technique, developed by the Institute of Heartmath, takes only one minute to do once you’ve learned the technique.  If practiced frequently, it can have a huge impact on how the body responds to stress.

 

The Quick Coherence Technique

 

Step 1: Focus your attention in the area of your heart or the centre of your chest. You may place your hand over your heart to keep your focus there.  If your mind wanders, just keep shifting your attention back to the area of your heart while you do steps 2 and 3.

 

Step 2: Heart Breathing – as you focus on the area of your heart, imagine that your breath flows in and out of that area.  This helps keep your mind focused on the area of the heart allowing your heart and breathing rates to synchronise.  Breathe slowly and gently in through your heart (to a count of five or six) and slowly out through the heart (count five or six). Do not force the breath, just allow the breathing to be smooth and easy.  Continue to breathe until you find a rhythm that feels natural.

 

Step 3: Heart Feeling – as you continue to breathe through the area of your heart, recall a positive feeling.  Imagine a time when you felt good inside and try to re-experience it.  This may be a feeling of appreciation or care for a special person or pet, a place you enjoyed or an event. Allow yourself to feel this good feeling of appreciation or care.  If you cannot feel anything positive, don’t worry – just try to find the attitude of appreciation or care.  Try and sustain this feeling by continuing the Heart Focus, Heart Breathing and Heart Feeling.

 

The technique may feel a little uncomfortable at first, building coherence is a process and takes practice.  Just keep a genuine intention of creating a heart feeling.

 

Start by practicing the technique several times a day.  Make some notes about what commonly triggers feelings of anxiety, anger or stress.  With practice you can reset your system into increasing coherence.

 

By Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC

Charmaine Shepherd is an acupuncturist and Coherence Coach, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression. Available on Kindle! helping people regain their health with the use of natural treatments.

 

 

How Herbs Can Help With Exam Stress

May is here and exams are right around the corner for many students. My patient today was a young 17 year old girl who attended the herbal clinic at the Centre for Holistic Health with her mum after starting to experience extreme anxiety and panic attacks brought on by exam stress.

The problem

She had firstly just experienced a "nervous tummy" which made her feel slightly sick and had made eating difficult.  Over a three week period this has massively accelerated to the point that she was barely keeping any food down, could not be left alone at any time, was only sleeping about three hours a night and having to go into her mums bedroom to get any sleep.  She was very weak and light headed and was having constant palpitations.

Obviously she could not focus on her studying and had fallen behind which was making the anxiety even worse.  Her GP had wanted to prescribe betablockers but both the girl and her mum were very unhappy with this.

The consultation

At the initial consultation we went through a thorough medical history and talked extensively about methods to help her help herself, including breathing exercises, a guided meditation to help her sleep, positive affirmations and definite actions and goal settings with relation to her studies and to keeping things in perspective.

Herbs that helped

I also prescribed a mix of seven different herbs to help nourish her nervous system, calm her mind and support the organs that support her. I also included herbs that switch down the "fight flight" response which was causing her inability to eat and included herbs that increased her ability to focus and concentrate, traditionally called "scholars herbs".

The results

Both she and her mother  returned three weeks later to discuss progress.  Her mother was absolutely delighted, her appetite was back.  Over the first week of taking herbs the nausea reduced and gradually her appetite returned.   She was now eating pretty normally but could still feel a bit sick if studying.  She had been able to rationalise her feelings and distance herself a little from the foreboding feeling that she was experiencing and talk herself out of have anxiety state.  She was faithfully repeating her affirmation which was keeping her focussed on the positive rather than the negative.  The herbs had reduced the anxiety to around 40% of the previous fortnight! and although still there was becoming more manageable.  She was no longer sleeping in her mums room.

I've seen her twice since then and things have continued to improve. She has sat her first higher exam and will be finished the other two by next week.  Although nervous, it is a healthy nervousness and she intends to continue the herbal medicine until these exams are over.  Her mothers comment was that she was delighted to have her happy go lucky, bright and enthusiastic daughter back.


Coping with Exam Stress newsletter - sign up here!


Jean R Dow B.Sc.(Hons), B.A.(Hons), M.Sc. graduated from the Scottish School of  Herbal Medicine in 2004 and has been practicing in Edinburgh, West Lothian and Glasgow since that time.

Jean works from a vitalistic philosophy and uses herbal medicine in a manner that supports the person’s own innate self healing, self regulating ability.

Jean also works closely with people living with cancer, supporting with herbal medicine and nutrition both during mainstream medical care (chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy) and/or after this has finished.  She has completed advanced nutritional qualifications with the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre in Bristol and also runs nutritional workshops teaching about the positive role of food for both the body and the mind with a particular focus on people living with cancer or chronic degenerative disease. To contact Jean, please call 0131 556 8440.

"I love what I do, Herbal Medicine is my passion and I love working with people."
 ~ Jean R Dow

How gut problems could lead to depression, anxiety and other mental health issues

In this video, we take look at how gut problems affect the production of our neurotransmitters and could lead to anxiety, depression and many other mental health issues. Find out more in Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to resolving the underlying causes of anxiety and depression By Charmaine Shepherd. Now available on Kindle!

 


Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC
Charmaine Shepherd is an Acupuncturist, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression.

Charmaine has a sensitive and holistic approach to health-care. She is dedicated to helping individuals take control of their own health."I believe in supporting the innate healing ability of the body through the use of natural remedies, nutrition and lifestyle” Charmaine Shepherd. 

Is It All In Your Mind? on Kindle!

We are very pleased to announce that Is It All In Your Mind? 10 Steps to resolving the underlying causes of anxiety and depression is now available from Amazon on Kindle!

£1.92 Kindle Purchase
Available for download now!

Based on her own personal journey coupled with years of clinical experience assisting sufferers of anxiety, depression and panic attacks resulting from the same physiological causes, Charmaine Shepherd B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC decided to make her expertise available to the world in her eye opening book; Is it all in your Mind?

The book outlines an easy to follow, 10 step plan designed to empower the reader to identify their own triggers and make small, positive changes to beat their own blues. The book contains a preface, introduction and 9 chapters followed by a synopsis of the 10 step plan and a brief conclusion.

Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC
Charmaine Shepherd is an Acupuncturist, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression.

Charmaine has a sensitive and holistic approach to health-care. She is dedicated to helping individuals take control of their own health."I believe in supporting the innate healing ability of the body through the use of natural remedies, nutrition and lifestyle” Charmaine Shepherd.

Stressed?

One thing that is for sure is that life is always changing.  Our community clinic began in its usual way this morning. The typical stuff presented: sore knees and hips, inflamed eyes, migraine, IBS, back pain and menstrual problems. But today was a little different. 

One of my regular patients, Lucy, who is usually cheerful and optimistic seemed really quiet and down.  I noticed that her breathing was shallow (Lucy’s not her real name of course).  When the time was right, I asked about her emotional well-being and that is when the floodgates opened.  She risked losing her job with a new merger on the horizon.  She felt vulnerable, afraid and terrified of the future. Lucy was not sleeping even though she felt exhausted all the time.

This is something that I am noticing more each day in practice.  Life at the moment is extremely stressful for many people, and many of us need the tools to be able to just keep up.

As we all know, a little stress is a good thing.  But many of us have too many balls up in the air as we juggle careers, family and the pace of modern life. Chronic stress, however, filters down onto the physical level and has a very negative effect on our organ systems. In fact, I can say that most illness is the result of unmanaged stress. So, what are the things we can do for ourselves when stress levels are spiralling out of control?  The first thing is to remember to breathe. Really. I mean it.

With stress, breathing becomes shallower, sending a signal to the nervous system to gear itself up for action (fight or flight). By slowing down the breathing and pulling the breath deep into the body, we give a message to the nervous system that it can relax and let go of tension.  Individual bodies respond differently to stress but shallow breathing is the only common denominator in common stress – meaning that the first place to start with any tension is your breathing.

Make sure that every hour you take a few moments to notice your breathing pattern, and to make an effort to deepen, slow down and lengthen the breath.

Exercise is also a great stress burner; I find a gentle walk in fresh air is probably the best medicine for me!

If you are under pressure, here is some advice on how to support your body through stressful periods:

If you are nervy, on edge, exhausted but yet your sleep quality is poor – add in 500 mcg Vitamin B12 (liposomal Methylcobalamin).  Vitamin B12 provides the support that the body needs to function at higher stress levels.

If you have a busy mind that cannot switch off, yet concentration is poor - then L-Theanine is for you.  Extracted from Green tea it helps calm the mind while at the same time giving it clarity.

If you hold all your tension muscularly in those very sore shoulders, then a good dose of magnesium salts in the bath will help ease and relax the muscles, giving you a better sleep quality.

And of course, but I am biased; all my patients will tell you that acupuncture is the number one stress buster! Just type stress and acupuncture into the research archive Pubmed and viola! you will see for yourself!

Charmaine Shepherd

By Charmaine Shepherd  B.Sc. Biomed., N.dip. Ac, MBAcC
Charmaine Shepherd is an Acupuncturist, Director of the Centre for Holistic Health and Author of Is it all in your mind? 10 Steps to Resolving the Underlying Causes of Anxiety and Depression. Available here.

Charmaine has a sensitive and holistic approach to health-care. She is dedicated to helping individuals take control of their own health."I believe in supporting the innate healing ability of the body through the use of natural remedies, nutrition and lifestyle” Charmaine Shepherd.