Georgina Mavor - Psychophysiologic Therapist

19/08/2025

For anyone experiencing IBS or related symptoms eg. chronic pain, CFS, I highly recommend the Digestible App. The first two days of presentations are free, providing excellent information on the mind/body connection, the role of current stress and that originating in childhood, self reflection on the relationship between symptoms and stress, and an introduction to meditations designed to change the fear based relationship to your symptoms that increases their expression.

I look forward to exploring the journalling prompts provided; listening to recovery stories; guidance in changing in internal scripts; and learning more as I allow the app to support me.

Digestible helps you go beyond just "managing" IBS symptoms to treat the root cause. Providing evidence-based tools to target the brain-gut connection and break the cycle of pain and symptoms.

08/08/2025

I find myself in several of these 'emotional avoidance' lists. Thankfully I am much more 'tuned in' these days and panic less.

As we see time and time again in our work with clients, people often unconsciously avoid or suppress their emotions in a variety of ways. These avoidance strategies are usually developed as coping mechanisms, and often as a result of our early life experiences. Over time though, they can prevent emo

02/08/2025

Lists are really powerful therapeutic techniques. In CBT, one of the strategies for change is to identify the negative beliefs fuelling dysfunctional behaviours and to look for evidence that refutes or confirms that belief i.e. create lists.

I find that a more dynamic approach is to create the list that confirms the opposite. For example, if I continually tell myself I am lousy in relationships, I can turn my attention in the direction of 'list all the times I have been effective in relationships' and wait for remnants of memory to surface. As that list grows the feeling in my body changes.

The mind is a thought generating machine. It will generate them in the direction you turn it. And if you 'think' there is no evidence in the other direction, that is just a script from old thought patterns that dominate the conscious part of your mind. There is an ocean sitting in your unconscious. A hidden memory bank of every little detail you have taught yourself not to pay attention to, just waiting to be exercised. But it is still there.

Think you are unemployable and feeling down? List all the times you have been employed or asked to do something. Or list everything you know you are good at.

Think you have no value and stuck in bed? List everything in your home that survives because of your efforts .... everything, every plant, every animal, every child, every ..... Or list every person you have made an impact on.

Think that your life is terrible and avoid people? List every small item that is good in it.

The mind never sees the complete truth .... complete truth is too big! Become more conscious of how you use your attention. You have a choice. Keep it turned towards negativity and those are the thoughts it will generate. The mind is your genie in the bottle. It is at your service. Attention is the dial you operate. Turn it to a different direction and the mind will leap into action for you there too. Perhaps the most interesting direction is the unknown. Even there it will get to work, offering up small snatches of what you know and then make connections, crafting new thoughts as synapses spark to life.

When you find yourself stuck in a groundhog day of negative thoughts, tell them to 'eat my dust' and spend half an hour creating a list of evidence for the opposite.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash: Brian McMahon.

29/07/2025

Only yesterday, my mother and I were thinking about people living on the streets in this weather. A small gift can make a difference.

Gift a Night to provide a warm bed to a person struggling on our streets.

29/07/2025

I really like Stephanie Dowrick's take on creativity, its relationship to our wellbeing and happiness, and how it can be cultivated through writing prompts that intentionally nudge our thinking beyond how we usually think.

When people say, "I don't like conflict," or, "I'm always late," or, "I can never find the right thing to say in the moment," our use of language is incorrect. It is not 'I' who is these things, these 'thinking trains' have been wired into our brains. Their manifestation is the result of learning, not who we intrinsically are.

Everyone has the potential to notice their own patterns, to question their value and to choose to change them. Without that choice, we are destined to live out a groundhog day of a diminishing repertoire of automatic thoughts. We end up automatically repeating ourselves in response to stimuli that arise in conversations and around us.

At my August 17 journal writing group, I will use several prompts from Stephanie Dowrick's books to explore the thoughts, opinions and memories that easily persuade us; and invite us to write beyond the boundaries of our established cognitive architecture.

The source of creativity resides in everyone. It isn't just expressed in the arts, it is the place from which every fresh thought, impulse and insight is birthed. We can consciously cultivate it. What will you choose? Increasing calcification or new growth?

26/07/2025

Last night, I was gifted tickets to see Beauty and the Beast. It was truly magnificent. So much fun, and so heartwarming to see so many people, young and old, dressed in theme.

The gift was for my 65th birthday. As a young girl, I recall looking at my grandmother when she turned this age and thinking that she was indeed very old. 65 is not insignificant. A beautiful friend, who lost her gorgeous young husband this year, commented on how lucky I am to have aged another year. The sentiment is not lost on me.

I have friends and people I know who are doing all that they can to have hopefully a couple of the years that I have already lived. Life is a gift. Going out last night, participating in the incredible talents of all those who bring Beauty and the Beast alive, scrambling to find somewhere to eat, and even going through two booze buses on the way home, were all a blessing. I am 65, still alive, and still here to experience all of it.

I was truly happy watching that show. The colour, music, dancing, song, filled my senses to overflowing. I may go back for another hit. I highly recommend it to everyone.

17/07/2025

A new neuroplastic app for those suffering from GI symptoms. Given the role of journal writing to engage with our emotions I am sure it will be included in the suite of activities aimed at rewiring the brain so that it can quieten down and stop firing off (in the form of GI issues) like an oversensitive car alarm!

Digestible helps you go beyond just "managing" IBS symptoms to treat the root cause. Providing evidence-based tools to target the brain-gut connection and break the cycle of pain and symptoms.

17/07/2025

If you, or anyone you know, is struggling with chronic pain, then I recommend having a look at this online program from Australia's Dr Adele Stewart. Learn what modern pain neuroscience has to tell us about the protective function of pain and how mindfulness can help soothe an oversensitive system. Dr Stewart generously offers a scaled payment system making it possible to access what we need to make a difference.

Course Overview P ain is incredibly complex. When we have physical pain, particularly persistent or chronic pain, it is human nature to experience this as a tight “tangled knot” along with the emotional pain it causes and the thoughts and stories about it. This can make the pain much bigger and ...

11/07/2025

Feelings are an integral component of our nervous system's survival system. Journal writing is a safe avenue through which we can develop a healthier relationship with their wisdom. Thank you to SIRPA for raising awareness of this great online resource from CALM.

A free, interactive journal designed to help you feel your feelings then feel better. Investigate, process and soothe challenging emotions like fear, sadness, anger, and insecurity.

11/07/2025

https://nypost.com/2025/07/02/health/5-sneaky-clues-your-body-is-fighting-an-invisible-illness/

Besides pain, a person might experience fatigue, digestive issues and headaches.

07/07/2025

My realisations around what nourishes me were so powerful, once a month I have booked at room at the Glyde In Community Learning Centre for women to come together and be nourished through writing through writing about our lives, exploring our inner world, writing in response to poignant pieces of poetry and sharing our wisdom. The gatherings commence on Saturday 26 July, 10.15 to 11.45 am. Please email to register georginamavor@outlook.com. $25 per session.

07/07/2025

Someone recently asked if the time out I had given myself was nourishing. The answer? No, not really. Why was that? I wrote.

The big 'reveal' was realising that nourishment can only be experienced in my body when I am truly doing something for me, when my attention is turned to me - and not others. As a woman, and someone working in the helping professions, the use of my mind has rarely been for me. My writing turned to questions about what nourished me and how my habitual use of mind got in the way.

Disconnecting from thinking about others first and reserving headspace for me is needed if I am to experience nourishment. Prioritising time for me first before others is also something new. Noting experiences I enjoy - reading, coffee in cosy nooks with my journal, being in the bush, foot massages, delicious healthy food, walks on the beach in wild weather, hanging out in a fisherman's cafe (reminds me of my father) .... are part of the equation.

As the writing weaved through my weekend, so did my experimentation with what my mind focussed on. I regularly checked in on 'what would nourish me now?' and spent my weekend moving where the question led me. I disconnected from anything related to work - no professional books, no emails, no podcasts. I enrolled in community learning talks and yoga.

The internal shift from 'others' to 'me' feels big. The shift from 'value' in the external world to 'value' for just being me also feels big. I suspect every woman facing the empty nest and those of us nearing retirement feel the subconscious tension that calls for us to turn inward (if we are to avoid depression).

What nourishes you? If you struggle to feel the answers in your body then you have work ahead of you. Work that requires you truly put your nourishment and enjoyment in the calendar of your time. Work that requires you to relate to yourself before others. Begin with writing. But be warned, once truth is revealed, there is no going back.