Magic Hands : Calm Minds - Counselling, Reiki and Bowen

21/07/2025

Do you struggle to turn your brain off?

🤔 It's called rumination and it's a thing.

💜 Watch for more information and hints on how to fix it ⬇️

Do you struggle to turn your brain off? It's called rumination and it's a thing. Watch for more information and hints on how to fix it.

18/07/2025

Tip 5 for successfully working from home - Am I doing it right?

It's tempting to worry that because you're not being watched all the time, you might be getting things wrong.

💜 Don't be concerned.

When you talk to your manager make sure you check that they're happy with your work so you know it's ok 👌

17/07/2025

Tip 4 for successfully working from home - Make sure your family knows you're working.

Your family need to know that when you're at your work space, you're not to be interrupted.

Set children up with activities and snack allocations, and explain that you need them to occupy themselves quietly until a certain time ⏰

Be specific; don't just say 'don't interrupt me' because running up and down the stairs screaming isn't interrupting, is it? 😂

16/07/2025

Tip 3 for successfully working from home - Keep in touch with your colleagues and manager (or your fellow business owner contacts if you are the business).

Working from home can be really isolating and you lose not only the office gossip, but also the sparking of ideas from talking to colleagues.

👩🏼‍💻 So keep in regular contact and don't just talk work - chat as well.

15/07/2025

Tip 2 for successfully working from home - Maintain fixed start and finish times.

Yes, one of the great benefits of homeworking is that you can stop whenever you like to put the laundry on or walk the dog. But it's too easy to forget to start at all!

Conversely, you start working and forget to stop because nobody interrupts you 😬

🗓 So maintain a start and finish routine, even if it's nothing like your office timetable.

14/07/2025

Working from home sounds wonderful to a lot of us, is a necessity for some, school holiday dependant for others, but it isn't without its challenges!
Throughout the week I will be sharing my 5 top tips for successfully working from home.

💜 Tip number 1 - Have a proper work space.

It's tempting to balance the laptop on your lap or sit at the kitchen table, but it's bad for your posture and for your brain 🧠

You need a clear demarcation between work and home so even if your home office is a folding table in the corner of the living room, make sure you have somewhere dedicated to work 💻

11/07/2025

When you're anxious, you breathe more quickly. That's so your muscles get extra oxygen ready for the fighting or running away they might have to do.

But too much oxygen is bad for you, which is why hyperventilating is a bad thing.

💜 If you can consciously slow your breathing, you can counteract some of the effect of the instinctive response.

10/07/2025

💜 2 Techniques that I've found immediately helpful when anxious - breathing control and grounding.
You can do them both at once.

You'll have noticed that if you're anxious, you breathe more quickly. That's so your muscles get extra oxygen ready for the fighting or running away they might have to do. But too much oxygen is bad for you, which is why hyperventilating is a bad thing. So if you can consciously slow your breathing, you can counteract some of the effect of the instinctive response.

✨ The first thing to do is notice how you're breathing already, and count how long it takes you to breathe in and out.
✨ Then you just try to make each breath one count longer. It doesn't matter whether your breaths start at one count or 10 - if you've started at one, aim for two.
✨ Then three.
✨ Then four.
✨ And so on.
✨ There's no target.
✨ When you've made your breaths as long as you can, concentrate on keeping them like that.

👣 While you're doing that, imagine that there are roots growing out of the soles of your feet, down through the floor and the building foundations and into the earth underneath.
👣 You can feel them spreading out under you like the roots of a tree.
👣 You can take them as wide and deep as you like.
👣 You can still move - they're really stretchy - but while you're grounded you will feel much safer and less anxious.

Try it and let me know if these techniques help you.

09/07/2025

What is anxiety?

There are several schools of thought about what anxiety is and what causes it, but I subscribe to the one that says it's your brain being overwhelmed with what it perceives to be unnumbered and unmanageable hazards.

🧠 Your brain's job is to keep you safe, so if it thinks you're in constant danger it's going to be pretty unhappy about it. This means two things happen.

Firstly your body is constantly flooded with stress hormones designed to make you able to fight better or run away faster; and secondly your brain continually presents you with reasons not to do whatever it is you're doing that it thinks is dangerous.

💜 If you would like to talk, contact me via message, email or phone call
💻 therapist@magichandscalmminds.co.uk
☎️ 07974 203480

08/07/2025

One of the most common things I see in what I’ll call the anti-mental health awareness agenda is an accusation of ‘snowflakism’.

💜 Read my explanation of that here ⬇️

An explanation of snowflakes One of the most common things I see in what I’ll call the anti-mental health awareness agenda is an accusation of 'snowflakism'. Young people today are such lightweights compared to what people in previous generations had to cope with. Of course there’s a lot of trut...

07/07/2025

I used to be a regular client but haven't been for ages. Can I come back?

💜 Of course! It doesn't matter when or why you stopped coming, I'm always glad to welcome previous clients back into the clinic provided I have capacity in my diary.

If you were a Bowen client I might suggest you have another new client assessment programme, depending on how long it is since you were last here, but it's entirely up to you.

04/07/2025

Self talk is the voice in your head that talks to you throughout your day.

🤔 Is yours friendly and supportive, or does it continually put you down and tell you you're a disgrace?

💜 If the latter, this video may help.

Self talk is the voice in your head that talks to you throughout your day. Is it friendly and supportive, or does it continually put you down and tell you y...