Harvey Young Advanced Holistic Therapy

15/01/2026

First post of the year, and a different kind of beginning.

We’ve just published our latest article of 2026:
“Why Insight Mindfulness Is Not About Doing More, But Doing Less”
A neuroscience-informed perspective for holistic health.

In our clinic, we often meet people who are doing everything right, exercising, stretching, eating well, yet still living with pain, tension, fatigue or a sense of being stuck.

At the start of a new year, most advice sounds like:
Try harder. Do more. Control better.

Insight mindfulness points in the opposite direction.

From both traditional practice and modern neuroscience, we see that much of our stress and even physical tension comes from an invisible habit: constantly monitoring, judging and trying to control experience from the mind. This “effort” keeps the nervous system subtly activated, and over time, that shows up as muscle guarding, pain sensitivity, poor recovery and emotional fatigue.

Insight mindfulness doesn’t add something new.
It removes something unnecessary.

By learning to let sensations, thoughts and emotions arise without constant interference, the nervous system often settles, movement becomes easier, pain becomes less threatening, and the body becomes more receptive to healing.

This is why we integrate insight mindfulness with chiropractic care, movement training and light therapy, not to force change, but to create the conditions where change can happen naturally.

A different kind of New Year intention:

Less controlling.
Less forcing.
Less struggling with experience.

And in that “less”, many people find more ease, better sleep, freer movement and a deeper sense of being at home in their body.

If you’re curious how insight mindfulness can support your physical and mental wellbeing, especially alongside chiropractic and integrative care, our new article is now live on the website.

14/01/2026

Explore why Insight Mindfulness focuses on simplicity over complexity. Learn to cultivate inner peace by embracing less in your daily life.

02/01/2026

Navigate your recovery from musculoskeletal surgery with confidence. Access valuable insights and strategies to promote healing and regain mobility effectively.

02/01/2026

24/12/2025

🎄 Merry Christmas from us 🎄

’Twas the day before Christmas… and even Santa felt the strain of the season. With a little care and a gentle adjustment, the aches eased, the joy returned, and Christmas was back on track. ✨

We’ve just released our Christmas chiropractic song across all major streaming platforms, a light-hearted reminder of staying well, moving freely, and looking after your body during a busy festive season.

If you fancy a smile and a bit of festive cheer, do give it a listen.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year.

17/12/2025

Why advice from your GP and a private practitioner can sound very different

This is something we’re often asked about, and it’s important to understand that it isn’t about one approach being “right” and the other being “wrong”.

Public health policy prioritises harm avoidance over optimisation.
State healthcare is designed to prevent deficiency-related disease at low cost and low risk, across large populations.

That’s why NHS and GP guidance tends to focus on:
• preventing clear deficiency states
• using conservative, standardised recommendations
• ensuring safety for the vast majority of people

What it is not designed to do is optimise:
• immune function
• physical performance
• recovery capacity
• long-term resilience or longevity

Private and individualised care works from a different starting point. The focus is on the person in front of us, their lifestyle, demands, health history, and goals, and tailoring care accordingly.

This difference in purpose is why people often hear very different messages from their GP compared with a registered private practitioner. Both models serve an important role; they are simply solving different problems.

Understanding this distinction helps remove confusion and allows people to make more informed choices about their own health.

16/12/2025

Proud to be a member of the Royal College of Chiropractors. The College’s Royal Charter status helps reinforce chiropractic as an established and respected healthcare profession. Membership reflects a commitment to the RCC’s values and to the pursuit of quality, integrity, and excellence in chiropractic practice.

Continual professional development and high standards of care remain at the heart of what we do, always with patients’ wellbeing as the priority.

11/12/2025

Don’t just work out, work in.

In a culture that measures wellbeing by visible effort and external results, it’s easy to forget that the most meaningful changes begin inwards. Working out has its place, of course, but far too often it becomes a way of managing self-esteem through appearance rather than cultivating genuine health.

Working in is different.
It’s the practice of calming the reactive tendencies of the mind, regulating the nervous system, and developing the capacity to respond rather than react. It’s learning how to breathe, how to move with awareness, and how to create space between stimulus and response.

When we work inwards, something important happens:
• our decisions become clearer
• our actions become more controlled
• our bodies hold less tension
• our health becomes less dependent on willpower and more rooted in balance

From a holistic perspective, this “inner strength training” often has greater long-term impact than any physical workout alone. It builds resilience, steadiness, and a relationship with the body that is not based purely on performance or aesthetics.

Workouts change how you look.
Working in changes how you live.

If you’d like support in developing both stronger bodies and calmer minds, our clinic integrates nervous-system-focused chiropractic care with movement, breathwork and education to help you build health from the inside out.

08/12/2025

Relief Isn’t Recovery: Why Symptoms Return with a Vengeance

Short-term symptom relief can be valuable, but it is not a substitute for addressing the underlying cause of a problem.

In areas such as stress, anxiety, sleep issues and chronic pain, certain medications may work quickly, yet long-term use without a broader therapeutic plan can lead to tolerance, dependence or a worsening of baseline symptoms.

This is not the case for every medication; many long-term treatments are both essential and safe when used appropriately.

However, when a drug primarily blunts symptoms rather than addressing what drives them, for example with stress, anxiety, sleep disturbance or pain, its benefits may remain limited. This can also include medical cannabis when it is used solely for symptom management without exploring the root cause. In these situations, the body adapts over time, and symptoms may return or even intensify.

Sustainable improvement typically comes from a root-cause approach: behavioural strategies, lifestyle support, therapeutic interventions and whole-person care.

03/12/2025

Obesity management is often framed as a matter of weight loss alone. But meaningful, true progress is about health gain: improving metabolic function, reducing inflammation, supporting joint health, restoring mobility, and lowering the risk of long-term complications. A number on the scale can never reflect the full picture.

GLP-1 therapies have become a popular topic for many people, and they can certainly help initiate change. But even with medication, true wellbeing requires more than appetite regulation. Strength, movement, posture, emotional resilience, sleep quality, and nervous-system balance all play crucial roles in how the body adapts and maintains health over time.

Chronic obesity remains a global health crisis, and addressing it requires a holistic approach, one that sees the individual, not just the diagnosis. When we focus only on weight, we reduce a complex condition to a single metric. When we focus on health, we empower people to make progress in ways that genuinely improve their quality of life.

Every step towards better health counts, whether or not the scales move.

02/12/2025

Healthy movement begins at the foundation, your feet.

When footwear allows your natural foot shape to expand, your body gains access to its full kinetic potential. Wider toe-boxes and flexible soles support proper load distribution, stronger arches, and a more efficient chain of movement up through the knees, hips, and spine. In other words: stronger feet create healthier bodies.

It’s striking to consider how far modern footwear has drifted from our natural anatomy. Throughout history, many cultures have used narrow or rigid shoes for fashion, status, or social expectations. One of the most extreme examples was foot-binding in China, a practice that intentionally restricted natural foot shape and significantly limited women’s movement and autonomy.

While this specific custom has long ended, some of the underlying mindset has persisted. Today, many people are still encouraged, whether through fashion, workplace norms, or sport culture to wear shoes that prioritise aesthetics or convention over natural function. Tight, tapered footwear is often sold as “stylish”, “professional”, “powerful”, or even “ideal for exercise”. As a result, discomfort becomes normalised, and very few people question how their shoes may be compromising their long-term health.

But your feet were never designed to be shaped by fashion. They were designed to move, spread, grip, and support you.

Choosing footwear that honours your natural foot shape is more than a comfort decision, it’s a first step towards restoring authentic function, strength, and long-term wellbeing.

29/11/2025

Step inside one of our chiropractic treatment rooms, a space in central London designed for gentle, evidence-informed care.
As we approach the festive season, a little reminder that our holiday opening hours are now live on our website. If you’d like to book in before the break, now’s a good time.

Chiropractic • Mindfulness • Health