Anahata Holistic Health - Debbie Haswell

27/07/2025

My last client this week provided me with this quotable quote.

“If I was a billionaire I’d have a Reflexologist!”

The added detail was that she would receive reflexology every night before bed. 😴

And important to note that when I asked her if she’d share this reflexologist, the emphatic answer was ‘NO!’. 😂

x Karen x

01/07/2025

Sunshine, warmth, and possibility await

01/07/2025

Let there be happiness, peace and laughter.

11/06/2025

Your complete bible.

07/06/2025

And meet Gloria, Leo’s best friend 😍

🧠✨ Gloria the Glymph Fairy: Your Brain’s Night Shift Detox Queen

“While you sleep, I sweep!”

Hello beautiful minds,
I’m Gloria the Glymph Fairy—a sparkling, microscopic night-shift worker who lives inside your brain. I may be small, but I’m mighty magical. When the world goes quiet, the lights dim, and you drift off into deep sleep… that’s when I get to work. 💫

You’ve met Leo the Lymph Node and Vivi the Vessel—but did you know your brain has its very own lymph-like cleaning crew? That’s me. I run the glymphatic system, your brain’s version of lymphatic drainage.

🌙 What Is the Glymphatic System?

The glymphatic system is a waste-clearing pathway in your central nervous system. It uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to flush out toxins, proteins, and waste products from your brain while you sleep—especially during deep, restorative sleep. 😴

Fun fact:
It’s called “glymph” because it works like the lymphatic system, but involves glial cells—the support cells of the brain. So… glial + lymph = glymph!

💡 What Do I Clean Up?

Think of your brain like a bustling office. All day long, it’s working—thinking, learning, remembering, reacting. But by night, it’s messy. That’s when I come in with my sparkly broom:

🧹 Beta-amyloid – linked to Alzheimer’s
🧹 Tau proteins – involved in neurodegeneration
🧹 Oxidative waste – from all that mental activity
🧹 Dead cells & debris – yep, I take out the brain’s trash
🧹 Stress hormones & byproducts – like cortisol residue

If I can’t do my job properly… brain fog, poor memory, headaches, mood swings, and even long-term inflammation can build up. 😔

💤 How Do I Work?

My system turns on only when you’re:
• In deep, non-REM sleep (Delta wave sleep) 🌊
• Lying horizontally 🛌
• In a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) state 🧘‍♀️

That’s why your brain doesn’t detox while you’re rushing, scrolling, stressing, or even lightly napping. I need your full permission to enter—and that means real rest.

🌟 Gloria’s Nightly Cleaning Tips:

🧘‍♀️ Wind down properly. Gentle stretches, prayer, soft lighting, and quiet help me start preparing your brain for deep sleep.

📵 Turn off blue light. Screens delay melatonin and keep me locked out of your neural pathways.

💧 Hydrate during the day. I work with fluid—no hydration = no sparkle.

🛏️ Go to bed before midnight. I do my best work between 10 PM and 2 AM, when melatonin is high and inflammation is low.

🧠 Sleep on your side. Research shows side sleeping improves glymphatic flow more than sleeping on your back or stomach.

😌 Clear your mind. Journaling or prayer before bed helps your brain let go—and opens the door for me to enter.

🧬 Why I Matter:

Your brain is your command center. And just like the rest of your body needs Leo, Vivi, and Mac to clean, drain, and protect—it needs me too. When I’m active, you:
✔️ Wake up clear and sharp
✔️ Process emotions better
✔️ Retain memory and focus
✔️ Reduce your risk of neurological disease
✔️ Feel lighter—mentally, emotionally, spiritually

So tonight, when you fluff your pillow and take a deep breath, whisper to yourself:

“I invite Gloria in.”
And let me do my quiet, sacred work.

With stardust and serenity,
🌙 Gloria the Glymph Fairy
“While you sleep, I sweep.”

©️

07/06/2025

The Heart of Summer Awakens... Hello June

07/06/2025

I just love Leo the Lymph 🩷

🌀 A Day in the Life of a Lymph Node

— Your Tiny, Mighty Bodyguard!

Hey there! 👋
I’m Leo the Lymph Node — nice to meet you! I might be small (only the size of a baked bean), but trust me, I’ve got one of the most important jobs in your whole body. Want to know what I do all day? Let me give you a p*ek into my lymph-tastic life!

☀️ 07:00 — The Day Begins with Drainage

Just as you’re stretching and sipping your morning lemon water, I’m already hard at work. Your lymphatic vessels are flowing like tiny highways, delivering lymph fluid straight to me. That fluid? It’s packed with:
• Cellular waste 🧫
• Toxins 🧪
• Bacteria 🦠
• Bits of proteins, fats, and immune messengers 💬

My job? Filter it all. I’m like airport security for your immune system. If anything shady shows up, I flag it immediately!

🧠 Did you know? You have between 500–700 lymph nodes in your body, mostly in your neck, underarms, chest, abdomen, and groin.
[Ref: Moore & Dalley. Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 7th ed.]

⚔️ 10:30 — Intruder Alert!

Uh oh… here comes a nasty bacterium trying to sneak by in the lymph fluid. Not on my watch! 🚨 I alert the B-cells and T-cells (the body’s immune defenders) living inside me.
We trap the intruder and start an immune response – activating white blood cells, producing antibodies, and sending up the red flags to nearby nodes. 🧬

💡 Scientific backup: Lymph nodes act as immune surveillance hubs, rapidly expanding during infection to mount a local defense.
[Ref: Randolph et al., Nature Reviews Immunology, 2005]

🪄 13:00 — Clean, Sort, Send

By now, I’ve filtered tons of lymph fluid. What’s clean and safe gets sent onward through the lymphatic chain — toward larger nodes and ducts, and eventually back into your bloodstream via the thoracic duct.

Everything your blood didn’t clean up, I just did! 💁‍♂️

💆‍♀️ 17:00 — Drainage Helpers Arrive!

You go for a walk, do some dry brushing, or have a lymphatic drainage session… YESSS! That helps so much! Movement and manual therapy give me a massive boost to get lymph moving — so I don’t get overwhelmed or sluggish.

🌙 21:00 — Night Watch

As you wind down, I stay on guard. Even in your sleep, I’m still checking every drop of lymph coming through. Sometimes during sickness, I swell up — not because I’m broken, but because I’m working overtime to fight infection. 💪

✨ Fun fact: Swollen lymph nodes are often a sign your immune system is active, not failing!
[Ref: MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine]

🧼 A Little Help from You, Please!

I love my job, but I do need a few things from you:
• Stay hydrated 💧
• Eat anti-inflammatory foods 🍃
• Move that beautiful body 🕺
• Get good sleep 😴
• Reduce toxin exposure 🚫

When you do, I stay healthy — and so do you! 🩷

📚 References:
• Moore, K.L., Dalley, A.F., & Agur, A.M.R. (Clinically Oriented Anatomy, 7th ed.)
• Randolph GJ, Angeli V, Swartz MA. “Role of lymphatic vessels in immunity: new insights into function and structure.” Nature Reviews Immunology, 2005.
• U.S. National Library of Medicine. “Swollen Lymph Nodes.” MedlinePlus.gov

⚠️ Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health regimen.

©️

04/06/2025

Este tipo de terapia en los pies tiene efectos beneficiosos en la esfera psicológica y emocional

30/05/2025

🌿 Lymphatic Highways: How Your Lymph System Guards, Guides, and Sometimes Gets Overwhelmed

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen.

🛡️ The Silent Sentinel of Your Immune System

Most people know the lymphatic system as the body’s “detox network” or “immune drainage system.” But far fewer realize just how intimately woven it is with your immune response—both in protecting your health and, sometimes, in turning against your body.

In his landmark 2011 paper, Dr. Kari Alitalo revealed groundbreaking insights into this very link. Published in Nature Reviews Immunology, his work titled “The lymphatic vasculature in disease” opened the door to understanding how lymph vessels are more than plumbing—they are decision-makers in inflammation, autoimmunity, and immune defense.

🧠 What Exactly Is Immune Surveillance?

Immune surveillance is your body’s constant scanning of tissues for infection, damage, or foreign invaders.

Your lymphatic vessels do three critical things in this process:
1. Pick up antigens (foreign or damaged molecules) from tissues
2. Transport immune cells like dendritic cells, macrophages, and T-cells
3. Deliver them to lymph nodes, where immune responses are organized

🦠 So when you get a virus, a cut, or a strange invader? Your lymph picks it up, shows it to your immune army, and a decision is made: attack, tolerate, or repair.

🧬 What Happens When the Lymph Goes Wrong?

When the lymphatic system is congested, inflamed, or poorly functioning, several things go off track:
• Antigens accumulate in tissues (especially gut, joints, skin, brain)
• Immune cells miscommunicate, triggering overreactions
• Chronic inflammation begins to smolder

Over time, this “immune fog” leads to what we now recognize as:
• Autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s, Lupus
• Chronic inflammatory syndromes like fibromyalgia and long COVID
• Tissue swelling, fibrosis, and drainage dysfunction

📖 Alitalo’s Key Insight:
“Impairment or remodeling of lymphatic vessels disrupts immune homeostasis, contributing to chronic inflammation and autoimmunity.”
(Nature Reviews Immunology, 2011)

💥 Autoimmunity: When the Guards Turn on the Castle

When the immune system loses its compass, it begins to mistake your own tissues for invaders.

Here’s how lymph plays a role:
• In Hashimoto’s, immune cells transported through lymph target thyroid tissue
• In RA, synovial tissue antigens are presented in lymph nodes, triggering T-cell attacks
• In Lupus, damaged cellular fragments carried by lymph ignite systemic responses

Lymphatic vessels often become hyper-dilated, leaky, or fibrotic in these diseases—a sign that the system is both overwhelmed and inflamed.

🌿 What Can We Do to Support Immune-Lymph Balance?

Lymphatic therapies are not just cosmetic—they are immune modulators.

Here’s what we can do to calm the immune storm:
• ✅ Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD): reduces tissue pressure, promotes immune cell circulation
• ✅ Deep breathing & rebounding: supports fluid movement and immune cell motility
• ✅ Anti-inflammatory diet: reduces lymph burden from the gut and liver
• ✅ Gut-healing protocols: 70% of lymph is associated with the gut (GALT), and leaky gut = leaky lymph
• ✅ Essential oils, dry brushing, and sauna therapy: gentle lymph activators

💡 Final Thought: Your Lymph Remembers What You Cannot See

Dr. Alitalo’s research has given us language for something therapists and patients have felt for years:

The lymphatic system is the memory keeper of inflammation.
It sees the battle long before symptoms appear. And when supported, it can also help write a new story—of resolution, not reactivity.

So if you’re facing an autoimmune diagnosis, chronic swelling, or mystery inflammation—look to your lymph.
It just might be your body’s whisper for balance, protection, and healing.

📚 Featured Research:

Alitalo, K. (2011). The lymphatic vasculature in disease. Nature Reviews Immunology, 11(9), 639–652.
DOI: 10.1038/nri3010

©️

28/05/2025

Love this …… 😍

Where Does the Lymph Go After Drainage?

From Puff to Flush—Your Body’s Hidden Detox Highway!

Hey Lymphies!
Ever wondered what actually happens to the lymph after your MLD (Manual Lymphatic Drainage) or dry brushing session? Where does all that puffiness and extra fluid go? Let’s take a journey through your body’s magical drainage map—because the flow doesn’t stop at your skin!

First Things First—What IS Lymph?

Lymph is a clear-ish fluid filled with:
• Water
• Proteins
• Cellular waste
• Immune cells
• Bacteria, viruses, and toxins

It’s like your body’s wastewater, and your lymphatic system is the plumbing network designed to collect it from your tissues and send it packing!

The Drainage Route (The Fun Part!)

After you stimulate your lymphatic system (through MLD, exercise, rebounding, or infrared saunas), here’s what happens step-by-step:

1. Tissues → Lymph Capillaries
Lymph fluid is collected from between your cells (where waste builds up). Think of this as your body picking up trash from every neighborhood.

2. Lymph Capillaries → Collecting Vessels
These vessels have valves to push lymph forward (like a one-way street!). They move it toward central lymph nodes.

3. Nodes → Filter Party!
Lymph passes through lymph nodes, where it gets filtered. Immune cells here attack bacteria, viruses, and debris.
It’s like your lymph goes through a security checkpoint!

4. Cleaned Lymph → Ducts
Filtered lymph travels to the thoracic duct (left side of your neck) or right lymphatic duct—the final stop before exiting!

5. Ducts → Subclavian Vein
Here’s the magic moment!
The ducts drain the lymph directly into your bloodstream, at the base of your neck, where the subclavian vein lives.

6. Bloodstream → Kidneys + Liver
Now the filtered lymph becomes part of your circulating blood. From here:
• Kidneys filter out water-soluble waste → p*e it out!
• Liver handles fat-soluble toxins and waste → p**p it out!

And voilà!
Your lymph just became waste… and left your body.
Flush complete!

That’s Why You Might Notice…
• More p*eing after a session
• Increased bowel movements
• Feeling thirsty
• Fatigue (your body is processing the detox!)
• Reduced swelling or puffiness

So YES—you’re not imagining it. The flush is real.

Fun Lymphie Facts:
• You have 500–700 lymph nodes in your body!
• The thoracic duct drains around 75% of your lymph!
• Your lymphatic system can move 1.5–3 liters of lymph per day with the right support!
• No heart? No pump! The lymph system depends on movement, breath, and pressure (that’s why you NEED to move!).

Support the Flush:
• Hydrate (lymph is mostly water!)
• Move daily (walking, rebounding, stretching)
• Breathe deep (diaphragmatic breathing helps move lymph!)
• Massage & MLD
• Eat clean (to reduce toxin load)

So, Where Does It Go?

In simple terms:
Lymph → Blood → Kidneys/Liver → Toilet!
Your body is brilliant. And your lymphatic system? Even more so.

So the next time you finish your session and head to the loo—give a little thanks to the silent flow keeping you well.






References / Research Links:
• Cleveland Clinic – Lymphatic System Overview
• NCBI – Physiology of the Lymphatic System
• Lymphatic Research and Biology Journal

Disclaimer:
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.

©️

05/03/2025

Give your Mum a wonderful gift of Reflexology 👣🌻❤️

Mother's Day is fast approaching, give the gift of wellbeing with a Reflexology treatment. Find your local reflexologist https://www.aor.org.uk/custom/far-search/

19/02/2025

Reflexology - Take a Step Toward Wellbeing! Find your local AoR member here https://www.aor.org.uk/custom/far-search/