All Posts

How stressed are you? That’s a good question to ask yourself regularly, particularly during challenging times. Recognising stress is definitely something you want to learn how to see in yourself, so that you can regulate, and manage, your responses to it.

I am sure you will no doubt be familiar with the fact that stress causes our muscles to tense. Or rather that our brain instructs our muscles to tense in response to stressful event or situations. These muscular contractions are involuntary, they happen automatically, often we are not even aware of them occurring. Like for example, the slow accumulation of stress and tension as a work deadline looms.

Other times it is more blatantly obvious, for example if you have a near miss when driving or get some kind of a fright.

Interestingly, even just thinking about stressful events or situations can trigger this response too. Such as say, ruminating over an argument, a perceived wrong or a nerve-racking interview. 

If we know muscle tension is an automatic response to stress, we can use muscle tension as a good indicator of how stressed we are. And conversely, we can use an absence of muscle tension as a good indicator of how relaxed we are.

So How Can We Assess Muscle Tension?

It is really very easy to assess yourself for muscle tension. All you need is your own hands. Tense, tight, contracted muscles feel stiff and hard, they will often be tender and sore to touch too. They make your movements feel stiff and restricted. Knots in your muscles are also merely contracted muscle fibres, small sections of the muscle that are habitually contracted.

Relaxed muscles on the other hand are soft, pliable and pain free. They will not be sore to the touch and they allow for free and easy movement. Fully relaxed muscles also will not have knots of tension in them.

So armed with this simple information we can easily start to identify which parts of our body are the most tense, and where we tend to express our stress, by simple pressing on our muscles.

Let’s Find our Tight, Tense, Stressed Out Spots!

Whilst sitting (or standing) it’s very easy to take your right hand and press the muscles on the top of and to the rear of your left shoulder. Just like in the image below. In fact I’m sure many of you do this kind of thing instinctively already. When you do this, let your left arm hang loosely by your side.

Press gently on the top of the left shoulder moving your hand more inwards towards the neck and then more out towards the outermost part of your shoulder. You’ll likely find that parts of the shoulder are very hard, tight and uncomfortable to press on. That’s muscle tension! Make a note of these areas or spots.

Then, switch sides. Let your right arm hang loosely, then use your left hand to press on the muscles of your right shoulder in the same way described above. Again notice which areas are stiff, tight, hard and tender to touch. There may be some difference side to side. Just make a note.

All those areas that are hard, tight, and tender to touch on your shoulder are areas where the muscles are habitually contracted. Your brain is holding those muscles more tightly than is necessary. In Somatics this is called Sensory Motor Amnesia. Basically you/your brain have forgotten how to let these muscles relax.

Now allowing your right arm to hang loosely by your side, take your left hand again and press on your right chest muscle, from your sternum (the hard area in centre of your chest) all the way out to your armpit, and also all the way along under your collarbone from the centre out. Again your looking for areas that are hard, tight, tender and sore. If you find tender spots, make a note of them.

Then repeat this process on the other side, using your right hand to press on your left chest as you let your left arm hang loosely by your side.

You can do this all over your body, pressing gently and noticing where is hard and tight, and where is soft and relaxed.

You might be surprised at just how much of your body is stiff, hard, and tight. No wonder you feel stressed, and sore right?

By learning some simple Somatics movements called pandiculations ,you can learn to let go of these chronic patterns of tension and maintain a softer, looser and more relaxed body.

Angela Wallis – Aromatherapy and the oils – Some facts

Aromatherapy is the practice of using the natural oils extracted from flowers, bark, stems, leaves, roots or other parts of a plant to enhance psychological and physical well-being. The inhaled aroma from these “essential” oils is widely believed to stimulate brain function. Essential oils can also be absorbed through the skin, where they travel through the bloodstream and can promote…

Read more

New Year, New You! By Neil Fitzpatrick.

It’s all about… CHANGE! Now is the perfect time to take those steps you’ve been thinking about all this time, and there’s no time like the present to start the process of stopping smoking, losing weight or whatever it is that will improve your life, health and wellbeing, I hope to hear from you soon. Today’s post will give you…

Read more

Benefits of Hypnotherapy By Neil Fitzpatrick

Hello and welcome to the first article about hypnotherapy and the benefits it can bring. I will be posting a new article every two weeks or so covering different aspects. Today’s post is a general introduction to introduce the reader to therapeutic hypnotherapy and a FAQ section providing answers to the most frequently asked questions from clients who are considering…

Read more

Hypnotherapy F.A.Q By Neil Fitzpatrick

Here is an FAQ section which should go some way to helping you understand a little more about hypnotherapy: Ten Frequently Asked Questions About Hypnosis 1. Will I still have control of myself? You can be assured that you are still fully in control of yourself when you are hypnotised. You are still conscious but your conscious mind is extremely…

Read more

Migraines and Headaches are a real pain!

Specialist Migraine Physiotherapist Lynne Midwinter, dispels myths and offers hope against Migraines and Headaches.   Migraines are now listed in the top 20 disabilities by the World Health Organisation  and a survey of over 120,000 households found that four out of ten females and two out of ten males respectively will experience migraine at some stage in their lifetime –…

Read more

Constipation – A Western Complaint!

Constipation – A Western Complaint! After reading Pelvic Health Physio Katy Winter’s excellent article about chronic constipation the other week, I thought I might contribute some ideas for how to alleviate this troubling and common complaint. It may surprise you to hear, but in an ideal world, we should “have a poo” after every meal. That’s because the consumption of…

Read more

Coeliac Disease. By Sally-Anne Wilkinson.

Coelicac disease Did you know approximately 1 in a 100 people have have coeliac disease? However, 70% of those people don’t know they have it – which is currently nearly half a million people in the UK. This is because people with milder cases often go undiagnosed. That’s a staggering number, isn’t it? Many more people have heard of coeliac…

Read more

How to have the perfect poo! By Katy Winters

How to have the perfect poo! There’s not many things more satisfying than a really great bowel movement! Get it right and you’re skipping out of the door, on the other hand you can feel sluggish and under-par if your motion is on the slow side. Functional bowel dysfunction is a silent epidemic. Whether it be constipation, incomplete emptying, faecal…

Read more

Karen Hull on Parkinson’s

Parkinson Awareness Week 11th – 18th April I’m sure everyone knows someone who has Parkinson’s. As Billy Connolly famously once said “I’ve got Parkinson’s Disease… and I wish he’d kept it to himself” There are already 145,000 people living in the UK with Parkinson’s and every hour they believe 2 more people are diagnosed with the disease. Sadly Parkinson’s is…

Read more