Services

What is Ayurveda?

“Ayurveda is a medical science and its purpose is to heal and maintain the quality and longevity of life.”  Vasant Lad

Ayurveda is one of the oldest known systems of medicine still practiced in the world today.  It is

This timeless wisdom offers a profound understanding of each person’s unique body, mind and consciousness, which is the foundation of health and happiness.

A fundamental belief of Ayurvedic wisdom, is that we have an innate healing capacity within each of us.  With this knowledge, the focus of Ayurveda is on disease prevention.

However, our modern dietary habits and lifestyle choices cause us to become imbalanced and toxins form and circulate which eventually lead to disease.

Its vast undertstanding of how disease manifests, allows us to and identify the root cause of disorder, so treatment can eliminate the source and leads to greater health outcomes.

Most importantly, Ayurveda helps us to reconnect with ourselves and to listen to our innate wisdom and to recognise the early warning signs in future, enabling us to self-correct with diet and lifestyle changes before it progresses past imbalance stage, thus preventing reocurrence.

Additionally, as we are connected with our true selves, we desire to live in alignment with nature and natural rhythms.  A way of being that leads to health, happiness and inner peace.

Things Ayurveda can help with:

• Digestive disorders like IBS, ulcerative colitis, coeliac and crohn’s disease
• Women’s disorders like endometriosis, menopause, fibroids, menorrhagia (heavy periods) and dysmenorrhea (painful periods)
• Mental health, anxiety and addiction
• fertility problems – men and women
• Fibromyalgia and ME, thyroid problems
• Arthritis
• Skin disorders like eczema, psoriasis and acne
• Diabetes
• Asthma and persistent cough
• Weight loss
• Hair fall
• Urinary Tract Infections

What to expect:

Treatment involves meeting for an inital consultation where we will discuss your current health concerns and also a detailed history in order to understand the root cause of your disorder.  This allows us to not only deal with the symptoms, but the underlying cause, which means less chance or reoccurence.

The ayurvedic approach is a collaborative one.  I am here to share the beautiful wisdom of ayurveda and to provide a personalised teatment plan and be a guide on your journey back to health.  However, it takes commitment and work on the part of the individual to make the necessary changes, but it is so worth it.  Ayurveda isn’t a fad diet, its a way of life.

£60 for inital consultation (60-90 minutes)

£30 for follow up consultations

(additional costs for any ayurvedic herbs or oils required)

What is counselling?

“Growth occurs when individuals confront problems, struggle to master them, and through that struggle develop new aspects of their skills, capacities, views about life.”  Carl Rogers, father of person-centred counselling.

Person-centred counselling is a humanistic approach that was founded by Carl Rogers in the 1940’s.  It based on the belief that a person can reach their full potential and become their true self when given the right conditions.   This process is called self-actualisation and it is inherent within all of us.  

As we progress through life, we so often get tangled up in thoughts, feelings, beliefs and past traumas that keep us stuck and unable to move forward in a healthy and fulfilling way.  

Carl Jung said that “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  The counselling relationship 

Written above the Temple of Delphi is the maxim to ‘Know thyself’, when we commit to this process, we remove masks and the unnecessary heavy weight we so often carry that drains our life force trying to maintain a façade. 

“We cannot change, we cannot move away from what we are until we thoroughly accept what we are.  Then change seems to come about almost unnoticed.” Carl Rogers

When we can truly be our authentic selves, our energy flows unimpeded, and a whole new world is available to us.

“What I am is good enough, if I would only be it openly.”

“It is not about getting the feeling out of the mind, or hiding it, but about experiencing it with acceptance.”

Science is backing up that our emotions and stored traumas drain us of our vitality.  We are beautifully designed, energetic beings.  Like a faulty bulb on Christmas lights affects the workings of the whole set, we often have parts that need our attention and when we set the time aside to go within and heal these parts, we set the whole system alight once more.

What to expect:

The counselling relationship provides the conditions conducive for growth of unconditional prositive regard, congruence, empathy and acceptance, where it feels safe to explore, untangle and process these things that keep us stuck and block our energy. 

In this relationship you are free to be your true self, without fear of judgement.  As you feel truly heard and are able to  learn greater self acceptance  The result is greater self-acceptance and self-love.  The more love we feel for ourselves, the more gratitude we have in our hearts and the more we love life in all its forms.

£35 per 50 min session

Coaching is a slightly different approach.  Working in a person-centred way, we will look at the specific set of goals and outcomes you want to achieve in a more action-oriented way.

However, we may find ourselves dipping in and out of what feels more like counselling at times.  It is client-led and organic, so we will go with the flow.

£35 per 50 min session

What is it Shirodhara?

Shirodara is the most popular Ayurvedic treatment in the West.  The word shiro means head and dhara means stream.  The procedure involves the gentle pouring of warm oil on the forehead, which is a powerful way to relieve excess vata in the mind.  When vata is in excess, the mind becomes overstimulated and has difficulty slowing down.  This leads to an inability to handle stress, which leads to nervousness, anxiety, depression, insomnia, fatigue, psychological disorders and more.

Shirodhara helps to balance the doshas and calm the body and mind.  As the oil is gently poured on the forehead, the nervous system is deeply stilled and the brain waves slow and become more coherent, which allows for the proper flow of prana, oxygen and nutrients to the brain.  This opens the srotas, or channels, allowing for greater blood flow to the brain, which improves the communication with nervous system via neurotransmitter receptor sites.  The result is that we feel improved mood, elevated emotional states, less stress and greater cognition and mental clarity.

What to expect in a session?

Shirodhara can be added to the end of an Ayurvedic Marma massage for better effect, or done as a standalone treatment, which would include an Ayurvedic head massage.  The stream of warm herbal oil is gently poured on your forehead, in the area of your third eye.  This continuous stream will continue for 20 – 40 minutes, depending on which dosha is imbalanced.

The treatment is so relaxing that sometimes people fall asleep, others have insights and visions.  For most people, there is just a profound feeling of relaxation and of letting go on a deeper level.  It is like a deep meditation.

Some things Shirodhara can help with:

Headaches * Migraines * Insomnia * Anxiety * Depression * trauma * ADHD * Increased brain function * Greater clarity * Improves digestion and metabolism * Stabilises the mind and prevents mood swings * Helps reduce Stress – with 80% of all disease in the West attributable to stress, this is so important for our overall mental and physical health

£50 – includes Indian head massage and Shirodhara

The benefits of Shirodhara are improved with each treatment, especially in anxiety and depression, so blocks can be booked for a reduced rate

What is Indian or Ayurvedic head massage?

Ayurvedic head massage or “shiro abhyanga” in sanskrit, is a holistic healing practice of ayurveda.  Focusing on head, neck and shoulders, it harmonises the body, mind and spirit.

The proper flow of prana or vital energy is essential for maintaining good health.  Any blockages or disturbances of prana lead to physical and mental imbalances.

Using a range of techniques and specially formulated ayurvedic herbal oils and paying special attention to marma points,  allows for the proper flow of prana, or vital energy force, restoring balance and harmony and a sense of vitality.

Some things ayurvedic head massage can help with:

Nourishes the mind and senses * Relieves headaches * Hair loss * Premature graying * Insomnia * Vata disorders * improves complexion

What is Reiki?

“A practice that relieves not only the external, physical sufferings, but the internal sufferings and obscutration of humankind.” Dr Usui

Reiki is a safe and natural hands-on therapy that promotes healing on all levels.  Reiki (ray-key) loosely translated means universal or God consciousness and ‘ki’ means ‘life energy’ it is a form of energy healing that works on both the subtle and gross level.

It helps by unblocking anything that impedes the energy flow that is our natural state of health.  In this state of balance and harmony, with free-flowing life energy, we unlock our body’s natural healing abilities.

What can Reiki help with?

Reiki balances and works on four levels of existence:

• Physical – The body and manifested pain.
• Emotional – What you are feeling.
• Mental – What you are allowing yourself to think.
• Spiritual – Your capacity to love yourself and others.

It can be used alone, or as a complimentary adjunct to other treatment, for example, people receiving chemotherapy often have reiki to reduce the side effects, as well as to promote the natural healing ability of the body.

It can help with injuries, diseases, emotional disorders, and all stress-related illnesses, which is a majority these days.

What to expect in a session:

Reiki is a non-invasive treatment where you remain fully clothed.  You lie down on the massage bed and relax.  Some people fall asleep, others like to talk, this is a personal experience and entirely up to you.  As with massage, I would encourage people to relax and enjoy the experience and treat it as a kind of meditation.  Some people feel the energy, or heat and some people see colours or feel pure love, some may feel old emotional things resurface, all is okay.  If you do experience difficult emotions arising, be aware of these.  Emotions want, and need, to be felt and experienced to be released, e-motion because they want to move through us and out of us.  I am a trained counsellor and if you feel the need to explore, we can do so together.  Trapped emotions keep us stuck in limited thinking and patterns.  If we feel something come up, honour the wisdom of your body that it is time to let it go.

If possible, after the session, be gentle and easy with yourself and your day.  Allow yourself time to just ‘be’.  Time in nature is an excellent idea.  It is also important to drink plenty of water afterwards to flush out toxins.  If you feel, you can set a positive intention for the water to nourish you and continue to infuse with the energy of universal consciousness.

What is Walk & Talk Therapy?

It is essentially, counselling, outdoors, in nature.  So it couples the benefits of therapy, with the benefits of being outdoors, fresh air – good for many things, including digestion, we are breathing our biome, so getting outdoors and receiving information from nature make our biome more diverse, therefore, our digestion better.  Studies also show that the most toxic air we breathe is in fact inside our homes with many things off-gassing; daylight – even when the sun isn’t shining here in Fort William, exposure to daylight helps to regulate our circadian rhthym; exercise – the benefits of exercise on our mental and physical health are very well known now;

Being in nature is therapy.  We are nature as we are composed of the same basic building blocks, or elements.  Reconnecting with our original mother helps us to reconnect with ourselves.

Nature has been proven to reduce stress and cortisol levels in the body, it calms the nervous system and soothes the soul.  Our ancestors lived in harmony with nature and the natural flow and were better off for it.

Combining the nourishment of nature with exploring the mental and emotional difficulties currently experienced, helps to give a feeling of ease, of being less overwhelmed and more expansive and more empowered to move forward more positively.

As we explore together outdoors, nature becomes a c0-therapist, helping to ground us in the present moment.  As we walk and observe the world around us, we see many metaphors for life and cues from the natural world on slowing down and living in rhythm with nature.

This is a like a double dose of therapy.

from £30 – tailored to suit your needs