How are you these days?
Tensed-up shoulders and talking through gritted teeth?
Are you feeling a tad out of sorts with yourself, the world in general and desperately wishing it was possible to step away from the stresses and strains of modern living - for just a little while?
Intuitive hand massage
Dr. Mike Meredith demonstrates on the author
(Photo: St. Neots Town Crier)
Well, if the answer to the above question is yes, a solution may be - literally - in your own hands!
Last week, physiologist Dr. Michael Meredith (53) came into the Town Crier office and demonstrated a stress-relief technique called "Sunflower Intuitive Massage", which, he assured me, will bring relief to those teetering "on the brink".
The massage is a combination of breathing, massage and meditation, to relieve stress and cultivate intuition.
Incidentally, no undressing is required and anyone can do it, anywhere, anytime, on yourself, or with a partner. You can even help an uptight work colleague who has taken to head pounding on the desk!
Michael explained that he had developed this intuitive massage technique over a period of ten years "after being disappointed with the results of using mind meditation alone for achieving an inner state of calm where we can rest, heal and make better decisions".
Apparently, the first thing to go 'out the window' when we are under stress, is our ability to draw on inner guidance...
"...frustration, anger, fear or desperation, drive our words and actions" Michael continues.
Very true! I thought.
Michael has had a varied career before and during the years when he developed the massage system. Currently a business information specialist, based at offices near Bar Hill, Cambridgeshire, he took a physiology degree at the University of London, where he also trained as a vet, eventually working in a veterinary practice in Humberside, Yorkshire.
He also obtained an MA degree at the University of Cambridge, where he worked for some years training veterinary students as a Lecturer in Clinical Veterinary Medicine. "In 1996 I decided to leave the University and set up my own business because my real interest now was in holistic health for people as well as animals" he said.
Before trying his hand (so to speak) on me, demonstrating the Sunflower Intuitive Massage, Michael explained that the breathing technique was most important, and could be helpful to the massage recipient as well as to the giver. He showed me how, in taking in a deep breath, any thought that crosses the mind can be "let go of" as the breath is exhaled.
Obviously, because the massage is an intuitive one, the hands 'go with the flow' and do their own thing as the interaction between two people is established.
Mike began by placing his hands on my shoulders and then moved them gently along the top of my back, all the while adopting the breathing technique.
His hand paused near my left shoulder when he felt tension there.
It was all very soothing, but alas all too brief.
There will be a chance to see or experience for yourself this new approach to an old problem at the St. Neots Green Fair, at the Priory Centre on October 7, when the Sunflower Intuitive Massage will be demonstrated at a workshop.
After all, as the great and late Albert Einstein said:
Not a lot of people know that!
Intuitive massage: Learn more Massage Courses in Cambridgeshire UK
