Meditation

Meditate and heal from within 

Meditation, the very mention of it can spark images of hippies sitting cross legged and chanting strange sounding mantra's.

For me meditation was always elusive. That thing people said I should try but that thing that I always felt was just not for me. My usual response being,  "I can't meditate, my brain won't switch off".

Last year when I was faced with my own personal healing crisis, signs kept coming up for me everywhere about meditation. Emails, documentaries, practitioners.

So I did some research and this is what I discovered. Meditation can be done in many ways. It doesn't have to be a battle with the mind. Though I'll admit that even after a year of mostly daily practise I still have my off days every now and then when my mind just won't calm down.

Meditation can be done with the help of recorded guided imagery or you can sit quietly and focus on something, your breath, the flame of a candle, the waves crashing on the shore.
You can chant a mantra, which doesn't always need a diploma in another language to be able to pronounce it. It can be very simple.

Generally speaking meditation involves deliberately holding your attention on something. If your mind wonders you just bring it back to what your focus is. You can do this for 5 minutes up to half an hour.
Find what works best for you.

I discovered that when we meditate our beta brain waves slow down which in turn slows the brains information processing ability. Therefore giving the brain a chance to stop obsessing with the million things its got going on in there.
The parasympathetic nervous system switches on, meaning our body calms and relaxes right down and this has been linked to better digestion, memory and immunity.

In many different reports, it's been shown that meditation can lead to -
* Better focus
* Less anxiety
* More creativity
* More compassion
* Better memory
* Less stress
* More positive emotions and more emotional stability
* Slows normal ageing
* More disease fighting genes

Our muscles relax, our heart slows and our blood circulation flows more freely to the body's tissues feeding it with vital nutrients and oxygen. This restful state is good for fertility as the body is able to conserve the resources it needs to generate new life.

Wow, really, just by sitting quietly for a while?

So after I realised that there was actually something to this meditation thing and that I wasn't just being 'lazy' taking 15 minutes out each day for me, I decided to give it a go.

I find that guided imagery works best for me, as does breath work. I always do it in the morning so it's setting my day up nicely and now a year on, I LOVE my daily meditation.

My health and my moods improved. I've found it helps me be a better, more compassionate wife, mother and practitioner. It helps me check in with myself on a daily basis.

I've also found that my clients that take my advice to meditate, especially my fertility patients, are definitely getting better outcomes too.

I recommend it to everyone and I find that it is the perfect accompaniment to acupuncture treatment.
Whilst the acupuncture needles are in place you are left for 20-40 minutes for the treatment to balance your Qi. This is the ideal time to practise meditation, in fact I find it enhances the calming effects of the acupuncture treatment.

How good to be able to help create a little more peace and love in your life.

http://www.wellnestacupuncture.com

I'm not a blogger I'm an acupuncturist. Oh maybe I can be both :)

Hello everyone, thank you for coming over and checking out my NEW blog. This is definitely a step outside of my comfort zone but I think it's time for me to share some of the information that rattles around inside of my head.

My name is Mellissa Robertson and I'm a 30 something mum of 2 and step mum of 2. Yes that's 4 children ranging from 10 - 16 years and they all (of course) are wonderful. They are certainly my greatest achievement.

When I'm not being a mum I'm being an acupuncturist at my clinic in Avoca Beach,
'The Well Nest Acupuncture Clinic'.
Now that my kids are getting older I guess you could say this is my baby.
I LOVE my job and I happen to think I'm one of the luckiest people around to have found something that doesn't feel like a job and gives me such pleasure. I have so much gratitude to the universe for helping me find this path.

I found my way into acupuncture via a nasty trampoline accident when I was 14 years old. Acupuncture fixed what many other treatments I tried couldn't.

I always had an affinity towards natural therapies and was tossing up many different options to study post HSC. When I had such great results with Acupuncture I decided that it was what I was going to study.
I remember thinking "If I can help people get relief and healing like I've had, then that's what I want to do".

In 1995 I started my degree in Health Science - Acupuncture. It was a strange process to study both Eastern and Western medicine together and at times was just utterly confusing. Me the definite right brain kind of girl did not take easily to the more left brain subjects like physics, but with the help of great friends I made it through.

In my first year at uni I attended the birth of my niece and it was there that I discovered I really wanted to work in the area pregnancy and I went on to do my research on acupuncture in childbirth.
I discovered that there are many issues in pregnancy that western doctors will tell you there is nothing that can be done to help "it's just part of being pregnant". I also discovered that's not true and that acupuncture indeed has a lot to offer these issues.

My first job as an acupuncturist at 22 years of age was in a chiropractic clinic in Newcastle. There I had to treat some high profile sports players due to contracting. Talk about throwing the young girl in the deep end.
After a few years of mostly sports therapy acupuncture my call to maternity care was still loud and clear.

So I left and started at an all acupuncture clinic and started advertising my interest in pregnancy and fertility and this is where my practise began to flourish.
Since then I've had my babies and moved back to the central coast, where my family are, and I have established my own fertility and pregnancy acupuncture clinic.
I really couldn't be happier!!

That brings me to here, my new blog. I guess the reason I'm here is because I am very passionate about what I do. I have what feels like excessive amounts of information floating around in my head that I wish I could share. I want women to know that they have options and what those options are.
I want women to get advice that maybe their traditional care provider can't give them, whether that's about acupuncture or natural ways to help using diet or other natural remedies.
Through this blog I hope I can reach more then just my clients and help more people, which is of course the whole reason I became an acupuncturist in the first place.

So, my aim is to share information with you. Information about acupuncture, diet, supplements, lifestyle, pregnancy and fertility. All while sharing a bit of myself along the way. I hope to help you be a healthier and happier version of you.

I most certainly hope you will interact with my blog. I appreciate feedback (positive or negative) through any of the channels listed on my page. Phone, email or facebook as well as the comment section of this blog.
Healthy discussion is always welcome and a great way for people to learn more.

Most of all I hope you enjoy what I have to offer and then share that information with others and so the cycle of care goes around. Lets face it the more you care, nurture and LOVE each other the better off the world will be.

Love and peace to you all.

http://www.wellnestacupuncture.com