health Archives - Fertile Ground Health Group

Free 10 minute Introduction Consults

We believe that bodies and minds thrive when given the right ingredients. We are dedicated to boosting our community wellbeing and this is why our brilliant team of practitioners offer free 10-minute introduction consults on rotation, so that you have access to expert care.

These sessions are designed as an introduction to what is possible whilst working with your chosen practitioner. They are a great way to virtually meet and discuss your needs to see how they can help your individual circumstances, fertility and health care needs. You will , of course, be referred if they think another practitioner will better suit your needs.

With health and fertility, there is endless possibility, multiple angles for fine tuning and a plethora of ways to start to feel better. We want to help you feel your radiant vitality shining through.

Register for your free 10 minute Introduction Consult

Simply head to our bookings page, navigate to Acupuncture, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Counselling and choose ’10 min Free Intro Call’.

Note: If you are interested in fertility, IVF support or trying to conceive, please book with a Fertile Ground naturopath. For general health concerns and questions, please book with a Melbourne Apothecary naturopath or nutritionist.

NATUROPATHY

Charmaine Dennis

Senior Fertility and Oncology Naturopath

Charmaine Dennis

Charmaine Dennis is a naturopath, fertility and health expert, mentor, writer, mother, and businesswoman with 20+ years of experience. She is the founding director of Fertile Ground Health Group and The Melbourne Apothecary, co-author of Create A Fertile Life and The Breakfast Project and co-creator of the Be Fertile relaxation CD series, among other health inspired projects. Her greatest gift and inspiration is making health, wellbeing, and passionate living accessible, inspiring and achievable for everyone.

Through her own health crisis at 34 years old (a shocking and life-threatening diagnosis of acute leukaemia in 2010) Charmaine experienced first-hand immersion into the medical system. This transformative, life-affirming, challenging time has refocused and reinvigorated her drive for good health and living life to its fullest. Undoubtedly this experience has deepened her passion for collaborative health care.

Charmaine’s naturopathic career has followed a special interest in working with people with fertility issues requiring IVF support since 1999. She has assisted many in realising their dreams to conceive healthy, beautiful babies in collaboration with GPs and fertility specialists, acupuncturists and other health modalities. Since her own cancer experience, she can see the gaping need for more collaboration between natural and medical oncology approaches and enjoys working with people who need support for wellness and advocacy through their own cancer journey at any stage of treatment or recovery.

As well as mentoring and supervising students, naturopaths and other practitioners at Fertile Ground Health Group, Charmaine is running retreats, immersions and workshops for anyone to support their personal or business development.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Charmaine by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

Gina Fox

Senior Fertility Naturopath

Gina Fox is a naturopath with over 20 years’ experience. She trained under Francesca Naish (author of Natural Fertility Management and Better Babies) and has a Masters in Reproductive Medicine. As well as being an experienced clinician she is a speaker, naturopathic lecturer and student clinic supervisor.

Gina is highly skilled in providing naturopathic care for women’s health issues, pre-conception health, infertility, IVF support, pregnancy care and through menopause. She treats a wide range of issues including recurrent miscarriage, thyroid, auto-immune antibodies and she has seen good results working with men to improve sperm quality. She also enjoys the post birth appointments with mother and baby, maximising wellness for the whole family and educating parents on how to manage many common childhood illnesses. Her professional approach involves working in collaboration with doctors and specialists to create an effective co-ordinated treatment.

Gina loves to help couples achieve full-term pregnancies and give birth to beautiful healthy babies. She excels at addressing underlying stressors while couples achieve their optimal fertility. Her own meditation practice led her to become a meditation instructor and co-develop the Be Fertile series of guided relaxation meditations for women around conception, IVF and pregnancy support, which is now available for free to everyone to access and download.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Gina by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

Georgia Marrion

Senior Fertility Naturopath & Nutritionist

Georgia is a naturopath of 19 years’ experience with a Degree in Complementary Medicine and a Masters in Nutrition. Along with extensive clinical experience in reproductive health and fertility, Georgia is also an experienced writer and well regarded speaker.

Initially embarking on reproductive health as a clinical speciality following her own personal experience with sub-fertility and pregnancy complications, she has a strong curiosity and passion for supporting people who are experiencing reproductive challenges. Georgia specialises in supporting individuals and couples during their journey through preconception, conception, pregnancy and postpartum life stages.

Areas of focus include menstrual cycle irregularities, endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) , pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) and histamine issues as well as male fertility and sperm health issues.

With 2 children of her own in their primary school years, Georgia can help to expertly guide you through the early years of family health issues, and enjoys treating babies and children with recurrent infections, failure to thrive, digestive issues at all ages and any challenges that you need support with for your baby or child’s best health.

Georgia also enjoys treating women and individuals during the transition to menopause including peri-menopausal imbalances.

Her clinical approach involves supporting and guiding you to optimise your health physically, mentally and emotionally using an approach blending traditional and scientific knowledge. This is based on an integration of her many years of clinical experience with ongoing education to stay up to date with new research and treatment strategies. Along with gaining her Masters Degree, this includes post graduate mentoring and training with Rachel Arthur, Rhiannon Hardingham, Leah Hechtman, Dr Andrew Orr and The Fertility Mentoring Program (The Baby Maker Network) among others.

Georgia believes that a team approach gets the best outcomes for all. She works in close collaboration with her patients’ medical care team to ensure the most effective, appropriate evidence-based treatment plans for each individual.

Book your free 10-minute introduction consult with Naturopath, Georgia by navigating to Naturopathy – Fertile Ground > 10-minute Free Naturopathic Introduction TELEHEALTH

Exercise during Pregnancy

Exercise during pregnancy should be done and is safe in a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy. In fact, performing the recommended type and amount of physical activity during pregnancy achieves health benefits for mother and baby including reduced risk of pre-eclampsia, pregnancy induced hypertension, a reduction in instrumental delivery and unplanned caesarean section birth and may help to reduce the severity of lower back and pelvic girdle pain

According to the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) evidence- based guidelines for physical activity in pregnant women, it is recommended that in a normal pregnancy woman participate in 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity or if previously exercising can continue 75-150 minutes of vigorous intensity exercise per week.

This can be completed over a minimum of three days per week, however, being active every day (ideally 30 minutes per day, less if previously inactive) is encouraged and doing some physical activity is better than none.

Training should be a combination of aerobic (brisk walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, exercise classes) and strength (body weight, light weight or resistance band) exercises and exercise intensity will vary depending how physically active you were or we not pre-pregnancy. Women who were active prior to conceiving can continue with their usual activities for as long as they feel comfortable but are advised to check with a health professional if they would like to continue with vigorous intensity or high impact sports and exercise

Additionally, some exercises may need to be modified as your pregnancy progresses due to biomechanical changes and pain i.e. After 16 weeks it is best to avoid exercises lying on your back.

Exercise is not recommended in all circumstances. The following are cases in which exercise is not recommended;

Incompetent cervix
Ruptured membranes, preterm labour
Premature labour
Persistent second or third trimester bleeding
Placenta previa
Pre-eclampsia
Evidence of intrauterine growth restriction
Multiple gestation (triplets or higher number)
Poorly controlled Type 1 diabetes, hypertension or thyroid disease
Other serious cardiovascular, respiratory or systemic disorder

Stop and seek advice from a health professional if you experience any of the following while being physical activity:

Chest pain
Persistent excessive shortness of breath – that does not resolve with rest
Severe headache
Persistent dizziness / feeling faint – that does not resolve with rest
Regular painful uterine contractions
Vaginal bleeding
Amniotic fluid loss
Calf pain, swelling or redness
Sudden swelling of the ankles, hands or face
Decreased foetal movement

Still unsure what physical activity you can or cannot be doing during pregnancy speak with your health care provider before starting an exercising program

*Exercise intensity ratings are based on ratings of perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is not moving and 10 is maximal effort. Activities in the range 3-7 indicate moderate-vigorous intensity and are considered safe and are recommended for health benefits in pregnant women. This can also be judged by the ‘talk test’ in which a conversation can be held during moderate intensity activities but difficult during vigorous activities.

Written by Dr Nicole Cukierman, Fertility, Pregnancy and General health Osteopath.

Book in with a Fertile Ground Osteopath and find out what’s possible for your situation.

References

Brown, W.J., Hayman, M, Haakstad, L.A.H., Mielke, G.I. et al. (2020). Evidence-based physical activity guidelines for pregnant women. Report for the Australian Government Department of Health. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health.

MA’s July 2021 love letter

Welcome to MA’s July 2021 Love Letter. We’ve been receiving MA’s monthly love letters from The Melbourne Apothecary since the beginning of 2020. These letters contain links to a variety of life enhancing freebies that our fabulous practitioners are constantly creating to help you cope during COVID and beyond.

The letters are also a fantastic and charismatic resource that share all the goings on within both The MA and Fertile Ground. So we thought we’d best share them with you here so that you can join in and receive the monthly intel from our delightful and ever wisdomous MA. Please enjoy.

Hello hello,

I hope this July 2021 love letter finds you healthy, warm and feeling loved. Word on my MA vine is that there are 2 wonderful projects beginning to blossom in our town. I would love to invite you to be a part of either one in whatever capacity you like.

These projects really align with my desire to help to enrich our community, enhance collaboration, and support sustainability (because as I’m sure you’re aware, there is no Planet B).

Project 1 – Brilliantly Upcycled Beautiful Baby Apparel

(or BUBBA for short)

This is an initiative brought to you by the wonderful minds of the Fertile Ground Health Group team. The way it works is that everyone is welcome to bring in and donate any beautiful baby apparel that they no longer need (for newborns – apparel to suit up to 12 month old babies). This apparel will all then be available for any patients of Fertile Ground to take and use for their budding family.

This is an opportunity for you to either share apparel you no longer need, or receive lovely new baby apparel with and from people who not only share your health values but have also likely shared some similar struggles as you too.

By being a part of this initiative in any way you will be contributing not only to a circular economy (less waste), but also to rampant happiness on all sides.

If you would like to donate baby apparel, please drop it into the reception team at Fertile Ground when you’re next nearby. Feel free to write a little love note to accompany your clothes – we will be sure to pass it on. And if you’d like to pick up free upcycled baby apparel for your growing family, please ask at Fertile Ground’s reception when you’re next in too.

Project 2 – Shared Holistic Health Library

You may have noticed the gorgeous library of health, fertility and self help books that lives on the wall of the upstairs waiting room at Fertile Ground.

Did you know that it’s a shared library? Meaning – you are most welcome to take a book or two, read them and bring them back/keep them when you’re done. You’re also welcome to add any health / fertility / pregnancy / baby / self help related books you have at home that you wish to recirculate into the community. Take a wander through the Holistic Health Library next time you’re in.

Love & Snowflakes

Your MA 💕

MA’s love letters – June 2021

We’ve been receiving MA’s monthly love letters from The Melbourne Apothecary since the beginning of 2020. These letters contain links to a variety of life enhancing freebies that our fabulous practitioners are constantly creating to help you cope during COVID and beyond.

Hello and a wonderful crisp sunny June to you!

I feel really thrilled to write to you this month (ahem – I feel thrilled every month actually because I just LOVE connecting with you about my favourite thing – health 🥳 ). I have 3 fabulous things to share.

Free preconception series
Firstly, this month Sage King, one of our expert fertility Naturopaths, has put together a 6 part article series designed to help you navigate your fertility journey and create your Fertility Plan. And what a wealth of information this is. I have had the privilege of sneak peeking a couple of Sage’s articles and I can tell you they are off ⚓️ the ⚓️ hook ⚓️ with information about options to proceed and succeed when creating your healthy family 💕

The way Sage writes is so comprehensive AND YET so digestible and clear. Find out more about what this series covers and then go ahead and register to receive all the freebies.

👉Sign up here for the Free Preconception series

World Environment Day
Saturday the 5th of June is World Environment Day 💕 🌏 💕 This day is designed to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment – which is SO glorious!🦚🐍🦧🦩🦥🕸🦜🐊🦓🦔🦙🐇🦕

I recently watched David Attenborough’s latest film, ‘A Life on This Planet’. It was completely motivating and deeply eye opening 👀 beyond the level that my plant farming, naturopathic, chemically free, environment loving eyes have been opened before…

The result? We started a Sustainability Action Group at Fertile Ground and The MA – SAG for short (because SAGging is what my heart ♥ does when I think of the health of our planet and what will happen if we, personally and as a community, don’t take greater responsibility for our daily actions that contribute to the devastation of this world).

Fertile Ground and The Melbourne Apothecary already have deep values of sustainability and supporting climate action ✨ 🌏 💓 however after watching this film📽we stirred into even greater action to identify all the ways that we must DO BETTER in the clinic – our revised mission being helping people to make healthy babies — AND a healthy planet for them to live on!

So please see our MA instagram posts to check out what we’re identifying and changing in the clinic to do better ourselves, and perhaps you’ll find some motivation and inspiration therefor things you can do at home to help healthify the planet even more too♥️

Food cravings?
The third thing I want to touch on is food cravings. It’s lockdown again here in Melbourne, and if you’re a person you are likely feeling emotions about that.😧😪😶😡😩🤨🧐🤯

Many of us use food as an emotional buffer🧀🌭🍕🥖🍔🥞🍫🍷

When things get a bit emotionally intense (hello the last 1+ years of COVID…)it’s a good idea to get some support around healthy eating ESPECIALLY if you know that you have a relationship with food that you’d like to change for the better, or one that becomes topsy turvy during stress.

Read this bang on article from Jane Holland, our MA holistic nutritionist, all about diving under the surface of food cravings. Remember that Jane is available for free 10 minute consults to you if you want to connect with her and find out how you can begin to create a healthier relationship with your food.

Read Food Cravings – what are you really craving? With Nutritionist, Jane Holland

Love & Wooly Jackets
Your MA💕

Food Cravings – what are you really craving?

Food cravings come in all tastes and sizes. Have you ever walked past a bakery early in the morning and spied the rows of croissants in the window and found yourself thinking about nothing else but those buttery flaky pastries for rest of the day??

Or perhaps you’ve arrived at the end of a busy afternoon and found yourself thinking of nothing else but the moment when you can crack open the cupboard and dig your hand into a packet of salty crunchy crisp chips??

Or perhaps after dinner when you’re winding down, your mind becomes filled with the idea of biting into a delicious chunk of chocolate, that sweet goodness bringing you some kind of wild euphoria…

Chances are, if you are a human, you have experienced some form of food craving.

In fact, surveys suggest that up to 90% of women and 70% of men have experienced food cravings at some point during their life (Magee 2005).

Food cravings can be defined as an intense desire to consume a particular food, differentiating it from a feeling of hunger, which can be alleviated by consumption of any type of food (Muele 2020).

The Complexities

And it’s more complicated than you might think! We tend to think food cravings are driven by a primal instinct to stay alive, an evolutionary advantage embedded in our genes. And while that’s partly true, what is now also known, is that areas of the brain responsible for memory and sensing pleasure are also partially to blame (i.e. conditioned responses to stimuli), as well as a need to satisfy emotional states, such as calming stress and reducing anxiety. In other words, it’s complex.

When our needs are not being met – physiologically, emotionally, mentally, or energetically – our natural impulse is to rectify this. In other words, when we are ‘out of alignment’, we will find a way to bring ourselves ‘into’ alignment. Our brain can’t always differentiate between fulfilling needs in a resourceful versus unresourceful way, however, so if we are not aware of the ways we have learnt to ‘fulfil’ these needs (i.e. we have learnt to do something that brings relief but not necessarily long-term satisfaction), we will continue to repeat this behaviour over and over again, despite our seemingly ‘conscious’ desire to change it.

Mindfulness for Food Craving

Mindfulness, and self-awareness through sensation and the body, are some of the ways to bring us back into deep connection with our intuitive self. From here, we can respond to our needs in a more honest way, rather than a reactionary, automated way. But it’s tricky business. The parts of us that work to protect us (often formed during childhood or adolescence to ‘meet the needs’) might feel fear or hesitation or resistance to a different response, which can lead to more dissonance and contraction if we are not willing to listen and be ‘in relationship’ with them! Simply put, in order to understand our needs, we need to engage with them in a compassionate and honest way, to find out how we can support them (and ourselves) in a more resourceful way.

Stopping the Self-Punishment

As we bring more awareness to these needs and honour our deeper stirrings and get curious about the places where we are betraying ourselves, our physical body changes too. Instead of punishing or banishing the parts of us that crave chocolate after dinner, or eat a whole wheel of cheese at the party, or yearn for a hot cross bun smeared with butter, we start to notice that actually, those parts just wanted to feel safe in that moment, or connected, or loved.

Over time, as we integrate and listen to our different parts, our behaviour changes too. Learning to notice and feel what we are truly craving, fulfilling our needs and honouring our intuition leads to deep and lasting changes. It just requires deep compassion, radical honesty and a willingness to listen.

Written by Jane Holland, respected holistic Nutritionist at The Melbourne Apothecary, renowned international retreat facilitator, adored Deep Sleep Yin Yoga teacher.

Book in with Jane to understand and reshape your food story, build a healthy relationship with your food and body, and create behaviours in your life that support your healthiest self. (Jane is currently offering free 10 minute Nutrition consults to help you take action – when booking navigate to heading Nutrition > Free 10 min consult > Jane Holland)

References

Meule, A. Twenty Years of the Food Cravings Questionnaires: a Comprehensive Review. Curr Addict Rep 7, 30–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-020-00294-z

Magee, E. The Facts About Food Cravings, WebMD (2005). https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-facts-about-food-cravings#1

Putting A Pause On Menopause

What to do when the desire to have a baby collides with fertility’s end (menopause)?

Thinking about a good time to have a baby may be considered good family planning, but what happens when reproductive circumstances dictate how and when this time needs to be? Never more so than when we enter into our midlife years and there is a realisation that it actually needs to be right NOW.

To get to this place the desire to have a baby can have been a source of great ambivalence, entirely missing or lay dormant in some people. At times this will be a reflection on other life circumstances such as health, mental health, past trauma, being unpartnered, partnered with uncertainty about the relationship enduring, partnered with another who does not wish to be a parent or to parent again, or without a clear point of readiness for life as it has been to change.

Your reproductive rights

Many people may have previously experienced a pregnancy they were unable to continue, even though they would have chosen to if the context in which they found themselves pregnant were different. Whether they are adequately supported to continue is often outside of their control. Some have experienced reproductive coercion, either in being coerced into pregnancy when they did not wish to be, or forced to terminate when they would have liked to continue.

A decision to continue any pregnancy comes with it an assessment as to whether a person has ‘enough’ support, be it financial, emotional, health, their partner’s health if they have one, age factors, being adequately housed and feeling safe – not only now but for the life of that future child. These are all common considerations for any child a parent will be responsible for. Parenthood, I believe, begins with these considerations, as does the willingness to make some hard choices for the life of another above one’s own life choices.

With so many factors to interrupt a choice into parenthood what happens when it has to be right NOW? One such example is the medical need for a hysterectomy, particularly potent in someone who has not only not yet had children, but also may not yet have considered whether they want to have children. Imagine the frantic scrambling of thoughts and feelings that need to be explored, all without adequate time to do so. Mix this with the all too often narrow lens of the medical profession that rarely takes on the bigger picture in a person’s life outside of the part they will play in performing their surgical prowess. Add to this gender imbalances of male dominated gynaecological surgical practices and any biases they might hold about age and fertility. What might you expect?

The right to options

If a person in their midlife (40’s) presents for a medically required hysterectomy, has not yet had children, may know they either want to have children or may have not yet have considered if they want children. What might you expect? I know that what I would expect would be to be given options with regard to the surgery, such as, any alternative surgery that may provide additional time for the person to consider, decide and reconcile with their choices and circumstances, a thorough breakdown of medical risks in relation to their medical condition and any delay or alternative surgery, a referral to a counsellor to begin to explore the decision before them, a referral to a fertility specialist to discuss their options (eg. egg freezing, surrogacy, pregnancy, IVF), patience with regard to any indecision, and above all compassionate consideration for their predicament without personal bias or unfounded harmful statements. Basic assumptions you and I might think, but quite the contrary to what I have come across in my practice recently.

Moving into menopause

Moving into menopause is no small transition physically, as we are mostly aware of, with the common symptom picture of hot flushes, irritability, fatigue, weight gain etc. Psychologically it can be even harder, particularly for those whose fertility journey has been fraught with challenges, missed opportunities, losses and broken dreams, but equally so for those whose opportunities have never taken them to the foot of the parenthood mountain to raise the challenge of do I or don’t I. Passing through menopause can be graceful and welcome when one’s reproductive expectations have been met and satisfied, for those fortunate enough to not hold regret for any children unborn.

When a medical event removes your uterus and/or your fertility in one fowl swoop, great care needs to be exerted by everyone surrounding that individual, always giving them control over their choices, supporting them in their decisions even if they seem counter intuitive or differ from your own. Without this unconditional regard for their right to choose we overlook the wisdom within people to know their own bodies, to make their own choices and know their own minds. Without this basic human right you can expect a very poor mental state and outcome for people and their reproductive rights.

For anyone who has had a negative experience of hysterectomy you may like to contact;

InternationalHERS Foundation

After speaking with The New Daily, Health Issues Centre CEO Mr Vadasz said the body is interested in hearing the experiences of women who were encouraged to undergo hysterectomies.

To contact the Health Issues Centre, call (03) 8676 9050.

For more support, Suzanne Hurley, Perinatal Counsellor, is available for consultations at Fertile Ground Health Group or you can make an appointment for a phone or video session for your convenience.

Self Care for Autumn Changes

How to look after yourself in Autumn

According to Eastern medicine, Autumn is the driest season. What can you do to support yourself during this transitional time and the impacts that this shift has on your system?

You might notice that your skin can start to feel dry and itchy, your mind unsettled and distracted, and some discomfort in your joints and muscles. This can occur because as Summer bends slowly into the cold and windy days of Winter, the dryness in our bodies can mirror the inherent dryness of the Autumn weather shaping the environment around us (like the leaves browning and falling crisp to the ground).

Our lungs and large intestines are more vulnerable in Autumn, which can lead to constipation and/or bloating. Asthma and/or a dry cough are also common in this season. It is important to look after yourself now so that your body can get ready for the cold Winter season without any trouble.

How to prevent dryness in the body.

Keep warm and moist

Swap out your shower for a warm bath with Epsom salts. This can provide both warmth and moisture at the same time to your body. Adding some oil into the bath in addition to the Epsom salts helps to keep your skin moist even after the bath. You can add warming essential oils like Cinnamon or Ginger to your bath to really bring the warmth to your body.

Eat warm food

To support good digestion, avoid any cold foods from Summer (eg. Salad, cold drinks, smoothies etc.) Eating cooked, warm vegetables with warming spices can help to reduce any bloating and constipation that you might be experiencing.

Get an oil massage

As previously mentioned, oil is amazing for adding moisture to the body and massage helps to bring heat and warmth by increasing your circulation. Not only do oil massages relax your body and mind, they also help to prevent some of the conditions associated with the Autumn season.

When you get an oil massage, on top of great outcome of the body releasing tension, the skin also absorbs all the benefits from oil itself. As a result, the skin is moisturised, movement in your joints and digestive system are soothed and busy minds start to calm down. You can add simple self-oil massage as a small routine at home with warming essential oils. Or if you don’t know how to do self massage, you can even just rub oil into your body to access the benefits.

Tips for self-oil massage at home

Warm the oil before use (but not too hot!) and optionally – you can add essential oils
Apply oil all over the body (don’t forget your head, ears and back of feet)
Gently massage the body. Use circular movements (don’t worry about technique too much)
Apply extra oil into the part of body you feel any discomfort (stomach, joints, skin or chest area)
Keep oil on the skin 5-10 min
Have a warm shower or bath

It’s a great idea to adjust your lifestyle to be in rhythm with the seasons and not against them. Understanding the seasons can give you an idea of what adjustments you can make to optimise your health. I believe that making these small, habitual changes to everyday life are the most beneficial way to achieve a healthier body and mind.

Written by Massage Therapist, Reina Hanaoka, who is also expanding her knowledge and and completing a course in Ayurvedic lifestyle consultancy. Book in a Massage with Reina to help you enhance your health this Autumn.

EMERGE – allow your natural buoyancy

How are you this week? I know a few of you reading this in Melbourne have just started yet another lockdown – and of course many of you overseas are still managing the restrictions and ongoing changes that COVID brings each week… We’re a pretty adaptable and resilient species really aren’t we? That’s not to say we’re always comfortable in the adaptations we are forces to make, but somehow we manage to find our way.

Which has got me thinking this week about how we will emerge from this period in history??

Emergence

I really love the concept of emergence – it suggests there is a natural buoyancy, an intrinsic ability to rise, that exists within us.

Interestingly the word EMERGE comes from the Latin root ’emergere’ meaning ‘bring to light.’ For me, it’s an innate sense of something bubbling up, a knowing that something wants to manifest. Sometimes we notice it, but often our own stories or narratives are in the way, intercepting the emergence of whatever idea or concept that is trying to rise.

This suggests then that it may be more important for us to remove the obstruction (stories, beliefs and conditioning) so we can ALLOW for the natural emergence, rather than placing all our attention on what we think SHOULD emerge. In other words, to bring our awareness to the ways in which we impede the natural buoyancy of ourselves, so we can simply ‘get out of the way’ and receive whatever it is in us that is naturally moving towards the light….

“Just as the acorn contains the mighty oak tree, the Self has everything it needs to fulfil its destiny. When the inner conditions are right, it naturally emerges”
~ Derek Rydall

What inner conditions do you need to allow in order for your mighty oak seed to sprout?

Written by Jane Holland, respected holistic Nutritionist at The Melbourne Apothecary, renowned international retreat facilitator, adored Deep Sleep Yin Yoga teacher.

Book in with Jane to understand and reshape your food story, create a healthy relationship with your food and body, and create behaviours in your life that support your healthiest self. (Jane is currently offering free 10 minute Nutrition consults to help you take action – when booking navigate to heading Nutrition > Free 10 min consult > Jane Holland)

Yin for the Sleep Win…#Yinning

How many nights have you SWORN you would get off Netflix earlier/ stopped scrolling social media in bed/ run a bath/ rubbed lavender in your pillow/ done a guided mediation/ got a better night’s sleep?! Or perhaps you tend to lay in bed, wide eyed, coaxing yourself to drop down, only to become more restless the longer you remain awake?! If you answered yes, you are not alone! An astonishing 39.8% Australians are not getting the recommended quality and/or quantity of sleep each night, leading to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, cognitive dysfunction, poor immune regulation and higher chances of depression and anxiety during and post-pregnancy (Adams 2017). And this where yin yoga comes into play – yin for the sleep win. Let’s dive in.

Increasingly, we are living in a screen-driven, complex, and uncertain world. The prevalence of sleep problems and prescribed sleep medications actually increased between 2010 and 2016, suggesting that despite increasing awareness in the general media and medical literature about sleep, we are not making meaningful changes!

So, what can you do?

One of the first things you can do to support your sleep is to get honest and conduct a night-time audit. It is much harder to change a behaviour you are not aware of, so understanding your patterns and how they might be contributing to poor sleep comes first.

RECORD… Track your movements between 6pm and bedtime each night for the next two weeks. Keep a record of the times you ate/ drank, what you watched on TV, amount of alcoholic drinks/ cigarettes, interactions with partners/ family/ housemates, time on your phone, reading, what you do when lying down to bed, exercise etc. Also note caffeine intake (how many coffees/ teas/ cola drinks you had during the day) Make this as detailed as possible.
ASSESS… Each morning, record how your sleep was the previous evening – how many times you woke, if you got up during the night, how vital you feel when you wake on a scale of 1-10 (if you have a device that tracks this you could record the data as well).
REVIEW… After two weeks, go back to your journal and notice if there are correlations between evening activities and sleep quality/ quantity.

The next step? Operation SLEEP HYGIENE

EDIT… Start small. That is, find ONE thing you can remove from your evening ritual that might be connected to poor sleep, and introduce ONE thing that might improve your sleep.

SUGGESTIONS…

REMOVE– Wi-Fi in your home after 9pm, scrolling on apps whilst lying in bed, alcoholic drinks, caffeine after midday, bright lighting around the home in the evening, arguments with family/ housemates, going straight from Netflix to bed, eating/ working within an hour of going to sleep, electronics in the bedroom.
INTRODUCE– dimmed lighting for an hour before sleeping, sipping warm water in the fresh air for 10 minutes before bed, yin yoga, 10 mins of meditation, reading, a warm shower or bath, daily exercise (20-30mins), going to bed at the same time every night, removing all electronic devices from your bedroom
REVIEW… Notice what changes for you over the following two weeks. Does your sleep improve? What are you feeling since your audit? Can you introduce another small change after these two weeks?

Including meditation and gentle yoga before bed is one simple method of reducing stress and supporting in to ‘come home’ to your body and breath. Studies have shown that including meditation, breathwork and yoga reduces stress and associated negative health effects, as well as improving sleep quality and quantity.

Yin yoga, a practice which includes long held postures targeting deep connective tissue and calming the nervous system, has shown great promise in reducing stress and ensuring good sleep hygiene.

A 2012 US study found 55% of participants who included yoga in their weekly practices reported improved sleep, and 85% reduced stress (Stussman 2015). Yoga’s ability to increase relaxation and induce a balanced mental state has also been explored, with a regular yoga practice resulting in an increase in the total number of hours slept, significantly less time getting to sleep, and a feeling of being rested in the morning (Woodyard 2011).

While there is not one definitive answer to improving sleep quality and quantity, becoming aware of our daily habits and behaviours is an incredibly important starting point in establishing what is true. By getting honest, it is possible to firstly acknowledge and then establish what changes can be made. Implementing a regular yoga and meditation practice may provide both a nourishing and supportive way to come back into alignment with our natural cycles, improve sleep and experience deep rest.

So as the sun sets on your day, watch your own habits and behaviours as you prepare for sleep. Will you be winding down with nature and following your natural rhythms supported by yoga and mindfulness? Or will you scrolling mindlessly, yearning for deep restoration but unwilling to make changes… The choice is yours.

Written by Jane Holland

Jane Holland is a respected yin yoga teacher, international retreat facilitator and educator. She is the creator and facilitator of our current “Deep Sleep” series – yin yoga for restoration.

References:

Woodyard C. Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality of life. Int J Yoga. 2011;4(2):49-54. doi:10.4103/0973-6131.85485

(Stussman BJ, Black LI, Barnes PM, Clarke TC, Nahin RL. Wellness-related use of common complementary health approaches among adults: United States, 2012. National health statistics reports; no 85. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2015.)

Adams RJ, Appleton SL, Taylor AW et al. Sleep health of Australian adults in 2016: results of the 2016 Sleep Health Foundation national survey. Sleep Health 2017;3:35-42

Daukantaitė D, Tellhed U, Maddux RE, Svensson T, Melander O. Five-week yin yoga-based interventions decreased plasma adrenomedullin and increased psychological health in stressed adults: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2018 Jul 18;13(7):e0200518. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200518. PMID: 30020987; PMCID: PMC6051627.

Rebuilding a Healthier World Together

It’s time to rebuild a healthier world, starting with ourselves.

Sometimes it can feel overwhelming to be confronted by the magnitude of change needed to set the entire world on a healthier trajectory. It can feel quite out of our control and way bigger than ourselves and our choices – if we let it. But what if we all changed just a few of our daily habits – would this make a significant contribution to creating an even better world than before?

Here at Fertile Ground and The Melbourne Apothecary – we think so.

I’m writing to you today to share some of the simple, powerful actions that we are taking on a daily basis at Fertile Ground and The Melbourne Apothecary to contribute to the whole. We’re always on a mission to change the way we do things around here for the better, so that we are actively and consciously rebuilding our healthy world with even more momentum.

A healthier world means healthier plants and animals, healthier people, healthier choices, healthier water, healthier food, healthier minds, healthy hearts and connections.

We believe that every single system on this planet is intimately entwined with every other system – we all rely on each other. Right now the world is out of balance, unhealthy. We believe that a snowball of people taking positive and achievable daily actions towards healthy change personally and interpersonally can make a significant difference locally and globally.

We hope you feel good knowing that you’re using products and services from a team of people who are striving to make the world and its people healthier.
We hope that you LOVE the actions we are taking in our clinic and choose to feel inspired to take similar actions in your own life, home or place of work.
We hope that you feel moved enough by the wake-up call this crisis is giving us to go even another step further and inspire others to make healthier changes too.

What will you do with your daily power? Here’s what we’re doing with ours.

We’ve taken the phrase, ‘cleaning up our own backyard’, and applied it to an array of ways we do things in the clinic on a daily basis. By no means are we the be all and end all of gold star ecological magnificence, but we are dedicated to consistent improvement and actively pursuing more and more ways to create a more environmentally friendly clinic.

Our current daily power actions (at least the first 20 we could think of!)

We have moved our clinic banking to Bank Australia so that our funds support ethical causes in the world. The money in Bank Australia is never loaned to industries that do harm, such as coal, nuclear weapons, gambling, tobacco, or live animal export. They’re a carbon neutral business and offset the carbon emissions of all their car loans. Bank Australia also give 4% of their after-tax profit to projects that help people and the planet.
Our stationery is printed on 100% recycled paper.
We have moved a large amount of our practitioner clinical activity online as we move towards being paper-free.
We use biodegradable and reusable ‘hero’ bags to post all of our prescriptions to patients – once received they can reuse the bag with a fancy inbuilt extra sticky strip. Hero bags are great!
We use biodegradable bubble wrap, as well as recycled delivery boxes plus reuse the delivery material (bubble wrap) to encase delicate products that we ship to you in the post.
We upcycle our product delivery boxes (and biodegradable potato starch packing pellets) to a local potter so Tara can ship her art, and to a local indoor plant specialist to help Hanora deliver her plants, and to anyone moving house (via the local Facebook Good Karma networks).
For mass paper hand towel use due to COVID – we have 100% recycled biodegradable paper hand towels in all sinks and rooms.
We are using and selling face hand-made cotton face masks made by a Tibetan refugee friend of Fiona Harrison (our wonderful massage therapists/doula) and Jo Sharkey’s mum (Jo is one of our fabulous acupuncturists).
We use only Who Gives A Crap toilet paper throughout the clinic.
We use biodegradable biobags for all our bins, which are separated into recycling and non-recycling.
We separate soft plastics that we deposit to the soft plastic recycling depot at any Woolworths or Coles via RedCycle.
We are growing indoor plants in every room to purify the air, improve focus and creativity and bring some nature indoors.
We have a worm farm from Ceres in which we put organic scraps and then use the worm juice and compost for our courtyard garden – check out The Compost Revolution for awesome discounts via your council too.
We grow organic vegetables and bee attracting flowers in our courtyard garden, and have a bee and insect house on the wall from Bunnings we are hoping will populate this spring.
We use bulk refills for our dishwashing liquid, laundry powder and soap throughout the clinic, our sanitiser and our COVID disinfectant spray, to reuse all the plastic squirt pumps instead of throwing them out and using more.
We use eco-friendly low tox dishwashing machine powder, bought in bulk, and dishwashing liquid, also bought in bulk from the fabulous Building Biologist Nicole Bijlsma, creator of Abode cleaning products.
We encourage our patients to eat chemical-free and organic produce as much as possible and endeavour to do this ourselves as well.
We have built-in twin-undersink water filters in the dispensary and kitchen as well as Zazen drinking and shower water filters – there are no bottles of water here. If you’re interested to get a Zazen filter be sure to email one of our practitioners – Carly Woods – as she has access to them for a cheaper price. Email carly@fertileground.com.au.
Many of our practitioners choose to cycle or walk to work – which we heartily support and love.
We walk or cycle our daily prescription postage to the local Australia Post branch.

Phew! That’s A LOT of positive action! And I am sure there is more I could think of if I had more time.

There are many more ways we can improve our action taking for a healthier earth and we are on a mission to do better. If you see something you think we could do better, we are always open to your feedback and welcome your fresh eyes and insight.

If you’re a part of Fertile Ground or The Melbourne Apothecary in any way, or even if you’ve just stumbled across us and landed here reading this – we’re grateful. We’re grateful that you’ve taken steps, whether large or small, to integrate even more holistic care into your life. As you take proactive steps like this to nourish yourself, your family and the planet so too will your action inspire others. Healthy people make healthy decisions. What a beautiful world we can create together. Thank you.

Written by Charmaine Dennis (Founding Director and Naturopath) on behalf of the entire wonderful team at Fertile Ground and The Melbourne Apothecary