If you have been following me for the last little while you may probably know that, as much as I am a coach and a guide for women who want to optimise their health, life balance, create happiness and reconnect with their bodies and their hearts, I share openly about my own challenges.
Life comes with many challenges which can feel icky and gross. We can choose to run, we can choose to numb or we can choose to sit with them. When we do the latter, the gift that we receive is the opportunity to evolve and grow.
Once you enter the world of growth and raising your consciousness, it seems like a never-ending journey and at times it can feel amazing and at other times it can feel relentless.
I’ve recently transitioned out of what has felt like a relentless battle.
Rediscovering Wellness
If you have ever had the flu or some illness and not quite realised how unwell you have been until you start to feel better again, this is how I feel now. Like someone turned the lights on and woke up part of me that had felt a little lost for a long time – probably the last 2.5 years.
I’ve written a few times in the past about my health. I shared previously about some digestive issues that I had to work through (C.Diff Infection and being prone to mild recurrent SIBO – Small Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth), I have also written about the hormone testing which I did at the end of last year which showed that my Testosterone levels were low.
All of this investigation started in an attempt to reclaim some energy.
This is more than just feeling a little tired because you haven’t slept enough. This is fatigue which is often coupled with body pain (for me my neck and shoulders), foggy brain, dizziness, headaches and just a general sense of dullness behind the eyes.
For a long time I thought these symptoms were solely down to stress. I am continuously refining my lifestyle and my training to reduce stress as much as possible.
The hardest stress to escape is often the stress created in your own mind as you attach to certain things. For me these things are related to being good enough (and achieving all the things that prove I am) and having enough money – which is always a concern when you run your own business.
When I decided to do my Yoga Teacher Training I just assumed that a month off with yoga, sunshine, sea and no email, work or clients to support would be the answer to everything.
While I was on my training I did feel good. There were some days when I felt naturally tired, as one would expect when taking an intensive training, but not what I call “inflammatory tired” which is the foggy, headachy, body pain kind of tired.
When I returned back to the UK I felt awful.
Initially I thought maybe it was just a bit of jet lag and PMS, but well after the jet lag and PMS left, the symptoms remained. This time they came with additional add-on’s bonus surprises…
I felt like my blood sugar was all over the place, I had intense food cravings and never felt satisfied after eating. I started to get back into what I thought was quite a modest exercise regime and I found my heart racing in my chest for 2 days afterwards. It would take 5 days of rest before the cloud would lift and I would feel well enough again. Some of this time all I felt well enough to do was just lie in bed.
I was frustrated and I was fed up.
After all the money I have spent on Functional Testing, high quality supplements, good quality food, time spent meditating, practising yoga, discipline to go to bed early and get enough sleep, all the hours of working on myself to cover this thing from every angle, and I still didn’t have enough energy to functional like a normal human being.
I was in awe at the people who look after their children, go to their full-time job and are still able to work out hard 4 or 5 times a week and maybe stay up late on the weekend! How did they do it!?
Like any normal person would do, I was obsessively googling my symptoms wondering what was going on. I came to no firm conclusions but my gut instincts pointed towards my nervous system being overloaded.
Anyone who lifts heavy knows that you have to take a deload week every so often. If you don’t you may feel tired, achy, headachy, lose strength. It felt like my body was chronically over-trained or my nervous system overloaded.
When I was in Sri Lanka there were far fewer insults to my nervous system. No heavy loads to be lifted, not spending hours and hours in front of technology and around Wifi. Plenty of time outside in nature, lots of yoga, meditation and pranayama.
But back in the UK there is noise, traffic, concrete, Wifi, TV, mobile phones, laptops, email.
I therefore made decisions to reduce anything I could that would add to the overload on my system. These were the actions that I took:
Training
Lifting a load requires the nervous system to fire up the muscle tissue. The heavier the load, the more the nervous system is required to recruit muscle fibres to do the work.
I didn’t let go of this altogether. It was something I loved to do. I also wanted to maintain some strength and may some muscle tissue too. That being said, I was fully prepared to let it go if I had to.
I reduced my weight training to 2x per week split between lower and upper body. Each session consisted of a 10 minute body weight warm up, 3 resistance exercises with only ONE compound exercise for legs (exercise which includes the use of multiple joints and therefore puts more strain on the nervous system/spine). This would take about 30 minutes including the warm up and then I would finishing up with some stretching, core work or headstand practsie.
Yoga
Apart from Yin Yoga (more below) I decided to take a break from any Hot Yoga Classes as my body wasn’t responding well to the heat. A couple of times a week I have been doing some practises at home where I could listen to my body on the day and give it what it needs.
Diet
I made eating well, especially getting enough protein, a priority. Protein helps to stabilise blood sugar and promote satiety. Considering that my appetite and perception of blood sugar felt out of control, this was an intuitive and important step (more on this below).
If you’ve been following my work long enough you probably have heard me say many times by now that health starts in the gut. I continued to love my gut by eating fresh, whole, signal ingredient foods and all the colours.
I limited to sugars to 1 square of Indian Ocean Chocolate from Waitrose (if you haven’t tried it, it’s the best!) after dinner and 1-2 fruits during in the day.
There were a few days when I didn’t feel good and it was so interesting to observe what I teach: our relationship with food is mirroring our internal state. It was a feed forward cycle, I would feel tired and low, so I would eat chocolate covered rice cakes instead of having a proper lunch, then I would feel more tired and low. It only happened once or twice, but once of twice was enough for me to nip it in the bud.
Body Work
I have been engaging in Network Spinal Analysis for the past year. I talk in more detail about this in Kombucha and Colour, Episode 6 – the podcast I host with Che Dyer – but essentially this is a chiropractic technique which supports reorganising the nervous system. Krishan who entrains me at the Thrive Clinic is absolutely incredible and really held space for me to work through and process my frustrations.
Additonally, I made time to foam roll and use therapy balls to do myofascial release to prevent any tight muscles exacerbating my pain.
Swimming
A little voice inside of me said; start swimming. I’m not one to sit around so the very next day I bought myself a new swimming cap and I did. The first time I forgot my goggles so I only did 30 lengths (600m). What I noticed was that every time I swam, I felt better afterwards. Each time I did a little bit more eventually building up to my current record of 80 lengths.
I remember my Dad joking that I learnt to swim before I learnt to walk. It was something I spent many many hours doing as a child. I love being by water, I love being in water. It is something that I feel I “must” have in my life – hence the reason why we live by the sea.
Water is also the element of the sacral chakra, the chakra associated with hormonal balance, movement, creativity, the ability to change, the ability to nurture oneself, sensation, pleasure, emotion, loss of life. Which I personally find very interesting and this is why I love to include this “energy” side of things in my work.
Yoga Nidra + Yin Yoga
Yoga nidra means “yogic sleep”, “sleep that is yoga” or “sleep caused by yoga” but practically it is a technique whereby you enter certain states of consciousness. When entering these states of consciousness, it allows us to be in our Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the part of our Nervous System which is active in rest, restoration and recovery. Personally when taking time to practise yoga nidra I either fall asleep and have a nice nap or I stay awake, but either way I experience a restorative energetic shift.
If you have been unwell, you will probably agree that being unwell is very boring. Especially when you find yourself mostly in bed. To keep me busy I signed up to a 14 hour online yoga nidra intensive because I wanted to learn more about yoga Nidra for my upcoming Grounded Godess Program.
I am fortunate that I work from home. Although many would consider this to be a blessing, it can also be a bit of a curse when it becomes difficult to set boundaries around when you are working and when you are resting.
I set a boundary to take a proper lunch break, which would consider of a yoga nidra to top up my energy mid-way through the work day.
Additionally, I found over Christmas that when I went to a yin yoga class, I always had a very deep sleep and generally felt better and more energetically balanced. At the studio where I practise (and now teach) there are two yin yoga classes that I made non-negotiable.
Mindset
From all the work that I have done, my head is generally in a good place. I have also become aware that since completing my YTT I am less attached to thoughts or ways of thinking that in the past would have made be feel stressed. I have a lot more trust that things are happening as they should and it is easier to let things go.
I did realise I had to ask for help.
I like to think I share quite openly on social media but what I write isn’t often relevant to my nearest and dearest and they don’t necessarily read it. I realised there had been a communication gap with those closet to me and I had to be honest about what I was experiencing, what it meant to me, what it made me feel and what support I needed.
For the most part I just needed to be heard and understood. Allowing myself to be vulnerable in this way was actually not as easy as I thought and offered another important learning opportunity for me.
This was all on top of:
- 2 years of working through digestive issues – two stool tests, two 5R protocols + supplements following a low FODMAP diet twice over two years, multiple courses of symprove and ultimately learning what balance works for me
- 3 months supplementation to support low adrenal output, low testosterone (I do need to repeat testing on this to confirm any changes) and additional supplements magnesium, B-complex, liposomal glutathione, lions mane and zinc
- Ten years of working on my overall lifestyle to reduce stress, stressful ways of thinking and building a deeper connection with myself.
- Going to bed each night between 9pm and 10pm (sometimes even 8pm if I was super tired)
The Cherry On Top
I was doing ALL of this and these were definitely things that I had found had a positive impact. But there was one final piece of the puzzle that made a massive difference.
The reason why I didn’t share too much about this initially was because.
ONE: I was excited by how I was feeling I didn’t want to jinx it.
TWO: Everyone is different and the reason I have taken the time to write everything I have written so far is to show the foundations I have spent time building. Foundations which include: testing to reveal underlying causes and addressing other underlying health issues, healthy lifestyle practises, taking time to find out what works for me.
When I work with clients on specific health issues like this the first consultation is up to 2 hours long. In this consultation we do a thorough health history review and there is a comprehensive questionnaire to complete prior to the consultation.
Based on this information and what is going on mentally and emotionally with that individual I can offer recommendations. There is an order that things are usually addressed and you guessed it, it starts with the gut.
So if you haven’t taken time to work through things in order, or you don’t have the mental and emotional resources to make long lasting lifestyle change, you will drown if you just jump into the deep end.
The thing that made the biggest difference in a short space of time for me was one single supplement, SAMe. SAMe is a derivative of the amino acid (protein building block) Methionine. Methionine is found in beef, lamb, cheese, turkey, pork, fish, shellfish, soy, eggs, dairy.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
When I did my hormone testing in October, Leah Austin, a previous client, now Nutritional Therapist and Private GP, reached out to me to suggest I take SAMe.
Recently on another episode of Kombucha and Colour (#47), Che and I talked about health trends and I explain a little bit about genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).
We all have a variety of SNPS and depending on our unique make up it may mean that some reactions happen very rapidly in the body, some are a little sluggish and some are just right (think Goldilocks and the Three Bears).
Leah suggest I check my SNP for the enzyme which makes SAMe from methionine known as MAT1A. Years ago I did a genetic test with 23andme which meant that I had all this information available and I could easily check it out.
I was +/- which means that my conversion probably wasn’t optimal, maybe a little sluggish but not as bad as it could be. I eat a lot of methionine rich foods and I was convinced that Testosterone was more of as issue for me, so I dismissed it.
When I did my YTT I ate almost a vegan diet for 4 weeks. This meant that my methionine intake was almost zero. I felt okay while I was away, probably because generally there were less overall demands on my Nervous System.
But when I returned, and the demands being placed on my nervous system ramped up, my body couldn’t cope. I looked into it again and I found some information that suggested that SAMe could help to energise the nervous system.
I had nothing too lose and I was so desperate so I ordered some online from amritanutrition.co.uk. I initially wasn’t home when it was delivered and eventually Ben went to the post office and it arrived on a Friday lunch time. That particular Friday I was working on content for Grounded Goddess 3.0 which meant I was at my computer the whole day for at least 8 hours. I took the first tablet after lunch and within a few hours I started to feel better.
Normally after a day of content creation I am wiped out but I felt energised, no headache and a significant reduction in aches and pains around my neck and shoulders (Did I mention I had been at my desk all day!).
That was 2 weeks ago, so it is early days yet but I have been feeling better and better ever since. I have been sleeping so much deeper – like really AMAZING sleep! Interesting to note, I hardly slept well the whole time I was in Sri Lanka, except, on a Saturday there would be a curry night with chicken and fish available. I would always eats lots of chicken and fish to top up my protein for the week and I would always sleep well that night!
I have been playing around with the dosage as there can be negative side effects if you take too much. These include increased anxiety, disturbed sleep, digestive upsets, headaches and dizziness. This is another reason why I would not just take any supplement unless you are under the care of an appropriately qualified practitioner who was can work with you to determine if it is what your body needs.
Putting The Whole Puzzle Togther
Health is complex. We live busy lives in busy worlds and there is so much that we need to consider. We are all different and what works well for someone may not have the same benefit for another. When we are “in it” sometimes we can’t see all the pieces of the puzzle.
This is the work that I do with clients. I act as the eyes which can see deeper and see the bigger picture. Not just the picture of the physical body, but what is going on mentally, emotionally and energetically too.
Sometimes we need to ask for help and support and acknowledge that we can’t do it all alone – or at least we will get there 10x faster if we work with someone who knows what they are doing.
If you are struggling with a health challenge and are serious (not just curious) about investing in yourself to get better. I would love to work with you. You can find an application on this page where you can tell me more about you and what is going on.
For me, moving forward, I am keeping the balance as it is – don’t mess with a winning formula! I am resisting the temptation to push myself back into a more rigorous training regime (it is so tempting!). I am also resisting the part of me that wants to be leaner and meaner. I am showering myself with us much love and patience as I can and I am sure that there will be another update at some point.
Love Anna xxx
