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Now that we’ve had a brief introduction to mindfulness and you’ve got the mindfulness pause for you to try for yourself, I thought it’s time to get to the “so what”. Why is it worth bothering with mindfulness? Mindfulness has many physical and mental benefits that can improve your life and even help make your relationships better! Here are just four of the physical benefits of mindfulness:

• Lowered Stress Levels
• Better Glucose Regulation
• Improved Sleep
• Reduction in GI Symptoms

Let’s take a brief look at each in turn

Lowered Stress Levels

Let’s face it: too much stress kills. It impacts every system in the body and leads to diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It can even cause heart attacks and strokes. There are physical markers in the body that can be used to measure stress levels, and they’ve all been shown to decrease in people who practice mindfulness regularly. It works by reducing activity in the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that responds to stressful events.

Better Glucose Regulation

Regulating your blood sugar, or glucose, levels, is an important component of physical health for everyone, not just those with diabetes. A mindfulness practice has been shown to improve glucose regulation in both diabetics and non-diabetics. Having ways to better manage stress, in turn leads to better decision making. Mindful people know that they can make a difference to their own lives through their actions.

Improved Sleep

Sleep is another important aspect of health. It’s so important that many doctors consider it the root of most health issues. If you’re already a client of mine then you know that it’s a symptom that I check in on at virtually every appointment. Practicing mindfulness can improve both the quantity and quality of your sleep. It seems likely that mindfulness helps by allowing greater acceptance of events and feelings, rather than focusing on negative emotions.

Reduction in GI Symptoms

Do you have chronic (long term) gastrointestinal issues? If so, you’re not alone; a significant portion of the population suffers from them. High stress levels are associated with many GI symptoms and so lowering those levels can have a positive effect on our digestion. Studies have shown that a regular mindfulness practice can improve a range of chronic GI problems, from IBS to Chron’s disease.

It’s important to note that it’s the regular, daily practice of mindfulness that leads to these health benefits.

So after our short introduction to mindfulness, maybe you’re itching to have a go? That’s great! But what exactly do you do? How do you learn to be “here” now instead of focusing on jobs to be done or holidays to be had? Most people start with a mindfulness pause, a type of meditation that’s fairly easy to do. Today we’re going to take a look at how to take a mindfulness pause.

The great thing about this mindfulness practice is that you can do it anywhere you want and almost any time; don’t do it when you’re incredibly busy or likely to be interrupted, at least not at first. Try to do it in a quiet space the first few times. A mindfulness pause only lasts a couple of minutes (at most) and has three mini steps.

Step One: Pay Attention

We spend most of our lives on autopilot, going from one task to another without ever stopping to think or devote our full attention to it. Turn off this autopilot and pay attention to your body and your surroundings. Find a quiet place to sit.

Step Two: Breathe

Close your eyes and take slow, deep breaths. Pay attention to your breathing. Notice how it feels and the awareness it brings to your body. Is the air in your chosen space warm or cold? Focus on the rise and fall of your chest. Do this until you feel yourself calm down and centre yourself in your body. It may only a few breaths or it may take several minutes at first. Don’t try to force it, it will get quicker and easier with practice.

Step Three: Notice Your Surroundings

Now expand your attention outward from your breath. Notice how the rest of your body feels and the sensations coursing through it. Now notice what’s going on around you. Sounds. Smells. Pay attention to everything you can notice with your eyes closed. Do this for a short time. Now open your eyes, take a couple more deep breaths and return to what you were doing. You should feel at least a little refreshed.

That’s it -that’s all there is to a mindfulness pause! It can take as little as a minute with practice. You’ll want to do this several times a day to get the hang of it and learn to really be mindful.

A mindfulness pause is simply one way to practice mindfulness. You can also extend your practice to mindfulness movement, which involves being mindful while walking, doing yoga, etc. You may want to try mindfulness activities -that is, being mindful while doing things such as hobbies or while going throughout your daily life.

South Scarborough Acupuncture Clinic has gone through a number of changes over the last couple of years. This is to keep pace with changes elsewhere in the UK and worldwide. I continue to research and risk assess and then respond to client needs and evolve the clinic in as positive way as I can find. Now we have a few more changes coming.

I made the difficult decision to raise my prices due to the rising energy costs. Summer weather allowed me to put this off for a while, but we definitely need the heating on in the clinic now. I know that the price increase comes at a bad time for many who have their own bills to pay.

To help balance this, I am going to be adding both free and low cost self-care tips and training to this website. These will not include acupuncture or personalised treatment but will cover lifestyle advice that supports better health for all.

Price changes

So sorry my friends but I am having to raise my prices. Hopefully this is sufficient notice of the increase for you to plan and budget accordingly. Prices will increase from the 1 December 2022. A follow-up treatment from this date will be £47.50.

Please note that if aren’t registered with the clinic yet, the price of an Initial Assessment increased a few months ago, to £60.

Self-Care – free advice

Going forward, from 31 October 2022, I will be adding articles twice a week on self-care tips and techniques that you can employ at home. As these build, I will add them into categories, so that they are easier to search for.

They are the sort of tips that I usually share with individuals as extra “homework” that they can do to support their own journey. I have seen that clients who are consistent in working these tips into their daily routines, tend to meet their health goals quicker.

These are not really intended to replace acupuncture for those of you who are currently a long way from your optimal health. Lifestyle advice alone may not be enough to “move the needle” so to speak. They may be able to help reduce the number of treatments you need overall and/or stretch out the frequency of maintenance care. And if you simply cannot afford treatment at the moment, then I recommend trying them. Simply taking steps to manage your own condition and well-being, can have a positive effect on your mental and physical health.

We will start our self-care article programme next week with the topic of Mindfulness.

Self-Care – low cost training

On a less frequent basis, I will also be offering online training that tackles the lifestyle topics in more depth. If you find it difficult to make sustainable changes from simply reading things online, then a short training course – an e-course, (usually around 90min – 2 hours) may give you the extra motivation you need. Each e-course will have a mini action plan or workbook to help you implement what you learn.

I am running the first of these training sessions next week. The topic is Steps to Successful Sleep Self-care. I strongly believe that better sleep is the first step to better health and so it made the logical starting point.

Click the image below or click the link here to find out more.

Book your spot in the pre-launch period to:

• pay a greatly reduced price;
• have the chance to ask questions;
• continue to have access to the course as it gets polished up and broken into shorter modules.

As the e-courses are accessed online, it’s also a chance for those of you who don’t live local to the clinic, to benefit from clinic support. Wherever in the world you are, you’re welcome to attend (if fact if you prefer to pay in US$ than UK£ then check the information page here).

I hope that you will understand and welcome (at least some of) the clinic changes that are happening.

The government announced yesterday that all Covid restrictions in England (including the need to isolate if you test positive) will end from Thursday 24 February. The provision of free testing will be withdrawn from 1 April.

Whilst removing all restrictions may be an acceptable risk response for many of the population, it is a bigger risk for clinically vulnerable and especially, clinically extremely vulnerable people. These categories make up 95% of the clients I treat in clinic.

Vaccination can help to reduce the risk of serious illness, hospitalisation and death. Vaccinated people can however still catch and transmit the latest variant of the virus. Most, if not all of my clients would prefer to avoid the additional burden of dealing with an infection, (even if it doesn’t lead to hospitalisation), on top of the condition that they are seeking treatment for.

From the very beginning of the covid pandemic I have undertaken risk assessments to provide the best levels of safety to my clients and my family. Before I became an acupuncturist I used to work in audit and risk management and so I am well qualified to do this. My risk assessment takes account of transmission rates of covid in the area (an indicator of the likelihood that you can catch it) and the vulnerability of my clients (an indicator of the possible impact on you if you catch the virus). I then look at what further steps I can take to help reduce this overall level of risk.

Removing all restrictions and more importantly removing access to free testing, also removes many of the ways in which I measure the risk and removes some of the safety measures I put in place to manage the remaining risk.

This is what the latest government changes mean for clients at South Scarborough Acupuncture Clinic, where I put safety first.

New Clients

Regretfully I am closing the clinic to new clients. Hopefully this will be temporary until I can find some way to track transmission rates, know what tests are available and how much they cost. If and when I do reopen to new clients, it is likely that you will need to be fully vaccinated, wear a mask in clinic and test before attending.

Clients on an existing programme of treatment

I will continue to treat those clients who are already booked in with me. If you are already booked in for your next appointment, then you will know that I still require you to wear a mask in clinic and also complete a Lateral Flow Test before attending clinic. Please contact me before your appointment if you do not have access to a Lateral Flow Test. I will post one out to you.

If you cannot make an appointment or decide you do not want to continue treatment, then please do let me know in advance. Heating the clinic is, as I’m sure you’ll know, getting even more expensive and I cannot afford to do so if clients don’t attend.

Clients who wish to return for treatment

If you are an existing client of the clinic but haven’t attended an appointment in the last 3 months then please contact me if you wish to book in.

Case rates are currently close to over 4,600 active daily cases in the Scarborough area (I probably won’t be able to track this effectively after Thursday) and so I ask clients to complete an LFT no more than 24hrs before attending clinic. I now test every day that I’m in clinic.

I do also ask all clients to wear a mask when attending clinic. Your mask protects me. I always wear a mask in clinic and my mask is a disposable FFP2 category mask. My mask protects you more than it does me. If you forget your mask or it is ill-fitting then I will provide a suitable one.

If you are exempt and cannot wear a mask, then please let me know when you book your appointment. There are additional safeguards that I can put in place and I will need to schedule your appointments, so that you are not followed in clinic by a vulnerable client. If you arrive for an appointment without alerting me to your exemption, then we will not be able to proceed and your appointment will need to be rescheduled at your expense.

Other Safety Measures

Some of the other safety measures that are part of the routine processes within the clinic include:

• Regular cleaning after each client visit
• Deep cleaning
• Ventilation
• Air purifier
• Freshly laundered uniform daily

If you wish to know more about any of my safety protocols then please do ask.

South Scarborough Acupuncture would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2022!

We will be closing the clinic today, Friday 24 December and will reopen on Tuesday 4 January.

Some of our clients have only recently started or are in the middle of treatment and we will be opening exceptionally to these people, to keep their treatment on track over the holidays. No further new clients will be accepted to the clinic now until the new year.

Please note that our online booking system can only currently be used to cancel appointments. Any new appointment bookings or changes to existing appointments should be done by phone, text or email (call direct or text on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk). Please contact us to discuss your particular situation.

Messages and emails will be checked regularly over the holiday. Please note however, that we are trying to set a good example to clients and take a much needed break too and so responses may take longer than usual. We will aim to reply within 48hrs as a maximum.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Here is an update for clients attending clinic during the current lockdown (from 4 January 2021) .

As a medical service, South Scarborough Acupuncture is still able to open for clients requiring urgent care and high needs.

What is urgent care and high needs? Can I come in for treatment? This varies from one person to another. What may be urgent for one person may not be for another and vice versa. We are best able to assess needs for those current clients, already on a treatment programme.

Already booked for next treatment

If you already have your next appointment booked, then we will have been in touch with you already. This will have been to either confirm that it can go ahead, or discuss rescheduling. Of course, if at any time you prefer to cancel or rearrange your appointment, you can do so. We do ask though that you please contact us and give 24hrs notice, so that we don’t pay for heating the clinic when it won’t be used.

Not booked but attended for treatment recently

If you have attended clinic for treatment either during or after August this year but you don’t have your next treatment booked, then we will need to assess whether your treatment will meet the criteria for urgent care and high needs. Please contact us (call direct on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk) to discuss your particular situation.

Not booked and not attended for treatment within the last six months

If you have never attended South Scarborough Acupuncture clinic before, or if you have not attended for treatment since the original lockdown back in Spring 2020, then there are additional risk assessments and client questionnaires that need to be completed before we can treat you. We will need to complete these by telehealth (either videoconference or telephone) to cut down on face to face contact. These forms will still need to be completed when current restrictions ease. If you would like to be assessed urgently for potential treatment as soon as possible, or you would like to join our waitlist ready to be seen when lockdown lifts, then please contact us (call direct on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk) to start the process.

Please note that online booking has temporarily been turned off. This is so that clients can’t accidentally book an appointment that doesn’t meet the urgent care and high needs criteria and then turn up to clinic, only to find that they cannot be treated.

If you plan on attending clinic during lockdown then please follow the instructions outlined above to book your appointment. These procedures are in place and important for the health and safety of us all.

South Scarborough Acupuncture would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a much happier and healthier 2021!

We will be closing the clinic tomorrow, Friday 18 December and will reopen on Monday 4 January.

Some of our clients have only recently started treatment and we will be opening exceptionally to these people, to keep their treatment on track over the holidays. No further new clients will be accepted to the clinic now until the new year.

Please note that our online booking system can only currently be used to cancel appointments. Any new appointment bookings or changes to existing appointments should be done by phone, text or email (call direct or text on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk). This is so that we can assess your needs and prioritise urgent and vulnerable clients in the safest manner possible. We are continuing to stagger appointments, allowing sufficient time for sanitising and ventilating the room in between and this can also affect appointment times. Please contact us to discuss your particular situation.

Messages and emails will be checked regularly over the holiday. Please note however, that we are trying to set a good example to clients and take a much needed break too and so responses may take longer than usual. We will aim to reply within 48hrs as a maximum.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Here is an update for clients attending clinic during the winter lockdown. Currently our area (Scarborough) is within the second lockdown phase for England. This started on 5 November 2020 and will run until at least 2 December, when it will be reviewed. You may be aware that daily confirmed cases in our area have been especially high for the last fortnight. In fact it is higher than the average for England. This may lead to extended restrictions, even after the wider lockdown is lifted.

This second lockdown, whilst restrictive, isn’t quite the same as the first one and there has been recognition that certain key services need to continue. As a medical service, South Scarborough Acupuncture is still able to open for clients requiring urgent care and high needs.

What is urgent care and high needs? Can I come in for treatment? This varies from one person to another. What may be urgent for one person may not be for another and vice versa. We are best able to assess needs for those current clients, already on a treatment programme.

Already booked for next treatment

If you already have your next appointment booked, then this can go ahead as planned (due to review procedures we had in place on the lead up to lockdown). Of course if you prefer to cancel or rearrange your appointment, you can do so. We do ask though that you please contact us and give 24hrs notice, so that we don’t pay for heating the clinic when it won’t be used.

Not booked but attended for treatment recently

If you have attended clinic for treatment either during or after June this year but you don’t have your next treatment booked, then we will need to assess whether your treatment will meet the criteria for urgent care and high needs. Please contact us (call direct on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk) to discuss your particular situation.

Not booked and not attended for treatment within the last six months

If you have never attended South Scarborough Acupuncture clinic before, or if you have not attended for treatment since the original lockdown back in Spring, then there are additional risk assessments and client questionnaires that need to be completed before we can treat you. We will need to complete these by telehealth (either videoconference or telephone) to cut down on face to face contact. If you would like to book for treatment this month or to be risk assessed ready to be seen in December, then please contact us (call direct on 07865 593972 or email  sara@southscarboroughacupuncture.co.uk) to start the process.

Please note that online booking has temporarily been turned off. This is so that clients can’t accidentally book an appointment that doesn’t meet the urgent care and high needs criteria and then turn up to clinic, only to find that they cannot be treated.

If you plan on attending clinic during the winter lockdown please follow the instructions outlined above to book your appointment. These procedures are in place and important for the health and safety of us all.

Some notes about our 2020 August Bank Holiday Opening and also upcoming closure for late summer holidays.

2020 August Bank Holiday Opening

South Scarborough Acupuncture is closed on Monday 31 August 2020 for the Summer Bank Holiday. We don’t want our clients to miss out on a critical treatment and we currently have appointments available throughout the rest of the week.

Here are our 2020 August Bank Holiday opening hours:

• Friday 28 August – 08.30-13.30
• Monday 31 August – CLOSED
• Tuesday 1 September – 08.30 – 17.30
• Wednesday 2 September – 08.30-13.30
• Thursday 3 September – 08.30 – 17.30
• Friday 4 September – 08.30-13.30

Of course, several appointments on these days have already been booked. If you book online (click on the button below), our booking system will show the available times on the day you choose. Alternatively, you can phone 07865 593972 or email me for an appointment.

Late Summer Holiday

While we’re talking holidays, I also just want to give you a heads up that I’ll be taking my late summer holiday soon. We’re not going away but I do plan to switch off from work for the fortnight. I always recommend to clients that one way to manage stress, is to take a proper break from time to time. I need to walk that walk and set a good example. Fingers crossed that we may drop on better weather for our fortnight. So far this year, it’s rained every time we’ve taken a holiday from work. You might want to plan your break at a different time to mine!

South Scarborough Acupuncture will be closed from 13.30 on Friday 18 September. We will reopen on Monday 5 October (and the first appointment that day is already booked).

If you have been hoping to start a course of treatment to improve a specific condition, then I recommend that you book an appointment for early next week. That way, we can aim to stabilise your condition before the clinic closes for the holiday.