Today I had my second consultation with Dave Thompson, Physiotherapist and Body Talk Practitioner extraordinaire.

Firstly, we discussed the effects of my first session, which was roughly about 6 weeks ago. Although some fibro pain had returned in some of joints and areas of the body, the pain was lower level and had not returned to all the points it had previously affected. However, I had experienced some sensitivity of the teeth and gums, particularly on the left side of my mouth – although this had improved over the last couple of weeks or so – and I thought it might have been caused by some kind of lurgy; my mother-in-law had experienced a similar lurgy herself recently which had, thankfully, completely subsided.

We discussed my impending move to Kent and I shared my feelings of uncertainty for the future and my bitter disappointment at the lack of opportunity and thwarted ambitions in London and that, despite my best efforts over the last 11 years, my endeavours had either fallen on stony ground or had been met with resistance and/or lack of interest; I felt that I had failed to make my mark in the arena of industry and commerce and that people’s indifference towards my work had left me unhappy and demoralised.

I feel that I have a lot to offer but it seems that what I do has left little impact in the marketplace. I have been thinking about the future, excited about the opportunities a new start might give me and yet unsure about how my talents and endeavours will be received. I am, however, prepared to try out different things and step out of my comfort zone to make my mark. The ability to earn my own livelihood has always been important to me; it is part of who I am. Perhaps I will go back to school and learn a new skill that will enable me to set myself up with steady earnings, if I work hard enough at it. I do have a few concrete ideas but am not yet ready to share them with you yet; I need to get there, get unpacked and literally get my house in order, time to pause, time to breathe . . . and then explore. I know the right answer will come when the time is right and I am a strong believer in destiny. It will happen if and when it is meant to be: wisdom and experience has taught me that.

So I lay on the couch and the main consultation began. Dave picked up a chemical imbalance in the body, specifically connected to the thymus gland.

The thymus gland is located behind the sternum and between the lungs and is only active until puberty. After puberty, the thymus begins to shrink over one’s lifetime and is gradually replaced by fat. By the age of 75, the thymus is practically all fatty tissue. The hormone of the thymus is thymosin and stimulates the development of T cells (a specific type of white blood cell) which fight disease, viruses and infections. Whilst the thymus gland will not function throughout one’s whole lifetime, during its activity it plays a big responsibility in helping the body protect itself against autoimmunity, whereby the immune system turns against itself, and thus the thymus plays a vital part in the lymphatic system (the body’s defence network) and the endocrine system.

Dave also picked up feelings of sorrow and anger, associated with my concerns about money and earning a livelihood but, more specifically, regarding what is going on in the world. I quipped that perhaps it would serve me well to avoid reading and posting all the negative news stories on Facebook that seems to have become a frequent pastime in recent months! I think I shall be taking my own advice on board more in the future.

Dave picked up a fear of harming myself with knives (cutting myself) whilst preparing food for other people (true) and an intolerance to adrenaline-based injections which was connected to a memory of an unpleasant experience concerning anaesthetic injections in the dentist’s chair some time ago (also true).

I recalled the incident – two or three years ago now – which happened after I had broken a molar on a crostini at a family wedding; I had been booked in quickly for a crown but in the short time between appointments the tooth had deteriorated and, although my wonderful dentist tried to save what he could, there wasn’t enough good of the tooth to make crowning possible and I had to endure an extraction. The tooth refused to come away cleanly and pieces kept breaking away. It took several injections (me being a wimp), half an hour and a variety of instruments before my unflappable dentist (who is, by the way, qualified in advanced and reconstructive dentistry and one of the most client-centred, patient and calm dentists one could ever meet) had removed every fragment and left it nice and clean and dressed to heal, and there am I, sweating and shaking with palpitations in the chair (and fearing I am going to die in the surgery) and then helped out of the chair, deathly-pale and nearly collapsing on the floor. My concerned dentist made sure I had somewhere to sit down and recover before leaving the surgery and wrote across my notes in large capitals: “NO ADRENALINE”.

Dave determined that a cellular repair was necessary. He passed me a cotton wool bud and asked me to swab round my mouth and teeth and tongue and place it in my belly button. Dave used a tapping technique, as I was asked to place my hands on various points of the face and head, take deep inhales and exhales when asked to and at times raise my head slightly off the pillow and back again. Dave asked me to look out for sensations of the body, such as heat, tingling or cold and not be afraid to mention them.

Dave said that my ability to earn a livelihood were connected to a feeling of listlessness and the storage of fatty tissue in the body. He said this feeling was more like a computer programme running in the background but the disk needed to be wiped clean and it would also help to boost the immune system. He wrote a symbol on a piece of paper and placed it on my abdomen to begin the scanning process. This involved the same tapping routine as before, and I was asked to imagine a cartoon of the right and left sides of the brain, along with the thymus and a healing light or symbol, talking to one another. I could see and hear it in my head, the left and right sides of the brain with mouths talking reluctantly to one another at first, then building up towards a babble, and then quietening down into a friendly and amicable banter. My whole body began to tingle, slowly at first, going down the arm through the fingers and then through the whole body, leaving through the feet, to be followed by positive, tingling energy coming in through the feet and spreading through the body in the same way, bringing with it sheer happiness and bliss.

The final task then was to reconnect and balance all the chakras, particularly the connection between the Crown Chakra (spirituality – something that to me is an important part of my identity) and the Root Chakra (survival, making money and prosperity) as well as the Heart Chakra (harmony and self-worth). I was asked to get up off the coach and stand up for this. To begin with I felt really light-headed but I was soon back in my body (with soul maybe lighter and m0re positive) and we finished with grounding meditation that I can call upon when I need to, when I feel I need a boost over the very busy weeks to come as Dan and I set up our new home in an unfamiliar environment with all its successes, stresses and challenges, and provide a boost to my security, energy levels and general wellbeing.

Yes, I do meditate from time to time and I intend to make time for myself more often, to mediate and to just ‘be’, and I shall certainly be looking forward to what my body has to say at my next consultation.

To book your Body Talk Consultation, fill out the contact form at: http://www.dtphysiotherapy.co.uk/contact.html

Or, alternatively, call or text Dave Thompson on 07792 886214

See how your body talks to you.

Catherine.