strength Archives - Claire Cutler Casey

Do you wish your body would just perform better?

When just one muscle under-performs the knock on effect impairs your performance

Do you wish your body would just perform better? Whether you’re fed up with pain and discomfort or you want to improve your sports performance, this is for you.

Muscles are vital to good posture, they hold the spine and body upright and enable movement and flexibility.

When the integrity of muscle performance is compromised it can result in postural deviations which, if not addressed, can lead to discomfort and pain which can affect performance, sleep, concentration and overall quality of life.

Whilst such deviations may be imperceptible at first, as you continue to train or just go about your day, their impact increases, as other muscles try to compensate to counteract the effects of deviated posture, eventually leading to damage and, of course, pain.

When just one muscle under-performs the knock on effect impairs your performance and, eventually creates pain.

Your body is an incredible piece of kit, a superb structure of organic engineering.

Over 650 muscles work with 206 bones to

Everything you do uses muscles, from unconscious actions like breathing and blinking to the more conscious activities like cycling and cooking dinner.

Your body is focused on one crucial task, keeping you alive. Making sure that, if a hungry bear runs out of the woods, you won’t be their next meal.

When a muscle malfunctions others quickly take up the slack, pulling together to keep you going but, eventually, this creates danger and your brain sends a pain signal to alert you that something is wrong and you need to stop. Stop before you fall down and become bear lunch.

Initially working through the pain seems a viable short term way of continuing in the face of impaired muscle function. Your body pumps endorphins that bathe your brain and cut off the pain signals. This mechanism is designed to ensure that, when that bear is in hot pursuit, you can keep running. Keep running to a place of safety.

Until you stop.

Once you stop all those juicy endorphins settle down, the adrenaline tails off and the body quickly reveals the true state of affairs, with exhaustion and pain taking centre stage.

Are you ready to take your training to a new level of personal performance? Get the inside track.

In these extended sessions we:

Kinesiology addresses the factors that inhibit or impair muscular integrity.

It is not a test of strength, if it were I’m pretty certain you would win, it is an analysis of how the stress and existing damage you hold affects your ability to train and perform ongoing.

Having established the blocks that are holding you back from peak performance we resolve them using various subtle, profound techniques.

If you are curious to know more, please get in touch

I look forward to working with you.

Claire Cutler-Casey is a professional Kinesiology Practitioner and Touch For Health instructor as well as delivering a variety of business and well-being workshops designed to help you navigate the process of change.

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

The best laid plans

Sometimes things just don’t go to plan, despite the best laid plans, something always happens to remind us we are human, part of a much bigger, more powerful picture.

Last night I decided to get an early night, I was hosting a big online EXPO with a colleague today, so, with that in mind pTerry and I headed out early for our late night dog walk.

Now what trouble could we get into on a late night stroll round a quiet Yorkshire village? I mean, It’s not like much could happen is it? We are talking about the best laid plans, after all.

So, pTerry is having a sniff about and I’m just replying to a quick email from the event host when we both seem to be stuck. I mean, both of us, neither of us could move.

pTerry had wrapped himself around a lamppost .

Ooopsie thinks I and tries to untangle us when the flat, thin, ribbon lead slips up behind the removable panel and wedges itself there.

pTerry looked at me, he was not impressed, so I unhooked his harness from the lead in order to get a better perspective on the situation.

That lead was well and truly wedged. Try as I might, I couldn’t free it and then, the more I tried the more I laughed.

Needless to say this scenario didn’t figure anywhere in my best laid plans.

If you’ve ever tried to be strong when laughing uncontrollably, well, you know what I mean, and, of course, my lack of strength just made me laugh even more.

Finally, after much tugging and laughing I managed to pull the lead free, by this time it’s nearly in two pieces, so I tied a knot in it and we walked back home, with me giggling to myself about the hilarity of the episode and thinking, ‘Imagine if that had happened tomorrow on our morning walk, when I was in a rush!’ (which just made me laugh even more)

I rang the event organiser to tell her and we both fell about laughing at the antics of the mad dog walker, in the quiet Yorkshire village, in the middle of the night, all tangled up round a lamp post, with her little dog watching quizzically

And then it hit me – In all the meticulous planning we had not planned to take a moment and have a good laugh!

Fortunately the universe had our back and provided that one for us.

So, next time you’re planning anything, remember to plan in some fun bits too.

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

Change the world – a ‘how to’ guide

Change the world! When something isn’t working it’s human nature to try to change the situation to create something that suits us better, we prefer to change the world rather than ourselves. It can feel easier to decide what external factors need to change to enable us to better function.

However, if we work to change the situation without changing ourselves, the solution just gets further away and the perceived problem is magnified.

As we find fault with the world around us we create a mindset focused on what is wrong with the world and just how monumental the changes required are, this can become daunting, overwhelming even.

Turning our gaze inward is a productive use of our limited internal resources, exploring what we can do differently to begin teaching the world how to adjust; creating a space where change is within our gift, it is what we proactively give to the world.

The easiest and kindest way to change the situation is to begin by emulating the change we wish to see.

Be kind, be the change you wish to see in the world

By demonstrating the change we would like to experience we become part of the solution and that’s infectious. There are various theories around why this is and the simplest one is that good ideas stick.

Share a smile, a kindness, a compliment, your time.

Be the change and watch how quickly the world changes around you

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

How to be assertive, without trying.

When we pursue what matters to us we become a more powerful version of ourselves.

To be assertive is a powerful feeling, the confidence to pursue our personal desires and to direct our personal resources towards the attainment of our aspirations.

Too often we let judgements get in the way of our own power to be assertive, not wanting to be seen as ‘pushy’ or ‘arrogant’ we drop back, taking up the cause for another person’s dream, deeming that to be more important than our own.

Here’s the thing though, when we put our own energy into something that matters to us, that energy becomes the thing that drives us, it’s like a self filling fuel tank, pursuing our dreams becomes the driver to pursue our dreams.

The more assertive we are, the more assertive we become.

Obstacles become the very platforms we climb up on to see further into the future. The challenges we face, and overcome, build our resilience, testing our strength. When we pursue what matters to us we become a more powerful version of ourselves.

There is a powerhouse within you responsible for continual growth, a part that constantly refreshes and redefines who we are, in the light of our own personal experiences. That is the energy of the liver.

The liver is the only organ that can regenerate itself, you could donate some of your liver to another person and you’d both have a fully functioning liver. And fully functioning is a colossal job, at any given time 10% of your blood is in your liver, filtering 1.4 litres of blood every minute.

The ultimate multi-tasker, the liver performs over 500 functions, simultaneously. Helping blood clot, breaking down alcohol, chemicals, and other debris, making bile to break down fats and making and storing glucose for a quick burst of energy, on demand, it’s your own in-house laboratory, watching, identifying, removing, creating, storing, excreting and fueling everything you do, or want to do.

When we hook into the energy of this internal powerhouse we mainline right into our own confidence, ability and creativity. No room for doubt or timidity, we are fuelled by the thrusting energy of personal renewal and regeneration, able to take the risk required to achieve the outcomes we value.

Consider the flower bulb beneath the soil. The heat of the sun warms the earth and roots sprout, the bulb is doing 500 tasks simultaneously then, all at once, it thrusts up through the soil ‘here I am ready or not’; pushing through the barriers, making a decisive entrance into the daylight – that’s liver energy in action.

No compromise, no doubt, just confident assertiveness, in action.

So, what are you waiting for?

It’s time to claim your space, to assert yourself and achieve your aspirations.

If you’re struggling to hook into your internal powerhouse to motivate and fuel your own aspirations contact me to find out how I can help.

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

Hydration, why it’s never too late to re-hydrate

Hydration, why it’s never too late to re-hydrate. Your body is approximately 70% water, we are the most amazing pieces of organic engineering, creating power, strength, resilience and sustainability out of water.

Your brain and heart are approximately 73% water and your lungs are about 83% water.

If your car or your mobile phone ran on water you’d make sure they were fully recharged every day, to ensure you have all the power and functionality you need, yet we still find it difficult to drink enough water to stay hydrated and function well.

it's never too late to rehydrate

Water is fundamental to our survival, not liquid, just water.

As soon as you add anything to water it becomes a food, then it must pass thorough the whole of your digestive system before the water can be extracted.

Think of it like legos. A cup of coffee is constructed from some water bricks, some coffee bricks, some milk bricks and some sugar bricks all bonded together. The blocks can be broken apart again but that department is in your small intestine. So all the tissues that make up the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum don’t get any direct hydration from the liquid you drink, they have to wait a few hours and hope they get some from the water that is absorbed through the lining of the small intestine, and into the blood stream. They have to join the queue only, now, they are at the other end.

Your hydration is important to us, you are held in a queue and may be answered ... eventually

Meanwhile your body is performing at much less than optimum, because everything that your body does uses water. There is not one single bodily function that does not rely on hydration.

Think about that for a moment. Every thought, action and breath. Literally every thing your body does relies on water.

Signs of dehydration include

Fatigue, weight gain, reduced mobility, aches and pains, headaches, inability to concentrate, fuzzy head (like a hangover), irritability, dry skin, chapped lips, wrinkles, flaky skin, halitosis, poor urination, urinary tract infections, constipation, acid reflux, indigestion, changes in blood pressure, nausea, dizziness, increased resting heart rate, poor memory, slower response times, reduced dexterity, depression, anxiety, tension, mood swings, confusion…… and the list goes on.

Understanding the bodies need for water and the impact that can have on our system it’s time to get real.

How much clear, pure water do you drink, every day, and how much do you need?

Using a baseline of average adult (I know you’re not average, I know you’re amazing) but let’s use average as a starting point.
The average adult needs about 4 pints of water a day.
This adult is having a fairly decent time of things, no stress, no caffeine, no bugs to fight off, sleeping and eating well and taking moderate exercise.

So if you have stress, stimulants, illness or take more exercise you will need more water to keep you hydrated. How much is difficult to say but there are rules of thumb that we can use to help

For every cup of coffee drink twice as much water again – for 250 ml coffee drink 500 ml extra water
In times of stress drink more water, stress is very dehydrating. Drinking more water reduces the anxieties around stress and also helps the body recover more quickly from the effects.
Working out – drink more water. Yes, you’re sweating but did you know that water is responsible for the elasticity in muscles? If you’re really interested in building resilience into your workout – drink more water.
Feeling ill, recovering from a bug or laid up with something – drink more water. If the bug creates mucus, your body is using water to make that. If your body is fighting something off, your immune system uses water to make and distribute the anti-bodies to the internal battlefield, and to clear away the debris to keep your system clear.

As you run through the calculations you may begin to wonder how you’re going to have time to drink all that water, here’s the pay-off.

The better hydrated you are the better your system functions.

Stress reduces so extra water intake can too, drinking more water means you are naturally drinking less coffee because there are only so many hours in a day, right?
This reduces stress (again) so you will need less water.
Your sleep improves so, yes, you guessed it, you’re less stressed and so you need less water.
Your immune system functions better so you get less bugs so you need less water to be well hydrated.
You lose weight so your body requires less water to move you about.

In a fairly short period of time you reach that sweet spot of balanced hydration, where 4 pints of water a day is enough to keep you hydrated and you are more responsive to your bodies need for extra water as/when required.

It’d never too late to rehydrate and experience the benefits that decent hydration has on your physical, emotional and biochemical systems.

So, what are your waiting for?

Hydrate, sleep well, live better

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.

Kinesiology: What, Where, When & How

The purpose of my kinesiology practice is to help you get into the natural flow of life, known as the Wu Wei in traditional Chinese medicine, meaning ‘without effort’.

In the west we talk about being ‘in the zone’ or ‘in the flow’ and you may already have some experience of that; that feeling of everything going smoothly, seemingly without effort, this is what we work towards with kinesiology; creating sustainable internal harmony that enables you to be the best version of yourself, achieving whatever you wish with ease, grace, calm and contentment and supporting you to handle the ups and downs of life, effortlessly.

I work 1-2-1 with clients, in my cosy clinic on the rural outskirts of York, in the North East of England.

I also offer Touch for Health Kinesiology Training, CPD workshops and monthly circle gathering designed to help you get the most out of yourself and the seasonal energies that are most active at the time.

Kinesiology is an interactive, non-invasive therapy, as a client you remain clothed throughout (you may choose to remove your shoes). We sit together and undertake a short, thorough consultation, to ensure all relevant information is captured, we then discuss the changes, both subtle and profound, that you are interested to address in your personal journey.

I then take you gently through the process of muscle testing, allowing you all the time you need to adjust to a space where, finally, the whole of your system can get involved in creating and accessing your own unique solution.

Together we’ll explore the binary muscle monitoring system. This is the foundation of all kinesiology practice and you can ask all the questions you need as we go along.

Then, together, we check which aspects of you are already working towards the changes you wish to make and which aspects need some help to do that.

Kinesiology embraces a comprehensive range of techniques drawn and adapted from various disciplines, as well as plenty of its own. Your system will indicate which technique(s) are needed. You may also be given simple techniques as homework. Homework reminder sheets are provided to help you.

After your session we check in to see how you’re feeling, you may feel some changes immediately and some may need time to evidence.

After your session you can carry on with your day and, when it comes time to go to bed, you may feel more tired than usual. My advice is always to listen to the needs of your body; it is possible that your system has done some significant work that you might not be fully conscious of, so sleep, restore and allow the changes you have worked on to permeate.

Please contact me to book you own window into your unique world,

I look forward to working with you.

Claire

If you would like to book a 1:1 Kinesiology session, please click here.

You can also join our online community here.