Dancing Your Way To Freedom

5Rhythms - Evening Advertiser 3rd Jan 2018

Need to exercise but are put off by classes? SARAH SINGLETON looks at
a form of ‘dancing’ which is easy to participate in and requires no specialist
clothing.

Mindful dancing, a style which requires no lycra clothing or complicated routines, is helping people
free their bodies and so free their minds, according to Julie Nicholls.

Called 5Rhythms, this variety of dance dates back to the 1970s and was created by American
Gabrielle Roth as a type of meditation. Now Julie, who has been a Body Mind Coach for
25 years, has brought the classes to Wiltshire.

She invited instructor Gay Murphy to run a free taster session in October 2017, and has now
organised another class on 21st January 2018 from 2pm to 5pm at Liddington village hall.
A further session will run on 18th March 2018.

"5Rhythms is perfect for people who want or need to exercise but are put off by classes,
perhaps because they can't follow the instructor, or they worry what they look like, or even
because they struggle getting off the floor,"  Julie said.

"With 5Rhythms, people can wear that they like - loose clothing is ideal - and they dance
how they wish, with guidance from the instructor. It suits people of any age and ability.
The beauty of it is that you dance your own dance, within your comfort zone, so there is
no need to do anything that strains your body. There are no steps to learn and you can
never get it wrong. This brings so much freedom to the body that it frees the mind."

She described how 5Rhythms moves through five different types of music or
rhythm - flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical and stillness.The aim is to use movement as
meditation, which helps people explore their feelings - she said it can be therapeutic
for the  mind as well as the body. "It is a little like a dance based version of how
I help my clients, by helping heal their mind and their bodies," she said.

Julie, 49, from Swindon, has dedicated her professional life to promoting mental and
physical well being andexploring the connection between them. She was born in Belgium,
of British parents, and after leaving school, trained to be a nurse. But after gaining her
nursing degree in 1989, she was disillusioned by conventional medicine and
disappointed to discover the stresses and strains of her training had negatively
impacted her own well being.

She moved to Britain and studied at the Brockwood Park School as a mature student,
and in 1993 qualified in Remedial Massage from the Northern Institute of Massage.
Julie wanted to take her understanding further, however, and to find ways to deal with
chronic illness and pain, which she believed was not being fully resolved in hospitals.

She studied the Trager technique and qualified as a Trager Practitioner in 1997, which
she says enabled her to do more than relieve pain and discomfort, but to help people
avoid it in the first place.

Her Natural Therapy Centre was a Wiltshire Business of the Year finalist in 1994.

"You have to educate your clients to stop doing stuff that is getting in the way of them
being well," she said. "It is a state of being. You have to take away all the things you
are doing that are creating the pain, tension and disease of the body. Working extra
long hours, lack of sleep and bad food all get in the Way of being Well."

She said her therapy involved psycho-physical integration - becoming aware of exactly
what is going on in your body, and what was creating the pain. "That's the whole package
- helping people to connect with themselves so they can feel free of guilt and shame.
That is what I help people with," she said.

To find out more about the 5Rhythms mindful dancing, or about Julie's work, visit her website,
body-mind-coaching.co.uk or call 01793 495551.

No Need To Suffer

Evening Advertiser 1st August 2006

Do you put up with pain because you think it’s just part of life? There is an alternative, reports Graham Carter.

Have you heard the one about the 90 year old woman who went to the doctor’s complaining of a sore knee.

The doctor told her that it was only expected that such an old lady should have aches and pains. “Well, that can’t be right,” said the old lady. “because I’ve had my other knee 90 years as well - and that’s perfectly all right.”

Julie Nicholls doesn’t tell her clients this story to get a laugh. She tells them to make a point about the alternative treatments she offers which go under the umbrella of ‘Natural Therapy.’  And the message is that you don’t have to suffer.

Julie says that many of the problems people have are a result of stress, or something that has occurred in their past - what you call a hang-up. And this can manifest itself in may different ways, from seemingly unconnected niggly ailments to major emotional and psychological problems.

But Natural Therapy is all about treating causes, not symptoms. Take neck and shoulders. “People think it’s only natural that the stress they have ends up in their neck and shoulders,” said Julie. “If you look at people, you can often see them walking about, all hunched up as if they are carrying burden of their problems on their shoulders.

 “But if you relax your shoulders and raise your head, it’s possible to make the stress slip away and disappear. “It’s wrong to think that it has to end up somewhere in your body.”  Julie’s therapy is based on the technique she trained in originally, called Trager, although she has now added various other strings to her bow by applying what she has learned from treating people with more complex problems, such as post traumatic stress disorder.

 Listening skills, a common sense approach and a gift for ‘reading’ her clients’ situations are just as important. Other techniques she can use include Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), in which clients follow the movement of her fingers with their eyes. This is believed to help by alternatively engaging the left and right sides of the brain.

All these approaches are straightforward and stress-free but the main thing they have in common is they turn the idea of ‘no pain, no gain’ completely on its head. They tackle problems not by meeting them head-on in an unpleasant way but by extracting positives and building on them.

 Expect an ultimately enjoyable experience. Whether you are trying to address a physical or emotional problem, the treatment often involves gentle manipulation of joints and muscles.

 Julie holds a limb, tells the patient to let her take the weight, and encourages them to relax. This seems easy. but Julie is extremely adept at ’reading’ your level of  relaxation-and just when you think you’ve “let go” she shows you that you haven’t. Eventually, by making you more and more relaxed, you reach a feeling of much greater calm.

After this the trick is to “capture” this feeling Julie trains her clients to reproduce it at will, although it may take some practice and might require a few sessions. The technique can even be used for people who are faced with specific problems, such as job interviews or having to make a speech.

In the end, Julie’s approach succeeds because it addresses situations, sympathetically, practically and logically. without requiring that leap of faith that is necessary in other ‘alternative’ therapies. Natural Therapy can take the weight off your shoulders - and in more ways than one.

To find out more phone Julie Nicholls on 01793 495551 or visit body-mind-coaching.co.uk

Shape Up Without The Strain

 

Evening Advertiser August 2002

While many of us risk strains or even pulled muscles with punishing sessions in the gym, there is a therapy in Swindon that offers increased physical and mental well-being without the burn.

Trager and Mentastics are innovative therapies, originally from America, which combine gentle relaxing manipulation of the body-Trager, with self-care mental gymnastics-Mentastics.

Key benefits of Trager and Mentastics include reduced stress and anxiety, increased suppleness, deep relaxation, increased energy levels and recovery from injury.

Students of the therapies and people just wishing to find out more about them gathered at Lainsmead Primary School in Eastern Avenue for a day-long workshop, organised by local Swindon therapist Julie Nicholls, 34.

The workshop was led by the Austrian Trager and Mentastics instructor Hadi Stieg-Breuss, who helped the students explore movements of their arms, hands, back and heads. Ms. Nicholls, who practises as a therapist in the Bentley Centre in Stratton Road, said the workshop was a success.

“I’ve run several of these workshops since 1997. They’re a lot of fun, very relaxing and people who have not done Trager or Mentatics before, say that the day really puts them in contact with their bodies.

“Trager and Mentastics look at the individual’s body,” she continues, “If the person is suffering any pain, it seeks to help them change the ways in which their bodies work for them. It’s about moving so you feel effortless.

“The principles of Trager study weight, space, breathing, pauses and movement. It’s about how to get into positions without having to force them. If a person has pain, they hold on to that muscle, tense it, stress about it, even get depressed and that pain can rule their lives.

“We help them to look at what’s happening in their bodies and ways in which moving differently may help - if you move more freely, life can feel wonderful.

Julie plans to hold another workshop in November and would like to hear from anyone who would like to take part. The session will be open to everyone, children included, although they must be old enough to follow movement directions.

To find out more phone Julie Nicholls on 01793 495551 or visit body-mind-coaching.co.uk

Gentle Legacy Of A Boxing Doctor

   Evening Advertiser 28th July 1998

In 1925 a young boxer began developing a more gentle massage system.

SHIRLEY MATHIAS meets one of the UK’s 14 practitioners: -  It’s called “psychophysical integration” and it was devised by a Chicago boxer who later became a doctor.

Former nurse Julie Nicholls, of the Natural Therapy Centre in Shrivenham Road, Swindon, is one of only 14 people in Britain who are qualified to do it professionally. Actually it’s muscle movement and hands-on therapy named after Dr Milton Trager, who discovered it by accident and intuition when he was an 18-year-old fighter in training to be a professional in the ring.

Dr. Trager, who spent most of his life developing and teaching his touch therapy alongside this medical practice, died a year ago at the age of 90.

His system uses light, rhythmical hand contact and gentle manipulation instead of the heavy pressure of other massage systems.

The aim is to influence and interrupt deep-seated psychological and emotional patterns which can cause bad posture, distortion of muscles and joints and eventually physical pain. The therapy also improves posture.

 Julie, 30, is planning a series of introductory and training courses to introduce the unique therapy to Swindon people. She has helped to sort out everything from bad backs and bad temper. She hopes other people will be interested in becoming Trager practitioners.  Julie is the only one in Wiltshire,  “And there’s more work in this area than I can do,” she said. Julie, who was born in Belgium and has worked in Switzerland, came to Swindon five years ago to be with her boyfriend Chris Brown, who is now her husband. Treatment sessions last for at least 90 minutes. Her first introduction to Trager course is on Saturday, from 9.30am until 5pm.

More information from Julie Nicholls, Natural Therapy Centre, Swindon (01793 495551) or visit body-mind-coaching.co.uk

HOW THE TRAGER SYSTEM WORKS

The Trager system aims to release tight muscles, locked joints and even taut emotions
by manipulating the body within a pain-free range of movement.

No massage oils are used and the client doesn’t even need to undress completely. Besides the gentle massage, clients are taught Mentastics – Trager’s word for mental gymnastics, a system of effortless movement sequences designed to maintain and enhance the improvements which are produced on the massage table. 

“It’s more of a lesson than a treatment,” said Julie. “Pain is the last symptom which appears and the first to disappear. You might well be left with injured muscles, even though you aren’t feeling any more pain, so it is important to know how to maintain the benefits of the treatment.”

Julie Is Card Sharp

 Evening Advertiser 10th Feb 1995

Natural therapist Julie Nicholls has come up with an alternative gift for Valentines day, guaranteed to relax the most stressed-out person.

Julie has teamed-up with Swindon-based graphic design firm The Drawing Room, to produce gift vouchers which can be used for Remedial Massage to treat arthritis, back pain, sport injuries, repetitive strain injuries or stress.

The vouchers, priced £17, are for sale in Holland & Barrett, Pulse and the Swindon Chiropractic Clinic, in Stratton St Margaret.

They can be exchanged for a one-hour treatment and Julie, a former registered general nurse, who has worked in Swindon for two years, believes they are a good introduction to Natural Therapy.

“I’ve treated people aged between 19 and 85 and it is really beneficial,” said Julie, who works from the Chiropractic Clinic and from home.

“I’m launching these in time for Valentines day because what could be more beneficial than helping someone get rid of their tension.”

She approached Alan Read and Charlotte Devulder who run The Drawing Room and asked them to design some cards. They came up with a number of ideas from which she chose six designs.

To find out more phone Julie Nicholls on 01793 495551 or visit body-mind-coaching.co.uk