Tag: nutritionhealth

The Knights of St. Johns order and healing connections with more

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

When you work with mind, body and mind, and soul, you come across humans who are meant to be healers, protectors and more. In order for them to go up in frequency, the human body needs to go through a certain healing and process, to be able to work higher. There is a cleansing of past issues in life, and often you need to go a cleansing and forgiveness time, for yourself and others, letting go of anger, and fear and more deep emotions that are keeping you stuck and in pain. When you work with some of the most gifted and spiritual people, I feel that very honoured, as I am supporting now their journey. A journey that I have gone through for the past 16 years, and maybe longer. The first part is quite hard, but the more you heal, the more you let go of the hurt, the pain, the anger and whatever you need to let go, the more clearly you see, the more peace and love gets into your cells, and more healing and Light you can see or feel or sense.

I came across the St Johns Knights order about 10 years ago in Malta, understanding a bit of their establishment, and what they did. There are various theory of the and some facts in various sources on the internet about where it started, it seems a Merchant of Amalfi was the originator, who wanted to protect the merchants but also heal the merchants at the same time. The order went from Amalfi to Jerusalem, where it started, and then to Greece, specifically to Rhodes and Cyprus and than established in Malta. The Order of knights of St. Johns, in Jerusalem, they are called the Knights Hospitaller. They would treat any humans, no matter their religion or creed.

I would add the spiritual part of the Knight now, which it feels like they are pretty much connected to the masculine healing of humans (female, male and all gender). The feeling that I had with working spiritually with them, it was about protection, flexibility, honour, truth, integrity, peace, and compassion with kindness. The heart needs to be of a higher frequency, of a higher frequency.

Spiritually, I felt that they were also connected to the Great White Light Brotherhood, which are White Light of God that helps humanity in achieving their higher frequency, and healing, protecting and helping humanity achieve their greatest frequency, you can read more about them in the spiritual blogs.

I felt that Both the White Light Brotherhood and the Knights of St. Johns, have been working together for at least a 1000 years and more. And who ever enters their order, will have ascended into their order in some way or another and will eventually find them both physically and spiritually.

It is funny that according to my DNA, I am almost half Greek, from possible Rhodes, my ancestors come from maybe merchants and landed in and around the area where my grand-parents grew up.

I feel honoured and curious about life and what is more than life. Right now, we are all been drawn to raise our voice, raise our frequency and connect to our higher self, in order to heal ourselves, heal our children and eventually heal our world!

The Therapist Within, workshop for complementary therapists

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

This is an online workshop starting on 2nd of November 2025

6 to 7 hours of CPD personal development

Starts at 9.30am finishes about 4.30pm

We are humans, before being therapists, and as human, we have our own internal battle, or little conflict for something or another. We also need some inner resources, at times, at home or with our clients, during whatever therapy we do.

I know that I found myself at times, with small internal conflict, and even though I have the answer, sometimes I need the help from the another person perspective. And sometimes, it does not have anything to do with therapy at all.

I am a Nutritionist, Craniosacral Therapist NLP health coach and practitioner, and I love going to the NLP top ups, as a reminder that we all have an inner wisdom within us, we just need a bit of guidance to find it! And we are our best guide, if we listen carefully to our inner Therapist.

Hence, after another long day of practising few simple tools with the NLP group, I decided to pass on some of the wisdom for other therapist, who need at times, reconnect to their inner wisdom, for themselves and for their client.

Specifically, I work with craniosacral therapists, but this particular workshop, can be expanded to other therapists. And as you may know, the more internal peace we have within ourselves, the better listener we will be for our clients, including babies and children if you work with them with craniosacral therapy!

In this workshop, we will use few NLP tools for particular issues, and other NLP tools might be used as well if appropriate.

  • 1st one, will be the internal conflict tool (any internal conflict, small or big). This is an amazing discovery of how the internal conflict can create a little internal war within ourselves, if not addressed. Even for small decision, such as choosing to do something or not do it, or choosing a pair of shoes, over another.
  • 2nd tool, will be looking at goals/dreams that we have, and how our unconscious things we deal with them. Few NLP questioning of tools to trick our mind into our real thoughts and bloackages.
  • 3rd tool will be anchoring good positive feelings and state of mind, that we can recall at any time.
  • 4th is to get motivated for something that we want to do
  • Grounding meditations and others from mindfulness tool meditation
  • Clearing our aura and space meditation
  • Possible other NLP tools will be added to the list

Price for the workshop is 85 pounds, paid at booking via bank transfer. The receipt will be emailed to you after.

Maria Esposito TSB code 308472 account 24603860. Email me if you make this payment to gandgmariaesp@yahoo.c.uk

Short Chain Fatty acid for your intestinal tract health

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

As Nutritionist, we have known for a long time, and at least I have since my University training more than 26 years ago. The health of the gut is very much an essential part of all our health, including the brain, hence the mental health of a person. It starts from birth, from picking up your mum’s bacteria, if it was a natural birth, and if not, from being breastfed, and if not from all around you. Obviously, from a natural birth (not water birth as such, as still is a doubt if the bacteria gets washed out with the water). In natural birth though again, depends on your mum’s vaginal bacteria. Sometimes I recommend to give friendly bacteria to babies, when mum’s might not have supported their friendly bacteria through the diet, or if they have taken antibiotics for any reason or another while pregnant.

Now, we all have our unique microbiome and hence that is what it will grow from the start. And the we know that the first 1000 days of life (Swansey study), are the most important for populating your babies and toddler microbiome. If for any reason, such as antibiotics have been given or taken during pregnancy or lactation, your baby has been born through a C-section, then, it is possible that instead of the good bacteria, the more non-commensal bacteria that could do more harm than go, will thrive.

So the best next thing that you can do for your baby is giving some Bifidus baby infantis to support the proliferation of their good microbiome, and stop the growth of yeast or other non commensal bacteria.

Babies have more Bifidus bacteria, which feed on either the mother’s breastmilk or bottle fed milk. From 6 months, after you start adding more food, the Bifidus that feeds on milk, start to go down and more of the lactobacillus and other good bacteria start to grow. Now, it depends on how you start your baby diet, if you start on more sugary foods, such as fruits, then, the yeast bacteria can overgrow, and your baby might start getting the taste buds for sweet. If you start on more vegetables, than, the bacteria that feeds on vegetables grow and are better. Also in this way, your baby will not crave more of the sugary foods later on.

There are lots of weaning thoughts and diet out there, just remember, that your baby does not have teeth and the digestive system is not fully developed till the age of 14 years! Yes 14 years, for the liver, the kidney and the entire intestinal tract is formed. So make sure that more of the good food is ingested than the rubbish food. It starts from you and when they are weaning as well. Click here to read what I suggests, and you can make up your mind of what is the best for your baby as well. Ask your mum, if you turned out really healthy, what she weaned you first!

To feed more of the good microbiome, such as the acidophilus and Bifidus bacteria, they need to feed on food that they can eat. The by product or the elimination of their feeding, is fuel for the repair of the intestinal tract.

The intestinal tract, needs repairing every 3 days or so. So they need food every day, to do you a lot of good.

And as we know the healthier the intestinal tract is, the healthier your mental status! Lots and lots of research on this now.

What food does increase the short chain fatty acid (SCFA), which is the food that the bacteria eat to repair your intestinal tract. The SCFA are essential for the repair of the intestinal tract, as well as, reducing inflammation, support the integration of the gut barrier, preventing undigested food to enter the blood stream and hence reducing the chance of allergic reaction to normal food, and much more.

All in fermented food:

Butyrate in oils, butters and fats, beans, legumes, fruits and vegetables, milk, onion, garlic, avocadoes etc, whole grain fibers increase short chain fatty acids, such as brown rice, quinoa, apples, bananas, broccoli, carrots, spinach kale, kiwi, mushrooms, any green leafy vegetables, dandelion greens, endive and more. (and yes, some foods are off in the Fodmap diet)

Acetate, all fibers, but more with apples, pineapples, strawberries, berries, grapes oranges

Propionate in all the above plus pears, oat and barley, brown rice, legumes, chia seeds, chicory root, asparagus.

Whenever you or your baby, toddler, child, teenager, needs to take antibiotics for any reason, take some really good friendly bacteria, such as Bifidus and a combination of lactobacillus, so that they fill the gap that has been left by your good dead bacteria, till your own good microbiome, grows back again. The probiotics that you buy might stop growing after two months, but they saved the seat for your own microbiome to regrow after the antibiotics.

If you are taking any medication, is possible that you need to support your intestinal bacteria with the bacteria that you buy or you can make your own kefir, if you are good at doing that. If you are an Athlete, you need to support your gut microbiome with extra microbiome, as excessive exercise will cause inflammation and leads to a reduce good microbiome.

If you frequently need to take anti-inflammatory, also you need to support your intestinal tract, as well as if you take steroids for any reasons, or extra hormones, such as in HRT.

Always promote your good bacteria with the food that contain the SCFA above and you will feel much better than anybody else that does not support their intestinal microbiome!

Read my Book, “Clinical experience of IBS” by Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) find it on amazon.co.uk

Understanding Hypoglycemia: Causes and Effects

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

Hypoglycemia, is quite common or more common than you think. Some times is due to genetic but most of the time, and especially in the modern diet, is due to what we eat and drink. Especially for young children and teenagers, the modern diet now is full of fizzy drinks, coca cola, red bull (full of caffeine which increases the blood sugar), juices, even the fresh made ones, as there is no fiber, that includes carrots juice.

How would you fill with hypoglycemia, either as an adult or child/teenager?:

  • Tired
  • dizziness
  • lightheaded
  • irritate
  • fainting spells
  • depressed
  • anxious
  • craving for sweet or a quick fix
  • confusion
  • night sweats
  • legs weakness
  • swollen feet (for older adults)
  • tight chest feeling
  • hungry all the time
  • insomnia (especially if eating sugary food before bedtime) (blood sugar goes down quickly and person or child or even babies wake up hungry)

Hypoglycemia can lead to aggressive behaviours and quick change of temper. This can happen shortly after eating sweets or sugary drinks. This is not just when you eat sugary foods or drinks, if you eat white simple carbohydrates such as white pasta and rice/bread, alcohol, lots of caffeine, lots of chocolate, and eat only vegetables as well, without any protein, fat or whole carbohydrate.

The whole carbohydrate, is whole bread, pasta and brown rice, quinoa, barley and whole grains and foods, including potatoes with the skin on.

To have a slow release of sugar, and hence reduce the chance of your child, yourself or your teenager to have bounces of low blood sugar levels, and hence irritability, burst of anger and screaming for no reasons, or sleeping problems, is important that each meal has some carbohydrate, protein and fat.

A lunch or dinner or both, you can have portions of grains, or potatoes or greens for adults that are worried about their weight, with a portion of either fish, or meat, or beans, lentils, chickpeas (cooked with a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to soften the shells, so that do not cause much gas).

Fruits are best eaten either with breakfast with porridge of whatever grains is suitable for you, with plain yogurt, a bit of pure honey, some nuts or seeds (if not allergic to).

Snacks in between are apples, pears, with skin on, or mandarins or blueberries with a bit of yogurts, or humus, avocado with rice cakes or whole bread. There are lots of alternative foods out there, but the best way to get all the nutrients you need and more is to get as fresh and without packed food as possible.

To balance blood sugar, you need a good amount of B vitamins, chromium, good fats, fiber and a slow releasing food intake, with avoidance of sugary foods and drinks. As sometimes it is hard to have a good intake of B vitamins, especially now days, where the trend is eat what you want for 5 days and fast for two days in a week. Or avoid food for 16 hours, plus go to sleep and avoid foods for another 12 hours, have a coffee to get you some sugar and wake you up, than have another one later with a sweet pastry or worse. Have red bull (someone in a casual chat while hiking said to me, it is quite good for the heart, it has got taurine!), for the afternoon and evening, well get some chips only and have alcohol for some more energy!

and yes

I would still take and give some multivitamins as well, as if you live in London, is very hard to get a really fresh food that gives you everything, as well as to fight the toxins from the big city, and as vegetables and fruits lose their nutrients by the day, it will be hard for us to get the amount of vitamins and minerals from the food alone. Unless you are lucky enough to live near a farm or have an allotment and a garden, where you can just pick up your vegetables from there before eating it, than forget the vitamins. You must have also a fruit garden and free range animals and chickens for the eggs and …….

My parents moved to the countryside from a town and that was a blessing, as they still grow seasonal vegetables in big vases. I cannot do it in London, I know that some people can, and that is amazing!

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapists – NAET – R-Craniosacral therapist –NLP health coach practitioner – Certified Angel Guide – Mindfulness Meditation teacher – The resilient Heart (HeartMath) meditation and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) – MBant – M-CSTA – CHNC registered

All problems stem from birth and beyond! Imprints and Unconditional love and Craniosacral therapy and more with Maria Esposito BSc (Hons)

by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

Having worked as a therapists from sport massage to Nutritional advice with over reaction of food and craniosacral therapy for the past 30 years, I have found that the majority of the problems stem from either a birth trauma, or even before we were born a trauma that has left an imprint on your parents or grandparents. We all have that, as this depends on where you are from, what history your parents had and what major event has happened in their lifetime, either personal or local or globally.

I know that for many people, COVID 19 has left an imprint, which it means, that might be passed on to the next generation. An imprint is the memory of something, happy or traumatic, that has been stored in the DNA.

We have survived all this years on Earth, as per that imprint. For example if someone in the pre-historic time, when someone witnessed someone being killed by a tiger or killed by another force, than who ever survived got that traumatic imprint and passed it on, to the next generation to watch out for tiger, or snakes, or food that should not have been eaten. Some was passed on verbally or drawing, and others were just imprinted in the next generation in the DNA.

Now, Craniosacral therapy works with body, mind and soul. Any unconscious memory or trauma that has been passed on, can also still affect the person or baby. Usually with babies and mothers is the birth trauma, any other memory will be dealt when the baby is older or ready to deal with it.

With adults, when they start having sessions, the session will bring up what the person is ready to deal with. And with the support of the therapist (Maria Esposito), this will be put to the awareness of the person and dealt with accordingly or let go and transmute into unconditional love.

I always start my sessions with a breathing cycles of unconditional love. Some people during my hiking group, asked, what if I don not what unconditional love is?

Well sometimes that is the case. If you have a pet, or children, you will know what unconditional love is, as they will give that unconditional love no matter how you are with them, till a certain point. Children at some point might also close down if you do not show some love for them or treat them right.

Also with you do not have children or pets, than connect to nature for that. Trees give you oxygen without asking anything from you. The sun shines everyday somewhere in the world, without asking you for anything. The majority will get rain and hence water for you to drink, and to water the food that the farmers grow for you. Unless you are a farmer or you can grow your own food, and in that case, you get the rain unconditionally. The tree will take your toxins from your exhalation of Carbon Dioxide and transmute it, into oxygen for you to breathe. Without them we would not survive more than two minutes!

So you can see how much unconditional love we have around us and how much we are helped without us asking, we take these things for granted.

Nervous system and polyvagal balance with craniosacral therapy

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

The polyvagal nerve, is part of the nervous system and the nervous system is part of the brain that will give signal when things are ok and when they are not. In some cases, in adults with childhood trauma, can all of the sudden experience stress related episodes with no recollection of when and where that happen. For most people the talking therapy will be good when they know what the problem or issue are, and often they are resolved. But some stress response or trauma will not be reached just by the conscious mind, or it will take months or even years before you can reach it.

Often traumas from childhood are stored in our body or even cells, and those unconscious traumas, can be triggered at any time in the life of the adults. Quite often with a body injury or illness. Craniosacral therapy allows the body system to feel safe enough to show the trauma, big or small, at the time that the person is ready to deal with, usually when they feel safe enough to share or deal with whatever emotion is attached to that trauma. With mindfulness meditation and heart meditation, the person has a tool to be able to connect with their heart and deal with whatever comes up in a loving space. My work is to connect to my heart and the person heart to reach a stillness where anything is possible, and any healing is allowed to happen in a loving experience. Craniosacral therapy, does not force any trauma out without the person being ready. That is the magical part of this wonderful therapy.

Craniosacral therapy is the only one that will help the nervous system to feel calm, relaxed and safe enough to be able to reach that stress trigger and allow the person to deal with it in a more gentle and compassionate way.

Sometimes the trigger of stress is just that, too many things to deal with and no enough time to deal with them apart from night time, when all is quite and the body does nothing. This means that the stress mode or emotions and feeling can be address, even though the person wants to sleep, they do not manage to sleep well and hence is a catch 22. They feel tired during the day, irritated, get busy and drink coffee, teas, or even worse Bull, which is an equivalent of 4 coffees in a can.

Craniosacral therapy, allows the brain to calm down enough and allow the person to deal with whatever situation they are conflicting with or need to deal with during the day, rather than night time, allowing the person to start having more sleep and be more productive in a day time. For me craniosacral therapy is a bit of magical touch, where the person can enter a state of deep relaxion, without too much effort and getting in touch with their inner wisdom and higher self!

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapists – NAET – R-Craniosacral therapist – PCI NLP Coaching programme – Certified Angel Guide – Mindfulness Meditation teacher – HeartMath meditation -Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) – Trauma certification (PESI) – MBant – M-CSTA – CHNC registered

A proven naturally way to Lowering your cholesterol and tri-glycerides

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

I am so thankful that after three years I can still pass my Christmas in Italy with my family. Lots of things have changed, people do different things, some with family and others by themselves travelling a bit more. There is still a lot more fears attached to Covid than in other places, and any new news about it becomes an extra worry. In pharmacies people still wear a mask and you feel like the odd out if you don’t. There was a new strain of flu going around and young and older people felt worse than ever with it. This is due to the immune system not being challenged for 3 years. My parents, even in their old age are always worried about lack of food, so they buy more than they will ever eat in one week, and they love to plant seasonal vegetables, even in big pots. When they were given big pots as a gift, they were so happy that they can manage to plant their seasonal vegetables without much effort, as the planting them on the land would be too much for them.

Green and red salad

They try their best not to take extra medication that they can avoid, even though they might take some that are essential. Both my parents were tested high for cholesterol last year, and of course, they were given by their GP the usual medication to lower it. They both did not react well with it, and I mentioned to try to see if with Benecol, as I knew that it would work, would go down enough for the doctors to be ok with it. I also suggested to take fish oil in capsules for both of them, for two reasons, one for the brain, and the other to reduce tri-glycerides, which again they both had a bit high. They have been taking it since the summer, and I asked if their cholesterol was low. They said they were so happy with it, as the cholesterol got down so much, as well as the tri-glycerides, with the fish oil. To be fair the doctor in Italy did suggest the fish oil for that too, which is good. They have not told the doctor about the Benecol though and the reason for being lower. My mum had a heart operation 6 years ago so she had to have a lower cholesterol.

The main ingredients that is beneficial to reduce cholesterol in Benecol is plant sterol ester, and I would not agree with all the ingredients in Benecol, but for people, like my parents that would rather have a food that keep taking pills, this is the 2nd best option.

Freshly squeezed orange juice

The best one is to take plant sterol and phytosterol in capsule as well as combining the dietary changes. My parents do eat their own seasonal vegetables, and fennel, endive and salads, as well as broccoli, chicory, and broccoletti (found in Italy but not England), are part of their stable diet, as well as beans, lentils and fruits. Green leafy vegetables, sage, nuts contain plant sterols as well as the food above.

We were so fortunate to have my mum make us freshly squeezed orange juice every morning, that is because a couple of kilos of oranges would cost two Euros, compared to 2 pounds for a pack of 5 oranges here. They would also eat good nuts such as pecans and walnuts as snacks, which would help with having higher good fats as well. At their age, they eat less meat and hard cheese, due to my insistence, less frying and more oven baked food, as well as using only olive oil if any food needs to be cooked. Using their own olive oil from their own olive tree only raw with salads and food.

© Fennel

 If you do have high cholesterol and high tri-glycerides, you need to consider the entire life style change as well, to make the most of it and get things sorted out for good, and that would include walking 30 minutes, twice a day, to keep your circulation going and keep your heart pumping well.

Some of the plant sterols in supplements might cost as much as the Benecol, so maybe worth getting that instead and you get more for them, like a monthly supply. Fish oil with high EPA and DHA, again get a good brand as that would still be worth it, and even if you eat fish, you might not get enough from a couple of times that you eat it a week. At least you can get the plant sterols and fish oil till your tests come back normal and then keep going with the dietary changes and walking to keep it stable, and maybe just get the Benecol every now and then to keep it down.

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET for allergies – R-Craniosacral Therapist – NLP – Angel Guide Certified – Mindfulness Meditation teacher- Resilient heart (heart-Math

Babies and mothers craniosacral therapy sessions

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

From reflux, during pregnancy, to tiredness and relaxions for anxious mothers to babies and mothers birth trauma, Craniosacral therapy is a gentle but very powerful and magical therapy that allows the entire body system to settle and balance up. This will reduce, anxiety for the mother, and stress mode, or vagal irritation for the baby when they are born. In turn for the baby means, less colic, less irritation or fear mode, less reflux, improved breastfeeding, more peaceful sleep for baby and mother. craniosacral therapy is a gift of a lifetime for your baby, as it will improve the mother and baby connection, a HAPPY BABY, will increase the good positive neurons forming and good memory that will positively affect them for their lifetime!

For babies with a small amount of birth trauma just few sessions is enough to settle them in a balance way. This improve the connection after a tongue tie for a good latching and hence feeding well.

For the past 30 years, I have heard of mothers saying that their baby do not poo for few days or even a week or more at the time, and they have been told that it is normal.

After just one session and suggestions of babies infants probiotics, babies poo few times a day, as they should do.

The foundation of good bacteria from the start of the baby’s life, will set them for a lifetime of good intestinal tract. There are plenty of research now connecting the gut health with the brain healthy development of the baby in their adult time.

The past 50 years with the use of too much anti-biotics, which at times, they do save lives, but others were prescribed as sweet, have seen the stripping of the good bacteria, with an increase in gut dysbiosis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and other Irritable Bowel disorders. Now that we have learned how important our friendly gut bacteria are from the start, let’s keep them in and start from the beginning!

Give yourself and your baby the gift of life, with craniosacral therapy. For the mothers and adults, the change is a bit more slow, but worth starting and carrying on!

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET for allergies – R-Craniosacral Therapist – NLP – Angel Guide Certified – Mindfulness Meditation teacher- Heart Meditation certificated (Heart-Math)

Transformation by Maria Esposito in the Fulcrum for craniosacral therapy

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

(taken from) The Fulcrum, Issue 82 January 2021 click here for original article

I find that the more I follow my intuition and connect to the heart, serving everything that makes my client whole and integrated, the faster they heal and in so doing transform their lives and mine.

Having held CST workshops on how to deepen one’s practice for the past five years, I was recently invited to write about the journey that led to teaching. Hesitant at first about how to put my thoughts and experiences in words, I was reminded that there seems to be a hunger to understand ‘grounding’ more deeply and learn to apply it to our daily lives, and a desire to develop a more intuitive, heart-centred connection with ourselves, our work and our clients. In recalling my own efforts to learn these things, and the wonderful transformation when I was finally able to apply them to myself and my practice, I’d like to share my journey.

A massage course led to further qualifications in sports massage, reflexology, nutritional therapy, muscle testing and Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET). I found that I loved helping others to resolve their problems and pain and have been a holistic therapist for more than 28 years.

Informed by anatomy, physiology, nutrition and Eastern approaches, I spent many years helping clients and yet I still felt a need to meet them more holistically. My first experience of CST was when cranial-osteopathy was recommended for my son’s recurring colds and coughs. The process that led to the release of his birth trauma made me so curious that I eventually enrolled to study CST at the College of Cranio-Sacral Therapy (CCST).

My scientific and therapeutic training was comfortable with the physical focus of cranial-osteopathy but I found myself unsure about the whole-system approach that was taught at CCST. Nevertheless, during treatments and practical sessions, I felt much-needed changes occurring within me and experienced profound results. Whatever it was, it was working. Still, it was challenging; I was very good at the physical and scientific aspects of CST but not as good at grounding and working off-body. I became increasingly conscious of being ungrounded, of not being fully present in my body, especially in the mornings and evenings, which led to exhaustion. Not able to ground well, I did not pass my practical exam. It was the first time that I had not succeeded in something that I had put effort into and it was difficult to accept. So, as a positive and stubborn person, I set out to understand everything I could about grounding.

‘Just Ground’

A healer brought a fresh perspective on grounding that helped me understand the concept of being fully present and embodied, and why I was ungrounded in the first place. At the same time, Octavia Kelly, a CST colleague, brought her experience and insight to my training. I am very thankful to both and for my failure to pass the practical part of my final training assessment, as my journey would have been completely different otherwise. I would not have understood the concept of grounding as deeply as I do now and how essential self-healing is to our work.

I realised that the more grounded I was, the more I felt calm, focused, alive and less tired throughout the day.

Developing Intuition and Heart-Connection

My interest in intuition and heart connection first began when I started to practise CST in combination with the NAET method of treating allergies. Many clients began sharing what they saw and felt during treatments, which was often beyond my wildest expectations of what was possible or logical. My natural curiosity led me to explore this. Hence, when I tuned into and followed a client’s whole system during a treatment, I often saw images, for example, a femur or tibia or fibula in an incorrect position, and sometimes I would feel pain in my own leg, knowing that it was not mine. This would lead me to ask if there was a problem with the limb that presented to me, and I found that the answer was always ‘yes’ when I worked this way. So, I started to mention more of what I felt or saw during treatments and the answers often confirmed where a problem that affected their body and sometimes their mind had started. If my hands felt something hot or cold, or if my clients spoke of seeing images and/or colours, I would follow and see where it led.

I began to attend healing classes to become more grounded. The technique that helped me become more embodied and less stuck in my head (with my logical, scientific mind) was to visualise that my legs and feet were weighed down by anchors. Thai Chi and Qi Gong classes, where grounding and body awareness were practised in every class, and swimming and Pilates classes, also helped me to become more embodied. After a few months, I was grounding well enough to pass my practical exam, and a door opened to a new experience of life, professionally and personally.

I realised that the more grounded I was, the more I felt calm, focused, alive and less tired throughout the day. I could see clearly what I wanted to do in my life, and I experienced inner peace for the first time. Reaching a steady state of inner peace is not an easy thing to achieve; it takes time, especially when life challenges you. Still, the more whole and grounded I became, the lighter I felt, and when life ungrounded me I recovered my grounding and balance more quickly.

‘Just ground’ became my personal mantra and after a few years of experiencing the benefits of this amazing change and self-transformation, I wanted to share this simple way of being. This led to developing my CST workshop ‘Grounding and Healing Tools’ and, judging from its popularity, it seemed to fill a gap for many therapists.

This workshop is a reminder of how far I have come on my own journey in grounding and in my own life, and it is a privilege to pass on what I have learnt to others who are ready to understand the concept more fully and embrace their potential. Through teaching grounding techniques I hope to remind, reconnect and deepen practitioners’ understanding of why grounding is so powerful, transformative and important for ourselves as individuals and therapists, and for our clients.

I have also found healing tools useful in my practice. Healing, defined as ‘the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again’, resonates with me and I feel that my work is part of a healing process. The danger is that we can become vulnerable to our clients’ issues, and if not careful, can internalise them. As part of my toolkit, healing techniques help to protect me from holding on to my clients’ emotions and feelings. I find that I feel much more exhausted if I do not combine CST with these tools, and my hope in sharing them is to help others stay protected, resourced and energised in their work.

I found that the more I followed my intuitive sense without fear or judgement, the more accurate my treatments became.

Fascinated by this process, I started consciously to develop my ‘right brain’ – thought to be the most creative and intuitive part of our body. Inspired by John Upledger’s experiences in the ‘Inner Physician’ and ‘Somato-Emotional Release’, I found that the more I followed my intuitive sense without fear or judgement, the more accurate my treatments became. I then read ‘The Biology of Transcendence’ by Joseph Chilton Pearce in which he describes the heart as the fifth or highest brain. As a result of this study, I now practise CST with intuition and heart-connection.

Developing heart-connection transformed my practice. The first time I understood this profound power I was treating a client who shared something I was simply not able to understand. Beyond my comprehension, the only way I could follow and support my client was to let go of judgment, fear and worry and connect to unconditional love for them and their journey. I focused on just being there, trusting and allowing the whole system to do what it needed to do, following where it led. This, of course, is the principle of CST – observe, listen, allow whatever needs to unfold and integrate. Yet, in my experience, we all come to a profound recognition of this truth in different ways.

As I deepened my intuitive perception, following where the client’s system led, it felt natural to share with colleagues, to help them strengthen the intuition that many already experience. I felt that some just needed guidance or reassurance that whatever they were experiencing needed to be followed and taken into consideration for the benefit of their client’s whole system, health and deep healing. The workshop ‘Integration of the Self, Strengthening Your Inner Intuition,’ grew out of this desire to help therapists grow further in their knowledge and awareness to push beyond their comfort zone while remaining sensitive to their boundaries.

Thanks to my inner curiosity, my therapy practice has evolved far beyond my expectations. As I have sought ways to deepen my connection to clients, I have come to realise the power of working from our hearts is essential to serving them in the best way possible. Focused by grounding and guided by intuition, the unconditional love and peace that is inherently present when we are led from the heart enable us to grow both personally and professionally. It is this truth that I wish to share with others.

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET for allergies – R-Craniosacral Therapist – NLP – Angel Guide Certified – Mindfulness Meditation teacher- Resilient heart (heart-Math)

Children anxiety is real and can be helped with craniosacral therapy

Featured by Craniosacral Therapy/Paediatric craniosacral therapy/Nutrition/NAET/ NLP Health Coach/Mindfulness meditation, posted in Blog

I have seen many children lately, mainly with anxiety related disorders. This was due to lack of sleep, too much going on in their lives, and too many things to do, as well as long days at school and home.

I have seen this, especially near the time that children need to change from one school to another. Parents starts to panic and start stressing their children on where is the best school for them, this can be from primary to secondary and from secondary to A levels.

I also seen different background from strict religious background to atheist and more. The amount that is put on the child, either for necessity and or for learning lots of more things is massive.

This means they have so much more information that they need to have, and their sleep is restlessness and have little or none deep sleep.

This leads to the child starting the day tired and ending up being irritated, eating more sugars than they need to, to feed their stress pathway; jumping up and down for a while, than getting exhausted, bypassing their sleep time, and getting even more tired; till they start getting anxious, due to the cortisol being high all the time, and getting the adrenaline rush, which makes them want to fight, run, or freeze. They start having ticks and do things to relieve their stress mode, sometimes with no results. They start fighting with their siblings and their parents, start breathing from their chest, which will give less oxygen. End results, they will be exhausted by the end of the day, and cannot catch up with that exhaustion, till they get ill, quite often, which is the body stopping them from carrying on the way they are carrying on.

This cycle of stress, irritation, ticks, and exhaustion illness, will carry on for the entire months of school, till the summer, and it carries on at times into adulthood. Where they will start running, having a stressful job and keep being deprived of rest, sleep and mental stability.

Can you see the cycle here? So start looking at signs of restlessness into your child, or children behaviour and start thinking if your child is overwhelmed with activities and less rest time. How do they breath? Can they breathe well? Are they having ticks, or even frequent illnesses? Are they anxious or fearful of being left alone? Do they want your attention all the time? Do they talk all the time, without resting their mind? Or are they quite all the time, too much in their head already?

Craniosacral therapy, will help getting their system quieter, calmer and more settle in themselves, with less anxiety. I teach the heartmath breathing technique for parents to teach their children and do some breathing technique themselves, so that they can settle and be present with their children as well.

This will benefit the children as well as the parents, has it will allow presence, space and time to be quite and relax the body and mind, with a physiological, change, mental and spiritual calmness.

© Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) R-Nutritional Therapist – NAET for allergies – R-Craniosacral Therapist – NLP – Angel Guide Certified – Mindfulness Meditation teacher- Resilient heart (heartMath)