how to beat a bad back, 5 tricks to try at home

Yes of course mindfulness Pilates always helps, but before you start, it’s always good to consult your doctor or good physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor first 

These are the 5 tips, 

1 relaxation and meditation 

2 stretch 

3 core stability 

4 back strengthening 

5 mindset and positive affirmations 

Today let’s focus on relaxation & meditation, in mindfulness Pilates we focus mostly on the Pilates core stability breathing but I also teach relaxation breathing which is ideal during meditation. When I’m teaching my mindfulness Pilates 121 programmes & classes on zoom, you get to enjoy a 30 second sitting or standing meditation, a 1 minute have a lie down meditation and 5 minute meditation for you at the end. 

This helps both your back, body and mind, it calms and soothes the nervous system with a brilliant de-stressing effect but it’s also good for your spinal alignment, muscle balance, posture & muscles, which may relieve some tension, tightness & stiffness in the muscles too. 

Enjoy today’s 5 minute body scan relaxation here 

How do you feel after?  Gift 🎁 it to a friend if you like. 

Love Bev 

Helping back pain sufferers to alleviate their discomfort and enjoy their favourite exercise, sport & lifestyle by doing the one-to-one reduce back pain mindfulness Pilates programme.

How to work with me is on the website or contact me on the contact page https://beverleydensham.carrd.co

looking after you during illness

How are you looking after you? I thought I had looked after myself enough this week, I had cut down my work schedule a lot, but I still taught my mindfulness Pilates classes on zoom, of course if it had been in person work I would have had to have cancelled because I could not have turned up coughing and spluttering all over the clients! Definitely not.

So why did I think it was okay to turn up to teach on zoom which was detrimental to my own health and well-being, ending up at the doctors and needing medicine to take for a chest infection very sore throat etc. In future I will look after me so that I can go back to work quicker and do a 100% good job. So I felt inspired to write you a blog about how you can help yourself when you’re feeling poorly, obviously always consult the GP, Doctor if you aren’t well but perhaps these tips or at least some of them will help too.

heres 5 tips which I hope may help you too

1 rest

2 sleep more

3 listen to your body

4 eat and drink well

5 enjoy a snail paced morning routine.

do something positive for you so you don’t stay in the doldrums

I still enjoyed my miracle morning today, a very gentle morning routine & extremely lazy 6 minute Pilates, breathing naturally. The thing is when you aren’t feeling very well, and I have not been out of the house for five days now, that although you need to rest, heal and recover, at the same time by spending so much time in bed and sitting and lying down, your body still needs to stretch and otherwise the muscles just become stiffer and stiffer and complain and your back and neck are not happy. So you can still do some very basic gentle one minute and six minute Pilates, even on your bed! If your nose is bunged up and you’re coughing a lot, then Obviously you have no choice but to breathe naturally, but you can still do some gentle movements even sitting on your bed with your back straight and do a few little shoulder circles perhaps five times each way.

1 Rest

🙌

2 sleep more ‘zzzzzzzz’

Often sleep is broken when we are not feeling very well, so if you’re able to take time off work, then don’t set an alarm in the morning perhaps take an extra nap in the day to help you recover and delegate as much as you can. For example my son picked up my prescription from the pharmacy for me.. took out the bins and made me hot honey & lemon.

3 listen to your body

4 eat and drink well

I’ve added in warming soups, as well as adding the green juices in as well such as morning celery juice (a whole pack of celery!!) , evening cucumber juice (a whole cucumber juiced) as well as lots and lots of hot honey, lemon and fresh ginger, sometimes with turmeric, sometimes with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar is apparently very good!

I’m eating all my usual food fortunately, except adding in extra vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C. Obviously we all eat different diets but it’s such a good thing to boost the immune system again especially if you’re having to take antibiotics, I was quite impressed with the doctors they even recommended I take probiotics which is obviously a really good idea after taking that sort of medicine.

5 enjoy a snail paced morning routine

here are some of my favourite things I enjoy in my daily morning routine, Hope some of them help and inspire you in some way

1 meditate

here’s a 1 minute meditation for you to enjoy (please note if you have a bunged up nose, simply breathe naturally & calmly!! The best you can, let your breathing calm and soothe!!) sitting or lying in bed!

join in here

2 pick an affirmation everyday

here’s one for today, say to yourself

‘I love to smile’

& give yourself a little smile & maybe high five in the mirror. The High-five tip is a tip from author Mel Robbins, author of the high-five habit, I heard her being interviewed by Fearne cotton on her happy place podcast, it’s really worth a listen and I must say it really does cheer you up giving you a high-five in the mirror, I loved doing this with my clients earlier in the week, they loved it too! Have you tried it yet?

If you love angel cards too, pick one or more! I enjoyed picking two today!

3 visualise a small or big goal, have a little daydream about it with your eyes closed, or perhaps gaze at a vision board or read what’s on your vision board.

4 exercise. No you might not be up to doing anything or going out or anything like that, and you need to stay at home cosy and heal. However it’s good to have a very gentle little stretch now and again or if like me and many of my clients it’s still good to do 6 minutes mindfulness Pilates practice, except you might have to breathe naturally, do it in bed or move much smaller movements than usual and that is okay just listen to your body what feels right for you.

Try some shoulder circles and gentle next stretches, all you need to do is sit on your bed, and circle your shoulders five times one way and five times the other way, you can also do a few gentle simple neck stretches, sit with good posture on your bed

then tilt your head from one side and then tilt your head to the other side. 1, 2 or 3 times.

join in 5 shoulder circles here!;

Stretch your neck for 30 seconds join in here

If you don’t stretch and do some basic movement you will just get stiffer in the muscles and seize up which is not good, keep listening to your body and keep moving in a very gentle way and do a few little 30 seconds stretches here and there.

5 read.
If you feel up to it, read a good book. The latest book I am reading is the high-five habit by Mel Robbins. Basically the tip she gives every time you go past a mirror at home, give yourself a high five 🙌!! It’s really good! Tried it yet?

This is especially good tip when you’re feeling ill, because often you don’t feel so positive when you’re feeling poorly, so rather than looking in the mirror thinking oh God I look and feel so rough, you just give yourself a high-five.

I like doing a double high-five with both hands high-fiving, you can listen to the podcast on Fearne Cottons happy place podcast with Mel, read her book to find out the science and depth of using this amazing tool, highly recommend. What book are you reading right now?

6 journalling.

Enjoy some writing time. This can be diary style, how you’re feeling, what you have been doing personally and professionally, it can be writing what you’re grateful for, it can be picking an affirmation card and writing about what that message means to you or an angel card, I’m really enjoying the miracle morning journal at the moment which I fill out each day, this journal is by Hal Elrod, his miracle morning another excellent book.

it’s nice having a good old fashioned diary too, You can have a notebook on the go to, whatever works for you and you feel inspired by.

I really hope this blog helps and inspires you in some way, if you feel it will help a friend or family please feel free to gift it to them to help them at this moment in time, I teach all of this to my clients. You can join in too

sending you lots of love and a high-five!

love Bev

Ps Oh I wish I looked like this photo today!! But no, writing this blog curled up in bed with pjamas, no glam dress or makeup!! Do I care? No!! I think the high fives helped!!

from the daily mail photo shoot !

Daily mail, my story

So grateful for the photos that the Daily mail sent me today, I felt like a movie star!! Very glamorous & fun the photo shoot & such lovely people I met. The article shines a light on the story after half my vocal cords had paralysed, how I ended up discovering an important part of my soul purpose & the creation of the happy kids cards.. to bring more happiness, confidence & calm to children’s lives & you, expressing how we feel, having a voice, in case you’d like to read the full story and what happened next here it is

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10065893/Whats-locked-AKASHIC-Record-known-spiritual-library.html?fbclid=IwAR2LFKA1A6Ok-6jxDsuGYBjErzPqoorG47qTxknUaxpkrV119Jbfap1mh_I

Thank you Sam Brick for writing the article

The happy kids cards are to bring more happiness, confidence & calm to children’s lives & you

They are a deck of 52 positive affirmation cards which come in a printed cotton bag with 10 fun ways of when & how to use the cards, pick a card a day for happiness, rest and play. A chance to talk about how you feel, talk about the cards message. A tool to use everyday and help with mental health.

More about them and order yours here https://www.pilatestofeelgood.com/happy-kids-cards

What’s been the highlight of your week?

Love Bev

Author, mindfulness Pilates expert & founder of the happy kids cards. My backgrounds a degree in sports science from the university of Brighton

Reduce pain and keep moving to keep playing golf/ your passion

Just taught my Dad Terry!) one to one mindfulness Pilates on zoom, doesn’t matter where you live you can always do your Pilates! There is no excuse! My dad is 83-year-old years old, and in his younger days he was an international England table tennis player and has always been really sporty. He was county champion in three sports squash, tennis and table tennis! And his love of sport continues, an avid golfer, he plays several times a week but in more recent times he has suffered with his back and at times experiencing severe pain, limping, terrible posture and affecting his daily life and golf.. 

He has done all the right things, he saw his GP, had x-rays, scoliosis, disc problems showing , he saw the consultant as well as a really good practitioner, he’s been helping with his spine. He’s also helping himself with a lot of daily movement.

He’s been going to the spa daily for an hour for the jet massage in the pool, it’s a bit like hydrotherapy with massage on the Jets which is extremely helpful for the muscles and he exercises and stretches in the lovely warm pool too as well which is really helpful with the Pilates stretches and working on the posture.

He has been practising his Pilates daily for over 23 years And having lessons on and off with me, but now we’re back doing one-to-one Pilates on zoom lessons, so we can take his back to the next level, his posture has really improved lately and pain levels gone down, his posture was already improved after this session of Pilates today. And finally adding in some really good specific back strengthening exercises at a level that is comfortable, That’s really important. 

We are working on opening up the posture limbering up the shoulders and upper body, stretching out the chest and shoulders and encouraging the back to naturally go into its more natural alignment, which in turn will also help the golf. A good effort, well done Dad (Terry) 

Stretching. Improving the posture.

Posture before the lesson (not bad!!)

Posture after 1 hours Pilates, improved. Relax those shoulders!

A favourite pic of me & Dad, (Terry!) at my sister Julie’s wedding

1 way to build mind body strength

It's been a wonderful work and personal day today, yet all days aren't like that, sunday night I was unwell and had to postpone my monday work, it was so nice today to be back on sparkly form and for that I'm truly grateful. Something that is very apparent lately is how many people have lost their oomph, zest, motivation, enthusiasm, perhaps feeling low, anxious or even depressed. (obviously if you are depressed it's good to seek the advice of a doctor as there is so much help available these days).

Mind body strength comes from many different angles, as you know I have 2 podcasts a week now, my son said to me? Why don't you just have one podcast? Well maybe he's right, but at the moment there feels overall quite a big difference between the two yet the overall goal is to help you with your overall strength and happiness in mind, body and spirit. The thing is when we've been through all sorts of different past stress, it call leave us feeling splat. Yet you can do something about it, things don't have to stay the same, they really don't. But the thing is, its not as easy as waving a magic wand and everything will be sorted and happy, you have to put time and effort in with regular good habits that make you feel better on a daily basis such as having a morning routine.

Do you have one? Even 6 minutes can make a huge difference. this is what I get all my clients to do. Yes some do more, but what they notice that they know they can achieve this and they do. You can too.

I was chatting away to my Mum and sister in the next mindfulness Pilates podcast about motivation and what motivates them and then why they are motivated to do pilates with me.

I carry on the conversation, which you'll love with Author Karen Kay which will be out in next weeks I talk to angels podcast which includes Karen sharing her morning routine, we have something in common there and you can too.

One way I'm helping more and more people with their mindset, happiness and body is with my mind body strength membership. Some go full on seeing me 3 times a week for more rapid results and some weekly, you're welcome to try out a freebie session first or the one to one 6 week programmes available too.

What's unique about my Pilates? of course it includes mindset with positive affirmation cards, a card picked especially for you whilst you stretch or an angel card and starting and ending with meditation. All on zoom forever so it doesn't matter where you live in the world.

you’re now invited to join me at BWT physio at the studio there if you’re local to Poole Dorset


Like brushing our teeth, we have to keep brushing them at least twice a day. Same with our mind body strength, luckily it's enjoyable! See you soon

Love Bev

Beverley Densham BSc (Hons)

https://beverleydensham.carrd.co/

Pilates teacher of over 23 years Reduce back pain and feel good with mindfulness pilates