Testimonials Archive - Unity Physiotherapy and Wellbeing

Embodied Rest Workshop

Ann Parkinson — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 09:17:06 +0000

I attended the first workshop out of curiosity to see what Embodied Rest meant and I was glad I did. Ann’s training, guidance and gentleness was warm and reassuring in a calm way that allowed me to think about rest and my connection to it. I felt like I was floating on clouds after the first one. When I heard about a part 2 I was determined to attend. Part 2 was just as good as part 1 and Ann has something about her that is really soothing and calming and I feel really glad to have taken that time out for myself.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshop Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 11:49:24 +0000

If you’re suffering with any health problems especially pain, fatigue, anxiety Ann is able to gently help, support, guide and reassure you. She has lived experience herself of health problems where she has learnt so much personally and, in many situations, I think this is the only way to really learn and understand some health difficulties and how they impact you, your life and the lives of your family and friends.

Ann has immense compassion, understanding & validation for her clients. Her passion, honesty and conviction for her work shine through at every turn. She provides a safe, trusting, empathetic space for her clients to express themselves freely, truthfully and openly together if they wish to – sharing experiences together with no pressure, no judgement and offering compassionate support and understanding to each other.

Ann understands how our physical and mental health are intertwined. Through her vast and thorough knowledge, experience and skills Ann is able to provide you with an extensive toolkit and many resources to help you manage and understand your health better on many levels. This can help to reduce a lot of the fears, worries and doubts we may have and enhance trust and connectedness to our bodies again and gives us hope for recovery in a safe, relaxed and positive way. This is all vital, life-changing and life-saving support which Ann delivers in a calm, kind and caring way. Ann’s yoga and meditation practices were very gentle and relaxing – soothing my mind and body. I felt connected to my body and very grounded afterwards.

The course has helped and reassured me tremendously. I now fully understand what happened and why to me and how my body and mind unconsciously took me over to keep me ‘safe’, when I had a long bout of severe back pain. This has helped me to feel safer, more confident and relaxed in uncertainty, of all kinds, to trust my body and be compassionate, patient, loving and kind towards myself. It has been amazing to be part of a group of like-minded, compassionate, caring, experienced people who understand you, validate you and just ‘get you.’ I’ve felt a great sense of belonging, relief and safety from the group.

I’m so grateful and lucky to have received the care and guidance of some very compassionate, experienced and knowledgeable professionals during my recovery who knew how to help me. Finding the right type of supportive health professional for you can be vital, it’s important for people to know that there are healthcare professionals who can help. We are so lucky to have people like Ann in this world.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshop Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Sat, 08 Jul 2023 10:46:31 +0000

I have found the safe and compassionate group environment healing in itself. It has allowed me to bring all parts of me and feel accepted/that I belong, without having to apologise or change myself. I have been able to reflect more on my experiences, consider what is important to me, what I need and how I can put this into practice. I have been able to build on my self-compassion, develop greater trust in my body and myself generally, feel greater belonging with others and acceptance of myself, connect with freedom and ease (despite issues such as fatigue and pain) and gain greater inspiration as to the directions that I would like to take my life in. It has nurtured my soul.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshop Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 13:17:40 +0000

I’ve always felt a fish out of water. This course had made me realise I do belong, I can be part of a group. I have learnt that you can find acceptance in many places and if you remove your avoidance strategies and strip yourself back to your core you can rebuild yourself. I had previously spent much time learning to self manage my pain but I now know that we need to self manage and protect ourselves from negativity from others or our own inner critic. When I started the group I did think this wasn’t for me, I didn’t belong but how wrong was I. Ann’s delivery ensuring we are all included and her gentle, calm and reassuring words made me feel so comfortable. I’ve opened up on this course in a way I haven’t before. Ann created such a safe place I faced and acknowledged traumatic events in my life that I’d locked away so deep in my being. I felt and then knew that there was such compassion in this group that I never once felt judged.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshops Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 10:39:26 +0000

The whole ambience of care and compassion which Ann offered right from the beginning has been extremely helpful, and I have loved working with her and the other members of the group. I feel we have supported each other as well as benefitting greatly from Ann’s comprehensive knowledge, compassion, wisdom and expertise. I found the three circles activity in Week 2 especially helpful at a time of great challenge with my health. The mediations and compassionate check in have helped me focus on my body, how it feels and what I need. I have loved the power of compassionate self-touch, and the lotus mudra. What happened in the group in that session was metaphysical and magical! There have been surprises: I align myself with earth and water, and hate having cold, bare feet. But in the meditation about the 5 elements, I felt such a gentle, soothing breeze playing around my feet that I focused on the healing power of air, and felt lifted and held. On the same element, I have benefitted considerably from the breath work, and now often use one of those exercises to help me get to sleep or go back to sleep when I am struggling with insomnia. I have learned to be much more mindful of my window of tolerance, and how to re-regulate myself or to sit with uncomfortable feelings and tensions knowing that they will pass. As someone who has tried to practise yoga since being a teenager, and always giving up because it gave me a headache or I felt I wasn’t flexible or balanced enough, I have loved the movement practices, and Ann has given me a new perspective on yoga as something which can be practised with adaptations such as sitting, or having support, or just doing as much of the movement as I can manage. The week when we did the pelvic tilt and bridge, I felt my hips move in a way I didn’t know was possible, and that gave me a lot of joy and trust in my my body. This course and being part of this group are experiences I shall treasure for the rest of my life. Ann’s extensive provision of resources gives me a library of ways in which I can continue to build on what I have learned in the course.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshop Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 15:58:06 +0000

I have participated in the 8 week Creating A Healing Path workshops with Ann and I can’t recommend them highly enough. Ann’s compassionate and intuitive approach was appreciated as I was finding my way through my body changing. I had been experiencing anxiety and pain through perimenopausal symptoms and Ann was so supportive. The resources Ann provided were incredibly helpful to help me to think about things from different perspectives and gain more awareness to manage my symptoms with more ease, as I learnt about the window of tolerance. Ann’s knowledge and skills were demonstrated through her excellent presentations and the abundance of movement and breathing practices we experienced and all the extra resources she created for us. I will definitely participate in further workshops with Ann.

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Creating A Healing Path Workshop Testimonial

Ann Parkinson — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 15:54:55 +0000

Thank you Ann for a truly inspiring and empowering course. I was reminded how important it is to connect with my body and to be compassionate towards myself. The practices were such a gift and allowed me to try different techniques in my own time and find what works. Ann provided us with a detailed and very clear understanding of the nervous system, various practices and how we can better cope with life’s challenges if we can understand our physiological and emotional reactions. I highly recommend this course to anyone who is ready to deepen their understanding of how they can better manage their wellbeing, pain, anxiety. Ann held a trauma informed, supportive and welcoming space where I felt heard and witnessed. I would describe Ann as someone who is passionate to share learning and very experienced as well as warm, thank you Ann.

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Anonymous

Ann Parkinson — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 14:04:30 +0000

I got referred to Ann by my physio as after 2/3 years of suffering chronic pain and finally getting an EDS diagnosis I was battling overwhelming fatigue and I was spending weekends ‘recovering’. I was stuck in a vicious cycle of wanting to manage my condition and flaring up my fatigue. I was sceptical to work on fatigue as concepts of pacing wasn’t something I thought practical. However, Ann’s approach was focused around being compassionate to myself, checking in with my body and adjusting things that day. At first the concept of reducing anything would make anxious as I wouldn’t feel like I was doing what I ‘should’ be doing. But gradually over the sessions I worked with Ann to write a rough plan for the week and be compassionate to myself if I didn’t stick to it. I learnt to listen to my body and reduce things and to focus on what I needed that day. I also learnt the value of rest and meditation practices which I find helpful.

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Anonymous

designwellness — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 11:25:37 +0000

I had a lot of problems with my back and also the beginnings of arthritis in my knees, hips and hands so I was advised to go to Ann by my son who was having treatment with her. Ann was able to give me a lot of time to work at exercises and techniques to improve things like my muscle strength. This has helped enormously and now when I get a flare up in my back I am able to control it with exercise and stop it from getting too bad. She was also able to help in my mind to understand more what is going on and to help me to approach my problem from a positive viewpoint. Very many thanks to Ann!!

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Robert, Lincoln

designwellness — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 11:31:15 +0000

I was somewhat dubious about what could be achieved given I had contracted an incurable disease. However, thanks to Ann’s professionalism, knowledge, encouragement and a sense of humour, I no longer have any misgivings. A ‘tahdah’ followed by a ‘007’ is not to be missed! I wish Ann well and thank her for all her help.

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