I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

Well. This is it. No more car.

A few months ago I spoke of the possibility of selling my car and going green by purchasing a bicycle.

The reason behind this was threefold.

1) I hated my car. My main clinic is in the Cotswolds. In Woodstock. You know, Blenheim palace, the Duke of Marlborough, cream teas, antique shops, Mercedes Benz, Range Rover, Alfa Romeo, '11/'12 registration. My V reg Mondeo with paint peeling off the bonnet and a rattling exhaust was quite frankly an embarrassment.

2) I wanted to be green. I really liked the idea of cutting down on my personal consumption of carbon, and even though it may not be much, it's still a start. And I also liked the idea of using my transport as a way of exercising and keeping fit.

3) Cars are so bloody expensive! I totted up my monthly expenditure on my car.
Insurance = £150 (working out of the country for 2 years certainly did not help)
Tax = £30
MOT/Service = £25 (ish)
Petrol = £200
Total = £405 PER MONTH!!!
An inordinate amount of money to be spending on something that was unenvironmentally friendly, and which I hated. Looking into the costs involved in travelling to Woodstock and London on the train from Worcester, and after purchasing a network rail card (£28 for 12 months) which gives a third off rail travel in the south east, I realised I'd be able to reduce my monthly travel costs down to around £200. Saving me £205 a month. A no brainer you might say.

But it hasn't come without its cost.

A) I'm limited to what I can carry. Whatever I can fit into my panniers and rucksack is what I am taking. I have yet to reach the stage where I need to carry more, but there is the possibility of borrowing a car if needed.

B) The rain. The bloody rain. I my head I was thinking, "well, it's the summer. If I'm going to do it at any time, now is the best whilst the weather is fine." Conveniently forgetting that I live in Great Britain. Where it rains all the time. Now some of you may have noticed that the weather has been mildly inclement of late, which has lead to a very soggy Phil. I go nowhere without a change of clothes.

C) Time. It does take a little longer to reach a destination, but actually not a huge amount longer, and I have to be very strict with my time-keeping now. I don't want to miss the train!

Having added up the figures (1+2+3)-(A+B+C)= Yes just do it already. I finally took the plunge and sold the car.

My new mode of transportation/love of my life is Hammond. A blue vintage racing bike from the 60's with a spanking new brown Brooke's leather saddle. I feel like I've always been a cyclist and I'm super proud of him.

So whilst cycling is perhaps not the most perfect way to travel around it certainly does have its benefits.

The money I'm saving every month.
The additional exercise I'm taking which helps keep my belly in check.
The increase in time management, mindfulness and responsibility. You have to be on time for the train, you have to be mindful of what you need and what you can take with you, and you have to be more responsible for your planning and actions.

Overall I would say that this is one of the best things I have done and I feel really positive about taking a step into the unknown and going well out of my comfort zone.

Here's to Hammond. Here's to me. Here's to a better life.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike....

Who Am I? The Exploratory Use of Metaphor

Therapy or counselling is an interesting topic. I quite enjoy noting people’s reactions when you admit to seeing a therapist. I’m generally met with two different scenarios. The “oh that’s great I know lots of people who have been for therapy and it’s really helped them” or the plain old “oh… really?”

Needless to say the first reaction makes me feel like I’m not actually crazy and the second reaction generally fills me with amusement, together with the underlying feeling of “you should probably go for some yourself.”

Over the last few months I have been attending psychotherapy to deal with some underlying issues that have been present in my life for a long time. To try and get some answers, help build my confidence and self-esteem and move forward in my life rather than repeatedly getting stuck in a rut.

Last week was a fairly intense session and by the end I was left feeling slightly morose. My therapist turned to me and said, “This week I’d just like you to spend some time enjoying being you.”

So, I left my session and the first reaction I was met with was, “But who the hell am I?”

The next few days I found myself pondering this question over and over again. And time and time again I was met with blankness, like the early morning stares, with no inspiration filtering into my confused brain. So I decided to leave the question alone.

This week I told my therapist the problem I’d had enjoying being myself. I mentioned how asking such a generalised question about who we are is so difficult to define. Of course I could answer with my gender, sexuality, age, profession, or even how I think others view me (the answer is always sickeningly “lovely” by the way… we’re working through that) but it’s such an esoteric question.

Who are we? What is the answer to that question?

So, then she tried a different tack. “If you were a car, what type of car would you be?”

“Well” I said, thinking, “I’d probably be an old vintage racing car, but one that is slightly rusty in parts, but loved and cared for. Quirky. Interesting. Not like a commercial brand new all gadget shiny thingy. Oh no. That’s not me at all.”

She smiled at me.

“Ohhhhhh. I see!” And thus, I saw. So I’m interesting, different, individual, not perfect, and definitely not mainstream.

We went on to discuss other things that I thought I would be. Flowers, interior décor, etc. The more I spoke, the better I felt, the more I felt defined as a person. I was beginning to realise who I was. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

So now I’ve got a few weeks off from therapy, and my homework is to design myself a “mood board” of metaphors based around what I think of myself. It’s interesting objectifying me, and whilst this might not suit everyone (perhaps it’s more of a man thing?) but I’m certainly looking forward to creating “me”.

And in my creation, perhaps somewhere I will find my voice, the ability to stand up for what I believe in, for I’m passionate about. With self-identity comes a certain sense of value and an increase in self-worth.

So I ask the question, “If you were a car, what would you be?”

Here’s to the humble metaphor.

The Liver and the Hun. Is Your Spirit affected?

So in the final part of this series, today we’re going to look at the SPIRITUAL aspect of the Liver- the HUN, otherwise known as the ETHEREAL SOUL.

The Hun is your access point to what we call the universal consciousness, or universal Shen. It is the part of your spirit to leave the body after death, those mysterious “21 grams” that disappear, and so it most closely related to what is commonly known as your SOUL.

The Hun is the only aspect of your spirit that is said to leave the body, and it does this when you go to sleep.

As you go to sleep, your Hun leaves your Liver and goes to gather the information you need to make important decisions. Have you ever heard the expression “why don’t you sleep on it?” Well, this is the reason why.

The Liver and Gallbladders’ predominant time lie between the hours of 11pm and 3am, and a sign that your Hun might be affected is waking up between those hours, especially if your mind is on hyper-drive.

As with the mental aspect of your Liver, the Hun is related to planning and organisation, imagination, and bringing into fruition. Quite often, those “mental blocks” in life (of which I have just suffered one trying to write this blog!), are due to some kind of disharmony in your Hun.

So, what can cause a problem with the spiritual aspect of your Liver?

Generally, when we start to talk about the spirit, people are divided into believers and non-believers, but what we are really talking about are feelings that are sometimes indescribable, but can be felt deep within a person.

That general feeling of discord, where things in your life aren’t necessarily going the way they should be.

For the Hun to leave the body at night, gather the information it needs, and return to the body and provide you with the necessary answers, it needs a well-rested, cool and Blood enriched Liver to return back to.

But, modern day life provides all manner of things to heat up the Liver, create stagnation and deplete its Blood.

Alcohol abuse or the long-term use of recreational drugs can cause the Hun to become restless and leave the body more and more.

The Hun opens out into the eyes, and have you ever seen someone who seems to be unattached from the world? They’ve lost their sparkle in the eyes? That is their Hun that has gone wandering.

Long-term stress is another cause of Hun disturbance. The amount of time I see people who will wake at 3am, with their mind on over-drive, because they are in a job they can’t stand, they are living with a partner they no longer have feelings for, or they feel they are forced into living a life “for the sake of someone else”, is unreal.

Emotions such as guilt, shame, jealousy and anger are all forcing us to lead lives that aren’t in accordance with out true path in life.

So, how do you change these things? How do you get you Hun feeling harmonious once again?

Well, as discussed in the previous blogs, using exercise and nutrition is important, but by this stage, some kind of THERAPY is important.

The kind of therapy at this stage would be some kind of energetic therapy, such as ACUPUNCTURE, REIKI, SPIRITUAL HEALING, or a talking therapy such as COUNSELLING, LIFE-COACHING, or PSYCHOTHERAPY. It’s actually largely unimportant, but what is important, vital even, is the CONNECTION you have between yourself and your therapist.

There are specific points in ACUPUNCTURE that help treat the SPIRIT, but whilst some practitioners will tend to treat at the physical level, others will be able to reach the spiritual level. This is the sign of not just a good practitioner, but a great practitioner.

All energetic therapists work in different ways, but to try and ultimately bring about the same response, to make you feel better.

The most important thing is to find the one that works for you.

I hope you have found some useful information over the last 3 blogs to do with your Liver. If you believe you may have a physical, mental or spiritual problem with your Liver, now is the time to get it rectified! The springtime! Any questions or advice you may need, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Wishing you all the best in health and happiness.

Phil Haxby-Thompson

The Liver and the Wood Element. Just how flexible are you?

So, as discussed in the previous blog, today we’re going to look at the mental and emotional properties of the Liver to see how you can release those feelings of stress, frustration and anger.

The Liver corresponds to the Wood element in Chinese Medicine. The Wood element relates to Springtime, the colour green, a sour taste, the climatic condition of Wind, an upward moving direction, the capacity of decisiveness and the emotion of ANGER.

Thinking of Wood in nature, think of an acorn. Harnessing the power of water to transform into wood, pushing boundaries, growing, expanding, the acorn has a keen and direct sense of purpose. It wants to become an oak tree. Pure and simple.

It is the acorn inside of you that gives you the strongest side of the Wood element. The ability to PLAN and ORGANISE and to follow through with those plans.

Wood, in Chinese Medicine, is the mother of Fire. So let’s just think about how you create fire.

Firstly you need to plan. What do you need?

You need some good sized dry logs. You need some dry tinder. You need to build in a dry area. You need to build the fire to allow air to circulate through to allow the flames to grow.

So good planning, as you can see, can allow you to enjoy the benefits of your fruition. A nice, warm fire.

The acorn has planning built into it. Its own genetic code means that one day, given the right conditions; it will become a mighty oak tree.

So, when the acorn starts to sprout into a young oak tree, it starts to push away at the earth, striving, reaching upwards towards the light. But what does it do when it encounters a rock in its way? Does it give up? Does it stop growing? Of course not! It finds another path, a way around the rock. And in this it has a sense of FLEXIBILITY.

So the abilities of planning, organisation, bringing into fruition, and being flexible, are all built into you. It’s just that some people are better at it than others.

Quite often, if your Liver isn’t entirely healthy, when you encounter those “rocks in life”, you can’t find a way around. What rocks do I mean? Perhaps, a difficult or challenging boss. A friend who pushes your boundaries. An overly controlling parent. An abusive partner. Being told “no, you can’t do that”. These are the emotional rocks that you can encounter in life. And given how many “rules and regulations” you have to follow, health and safety overload, it’s not surprising that that you can often feel STRESSED, TIRED and FRUSTRATED.

The emotion associated with the Wood element and the Liver is ANGER. And anger, of course, can present a whole spectrum of emotions.

It can be the full-blown, red-faced, “I’M ANGRY!”

It can be the underlying, speaking through gritted teeth, irritability.

It can be a complete absence of anger. Apathy, indecision, depression.

So, what can you do to help smooth out your Liver Qi (energy), and get the natural flow back into your life?

Firstly, as mentioned in the previous article, EXERCISE! I can’t stress enough, how much of a benefit this is, especially if frustration and irritability are your primary concern. Exercise releases endorphins (the body’s natural painkillers), and boosts levels of serotonin (the “happy” neurotransmitter) so you feel good afterwards. It gets your Qi moving! I once remember seeing an episode of Grand Designs, where a couple were building their dream barn conversion. The husband had a brain tumour, but had managed to battle it through extremely good nutrition. But it was the wife I was most impressed with. She took on everything. The household, the children, looking after her husband and all the planning of the majority of the build. She had been dealt some pretty large “rocks”. How did she combat her stress? Kick-boxing! She loved it! They showed a clip of her at the gym, beating out her frustrations on boxing pad, and boy did it work!

In fact, BEATING CUSHIONS is another great way to relieve frustration. Take yourself off, into a quiet room, away from the family, and start by rhythmically beating the cushion with your fists. Start of slowly, but allow those pent up feelings of anger, resentment and frustration just to flow up and out of you. You’ll soon be walloping those cushions, and I bet you you’ll feel much better afterwards!

But sometimes in life, we find it all a bit too much, especially when we get to end of the spectrum, towards apathy, indecision and depression. So, this is the time to get some help. There are several therapies that I think are ideal for helping with those feelings of “stuckness” and depression.

ACUPUNCTURE helps to not only to clear your energetic blockages of Qi, but gives them a boost as well. It works by finding the root cause of your problem and treating that cause. And its actions will not only help your emotional problems, but physical ones as well. As you have already seen, Chinese Medicine does not differentiate between what is commonly seen as a problem with the mind or a problem with the body. They come from the same root source.

REIKI is a fantastic way to help you relax and clear blockages and move forward with your life. It is very calming and will quite often bring things to the surface which you can then deal with. Feedback from your therapist at this time is always very useful.

Or perhaps, it’s time to seek some other therapies such as LIFE COACHING, COUNSELLING or PSYCHOTHERAPY. I’ll be the first to admit, I have recently started attending a psychotherapist, to help me find a way round my own mental “rocks”. It’s been incredibly rewarding. A large proportion of people see seeking therapy as a weakness, but I’m here to tell is most certainly is not! It actually shows an incredible amount of bravery and courage, and a true determination to rectify your problems rather than bury your head in the sand.

So, those are the mental and emotional properties of the Liver, the Wood element, and what you can do to help solve those pent up feelings of frustration!

Next time, we’ll be looking at the SPIRITUAL side of your Liver. The Hun, your Ethereal Soul. How does your Hun affect your life? And how do you know if your Hun is troubled?

Spring, the Liver and the Body. Time for a clear out?

Spring is nearly upon us so it is most definitely time to focus on your spring cleaning. And what organ is the body's cleaner? Yup, you got it! THE LIVER.

Over the next 3 blogs I'm going to describe to you the physical, mental and spiritual properties of the Liver and what you can do to help each aspect. The Liver relates to the season of springtime, so now is the perfect time to make a plan and put it into action!

The Liver, in Chinese Medicine, is one of the most important organs in the body, whose functions are different to that of the liver found in Western Medicine.

The 2 principle physical functions of the Liver involve:

1) Circulating your Qi (energy) around your body
2) Storing Blood (again this is slightly different from the blood in Western Medicine)

So let's look at each function in turn...

1) Your Qi is vital to good health. Not only do you need a constant supply of it (from the food that you eat and the air that you breath) you also need it to circulate around your body, very much like the way the blood transports vital ingredients such as sugars, fats, oxygen and water around your body.

But if this process becomes interrupted, and a common pattern you see is Liver Qi Stagnation, and your body's Qi stops circulating as it should.

There is a saying in Chinese Medicine: "Where there is free-flow of Qi there is no pain, where there is no free-flow of Qi there is pain". So, perhaps you can see where this is leading…!

Common manifestations of Liver Qi Stagnation include things like headaches, neck and shoulder tension, tightness in the hips and down the outside of legs, period pain and digestive cramping.

2) Your Liver is the main organ to store your Blood. We need good Blood in Chinese Medicine as this helps nourish your muscles and internal organs, it helps you get good restful sleep, moistens the body and needs to be in plentiful supply to assist conception, pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding.

But, another common pattern that can occur is Liver Blood Deficiency.

This can manifest as poor sleep, light periods or no periods at all, fertility problems, dry skin and brittle nails and a "sinewy" or "sallow" look.

So, what can be done about these? Well, firstly it's important to discern whether you are more Qi Stagnant or Blood Deficient, though in my experience it can be quite common to be both! The first rule of thumb however, is to always clear the stagnation first, and then work on the deficiency.

1) To help clear the stagnation in your Liver, EXERCISE is first and foremost! Get your body’s Qi moving!! And this can be anything. Walking or cycling to work instead of taking the car. Using the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Going for a walk on your lunch break. Joining that yoga class you’ve wanted to go to for ages. Getting to the gym more regularly. Going for a swim. The most important thing to remember is to make sure it’s REGULAR exercise.

What therapies will help clear those energetic blockages and get your Qi circulating around your body? MASSAGE is a great start and really does get that Qi moving around your body. ACUPUNCTURE is another therapy that is perfect for getting your Qi going. In fact, acupuncture is practically designed to help clear Qi stagnation and is perfect for those who suffer with chronic pain.

To help with cleaning your Liver out, SOUR foods have a particular action of cleaning out the Liver.  Things like natural yoghurt, lemons and green apples. Supplementing with Milk Thistle is another great way to help clean out your Liver.  You will want to avoid greasy, fried foods, caffeine and alcohol as these all have the action of creating more stagnation in the Liver. And of course finally but perhaps most importantly, you need to drink plenty of WATER!

2) To help nourish your Liver Blood a more strict program needs to be undertaken for 90-120 days (this is how long it takes to fully replenish and renew your blood supply).

GENTLE EXERCISE along the lines of Yoga, Pilates, Tai Qi or Qi Gong.

NURITION is key to helping nourish your Liver Blood. Plenty of vegetables, especially the DARK GREEN LEAFY VEG. A small amount of red meat or liver once a week will also help. But perhaps more important is how you eat. NO SKIPPING MEALS! AND NO EATING ON THE GO! Taking time to enjoy your food and taking time to digest afterwards. Plenty of fluids again, and of course, the avoidance of greasy, fried foods, caffeine and alcohol.

Supplementation is also important with Liver Blood Deficiency. I always recommend FLORADIX, a liquid iron formula, made with lots of natural fruit and vegetable extracts. Wheatgrass, barley grass, Spirulina, and kelp will also help nourish your Blood.

And making sure you get enough REST as well. Therapies such as REIKI or reflexology will help with calming down your system as well as strengthening those underlying deficiencies.

If you find that you are very Blood deficient (i.e. an incredibly light sleeper, dizzy or light-headed, or are having fertility issues with very light or no periods) then I would recommend visiting a qualified Chinese Herbalist to get some herbs that will help nourish your Blood on a deeper level.

So that’s the physical aspects of the Liver and what you can do to help them! Next time we’re going to look at the mental and emotional capacities of the Liver and what can be done to help improve STRESS and FRUSTRATION. Something I’m sure we could all do with!!

The Year of The Dragon

January 23rd 2012. Chinese New Year. The Year of The Dragon.

The Dragon symbolises passion, flare, excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, intensity. A true Fire sign, it can blaze up at any moment and be extinguished the next. But perhaps this is an ominous sign given the "predicted" end of the world this year?

When I attended the British Acupuncture Council conference in 2009 there was a fascinating keynote lecture given by Michael McIntyre, a well-renowned acupuncturist from Chipping Norton.

The essence of the lecture focused on the change in health from common 'Cold' diseases centuries ago, to 'Warm' diseases prevalent in today's society. Mostly centred around a pattern of disharmony known as Yin Xu (or Yin deficiency).

Most people are aware of the black and white symbol of Yin and Yang, their original meanings being "sunny side of the hill" for Yang and "shady side of the hill" for Yin. Of course we all know these two opposites should be perfectly balanced but continuously changing. The change of day into night. The change of summer into winter. Activity followed by rest. Warmth and cold. Masculine and feminine. White and black.

What started as a seminar about individual health, eventually turned into a seminar about global issues.

Yin Xu in the individual is marked by low grade fever, night sweats, hot flushes, tiredness. All symptoms commonly seen around the time of menopause. A lot of these symptoms are caused by our lifestyles. Always on the go, rushing around from here to there, never stopping, work, work, work, grab a coffee, have a drink, must see so and so, got to go, kids to feed, mum to look after, things to see, things to read, things to buy, spend money, want this, want that, next new thing, onwards and upwards, go, go, go. Leading a Yang lifestyle.

But what about the world that we live in? For a least two centuries the world has been in a state of dramatic and continuous growth, since the birth of the industrial revolution, and has grown even more exponentially since the birth of the digital revolution. We live in, what many would agree is, a masculine world. Electricity. Automobiles. Population growth. Central heating. Mass farming. More mouths, more crops, more livestock. Plane travel. International communication. Computers. Nuclear power. Economic growth. More consumption. Keep on drilling. Drought. Anger. Conflict. War.

The world has been living in a constant state of Yang, by consuming the earth's most precious of Yin substances. Oil.

By it's very nature, oil is the epitome of Yin. Black, viscous, cold, buried deep within the earth, produced over thousands of years of 'rest'. And what has been the cause of consuming the earth's Yin substance? Global warming. The world has become Yin Xu.

So has our consumption of this commodity caused the acceleration of the world's Yin Xu? It's an interesting theory to ponder. And our we being directly affected by the world's Yin Xu? Is this why we as individuals are suffering with more Warm diseases nowadays? As a direct consequence of oil consumption? I can only guess at the truth, but it does make me wonder...

So, this is the Year of The Dragon. Unpredictable and fiery. True Yang. In the theory of Yin and Yang, it is said that one cannot exist without the other. If we continue to consume the planet's Yin and live in an internationally Yang society, what will that mean? In a world where the countries leaders are fighting for economic growth and expansion, how can this be sustained?

I write this blog, not to be all "doom and gloom", but to make you think about the bigger picture. Something, somewhere, at some point, has got to give. Perhaps instead of growth and expansion what we should be striving for is rest and reflection.

I don't have all the answers, just my own thoughts and actions. But what we definitely need to strive for is balancing a world that is very much out of balance.

2012. The Year of The Dragon. Passion, flare, excitement, unpredictability, exhilaration, intensity.

Will it burn bright? Or will it burn out?

Today I'm grateful for...

Christmas and New Year have never been a particularly remarkable time. The usual fare: Christmas food; quality time with friends and family; a bit too much wine; you know, the usual.


However this year was marked by two completely different events that have elicited the same response.


Firstly on New Year's Eve the house was broken into and the new television, blu-ray player and my laptop were stolen amongst a few other minor things. I wasn't at home at the time, but my mother had been a home.


After being told of the theft, I was first struck with the unpleasant discord of not only losing all my items, such as photographs from travels and all of my work documents from the last 6 years, but also the horrid feeling of having your privacy invaded. To have all your personal and private photographs and documents looked over by complete strangers, and not particularly nice ones at that, leaves a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach.


But on New Year's Day I received an email from an old client, one I'd seen only once on Queen Mary 2, asking for help. A friend of hers is suffering from prostate cancer and is trying to do all that he can to battle the disease. Is there any advice that I can offer?


Receiving this email, immediately took me back to the time I was diagnosed with testicular cancer (my second diagnosis of cancer, the first being a fibrosarcoma on my right arm) and the treatment that followed. The consultant oncologist presented me with two treatment options after surgery. Chemo or no chemo. The advice he had to offer went along the lines of "if you have the chemotherapy, you reduce the chance of the cancer returning to 2%. If you don't, there's a 50% chance of it returning, and if it does return it'll most likely be stomach or lung cancer". Despite never really knowing my father, I knew he had died of lung cancer when I was 18.


To most people, it would've been a no-brainer, but I chose the option that to this day has seen me well. No chemotherapy, along with a huge change in diet and lifestyle and the use of alternative therapies.


The advise I offered to my client and her friend was that of not just good nutrition, but super-good nutrition. Upping the intake of vegetables and fruit from 5-a-day to more like 15-a-day. Buying organic only. Juicing the veg and fruit and taking it with wheatgrass, barleygrass or spirulina. Exercising. And taking apricot kernels (which contain the cancer cell fighter vitamin B17) as advocated by cancer journalist expert Phillip Day, author of: Cancer- Why We're Still Dying to Know the Truth.


Over the next few days, the effects of the robbery had started to settle (after all, there IS nothing that can be done) and I was left with a profound feeling of gratitude.


It's generally when big things in life occur, you start to ponder on the bigger picture. Stuff, is just that. It's stuff. And it's generally meaningless. Sure the missing photographs are a real shame, the missing work documents an annoyance, but thank goodness I still have my health. 8 years and counting, if you were wondering. And thank goodness my mother didn't wake up during the robbery, I hate to think what could have happened if she'd attempted to intercept. Thank goodness the dog DIDN'T make a sound. And thank goodness I still have my friends and my family.


If you take only one thing from this blog, don't make it sympathy, make it gratitude.


Be grateful for the gift of life, and live it to the fullest. You've only got one shot at it.