Unity Physiotherapy & Wellbeing

06/06/2026

🌿 Bridging the Gap Before Diagnosis

Yesterday I shared a video about the importance of compassionate, trauma-informed healthcare in supporting the increasing complexity, pressure, and demands within healthcare.

For many people, the challenge is not only waiting for a diagnosis but also navigating uncertainty, limited information, and variable understanding of symptoms. While we can’t quickly change waiting list times, there may be opportunities to better support people during this time.

Today I’m sharing a follow-up reflection focused on support during the diagnostic journey.

In this video I explore how earlier access to compassionate, trauma-informed information and resources could potentially help to decrease suffering.

One idea I discuss is the potential value of chronic illness services and teams working together to share resources, knowledge, and expertise — both across services and within primary care. This could help ensure people have access to helpful information and support earlier in their journey.

Of course, this isn’t as simple as signposting to information. People have different needs, circumstances, and barriers, and information alone may not be enough. Compassionate support, accessibility, and trauma-informed approaches are essential in every part of healthcare.

I also touch on the importance of recognising and screening for breathing pattern disorders, which are often overlooked and can significantly impact symptoms, function, and quality of life.

📌 I’ve linked the breathing pattern disorder webinar, mentioned in the video, in the comments for anyone interested in learning more.

💭 If you work in healthcare is this something you’ve seen done well or think could be implanted? If you live with chronic illness what would it have been helpful to access earlier in your journey?

05/06/2026

🌿 Compassionate Trauma-Informed Healthcare

In this video I share some reflections on a number of things in healthcare, including
* the lack of compassionate-trauma informed working
* increased pressure & demand
* increased complexity
* the impact of long diagnostic journeys before reaching a chronic illness service
* lack of resources

I’m again raising awareness of the importance of:
✨acknowledgement, validation & feeling understood
✨ compassionate care
✨ trauma-informed care
✨ deep listening
✨ people having sufficient information
✨ choice & collaboration

One thing I didn’t mention in the video is the importance of self-care and self-compassion — both super important and especially in healthcare.

💭 I’d love to hear your thoughts

03/06/2026

🌿 Breathing Pattern Disorders

I attend a monthly breathing pattern disorder (BPD) meeting as part of my ongoing CPD. This month, Catherine Moffat presented findings from her scoping review exploring living with breathing pattern disorders (Moffat et al., 2026).

BPDs after multiple systems & cause, or continue to, a broad range of symptoms.

The research highlighted symptoms affecting multiple areas:
* Respiratory
* Cardiac
* Neurological
* MSK
* Gastrointestinal
* Psychological
* Ear, nose & throat
* Other - eg blurred vision & fatigue

Symptoms were often episodic, could occur daily or occasionally & were poorly correlated with exertion, or underlying respiratory or cardiac conditions.

Precipitating factors in the research were acute or prolonged physical, psychological trauma or stress.

Another important finding was that the diagnostic journey was often prolonged & complex. This affected trust in the diagnosis & engagement with treatment.

People’s reactions to receiving a diagnosis varied from relief, to scepticism, to rejection. One factor influencing this was how the diagnosis was explained & discussed.

There was a negative impact across all domains of life especially physical, role & social function

There were some limitations of the review including the literature being 25 years old, change in definition & terminology over time, and they were all western studies.

We had an interesting discussion after the presentation, including the importance of:
* Ruling out serious pathology & being clear what the diagnosis is & isn’t
* Ensuing people feel listened to & there’s enough time for this, along with discussing the diagnosis & treatment
- Increasing awareness of BPDs, both within healthcare & society
- Not assuming people understand breathing — including healthcare professionals

This is an area I frequently included in my work with people with ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, long covid & other long term conditions.

Awareness of breathing pattern disorders remains limited, yet they can have a significant impact on quality of life & function.

🌿 I’m curious, were you already aware of breathing pattern disorders?

30/05/2026

🌿 Peacefulness if not necessarily something that happens when everything’s quiet

I’ve been reflecting on how peacefulness can sometimes be found in the midst of movement, sensation, and activation.

Things don’t have to be still, perfect, comfortable, or free from activation for there to be peacefulness.

These two haikus flow together and sit alongside my recent poem Attuned Expansion, which can be found on my YouTube channel.

✨ Peacefulness is found within.

Haiku

Compassionate awareness
Letting go into life
Grounded and open

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Haiku

Allowing what’s arising
Resting at the heart of the flame
Aliveness and peacefulness

💭 I would love to hear your reflections on this and how these haikus landed for you.

29/05/2026

Stood in my garden and watched the beautiful moon rising, listening to the birds — so grounding, joyful, and peaceful 🙂

Grateful for all nature offers 🙏🏻💚 and that it’s a little cooler this evening than it has been.

29/05/2026

🌿 Attuned effort, ease & letting go

This week, especially today, I’ve been reflecting on the relationship between effort and ease — not as opposites, but as something continually moving and responding within us. Like the threat, drive and soothing systems in the three circles model from compassion focused therapy.

In yoga there is the idea of sthira and sukha — steadiness and ease. Both are needed. Too much ease without enough support can become collapse or disconnection. Too much effort without enough ease can become tension, striving, overdoing, or holding.

What I’ve been noticing more deeply is the importance of letting go within effort. Not removing the activation that is needed in a moment, but softening the unnecessary holding around it — allowing it, flowing with it, and trusting.

As effort increases ease doesn’t disappear; it moves more quietly in the background as the sympathetic nervous system becomes more dominant. Likewise, full ease still contains a subtle supportive activation — for example, in an upright yet relaxed sitting posture, or with a soft, soothing breath.
�There’s a continual ebb and flow between activation and softening, movement and stillness.

We need attunement within both effort and ease — listening to what’s actually needed rather than pushing, bracing, avoiding, or overriding.

This connects with nervous system regulation, curiosity, trust, courage, allowing, and sustainable engagement with life. And learning to be in a compassionate, trusting relationship with life, rather than gripping too tightly or trying to control outcomes.

✨ Allowing space for trust, emergence, and the quiet intelligence held within the body, within life, and the wider rhythms that move through and around us.

Sustainable engagement is not about avoiding effort, but about finding a more attuned relationship with it — one with responsiveness, spaciousness, and the possibility of returning to full ease again and again.

This feels present in movement practices, meditation, work, creativity, healing, relationships, and everything in life.

💭 I’m curious how you experience the ever-changing balance between effort and ease?

28/05/2026

🌿 Awareness, attunement & allowing

This morning, after some clinic work, I spent some time lying on the grass in the sunshine before what I knew would be intense heat later in the day.

Before settling down, I noticed two bees moving around a tall foxglove — a small moment that invited joy, wonder, and a slowing and softening into what was present.

As I lay there meditating, a long piece of grass kept brushing against my skin in the breeze, and each time my body initially jumped, thinking it might be an insect. After checking once, I set the intention to simply allow the sensation.

Rather than trying to override the response or focus on relaxation I gently allowed and noticing each little jump as it arose automatically. Over time, something softened more fully. The body recognised the safety, and the slight activation gradually settled. It became part of the wider rhythm of sensations — including from the wind, warmth, breath, and the Earth beneath me.

There was a deep sense of peace in that. A quiet surrender, trust, and attunement — not passive, but fully present and actively allowing with a deep attunement.

✨ We can carry moments like this into other parts of life. Meditation & somatic practices are about more than the practice itself.

💭 I’m curious what happens when you gently allow a sensation or experience, rather than immediately resisting or moving away from it.

28/05/2026

I love attending these conferences with the The Compassionate Mind Foundation and will be attending online again.

Are you going too?

🐦Don’t miss your chance to secure the lowest possible price for our 15th International CFT Conference with our early bird savings!

This year’s conference theme is ‘Compassion in Action’, with each day focusing on a different perspective, reflecting our biopsychosocial approach – and how we can put the wisdom and practice of compassion into action.

We will also be celebrating 20 years of the Compassionate Mind Foundation.

Join us!
📆12-15 Oct 2026
📍Millennium Point, Birmingham (UK) & Online via Livestream

Early Bird offer available until 31 July.

Book your ticket 👉 Link in comment

28/05/2026

🌿 ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I commonly notice sleep-disordered breathing, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) & breathing pattern disorders in people with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, so I thought I’d share a little more.

I often explain sleep-disordered breathing as being on a spectrum. At one end there’s milder breathing disturbances during sleep & at the other end OSA.

All of it matters because sleep-disordered breathing can affect a variety of things, including:
✨ Oxygenation
✨ Fatigue & brain fog
✨ Pain
✨ Nervous system regulation
✨ Inflammation
✨ Metabolism
✨ Sleep quality

It’s linked to how we breathe during the day — it’s about how we breathe 24/7.

In my experience, sleep-disordered breathing is often under-recognised, particularly in women. Much of the research around OSA has historically focused on men & women can present differently.

Some things to watch for or ask about include:
👉🏻 Mouth breathing day or night
👉🏻 Waking with a dry mouth and/or headache
👉🏻 Snoring (even if mild/intermittent)
👉🏻 Gasping, choking noises or pauses in breathing during sleep
👉🏻 Waking frequently to urinate
👉🏻 Unrefreshing sleep, unexplained fatigue, exercise daytime sleepiness
👉🏻 Cognitive dysfunction
👉🏻 Additional risk factors include ⬆️ BMI, smoking, asthma, hypermobility & menopause — the latter isn’t currently in the NICE guidelines

📌 I’ve linked the NICE guidance in the comments for anyone wanting to read more.

What’s important to note is that many symptoms associated with sleep-disordered breathing overlap with ME/CFS & fibromyalgia symptoms. This means it can sometimes be missed or overlooked, especially if someone doesn’t fit the “typical” presentation for OSA.

If you’d like to learn more about sleep disordered breathing, OSA, and breathing efficiency in general one thing that I would recommend is following

💭 I would love to know if anything in this post has resonated or surprised you.

26/05/2026

🌿 Doing what we can & letting go

This recent extreme heat, alongside a few other things, has had me reflecting on the importance of doing what we can — and then letting go from a place of awareness, care and compassion.

We can’t control what happens in the future. We can, however, influence how we respond right now and how we relate to what happens later.

I struggle with heat because of health conditions, and the current temperatures and fluctuations in temperature have felt extreme. So I’ve focused on what I can do — keeping hydrated, watering the garden early in the morning (while also enjoying some time outside), and closing curtains and windows early to help keep the house cooler, to name some things.

Today I also worked with the blinds shut in my office. Fortunately, an NHS assessment I had was by phone, though even if it had been on video, I still would have needed the blinds closed.

What I can’t control is how hot it becomes, or exactly how my body responds. Heat itself increases physiological stress on the body and nervous system — and fear or resistance to what’s happening can add another layer of activation and symptoms.

What is supportive for me is connecting to a sense of what I call soft strength — what Rick Hanson calls calm strength — which includes compassion, steadiness, trust, and care in my actions.

There can be something deeply regulating about recognising:
✨ I’m doing what I can right now.

And then gently letting go of the rest.

I notice relief in my body when I shift from fear of what might happen towards focusing on what can be done and then letting go from a place of deep trust. This doesn’t mean difficulty disappears, but it often reduces additional suffering — the “second dart” — and helps me stay connected to what’s possible now.

Outcomes aren’t controllable, so holding them lightly, focusing on what’s possible, and trusting our capacity to respond can sometimes help us move through challenges with a little more steadiness.

💭 Where might it help to focus on what you can influence — and gently let go of the rest?