Dún Danu Amatsu Clinic

Dún Danu Amatsu Clinic Relieving chronic pain, injury, ailment, and stress. Treating causes not symptoms, to improve quality of life.
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Recognised by LAYA Healthcare

Registered Member of The Association of Neuromuscular and Massage Therapists (ANMT)

Registered Member of the Complementary Therapists Association (CThA)

10/08/2026

Whilst sitting in a tropical paradise, the temptation to write a bu****it motivational social media post that relates to nobody in the real world is strong. 🤦‍♂️😆

But reading this book, preparing future courses, and looking at where I am now compared with where I’ve come from has been a useful reality check.

Compassion isn’t simply being nice. It is noticing suffering...in ourselves or others...and having the intention to help relieve or prevent it.

In Compassion Focused Therapy, compassion flows in three directions: from us to others, from others to us, and from us towards ourselves.
If we’re honest, the last two can be difficult. How comfortable are we receiving compassion when we’re struggling? How easily do we offer that same understanding to ourselves?

I’ve lived through extreme adventure, danger, trauma, loss, and witnessed suffering in others. Studying compassion has reinforced something simple to me: suffering isn’t a failure of life. It is part of being human. Yet we often hide it, deny it or feel ashamed of it.

We are a deeply social species. However separate our lives may look, none of us gets through life without fear, loss, insecurity or pain.

So look at the people around you – family, friends, strangers, and even yourself – and remember that each may be carrying something you know nothing about.

You do not have to fix them.

Sometimes compassion begins with recognising suffering and genuinely wishing that it might ease. If there is something useful you can do, do it. If not, then simply generate the loving intention.

Imagine if we all did this for everyone. Imagine everyone doing this for you.

And this isn’t just sentiment. Research suggests that compassion and self-compassion training can improve psychological wellbeing, support healthier behaviour and some aspects of physical health, and increase prosocial behaviour. This is the helping and cooperation that strengthens human connection.

Compassion isn’t softness at all. Compassion is one of the more courageous ways of meeting our reality.

Do you behave like an animal?!This sign made me smile, but it also reminded me of something I often talk about in the cl...
08/08/2026

Do you behave like an animal?!

This sign made me smile, but it also reminded me of something I often talk about in the clinic – we sometimes forget that we are an animal. The human animal.

Our biology was shaped over millions of years in environments very different from the ones many of us live in today.

That doesn't mean there was once some perfect “natural” human lifestyle, or that modern life is bad. Humans are extraordinarily adaptable.
But modern life can make it remarkably easy to sit too much, move too little, sleep irregularly, eat poorly, live under constant demand, and lose some of the social connection and physical contact that human beings tend to do well with.

Evolutionary medicine has a useful word for some of this – "mismatch." Our environments and habits can change far faster than our biology.

So no, I'm not suggesting that we all turn feral – although, to be fair, that can occasionally be fun. I'm suggesting something simpler.

Remember what kind of animal you are.

Move your body regularly and use it in different ways. Eat mostly real, minimally processed food. Protect your sleep. Spend time with people who matter. Give and receive safe, welcome touch. Make space to recover from stress.

We don't need to recreate some imagined ancestral life. We just need to stop living as though our biology no longer matters.

So, please, behave a little more like the animal that you are.

Your body, mind, and soul will probably appreciate you for it.

05/08/2026

My 11 year old daughter gave me a wake-up call and life lesson last night!

While away on holiday, we went for dinner and were entertained by a fire show.

What a lot of people don't know about me is that I once travelled around Asia performing fire-poi and fire-breathing shows in Cambodia and Laos. I was OBSESSED with performing with fire.

My daughter turned to me and asked if I missed doing this, to which I replied that I do. She then asked why I don't practice with fire anymore. To be honest, I was stumped for an answer and said something along the lines that 54 year old family men in Ireland don't do this sort of thing. She looked at me, paused, and just said, "Why?"

That one word hit me like a tonne of bricks. She's right. Why?

This isn't about me. This is about so many of us as we get older. Why do we stop doing the things we love for ourselves once we get into the routines of modern daily lives?

Do you have a passion or something that used to make you smile, that you don't do anymore? Art? Exercise? Writing? Dance? Swimming? Fire poi?! What's your honest answer if you asked yourself why you don't do that thing that is just for your enjoyment and happiness? And, is that answer justified.

Do what makes you happy.

The first video in this post was last night, and the second is an old video of me practising on a beach somewhere years ago. Advance apologies to my neighbours for the smell of burning paraffin when I get back from this holiday - this 54 year old guy will be getting the fire poi back out - because it makes him happy 🔥

Who are you?You may be a wife, husband, partner, friend, parent, carer, employee or boss. But these are roles you hold a...
03/08/2026

Who are you?

You may be a wife, husband, partner, friend, parent, carer, employee or boss. But these are roles you hold and responsibilities you carry. They are part of your life, but they are not the whole of who you are.

Behind every role is the person living it – the person who thinks, feels, chooses, struggles, changes and grows.

Do not allow the roles you fulfil to become the limits of your identity. You are more than what you do for others, more than your work and more than the responsibilities you carry.

Remember the person beneath the roles.

Honour that person.

Cherish that person.

01/08/2026

New month - same body and mind

If things like tension, poor sleep, stress, or pain have been building to the point where you notice it, things won't change just because the calendar has.

Things can change with the right help. Let August be your month.

I spent some time talking to an "Ajarn" about my past and work that I now do. From this conversation, he chose a Sak Yan...
31/07/2026

I spent some time talking to an "Ajarn" about my past and work that I now do. From this conversation, he chose a Sak Yant tattoo for me, which was then blessed by him. Sak Yant are an ancient Asian ceremonial tattoo tradition, going back over a 1000 years to the Khmer Empire. The tattoos are done by 'hand-poking' - using a long stick with a needle to individually mark each piercing.

The symbols of the sak yant are individually chosen by the ajarn with specific reason and purpose. This is now my third sak yant, each for a different purpose and phase of my life.

These tattoos are not for the aesthetic. They have a deep meaning. This latest symbol helps guide me further along the path of life that I now walk:

To remain a student. To respect those who have taught me. To use what I have lived through in service of others. To keep returning to humility, compassion, and responsibility.

During our time together, I was also honoured to receive a Yant Kru (Master sak yant) from the ajarn.

The past while has been spent hiking across the mountains and rain forest of northern Thailand, living with the indigeno...
26/07/2026

The past while has been spent hiking across the mountains and rain forest of northern Thailand, living with the indigenous Karen-people. Even though Thailand is so advanced, it was fascinating to observe the culture and lifestyle of these indigenous people in a remote region that is mostly without even electricity...

🌿 Waking at sunrise and to bed at sunset (I was loving the 8.40pm bedtime!)
🌿 The rainforest provides. Food, medicine, shelter.
🌿 Tiny social communities where everyone plays their part.
🌿 Natural movement, motion, and use of the body through physical work and limited furniture.
🌿 Healthy nutritious food is provided for by the ground and hand-reared animals.
🌿 A deep, revenant attitude towards all aspects of nature.

🌿 Something that did surprise me was that although there is very limited money and possessions in these remote mountain communities, and life is physically arduous, they are contentedly HAPPY! They informed me that the only time they hear or experience stress is when any of their people move to live in cities. City living and lifestyles make people unhappy, and anyone who does move usually ends up coming back to the villages.

01/07/2026

New month - same body and mind

If things like tension, poor sleep, stress, or pain have been building to the point where you notice it, things won't change just because the calendar has.

Things can change with the right help. Let July be your month.

30/06/2026

Clinic opening time changes:

Due to the clinic closing for 4 weeks annual leave 20th July - 19th August, I'm going to clear the build-up and backlog by opening Mon-Fri (5 days per week) from now until 20th July, and then the same from 19th August for the remainder of the month.

Normal opening days of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays will resume from the start of September.

Appointment spaces are filling very quickly, so drop me a line or call to book your slot. Call/text 0877608901 or email [email protected] 🙌

Here’s a post that’s a little different...Today, while walking through Kilkenny, I accidentally stumbled across the work...
10/06/2026

Here’s a post that’s a little different...

Today, while walking through Kilkenny, I accidentally stumbled across the work of Vicki O'Donoghue at the Watergate theatre.

I walked into an empty space and was immediately drawn to one piece called 'A Date Between Containment & Escape'. I’m not knowledgeable about art, and I don’t have the language for it, but something in this piece stopped me in my tracks. I couldn't understand why, but this image spoke directly to my heart and soul.

So I pulled up a chair and sat with it.

Ten minutes later, I was still sat there. Captivated. Lost. Feeling something that didn't have words.

I stood up and walked over to read the artist’s words about 'Fragmented Realities'. It is a series about herd mentality, conformity, individuality, divergence, and the quiet struggle to remain ourselves inside the systems we live in.

It clicked!!!

For the past two years, much of my work outside the clinic has been about exactly this! I have been passionately and obsessively writing and researching this exact same theme in my own field of work. I have been looking beneath the surface of our nature as human beings, trying to understand the patterns we express, the conditions that shape us, and the systems we are formed by and live within.

Vicky, I don’t know you, but thank you!

Today, your art gave form to something I’ve been very quietly carrying, studying, exploring, developing, and trying to understand in a way that helps people lives in this world that we move through.

When I win the lottery, I promise you that this piece is going on the clinic wall - both as an inspiration to me and as something beautiful for everyone who walks through the door.

Address

Unit D5 Office 8 (first Floor), Killowen House, Southernlink Business Park
Naas
W91D6KW

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm

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