Becoming Balanced

22/01/2025

Thanks Kellie for taking the time to articulate this.
100% this is not talked about in the lead up to birth and I wish it was so that more people could make informed choices! And when C-sections occur they can be aware that their child may need extra support.

Babies who are born by C-section also will benefit from CFT, making sure their Craniosacral Fascial systems are functioning well which ALSO helps to make sure their reflexes are able to do their job!

I can help babies who are C-section with reflexes and CFT!

This post is not meant to alarm you but to educate you.

If you had a caesarean birth, I'm pretty confident that no one told you about primitive reflexes. So, I'm here to do just that!

These are automatic, involuntary, repetitive movements your baby does over the first few months of life. They are survival reflexes and play a critical role in keeping baby alive as well as helping the brain develop.

They develop in-utero and typically, 'kick off' by playing an important role in the birthing process. Unfortunately, a caesarean birth can mean that they didn't fully get to do their job.

Now, you can't change how the birth went but you can be aware that sometimes, primitive reflexes can retain or remain active when they haven't fully 'done their job'.

Typically, we see them integrate or disappear by 12 months of age. If they don't integrate on time, we can see delayed or skipped milestones or unusual patterns of movement (think odd crawling like bum shuffling) . These can be signs you watch for to ensure baby's neurodevelopment progresses as it should.

And if you ever have concerns, you can seek help from a health professional, like someone trained in primitive reflexes.

Follow me for more tips about baby's brain development and reflexes!

20/12/2024

And that’s a wrap! Work for 2024 done and dusted. This year brought so much progress for my clients and such a leap professionally for me. I am full of gratitude.
Love love love what I do! 💃🏼

Wishing everyone a safe and smooth holiday period. 🙏🏼

18/12/2024

I’m with you Kellie!

Baby containers don't grow brains!

What does foster brain development? Free movement and lots of it!

Ditch the containers that restrict movement or put your baby in positions they can't yet get into for themselves (eg sitting in a bumbo seat before they can sit) and let them move freely.

While you're at it...ditch screens too! 😆 No screens before the age of 3 if you truly care about how your baby's brain develops.

That's what I would do if I was in charge of your baby's development. They'd thank me for it. Are you with me?

09/11/2024

It has been a big day full of practising my new skill. Big thanks to all the people who trusted me and had a go. 🙏🏼
Every persons body has a different story and a different response to Craniosacral Fascial Therapy but all amazing in their own way!

05/11/2024

So many cool things happening already with the addition of CFT to my practice. Here’s just one example!

04/11/2024

25/10/2024

And that’s a wrap!

Made it home and enjoying the beautiful Bega Valley views again.

So nice to be back with my family and have the grand tour of our home of all the things that are different around the house and have grown in the garden.

Thanks for following on with this journey of mine.

I’m going to take a few days to get into the timezone and then I’m hoping I have some cool CFT stories to share! My family are all keen to have their turn 😍

24/10/2024

Dear America,

You are same same but different to Australia.

Yours is a land where:
🇺🇸 sink plugs are perplexing
🇺🇸 power-points don’t have switches
🇺🇸 Peter Pan is on a bus 🤷🏽‍♀️
🇺🇸 some of your cars have red indicators 🤯
🇺🇸 you drive on the other side of the road and your cars are opposite
🇺🇸 you have trunks not boots
🇺🇸 your school buses are infact yellow and old looking just like on the movies
🇺🇸 the squirrels are cute and novel to me the tourist but a bit of a cheeky pest to everyone else
🇺🇸 the toilets have lots of water and are much longer in shape
🇺🇸 the Aussie dollar is ‘captain lame-o’
🇺🇸 tips are a bit of a pain, if I’m honest
🇺🇸 Halloween decorations are everywhere, never seen so many pumpkins in my life
🇺🇸 American flags abound

Now that I’ve had some experience, I feel pretty prepared for a trip to America 😂 there’s so much to learn when doing something new!

24/10/2024

In the dark thismorning I said goodbye to Hollis and Nashua, NH. I am grateful for your small town vibes, they suited me well :)

Said hello and goodbye to Boston, carting out some merch for myself and my family to remember the trip by.

Got to see out the window as we came into LAX which was fun. It’s so flat and relatively tree-less and rows and rows of perfectly lined up streets. I glimpsed the Hollywood sign in the distance too. I’m now passing the time here til I set off for Sydney later tonight.

With some help from Phil, I calculated that from my accomodation in Hollis (near Nashua) to my home it will take me 41hrs. Can’t wait for the sleep torture to be over now and to be home with my fav people 😍

20/10/2024

Today was the last day of the Foundation CFT course.

We learnt about working in and around the mouth and on the face.

We watched an amazing video that showed a dissection of a cadava that was one particular cutting of the fascia (it could be cut in an endless amounts of ways): the tongue all the way to the feet! Incredible. An amazing example of how so much is connected.

Interestingly, when my partner worked on my tongue, I experienced a whole body release….!

I am so grateful for the beautiful learning environment. All the students were absolutely gorgeous and the energy in the room has been so special.

Tomorrow I start the Infant CFT course. So keen to learn the nuances of applying this therapy to bubbas and meeting the little people we will be working with 🤩 and their lovely mothers.

Pic is of my view at lunch which I shared with a new friend of mine (the hotel to the right is where the course is held) and also my lovely Airbnb hosts lit a little fire and we had dinner together ☺️ blessed. Also a pic of the Northern Hemisphere sky! Very novel!

19/10/2024

Another amazing day!

Had a great nights sleep, the best I’ve had since being here and I didn’t even need a nap at lunch time 😂

We’ve been learning how to feel the brain cycle (the expansion and contraction of the brain) and also learning how to feel the fascia and support the body through undwinding the strains. We’ve been learning how to work with each part of the body a little bit at a time as well as learning specific techniques for the Vagal Nerve and for helping with scar tissue. Tomorrow we learn about the oral fascia work as well as pulling everything we’ve learnt all together.

As the therapist you learn to follow the fascia’s cues and support the body while it unwinds. As the person on the table, it’s phenomenal feeling your body move of its own accord, whether it be a slight movement or bigger. The fascia moves without you controlling it. It’s bizzare but ultimately wonderful because it moves in a way that feels really good.

After today’s work I noticed that I was able to lay my arm on the table. I’ve got a lot of tension in my upper body and this is an area which I’ve already improved in but I felt a bit of a leap today in my right arm which excited me.

Also since we started doing the CFT my vertigo has gone!!

17/10/2024

First day done and dusted! I had a cat nap during the lunch break on one of the massage tables 😂 and managed to focus ok all day. I’m pretty shattered now though!

We started practising the techniques, the teachers are fabulous and I’m amazed at how the body can move intuitively with just a small invitation.

Hoping for a fabulous nights sleep and a bit of energy to spare tomorrow night to tell you more about it.

🥱😴

17/10/2024

Well I’ve had the worst night since being here - I forgot to take my melatonin last night 🤦🏽‍♀️ but the show must go on!!

Today is the first day of the course, it’s happening!!

Yesterday I was blessed to have been taken on a little road trip to see some New Hampshire countryside colour and it did not disappoint!

Amazing that these colours are only out like this for 3 weeks of the year and it just so happens that I’m here now!

Goodnight Aussie friends :)

16/10/2024

If you’re curious to know why I went to the effort of flying across the world to learn Gillespie Approach CFT, then listen in!

I’m a classic for telling it the long way.
If you like the short, concise version, here it is:

I chose to train in the Gillespie Approach because
🧠 I like that it is an ‘out of the box’ idea and is thinking about two known systems as one
🧠 I like that it’s client led, the body gets to choose what is released
🧠 I think the primitive reflexes (my thing) will be better able to do their job in bodies that have become strain free in their fascia and whose cranial sacral system is working optimally
🧠 Fitting in a short course into my life seemed plausible, unlike studying something else more in-depth

14/10/2024

And I’m here!! Woop!

14/10/2024

Well yesterday’s mission was accomplished. Sort of.
It was rainy and freezing in Boston by the time I got to the city and so while I did see a bit of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and go on a Boston Duck Tour, I spent a chunk of time at the Aquarium and IMAX staying warm and dry, which didn’t feel particularly touristy. IMAX was not a great choice. I struggled to stay awake - too dark. It took everything I had not to fall asleep right there in the theatre.
I really didn’t feel like I got the most out of my day but I wasn’t feeling particularly fabulous either and the weather didn’t help.
In the end I managed stayed awake til about 6pm. I’m pretty sure I was sleep walking from about 4pm though LOL. Then woke at 1am 🙄

Jet lag is a weird one. I also have a new friend called travel vertigo which has been a rather unpleasant companion. Hopefully very temporary!

Today? I’m off to Nashua NH where I will stay the next 9 nights. I’m looking forward to the bus trip :) currently waiting for the bus…

Grateful for:
- seeing briefly what I thought was a squirrel at the airport pick up zone
- all the amazing history of Boston… best fun fact is that a huge chunk of it is built on landfill that they used to claim the river space 😳 they used a forest to make the foundations for the buildings. Like literally layed down logs under the water so they fossilised. Or at least that’s what the duck tour guide said!
- water fountains in the airports and the aquarium
- my drink bottle having its own filter (water snob right here 🙋🏽‍♀️)
- the effort I went to to choose a hotel with good access to public transport, airport shuttle and breakfast included
- being able to navigate the subway 👊🏼
- the three holidaying sisters that I was sat next to on the duck tour
- a very dark hotel room
- a very comfortable bed
- the book mum leant me for the trip that I read in the early hours of the day and the pork crackle I had packed ‘just in case’ to snack on at 3am
- an easy, relaxing morning
- the family I shared my breakfast table with thismorning
- rain again today that encouraged me to abandoned my plans which made my day heaps easier and without FOMO

13/10/2024

Seriously hard to believe I’m actually here in Boston and I just flew all the way across the US!

Today’s mission is to explore Boston and try to stay awake 😳 I’m so tired!

Grateful for:
- eye masks, ear plugs and travel pillows
- cool flight tracker thing on the plane
- advice from my Nashua host as to what to do in Boston
- free airport shuttles
- learning some American history with the kids in homeschooling and that it so happens that lots of what we have learnt about is based in Boston!
- taking off compression stockings after a few days in a row wearing them
- fresh clothes

13/10/2024

Haha that probably looks like any other airport but I promise you it’s LAX.

Grateful for:
- getting at least some sleep on the plane
- a landing that was so smooth that I missed it
- getting through customs, albeit somewhat awkwardly
- friendly Aussies to follow to my next terminal
- my new sim card with unlimited data
- being able to video call with my parents
- plenty of time to chill before my overnight flight to Boston