Curiously Connected

09/02/2026

This sits very comfortably with the way I work in my approach to breathwork and physiotherapy.

Thank you Martin McPhilimey MSc MRes - Applied Scientist for framing it up so articulately 🙏

07/02/2026

Built to Move Born to Heal

Building capacity to heal - understanding the need to move, eat well, sleep well…
The roots of health

I wrote about Frozen Shoulders today on Substack... If you're perimenopausal or diabetic, your risk of developing it is very, very high.

How you manage it is critical if you want to shorten what can be a very, very long recovery process.

https://howardluksmd.substack.com/p/when-your-shoulder-freezes-the-metabolic?r=8b26

Yes... There is a paywall.

02/02/2026

Sun 8th Feb 11:30 - 17:30
Venue: CrossFit Cairngorm, Granish, Aviemore - details in link below

Breathing for Performance

An introductory workshop designed for all levels of athletes who want to get more from their training and recovery by understanding and improving how they breathe. We’ll focus on practical, evidence-based principles and techniques that you can use in sport and everyday life.
The content is varied and whilst aimed towards performance, feedback from previous workshops is that the benefits in everyday life are where beneficial are seen and made first.

Just 2 places left, book your spot in the link below 👇

Breathing Workshop for Athletic Performance Sunday 8th February 2025, 11:30 – 17:30CrossFit Cairngorm, Unit 9 Granish Business Park, Aviemore, PH22 1ASIntroductory offer - £75 Book your place now Introductory WorkshopAn introductory workshop designed for all levels of athletes who want to get mor...

18/01/2026

Send this to someone you’re on your health journey with.

Every meal, every workout, every night’s sleep—it’s all building the future you. What you do now, in your 20s, 30s, and even 50s, shapes the health you’ll experience in the decades to come.

To understand why the choices you make today impact your future health, consider this: chronic disease and mobility loss are rooted in long-term, silent processes. Inflammation, poor diet, stress, and lack of exercise can slowly damage your cells, arteries, and brain, starting decades before symptoms appear.

These conditions are not random—they develop over time based on lifestyle factors. Every healthy choice you make now can slow or even prevent these processes. It’s all connected.

It’s never too late—or too soon—to start living well.

07/01/2026

Here at Curiously Connected I have most of my referrals from word of mouth, Psychotherapists and Counselling Psychologists.
Over the years I have found concurrent psychotherapy and craniosacral therapy (cst) to be a potent combination, and for those clients that are not making progress with psychotherapy - either ‘talking’ is too challenging or have plateaued, the gentle non-invasive light relational touch of cst has the benefit of accessing a place of healing without the need to verbalise.
Great to see evidence on paper

CranioSacral Therapy: Supporting Trauma Recovery Through Mind-Body Connection

📖 Learn more about the role of CST in trauma care:

Read here:https://www.iahe.com/storage/docs/articles/Combining-psychotherapy-with-craniosacral-therapy-for-severe-traumatized-patients-1.pdf or Upledger.com Searchable Article Database

This study highlights the integration of CranioSacral Therapy (CST) with psychotherapy in treating severe trauma and PTSD. This innovative approach reduces physical symptoms, allowing for deeper emotional healing and improved therapeutic outcomes. CST helps alleviate physical pain, enhance self-care, and increase emotional tolerance, paving the way for meaningful recovery.
This research also emphasizes the importance of collaboration with trained psychotherapists to ensure patient safety and maximize benefits.

02/12/2025

The Vibe Movement add a craniosacral gift voucher to your prizes
DM me your address and I’ll send voucher 🌱

Thanks for supporting our fourth year Festive Wild Vibe Beach Yoga fundraiser for Moray Fresh Start.

Based in Elgin, Moray Fresh Start support people who have been homeless and are moving into new tenancies. They help them set up with basic items (that we might take for granted) that they need for their home. They also support other vulnerable people in times of need, such as coming out of hospital or recovering from other emergency situations. It has been a busy year for Moray Fresh Start and they are so grateful for any donations that you can make to keep supporting them to deliver these resources.

On Sat 20th December we’ll meet at the end of Dunes Road, Findhorn Beach at 10am. You’re invited to join our all levels vinyasa flow as well as a Mind Body Mobility session with Justine. Both practices will be beginner friendly so you don’t need experience to take part. Turn up with a yoga mat or beach towel, cozy layers & a little curiosity!

I’m inviting you to donate as much £ as you can afford, to join in (minimum suggested donation £15).

Please write yoga beside your donation so I know you are coming.

We are also bringing back the ‘Beach Bliss Prize Draw’ which you can enter for the additional suggested donation, a minimum of £10. The winners of these wonderful prizes, donated by local businesses and friends, will be drawn and announced after the yoga session on Saturday morning.

If you want to join the yoga & enter the prize draw please write Yoga & Beach Bliss beside your donation (suggested minimum £25.

If you want to join in with just the yoga please write yoga beside your donation (suggested £15)

If yoga is not for you, or you are away and can’t join but you want to enter the prize draw, write Beach Bliss beside your donation (suggested minimum £10).

All donations are so welcome. I see this as The Vibe Movement Christmas Party, everyone gathers at the beach for a super fun morning and the result of this helps support so many people who are in need of a wee hand.

01/12/2025

So important to spend time in nature - if you know someone who would benefit this will be a nourishing experience 🌱

🌿 Wild Rovers Project Launching in January! 🌿

We’re delighted to share that we’ve secured funding from Highland Third Sector Interface to run an exciting new two-year project: *Wild Rovers* - a practical conservation volunteering group for adults experiencing poor mental health or social isolation.

Every second Monday afternoon, we’ll be heading out to beautiful outdoor spots across Badenoch and Strathspey to enjoy meaningful, active time in nature. Our volunteers will get involved in hands-on tasks that make a real difference: planting native trees, tackling non-native invasive species, improving paths and access and much more - and always with time for a well-earned cuppa and good craic.

Thanks to our partnership with Badenoch and Strathspey Community Connections, we’ll be able to offer minibus transport to all our activity sites. We’re also delighted to have support from the Cairngorms National Park Volunteer Rangers.

👉 Interested in joining the Wild Rovers team, or know someone who might benefit? We’d love to hear from you.
👉Are you a landowner or land manager in the Strath? If you’ve got a suitable conservation or access task you think we could help with, please get in touch.

Let’s get outdoors, get active, and make a positive difference together!

24/11/2025

Consistency is where it’s at…

15/11/2025

“Recovery isn’t just a matter of retraining the brain or soothing the body. It requires safe, attuned relationships and social environments that allow the nervous system to downshift from survival mode. Without addressing these systemic and relational factors, the body remains on alert, the nervous system remains dysregulated, and healing is partial.”

An excellent message - many have read The Body Keeps The Score, such a foundational work in trauma awareness, but I whole heartedly endorse the need to understand, sense, feel into and create change around relationship and social environments - bringing awareness to how this feels in your body is a significant part of the work I do as a craniosacral therapist.

If you are interested to know more or experience the nourishing quality of craniosacral therapy - message or WhatsApp me on 07740955517 🌱

What's missing from "The Body Keeps the Score?" From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) perspective, Bessel Van der Kolk's book
largely overlooks the relational and systemic context in which trauma exists and persists. He touches on relationships and collective trauma, but the framework focuses on the individual body and brain.

IPNB shows that the nervous system’s regulation depends on ongoing safety in relationships, communities, and environments. Hierarchies, abusive institutions, and chronic social stress keep survival adaptations active, no matter how many therapies are applied.

Recovery isn’t just a matter of retraining the brain or soothing the body. It requires safe, attuned relationships and social environments that allow the nervous system to downshift from survival mode. Without addressing these systemic and relational factors, the body remains on alert, the nervous system remains dysregulated, and healing is partial.

Van der Kolk opens the door to relational and somatic healing, but IPNB emphasizes that trauma is as much about the social world as it is about the individual body. The full path to recovery must attend to both: the body’s physiology and the relational, institutional, and cultural contexts that sustain safety, or keep systems trapped in threat.

NOTE : this is not to dismiss or degrade Bessel Van der Kolk's work or his book. Just a note about what's missing, and filling in the gaps so people can gain that understanding.