JC Holistic Health

13/11/2025

Some of our fabulous Thursday chair yoga gang 🧘‍♀️ 🧘 😍💪💚

13/11/2025

🌿 Understanding Anxiety, and How It Can Become Our Friend

Anxiety is something that so many of us experience, that racing heart, the tightness in the chest, the feeling that something terrible is about to happen. But have you ever stopped to think about why this happens inside your body?

When we feel anxious or fearful, our central nervous system activates what’s known as the fight or flight response. This is our body’s ancient survival mechanism, designed to protect us from danger. Adrenaline floods through the body, our heart rate increases, our breathing becomes shallow, our muscles tense, all to prepare us to fight or to run.

In the right circumstances, this response is incredibly helpful, it’s our body’s way of keeping us safe. In many ways, anxiety is our friend, gently alerting us that something may need our attention.

However, in today’s world, we are constantly bombarded with bad news, noise, busyness and stress. Our nervous system doesn’t always know the difference between real physical danger and the stress of daily life. So, it keeps us stuck in that “fight or flight” mode, creating ongoing feelings of anxiety, fear, and overwhelm.

But here’s where a shift in perspective can help. When we begin to see anxiety as a messenger rather than an enemy, we can start to work with it instead of against it. By soothing the nervous system through deep breathing, gentle movement, yoga, meditation, or time in nature, we begin to calm the body’s signals and remind ourselves that we are safe.

This subject is very personal to me. Many years ago, I suffered with horrendous panic attacks on a daily basis. It started around the time I realised that I was solely responsible for bringing up my four children, running a home, and paying all the bills, and the full weight of that responsibility hit me hard. The panic became so overwhelming that it took over my life for a while.

But through seeking help, learning about what panic attacks actually were, and understanding the science behind them, I began to take my power back. I started to use different tools, breath work, mindfulness, movement, and slowly, I turned it around. The very thing that once terrified me actually became one of my greatest teachers.

It helped me to become more aware, more compassionate with myself, and more conscious of how to care for my own health and nervous system. Exercise became one of my biggest tools, it helped release the excess adrenaline and calm my mind.

So if you’re struggling with anxiety right now, please remember, you’re not broken. Your body is just doing its best to protect you. With the right tools, patience, and understanding, anxiety can become your greatest guide, leading you back to balance, strength, and self-awareness.
💚

12/11/2025

🌀 Fascia vs Muscle.
Understanding the Difference When We Stretch 🌀

Have you ever felt like no matter how often you stretch, your flexibility just doesn’t seem to improve? It might not be your muscles that are tight, it could be your fascia.

So, what’s the difference?
Muscles are designed to contract and lengthen quite quickly. When we stretch, muscles tend to respond within a shorter space of time, they lengthen and relax with movement and regular stretching.

Fascia, on the other hand, is a connective tissue that surrounds and weaves through every muscle, bone, organ, and nerve in the body, a continuous web holding everything together. When fascia becomes tight or restricted (often due to stress, injury, posture, or dehydration), it can limit mobility and make you feel “stuck” even if your muscles are trying to lengthen.

Unlike muscle, fascia takes longer to release. It generally needs at least 90 seconds of gentle, sustained pressure or stretch before it begins to soften and let go. That’s why longer holds, such as those used in Yin Yoga or slow, mindful stretching, can be so effective for improving flexibility and releasing deep tension.

Manual therapies such as myofascial release or stretch therapy can also help to gently free up these restrictions, improving overall movement and comfort in the body.

So next time you stretch, slow down, breathe deeply, and give your body the time it needs. The magic often happens in those quiet, patient moments of stillness. 💫

06/11/2025

Learning to Become Your Own Best Friend 🤍

One of the most powerful journeys we can take in this lifetime is learning how to become our own best friend. For so many of us, we grow up looking outside of ourselves for comfort, reassurance, validation, or a sense of being “okay.” We turn to others to meet emotional needs that, in truth, are ours to hold and nurture. And while connection with others is beautiful and so important, relying on others as our only source of support can sometimes lead to disappointment, hurt, or feeling let down.

This is where the journey inward begins.

When we start to reconnect with our inner child, the part of us that simply wants to be seen, heard and soothed, we begin to understand what we really need. We learn how to self-soothe, how to comfort ourselves during difficult moments, and how to speak to ourselves with the same compassion we would offer to a dear friend.

The world can feel overwhelming at times. Busy schedules, endless responsibilities, and the constant noise of the media around us can deeply affect our emotional wellbeing. It’s easy to feel anxious, overstimulated, or emotionally drained.

But we can learn tools to care for ourselves gently and deeply:
• Quiet moments of mindful breath
• Placing a hand on the heart and offering reassurance to yourself
• Journaling your thoughts to release what feels heavy
• Grounding movements, yoga, stretching, or sitting in stillness
• Time in nature, even if it’s simply stepping outside to feel the air

These practices are not just “self-care”, they’re acts of returning home to yourself.

Learning to be your own best friend is not about shutting others out. It’s about learning how to support yourself from the inside, so that when you do connect with others, you do so from a place of strength and wholeness, not longing or lack.

You deserve to know yourself.
You deserve to feel safe within yourself.
You deserve to feel comforted and held, not only by others, but by you.

This journey is healing, gentle, and empowering.
And it is always available to begin, right now, exactly where you are.

05/11/2025

AVAILABLE APPOINTMENT

Thursday 13th November 4.30 pm

05/11/2025

Free Sound Meditation Evening. A Thank You from Me to You 🤍

To all of my lovely clients, yoga - meditation and stretch therapy family… I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your continued support, your trust, and your presence. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who chooses to show up, to take care of your wellbeing, and to share this journey with me.

As a little gesture of appreciation, I would love to invite you to a Free Sound Meditation Evening on Monday 1st December.

We will gather in a calm, gentle space and I will guide you through a soothing sound meditation using the crystal sound bowls, with the intention of clearing and rebalancing our energy centres, releasing what no longer serves us, and inviting in peace, clarity and grounding as we move into the winter season.

This evening is simply a gift of gratitude, a moment for us to pause, reset and receive.

✨ Free Sound Meditation Evening
📅 Monday 1st December
⏰ 7.30 – 8.30 p.m.
📍 St. Michael’s Hall, Easthampstead RG127ER
🎶 Crystal Sound Bowls
🌙 Open to all existing clients, yoga, meditation & stretch therapy clients.

If you’d like to join, just send me a message to let me know you’ll be there.
Spaces are limited, so please reserve your spot to avoid disappointment.

I would love to share this restorative space with you.

With love and appreciation,
Jane 🤍

03/11/2025

PLEASE NOTE!

My next available appointments are from 3rd December. Please book your slots in advance to avoid disappointment.

Many thanks
💚

31/10/2025

So looking forward to sharing this evenings meditation with you all. Please arrive ten minutes early to settle and get comfy 💚

29/10/2025

SPACES STILL AVAILABLE 💚

27/10/2025

🌿 Understanding Our Core Beliefs

From the moment we are born, our minds are like soft sponges, open, absorbent, and shaped by the words, actions and beliefs of those around us. In our most vulnerable years, what we’re told, by parents, teachers, or even friends, begins to form the foundation of how we see ourselves and the world.

Those messages, whether spoken with love, frustration or carelessness, can stay with us for the rest of our lives. You’re not good enough. You’re too sensitive. You’ll never achieve that, amongst many other statements. These words become part of our internal dialogue, quietly embedding themselves in our subconscious minds. They turn into our core beliefs, the invisible scripts that influence every decision, every relationship, and every level of self-worth.

But here’s the beautiful truth: once we become aware of those beliefs, we have the power to change them. We can begin to see that the things we were told weren’t facts, they were often reflections of other people’s pain, fear, resentment or misunderstanding. Through self-work, awareness and compassion, we can unlearn what was never ours to carry.

This has been deeply personal for me. My own upbringing, and the things I was told as a child, and well into adulthood, things that weren’t true, once shaped how I saw myself. But instead of breaking me, they became my greatest teacher. They inspired me to study, to question, to understand human behaviour on a deeper level. They made me determined to grow, to heal, and to prove not only to others, but to myself, that I am not the person I was made to believe I was.

Healing is not about blaming; it’s about understanding. It’s about realising that our beliefs are not fixed, they are learned, and therefore, they can be unlearned. And when we do, we discover a higher level of self-awareness, strength, and truth, the kind that allows us to finally live as who we really are, not who we were told to be. 💫

22/10/2025

The Importance of Speaking Your Truth 💬✨

One of the most powerful forms of healing is learning to speak your truth.

To express how you truly feel, without fear of being judged, shut down, or talked over.

So many of us have been conditioned to stay quiet, to keep the peace, to hold back what we really want to say. But when we silence ourselves, that energy doesn’t simply disappear, it stays within us. And over time, those unspoken words, those suppressed emotions, can turn into resentment, frustration, and even anger.

Our bodies are incredible messengers. When we hold everything in, the body often finds another way to express what the voice could not. It may show up as tension, pain, digestive issues, headaches, or general feelings of unease. Because emotional energy that isn’t released has to go somewhere, and more often than not, it settles into the body.

Speaking your truth isn’t about confrontation. It’s about honouring yourself.
It’s about allowing your emotions to have a voice, expressing your needs clearly, and creating healthy boundaries.

You deserve to be heard. You deserve to take up space.
And the more you practice expressing your truth, the lighter, freer, and more balanced you will feel, both emotionally and physically. 💛

20/10/2025