Mel Abbott Empower Therapies

10/03/2026

The Switch Day 1 has just finished!

This group is unusual in being 6 men and 2 women - it's usually the other way around. And all 8 are attending live, but none live in Auckland. Two have even come from Australia for this. And most of the group are here for chronic fatigue, though we also have auto-immune muscle weakness, anxiety, concussion, diabetes and ADHD in the mix.

We had a great Day 1. They were all very open to it and did great first Switches. We had Switches for predicting the worst and worrying about bad outcomes, doubt about recovery, dealing with anger, learning to trust the body to be healthy again, energy, confidence, authenticity to be themselves and trusting being able to be around noise and light without reacting. So quite a wide and varied array of Switches!

They have all left with lots of positivity and feeling like they've learnt lots and have lots to practice. Tune in tomorrow to hear how they are doing!

09/03/2026

Switch Webinar Series Week 4!

We just had our group call. Two out of three were THRILLED with their progress this week! One said she no longer believes that she has CFS. She's been able to walk down a steep slope to the beach, do chores, go out more, and her energy levels have continued to improve.

Another was so pleased that after over a decade of terrible anxiety, she is so much calmer. She's gone from 3/10 calmness to about 7-8/10 calmness, which has then led to big energy improvements, so she is also able to do so much more now.

The other one has plateaued a bit this week, but she's still way better than pre-course with her energy gone from 3/10 to about 5-6/10 in the first couple of weeks and now hovering at a similar level (though she is able to do more than before and still maintain this improvement). She noticed that her Switches for depression have continued to create improvement, which is good. We talked about what Switches she can do this week to get her next rise in energy and trusting her body to be well.

So I look forward to seeing how they are all doing next week!

So

08/03/2026

Last week, I had my hair cut, and was saying to the hairdresser that I teach a course for chronic illness recovery and the core concept is that we need to calm down nervous system dysregulation and the physiological stress response to allow the body to naturally heal from chronic conditions.

Another lady said "I'm a rheumatologist at Auckland Hospital and I completely agree with what you are saying. I tell my fibromyalgia patients and my other auto-immune patients exactly that, but I don't have anything to offer them about how they can achieve this. I want to know more about your programme!"

Then a lady on my other side said "And I'm a clinical psychologist specialising in trauma and I completely agree with what you are saying. I'm currently reading a book about how emotions and trauma get stored in the body and cause illness. I also want to know about your programme!"

So we had an awesome chat until the hair dryers were too noisy for us to talk, and we all swapped details afterwards and have been sending info to each other!

Two of my recent blogs are very relevant to this conversation - you might be interested!

One is - How trauma is stored in the body and how to release it
https://empowertherapies.co.nz/blogs/news/trapped-emotions-body-memory-healing

I'll share the other later this week!

Trapped Emotions: How to Release Stored Trauma in the Body Have you ever said “I feel it in my gut” or “I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders”? These aren’t just figures of speech. Science is showing that emotions are not only psychological—they live in the body. And when emoti...

06/03/2026

Switch Webinar Series - Week 3!

They are all doing so well! And they are super positive about what they are learning on the course!

One who has had 11 years of illness said that her energy is improving with every day! She was even able to spend a whole day gardening last weekend and still feel OK in the following two days. Her energy was averaging 4/10 and it's now averaging 6/10 so there is still a way to go, but Week 3 is when people learn The Quick Switch technique so she's only had a few days of practice on it so far, and is already doing so much better!

Another has had CFS for 3 years and has been pretty much couch-bound. She did a 10 minute walk, including a hill for the first time since she got sick, and it was easy! She also did 3 hours of socialising the same day, which she would never normally have done. She said the fear of doing things is gone now.

And aother has had CFS for 2 years, which meant quitting her job. Her energy has also gone from 4/10 to 6/10, while she is also doing a lot more. She has been for 3 walks this week and felt good after all of them! This is because her whole nervous system is calming down and can therefore do more without causing post-exertional malaise.

To read more about how to prevent post-exertional malaise, read my blog post:

Last week I had my own vivid reminder of just how real post-exertional malaise (PEM) can be. After a long tramp, my body gave me a hard stop. My legs felt wired and charged—as though the electricity was still running through them long after I’d stopped. My whole body ached. My brain fog rolled i...

06/03/2026

I can't stress the importance of this enough - keep building hope by reading and watching recovery stories, hearing from people who have made it through. It's such an underrated part in the beginning of the recovery journey.

04/03/2026

The number one underlying cause of chronic illness is when your body is stuck in a physiological stress response. This isn’t just “feeling stressed”, it’s a full-body survival mode. Your body pumps blood and energy to your heart, lungs, and limbs so you can run fast from a tiger. That’s lifesaving.

The problem is that modern tiger situations go on for decades instead of seconds. Mortgages, early childhood trauma, work stress, and even the stress of living with an illness all cause your body to stay in an elevated stress response for too long. It takes huge amounts of energy to keep your body fired up, ready to fight or flee, and all that energy must come from somewhere. It gets “stolen” from your immune system, digestion, hormones, reproductive system, detox pathways, and even your brain. Over months or years, this stress “lock” can trigger migraines, gut issues, autoimmune disorders, fertility struggles, chronic fatigue, and more. It also causes POTS and restless leg syndrome, those organs are being constantly over-fueled, so they race too fast.

Your body is a powerful self-healing mechanism! Your job is to create the right conditions, to calm your system enough so that natural healing becomes possible.

04/03/2026

Some wonderful feedback over the last few months from The Switch Webinar Series and some amazing progress by these participants 😍

03/03/2026

A little throwback to one of our Recovery Project stories to give you a little inspiration today!

Meet Alex. She shares her great story about overcoming an eating and exercise disorder by learning to switch her thinking patterns, accept her emotions and love herself more. Now she helps others to recover also.

Alex shares her great story about overcoming an eating and exercise disorder by learning to switch her thinking patterns, accept her emotions and love hersel...

28/02/2026

I recently shared a post about how to bring the vagus nerve back into balance. But in case you were wondering what the vagus nerve is and why it's so important, here's a quick breakdown for you.

VAGUS NERVE 101
Ever wonder why your stomach "drops" when you’re nervous, or why a deep breath instantly makes you feel calmer? That’s not magic, it’s your vagus nerve at work.

🌟 WHAT IS IT?
The word "Vagus" is Latin for "Wandering." True to its name, this is the longest cranial nerve in your body. It starts at the base of your brain and wanders all the way down to your abdomen, touching your heart, lungs, and digestive tract along the way.

🌟 WHY IT MATTERS
Think of the Vagus Nerve as the "On/Off" switch for your nervous system.

The Sympathetic State: This is "Fight or Flight." It’s great for outrunning a tiger, but bad for long-term health if you're stuck there because of work emails.

The Parasympathetic State: This is "Rest and Digest." The Vagus Nerve is the primary driver of this state. When it’s active, your heart rate slows, your digestion improves, and your body actually starts to repair itself.

🌟 WHY IT IS A SECRET SUPERPOWER
When you have high "Vagal Tone," your body can bounce back from stress much faster. Strengthening this nerve can help with:
- Lowering anxiety and depression.
- Improving gut health (the brain-gut connection is real!).
- Reducing chronic inflammation.
- Better sleep and heart health.

⚡️ 3 Tricks to "Hack" Your Vagus Nerve Today:
Exhale Longer Than You Inhale: Try breathing in for 4 seconds and out for 8. This sends an immediate "all clear" signal to the brain.

Cold Exposure: A 30-second blast of cold water at the end of your shower stimulates the nerve instantly.

Hum or Sing: The nerve passes right by your vocal cords. Vibrations from humming or singing "activate" it.

Bottom Line: You can’t always control the stress in your life, but you can train your Vagus Nerve to handle it better.

27/02/2026

One of my favourite recovery stories!

Kevin spent 23 years barely able to leave his house, taking 50 tablets a day, needing a cane to walk and unable to work. He has suffered from stage 4 cancer, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression and PTSD. Suddenly, he has his life back just 6 weeks after attending The Switch.

Kevin has spent 23 years barely able to leave his house, taking 50 tablets a day, needing a cane to walk and unable to work. He has suffered from stage 4 ca...

26/02/2026

Terry shares his remarkable story of recovery from this supposedly incurable condition, watching the swelling leaving his body, and what he did to achieve this.

Terry shares his remarkable story of recovery from this supposedly incurable condition, watching the swelling leaving his body, and what he did to achieve this.

25/02/2026

Goodbye to 35 pills a week!

An amazing story from a Switch client who was able to ditch all the pills and turn things around after being told they'd have to live with it and manage symptoms for life...

"The Switch was life-changing.

I had been diagnosed with chronic pain, chronic indigestion and just prescribed pills and more pills. I have been taking pills for years and years and felt like I was just someone with bad health. I was searching for a way to get off the pills and solve the causes and The Switch did that for me. I am still working on certain things, but now I have tools that work and that is huge!

Insomnia is completely gone. No meds needed. I sleep so well now!

Indigestion is almost completely gone. No daily meds needed. Can control without medication by watching what I eat and avoiding eating late at night.

Stress and anxiety are a lot less, and I now have tools to use to get out of bad patterns.

I take less medications now because I have not needed the daily stomach (2), bowel (2), and insomnia tablets (1) that I was prescribed for long-term use. That’s 35 pills a week I don’t need. (Now I only take one a day, which is unrelated to all the above.)

I can see patterns between my stress and symptoms, so I can now address the stress with effective tools from The Switch rather than throwing pills at the symptoms. I have way less symptoms already! I feel more positive about my health and ability to recover from past health issues and any new obstacles in life or health that crop up.

I feel lighter now that I have cleared some beliefs from the past and figured out some reasons for stress and anxiety.

I feel calmer in general and I have more focus.

I would recommend it to anyone who feels like nothing works or is told, “you just have to live with this,” about pain or mood or symptoms."