Mel Abbott Empower Therapies

11/11/2025

🌻 Recovery stories from the Switch Webinar Series 🌻

Our final Switch Webinar Series for the year kicks off next week on the 19th, so we're sharing some recovery stories from people who have been through the program.

Watch Isabell's journey with the program and how she recovered after 64 years of chronic illness.

If you're keen to sign up or learn more, click the link below (or in our bio on Insta!):
https://empowertherapies.co.nz/pages/switch-webinar-series

10/11/2025

🌿 LAST CHANCE for 2025: The Switch Webinar Series

If you’ve been thinking about doing The Switch, this is your sign! ✨

The final intake of the year starts 19 November - this is your last opportunity to learn powerful mind-body recovery tools before 2026 begins.

The Switch Webinar Series runs over 6 weeks, all from home, at your own pace. Head into 2026 feeling hopeful with some great tools aiding your recovery.

✅ Flexible, pre-recorded sessions
✅ Live Q&A calls with Mel
✅ Supportive online community
✅ A proven path to better health and well-being

If you’re ready to start shifting from stress and struggle into healing and energy, don’t wait ... this is the one to join.

Sign up here:

Specialising in chronic illness recovery. Over 80% success rates. Treating the underlying cause to allow natural healing. Find out more. Free 45 minute webinar

09/11/2025

Your body already knows how to heal, sometimes it just needs the right signal. Some interesting new research shows that gently stimulating the vagus nerve (through the ear!) can help the nervous system shift from “fight-or-flight” to “rest-and-repair.”

This non-invasive approach taps into the parasympathetic system - helping regulate heart rate, inflammation, and emotional recovery after chronic stress or illness.

"The vagus nerve is the body’s longest cranial nerve, stretching from the brain stem through the chest and abdomen. It acts as a central communication line or “highway” between the brain and major internal organs, implementing the majority of the regulating functions of the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. When the vagus nerve functions well, the body can better recover after a stress response restoring the body’s homeostatic status quo.

A faltering parasympathetic system can have a range of negative impacts on mental and physical health, from persistent anxiety and impaired digestion, to elevated heart rate and blood pressure and chronic inflammation."

Read the study here:

Ear-based stimulation has the potential to provide health systems with a scalable, low-risk tool to address some of today’s most pressing challenges: rising rates of anxiety and depression, persistent post-viral syndromes and the long-term burden of stress-related chronic conditions.

06/11/2025

Tonight, I'm flying to EGYPT!!!!!!!

We're doing a 2-week tour led by one of my very own clients who is so healthy now that her dream of running a tour company in Egypt has been realised! I love being able to give business to clients and I'm so proud of how far people have come!

So I have two weeks in Egypt, then a week in Germany, then a week in London, so you won't be seeing me for a month, but I am leaving you in the very capable hands of Jess, my admin person. She will continue to reply to enquiries, do posts for me and assist anyone who is having trouble viewing their webinars. I'll check into email once a week'ish for anything urgent.

Have an amazing month! (And think of us doing a 17-hour flight tonight - aarr!)

05/11/2025

In case you missed it: Decode ME Study
The DecodeME study links genetics to ME/CFS, but does this mean recovery isn’t possible? Discover how epigenetics and lifestyle still play a key role in ME/CFS recovery.

The recent DecodeME study has made headlines by providing the first robust evidence that genetic variation contributes to the risk of developing ME/CFS. For many people, this feels like long-overdue validation—that ME/CFS is real, physical, and not “all in the head.” While I have always seen M...

03/11/2025

Switch Webinar Series - final group call!

It's Week 5 and they are doing GREAT!

One lady attended for shoulder pain after an injury. She's now been paddleboarding and felt great, AND she's booked in to a canoe trip down the Whanganui River in February! I've done that trip. It's hard work! So this is a great sign of how confident she is that her shoulder is now great!

Another lady said she feels so much calmer, lighter, more relaxed. She was able to go out to lunch with a friend in a busy place and feel relaxed, where she would previously have felt really on edge in that environment.

They both discovered that their Core State was freedom, which surprised them both, but it led to great discussions today about how to bring more freedom into their lifestyle. We mainly talked about how they can manage family situations and caring for others while still getting some time for themselves. So they are both really well resourced now to move forwards with their life.

The next Switch Webinar Series starts on 19 November, so jump in quick!

Specialising in chronic illness recovery. Over 80% success rates. Treating the underlying cause to allow natural healing. Find out more. Free 45 minute webinar

03/11/2025

Such a wonderful update from Sadie who attended The Switch a few months back...

"Positive changes have remained quite similar to the last time we spoke, I’m feeling a lot less stressed than normal which is great!! I am in exam season now which begun yesterday, so now stress is building but I’ve been using the switch to not get too overwhelmed. The course has been honestly so amazing, and taught me to be kinder to myself. I also have been going out most weekends, I just celebrated my 18th birthday on Saturday with a party at my house of 120+ people!! About 3 months ago the idea of that would have made me freak!! But life has been great and I can’t wait to it to keep getting better. "

👏❤🌻

02/11/2025

The Emotional Meaning Behind Shingles

"Still, it was a huge wake-up call. For months, I’d been pushing myself hard — creating the Switch Webinar Series, building a new website, and then spending long hours revising manuals and forms. I thought I was just enjoying the momentum, but looking back, I can see I was caught in a constant cycle of doing, doing, doing."

Read the full article here:

I Had Shingles! Last year, I came down with shingles — and once I looked into the emotional meaning behind it, everything clicked. It suddenly made sense why it happened when it did, and what I needed to do to resolve it. It started with a prickly sensation on my back while I was teaching The Swit...

31/10/2025

I've had the first wave of people through now who have been able to watch Next Steps to Calmness and I'm hearing great things. If you're on the mailing list, you'll get access to it very soon!

30/10/2025

When someone in authority says, “You’ll never recover,” it becomes more than just words. It becomes a prognosis that shapes your biology, your emotions, and your future. It’s one of the most dangerous sentences a doctor can say.

In case you missed it - read my latest Brainz article here:

After being told there was no cure for chronic fatigue syndrome, one young woman’s life collapsed into exhaustion and despair. Years later, she discovered how science-backed mind-body retraining could calm...

30/10/2025

Since I'm currently launching my new anxiety webinar series, here's a throwback to my interview on The AM Show, talking about high-functioning anxiety.

Watch Mel Abbott from Empower Therapies answer this important question on the AM Show, TV3, New Zealand

29/10/2025

Resolving Crohn's disease with The Switch

Annelies got Crohn's disease in 2017, at the same time as being jilted and having a nervous breakdown. She describes below how awful her symptoms were and what a life-changing result she has got from attending The Switch!

"For over two years I fluctuated between sick and even sicker, to the point where my body started shutting down. I was too weak to shower. I would sleep 12+ hours a night and then nap during the day. I was frequently in pain, going to the toilet up to 20 times a day, and having bleeding nearly every day. I couldn’t fight infections. I was always exhausted, dizzy, anxious and nervous. I couldn’t leave home because my body and emotions were uncontrollable.

In the four months since doing The Switch, my life has turned around!!! I have put on weight, I can eat a variety of foods, and I can plan my toilet stops. I can shower every day, and I sing in the shower! I have started a job and work three full days a week. I can limit the anxious episodes, and I rarely do nervousness. Standing for a few hours is not a problem. I have had energy to get a puppy. I have baked and cooked and preserved. I am able to go for walks and not worry about my tummy. I can go out spontaneously. I can wear white pants and short dresses without fear. I can set goals and know that I can achieve them.

Some days I wake up and I feel completely normal, and I have forgotten about the Crohns label! My family have said I am now how I was ten years ago – happy and healthy and energetic. I love it… and I love ME!"

We love hearing stories like this!! 😍