|
And that is how Frances Aylen came to be an osteopath and massage therapist, and after years of working with clients all over the world – including touring bands, terminal cancer patients and hundreds of children – Frances now uses her unique experience to work with and help clients suffering with all kinds of ailments here at the Light Centre.
But how do you know whether an osteopath can help you? I put the question to Frances, as I had always assumed that osteopaths are simply therapists who work on problems of the bones or joints – something like a physiotherapist.
“That is a common misunderstanding,” Frances told me. “In fact, an osteopath can articulate and work with the bones, but we also use massage, exercises and an understanding of the client’s unique medical history to work on their whole being. As you would expect we work through muscles, ligaments to realign the body’s structure, but we also work on internal organs and the nervous system to release acquired behaviours or scars – both physical and emotional.”
A typical session would begin with Frances building as complete a picture of the client as possible, looking at them physically, uncovering their case history and asking them questions to understand their personal and physical environment, including what activities they enjoy, what stresses they endure and their personality traits, to build an insight into who and what they are.
“I am a cranial and structural osteopath, but I find that I blend all my different skills when treating both children and adults. I have had successes in treating a really wide variety of symptoms – everything from colic, sleep disturbance, birth trauma, bed-wetting, attention problems, developmental delay and anger in children, and with adults – sports-related injuries, back pain related to driving, computer use or accidents, as well as psychological traumas, difficulties with conception and menstruation, or pre/post-natal problems. With an understanding of their ‘story’ I can look at their internal and external body, including the blood supply, the nerve supply and the blocks in their flow of energy which could be resulting in injury or dis-ease.”
In addition, Frances has trained as a spiritual healer, which allows her to bring an added level of understanding and intuition to her work. An intuition which sometimes delivers surprising results. “One of my most interesting cases was a woman client who came to me quite early in my career, suffering from recurring back pain, depression and fatigue. She was almost bent over double when I first saw her, and she had been receiving treatment from other therapists to help with her back. But the moment I started working with her I was certain that the problem came from the front of her body and I began to work there. Strangely I began to feel that this woman was carrying a baby, though she was post-menopausal and I knew from our conversations that she had two grown children. But I told her what I was feeling and she immediately burst into tears. Although her case history had revealed she had had two children, she had not shared with many the fact that a third child had died very shortly before birth. At the time of the pregnancy some years ago, there was no opportunity to offer her dead child a proper burial nor was she allowed to see the child to say her farewells. Her body was simply still carrying that imprint of the lost pregnancy, revealing itself through a painful back problem. Once this energy and grief was released, the woman found a whole new lease of life – her back pain vanished, she lost weight, quit her job and lived her life to the full, unfettered by the past.”
Frances now uses her experience to help train others as well as doing her one-to-one work with clients. She teaches cranial osteopathy at the British School of Osteopathy in Borough, and from September, will teach at the College of Psychic Studies on a Healing Diploma.
But despite her skills and enormous experience, Frances advocates that the healing of each client comes from within. “It’s all about getting the body to be as healthy as possible. Our job as practitioner is not to ‘drag’ the body to a place of healing. What we do is help the individual find their own place of stillness and healing within – we help them to release that energy and then the body naturally begins to heal itself. The body is simply remarkable and is always the best – the only – source of its own healing.”
Frances will speak on Anna Raeburn’s show on LBC on 25 June, answering questions from the public about osteopathy and general health questions.
Frances works at the Light Centre on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, as well as Thursday and Friday afternoons. To book an appointment with her, contact Gaby at the Light Centre on 0207 881 0728.
|
