Unity Physiotherapy & Wellbeing

🌿 Peacefulness if not necessarily something that happens when everything’s quiet

I’ve been reflecting on how peacefulness can sometimes be found in the midst of movement, sensation, and activation.

Things don’t have to be still, perfect, comfortable, or free from activation for there to be peacefulness.

These two haikus flow together and sit alongside my recent poem Attuned Expansion, which can be found on my YouTube channel.

✨ Peacefulness is found within.

Haiku

Compassionate awareness
Letting go into life
Grounded and open

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Haiku

Allowing what’s arising
Resting at the heart of the flame
Aliveness and peacefulness

💭 I would love to hear your reflections on this and how these haikus landed for you.

Stood in my garden and watched the beautiful moon rising, listening to the birds — so grounding, joyful, and peaceful 🙂

Grateful for all nature offers 🙏🏻💚 and that it’s a little cooler this evening than it has been.

🌿 Attuned effort, ease & letting go

This week, especially today, I’ve been reflecting on the relationship between effort and ease — not as opposites, but as something continually moving and responding within us. Like the threat, drive and soothing systems in the three circles model from compassion focused therapy.

In yoga there is the idea of sthira and sukha — steadiness and ease. Both are needed. Too much ease without enough support can become collapse or disconnection. Too much effort without enough ease can become tension, striving, overdoing, or holding.

What I’ve been noticing more deeply is the importance of letting go within effort. Not removing the activation that is needed in a moment, but softening the unnecessary holding around it — allowing it, flowing with it, and trusting.

As effort increases ease doesn’t disappear; it moves more quietly in the background as the sympathetic nervous system becomes more dominant. Likewise, full ease still contains a subtle supportive activation — for example, in an upright yet relaxed sitting posture, or with a soft, soothing breath.
�There’s a continual ebb and flow between activation and softening, movement and stillness.

We need attunement within both effort and ease — listening to what’s actually needed rather than pushing, bracing, avoiding, or overriding.

This connects with nervous system regulation, curiosity, trust, courage, allowing, and sustainable engagement with life. And learning to be in a compassionate, trusting relationship with life, rather than gripping too tightly or trying to control outcomes.

✨ Allowing space for trust, emergence, and the quiet intelligence held within the body, within life, and the wider rhythms that move through and around us.

Sustainable engagement is not about avoiding effort, but about finding a more attuned relationship with it — one with responsiveness, spaciousness, and the possibility of returning to full ease again and again.

This feels present in movement practices, meditation, work, creativity, healing, relationships, and everything in life.

💭 I’m curious how you experience the ever-changing balance between effort and ease?

I love attending these conferences with the The Compassionate Mind Foundation and will be attending online again.

Are you going too?

🐦Don’t miss your chance to secure the lowest possible price for our 15th International CFT Conference with our early bird savings!

This year’s conference theme is ‘Compassion in Action’, with each day focusing on a different perspective, reflecting our biopsychosocial approach – and how we can put the wisdom and practice of compassion into action.

We will also be celebrating 20 years of the Compassionate Mind Foundation.

Join us!
📆12-15 Oct 2026
📍Millennium Point, Birmingham (UK) & Online via Livestream

Early Bird offer available until 31 July.

Book your ticket 👉 Link in comment

🌿 ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I commonly notice sleep-disordered breathing, obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) & breathing pattern disorders in people with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia, so I thought I’d share a little more.

I often explain sleep-disordered breathing as being on a spectrum. At one end there’s milder breathing disturbances during sleep & at the other end OSA.

All of it matters because sleep-disordered breathing can affect a variety of things, including:
✨ Oxygenation
✨ Fatigue & brain fog
✨ Pain
✨ Nervous system regulation
✨ Inflammation
✨ Metabolism
✨ Sleep quality

It’s linked to how we breathe during the day — it’s about how we breathe 24/7.

In my experience, sleep-disordered breathing is often under-recognised, particularly in women. Much of the research around OSA has historically focused on men & women can present differently.

Some things to watch for or ask about include:
👉🏻 Mouth breathing day or night
👉🏻 Waking with a dry mouth and/or headache
👉🏻 Snoring (even if mild/intermittent)
👉🏻 Gasping, choking noises or pauses in breathing during sleep
👉🏻 Waking frequently to urinate
👉🏻 Unrefreshing sleep, unexplained fatigue, exercise daytime sleepiness
👉🏻 Cognitive dysfunction
👉🏻 Additional risk factors include ⬆️ BMI, smoking, asthma, hypermobility & menopause — the latter isn’t currently in the NICE guidelines

📌 I’ve linked the NICE guidance in the comments for anyone wanting to read more.

What’s important to note is that many symptoms associated with sleep-disordered breathing overlap with ME/CFS & fibromyalgia symptoms. This means it can sometimes be missed or overlooked, especially if someone doesn’t fit the “typical” presentation for OSA.

If you’d like to learn more about sleep disordered breathing, OSA, and breathing efficiency in general one thing that I would recommend is following

💭 I would love to know if anything in this post has resonated or surprised you.

🌿 Doing what we can & letting go

This recent extreme heat, alongside a few other things, has had me reflecting on the importance of doing what we can — and then letting go from a place of awareness, care and compassion.

We can’t control what happens in the future. We can, however, influence how we respond right now and how we relate to what happens later.

I struggle with heat because of health conditions, and the current temperatures and fluctuations in temperature have felt extreme. So I’ve focused on what I can do — keeping hydrated, watering the garden early in the morning (while also enjoying some time outside), and closing curtains and windows early to help keep the house cooler, to name some things.

Today I also worked with the blinds shut in my office. Fortunately, an NHS assessment I had was by phone, though even if it had been on video, I still would have needed the blinds closed.

What I can’t control is how hot it becomes, or exactly how my body responds. Heat itself increases physiological stress on the body and nervous system — and fear or resistance to what’s happening can add another layer of activation and symptoms.

What is supportive for me is connecting to a sense of what I call soft strength — what Rick Hanson calls calm strength — which includes compassion, steadiness, trust, and care in my actions.

There can be something deeply regulating about recognising:
✨ I’m doing what I can right now.

And then gently letting go of the rest.

I notice relief in my body when I shift from fear of what might happen towards focusing on what can be done and then letting go from a place of deep trust. This doesn’t mean difficulty disappears, but it often reduces additional suffering — the “second dart” — and helps me stay connected to what’s possible now.

Outcomes aren’t controllable, so holding them lightly, focusing on what’s possible, and trusting our capacity to respond can sometimes help us move through challenges with a little more steadiness.

💭 Where might it help to focus on what you can influence — and gently let go of the rest?

🌿 Sleep issues in ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia

Sleep issues are common in fibromyalgia and unrefreshing sleep is part of the diagnostic criteria ME/CFS, and insomnia or hypersomnia often go alongside this.

Sleep is complex, like many aspects of being human. There are often multiple interacting factors influencing sleep quality and sleep regulation.

These can include:
* Sleep disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)
* Sleep drive, circadian rhythm and melatonin
* Nervous system dysregulation
* Pain
* Anxiety
* Trauma and or chronic stress
* Hormonal changes such as perimenopause/menopause
* Neurodivergence, including ADHD
* Sleep habits and routine
* Medication
* Daytime napping
* Caffeine and sugar being used to compensate for low energy

One of the things that’s quite common in ME/CFS is feeling “tired but wired” — exhausted, though unable to fully settle into rest or restorative sleep. In my experience, there’s usually more than one contributor to this.

Sleep and nervous system regulation are closely connected. We need enough internal safety for the body to settle enough to sleep, and to shift into deeper states of rest and restoration. This is one reason why nervous system regulation practices during the day can be so important.

I’ve also noticed a high prevalence of sleep disordered breathing and daytime breathing inefficiency in people with ME/CFS, which I’ll share more about in another post.

💭 I’m curious to know whether any of this resonates with you

☀️ Hot weather & chronic illness

It’s lovely to have the sunshine — however it can also be a challenge for many people, especially those living with conditions like PoTS, fibromyalgia, ME/CFS and long covid.

I know from personal experience how the heat can make things feel harder — more fatigue, more symptoms, and often the need to slow down even more.

Here are some supportive tips for managing in the heat, especially around staying hydrated and regulating temperature:

💧 Hydration & Electrolytes:
👉🏻 AIM for 6–8 glasses of water a day (1.5–2 litres) — and more when it’s hot or when you’re sweating (e.g. during exercise), and more if you have PoTS/orthostatic intolerance
👉🏻 People with PoTS/orthostatic intolerance often need additional fluid and salt — a pinch of salt in water can help (unless contraindicated), and electrolytes can be helpful
👉🏻 Coconut water can be helpful due to its natural electrolytes
👉🏻 Fruits & veggies like watermelon, cucumber, and soups can also contribute to hydration

I’m going to put some fresh mint in water in the fridge, it’s a lovely refreshing drink.

❄️ Cooling Strategies:
👉🏻 Use a spray bottle to mist skin or clothing — it cools you as it evaporates (especially with a breeze or fan)
👉🏻 Walk through a sprinkler or take a cool shower — this can be fun and regulating
👉🏻 Place a bowl of ice water or frozen bottle of water in front of a fan
👉🏻 Try a cooling towel, mat, vest, or pillow
👉🏻 Soak your feet in a bowl of cold water (+/- ice cubes)
👉🏻 Fill a hot water bottle with cold water and freeze it — use as a cold compress

🧘‍♀️ Rest & Rhythm:
👉🏻 Adjust your routine — slow down, take more breaks, and pace more gently
👉🏻 Spend time outdoors during the coolest parts of the day
👉🏻 Keep curtains and windows closed during peak heat; if there’s a cool breeze, open windows but keep curtains drawn for shade

🌿 Final Reflection:
It’s important for all of us to slow down and listen to our body — especially in the heat.

💭 What helps you manage the heat?
Do you have a go-to tip that isn’t included here?