Latest news with #stressrelief
Gulf Business
2 days ago
- Health
- Gulf Business
Human Garage's Garry Lineham on stress and the science of 'unwinding'
Image: Supplied In a world where stress often feels like a constant companion and true wellbeing seems elusive, meet Garry Lineham, co-founder and head of H Aaron Illathu — on behalf of Gulf Business — spoke to Lineham during his recent trip to Dubai, where he shared insights into Human Garage's philosophy, the science behind their signature 'unwinding' process, and how alignment isn't just physical — it's emotional, chemical, and spiritual too. Through Human Garage, Lineham said he and his team aim to restore humanity's natural flow, one body at a time. Here are some excerpts from the discussion. How did the Human Garage concept and 'fascial maneuvers' originate, particularly in response to your personal health journey? It started from a place of performance, particularly when my body got 'into trouble'. After 20 years of pain, I went into clinical practice and managed to get myself out of pain, but it required three to five treatments a week. When Covid-19 hit, my pain flared up again. I started doing these maneuvers, and at first, it was just about relieving my own pain and being able to do it myself. As I went through a process of unwinding and unraveling trauma and stress, I found the maneuvers consistently reduced my overall stress. I had more space, more desire to laugh, and even experienced emotional breakthroughs. I initially thought I was just fixing mechanical issues, but I soon realised the primary target was stress. This also sowed the seeds for the inception of Human Garage, which I co-founded with Cynthia Leavoy, Jason Van Blerk and Aisha Rodrique . You mentioned fascial manoeuvers significantly reduce biological stress. Can you elaborate on the impact and the scientific backing for this? Fascial maneuvers reduce 75 to 90 percent of biological stress in the body within the first 7-10 minutes. We've conducted a couple of hundred anecdotal tests, and doctors worldwide have tested it, though official peer review is still pending. The reality is, if you can remove 75 per cent of your stress twice a day, your baseline stress index drops. This increases your capacity to perform, combat issues like hormonal imbalances, improves sleep, and generally enhances measurements of lifestyle. Taking stress out became the core focus. Human Garage uses social media to engage people. How do you move people beyond seeking quick fixes for single problems towards sustained self-care? People often look for a quick fix for a single problem, like a knee or an elbow. While fixing a single problem won't work long-term, it provides immediate pain relief and builds belief in the system. As they experience relief from one pain, they try another maneuver for another. Eventually, they realize the benefit of doing a full 15-minute or 30-minute routine. Our goal is to draw people back to self-care, helping them believe that minor, consistent actions can have long-term, multi-faceted effects. You have a background in encryption and government data, where information is compartmentalised. How do you see this mirroring the structure of modern healthcare? In my background, information is compartmentalized so nobody knows the whole picture, allowing control. This is what we've done in healthcare. A hundred years ago, your doctor, psychiatrist, oncologist, OBGYN, and physiotherapist might have been the same person. Today, we have over 600 specialties, and more are emerging daily. This over-specialization leads to sending people from one specialist to another, with general practitioners, who navigate these specialists, being the lowest paid and least educated. The model is completely upside down, evidenced by the all-time high rates of dysfunction, disease, and illness. You stated that no measurement of human health is better today than it was 30 years ago. Can you expand on this? Indeed. The only thing that was claimed to be better was living longer, but health data was altered 15 years ago by removing infant mortality from the pool, making it appear we were dying younger. We are now officially dying younger. Stress, anxiety, and all kinds of allergies, especially food allergies, are up. Over half of children today are diagnosed or treated as if they are on a spectrum. If I ask an audience if they or someone in their immediate circle has a chronic illness, 95 per cent raise their hands, which wasn't true even five years ago. We're diagnosing symptoms instead of addressing underlying issues. With half the doctors worldwide having left their stations since 2020, and a massive increase in people seeking help, how does Human Garage address this crisis? We answer up to a million health questions a month through our social media channel. These aren't simple questions; they're about severe conditions like POTS or glioblastoma. People seek answers from us, Google, or ChatGPT (which has become a better diagnostic tool for them) because they can't get reasonable answers from the traditional system. We don't claim cures. Our approach is founded on the basic principle that the body heals itself. We help the body heal by giving it a better environment, reducing stress, improving movement, and breathing better. You mentioned the body is becoming more dehydrated. How does this impact health, and how do fascial maneuvers, along with other practices, address it? The average person is 60-65 per cent water today, down from 70 per cent 30 years ago, and 80 per cent before that. Our primary construct is water, which is the conduit for electricity and signaling through the fascia, connecting the nervous system, nerves, glands, and organs. When water and minerals are deficient, the signal cannot be carried properly. Our solutions are simple: mineralis e the body (addressing dehydration), clean up the environment, and move the body. Fascial maneuvers are simple, non-invasive, and work with the fascia to allow the body to make decisions and move better. How do emotional and physical trauma become stored in the body, and what does it take to truly release it? Trauma is the body's inability to resolve a triangle: an event (physical, emotional, or perceptual insult), an attached emotion (anger, grief, fear), and a story you tell yourself about it. When the body is taken out of stress, I found personally that I could look at the event from a new angle, tell a new story, which affected my emotions, and allowed the trauma to release. While talk therapy works on the story and emotional regulation on the emotion, the memory of trauma is stored in the fascia. When that connection is broken by factors like heavy metals or dehydration, the memory can't be resolved. You have a unique perspective on memory, suggesting it resides in the body rather than just the brain. Can you explain this? I believe the body is the computer, and the brain is the processor running programs. If the brain just runs the same program over and over, it's not truly intelligent. The body's real processing capacity is immense. Consider the detail with which a 112-year-old woman can recall an emotion or smell. The body is the greatest computer. If you forget a phone number, your fingers might remember it on a keyboard. The subconscious and memories are in the body; the brain is just the recall mechanism. The brain is very 'trickable', as seen in magic or advertising, but the body is not. Can you elaborate on your belief that 'we are fascia'? From conception, a baby begins as a ball of plasma (fascia). All nerves, tendons, glands, organs, and bones grow within and are connected by fascia. It's the intelligent casing that holds everything together, moves it, and facilitates communication. You can remove every bone, nerve, gland, tendon, or organ, but you cannot remove fascia. Therefore, I propose that we are fascia. Our organs and systems make no sense without this 'house.' Furthermore, I suggest fascia extends into the energy field around us, enabling rapid responses like ducking before the brain is consciously aware of a threat. We need to look at the body in a new way because the current perspective isn't working. Have you seen a shift in how mainstream medicine is viewing somatic and fascia-based healing? Absolutely, they're flocking to it. Five years ago, few Western medicine doctors followed us; three years ago, a few world-renowned orthopedic surgeons reached out. Today, many more are adopting our methods. Younger doctors, especially, are realising the old ways aren't working and are using technology to seek better answers, engaging in research as a scientist should. While Eastern medicine has historically been more inclusive, both Eastern and Western models are failing, prompting practitioners to look for new solutions. We estimate about a million practitioners globally are now prescribing fascial maneuvers daily, with a growing number being medical-related. Our recent tour across 11 countries and 40 events confirms this shift in engagement. Can you share a transformative story that particularly sticks in your mind? I was just working with actress Eva Longoria recently, and ex-footballer David Beckham also called us to work with him. I publish these transformations on social media to give people belief that it can happen, but I'm careful not to imply that I'm the only one who can do it. This whole thing is not about me. I want to do less and less of it. I love when people take care of themselves. Even if a practitioner can only do 80 per cent of what I do, it's better to have millions doing 80 per cent than just me doing 100 per cent. I've even had people offer me hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly and see them, but I typically decline unless they are committed to helping others and sharing the information. That's worth more to me than the money. What is the biggest challenge in getting people to believe in your approach, given that it sounds intellectually difficult to grasp? If I explain it intellectually, it sounds hard to believe. That's why I don't do that. Instead, I get people to do it. When you feel the change in your body instantaneously – like feeling taller or straighter after a maneuver – it's hard to deny. You can argue logic, but feeling is undeniable. I want people to develop their own belief because if it's my belief system, they'll never contribute back to the whole. The days of gurus are gone. I'm on my own journey, inspiring others, and sharing information openly. Fascial maneuvers intellectual property is free and open-source because we want to reach people fast. Read:
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
LIZ JONES: There have been a lot of 'if onlys' in my life. Now, after a traumatic year, I've swallowed two citalopram tablets. So are antidepressants the answer?
I've swallowed two citalopram tablets. I keep waiting for my personality to change: I will be confident and arrogant and not answer emails for days, even weeks. I thought I might feel more relaxed on round two of my bid to assuage my stress by taking Teddy on a long walk. So, on Thursday, Nic and I chose a route in what I think is the most beautiful valley in the Dales. She brought her beagle, Boris, who is hugely strong. It didn't go well. We saw a spaniel, and while Nic tried to contain Teddy, almost riding him in the process, Boris tried to back out of his harness. Crossing a field, I was worried it might contain cows with calves. 'We need to run,' I told Nic.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
‘I am Alan f***ing Sugar': I marvel at my business acumen on DoneDeal
We cope with stress in all different ways. Some are healthy, like binge watching reality shows about Mormon wives and their hair extensions. Some are less healthy, like running a marathon instead of going to therapy. But as long as our chosen outlet of emotion isn't hurting anybody else, who are we to judge? My partner would argue my outlet does hurt him. It's not drinking or gambling or live-action medieval role-play. I'm not forcing him to look at my run times on Strava. Instead, he merely has to sit in the car and make sure I don't get murdered while I pick up my latest Facebook Marketplace purchase. You can correlate how much external stress I'm facing in my life to my time spent scouring mid-century furniture on DoneDeal . At my lowest I was convincing my partner to drive to a random person's shed in Monaghan for a €50 piece of furniture that once might have been a dresser that 'just needed to be sanded back'. When things got really bad I was digitally scouring the Waterford Crystal collections of other people's dead grannies, trying to complete my set. 'I'm so sorry to hear about your granny, do you have two of the Champagne flutes in the Lismore pattern?' I would fire off, as if they would actually be used for Champagne and not Aldi sparkling wine. READ MORE I don't even like sparkling wine and I really love using the dishwasher so chances are they would never even make it out of the cupboard. But that's the joy of buying second-hand stuff - there's no need for rational thought. The stakes are too low to think about being practical. What if the President or someone equally important like, I dunno, Twink, suddenly knocked in and I couldn't serve them sparkling wine in crystal flutes (never mind the fact that when the Australian ambassador actually did pop over for dinner, he was happy enough to eat and drink off our mismatched collection of Ikea and Dunnes finest homewares). Now that moving countries from Ireland to Australia has robbed me of access to my beloved Adverts and DoneDeal, I now rely on Facebook Marketplace as my sole trading platform. We're in something of a trade deficit as I'm only buying. In my defence, I had to refurnish an entire house. Rentals in Australia don't come with furniture, so I assumed my natural role as a hunter and gatherer. It's only me and my sniper-like Facebook Marketplace skills in securing an as-new Ikea couch for €350 less RRP that stands between our bums and the cold, hard floor. It can be a treacherous but mostly annoying pursuit. The problem is everyone wants to score a bargain, or make a decent amount of money selling off an item. But we can't all be cute hoors simultaneously. There are people trying to flog 'lightly used' Nars bronzers and La Roche Posay sunscreen. I don't know about you, but when buying products that go on my face, I'd prefer if a stranger's fingers hadn't been in them. [ Sizible: Making sure to get the perfect fit when clothes shopping online Opens in new window ] I blame Dragons' Den reruns for people trying to sell the free coat hangers you get at the dry cleaners for €1 each. Facebook Marketplace really needs an 'Are you well?' button for these types of ads. But in fairness, buyers can be melts too. Like the time I was asked repeatedly if I would drop items I was giving away for free to the other side of Ireland, at my own expense. I was sweaty with anticipation as I messaged a seller last week. She was offering two GHD hair tools, like new. The ones I'd been eyeing up, that retail for more than €150 each new. She was willing to part with them for €30 each. I pounced. I marvelled at my business acumen with that margin. 'I am Alan f***ing Sugar,' I thought to myself as I queued for the ATM on the way to the goods exchange location. [ Yes, will give Irish shoppers choice. But no, it's not 'good news for all' Opens in new window ] It was only in the car as we waited in the pitch black and rainy night did I question if the prices were too good to be true. Her profile looked legit - had been up since the 2010s. But she was selling loads of GHDs. Maybe it was a trap designed exclusively to ensnare millennial women. 'Are you going to get us killed?' my boyfriend asked with a tone that suggested he'd welcome this event over doing any more Facebook Marketplace pickups. No, it turns out she just worked for the company and was doing a spring clean. Behind her lurked her bodyguard boyfriend who met the eyes of mine and gave him the weary nod of marketplace veterans who had seen too much.
Forbes
23-05-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Mental Health At Work: Build Your 10-Minute First Aid Kit
Mental Health First Aid Kit - Use in case of stress or an emotional emergency Change takes time. Change is hard. Change is painful. Usually, I would be the first to agree that real change requires a big time investment, and that before you start taking random action, it is important to pause, reflect, and ideally identify what the underlying 'why' of your wish to change is. This is a very common situation in my coaching practice as well. And at the same time, I also agree that sometimes all you need is a hands-on toolbox that helps you in a stressful and emotional situation at work – your personal mental health first aid kit. And what better time to start creating it than during the European Mental Health Week? It's always a good idea to prioritize your mental health. Compared to an actual first aid kit, there is no need to buy any band aids or check the expiration date of your disinfectant. All you need is your Notes app on your phone or a simple piece of paper and a pen. Let's go! The first ingredient is simple and you always have it with you: your breath. When we experience a stressful moment and our body turns on the fight or flight response, our breathing automatically gets shallower, and in the worst-case scenario you hyperventilate or faint. Let's agree to not do that when stress knocks at your door next time, and let's do this instead: put one hand on your heart and the other one on your belly, close your eyes and feel your breath moving from one hand to the other. Do this for at least 10 rounds and make your inhale and exhale slower every time. Congratulations, you have connected with your body, told your nervous system that you are in a safe place and used a tool from your mental health first aid kit successfully! Want to try out something new? Alternate nostril breathing is extremely helpful in those stressful moments, too. It helps your body and mind to calm down, relaxes you, and as you close your eyes while doing the exercise, you put the focus on your breath and have less time to think about what you are going through at that moment. If you think 'How do you want me to turn on music while I'm at work and dance?' To this I say, fair enough. But what about getting up from your chair, and maybe even going for a short walk around the building? The important part with the dance/movement tool in your mental health first aid kit is that you break the cycle of being stuck in your thoughts, emotions, feelings, etc. By getting up, you physically break out of your negative self-talk or spiralling. You can even say to yourself while going up 'Let's go!' (and you don't have to say it out loud). Once you start moving, and even if it is only a short bathroom break, your emotions will pass through your body and you can let it go. In case you work from home, you can give the dancing out a chance and alternatively try to shake it out as well – it is all about sending your nervous system the signal that you are safe, that what you are feeling and experiencing right now is temporary, and that this too shall pass. (You can do it!) For all the shakers and dancers out there: Why not have a playlist at hand which you can immediately turn on as soon as you get up and decide to gracefully and courageously move through your emotion (or let your emotion move through your body)? Ever heard of 'emotion is energy in motion'? Have you ever had the experience that once you speak about a major issue with someone else, it all of a sudden shrinks and becomes more manageable? Your mental health first aid kit has to contain at least one person. So that when in need, you know that you are not alone and that you have someone who listens and is there for you. If that person is not available, fear not. Why not go for a quick coffee with a colleague and speak about something completely different to cool (or calm) down and connect with someone else on a random topic. You are not alone and don't have to carry your stress and emotional burden alone – open up and connect. The worst that can happen is that you learn something new about someone else, or yourself. Let's consider this your bonus in your mental health first aid kit. It will be hard to use it in a moment of distress, and don't feel pressured in using it when another strong wave of emotions or stress hits you. Your breath, movement and connection come first. Journaling, or simply writing your thoughts down, helps you to literally see what is occupying your mind. Once your body is calmer, a so-called 'mental download', where you write down all your thoughts that keep your mind busy, can do wonders in calming down your mind. It is like an anchor that brings you back to reality. Nothing is wrong with you when you go through a stressful or an emotionally draining moment. You are human, you are allowed to have feelings and emotions – all kinds of them. And instead of judging yourself for them, do yourself a favour and open up your mental health first aid kit next time it happens. Once you start using it regularly and find your favourite tool in it, you will spend less time in the stressed state and be able to relax quicker. Like with every new skill you want to learn, using your mental health first aid kit will take a while, too. So be patient and kind with yourself along the process. Are you inspired and keen on working on your mental fitness next? Start here!
National Post
20-05-2025
- Health
- National Post
What are adaptogens? Top blends for stress, focus and more
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Article content For centuries, humans have turned to nature for healing, and one of the wise allies we can lean on is adaptogens — earthy, often bitter botanicals with balancing powers that help us adapt, recalibrate and rise above stress, both emotional and physical. Article content When we experience a stressful event, consuming adaptogens can help our bodies return to a state of balance known as homeostasis. These plants and herbs, such as ashwagandha, rhodiola rosea and schisandra are also believed to improve overall energy, vitality, athletic performance and strengthen the immune system. Article content Article content This isn't new-age fluff. It's basic biology. It's the kind of ancient partnership that reminds us we're not machines that need fixing — we're ecosystems that, like nature, require tending. Article content All adaptogens help the body resist the effects of stress, but each offers unique support based on your specific needs. Article content Article content For mental clarity, focus and energy: Lion's mane and chaga are top contenders — both are revered mushrooms rich in antioxidants and neuro-protective compounds. You'll often find them in instant coffee blends, coffee creamers or daily drink mixes. Article content
