Welcome to the AJHW community!

You may recall that International Women’s Day was at the beginning of this month. I had meant to send this post on the actual day, but I received so many emails with the subject “Women’s Day” that it put me off and I didn’t want to deluge my lovely clients. Rather than saving it for a whole year, I’m sending it out belatedly as I think we should all be celebrating women every day anyway! And every human being on the planet for that matter. Or how about we just treat each other equally and with respect so we don’t need to have a specific day to celebrate? Ah imagine… Admittedly Women’s Day is not a day I had ever given much thought to in the past, but this year I did, because I spent some time ruminating the fact that I have come a long way in accepting the joys of being a woman. Until not that long ago, I was adamant that I would like to come back in my next life as a man. In case my husband is reading this, I have zero interest in doing that in this life, however I have often felt aggrieved at being a woman with all the perceived ‘baggage’ that comes with it. By that I mean: puberty, periods, PMS, body image shame, worrying about falling pregnant and worrying about not being able to get pregnant, being the baby carrier and hence having to forgo sushi eating, wine drinking and heavy exercising, having to go through labour, breastfeeding, having a stalling career because of children, not earning as much as male counterparts, not being taken seriously by some of the opposite sex and having to put up with a multitude of double standards are just a few examples. Obviously not all of these are true for all women, thank goodness! But I didn’t have a rosy picture. Women are also expected to make sacrifices, right down to our surname upon marriage. We’re taught to look after everyone else’s needs before ourselves, because it’s what our mothers did, and their mothers did and so on and so forth, probably since the dawn of time. It comes naturally to us, but historically women didn’t also work full time and be expected to have stellar careers whilst looking immaculate and younger than our actual years on top of the child rearing. If you keep making sacrifices for others though, where does it leave you? Exhausted and probably a little miserable and resentful, which is going to have a detrimental impact on your health. Think anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, hormone and weight issues. The ironic thing is that these issues will not only affect you but all those around you. Those people you’re ‘sacrificing’ for will be the ones at the receiving end of your irritability and low energy. You’re irritable not because you want to be, but because you’re stuck in fight or flight mode and need a break. How do I understand this? Because this is where I used to be, and I see it all the time in my clients. When I was working in the City of London, “I’m too busy” and “it’s too expensive” were my excuses not to partake in self-care activities, when in hindsight neither of these statements were true. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was telling my subconscious that I didn’t deserve that massage, treatment or break. Until I stopped sacrificing and started prioritising myself, I was totally out of touch with my body and therefore the world around me. It wasn’t my fault and if you find you do the same, it’s not yours either. We are unfortunately in a system where ‘being busy’ is a competition, we’re not taught anything about how to properly nourish and care for our bodies, we rely on doctors to tell us if we’re healthy, and having money, fame and material goods is what we’re supposed to strive for. I really do hope we have reached a point where society is going to change for the better. I used to frequently drink alcohol because ‘life was hard, and I deserved it’. Now I take supplements and treatments so that I no longer have a nagging need to take the edge off. It has been a revelation to me that making simple lifestyle changes has removed the niggling hormonal issues I used to put up with and being aware of my body has allowed me to know where I am in my cycle. Detoxing has taught me to be careful what I put on my body and to focus on nourishment rather than eating quickly just for fuel. Ancient learnings have taught me to look at the world differently – spend more time in nature, cook with love for my family and appreciate the fact that the energy I send out to the universe is what I will receive in kind. Which brings me to the things that I am now grateful for being a woman. I am grateful for my body for it has produced two amazing children and it allows me to be active which is vital for my mental health. I am grateful for the special bond I have with my children. I am grateful for my woman’s perception and intuition. I am grateful that I have discovered the joys of helping other women heal. I am grateful for the wisdom that has been passed down to me from other wonderful women and I will never feel aggrieved again if I focus on these things. I hope you feel the same way too. Love, Andy

Hello lovely community! It has been a long time indeed since I wrote a blog post. The truth is, ever since my family had covid a few months ago I have been wanting to write about ‘the elephant in the room’ but I have refrained from doing so... There’s hardly a more divisive and caustic topic than the SARS-COV-2 virus and the global/national/individual response to it – regardless of where you live. Everyone I know has been personally impacted - whether it be by the virus itself, the vaccines, the mandates, the lockdowns, the economic impact, the effect on mental health and not to mention the division it has caused. So…. let’s get this out there quickly – I am pro-choice. I am totally perplexed at the current state of affairs around the world, especially when it comes to vaccine mandates. People have been writing to me asking what my views are on the vaccines, especially since they have been mandated in parts of Australia and my home country New Zealand. I want to make this very clear - I am not qualified to provide guidance to individuals on whether they should be vaccinated, and I never ever would, not least on ethical grounds. Not to my clients and not even my husband. I firmly believe that people should be given a chance to carry out a risk/benefit analysis based on their own personal health circumstances and decide based on what they feel is best for them. It is and it should be a fundamental human right to decide what goes in your body, especially anything that carries an element of risk. This should not be a controversial statement but unfortunately at the time of writing, (December 2021) it is. Governments all around the world are promoting the Covid-19 vaccines as a panacea to beat Covid, however countries with the highest vaccination rates are now offering (or mandating in the case of Israel) ‘booster’ shots as it is evident that the effectiveness of the vaccines wears off after a few months. Even the World Health Organisation has now advised that ‘no country can vaccinate its way out of this pandemic.’ [ 1] Rather than taking this as an opportunity to look at early treatment options or alternative treatments (see Uttar Pradesh for details) [ 2] , governments are doubling down on their efforts to vaccinate their populations. I am not against vaccines, and I am all for any vaccine that is safe and effective. It is evident that the current generation of Covid-19 vaccines work to decrease the number of hospitalisations and deaths relating to the virus, however only temporarily. They are not sterilising vaccines and do not stop you from contracting the virus or passing it on to others. [ 3] I have been told by clients that their menstrual cycles have changed, their immune system has been compromised or latent viruses have reappeared since their vaccination. These are anecdotal reports but I am not going to ignore them just because we are told something is ‘safe and effective.’ Yes, the virus could have been worse still for these people, which is why it is necessary that medical intervention remains a choice. What concerns me most is that young people are now being told to take the vaccine to “protect” older generations when we do not have long term safety data and children have far less statistical risk of dying or severe illness from SARS-COV-2 than adults [ 4] . The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recently did not recommend extending the vaccination rollout to include healthy 12-15 year olds, however politicians decided to pursue the rollout anyway [ 5] . An article recently published in the American Heart Association Journal warned that MrNA vaccines ‘dramatically increase endothelial inflammatory markers and Acute Coronary Syndrome.’ [ 6] Couple this with the fact that there are excess non-covid deaths since the vaccine rollout [ 7] should give pause for thought. Professor Norman Fenton of Queen Mary University in London has been analysing the UK Office for National Statistics mortality data and has come to some very interesting conclusions. He notes that the vaccines appear to protect the vaccinated from dying from covid in the UK, however all-cause mortality for 2021 increases shortly after the rollout of the vaccine for each age category. [ 8] I recommend watching a video on his explanations here. [ 9] You may be thinking that if the vaccines do not work as well as advertised, then why are doctors and nurses not speaking out? An interesting article alluding to the reason why that may be, can be found here . [ 10] From the outset of the pandemic I have been waiting for preventative measures to be discussed. Where is the focus on good nutrition, regular exercise, exposing yourself to adequate amounts of sunshine, getting outside in nature and remaining in close contact with people you love? And, most importantly, trying to reduce stress as much as possible. These are the key elements to staying healthy and are the best way to prevent any disease. Unfortunately, the focus has been on staying indoors, maintaining a distance from people, wearing masks and the media has consistently propagated stress-inducing fear. It bothers me that one of the simplest ways to reduce disease could have been to hand out vitamin D to everyone, yet we have only myopically insisted on a vaccine that does not stop infection or transmission [ 11] . Please note that I fully support those who choose to vaccinate themselves. I know many felt a civic, familial duty or moral responsibility to do so or are high risk themselves. But I also fully support those who choose not to get vaccinated because they have already had covid, they have previously had an adverse reaction to a vaccine or for whatever reason believe it will cause them more harm than good. The fact is two people can come from a place of love and end up with diametrically opposing views. This is not a black and white issue and it is deeply concerning that certain governments and the media are making it so. We have created a world in which anyone with dissenting views is labelled a conspiracy theorist or anti-vaxxer. There is no room for healthy debate and highly respected professionals who speak out are being censored and smeared. I know most of you who read this will have already had to make a decision or will in fact have been coerced into it. Given that Austria has now made it a legal requirement to be vaccinated and mandates are the new normal in many places I think it is prudent to decide what our limits are now, and it is imperative that we are able to make an informed decision. Are you ok with infinite booster shots? Are you ok with vaccines and boosters for your young children? Are you ok with people in your community being ostracised from society, fined heavily, prevented from medical treatments and education, sent to jail for not wanting to receive a medical procedure? These are hypothetical questions but if we lose bodily autonomy to our government, we are heading down a very slippery slope and there’s no going back. There could always be a pretext for the next thing, if we allow it to happen. I write this post not to convince anyone of anything, I only want to create awareness and critical thinking. Things are not adding up to me and I personally fear if we keep going down this path, we may face terrible unintended consequences. I can only hope my fears are totally unfounded. The other day I told my daughter to speak out if she sees something that she feels is wrong. I was a hypocrite because I had written this article and hadn’t press send, purely out of fear. Today I send it and tomorrow I hope for a brighter future. Take care and I wish you all the best of health, regardless of the path you choose. Love Andy [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGCK8Z27xd0&t=0s [2] https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/uttar-pradesh-government-says-ivermectin-helped-to-keep-deaths-low-7311786/ [3] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(21)00258-1/fulltext?s=08#%20 [4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221475002100161X [5] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-of-children-and-young-people-aged-12-to-17-years-jcvi-statement/jvci-statement-on-covid-19-vaccination-of-children-and-young-people-aged-12-to-17-years-15-july-2021 [6] https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_1.10712# [7] https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/science-health/954825/extra-non-covid-deaths-increase [8] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356756711_Latest_statistics_on_England_mortality_data_suggest_systematic_mis-categorisation_of_vaccine_status_and_uncertain_effectiveness_of_Covid-19_vaccination [9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6umArFc-fdc [10] https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/why-have-we-doctors-been-silent/?fbclid=IwAR0lgmjHFmxea0V8zFOjEKqmjTStQXi4j9-8TNIp5HRSzgpmlh_3p6-IP-Y [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGug3rczx4