“I am so delighted to highly-recommend Kay’s soft tissue therapy to everyone of any age who wants to recover from an injury… or prevent one. Kay doesn’t only apply her expertise to sensitively working with my joints, muscles & ligaments; even while I’m on her physio-massage table enjoying that process, Kay gently mentions to me revelations about everything from nutrition to exercise, and her tailor-made suggestions have proven game-changing for how I go about my wellness routines.
I cannot imagine not having my weekly treatment-hour with Kay : it’s not an expense, it’s an investment in being well enough to really enjoy a fully-physical life. ”
— Dr Nick Baylis, Consultant Well-Being Psychologist
“It’s been a difficult few years. I had debilitating stomach problems with no diagnosis and more prescriptions and tests than I could count on all my fingers and toes! Ultimately, things got so bad I landed in hospital for a week in April 2019. After that the diagnosis sped up and I was finally on the right medication and diet. But I was harbouring the trauma and bad habits I had experienced in the two years prior and it wasn’t until December 2019 that it took it’s toll on my mental health. That’s when Kay comes in.
From my first appointment I started feeling the benefits creep in. I felt like it was possible to break the bad habits I’d developed (my crutches if you will) and build a healthier more positive lifestyle. I haven’t had any significant stomach problems since and I finally feel like my old self again. My fun loving and optimistic nature is back, I love food again, and my exercise regime is the steadiest it’s been in over a decade. Kay’s kind approach of listening, empathising, imparting wisdom and motivating me has given me my life back. Thank you!”
— Emma
“Since I sustained a serious injury in January 2017, Kay has been instrumental in both my recovery and rehabilitation. This has involved a sustained programme of soft tissue massage therapy and also personal training exercises to help me recover from surgery. I needed treatment for wrist, hand and arm flexibility and motion as well as an ankle injury that meant I had to learn to walk again after using crutches for a number of months.
Kay provided sympathetic, encouraging and motivational treatment and training as well as crucial psychological support in boosting my confidence at key points in my recovery.”
— Alison
“I have been having issues with my back following overuse of a laptop for about 18 months. I had already seen a physio about this and the exercises I had been given had helped to a certain extent but I was still experiencing discomfort a lot of the time. The treatment and the simple follow up exercises Kay gave me have helped massively and I’ve experienced much less discomfort (most of the time actually none). As an added bonus, they have also helped with life-long lower back pain! I also have a debilitating chronic illness and Kay’s approach was empathetic and she worked with me to come up with a solution that was practical, manageable and also worked really well.”
— Tracey
“Having suffered from chronic back pain for many years, from computer use, poor manual handling, a car accident and with an autoimmune disease, I was always on the lookout for therapies that would help. I became a student of Sifu Kay, in Qigong a few months ago. After regular practise of different movements in the first form, with names such as “Peeping Monkey” and “Big Bear Stretches”, I have noticed my back pain has significantly decreased and balance has improved. My posture is better and I have had no recent symptoms from my autoimmune disease, which feels like a miracle! In short, I feel a new sense of overall wellness.
Wild Goose or Dayan Qigong has many forms, so there is much for me to practise in the future. Sifu Kay teaches empathetically and with deep understanding and detail about the science, as well as acupoints, number system and chi energy in the context of Chinese medicine, all enabling a holistic view of the body and health. She is also really good at enabling us both to learn individually and help each other by working together as a class. We are also part of a world-wide community in Qigong, a great support and source of knowledge around Qigong philosophy and practise.
I am hugely grateful for Sifu Kay’s guidance and encouragement, which is helping my physical problems steadily improve as well as changing my mindset, plus I really enjoy Qigong!”
— Lauren
“1. What led you to seek healthy living coaching? I was offered the chance of a 1-1 motivational interviewing session as a ‘thank you’ for loyalty and long term attendance at Chi Gong classes.
2. In what ways did you feel stuck? I had no particular agenda at the start of the session, but underneath I knew I had been having a long term struggle with lifestyle issues, in the form of both diet and an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
3. What were your desires in relation to your health-related quality of life? After the first session, we came up with a plan to look at different ways to manage cutting back on the amount of alcohol I was consuming.
4. On a scale of 0 to 10, how comfortable were you with how healthily you were living and how has this improved? Before I started the 1-1 sessions I would say I was between 5-7 out of 10 comfortable with my lifestyle. I would now say I am at an 8-9 out of 10.
5. How would you describe the support you received? It was exactly what I needed and I loved the fact that it was practical and useful to me on a day to day basis, as opposed to doing too much soul searching. A lot of which I had already done, just understanding why I had unhealthy habits was not enough to help me change them.
6. What specific changes did you make? I began to work on drinking on fewer days a week, ie having more nights off and the more difficult process of drinking less on the drinking days.
7. What surprised you? How I have been able to continue making progress and a way that has been consistent and improving over time. This has been a battle I have been fighting for many years and for the first time I feel confident that I have a strategy that is achievable for the long-term future.
8. What results have you achieved? I have consistently managed to stick to 5 nights a week with no alcohol and some nights (over our 3 monthly review periods) when I am only drinking 2 glasses per night. I have also had help with visualising a healthier lifestyle in terms of how I walk and exercise - especially with walking - as I have discomfort due to arthritis in my hip. I can also use the same techniques learnt with alcohol, to help with cutting out unhealthy snacks from my diet, so I am now losing weight as well, for the first time in a while.
9. How have you changed from the inside-out? I feel more confident with my self awareness, self soothing and self care techniques especially, and finding holistic ways to mark my achievements, rather than keeping paper records.
10. What would you advise someone seeking to change their healthy living habits? This type of support - rather than a more formal diet club - or therapeutic support looking into background issues - is a brilliant alternative and not one I would have thought of engaging with initially. Being accountable to someone on a regular basis has been invaluable to me over the last 3 years.
11. Is there anything else you’d like to add? A great big thank you.”
