AURA CLEANSING The concept of an aura – take on the emotions of throat chakra, apparently; a sort of emanation from others and find it difficult to I mime taking off a collar, your body – was developed say no, leading to feelings which Coleridge takes from by spiritualists at the end of lethargy and tiredness. me and throws out of the of the 19th century, but the ‘Like a room that’s not had window. At one point, she idea of giving it the once fresh air.’ It sounds familiar. gets a message from my K ATE’S over was popularised in the I lie on a bed under a ancestors – ‘guides who VERDICT 80s during the New Age blanket while Coleridge look out for us’ – who tell movement. Aura cleanser holds my feet – ‘to get a me that I’ve come to the Georgia Coleridge, who runs sense of my energy’ – and right place. How convenient. her own Chelsea-based clinic asks me questions about my Afterwards, I do feel and recently published The life. The result is a session energised, and I’m in a much Chakra Project, tells me that that feels like part massage, better mood than I was demand for her services has part therapy. She hovers when I arrived. But whether never been higher. her hands a few inches that’s because my aura has Arriving at her light-filled above my body, and when been cleansed or because townhouse just off the King’s she gets to my forehead I’ve spent an hour lying Two weeks, five Road, I feel frazzled – the – the location of my sixth down for a chat with treatments and result of a toxic cocktail of chakra, or third eye – she someone, I can’t be sure. CRANIOSACRAL several references a rush-hour Tube journey winces with discomfort and That said, a few days on, to my body as and a stressful work project starts to cough. ‘You’re not I feel a lot more positive. vessel later, I was – which makes me the ideal seeing things clearly at the I’m even using some of half expecting to candidate for Coleridge’s moment,’ she tells me. She’s Coleridge’s techniques, THERAPY feel as energetic services. ‘Think of your body right, of course, but it’s a such as imagining I’m inside Based on the theory that the central nervous as an influencer as a house and your aura statement vague enough to a bubble of good energy system has a natural rhythm, craniosacral therapy who’s just hit 10k as a garden,’ she says. And ring true for anyone. before I leave the house, and is designed to manipulate the skull and sacrum followers. While the for the second time this There’s more old, sludgy seeing showers as cleansing (lower back) to remove blockages, enabling shift is something week, I’m picturing my body energy clogging up my me on the inside and out. cerebrospinal fluid to better flow around the subtler, the with walls and windows. £70 for a one-hour treatment; body. It was developed in the 70s as an offshoot experience has She tells me that those with georgiacoleridgehealing.com of osteopathy, and many craniosacral therapists changed the way blocked chakras tend to are also osteopaths by training. Practitioners use I feel about the it to help with migraines, muscular pain and IBS, concept. I feel more relieve stress and boost energy. attuned to my My therapist today is Stephanie James. She’s ‘energetic body’, wearing a white lab coat and there’s a plastic and aware of model of a skull on her desk. The impression this fluctuations from gives is far more medical than any of the other one day to the treatments I’ve had so far. James begins by gently next. While some of placing her hands on top of my head; she’s feeling the specifics still my body’s natural movement and looking for any feel a bit out there restrictions. Aware of some twisting down my right for me – speaking side, she asks if I’ve had any dental treatment to my ancestors is recently – I had a root canal in my right side a up there – I’d month ago. She tells me that my right side isn’t happily swap my moving as it should be. It’s only when she says monthly massage this that I realise that when I sprained my ankle for craniosacral back in 2013, it was my right one, and when I get therapy or reiki; my tension in my neck, it’s always on the right, too. THE ACUPUNCTURE FACIAL belief (or lack of it) Next, I sit on a bed, on top of James’ hands. in every aspect of It feels like she’s barely moving at all, but I can Rooted in ancient Chinese medicine, of the British Medical Acupuncture works his way around my face the premise feels feel things shifting – almost unlocking – in my the aim is to place needles at Society, Mike Cummings, blamed before moving on to my shoulders, secondary to the pelvis. She explains that the body is a container meridian points in the body to the absence of strong evidence on hands and feet. Warm sensations way it makes me and, for the contents to work correctly, we need unblock your life force, or ‘qi’. a lack of commercial interest, while flood to the areas where the needles feel. Traditional the container to be aligned. When I lie on the bed Acupuncture is one of the few others argued the benefits are too are and I feel overcome by a woozy medicine will and she places her hands lightly on my face, it’s complementary therapy techniques small to be attributed to anything feeling – the kind that I’m used to remain my first port so relaxing that I almost fall asleep. I feel gutted that’s successfully crossed over other than a placebo effect. following a deep-tissue massage. of call if I feel when our hour is up and I have to drag myself into mainstream medicine. NICE David Peters was working in the I’m only vaguely aware of the unwell, but there’s out of her office and out into the world. guidelines recommend considering film industry when he discovered passing of time and 45 minutes a place for the Later that day, I’m aware of a loosening in my acupuncture for chronic tension- acupuncture on a trip to China. feels like five. Needles removed, my alternative kind in neck and upper back. Beyond that, I feel a sense type headaches and migraines, and For the first time since I began this skin is glowing, and the niggling my schedule and of calm and peace that I haven’t experienced in it’s sometimes available on the NHS energy quest, I’m nervous. While tension I get in my shoulder has my lunch hour. months. My train is delayed, my phone dies – for the treatment of various physical acupuncture has been around for disappeared. I feel drowsy, but once aggravations that wash over me like water. It feels and mental health conditions. As ages, its ability to turn the human my clothes are back on, its given remarkable to me that such a light, imperceptible for the evidence – it’s complicated. body into a pin cushion has marked way to a calm, quiet energy far touch could have had such a powerful effect on While studies have found that this treatment as other in my mind. removed from the caffeine-induced me. I know I’m a convert when I start bringing the acupuncture offers a greater benefit But Peters is passionate about kind. If this is what energy healing therapy up in random conversations. A massage in pain relief than a placebo, the bringing the benefits of acupuncture is supposed to feel like, I’m all in. is great, but for the same price, I’ve found a evidence isn’t considered to be to more people, and I’m game. £290 for a 70-minute treatment; treatment that delivers a shot of tranquillity strong. In an article published in the He eases me in with a scalp and davidpeterslondon.com unmatched by anything else I’ve experienced. BMJ last year, the medical director shoulder massage, then applies £60 for a one-hour treatment; a fragrant serum before inserting osteoperformance.co.uk the tiny needles into my face. I expect to feel something – a sharp ICON: MARCO LIVOLSI NOUN AT PROJECT pain, a scratch – but I don’t. He 98 | MAY 2019 Women’s Health Women’s Health MAY 2019 | 99 .