Welcome to Soul Essence in New Eltham serving South East London and North Kent area. I offer a variety of alternative therapies to help you relax, deal with pain, stress, depression, panic attacks, anxiety and addictions. Or you may just want some pampering to help increase your vitality.

April Special Offer

Come and enjoy a Chakra Balance treatment in April for half price! A full 30 minute treatment for £10.

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Chakra Balancing

We have seven main energy centres called chakras which are positioned in line down the centre of our bodies, each chakra  vibrates at different speed. In most people most of the time there are imbalances between the front and rear aspect of each chakra and between the seven main chakras. An imbalance means that there is more energy moving through one part than another. Read more…

 

Meditation

Soul Essence runs a monthly meditation group on the first Wednesday of the month. There was no event first week of January and there will be no event February. Our next event is 4^th March 2015 Space is limited; please contact me if you are interested in joining us. For more information read the article below.

Pamper Events

Soul Essence organises Pamper Days and Evenings where you can have mini/taster sessions for 20 or 30 minutes, costing between £10 and £15.

We hold fundraising events in New Eltham, All Saints Church Hall, Bercta Road SE9 3TZ, 3 times a year in March, June and November on a Thursday night. 2015 dates are 12th Mar, 11th Jun, and 27th Nov. admission is free and they start at 6:30 pm until 10 pm visit our  website

We also organise a monthly event on the first Saturday, again admission is free, at the Temple URC, St Mary Cray High Street, Orpington Kent BR5 4AX.  First appointment 10:30 am last appointment 3 pm. Contact or visit  for more information and details of our Pamper Package, 3 treatments at the same event for £30.

Can be shared between friends and family. We are extending the offer to all events. Voucher valid for 6 months from the date of purchase.

Meditation

Any body can learn to meditate. All it takes is patience and perseverance. You don’t have to be religious or into any new age philosophy. When you decide to give it a go, you need to create the right conditions.

Your Meditation Space
It would be ideal to set aside a room which is kept for meditation only, so the spiritual energy you generate can build up and cleanse the room. However, this is the ideal and if you are unable to have the luxury of a separate meditation room choose a space perhaps in the corner of your bedroom, where you can sit and meditate without being disturbed. The area ideally will be simply furnished; all you need is an upright chair (not an armchair or comfy chair) and a table. Keep the space/room neat and tidy; open the window frequently to let fresh air circulate to cleanse it. Decorate with uplifting pictures, perhaps some crystals, candles, fresh flowers and some relaxing music in the background. This is your special place, your sanctuary.
Try to make time to meditate for 15 minutes morning or evening to start, increasing to 30 minutes or more when you become more experienced. The quality of the meditation is far more important than the quantity. Early morning is generally considered the best time for meditation, before you become absorbed in the business of the day. Choose a time which suits you and stick to it. Regular practise helps to condition and train the brain/mind. The more you meditate the easier it becomes.

There are different levels of the mind, caused by the different brainwaves explained below.

Beta (13- 40 cycles per second)
Beta is associated with our waking activity. During a day we experience all the brainwave patterns with a predominance of Beta.

Alpha (8-13 cycles per second)
The first pattern discovered in 1908 by an Austrian Psychiatrist named Hans Berger. Alpha pattern appears when in wakefulness where there is a relaxed and effortless alertness. Light meditation and day dreaming. It is recommended practicing your creative visualization and auto-suggestion technique in alpha state.

Theta (4-7 cycles per second)
Associated with creativity, dreams and Extra-sensory perception for the student the theta state is something to learn to go at will.

To obtain these different levels you have to quiet the mind by concentrating on a mantra or your breathing. The times you feel most resistant to meditating is the time your body will need it the most. Meditation puts you in contact with the things that are buried in the unconscious mind. The reason we bring our subconscious painful memories to the surface is because they are affecting our lives today. Just because we do not remember them does not mean they are not influencing our lives. Many of the beliefs upon which we run our lives rest on decisions we made as a child. Meditation can help you work through and overcome fears that stop us being our true selves. Meditation also helps you find that place within where you feel calm and peaceful at all times, even when life is tough. You will feel happier, be able to make changes when you want to, accept and be in the present and plan for you future.

Research – Benefits to the body

Improved Health
A study of health insurance statistics of 2000 people practising meditation consistently over a five year period revealed that their rate of hospitalisation was less than half of the other groups with comparable age, gender, profession, and insurance terms. Meditators also had fewer incidents of illness in 17 medical treatment categories. Some of the results were quite outstanding; 87% less admissions for cardiovascular disease, 55% less cancer, 87% less for diseases of the nervous system, 73% less for nose throat and lung problems. Psychosomatic Medicine 1987.

Lower Blood Pressure
At the Harvard Medical School Dr. Herbert Benson found that meditators develop what he calls the “relaxation response” to difficult or dangerous situations. This is a much healthier response than the very common “fight or flight” reaction. He also observed that during meditation the heart rate decreases on average by three beats a minute, and that the rate of breathing also decreases. The blood pressure of those who have high blood pressure is reduced during meditation. Dr.Benson found that all the traditional methods of meditation evoke this response. He also found that four basic elements are needed. They are a quiet environment, an object for the attention to dwell on, a comfortable posture and, above all a non-discriminatory attitude towards meditation. This is exactly what the Buddha taught two thousand five hundred years ago.

Reduced Anxiety
A study conducted at Stanford University reported a reduced level of anxiety amongst the participants who meditated. Journal of Clinical Psychology (1989)

Decreased Stress
A study of meditators showed a reduction in plasma cortisol, a stress hormone, during and after meditation. Hormones and Behaviour (1978)

Deep Rest
A scientific measure of deep rest is the amount of basal skin resistance and lower respiration rates. Experiments comparing meditation to resting with eyes closed have shown that meditation is significantly more effective. Similarly meditation also reduces the amount of lactate (a root cause of anxiety, panic attacks and high blood pressure). American Psychologist (1987)

Reversal of the Aging Process
A study group of long-term meditators (practising meditation for five years or more) were physiologically twelve years younger than their chronological age, as measured by reduction of blood pressure, and better near-point vision and auditory discrimination. Short-term meditators were physiologically five years younger than their chronological age. The study controlled for the effects of diet and exercise. International Journal of Neuroscience 1982.

Increased Perception and Memory
College students instructed in meditation displayed significant improvements in performance over a two-week period on a perceptual and short-term memory test involving the identification of familiar letter sequences presented rapidly. They were compared with subjects randomly assigned to a routine of twice-daily rest with eyes closed, and with subjects who made o change in their daily routine. Memory and Cognition (1982)

NEXT MONTH ………. Look out for the article on Chakras and our May Offer