Breakfast is an incredibly important meal to get your body on track for the day. Here’s some tips on choosing the right mix of protein and carbohydrates to fuel your body for the day.

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1. Inflammation & Pain – The Truth about how Anti Oxidants Reduce Pain

This is a short clip from a talk Ginny and I did about nutrition to reduce pain. You’re about to learn the 1 for 1 rule – a very handy and easy way to stay properly  hydrated – even if you’re much more of a tea and coffee drinker.

I’m excited to share with you a very interesting look at posture and how we can use our bodies to eliminate pain.

Esther Gokhale has pioneered her own method of posture that helps people to be free of chronic back pain. She started by curing her own back pain and has since moved on to help thousands of others.

In this inteview we discuss  the phenomenon of bad posture that effects our generation, and how you can correct your posture to prevent chronic pain.

Esther’s best selling book: 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back: Natural Posture Solutions for Pain in the Back, Neck, Shoulder, Hip, Knee, and Foot

Free resources from Esther’s website:

the Gokhale Method

What Hurts? - Symptom checker with posture solutions for different types of pain.

Visuals from Esther’s book to illustrate the concepts discussed in the interview:

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Many years ago, I attended a course on Alexander Technique, in a beautiful retreat center on a mountainside in New Zealand.

After that weekend in the mountains, my life changed.  I became an evangelist for good posture – constantly correcting both mine and my family’s posture.

They did sometimes get annoyed with my constant reminders to ‘tuck your chin in’ and ‘extend your head upwards’  but I know they appreciated it in the long run….

The thing is, posture isn’t just about standing straight. It’s how you move, how you sit, drive, do daily activities. And good posture creates ease of movement, flow. You look good, you feel great, and you’re not creating unnecessary tensions that lead to muscle pain.

For a primer on posture to relax the most common place we all hold tension – just watch the video below.

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1. Good Posture and Evading Trigger Points
2. What Everyone Ought to Know About Posture and Trigger Points
3. How Top Athletes can Help You Beat Chronic Pain

I’ve had quite a few questions on dry needling, acupuncture and trigger points. These videos give an explanation of dry needling, how it relates to trigger points, and a story about my night roaming dog Milo, and his encounter with acupuncture.

Over the years I’ve seen people in tremendous pain and suffering. What struck me most though, was how some of them managed to keep a part of themselves free from suffering, almost as if they were above it all, and were able to still feel a joy in life.

One memory comes to mind – I knew a lady who was dying of cancer, but she’d bought her nephew a teddy bear for his birthday. She was so happy to wrap it and give it to him, and in that moment her face was transformed – beautiful and completely free of suffering.

To me this expressed perfectly the miracle of humanity – that although we can’t avoid suffering, we are able to rise above it, and in this rising above, we become truly compassionate and free human beings.

So today I was thinking about Thanksgiving, and the relationship between gratitude and suffering. For me, gratitude is one of the most powerful healing emotions.

If we are somehow able to feel gratitude for something – despite every problem in our lives, that gives us the power to stop the negative emotions that come with suffering and begin to heal – body and mind.

So I wish you all a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude, hope, love and healing.

- Jonathan

Here’s a list of the things top athletes do that may help you beat chronic pain.

1. Daily Exercise
Even if it’s walking to the post box and back. Anything to get you vertical and moving.

2. Visualisation
All top athletes use this. Visualise health, natural movement, waking up pain free, returning to do the things you love.

3. Good Diet
What you eat is what your body has to work with that day. Some foods help reduce inflammation and pain – others make it worse.

4. A Good Coach
All top athletes (except Tiger Woods, but that’s another story) have a coach. Even if you just get a friend to give you an encouraging call each day, find a way to get help and support.

5. Positive Mental Attitude
This is important. You can’t win ‘em all. And even top athletes go through tough times. But they work hard to stay focused on their goals, even when they’ve just lost a game.

It’s the same deal with chronic pain. Even after you’ve just suffered a set back – an old pain flaring, increase in stiffness, have confidence what you WILL recover and return to doing the things you love.

6. They love what they do
Strange but true. Top athletes all love their sport. How can this relate to you? Become an avid fan of being well.

Become a conossieur of pain free movement. Look forwards to the sensation of standing up and moving with ease. Celebrate those moments in the day when you are pain free.

All top athletes know – you get what you focus on.

8. A proven system that works
All atheletes need to have the right attitude. But even more importantly, they need to be practising the right things. For this, they need a proven system that works.

For a proven system of treating triggers, have a look at the Trigger Point Course.

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1. Do Bulging Discs Cause Chronic Back Pain?

Do you wake up every morning feeling like you’ve just run a marathon?

It can be really difficult to get decent rest when you’re in pain, and I get quite a lot questions about this.

So I’ve put together a short video on how to get proper restorative sleep – even when you’re in pain.

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This is a talk I did a few weeks back for an Auckland Fibromyalgia Society. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties I wasn’t able to get the whole talk filmed.

However, I’ve broken into segments and will be uploading them over the next few days. This talk was intended for an varied audience. There were people who had had fibromyalgia for many years and were very knowledgeable, as well as people who had just been diagnosed, or had family members with fibromyalgia.

What foods can we eat to reduce pain? To answer this question, you need to first understand how your body works. As you’re sitting here reading this, new cells are being created in your body. Every moment, cells are also dying. And once a cell has died in your body, it gets broken down.

You could think of it like a city, with buildings constantly being built, while other buildings are being demolished. And the rubble from the demolished buildings gets broken into smaller pieces to make new buildings. This is where pain pathways, inflammation and anti oxidants come into the picture. Watch the video to find out more.

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