The Paula Ralph Health Show

Tracey Steele, a naturopath, homeopath, Bowen therapist, massage tutor and Buteyko specialist talks to us about the influence of our breathing on not only our sleep patterns and hormones, but our digestion and health.  The chemistry of breathing!

She also speaks of how our cells have a little electrical charge and therefore a frequency.  Which means that treatments like homeopathy and supplementation can make a difference in how they work leading to better health.

Water is a magic liquid and Tracey is particularly interested in live water, whilst understanding that knowledge is key if we are to be the creator of our own health (or disease).

Tracey runs a clinic - Pure Health in a number of centres around Tauranga, Tokoroa and Whakatane.  She promotes 'radical health improvement and freedom of movement'.  She is a friend of mine from a long time ago and certainly knows her stuff!

We often feel helpless when it comes to our health and over our lifetime have probably learnt that the best person to know our health is....someone else!  

But you may be surprised that you hold so much wisdom about your health that you actually are far more powerful than you think you are.  

So changing that belief can give you strength. 

There is so much that can be achieved in your health by taking a few little steps that will, over time, make a difference to how you support yourself and how your health supports you.  

Dr Tracy Livingston was with John Swanepoel and I discussing 20 (!) things you can do right now from her extensive observations and knowledge.

As you know I am all about the doing and even if you pick just ONE THING to tweak you are on the way to better health.  I loved this podcast and hope you will too.

Tracy is a Dr of Osteopathy and is particularly interested in the creation of ill health through physical, emotional, chemical and traumatic means, affecting the nervous, skeletal and endocrine systems.
She is a sponge for data and has looked at firm data on clean water, good food, dry homes and sewerage systems which are amongst the secrets to good health.
She speaks of a fascinating study on rabbits with meningococcal bacteria and this brings up the vaccine debate.
Being in the political arena where she feels the implementation of policy strongly influences people's lives, Tracy talks of the use of poisons in the name of conservation, and the use of agri-chemicals.
How can we look after the health and well-being of the people?  This is her driving question.

Terri Ewart is a Somatic Sexuality Educator who unwraps the shame around sexuality. She works with people to feel ok with their boundaries and using the language to put those boundaries in place.
John Swanepoel and I discuss what a belief is and how once a belief takes hold (often installed) we spend a lot of time making that belief right, whilst making others wrong in order to uphold that sense of 'rightness'.   The Good Child Syndrome is a terrific example of how we have beliefs which are often restricting in the enjoyment of life, installed.
Curiosity and enquiry help us learn and with learning being a bodily feeling, it was fascinating listening to Terri as she explained how working somatically (through feeling of the body), she can liberate a person from pre-formed beliefs that sometimes they are even unaware they have, which can be interrupting growth through life.

I am excited to be interviewing Professor Dolores Cahill, an Irish professor of immunology and molecular biology, with credentials as long as my arm. 

But not only credentials, she has bucket loads of common sense.  And we discuss sensible ways to keep your immune system healthy and able to fight the viruses and other pathogens. 

We take a look at how emotional and psychological stresses affect immunity and look at how social and physical interaction develops and maintains a strong immune system.  How the elderly were particularly affected and how children are not physically affected but mentally, the effects will show up over years to come.  

Dolores has so much wisdom.  I hope you feel encouraged as to the ability of your own body, how your immune system supports you and how you can support it.  

John Swanepoel and I are appreciative of Dolores' time.

Paula, John and Ellie Wilde discuss how recent events and sudden changes have challenged peoples thinking and forced us to rethink our priorities in life. 

Growth, death and rebirth is the natural cycle we experience many times in many ways through our life. Learning to recognise and embrace those parts of our lives that end or change, as a death, can be liberating and extremely empowering.  But they can also be painful for our emotions.

Because for growth, things have to fall apart first.

John Swanepoel and I discuss post traumatic stress and depression.
After spending years in the British Armed Forces, John has experienced the feelings of coming out of an institution where perfection and reliability is often the highest value.  Coming out of that, left him feeling lost and not understanding of that feeling.
He realises that kindness is a value and action that he wasn't used to.
And he speaks of how he got over this.
Trauma is what the individual really feels applies to them.  Nobody can say that 'trauma didn't happen'.  
Giving birth is often associated with a trauma for the woman, for the partner even and sometimes for the support staff.  
We discuss some tips about how to deal with trauma and depression.
If you feel you would like to explore how you are feeling about anything in your life, please reach out.  John or I are here to help you.

John and I meet Mataora an experienced local registered practitioner of acupuncture, who has been integrating ancient and modern modalities in his practice for many years.  

We discuss the similarities between Maori health and Traditional Chinese Medicine and how modern interpretations of these long established systems are becoming more integrated and accepted within our society today.

In this episode I have teamed up with Jo Thackwray from Thrive Radio and we discuss some of the parts of health that seem to be unacknowledged yet they strongly impact the health of women.  
We discuss the influence of the heart on health - more than a blood pump for sure!
And parts of the brain that can be tapped into that will also assist, as well as the health of the gut which is more than stinky plumbing.
Trauma and grief are often underlying a health challenge and we talk about that too.
Enjoy!

I work with women with Endometriosis who are preparing for hysterectomy or are recovering from hysterectomy. 

There is much that can be done to help a woman on the physical, mental and emotional level of this illness and operation, and many women are surprised at the other function of their pelvic organs and space.......

'I can show you the road but it is for you to walk it'. 

Problem is we are generally like sheep and not willing to look around and see that there is actually a couple of roads on offer. 

I discuss this in this third podcast - Don't be a sheeple.

We pick up beliefs that guide our life from the moment we are born, and often we have beliefs around our own health that reflect somebody else's health, rather than our own.

These autumnal days are getting shorter - do you automatically say that you will be getting a cold or the flu - because it is winter?

How might you be able to turn this around so that you are healthy and well all winter instead?

I am amazed at how influential we can be with our own health and in this podcast, (my first one!) I discuss how we can even talk ourselves into suffering more than we actually need to.