Mother Tree

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you don't know what it will bring back; a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.

Anais Nin


Since arriving in India back in March, here's how I've reached the stage I'm at now:

When I first got here, I made a pledge to myself: You have a serious problem sleeping (I didn't know why, but this is the way it was) and you must give everything and anything a go to improve it whilst in India. This is your chance. Acupuncture and the like were all very well, but I was effectively playing £45 each time I wanted a night or two of decent sleep. How could I possibly sustain that? And after all, what I really needed was for someone to help equip me with the tools to help myself - I could hardly give myself acupuncture when I needed to sleep.

So...I got to India. I went to see an Ayurvedic doctor who proposed a course of Ayurvedic cleansing and treatment yet without having asked me many questions about myself or looking at my case holistically. I'm sure this isn't necessarily representative of Ayurveda but in any case, I was put off. I did however try some Ayurvedic medicine to help promote sleep but this didn't work.

Then I went to meet a man who taught me some 'fail-proof' breathing techniques. He said even the worst sleepers in the world can't be immune to these if they do them every night...but they didn't work for me and after a month or so I stopped doing them.

Around the same time, I discovered a place called Mother Tree, a healing centre for women. Here I found a group of women who truly, genuinely and passionately want to help people and it's here that I've done art therapy, reiki and now hypnotherapy. The doors are always open and the key element of TRUST is present.

I feel like a walking dictionary for complementary therapies at the moment and sometimes the old me looks at myself now and gives a bemused chuckle. But these eight months in India have been more important for me than I can possibly express and it is Mother Tree that has set me on the right course for my journey of healing and understanding.