The Therapies I Have Tried and Love at MayrLife
Hey everyone!
I am going to go through my favourite treatments offered at MayrLife. As part of the programme you have both a supplemented diet plan, and a range of treatments which is amazing. They’re all really varied, but my original goals were to gain an improvement in my mobility, due to my foot injury, and some help with PTSD that I suffered since being mistreated with that injury.
The facility is in such an incredible environment, the air and the water are pure, and it just looks outrageous through every window and door. You are enveloped in this scenery that can only be described as transcendent, with a private jetty into the lake that allows you to sit and unfold into yourself. I really can’t describe how gorgeous it was and I saw snow, rain, sun and cloud, during the Harvest Moon.
Psychological Breathing Exercises Session
Part of my experience of coming to MaryLife was to combat the medical anxiety and PTSD I’ve sustained since being mistreated by the NHS, which resulted in me having longterm mobility issues. Both my parents were hurt in that time frame and not treated properly after their injuries, and it just compiles a reaction in your body that forms as a trauma response. I asked to speak to a therapist and was paired with the head of psychology, Dr Immanuel. I spoke about what had happened to me and we went through some breathing exercises that apply a mindfulness approach, these were a bit more developed than what I’d previously been using and allowed me to build what he described as a back up store of calm that can be used when I develop these anxiety attacks.
I really appreciated his guidance and assessment, he also encouraged me to try EDMR which is a technique that helps with trauma. I think access to this in the UK is quite limited without private facilitators which needs to be built upon. There’s too many people who suffer this type of psychological damage that are left untreated, and talking therapy is fantastic for clearing your mind and mindfulness should be taught in schools, but we need all medical people to be trained to identify the difference between environmental stress and trauma. People are stuck in cycles of habitual sell destruction and are self medicating because it’s quicker and more accessible than CBT and EDMR and I think we’re in an endemic where we need to tackle these.
I found the experience really lightening on my heart, I appreciated the start of my healing and I will continue to explore what’s available as having PTSD is something that’s been in the background of my life for nine years. Originally starting when I was drugged and assaulted in London in 2015. I was taken to a hospital after being found unconscious and the staff accused me of taking drugs that caused the situation, as opposed to being attacked and all the faith I had in medical staff eroded because it was a prejudgement. The injuries to my body were ignored or dismissed as someone who had chosen to take drugs, and the damage done to my left eye, which resulted in a hole in my retina, was not treated. I felt much better around 2020 when I gained a little bit of my sight back, so the physical symptoms were lesser and that diminished my trauma responses. But having these new medical incidents go wrong has made it come back. So I share this to say that we’re all capable of vulnerability and this is just one thing that I have to tackle moving forwards. My treatment at MayrLife was phenomenal and I appreciated it grately.
Hypoxytraining
This treatment is a 45 minute experience, which involves you applying this very odd mask to your face. Every five minutes it moves from regular airflow of pure oxygen, to limited oxygen, similar to when you are reaching higher altitudes. The benefits of using this are a mix between cellular renewal, oxygenating the blood, and feeling an energy boost.
I definitely need to improve my breathing as I can’t do high intensity exercise since injuring my foot, so I liked the experience of trying this out. I think on average you need to have a week or so of continued use, or to combine this type of breathing with a work out regime to really see how it can change your overall energy levels and ability to repair? I can imagine that this would be excellent after overexerting your energy.
Airpressured Lymphatic Massage
I was booked in to have a different treatment for my skin, but I don’t really let anyone do my skincare other than me so I asked instead to try an alternative. They suggested that my foot and circulation may be improved upon with this incredible air pressured massage device which is like wearing inflatable trousers that compress different areas of your leg, moving lymph around your system.
I found it quite a relaxing experience, it was automated so the technician popped in every ten minutes. I don’t get water retention or swelling so I saw no visible responses, but it felt like I was having a massage that helped circulation and that was great for me. It took 45 minutes and was pretty standard, I always appreciate anything that relaxes me as I’m so high octane and I find it impossible to turn off.
Watsu in Salt Water Basin
On the first day of arrival we booked in my therapies, focusing on my mobility and my lower body. I was offered a session of Watsu, based on Shiatsu massage but in a saltwater pool. This was a bit bizarre but I thought worth doing. I met a lovely therapist who guided me to the pool, it was green and really a different vibe from what you’d normally expect with a blue lit swimming pool, it felt like you were in a different space so I really loved the room. He began by adding floats to my knees which allowed you to lean back and be sort of immobile, and your head was under the water so your ears were covered, but your mouth and nose had broke the surface.
He then began moving the body in the same way you’d have a gentle massage, it was 75 minutes and I felt like I was kind of in a dream, it was super sensory and particularly in my hips where I’ve lost balance during my foot injury, one side has over compensated for the other, it was completely genius. I found the experience so beyond relaxing, and I fell asleep I think during it, and then again when I returned to my room. You have to have a shower after, as with all salt pool experiences but it was my favourite treatment at MayrLife and I loved the room.
Cryotherapy
Now, cryotherapy is an interesting treatment that I’ve had a few times in London. It’s basically like entering a freezer that’s various degrees under 0 and you sit in it shaking for 3 minutes. Then your body warms up when you leave and that process can be quite invigorating and there is some fat burning elements to this? I don’t know how effective this is, but again I think if you’re a sports person and you’ve completed a very tough regime that has caused damage to your body, this would be phenomenal for inflammation. This felt way colder than any I’ve done before. I don’t know how effective this is, but again it has it’s place.
Ionic Detox Foot Bath and Reflexology Treatment
I’ve seen all over tiktok these funny foot treatments that you put in your feet, it has a coil in the water, and it appears as if this gross liquid is being pulled out of your body. It actually is a chemical reaction similar to electroplating, the charge oxidises the molecules in the water, iron, and it turns an orange colour. It can pull out free radicals, I’m not sure how effective this is but I did notice that after I had this treatment, I went to sleep as it was my final of the day, and I had a cut on my foot that was bleeding more than normal. I was so embarrassed to have bled on the sheets that I apologised to house keeping.
However the following morning I had the most amazing examination of my injury on my right foot, and my left foot. I’m currently dealing with no arch in my right foot and a bone in the arch that was left untreated by the NHS when I originally injured myself, and it’s caused my hips to be displaced and my knee to buckle. The treatment is surgery, and physiotherapy, and I ensured it was safe to massage the foot before I came with my therapist. Always check with your doctors. The technician had been with me for the Cryotherapy and was amazing, he started to stretch the muscles which have become totally locked and it was gentle, and effective and loosening my Achilles tendon which has been the main issue. I was really floored that it was so subtle, so I can’t thank the practitioner enough.
Functional Therapy and Physiotherapy
My favourite and really appreciated therapy session was with Functional Therapy, and they have the most incredible rooms that have both vibration plates, all manor of work out gears, aerial supports and the top of the range treatments for sport injury. We assessed the damage done to my foot, and we began talking about stretching the entire body. The type of movements we did were entirely different from what I’ve done before, it felt like a mix of pilates and very specifically targeted stretches that I could feel in areas I’d not normally experienced in my sides, my hips, inner legs. They were intuitive and brilliant.
My therapist was absolutely fantastic and we began to look at the foot, and we discussed the fascia which is the grid of tissue that pulls together when you’ve been injured. I was introduced to two devices, a hard ball that helps breakdown the tissue that’s stuck that you sort of stand on, and then these foot plates where you change the motion from the front of your foot, to the back. You lock one in place, and then you wiggle incredibly gently the other part of your foot and I kid you not, the result was really shocking, I could move my foot in areas I had been stuck in.
I was really grateful and impressed to find these methods out, they were so much more gentle and activating that what I’ve received in previous sessions in the UK and I will be taking them on board to my surgeon.
Overall the different range of treatments to help me get back on my feet, pun intended, were incredible. I am really appreciative of the gentle approach because you imagine sometimes someone beating you with branches and doing really intensive physio that hurts, this was the opposite. It was kinaesthetic and intuitive, and provided great results. I think some are obviously complimentary and could be used in a treatment plan for an illness that causes inflammation, but weren’t specific for me, but were all enjoyable.
Check out MayrLife for more information, as they customise the plan of action for your specifics.