Carmen Saunders

A little bit about our practitioner Carmen.

What do you love about your practice?

I love that Reiki is a healing, meditative modality, and that it can really offer grounding and support to someone who receives it. As for naturopathy, I love that it has a rich history and practice, and that we constantly learn and evolve our modality; folding modern science with traditional practice, our medicines come from plants that have a folklore, a mythology. I love that its not about the latest trend, but about how you relate to, and in, the world.

How do you think your practice benefits others?

I think the benefits come in the overall support of your health. Both Reiki healing and naturopathy are holistic practises. Naturopathy values your mental and your physical well-being, and seeks to support you where you need it. It’s not about set protocols, its about habits that enhance your life. I think of the two services as working side by side, where naturopathy offers day to day support, Reiki healing can sometimes act as a more practical support for the body.

Can you describe your treatment processes?

Reiki Healing & Flower Essences

The session lasts for around 45 mins and aims to bring you back into your body, to feel more grounded and present. My practice takes influence from other energy modalities and includes an energy sweep around the body, similar to Pranic healing, before the more focused channelling of Reiki. At the conclusion, we will formulate a personalised flower essence blend for you to take home, using flower cards to help you choose intuitively. The addition of this blend, itself an energetic plant medicine, is to help you carry that sense of balance and ease with you in the days that follow.

Naturopathy

Firstly we sit down and discuss what’s going on, naturopath’s can ask a lot of questions in order to figure out the best way we know to support you, so conversation is a big part of my consult. We will explore things like diet, sleep patterns, health history, and anything that may be connected. We’ll work together to develop a treatment plan, which are very case dependent on your needs and your goals, typically focusing on things like diet, lifestyle habits and supplement recommendations to help support your health goals.

What are the advantages of your modality?

I work from the belief that the body is always responding and adapting to internal and external influences. Instead of trying to fix what is wrong, I want to be able to support a more relaxed and comfortable function. Reiki promotes well-being through calming the mind and body, bringing the attention to the present and connecting back to self.

With naturopathy, the biggest advantage I would say is time. We have the time to explore your story and the nuance that it contains. We also aim to fold in treatment that isn’t just a medication but habits that you are comfortable with and feel supported by.

Do you offer any follow-up support after the treatment?

Yes, after naturopathy consults you’ll be sent a treatment plan, summarising what was covered, any recommendations for herbs, supplements, or in some cases further testing. Return consults are generally fortnightly or monthly to check in and see how progress is going, but this is completely up to my clients and how they feel!

For my Reiki sessions, as they also includes a flower essence blended after the healing, you’ll take home a personalised blend. Flower essences, created by Edward Bach in the late 1920s, are a vibrational plant medicine which promotes emotional balance and support. We’ll work together to formulate a blend that is relevant to you.