The Body Matters

Louise created The Body Matters formed on the desire to open a specialised Mind, Body and Wellness centre in the Southend area, offering treatment to people from all walks of life and age groups.

Louise hasn’t always been a massage therapist.  In a former life she trained and worked in IT, until an emotionally challenging year led her to seek clinical hypnotherapy.

During her treatment Louise began to discover her own passion for wellbeing, and in 2003 she qualified as a clinical hypnotherapist herself.  But that wasn’t quite enough!

An accomplished runner who has previously completed six marathons, Louise developed a strong interest in achieving a blissful balance between body and mind during her hypnotherapy training. She obtained additional qualifications as a sports massage therapist and personal trainer, before gaining essential experience at an established Essex clinic.

Coupled with her understanding and intuitive approach, Louise’s unique blend of skills means she is able to offer her clients far more than just a sports massage.  There is no music in her therapy room, because she loves nothing more than talking to her clients, getting to the heart of inner tension and stress as well as relieving aching muscles (though she doesn’t mind at all if you’d rather not talk!).

Louise’s treatments are completely bespoke to each client, because she recognises that every person is different.  She is also able to recommend complementary treatments including yoga and pilates, if she feels her clients will benefit from them, and as long as the practitioners meet her own precise standards.

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Matthew graduated from the British College of Osteopathic Medicine with a Masters Degree in Osteopathy and Diplomas in both Osteopathy and Naturopathy. The degree included modules in Nutrition, Paediatrics, Orthopaedics, Visceral Osteopathy, Cranial Osteopathy and a broad range of Osteopathic techniques.

Matthew’s post graduate education has incorporated the clinical applications of Medical Acupuncture (also known as Dry Needling), Kinesio-Taping and Low Level Laser Therapy.

Since 2011 Matthew has been a Technique Tutor, Physiology Lecturer and Clinic Supervisor at the British College Of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM) where he himself trained.

Early clinical experience was gained at a specialist Osteopathic clinic in Hampstead serving approximately 50 GP surgeries in the Camden PCT (Primary Care Trust). The diversity of NHS referrals offered a fantastic insight into how manual therapy can improve people’s lives and offer relief from pain, even for those who felt their symptoms would never resolve.

Following his time in Hampstead Matthew took the opportunity to help patients referred from the Chronic Pain Clinic of the Royal Free Hospital. These patients generally had multiple factors involved in their symptoms, and had little or no relief from conventional medicine.

Matthew was the Osteopath for Westcliff Rugby Club (2012/13 season) working with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd teams as well as the extremely successful Academy sides where he gained vast experience in dealing with sporting injuries, both on the field and rehabilitation. Matthew’s involvement in Rugby followed a period of volunteer work with St John Ambulance.

Through The Body Matters’ close relationship with Havens Hospices, Matthew has also been volunteering his time to the fund raisers who have run the London Marathon each year since 2012, several of whom consider they would not have made it to the start line without the expert help and advice.

Matthew believes that the client's needs are of the utmost importance and is committed to meeting those needs by offering an individual, tailor made structure to his treatment plans.

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Jonathan Gibbs is a counsellor, hypnotherapist and BrainWorking Recursive Therapy Advanced Practitioner.

Jonathan has a background in teaching.  He worked as a Teacher of English as a Foreign language for four years in Japan – mostly in Hiroshima, and now teaches GCSE and A level Economics at both a local school and privately.  It was his interest in people and society that led to him getting a degree in Economics and later an MA in Social Anthropology. Jonathan qualified as a Counsellor in 2008.

Since moving to Essex in 2002, Jonathan has been a volunteer at several local organisations.  He has been a Samaritan volunteer and more recently has been a volunteer counsellor at Havens hospice.  Jonathan has also volunteered as a counsellor at Chelmsford and District Mind and has given talks on the benefits of Hypnotherapy at the Macmillan Cancer Support centre in Southend University Hospital.

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Kristin is a certified Pilates Teacher, Specialist Biomechanic Coach, Remedial and Clinical Massage Therapist and NLP Practitioner. Recognising cause and effect between body and mind, Kristin has merged all her therapies into one empowering Movement Therapy, that reconnects you with your body practically, mentally and emotionally, allowing you to move forward with your life, healthily, confident and content with who you are.

Soon after Kristin qualified as a pilates teacher and personal trainer in 2010, she realised that people and their bodies are all uniquely different, and their limitations and injuries intriguingly complex. Wanting to understand more, she gained further qualifications in clinical massage and biomechanics coaching. Following this she began working as a tutor for anatomy and advanced repertoire on Intelligent Fitness' pilates teacher training course in Scotland.

In 2014 Kristin signed up for more in-depth training with Polestar Pilates UK and anatomy and movement specialist Gary Carter in London. Here she studied pilates and movement in a more somatic and experimental way, based on biomechanics and neuro-science. The intense two year training process helped eliminate her chronic shoulder impingement, rehabilitated a back injury, and it allowed her to discover effortlessness in advanced exercises she previously found challenging. She became more aware of her relationship with her own body and her movement habits. As a result she learned a lot about herself as a person and issues that had been holding her back in life.

Having experienced what role neuro-science and emotional states play in our physiology Kristin decided to study neuro-linguistic programming. She qualified as an NLP Practitioner in order to help her clients address physical issues on a mental level and vice versa. Out of this Kristin's Movement Therapy & Coaching was born.

In September 2017 Kristin was invited to enter the Polestar Pilates mentorship training program in order to become part of the Polestar Pilates Education Team. Having taken the opportunity Kristin recently moved to Southend. Here she continues to teach pilates in the form of mat classes and 1-1 sessions, using the pilates apparatus. She further offers Massage and NLP separately, or as part of her all incorporating Movement Therapy.

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Yeu-Meng is a qualified Feldenkrais practitioner and classical concert pianist.  Her musical career was threatened by debilitating chronic pain and fibromyalgia caused by hypermobile syndrome.  Through the Feldenkrais Method, she was able to manage her condition totally drug-free and has now returned to playing the piano as well as working as a Feldenkrais practitioner. She is passionate about empowering people, giving them tools to help themselves and encouraging positive change from within.

After trying all sorts of therapies to deal with her chronic pain condition, Yeu-Meng attended a Feldenkrais workshop on the recommendation of a friend. After the workshop, she managed to walk for the first time without pain.  The situation was not a quick fix but provided a light at the end of the tunnel.  Inspired by the effects of the work, she signed up for a few individual sessions and then decided to enroll for the four-year professional training.

The Feldenkrais Method can be experienced in classes as well as in one-to-one sessions.  Yeu-Meng teaches weekly Feldenkrais classes in London, monthly workshops in South Essex and has private clients in both locations.   Her clientele includes people suffering from chronic pain, anxiety and depression, and people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease.  She also works with musicians, actors, dancers and sports people to help them improve their performance.

Yeu-Meng is currently the only Feldenkrais Guild UK (FGUK) registered practitioner in Essex.