Hi, I’m Jay – the face and hands behind Into Balance Therapies.
I thought I’d let you know a little more about me and how I came to offer the types of treatments I do.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by how the body and mind work together. That curiosity led me to study physiology and psychology and, eventually, to create a career helping others live well by improving how their body works for them.
But this wasn’t a straight forward path and it’s been a gradual weaving together of my personal experience, professional learning and a lot of realisations along the way.
When “Fine” Isn’t Really Fine – The Turning Point
Early into starting running my Pilates business, despite helping others, I began to experience times where I didn’t feel like myself. My energy and mood was low. I felt overwhelmed, stuck, and joyless even though, on the surface, life looked “fine” and I was considered successful in terms of what I was doing.
Looking back, I realise that I had been living from the neck up or in my head, for a very long time. I was functioning but not feeling, managing but not thriving. I’d previously left studying for a PhD due to – for want of a better term – burnout. I was struggling emotionally and finding it harder and harder to think, focus and thereby work at the required level. I’d wanted to do a PhD for some time and felt like I’d failed. I lost a lot of belief and confidence in myself and carried a lot of guilt and shame around it. I started counselling and although it helped, life felt muted.
When similar thoughts and feelings started to creep into my business, I was determined not to go back there. Through a business development programme, I started working with a ‘mindset’ coach who helped me realise that what we think is the problem often isn’t the problem – it’s what the situation means to us. This became the formal start of my journey to the type of therapeutic work I offer today. I’ve continued to engage in holistic (mindset) coaching ever since for my own development and have also gained certification to work with others.
The Final Piece of the Jigsaw
I started exploring therapies to further help my Pilates clients. I was frustrated that what I had been taught to help resolve their challenges didn’t always work. I was initially only going to go to the training section that related to the musculosketal system.
I saw so many changes for people that were outside of ‘logic’ during those weekends that I had to either deny my experience or dive into the fact that there is so much more to how the body works beyond the ‘machine’ like model of conventional medicine. My curiosity won out. The therapy drew from a combination of western and eastern approaches which opened my eyes to greater possibilities to help the body work outside of the scope of conventional medicine.
I continued to explore different therapies that incorporated eastern philosophy and a belief that the body has an innate capacity for healing. A weaving of my personal growth, informing my professional learning and vice versa began. The final pieces of the jigsaw came together when I was suggested to try Craniosacral Therapy (CST) and later on New Vision Therapy (NVT) – both deeply gentle, yet profoundly transformative approaches.
These therapies gave me the final pieces of how the body and mind truly integrate and affect the health and well-being of the body. They taught me that unresolved life experiences, both physical and emotional, don’t just become memories in our minds; they continue to live within our bodies, which can in turn create restrictions can quietly shape how we move, breathe, and feel physically and emotionally, and ultimately affect our health and wellbeing.
By listening to the body, we can begin to release those old patterns we can start to restore the body’s healing capacity.
The Body Holds the Story
The more I learnt and worked with these therapy methods, the more I saw how emotion, belief, and energy are intertwined with physical health. The body truly is greater than the sum of its parts – an archive of our experiences.
Modern medicine is incredible, but it often focuses only on the mechanical. Yet so many chronic symptoms are the body’s way of saying, “Something deeper needs attention.”
When I experienced Craniosacral and New Vision Therapy first-hand, it was like pieces of a puzzle falling into place. My critical inner voice softened. I was able to offer myself greater compassion, experienced less doubt, became less susceptible to external factors and more knowing of what is true for me.
I now feel more “at home” in myself than I have in decades. I feel lighter, more content and resilient. Life feels easier and a lot more joyful.
What I hadn’t known at the time was that my body was carrying the residue of past experiences. My body had done its best to keep me safe, but it was also keeping me stuck.
Holistic coaching, alongside Human Design, has helped me monumentally, but I still have a sense of being able to move forward. I was the body work that helped me finally release the memories that were holding me in that space.
The Work I Do Today
Through Into Balance Therapies, I help other bodies to reconnect with their natural capacity to heal, helping them to move out of pain and discomfort, the feelings of stress and fatigue that come as a result of living with ongoing chronic pain and the symptoms of health conditions.
Whilst my experience is not one of physical illness (although I would notice digestive changes during “down” spells – a sign of nervous system imbalance), based on the research, there is an association between a fixed mindset, emotion suppression and people pleasing traits and chronic illness.
Looking back, I was certainly exhibiting these characteristics and would have potentially developed physical symptoms over the next 10 years during middle age and that conventional medicine would have probably been put down to ‘ageing’.
I am often the last port of call for my clients. They have tried everything – physiotherapy, medication, surgery – yet still don’t feel better. They’re managing symptoms but not finding relief, and life is not what they want it to be.
By supporting the body’s innate wisdom and supporting it to do what it needs rather than assuming what it needs and “doing it” to it, we give it the support it needs to feel safe and release what it no longer needs.
That’s when healing begins – physically, emotionally, and even spiritually.
Why I Believe Healing Requires Connection
We aren’t meant to heal in isolation. We’re wired for connection, yet modern life (and how we treat the body) encourages disconnection, from ourselves and each other.
Healing happens when we feel seen, heard, and understood. Sometimes it’s as simple as allowing the body to be “heard” again.
If you’ve been living with chronic pain, fatigue, or that persistent sense that “something isn’t right,” know this: you don’t have to accept that this is just how life has to be.
The body is incredibly intelligent. It knows what it needs – it just needs the right support to find its way back to balance.
Your Next Step
If any of this resonates with you – if you’ve been managing symptoms, feeling “off,” or just want to reconnect with your body – I’d love to help you take the next step.
You can book a complimentary discovery call to chat about how I can support you in getting back to being the best version of you.
And if you’d like to stay connected, follow me on:
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When your body works for you, life flows more freely – and that’s where real wellbeing begins.