PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY

Mary Bollingbroke. 

1. You have been an Osteopath for over thirty years, what significance has this work held for you and are there any lessons/ insights that you have gained from practicing as an osteopath that you wish to share?

The founder of Osteopathy Andrew Taylor Still, based its practice around principals that were revealed to him during a profound time of heartfelt soul searching. He came to understand that the life force within every living creature will always try to express itself in the most vibrant healthy way as possible, it will always orient towards 'Health' and by Health, he meant health of the mind, body, spirit, family constallation, indeed the microcosm and macrocosm of the entire Universe.

He realised that Health was our true nature and he could assist by removing or unblocking impediments to that well spring of the life force. These principles were embedded in an absolute faith and trust in a profound unerring Potency very similar to what could be called the Toa in some traditions or Divine Love or God in others.

Even as a new graduate, I could feel the truth of these principles; I couldn't always live up to them and often still can't but they have such a truth and resonance for me that I find they guide me every day. Being guided by something greater than my own ego, being made to feel gratitude, humility, love and awe have become the principals by which I live my life not just my osteopathic career.

I have learnt that truth will always come to the surface. Judgements are often wrong and cause far more damage to the one who judges than the one judged. We all have much greater intuitive gifts then we realise, we need to trust more and practice more. Animals, babies and children understand WAY more than we give them credit for. Fear really undermines our health. Being afraid is the first step to feeling poorly. Falling in love or feeling love for someone or something is very healing .Sleep truly is one of the best medicines. I love it when science eventually proves something we've known all along !

2. How have you experienced working in this field for a prolonged period of time- as caring for people can be both rewarding and challenging. Are there challenges you have faced or conversely great inspirations you’ve had throughout the duration of your practice?

Every single patient is a challenge because we are always being challenged to do our best, always trying to understand why the patient is feeling the way they do and get to the root of that, trying to suggest what can help, to guide, support, understand, refer and learn more.

Some people are more challenging than others but if I feel that someone is a particular challenge, I have to check that my own energy and health hasn't become depleted. Feeling tired leads to compassion fatigue and that in turn can lead to resentment. Rather counterintuitively, this feeling of depletion and fatigue makes one try even harder with the client and all of a sudden there is an ego connection to 'Outcome' rather than a willingness to be open hearted and open minded. The answer is to resource ones self. Reconnecting to one's own Health allows one to see the challenging patient in a completely different way. The other thing to remember is that we are part of an incredibly supportive profession, if a patient is a challenge, then it's perfectly right to ask for help.

The greatest challenge is seeing profound suffering and intense pain yet one of the most inspiring things is seeing how that suffering and pain can result in healing, often in very unexpected ways. I have worked in a hospice and with the dying when there is no prospect of recovery, however, seeing the light and love that can flow between the patient, family members and friends as old rifts and wounds are healed, is a profoundly rewarding experience.

3. Have you had or do you have any philosophies that have guided you in your practice/ or personally?

The philosophies that have guided me are based on an understanding that whilst we live in a world of Duality, there is a simultaneous world of Nonduality. The world of duality is based on separation, differences, division and eventually, inequality. The world of Non duality is about Stillness, peace, love and Oneness. When we enter the world of stillness and peace, we realise that we are all connected by the same inner light and the same love, we understand that we aren't really as separate as we thought. It was the entering of the world of Nonduality that led Still to say, 'I love my fellow man because I see the face of God in him'

In conjunction with this philosophy I think every day practices of being physically active, eating a good diet, looking after yourself and the people around you, looking after the natural world, being kind and having some kind of spiritual practice all help a great deal.

4. What does wellbeing mean to you?

Well being to me is being able to get warm and dry if I've got cold and wet, it's about dry socks and cosy beds, seeing sunshine, cups of tea or a glass of wine (depending on the time of day) being by the sea, being in the woods, being with friends, being with animals, being barefoot on warm sand or in a garden, being with my family, reading, knitting, being out on my bike, having ideas. Well being for me isn't particularly about being physically well, I've been quite unwell at times but happy and I've been physically well but without hope and I know which I'd rather!

5. What brings you joy/ comfort?

All the thing already mentioned above give me comfort and Joy. Quite simple pleasures really, nothing too grand.

I suppose the thing that would give me the most comfort and the greatest joy would be to know that every Government, company and corporation in the world was taking the climate crisis seriously, was working collectively and in harmony with each other and that all humanity was allowing the natural world and all the creatures therein to repair, restore and renew'

6. What are your hopes and aspirations/ desires?

My hope is that I have been helpful to those around me and my aspiration is to continue to learn more about health and healing in all dimensions so I can continue to be useful. To be true to myself and recognise that I have very little to lose by speaking my truth.

7. What are your passions/ interests/ where do you find and seek inspiration?

My passions are learning, new ideas, sitting on the sofa with my husband and watching a great film, going for walks, baking cakes, gardening with my friend Carol.

My interests are patterns and cycles of history and politics, medicine, epigenetic inheritance, ancestral healing, collective trauma, animal communication. I find through a combination of being in nature, T. V newspapers, courses, online teaching, being open to 'inspiration' (which means 'the breathing in of the Spirit') riding my bike at the same time as thinking and planning. I've had some great ideas whilst cycling!

5th Jan 2023.

Image via www.churchstpractice.co.uk