I am a chartered physiotherapist who has experience working with a range of people in a variety of places. I have put this website together because, as much as I enjoy my work, I value the opportunity to educate people with the aim of helping them to help themselves and gain a better understanding of their physical bodies as, at the end of the day, allowing for factors out of their control, they are the ones who have the final say over how healthy their bodies are. This website does not give any specific advice about what to do, it is purely an interest piece to get people thinking about their physical health although I do recommend people seek advice from a suitably qualified professional with a proper assessment if in doubt about anything to do with their own physical health and/or activities.
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One of the reasons I am doing this website is because it was pointed out to me during one of my classes that I am a bit of a chatter box in my eagerness to educate so I thought I may as well put my enthusiasm into writing. I'm actually not sure whether I should thank or blame my (mostly) wonderful patients, clients and colleagues for being part of the inspiration behind producing this website. Yes it was my choice to do this website but during the writing of it there were many names and faces I could see in my mind whose own experiences and comments have taught me a lot of what I want to shares on this site .
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This website was written during the coronavirus lockdown and while it is not intended to be advice regarding Covid 19, I would like to think that the current pandemic has been a wake up call for many people; the healthier we are the better our bodies can fight infection.
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I hope you will forgive the basic nature of this site. I am not a professional author, photographer, artist or graphic designer. I have been using drawings in my clinic for a while to illustrate some key elements of physical health however it was graciously pointed out to me that my drawings were a bit basic and cartoony. The pencil drawings in this website were kindly done specifically for this website by a close family member. All the photographs (except for the animals and jousting) are of friends and family with faces obscured where possible for privacy.
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Thank you for looking at this site. I hope you take positive thoughts (and even better, action) away from it.
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Anna
About this website
Why aequanimitas in the name of the website?
If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all..."
I don't know the provenance of the above quote but I found it in a funeral order of service for a lovely gentleman who owned and trained dogs. This kind gentleman did a lot for others and his family and led a healthy life until it was cruelly cut short by cancer.
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For me the picture and words above sum up my philosophy that kindness and simple pleasures are good for our health and welfare.
Splashing around in the sea, as the dog is doing in the picture, is such a simple, fun activity but gets the body moving and is enjoyable. It is true animals don't have complicated lives like humans, they don't have to worry about paying bills and going out to work, but, as the picture and the quote show, we can learn from dogs how to find joy in the simple things and the quote about kindness is a reflection of another characteristic of dogs, that of unconditional love.
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To me kindess and health go hand in hand.
Kindness costs nothing but it is important for good health. We can be kind to others, especially when they are in need and we can be kind to ourselves. Kindness can be emotional and/or physical. Whether you are religious or not the story of the Good Samaritan is a well known story about kindness in which the Samaritan took care of the injured man's physical needs and his kind acts also gave emotional succour. In the health world kindness is important, even just holding someone's hand when they are in distress can mean so much emotionally and can help relax a patient which helps their physical state and healing and when it comes to ourselves, by adopting good habits such as a healthy diet and keeping active we are being kind to our bodies.
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With these things in mind and the more I have witnessed and experienced in life, the more I have become aware of the importance of kindness and when I was looking to start my own classes a few years ago, I started looking for other words for kindness and that's when I first found the word aequanimitas as a word for kindness.
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The more I examined the word aequanimitas the more I found about how it can also mean equanimity, calmness and goodwill. One definition I found was that aequus can mean equal and calm and animus can mean mind and soul. I also like the way the word itself reminds me of water and animals, two of my passions, as water is a wonderful medium to move in (water itself is also often associated with calmness and tranquility) and animals are great at showing us affection, how to move and enjoy the simple things in life.
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When I made the decision to write this website I knew immediately the word I wanted as the name even though it is not the easiest to spell!