How HUG can help you
HUG will help you to transform your relationship with your mind and body through guided visualisations and an online course, helping you to connect back to you.
So what is HUG?
HUG stands for Heart, Uterus, Gut. HUG is a way of connecting and communicating to your mind and body’s innate wisdom.
It is a transformational set of coaching tools and techniques that you can use to improve your health and fertility, overcome challenges and stress, and change fixed mindsets.
Research is now showing that we have more than one centre of neural activity. Apart from the brain, we also have the heart and the gut.
Each neural centre, or brain, has its own prime function, which uses a different form of intelligence and ways of operating.
Through breathing and guided visualisation, you can communicate and connect with your mind and body, tapping into the different functions of each brain.
In this video, find out how modern science is starting to align with some of the intuitive ancient traditions that have been used in wellness and health for centuries.
HEART
Connect back to who you truly are
UTERUS
Experience fertility and creativity on every level
GUT
Let go, make better decisions, be courageous
Heart
I work with women’s hearts every day. I listen to their stories and their journeys; many have broken hearts. The Japanese have a word for it: tapasudo.
There’s a reason why we call the heart “the seat of love”. When you are connected to your heart, you can feel the value of everything around you. The heart connects you to your moral compass as well as to emotions, values, compassion and kindness.
When you disconnect from your heart, you disconnect from who you truly are.
Women tend not to be very good at self-compassion, but if you can stop being your own persecutor, you can bring your heart to life. You can learn how to connect and ask your heart for help.
As a nurse and midwife, I was taught that the heart was just a physical pump with four chambers, moving oxygenated and deoxygenated blood through the circulatory system.
My eyes were opened when I started to train as an acupuncturist and learnt about the ancient Chinese view that the heart and all of the organs have not just physical, but also emotional functions. New scientific evidence is now backing that up.
In Chinese medicine, the heart is the emperor of the body. It is the supreme controller, the seat of our emotions that holds our spirit, governs the circulation and maintains the rhythm of the body.
Any dynamic emotional shift comes from the heart, not from the brain. We all have an innate wisdom within us to give and receive love, kindness and compassion, and to enjoy harmony, health and happiness. But if we are hurt or have trauma or anxiety, we lose connection with the heart and become isolated, depressed and disconnected.
A healthy, well-protected heart is important for women trying to conceive because strong emotions can cause a disconnection between the heart and the uterus.
HUG can help you connect back to yourself and your heart by using simple breathing and visualisation techniques.
“Your heart is your guide and compass. It whispers softly, so listen closely.”
RUMI
Uterus
There is not a day that goes by when I don’t mention the words uterus or womb! But even women who have been trying to get pregnant don’t necessarily understand the workings of this area, which has a huge significance on every level – emotionally, physically and mentally.
My interest in the heart-uterus connection came about as part of the work I do as an acupuncturist. Meridians flow through the centre of the body, connecting the brain to the heart, uterus and gut, and strong emotions that women feel – such as anger, grief and worry can block the flow of energy to the uterus.
I so often see women to whom a voice of authority has spoken negative words:
“Your eggs are old.”
“You have PCOS, so it will be difficult to conceive.”
“Your egg reserves are low.”
“You’re a poor responder.”
Can you imagine the fear, frustration, anger and grief attached to these words and the effect they have on the body and the heart?
You feel as if you have been winded, you can’t think straight, you panic, and you walk away with a label that goes deep into your psyche.
I see so many women who get stuck in the same thoughts and emotions, so I want you to open your mind to thought energy, and how your brain is hard-wired by these stories you tell yourself.
You build your state of health every day through your thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviours. Your cells believe every word you say!
I always ask a woman if there is anything in her mindset that’s holding her back. She doesn’t have to think too deeply for the answer as she knows what it is – a termination, low self-esteem, abuse, a violent relationship.
Ancient Taoists used to call the pelvic area the Cauldron of Desire – the fire in your belly! And sometimes you need help to light that fire.
The pelvic area isn’t just about making babies and fertility. It’s about your fertility and creativity on every level. You can harness and build the fire in your ‘Cauldron of Desire’ not just using sexual energy, but in every area of your life – art, dancing, music, business. So often women’s fertility and growth stops in every area of their lives.
The HUG foundational sequence, in particular, can help you strengthen the connection between heart and uterus.
“The uterus and pelvic area aren’t just about reproduction and fertility. They’re about your drives, deep desires, urges, sexuality and fertility in every area of your life. So connect and manifest your fertility through art, music, dancing, creating; don’t put your life on hold.”
ZITA WEST
Gut
In his book, The Second Brain, Dr Michael Gershon explores the gut brain. More and more work has been done in the field of neuro-gastroenterology, showing that 500 million neurons line the stomach, oesophagus, small and large intestine, and therefore the gut is a vast chemical and hormonal warehouse with its own nervous system.
A lot of women hold emotion and trauma in their gut, and as part of my practice, I see clients with IBS, constipation and diarrhoea. I massage the lower abdomen and teach women how to do this for themselves.
Many women suffer from anxiety or depression or have had miscarriages, birth traumas, fertility issues and IVF failures, and all of these emotional traumas will change the motility of the gut. The gut (or enteric brain) also learns to become over-sensitised through traumatic experiences, and loses connection.
Recent studies have shown that close interactions with gut microbes can influence basic emotions and guide our decisions.
As well as its own nervous system, most of the body’s immune cells reside in the gut too. The gut-based immune system is capable of destroying dangerous bacteria as the lining of the gut contains specialised cells that release hormones. In fact, if these cells were spread out, they would cover a football pitch.
What we sense in our gut will affect the decisions we make and the people we choose to spend time with. Gut microbiomes have now become a part of every area of medicine, having profound consequences for our health and ecosystem.
If the mix of gut microbes falls out of sync, dysbiosis occurs, which is when you might experience stomach or digestive troubles. Your gut is gathering information 24/7 about your diet and environment and informs your brain every second about what is happening deep inside you via the vagus nerve. This in turn means the wellbeing of your gut depends on the food you eat.
We must all learn to tend the garden of our gut microbiome.
HUG breathing techniques and visualisations can help you create coherence between heart, gut and uterus.
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Steve Jobs
What people say
“Reconstructing the heart-uterus connection enabled me to tackle crippling grief, manage anxiety, rebuild my confidence, and repair my self-esteem.”
ANONYMOUS
“Zita helped me at a point when I was really low and found it hard to believe I would get pregnant again. She gave me the confidence I needed.”
AMANDA HOLDEN
Want to learn more?
Watch my free Getting Pregnant Without Stress masterclass.
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