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Sole to Soul,
Grasmere Drive,
Bentham,
Lancaster
LA2 7JP
Email marie@sole-to-soul.net

Get in touch, click here

Call 015242 63067

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Welcome to Sole to Soul

Sole to soul is a Holistic Chiropody, Podiatry and Therapy Centre in the market town of Bentham, on the fringes of the Forest of Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales. Holistic means “a tendency to form wholes that are more than the sum of the parts” and means that we look at you as a whole person, not just at the symptoms you have. The Practice was established by Marie Rayner in June 2000. Read what our patients say.

Learn about our new Positive Care Programme for people with long-standing health problems and for people who are carers.

As well as Chiropody and Podiatry, Complementary Therapies available at Sole to Soul are:-

Marie Rayner

• Acupuncture

• Alexander Technique

• Bowen Therapy

• Circuitry Alignment

• Colour Therapy

• Consciousness, Energy and Light Medicine

• Counselling

• Crystal Therapy

• Effortless Meditation

• Energy Healing (Quantum Touch)

• Finger Pressure Massage

• Flower Remedies

• Healing

• Heart Thread

• Homeopathy

• Journey Therapy

• Myofascial Release

• NLP

• Osteopathy

• Pain Release Meditation

• Reflexology

• Reiki

I’m Marie Rayner of Sole to Soul

Why do I practice holistic therapies? Because I believe in them. Once you've read my story, you'll see why:

Without ME (Myalgic Enchephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) there would be no Sole to Soul today.

In about 1978 I had a flu vaccination and promptly went down with flu. From then, my life changed. I struggled to recover from that bout of flu and gradually found I could do less and less until my world revolved around working (as a Chiropody Service Manager with Bury Health Authority) and sleeping.

I was in my early 30's and thought I was getting old.

In 1989, by now working part time for Lancaster Health Authority (as it was then) we were encouraged to have Tetanus and HepB vaccinations. I did - and it had a disastrous effect on my health. I contracted every infection going including shingles. This was the last straw and I reluctantly recognised that I wasn't well enough to continue to work. Within a very short space of time, I was virtually bed-bound, needed to use a walking stick to help me get around (I got travel sick in a wheel chair!) and spent my life either sleeping or trying to find out what was going on with my body.

A nurse in the Occupational Health Department suggested that it might be ME. I investigated books from the library, reading them in small chunks, and to my horror (and relief) found that I could tick just about every symptom box there was - from cotton wool brain with no concentration and abysmal memory, to exquisite muscle pain (I couldn't even bear to have someone put their arm round me) to digestive problems, to permanent flu symptoms to extreme fatigue..... A real bundle of fun to live with!

Not one to give into anything I began the search for a cure. One book I ploughed my way through had a throw away line near the end that said "Meditation helps some people". It was as though it was written in bold print. When a short time after this the Consultant I was seeing at the hospital (a lovely man called Dr Williamson) asked me if I had ever thought of meditating, I thought that someone was trying to tell me something! The same consultant also gave me my first experience of reflexology when he pressed the spleen reflex on my foot and I nearly shot through the roof - only it would have taken too much energy....

It was the summer of 1990 and I lived near Lancaster University. It was the time of the annual Summer School. In the programme was a course of 5 half days of meditation techniques. A neighbour offered to take me and bring me home (I'd had to give up driving by this time) so I enrolled and began a 12 month period of solitary meditation. Somehow, when I meditated the pain didn't go away but it didn't hurt the same.

I did everything I could think of to help myself. I joined the local ME support group and went to meetings looking for answers. I had food intolerance tests done and drastically altered my diet to cut out the offending foods - mostly yeasts and sugars, so I probably had a Candida problem. I became vegetarian (I still enjoy a vegetarian diet) and explored a raw food diet and food combining (keeping proteins and carbohydrates separate).

There was no one place I could go to find my answers. Over the next several years - and not all at the same time - I tried Yoga (had to give that up because the warm up was too physically demanding), Relaxation Techniques (including Guided Visualisations), Hypnotherapy, T'ai Chi, Shiatsu, Healing, Counselling, Herbalism, Homeopathy, Reflexology, and Aromatherapy. The constant running through all of this was meditation. After the first solitary 12 months I decided I needed support with this so joined a class at the Adult Education Centre in Lancaster. I went on retreats in Devon, Cornwall, Scotland and the Lake District and met some amazing people. I felt like I was peeling off layer after layer after layer. It seemed to be never ending.

Towards the end of 1994 I felt like I'd reached a plateau. I was much better than I had been but I was "stuck". It was then that I met Michael Mann at the Lancaster NFSH Healing Centre. And through Michael I met his partner, Dorothy Burton and also Pauline Turner who is still my guide and mentor. In January 1995 I went on a training course run by Michael which introduced me to dowsing with a pendulum and to the charts and workbooks developed by the trio of Pauline, Dorothy and Michael. This unlocked my block! In August of that year I moved to Bentham (with my two young cats Sophie and Duchess) - next door to my new friends and began 9 months of intense work on myself using the charts and pendulum, with a little bit(!) of help from my friends.

In the summer of 1996, I felt well enough to work again - paid work that is! I secured a part time job in the local Post Office which not only cured me of my reluctance to handle money but also helped me to get to know a lot of people in Bentham. I made a commitment to be there for 3 years and stayed for 4. In that last year I was becoming bored with the job I was doing. On 2nd April 2000 I was lying in the bath wondering what to do with my life when the idea of Sole to Soul came into my consciousness - only I thought of it as Chiropody Plus... - the name Sole to Soul came from a dear friend Keith Aubrey who I'd met on Michael's training course. I didn't hang about! My new business opened in rented premises on Station Road in Bentham in June 2000. Initially I was on my own, offering Chiropody (or Podiatry as it is now called), Reflexology, Massage and Healing. Then I was joined by Liz Mason who was my Receptionist and Practice Assistant as well as running the Craft Shop that fronted the business (I had to have a retail outlet to satisfy planning laws). I began to dream of having a Centre for Health - where anyone could come to find their answers - a one-stop-shop for health and well-being. I realised that I needed more room to be able to accommodate all the therapists who would want to work from the Centre.

After several false starts, in June 2009, nine years to the day from the beginnings on Station Road, Sole to Soul moved to new purpose built premises on Grasmere Drive in Bentham and became a Holistic Therapy Centre.

As well as the therapies that I offer, I teach a Self Awareness course using dowsing with Charts, developed by Michael, Dorothy and Pauline. I also teach courses that I have developed based on my experiences over the years of recovery - and since! These Courses are detailed via the link button up near the top of the page and to your right.

Facilities at Sole to Soul

On the ground floor there are two Therapy Rooms (which are available to rent by the day or half day), Marie's Chiropody/Podiatry Suite linked to her Therapy Room, a light, comfortable Reception Area and Waiting Room, Toilet with disabled access and a Staff Room - all with level access and doors wide enough to allow a wheel chair to pass through. The first floor is reached by a low rise staircase. Here there is another Therapy Room as well as a large room for classes, courses and workshops, with kitchen and toilet facilities. Marie's Office is also on the first floor.

If you are a Therapist interested in renting a room at Sole to Soul and you offer a Therapy not already available in the Bentham area, please contact us for further details.

AIMS OF THE CENTRE

To use natural holistic therapies to enhance the body’s natural self healing abilities.

To encourage people to take an active part in improving their health and in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

To raise awareness of the principles of good health.

To broaden the range of holistic therapies available in Bentham

To work in co-operation with other health care professionals.

Our aim is to go beyond the simple relief of symptoms, which is beneficial in the short term, to look at the underlying causes of a problem. Working with these can lead to longer term relief, or even permanent resolution, as well as helping to improve the quality of life.

HOURS OF OPENING

Monday - Closed

Tuesday - 9.00 - 5.30

Wednesday - 9.30 - 6.30

Thursday - 9.00 - 1.30

Friday - 9.00 - 5.30

Saturday - 9.15 - 2.00

If you would like to find out more, or make an appointment, please contact us at Sole to Soul.

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