Commitment and surrender are two keywords that are essential in the psychological approach to healing from ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia. Both words can be a double-edged sword, and finding the balance in each is essential to being aware of achiever patterns and practising acceptance. Alex also addresses a question about the focus on psychological topics in the OHC Live sessions, and Alex explains his background in psychology and the issue with getting too specific with Functional Medicine when each case is unique.

Gemma shares her recovery story with Alex, from starting to feel ill with a viral-like illness she couldn't recover from to acknowledging and working with her achiever patterns in order to relax and recover. Gemma shares what tools worked for her and how her sustained practice over a few years helped her reach full recovery. (Nov 2018)

Founder of The Optimum Health Clinic Alex Howard discusses the benefits and pitfalls of technology as both useful and overly stimulating tools. The importance of being in a calm healing state is essential to recovery from ME/CFS and if you decide to practice mindfulness around your technology use it can be a great benefit to making sure you don't get too overloaded by it. A great way to know if media is helping you is to take a moment to ask, is this helping me right now? (recorded Nov 2018)

In this week's Facebook Live, founder of the Optimum Health Clinic Alex Howard uses the fable of the tortoise and the hare as a metaphor for recovery from ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia. (recorded October 2018)

Just as multiple factors often are involved when one falls ill with ME/CFS (the overloaded boat), the process of recovery also includes multiple factors, methods, and variables to re-build health. The practitioners of The Optimum Health Clinic use an integrative approach to craft individualised programs to help patients during different stages or recovery with variable symptoms to help them move forward in the best way possible.

Once we begin to do work on our own patterns and issues, we can feel like we're more "messed up" than other people - Alex reminds us that everyody has issues, but not everyone is looking at them or working on them. In working on your practices be kind to yourself and remember that nobody has everything figured out.

Energy depleting relationships tend to follow a pattern of having to constantly support or hold up another person in a co-dependent relationship. Helper types tend to use their energy attending to other people before themselves. Alex discusses some ways to recognize if this pattern is taking place in your life and how to start to build up your own resources and your own well of self-importance on the path of recovery from ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia.

Being chronically ill can mean all of our conscious attention is usually on the things that are not working. Alex gives the suggestion to also give mindful attention to the things in the body that are still working properly.

Alex Howard discusses understanding our own needs, including emotional needs, and how we might look to get those needs met. Alex discusses the tendency for Helper types to put other people's needs first and how we can start to prioritize our own. Once we recognize what we need, and learn how to ask for help and/or develop resourcefulness can be an important piece of supporting recovery from ME, CFS and Fibromyalgia.

Following up on the importance of the basics, Alex discusses the importance of practices - the practical activities we need on a day to day basis to encourage the recovery process. He also emphasizes the importance of following different practices during the right time and stage of the recovery process.