Hoxton Health
Take a look below as Mark tells us how he thinks Shiatsu massage is helping him since he had a stroke.
Please note: Shiatsu treatments are not currently being offered at Hoxton Health, update May 2025.
Furthermore suggestions include Dance or Tai Chi are advised for over-65s to reduce falls in old age. Why not try our classes. June, James and Scott are brilliant teachers. They’ve all got a special interest in working with older people like us.
Late, but hopefully not too late, the government are giving us guidance that to stay fit and healthy you need to exercise your muscles and not just your heart.
Do you know that physical activity protects against obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression?
My advice is get moving. Take a look at our classes. You just have to turn up. No booking required and you will love the class as well as getting fitter.
Jackie, our long term service user speaks to our volunteer Angela to discuss what how the services have changed her life. Check out the video below as they talk about Hoxton Health.
Please note: shiatsu is not currently being offered at Hoxton Heath – update May 2026
First of all, there is absolutely nothing to be nervous about. The whole experience is calming and yet, at the same time, stimulating. I came away from my session feeling slightly dreamlike, very relaxed and very positive. If I’d stayed there any longer, I’d have been asleep within minutes!
Ruth, the practitioner, is a quiet and gentle person who greets you with a smile. There is no need to be intimidated by her or the idea of shiatsu.
Before you lie down, there are a few easy questions about your general health and why you are there. Ruth might also ask what you know about shiatsu and whether you’ve had it before. I had had it before (with a different practitioner) but was very open to seeing what it might be like with someone else.
Ruth’s shiatsu feels non-invasive, firm but not uncomfortable. Yes, the mattress is on the floor but Ruth will support you if you find it hard to get up and down. Once down, though, it is very comfortable and Ruth kneels and sits on the mattress as she moves around you. It is so much more than a massage. Some of the points she worked on felt a little tender (presumably because they related to a problem area). Usually, by the time she moved to a different point, that tenderness had eased. My muscles began to feel less tense, and with it my mind slowly emptied and I felt more and more relaxed. At times I could feel heat coming from her hands. That was no doubt the energy or chi passing between us.
I got the impression that Ruth prefers to save any chat or questions for the end of the session so that she can give her full attention to her practice. That seems quite reasonable to me, particularly on a first visit where she is trying to get a picture of what’s going on.
At the end of the session, I had a drink of water (why does it make one feel so thirsty?) and we chatted a bit about the session before I left.
So, would I recommend this therapy? Yes, for almost anything. It is definitely worth giving it a try – more than once! It can take several sessions to build a relationship with a therapist and for their work to take full effect. But even just one visit will get the ball rolling.
Personally, I will use shiatsu in future to keep my body and mind in harmony to avoid problems occurring by going on regular basis several times a year, even if I am not aware that anything is wrong. But I would also use it to deal with specific problems under the advice of the practitioner.
Why not give it a try?
Massimo Lenotti joined Hoxton Health as an osteopath in May 2019 and is available on Tuesdays for appointments.
Massimo moved to the UK from Italy with his family in 2010. He graduated with a Masters Degree in Osteopathy at BCOM and has worked in the fitness and healthcare industry since 1993. Since 2015 he started working in NHS settings in Central London for Ascenti Ltd, offering thousands of different musculo skeletal treatments but in particular for spinal conditions (lower back and neck pain).
His areas of interest are chronic low back pain and pain neuroscience, movement therapy and stress management strategies with a particular attention to breathing and meditation techniques which he regularly uses and offers to his patients in combination with osteopathy.
Start writing or type / to choose a block
Start writing or type / to choose a block
There is a lot of controversy about whether cholesterol is bad for you. Or is it secretly good for you?
‘We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.’ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
It doesn’t matter if I’m off the beat.
It doesn’t matter if I’m snapping to the rhythm.
It doesn’t matter if I look like a complete goon when I dance.
It is my dance.
It is my moment.
It is mine.
And dance I will.
Try and stop me.
Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
Do you remember dancing? Going out on weekend nights, coming home exhausted but just buzzing. I spent five years of my life dancing most nights of the week and I never felt more alive. I remember saying ‘Who needs sex? This is better than anything.’ Totally exhilarating. It made me feel fit and alive, alert and thrilled with life. I thought it was the secret to life.
Well, now it is official. Research from Coventry University has shown that, as well as getting you fit, which I think we all know that dancing will do, it is also especially good for your brain function.
How come? Probably because it involves getting oxygen pumping around your body and at the same time having to coordinate movements of different parts of your body using the left and right side of your brain. It makes immediate and significant improvements in your brain function.
If you are worried about what ageing is doing to your brain, and who isn’t, why not try our (Slow) Line Dancing classes? You don’t have to have a partner. You don’t have to have experience. You don’t even have to have rhythm. Our line dance teacher, Scott, will make you welcome, teach you the moves, get you moving and you’ll start to reap the benefits.
Want to do something about deteriorating heart and brain function? Let’s dance!
Hoxton Health’s Line Dancing classes are on Wednesdays at 10am at the Britannia Centre, 40 Hyde Road, N1 5JU or 1pm at Pensioner’s Hall, Brougham Road, London E8 4PD.
For any other information about who we are or what we do, call us on 020 7739 2533.
My knees didn’t work. I’d got several slipped discs in my back. I was frightened of having a fall. Every bit of me ached. And I’d lost my confidence. Just doing simple things like going on the buses or walking made me worried. A friend suggested Tai Chi. Huh? Me? Surely I wouldn’t fit in. But I really needed to help my poor body. So along I went to the Hoxton Health Tai Chi class at Brougham Road Pensioners’ Hall. How bad could it be?
What an eye-opener. I felt so welcomed. Pam, the person who makes the place work, straightaway settled me in and we chatted as if we’d known each other for ages. It’s the same with the other people in the class. Not intrusive, just easy to be with. I felt relaxed immediately. And then there’s Matt, our Tai Chi teacher. Whatever the weather, once he arrives it’s a warm sunny day: you can feel your body and mind stop the battle against gravity and the pressures of life. He asks us how things are going. If we’re a bit stressed out, we’ll do moves which calm us. If we need to be woken up a bit, he’ll give us something a bit more active. And if we’re struggling with particular physical problems, he’ll suggest the Tai Chi exercises that might help.
And then there’s Tai Chi. I’m learning how to stand, and to walk. I know that sounds weird. But in truth, I don’t think I ever learnt properly or perhaps I just picked up bad habits. I can feel how more secure I am as I move around. I am learning how to let go of tensions, and to hold my body without effort. And to go at a pace that works for me. It’s quite strenuous in a gentle way. So sometimes we sit down. But the biggest surprise is how calming it is. For a whole hour I concentrate on nothing but moving my body without effort. Rather than worrying about stuff. And we get a cuppa after the class, with chat – at no extra cost!
So if you’re looking for a quiet and friendly place, to keep your body moving and settle your mind, come and say hello. We’ll make you very welcome.
