Julia Farquhar Osteopathy

06/04/2026

(This is not a post about osteopathy. It's still worth reading.)

Great news: I've finished writing my speech about the recipient of the 2026 Jules and Regulations (that's me) Award of Recognition! You can hear me deliver it in person this Sunday, June 7 at the WFTDA North America Playoffs which Tri-City Roller Derby will be hosting.

Even better news: you can *still* contribute to the bursary fund for the official who will be receiving this year's prize.

You can donate via “Friends and Family” on PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tricityrd

or via e-transfer to [email protected]. (If you send an e-transfer, please include a note that reads “Jules and Regs Award” so that the league knows what the donation is for!)

Thank you from the bottom of this retired ref's heart.
(Now, back to osteopathic posts.)

Go to paypal.me/tricityrd and type in the amount. Since it’s PayPal, it's easy and secure. Don’t have a PayPal account? No worries.

05/22/2026

Listening is exceptionally helpful in a hands-on osteopathic practice. I use this in every single treatment I give, even--and especially--before I ask someone about their symptoms. After all, the part that hurts may not be what's causing the problem.

Listening Techniques (LT1) assists the practitioner in answering that question.

Listening Techniques are evaluation tools developed by Jean-Pierre Barral, DO, MRO(F), RPT designed to enable the practitioner with fine-tune assessment skills. Reinforce your powerful “listening” skills and elevate your techniques with LT1!

In LT1, you will learn how to:
- Practice “listening” skills (palpation procedures) that help guide you to the proper manual manipulation site.
- Explain how to interpret the information the body is offering regarding imbalances and dysfunctions.
- Practice ”listening” to the body systems, as they respond to your manual treatments.
- Enhance specificity in evaluating the body for restrictive patterns.
- Improve palpation sensitivity to increase effectiveness with treatment and patient outcomes.

To register, visit: https://shop.iahe.com/Workshops/Listening-Techniques1-An-Integrative-Approach-to-Evaluation-LT1

05/12/2026

This is one of my *favourite* of Jill Miller's techniques (and it's hard to pick just one!). Try this. Your hips will love you for it.

05/06/2026

I'm delighted that Tri-City Roller Derby will be awarding the "Jules and Regulations" award (named for yours truly, back when I retired from roller derby officiating in 2017) in Waterloo in June! Even if you know nothing about roller derby you are welcome to show up at the event and to contribute to the bursary that goes along with the award.

This award is near and dear to my heart. It is an award presented to "a female-identifying or gender-expansive (VOLUNTEER) official who has demonstrated excellence in officiating WFTDA roller derby and in empowering other female-identifying and gender-expansive (VOLUNTEER) officials." Getting good enough to officiate at this level requires a lot of dedication, practice, and funds (and, if you're me, a concussion!). Please see the link below to learn more, or ask me about it when you see me next.

🏆 JULES & REGULATIONS AWARD IS BACK 🏆

We’re excited to bring back the Jules & Regulations Award for Regionals 2026 💥

Last year, we were proud to present this honour to Yogi—and we can’t wait to recognize another incredible official this season 🛼✨

This award celebrates a female-identifying or gender expansive official who:

🔥 Demonstrates excellence in officiating WFTDA roller derby

💜 Empowers and uplifts other female-identifying or gender expansive officials

📍Will be at the North America North East (Ontario) Regionals Tournament

Know someone who deserves this recognition?

🔗 Nominate them through the link below!

Let’s celebrate the officials who keep us safe and make the calls 🦓

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm1zQS0l-I6XqM4EykmzaetyvJe-4wVbafGpopFgt5oSuzlg/viewform

A list of officials participating in North America Playoffs (Ontario) can be found here:
https://wftda.com/tournament-central-2026/2026-tournament-officials

This award includes a bursary to help the recipient offset the costs associated with volunteering as a roller derby official. To contribute to the Jules and Regulations Bursary Fund, please donate via “Friends and Family” on PayPal to:

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tricityrd

OR via e-transfer to [email protected].

Please include a note that reads “Jules and Regs Award” so we know what the donation is for!

05/04/2026

Preach. We need to keep moving, only when we can do a little. Every little bit helps when you're in pain.

05/03/2026

Your brain is rewiring itself today. The only question is whether you are choosing the wiring or letting your habits choose for you.

A 2004 paper in Nature, by Draganski and colleagues, gave adults three months to learn to juggle. MRI scans showed measurable increases in gray matter density in the brain regions involved. When the participants stopped practicing, the changes faded.

The brain follows attention.

Whatever you repeat, in thought or action, deepens its groove. Worry repeated becomes anxiety. Self-criticism repeated becomes shame. Gratitude repeated becomes ease. Slow breathing repeated becomes a calmer baseline.

You are always practicing something.

I had a patient with chronic worry who told me she could not change. We agreed on a simple practice. Each morning, three minutes of slow breathing, focused on the exhale.

Three minutes, twice a day. For ninety days.

By the end, her baseline had shifted. She was not a different person. She had a different default setting.

Neuroplasticity is not magic. It is repetition with intention.

What thought or action will you repeat enough this month to wear a new groove? Choose carefully. Your brain is always listening.

04/30/2026

Let's not beat ourselves up about missed workouts. Today is a new day, and we can always start again.

After 20 years of practicing medicine, here is what I know.

Patients do not lose progress to missed workouts. They lose it to the story they tell about missed workouts.

Research published in Health Psychology examined how people respond to behavior lapses. A single missed day rarely changes long-term outcomes. But interpreting that miss as failure often triggers what psychologists call the abstinence violation effect, where one slip cascades into many.

Your muscles do not own a calendar. They respond to the next time you show up.

A garden does not die from a missed watering. It dies from neglect. The same is true for your health.

If you missed yesterday, you have not undone last month. You have simply arrived at today.

What is one small movement you can give yourself within the next hour? A walk, a stretch, a breath taken with intention. Start there.

The body is more forgiving than the mind. Let it teach you something.

04/29/2026

Here to be a helper.

The journey of healing chronic pain and illness can be lonely.

But it's lifechanging beyond imagination

There are tools, there are perspectives, there are processes

And there are people to help you along the way.

Be open to thinking differently. To listening with your heart as well as your intellect.

You have a higher self and its like a light in the darkness.

A source of wisdom and inspiration.

A Still Small Voice

Learn to hear it.

Learn more about coaching and training with me at www.drshillercoaching.com

04/22/2026

I love this. Think of "tending" to your health as you tend to your garden. The weeds are calling in mine!

Stop believing health only happens in a gym. Some of the healthiest people I've ever treated never set foot in one.

Research consistently shows that lifestyle activities like gardening count as moderate physical activity. The repeated bending, lifting, digging, and walking involved in tending a garden builds strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness without ever feeling like exercise.

But gardening does more than move your body. It puts your hands in the soil, which research suggests may positively influence mood and immune function. It gets you outside in sunlight, which supports vitamin D, circadian rhythm, and mental health. It connects you to a living, growing thing that depends on your care.

A meta-analysis published in IJERPH in 2022 confirmed that time in nature significantly reduces anxiety and depression. Gardening combines all of these benefits into one activity.

In my practice, I've met 90-year-olds who credit their garden for everything: their mobility, their purpose, their reason to get up in the morning. They don't call it exercise. They call it tending.

You don't need acres. A patio with pots counts. A windowsill with herbs counts. A single tomato plant on a balcony counts.

Growing something is an act of hope. It tells your body you expect to be here for the harvest.

Your muscles, your mood, and your microbes all thrive when your hands are in the dirt.

What are you growing this season?

04/20/2026

Happy World Osteopathic Healthcare Week from the Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA)! The OIA strives to highlight the important contribution of osteopathic healthcare professionals in the delivery of safe and effective care.

How can you be sure that you are in good osteopathic hands?

Clear standards and scope of practice are essential in osteopathic care. They:
-underpin regulation, accreditation and recognition;
-define professional boundaries, ensuring patient safety;
-facilitate standardization of education internationally;
-outlines the knowledge, skills and professional attributes of professional practice; and
-establish greater legitimacy of osteopathic practice within healthcare