The incredible Aarti Shah

My quest for a saviour to heal my chronic bad back has been going on for three years now.  Along the way I have met many physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths and doctors – a few of whom have made a positive difference, but no one has had quite the effect of Aarti Shah, a McTimoney practitioner who has achieved extraordinary results while barely laying a hand on me.

Let me start at the beginning. For as long as I remember I’ve always had a weak lower back, prone to pain on the lacrosse fields during my school days or later, picking up my children. I have practised Pilates for the last five years and when the weather is not wet and cold, I enjoy running. About three years ago, for reasons I am unable to explain, my lower back got so bad I couldn’t bend down to brush my teeth in the morning and tying my shoe laces, getting in and out of a car, loading the dishwasher, became major challenges. My passion for skiing looked like it was in danger as doing up my boots was almost impossible, and anything other than floating down a piste made me squirm in agony.

I had a scan at the Wellington hospital, which revealed an ‘L’ shape spine, with a flattened, protruding disc at the curve.  Although, it wasn’t really close enough to the nerve to cause major problems and I had no pain anywhere else but in my lower back.  If it was really bad I’d have had pain down my legs and in my buttocks.  No one seemed to know why it was so painful and only my trusty chiropractor in Sussex Gardens, my physio at Ten Pilates, and my Nurofen Plus gave me some relief.

Then my father recommended I try McTimoney.  Now, if you haven’t heard of McTimoney you are not alone. The McTimoney form of chiropractic care was developed by a man called John McTimoney over fifty years ago and is a very gentle, whole body approach, making sure that the entire skeleton is aligned and balanced. I had two sessions with a very nice lady in Hampshire, which made a marked difference. So, I looked on the internet to see if I could find a McTimoney practitioner near where I live in London. The name Aarti Shah leapt off the page and I booked in at the Life Centre on Edge Street, in Kensington.

MORE GLOSS: Catherine Turner interviews psychic Santa Montefiore 

Aarti is a gentle Indian lady with a bright, Ready Brek glow and, it seems to me, the secret to eternal youth as well but so far she’s not telling, yet.  I lay on the bed and she began to flick and softly clap about me, and putting her hands on me so gently I could barely feel her. It all felt a little odd and to be honest I thought, ‘Oh, Santa, you’ve been had!’ I really didn’t hold out any hope that her method was going to work. It certainly didn’t much resemble the McTimoney practitioner I went to see in Hampshire. But I’m a woman with a very open mind, so I decided not to judge on the method but the result.

When I got home I read all the testimonials on her website and it was with some relief that I saw I was not alone in thinking her methods a little on the whacky side, but encouraged that they all credited Aarti with great healing powers and unbelievable results. I expected a miracle and a couple of days later I awoke with zero pain. ZERO. That was a novelty and a massive surprise.  I expected the results to wear off, and they did a little over the next few days, but I returned to Aarti the following week and my back has been steadily and very noticeably improving. I have been to see her for four sessions and most of the time I am now unaware of my back, which is extraordinary given that I was constantly aware of it because of the discomfort.

Don’t ask me why but I have always stood with my bottom out, the results of which meant that I had two rather unattractive creases on my back at the level of my waist.  I asked Aarti whether they were just flab, and she laughed heartily and told me they would disappear as she straightened out my back.  True to her word, when I got home I looked in the mirror and they had completely gone. I felt different, too, because I was standing correctly without tilting my pelvis the wrong way. Now I’m not putting pressure on my lower back the pain is finally disappearing.  It’s as if she has literally realigned my spine.

Since seeing Aarti I have skied the most challenging off piste, in horrible snow, and even pounded my poor back over moguls, without feeling any discomfort at all. I shall now add my testimonial to her website and conclude that, in my opinion, as well as a chiropractor, Aarti is a very gifted spiritual healer.

But more fascinating still, is that Aarti does colour profiling for her clients. Whacky, too? Well, I’ve always been happily whacky myself, so her analysis, taking my date of birth and my three names: Maiden name: Santa Palmer-Tomkinson, Married name: Santa Sebag-Montefiore and pen name: Santa Montefiore, astonished me because the colour vibrations for those three names revealed three different aspects of myself that were absolutely spot on, and some of which, only I knew. Most gripping is that Aarti had put her finger on my life purpose, which has only recently become very clear to me and which I have never shared with anyone other than my family.

I have always accepted the importance of colour in my life, but I had never heard of colour profiling.  I also found nothing about it on the internet. I would love to explore it further – and I shall, with the unbelievable Aarti Shah. If you would like to as well, check out her website at   www.aartishah.com  – and she’ll heal your back, too.