If you hide your light under a bushel, you keep your abilities or good qualities hidden from other people. Whether you’re a movement or manual therapist now is the time to shine than ever before. Your services are much needed as the world begins to re-open and resume business. You are a key worker, whether you are returning to work or staying at home. Everyone on earth has had a key role of responsibility during the pandemic whether this be front line workers, parents home tutoring, people working from home, the bin men, the supermarket staff, drivers and the list goes on. Everyone is important and everyone’s story is different and should be listened too. I always have an opinion, but an opinion is not a judgement. As soon as we judge we create separation and segregation. Remember our belief system is what is behind our thinking, behaviour, thoughts words and deeds. We also have what’s called ‘Confirmation Bias’. Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information that confirms or support one’s prior personal beliefs or values. It is a type of cognitive bias. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. Yes we are greatly inconvenienced at this time, but opportunity is waiting for those who are ready.
Why get people moving?
Its important to resume your live movement classes when you are ready if possible. Inflammatory illness’s such as obesity, cancer, disease , mental health, depression, anxiety… will now start to swell and reach an all time high. Never before has movement and manual therapy been more important than ever. A therapist is a person to soothe, listen, treat, coach and propel their patient, client or class forward. Numerous medical research papers confirm the effects of movement. A 2006 study paper stated: “There is incontrovertible evidence that regular physical activity contributes to the primary and secondary prevention of several chronic diseases and is associated with a reduced risk of premature death.” CMAJ. 2006 Mar 14; 174(6): 801–809. DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.051351
Another 2012 study paper stated: “Our general conclusion is that exercise is so effective that it should be considered as a drug, but that more attention should be paid to the dosing and to individual variations between patients.”Br J Pharmacol. 2012 Sep; 167(1): 1–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2012.01970.x
Why start manual therapy?
Manual therapies go back centuries. Muscle-biased techniques have been represented in Egyptian pictographs, foundational documents of traditional Chinese medicine, and Sanskrit writings from India. Early texts by Hippocrates describe the use of joint and muscle-biased techniques. Today there exist quite a staggering variety of schools of thought within manual therapy practiced by many different professions including but not limited to osteopathy, chiropractic, physiotherapy and massage therapy. Manual therapy encompasses caring for a patient . A 2015 study paper stated : “Collectively, this body of literature suggests the biomechanical stimulus provided by a MT intervention results in neurophysiological responses with relevance to the sensory discriminative, affective-motivational, and cognitive–evaluative dimensions of the pain experience.” Pain Manag. 2015 Nov; 5(6): 455–464. doi: 10.2217/pmt.15.39
Another 2011 study cited:
“Immediate effects studies may involve a simple or detailed analysis of change in pain, range, qualitative or quantitative elements, and/or proprioception, directly after the input of a manual therapy procedure. The reduced rigor/time is associated with the short-term follow-up (typically directly after the intervention), relatively simple statistical calculations, and a demonstrable and measurable statistically significant treatment effect.” J Man Manip Ther. 2011 Feb; 19(1): 3–4.doi: 10.1179/106698110X12804993427009
So you will need the power of discipline as many hurdles lie ahead. In times of crisis our minds become closed. Human life is challenging. Challenges grows us in life, when everything is running smoothly we stagnate. We react from our pre-conditioned programming, a place of fear, anxiety and worry. Always count to 10 before reacting. If our bodies are not healthy and we are not in healthy relationships with the self and others, we will only be able to access information from one side of the brain (left brain dominant). Cortisol triggers the left brain and blocks creative thinking. Irregular blood sugar creates mental instabilities. The right side gives us a bigger picture. Your own mind consciously or unconsciously is regulating your thoughts. We can have all the information in front of us, but are unable to see it.
We should always be able to see and feel complimentary opposites such as : good-bad, hot-cold, light-dark, health-disease, sweet-sour and so many more. As the saying goes: ‘No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell.’ – Carl Jung If we are not careful we fall into the trap that makes us unnecessary. We remain unconscious by sticking to our beliefs. Illusion being presented as facts. “A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging our thoughts”. David Bohm. If we are so disconnected with oursleves, we never can really understand what goes on around us. Buddhist teachings talk of: ‘Impermanance’. If we let go of fear and resistance life, becomes movement and thus more fluid. We engage in the undulation of life, healing the world. Calming your body and stabilising the mind becomes the creator of consciousness. When we are unconscious, we will have biased opinions from information overload such as TV, phones, computers, newspapers and media. Make yourself accountable. Go with the body and not against it. The opposite of impermanence is perfection. Perfection cannot change, perfection becomes the imperfection. Constantly seeking perfection interperatates as seeking love. What is here today is gone tomorrow. We need imbalance in life to keep moving. This is Dukka which is an important Buddhist concept, commonly translated as “suffering,” “unhappiness,” “pain,” “unsatisfactoriness” or “stress.” It refers to the fundamental unsatisfactoriness and painfulness of mundane life.
So in order to get a conscious mind , rewrite your script or story, change the record, and engage in life. The best way to start is to address your shadow self. If you don’t know what the shadow self is, it’s what you see in others that you dislike or despise is actually reflecting something in your collective shadow. We feel the most alive and whole when we support others. Dr.Dan Seagal’s definition of mind is an embodied and relationship flow of energy that is regulated in our body choices, including what we think. Every single one of us born into the world has an ability to be a genius of some sort, no matter what your background is. We all have some form of uniqueness and speciality to contribute to the world. When you leave the earth, have you appreciated each other and your experiences?
Final tips for therapists
Start to advertise where your potential customers are located. Always be prospecting. Ask yourself: what are people left with after they have bought from me? Effective marketing tells the truth attractively. Does the service you promote match your fees? Is the service satisfactory for the price. A service is shopable, but your time is precious and needs to be valued. For me personally I only work with people over a long period of time, as new behaviours and skills take time to establish and stick with. Devote yourself to some sort of practice. A 100 day gong practice develops the subtle energies of clairvoyance and intuition. Creativity is always the bets way to solve challenges and this can be anything from journalling, art, music, dance, gardening and walking. Finish your day by giving gratitude. Give gratitude and thanks for what we have: food and water, shelter and warmth.
“Until it’s finished – it’s just a fantasy”– Michael Jordon
Bibliography
Paul Chek podcast
“Health benefits of physical activity: the evidence” – Darren E.R. Warburton, Crystal Whitney Nicol, and Shannon S.D. Bredin
“Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise” –J Vina, F Sanchis-Gomar, V Martinez-Bello, and MC Gomez-Cabrera
“What effect can manual therapy have on a patient’s pain experience?” – ,* 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 1 , 2 , 4 , 1 , 5 and 1
Immediate effects from manual therapy: much ado about nothing? Chad Cook
