Effortless Health

Effortless Health

What does body transformation mean to you???

This blog is being written as a result of three recent conversations I have had with a collegue (senior personal trainer and therapist) who has been an inspiration in my life for the last 5 years and has massively influenced the way I work, an old friend (CHEK practitioner/ biosig practitioner) who is struggling with where they are going in the industry and what the 'truth' is with regards to movement, nutrition and health and someone I have just started talking to who I think has some similar ideas to me (an anatomy in motion practitioner).

I'll give some background on me to help you see where I'm coming from. My journey goes a little something like this.

  1. Study Nutrition at university, come out with 1st class honours (so think I know it all – but I will learn very soon how little I will ever know.. there's so much out there)
  2. Train to become a yoga teacher in Portugal (this was tough - start a journey of facing my fears)
  3. Become a CHEK practitioner – begin to work 'holistically' with clients as my interest in mental emotional health continues to evolve.
  4. Train to be a biosig practitioner work on balancing hormones through the use of herbs
  5. Become an anatomy in motion movement therapist and start to see and feel the magic of life when you allow yourself to experience all possibilities :))
  6. Study neurokinetic therapy to help clients release facilitated areas in the body.
  7. In between I have been on many yoga retreats, workshops and recently I attended a 7 day silent meditation retreat. I meditate every day and I work with a very special meditation teacher who has helped me to open up more.
  8. There have been many other teachers in my life friends, family, colleagues, strangers who have taught me some of my most amazing lessons.

There has been a lot of influences in my life. So I'm lucky as I get to see movement, nutrition and health from so many different angles. I see trends in all fields – yoga, strength training, cardio, diets and I don't see any of them as being right or wrong. Quite often you may need to use a certain exercise regime or diet to get to a certain point. But you can use it as that.. It can be a tool and then you can drop it. What I see all over the industry is people getting stuck using one type of training/ diet/ herb/ pill. It's almost like it becomes the trainer 'I am a CHEK level 3 coach and I advise organic whole foods.' That's not who you are and there is always more to offer when you look inside yourself :)

A big trend I'm seeing at the moment is body transformation. Cool huh. This appeals to me when I read it. Transform your body :) become slim, ripped and healthy. I see why we have started this trend. And I do like the idea but I feel like I want to help people think about what they mean when they say they are going to transform a body, think about why they are doing it and consider what it could mean for the client they are working with.

As I see things at the moment when someone says they perform body transformation they will help you to lose body fat, tone up/ add muscle and generally look better.

I am all for transformations but please beware of the intention behind what you are doing. For example an overweight lady in her mid 30s comes to you desperate for what she may believe is something like this...

' I need to lose 10lbs and tone up. THEN I will be so happy, I will attract the right partner, I will feel happier, people will like me more.... We will call this her ego or mind chatter.

Her underlying desire and the reason she may be overweight may sound like this

' As a teenager I was in a mentally abusive relationship. This is deeply hidden and buried in my subconscious. I hide it by using comfort foods and I've never healed so I do not attract the love I so desire into my life.'

This is her truth even if she does not know it. If you go ahead and transform her body without being aware that people are overweight or unhealthy for a reason you may just strengthen her ego/ mind chatter or cause more pain and desire.

As a trainer, therapist or coach we have an amazing opportunity to transform not just bodies but lives. All we need is to set a clear intention of why we are doing what we do. If we train our clients out of love and wanting the best for them we will have a positive affect. If we train out of ego – wanting to be the best trainer, wanting to make the most money we may not have such a powerful affect even if our bank balances look good and we live in luxury. You will feel somewhere deep down like there's something missing from your life. Stop looking for things and look within you and within your clients.

If you think you are not equipped to work with clients on a deep emotional level you are wrong :) We have studied movement of the body and we are passionate about it! Moving the body in new ways moves the mind in new ways. So start by seeing how your client moves... that can often give away clues as to where they're at in there life too. Help them get unstuck and move freely and see a much more powerful type of transformation. Losing body fat, eating healthy, feeling great becomes a by product.. Change your journey from Effort to get healthy to Effortlessless Health :)

Transform from the inside out x

No comments: