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In Practice: How to Create a Successful Holistic Practice from Start to Success!
What To Do Until
The Messiah Comes! Self-Cares
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by Shaun Brown |
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Dear Ones:
This time spent will be devoted to your Self-the main ingredient in any successful holistic business! I canvas the four essential food groups to be served up! Entrées include: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, and Emotional Well-being. Grab your forks!
SPIRITUAL
One of the most common pitfalls that a therapist can make is not being grounded, to feel off balance, when working with a client. One of the hard questions I ask my students is, "Do you have a Higher Power in your life?" In other words do you feel connected to a source of unlimited energy that you can tap into? If you are not connected to any sort of Supreme Force, I choose to call God; you're in the game alone. When you have no place to give your problems to-they stay within. The following are simple instructions for getting connected and staying grounded.
Getting Centered
Create a sacred space. This will be your sacred place to go and connect to a Higher Source. Start showing up consistently in the morning and when ever you need to go back to center. After awhile of learning to be still you can certainly find that quiet place for two minutes at a stoplight, but always start every morning at your sacred space with Prayer and Meditation. Prayer is talking to The Force and meditation is listening.
It can be just a small table, or as elaborate as you like. I keep my "prayer station" very simple. A white candle, some of my favorite incense (never synthetic), and a few icons of Higher Power symbols that resonate with me and give me focus. If you live with others, let them know that you are creating a special place for yourself to go and be quiet. If this concept is a problem or is not taken seriously with the people in your life, ask yourself why they are in your life. The exception of course being your children, don't get rid of them!
Actually when you come from a centered, genuine place, letting them know your intentions to be quiet and meditate or at least not to knock when you are in "special time," you will be surprised how that habit can spill over into there lives and give them permission to have their own sacred space and quite time. Hmmm.
Upon awakening (within the first hour) go to your prayer station, find a comfortable chair, light the candle and incense (optional) and set an intent that you would like to connect with the Universal Power. You are always safe and secure when you set the intent to connect with the Light. Spend some time slowly breathing in and out. Imagine that as you breathe in, your feet are connected with Mother Earth, and as you breathe out, the top of your head is connected to The Heavens. With eyes closed imagine energy coming through the soles of your feet from Mother Earth filling up your whole body to the top of your head, and as you exhale see the top of your head opening up, like a portal, receiving energy that flows down from the Heavens filling your body to the soles of your feet and into the Earth.
Sit with this exercise. Breathe this vision in and out slowly. It only takes a few breaths in this manner every morning to feel connected. After you're still, a simple prayer of "God direct me in this day" is good. Wayne Dyer a famous motivational speaker says, "We are already connected, we just need to make sure the connections are clear and not corroded from lack of use!"
Have a notebook in front of you so that when your head says, "Buy cat food, call John, do laundry," you can write these things down. This gives your brain allowance to continue with the meditation without the urgency of ego wanting you to stop meditating. The ego likes to be in control. Our egos are put in place to keep us alive. It says eat, be afraid, be in charge. So when we start being still and letting go of the ego to listen to quiet space, the ego freaks out and thinks it is dying.
Many times even to this day I have to have a little chat with my ego. I tell it that it is ok, it isn't dieing, it is just being put aside for a few minutes and that I will be back to pick it up. After some time you will be surprised how the ego has less of a list because you are learning to slow the ego down and it knows after your meditation time it will be recognized.
So basically you are setting the intent to slow down your brain waves. As you do this every day it will become easier and easier. When you are finished with your 5-20 minute meditation you will have a list of things already written down that your ego has prepared for you to do, how cool is that! I have been a meditator since 1992 and I still use a notebook every morning. The ego just never goes away, BUT it can be trained to sit on the sidelines and give my Inner Self time with my Soul's purpose before it takes me into my day of Service.
Setting up a prayer station speaks to the ritual senses like sight, smell and intent. It gives you an opportunity to have "me time." Honor yourself and the Universe in this way. Your Angels are just waiting to give you guidance so pick up the phone.
Meditation doesn't have to be an overwhelming ritual. If you are like me, you can set yourself up to not want to do anything if it becomes a chore. There is an abundance of meditation information out there that allows you to choose whatever path you like. My experience has been that as long as my intention is focused on connection 5-20 minutes is perfect.
Participate in all of the different classes and workshops that are offered. Just remember to keep it simple God doesn't really care. Some people spend all of their time in classes, looking for the answer out there. At some point the journey must start inward. All of your answers are inside. What was it that Jesus said? "The Temple of God lies within."
The purpose of the exercise is to feel connected to Universal energy, and when you feel disconnected, start again. BREATHE! This takes discipline, but the reward will be staying in your Power and not being blown off course by passing clients. You won't be exhausted by the end of the day because all of your energy was misspent trying to hold up the Earth.
MENTAL
Are you half full or half empty? Mental attitude is everything. If you're half empty, you have a lot of work to do. If you're half full it's a good start. Being optimistic will usually attract optimistic clients.
Your job as a holistic therapist is to coach, support and nudge your client towards their center. Most people come to you because they have forgotten what center feels like, or how to get back there. Be a guide by being there daily for yourself first.
How can you guide your clients if you are not centered and clear? If you don't know who you are or where you are going, how can you point your client in the direction that leads them to their center?
Keeping a positive mental attitude is mandatory. It's good to remind the client that mental attitude has everything to do with their health. Give them homework if they act interested. Suggest that they start a gratitude journal. Upon awakening, have them write down what they are grateful for each day.
Writing down what they are feeling and what they are grateful for, will put their mind in proper perspective and sets up correct thinking for a successful day, it helps to get them in touch with their feelings. Mention the part about meditation too. Remember, "You are what you think." Ofcourse suggestions are usually taken when advice is asked. I am getting much better about only being who I am and waiting for the client to ask how I got there.
I suggest, "Give advice" once, if they take the lead and go for it-great! If they don't respond to my guidance, then telling them to get a journal again or whatever will be the beginnings of a co-dependent relationship. Some clients just want to vegetate in the arms of the gifted therapist's craft, just as long as the client doesn't become a vampire or take on the role of the helpless child, being a vegetable sometimes can be a good thing.
PHYSICAL
Take care of your temple, which is your body. You need it to live in. Be glad you have one regardless of what shape, size, or color it is. Hopefully you have come to a place of acceptance for yourself and the body you were given to live in. One of the most important aspects of being here is being in your body, not distracted somewhere else. Find some activity that you like to do and do it. Make it part of your lifestyle instead of joining a gym and power exercising for three months only to lose interest and set your self up for failure. Don't walk through the failure door.
Here is a brief list of ways to take care of your body:
c Massage/bodywork (trade if possible)
c Dancing (anyone can shake their booty)
c Self-massage/using a tennis ball on acupressure points
c Yoga/swim/exercise/walk/bike
c Spa/bath/aromatherapy
c Vitamins/supplements/herbs
c Rest/retreat/time-out (what a concept!)
Temple maintenance, taking care of your body, doesn't have to cost a lot. You could be a walker. It's more about enjoying it. I belong to a gym with a pool, and yes I am trying to be committed every time I see the monthly dues withdrawn from my bank account. I knew I needed to do something but wasn't sure. At first, a trainer thinking I might want to work on my "six pack" -abdominal muscles, just kidding, interviewed me. I followed him into an office, we sat down, and with his clipboard in hand he asked, "Well now, what are your goals?" I said, "I just want to move it around!" With a look of wonder he took me to the aerobic machine room, which I found quite boring. I ended up becoming a swimmer. In the cooler mornings, I stay warm with an aqua thermal suit. This suit, or top and bottoms, can be found in the wetsuit department under "rash guard" or in the surf/kayak department in paddle clothes. I swim as often as I can. It is great for my heart and Soul and it moves it around!
As far as feeding the Temple, the more you honor what you put in your body the better. However, it is better to have the food spectrum vary from Cheetoes to tofu than to be on such a strict "diet" that food becomes a punishment. Eating unhealthy food is not the best way to go but if you find yourself there every once in awhile be joyous and grateful for that food. It is better than squeezing the life out of healthy food by measuring every bite and restricting yourself to fake diet food. Your body knows when you are having fun and when you are not.
On those days that you are not eating as healthy as you can, like making a visit to The Colonel, ENJOY it! Let your body know that you are enjoying the heck out of this meal and make adjustments on the other end like a salad tomorrow and enjoy that too. Move on!
EMOTIONAL
Ah yes, feelings. Here is the fun part. Most of us come into a family system where feelings were not a top priority. In my family system we had no genitals or feelings! Of course in the space-time continuum, it took me years to shed the non-emotional closed up beliefs. BUT as I challenged these beliefs it also gave me inner strength. I am beginning to understand somewhere in my Soul I knew this shut down dynamic was put in place only for survival, and does not serve me, as I started on the path to Spiritual Adulthood.
Have you worked on your emotional baggage? If you haven't worked on your "baggage," (that's the unhealthy emotional experiences you've been carrying around forever that weigh you down), you're in trouble. These challenges are put in front of you to force you to become strong in your own right, to own your wholeness by working through these old beliefs and birthing yourself into a new world. Shedding the onion skins, again and again.
When you have made a commitment to serve others you will automatically be faced with your demons. This is good, the best thing that can happen to you. I have learned to approach this by engaging conversation with my demons and fears in a manageable and almost comic format. "Hi demon, nice to meet you, let's have dinner, table for two please." I think the author Caroline Myss influenced me the most on this issue. Get behind the fears, they are just lessons and there is a lot to learn about yourself and others.
Your demons, when faced, are just paper dragons, trying to get your attention. I suggest that demon facing can also be initiated with the help of a counselor, your Mentor, or a hypnotherapist who knows their stuff.
Do you have balance? Well, if you have started to do simple meditation, you are absolutely on the right track. If for the most part, you haven't worked on your "stuff," the client will sense that and won't be back. If a client chooses to hang on anyway, the sessions will be based only on the problem and not the solution.
You may not feel as confident relating to a client with issues similar to yours unless you have come to a resolution in yourself. If the practitioner has not worked through issues or has had similar unhealthy experiences not acknowledged, the client could sense this on some level, weakening the therapist's credibility. The therapist needs to be open and accepting about the clients "disease" being present as the client chooses to divulge private information. A level of trust and vulnerability has to be established between client and practitioner. Why would someone want to share his or her deepest darkest secrets with someone they know hasn't been there or won't understand?
It All Counts
Every time you walk that 20 minutes, every time you choose less portions of a food you know you could do with out, every time you decided to meditate five minutes longer, IT ALL COUNTS! Isn't that good to know? The Universe is a cycle, and it re-cycles perpetually.
We live in a time space continuum, which means things of achievement, take time. After you have been doing self-care for awhile, you will find that your time dimension changes, things that you wanted to achieve or goals meaning to be met are yours now in present time. Hmmm, how did that happen? Life is a series of multiple events stacked on themselves to create a whole. This is good to know because it means you have a say in who you are. Exciting!!!
Discipline can be illusive, but as you look back on all of the times you walked 20 minutes, or chose to eat the right foods, or had the courage to let go of a vampire, you have become stronger and more centered and more able to get direction from the next dimension, the fourth, the dimension of intuition, because you are shedding old belief systems and habits that no longer serve you. You are becoming disciplined and your vibration is actually lighter and more attractive to those who truly want to grow forward too. Self-Care also gives you something to do while you are waiting for the Messiah…smile.
Next time: Own it! Accessibility, and target markets.
Maybe you have some thoughts and ideas that you would like to share with me. Please feel free to email me at shaun@BeWellPublications.com. Also on BeWellPublications.com the most exciting news for the holistic professional or anyone working with others is coming! BeWell Virtual College Premiers September 1, 2004!
Making a living, making a difference, staying in balance.
BeWell,
shaun
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Shaun Brown,
Holistic Therapist,
Author and Consultant
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Shaun Brown has been self employed most of her adult life. She has an AA degree in General Business and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from University of California, Sacramento, in Communications. Her main focus of education is in advertising, promotion and production. Ms. Brown attended the Health Awareness Academy, in Fair Oaks, California, has practiced bodywork therapy since 1993 and has taught holistic related classes since 1994.
Ms. Brown works, with a team of professionals, including physicians and other health care providers, as well as volunteering her time to work at Mercy Hospice. Her focus is the care of people working in high stress environments, and those suffering from injuries due to a variety of causes.
She is the best selling author of “How To Create A Successful Holistic Practice,” and her newest current release is titled, “Intentional Success-A Workbook For The Holistic Therapist.” Ms. Brown currently has a successful holistic practice in Orangevale, California, is an author, speaker, columnist and consultant. To read a chapter/purchase her books/schedule a workshop visit
www.BeWellPublications.
com
BeWell!
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