YOU & YOUR HEALTH
Spirit
LOOKING FOR A SILVER LINING IN THE CORONA CLOUD
IS THERE A NEW MARKET OUT THERE WAITING FOR YOU? Funding has been made available to the third sector and many are looking for ways to support the vulnerable. Could you perhaps offer a beginner’s guide to hand reflexology, stress management tips, chair yoga or guided relaxation sessions? Business are also looking for ways to support their furloughed or home working staff –
Donna Booth searches for the benefits the New Normal may offer…
T
HESE have been a strange and
ceremonies and sound baths. These are all
difficult few months. For those of us
things that might not have happened if we hadn’t
in the holistic therapy professions, it
been shocked out of our comfort zone.
has brought about a complete change
in our way of working. The future is uncertain –
A WIDER CLIENT BASE
is there something you could offer to them? Both these sectors are open to ideas and will need support in the longer term.
EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY It has been a steep learning curve, but we have all learned skills these past few weeks that will be valuable. It has forced us all to look at ways we could take aspects of our business into a virtual world that we previously might have tiptoed
will massage therapists have to wear full PPE;
Suddenly, everyone is online for everything and
around. With dogs, cats and children regularly
how will counsellors build rapport with clients
you can access them all as potential clients.
gate-crashing sessions, everybody needing a
when they are both wearing masks; how do we
Where previously I would decry technology and
haircut and a glimpse into people’s homes, there
make posture adjustments when we can’t be
social media as being anxiety inducing; right
is a new sense of reality in our virtual interactions,
in the same room? While undeniably worrying,
now, technology is your friend. Is there something
something I’d love to see continue.
could there be some benefits to this new normal?
you could offer online? Don’t feel guilty about
YOUR COMFORT ZONE IS NO LONGER COMFORTABLE
offering paid services. Perhaps consider a range of services, something free, something donationbased and something at the normal price. The free
What felt safe and secure before, no longer
and donation-based services are great advertising
does. We can’t depend on our regular clients
for your main offering. I do a free morning
and we may have had months without a steady
meditation on my Facebook page, a
income, forcing us to take a different approach.
weekly donation-based relaxation
I have seen some wonderful things happening
session and both of these
online; beauty therapists offering home pamper
feed into my new monthly
packs with an accompanying Zoom party /
membership for online yoga
demonstration; Reiki therapists offering distance
and mindfulness classes.
TIME How would you like to look back on this time? It is unlikely that we will have time like this again. Perhaps you have always wanted to grow vegetables, learn how to bake bread or train in face yoga? Find something to do with your time that will allow you to look back with gratitude. Be kind to yourself, do something every day that is just for you and remember, in
sessions with bonus card readings; online tea
every cloud, look for the silver lining. n
i
DONNA BOOTH is a wellbeing coach, retreat host and author of
The Practical Goddess. When not working she spends time with her menagerie of animals in her wild garden in the Scottish Highlands, reading books and cultivating weeds. Find out more at
www.vitality-
retreat.com.
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holistic therapist 2020
holistictherapistmagazine.com
