I'm starting to set up a new massage office with Bon Secours St. Francis Health System. When I first saw the brochure for massage at the new location, it was listed in the HealThy Self Suite. On arriving, I noticed the sign says Healthy Self. Kinda changes the meaning. Or does it? In massage, my main goal frequently is to release enough tension so my client can get healthy faster. The physical therapists working with cardiac patients are teaching them how to get stronger and heal themselves. So it is both for folks to be healthy and to help them learn to heal themselves.
Language is so important. I've been attending Weight Watchers and bumping up the intensity of my exercises so that I can be healthier. I tell people I am working on improving my power to weight ratio (thanks, Jim!), not that I am trying to lose weight. When I lose something, it is unintentional, and I try to find it again as soon as possible (car keys, sunglasses are the most frequent losses). I am consciously and intentionally working on a healthier weight, lowering cholesterol (through better food choices). I am releasing it, letting go, ridding myself of the excess, but certainly not planning on finding it again, so "losing" weight is clearly a misnomer. If the Industry that is making a gazillion dollars a year on "weight loss" changed the wording, perhaps the profits would be smaller but the results better.
As I improve my power to weight ratio, and become a healthy self, it is helping my massage, too. I tire less easily, less knee pain. The core workouts have made everything easier. And the positive language I use makes a huge difference, too!
