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Self Care: Taking Care of Mind and Body


I've been thinking a lot about mindbody or bodymind.  Someone recently asked me what it was that I envisaged holistic treatment to comprise, and I couldn't quite encapsulate my sense of the term as succinctly as I'd like to.  Sometimes, when I leave something to land, the answer emerges organically, and this week provided a timely reminder of that tendency. 

For me, therapy happens in all sorts of ways.  There are therapeutic benefits to a huge variety of activities or pastimes; it is less important what we do to look after ourselves, far more important is whether we remember to make time to do them.  Whilst I spend much of my working week sitting in a therapy room with individuals, couples or families, I appreciate and respect that talking therapy is but one of many ways to address the challenges we face in our lives.

I consider it important, if not vital, that I have my own therapy.  Whilst not all trainings now require it of those seeking to become therapeutically helpful to others, I am glad that I was taught to value the importance of both therapy and supervision and I continue to benefit from both.  It is my hope too, that what helps me, helps my clients.

This week however, I have found myself thinking about self care more generally, and the mindbody aspect resurfaced in my pondering.  Just as I seek to take care of my mind, and my psychological functioning, so too do I seek to maintain my physical body and health.  I do this in different ways, nourishing myself through what I eat and drink, and what I ask and expect from my body in any given day or week.  

I cannot expect all the answers from my therapist, there is work I have to do, and an important part of this is looking after myself between sessions.  My mind and body require equal attention, and must feature prominently in my weekly schedule if I am to achieve anywhere near the required balance to be of service to my clients. 

So, this week I had a massage.  For me, massage is undoubtedly therapeutic.  It may not always be enjoyable, at the time, but the release is restorative and the effects transformative.  I got off the couch feeling an inch taller, and with enhanced clarity.  I had, most importantly, reconnected.  I believe that our bodies quite often hold tension we may not be able to identify or acknowledge, but it is there, and it needs to be addressed, ideally before we become conscious of it.  I don't make an appointment when I'm in dire pain, when I've become immobile; I attend regularly, just as I do therapy.  This ensures that I am fit to work, and in the best possible place to think creatively, and constructively with my clients, without feeling distracted or preoccupied.  In this way, my body may attune to and work alongside my mind, rather than vying for its attention.





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