What a rewarding experience to shift our attention to massage and touch healing on a sunny afternoon in Somerset West!

A group of interested enthusiastic participants attended a short course introducing how to use caring touch to enhance the physical and emotional wellbeing of loved ones. 

They had gathered to join the Massage for Me & Mine short course to learn how to safely and effectively massage their family & friends and share in Erika and my longtime fascination and experience with caring touch.

Before I give an overview of our opening session, let me introduce who we are and why we want to share our knowledge.  We have both been massage professionals for 20 years in our respective practice.  To teach our skills and share methods in an introductory and accessible way is our aim to give others the pleasure of conscious touch to allow self to connect to love and loved ones. ​

The intention of every hairdresser I have ever met, and I have seen several in my massage practice over the years, is to make their clients look beautiful, to help them feel better about themselves and to improve their self-confidence.
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But this quest does not come without a price. Hairdressing is a demanding job for the stylist as well as everyone else on the salon team.

To achieve their maximum potential as employees and experience life joyfully, stylists have to look after themselves and develop simple, sustainable wellness practices. 

Are you a hair stylist and you are not sure how to do that? I have a few ideas ...

Is it necessary for small businesses, micro businesses and solopreneurs to implement a formal workplace wellbeing strategy?

I think it is and that is what I told a group of business women at the Durbanville Chapter of the Xtraordinary Women recently.

To find out why I think it is important, continue reading and watch the interview with Barbara Stander of Business Partners Western Cape and Xtraordinary Women Durbanville chapter leader at the end of the blog post. It was recorded after the talk.

​To improve our health and wellness we have got to take action.

But the last thing we need is to add yet another chore to our daily to-do list. 
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So here are a few ways to gently introduce wellness into your workplace and your life.

Let’s walk and talk,  my friend and business coach, Karon Wiercx suggested the other day as we were making our next appointment. ​

Until then we have always sat down as we chatted and worked through the Consciousness Coaching protocol she uses. 

​But Karon had this idea to combine coaching and walking.

A recent statement by a prominent, local politician that stress is a white man’ disease, caused some uproar in my country.
 
“I don’t get stressed," he declared. “Stress is a white man’s disease and that is why a term such as stress does not exist in the Zulu language."

Overhere, where race is a very sensitive topic, most of the reactions to his statement centred around that aspect.
 
But also relevant I thought, is the common mistake of mixing up terminology related to:

• stress as a physiological process and
• stress as a pathology or disease process.

​And this is where, I think, the politician got it wrong (although there was probably much more to the statement than a lack of physiology knowledge). 
 
Make no mistake, this is not the first time I have heard people confusing the two concepts ... whether the word appears in their dictionaries or not.  
 
So what is the difference between responding to stress and being stressed out? 

Every year since 20 March 2012, the world has been commemorating International Day of Happiness.

20 March also happens to be my best friend Lynette’s birthday, an event the two of us have celebrated since 1968!

And I can tell you with no doubt in my mind that our friendship has greatly contributed to my own happiness ever since that day during our first year at school, when she allowed me to use her peacock blue and mauve crayons for my drawing.
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But what is this thing, happiness, really? And how is happiness related to health and wellness?

​Flip-flops, thongs, plakkies, slops - synonymous with summer, sun and sea.

But these no-heel-strap sandals  have become the daily footwear choice for many for its comfort and convenience. many people spend the entire day in flip-flops even wearing it to work.
 
But that is not the full story. Comfortable and convenient yes, but there is a distinct dark side to wearing flip-flops for long periods. 

Read here to see what it can do to posture, muscles and walking patterns.

​What does the term healthy lifestyle mean to you?

Is it  an empty buzz word that no longer makes an impression on you? Or does it leave you with guilt feelings because you are not fulfilling society's expectations?

I want to tell you that living a healthy lifestyle has more to do with your own needs and desires than the external prescriptions and pressures from the media and the medical fraternity. You have to look at your health from the inside out.

Here is why: 

​We really have no excuse. 

​Thanks to our high standard of living we have moved beyond basic survival needs. We have the Internet that puts all the information about health and wellness at our finger tips.We have clever apps on our electronic devices to support our good intentions.

And we can employ people like massage therapists and personal trainers and dieticians to support our efforts.

Yet something still prevents us from putting intenstions and desires for healthy living into practice.
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Very often that something is the way we think and the way we talk about health and wellness.