By Pete Whitridge
Wishing you a most wonderful new year and start to the next decade. As we move forward into this new cycle, it seems relevant to focus with clear vision (20/20 perhaps?) toward the future. Lee and I feel grateful to be celebrating the New Year at our cabin retreat in the Ozarks. We will soak up the silence, walk in the woods, and enjoy the company of friends to refresh ourselves in preparation for the coming year. We wish for you a space of quiet to consider your own appreciation for what has passed and the chance to listen to what your inner being is calling you towards for the future.
As I’ve been teaching over this past year, the theme of kindness has emerged. I’ve found myself emphasizing the need to create more kindness and loving attention toward both ourselves and our clients. Being kind to ourselves can foster a deeper relationship within and encourage us to trust more and to be more open to another’s suffering and struggles. Being kinder to our clients, on a practical level, could mean using less pressure or not trying to “change” them but rather being supportive and caring of their experience. It can mean being wholly present and giving them our full attention during treatments. Sometimes a simple act of kindness and caring can make a meaningful difference in someone else’s life. While I was teaching at AMTA convention this fall, Lee noticed me making various references to kindness and bought me a “Bee Kind” cap. I’ve had fun wearing it to share this message and have enjoyed some sweet interactions, often with others also wearing “kindness” garb. Our vision for 2020 is a year filled with more and more people choosing to practice kindness.
Moving forward, it seems perfect to start this year’s teaching cycle by offering my workshop Therapeutic Strategies for Effective Pain Relief. This class will focus on caring for the self (YOU!) in addition to refining your skills for working with your clients. I’m excited to share what I’ve been learning over the last two years in the realm of pain science. In addition to covering current information in this rapidly evolving field, we will also explore new developments in fascial research as well as effective techniques for helping our clients find pain relief. We will focus on your own self-care during class and suggest ways to help your clients integrate some of these practices into their personal healing journeys. There will be ample opportunity to address your clients’ issues encountered in your own practice.
I hope you will join me for this bodywork weekend, February 15-16. It will give you the opportunity to bee kind to yourself, to recharge your body and to take away new ideas and skills to improve your therapy practice. For more information, please contact me at justaskpete@mac.com or 772-332-6116.
