Is it me?

There are so many therapies out there how do you choose which is the right one for you? Do you try each one and then decide which one works best for you or you prefer? Or do you just pick one at random, you like it, it works, you stick with it?

I find being an Aromatherapist, Reflexologist, Breathwork and Yoga Nidra Facilitator it can be just as daunting to find which therapy is best to work with. Over the years I have dipped my toes into quite a few complimentary therapies, to study as well as to receive, and I’ve come to realise that to try as many different modalities as possible gives the therapist a more in-depth whole-istic approach to working with clients. To be able to sometimes combine certain therapies, can give a client a deeper sense of feeling that a treatment has made a difference.

I can always remember my reflexology tutor telling me not to use aromatherapy oils when working on a reflexology treatment ‘because you will not know if it was the reflexology or the aromatherapy oils that have worked’. Does that matter? Surely if the client has benefited from and enjoyed the treatment, then it is all good.  

Client/Therapist relationship

There is also the therapist/client relationship to consider too. We don’t all connect and if that connection is not there between the two of you then I feel that whatever treatment is given will possibly not benefit the client. Is this something you communicate to your clients? If they don’t feel as though they have had a good treatment or benefitted as they should, would they know it could be the energy between the therapist and themselves that could be the problem? Would this put them off having another treatment elsewhere?

The many questions and scenarios concerning the reasons why treatments either don’t work, aren’t beneficial or not liked by the client is a minefield and sometimes a demoralising one for the therapist. Especially if the therapist feels it’s their ‘fault’ and could have done better. Could we do better or is it, as I have said, could it be any of the above scenarios? 

Client Feedback

I will hold my hands up and say I never contact any clients who do not return. Is that remiss on my part or should I/we make contact and gain feedback from their experience? As I have been writing this article, it has made me realise the reason I do not contact the client is because I am scared that it could be me rather than the type of treatment or that they just didn’t get any benefit from it.  Rejection is hard, but from it comes a growth that I now feel I am ready to listen to and can hopefully use that growth with other clients.

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

Winston Churchill

Main photo by Conscious Design on Unsplash