PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ‘Everyman takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits

of the world’. Arthur Schopenhauer

YOU ARE YOUR OWN THERAPIST There are four steps I would identify with being a healthier happi- er therapist:

1. Be your own guru When teaching one day courses I show a particular technique for treating the diaphragm. I explain that this technique can be used anywhere in the body, look at the anatomy, what is it you are trying to achieve and go for it - ie. ‘just make up the technique’. The shock that this brings never fails to surprise me.

I explain

someone has to make up these techniques why not you? A large percentage of my adult life has been spent studying for three degrees and it institutionalised my way of thinking. I was looking for the next guru to teach me what to do as opposed to being the guru myself. This is a novel concept but maybe a concept worth exploring. I see my role as a therapist and teacher simply to point out the various sign posts. How do I look for these signposts in myself? Are there days when everything goes well for you as a therapist and then others when things don’t go quite so well? Some days you feel really connected and tuned in, yet on others you feel totally disengaged from what you are palpating, or who you are treating. What is it you feel like when you are connected and what is the difference when you are not?

2. Awareness Through developing this kinaesthetic awareness of what that dif- ference feels like when you are connected and when you are not, you will be able to recognise your ‘therapeutic zone.’ This is the place where we get our best results, regardless of the technique or the therapy we are using. In the ideal world this is a place where we are free from our insecurities and uncertainties as a therapist, free from the burden of client and self imposed expectations. The therapeutic zone equates very well to the sporting zone. Take the England rugby player, Johnny Wilkinson. He kicks the ball through the posts with tremendous regularity, but he does not have a 100% success rate. However, he gives himself the best chance every time he kicks through mental preparation. He isn’t thinking: ‘What are all my fellow players, fans and media critics going to say if I miss this?’ The place from where he performs his skill so successfully and effectively is his sporting zone. When you develop your therapeutic zone you will be amazed at the difference in your effectiveness.

3.Control the controllables As a therapist working with clients I often feel we believe that our sphere of influence is greater than it really is. In truth what is it we have control over in our relationship with our client/patient? We cannot do the exercises for the patient we cannot make lifestyle changes for them, we cannot think positively for them, we can’t hold them in a good posture, we can not help them through diffi- cult relationships. What we can do is skilfully impress upon them the importance of their role in the self healing process, then it’s up to them. Even that in itself can be fairly meaningless if it doesn’t coincide with the clients’/patients’ beliefs. So if the client/patient is not getting better whose fault is it? Very often this situation is reflected back on our insecurities. So this proves it. I am useless!

www.sportex.net

However, if you are prepared to accept that health is an individual’s responsibility then it reflects back to that individual.

So just what exactly is it therapists are in control of? Ourselves. Try the following meditation exercise. Sit for five minutes, in a comfortable position and solely focus on the breath coming in through your nostrils and out through your nostrils, and think of nothing else. The moment you think of anything other than the breath, then stop the exercise. How long did it last? Don’t worry, even a practised meditator finds this difficult. Thinking just happens, in the same way that your heart just beats. You don’t have a say, your voice in your head has a life and an agenda of its own. However with practice you can learn to quieten the mind and heighten awareness.

4. A way of being - ‘not knowing’ In my experience, searching for certainty and proof that ‘my’ philosophy and ‘my’ method of working is right, can increase the burden of expectation both for you and your client. Inevitably, you will not succeed with a percentage of patients, accepting this was part of my therapy. To be flexible in my beliefs has helped, but this flexibility has only arisen from not worrying about being ‘right’. By being in a place of ‘not knowing for sure’ you release yourself from that burden of expectation, this gives you the freedom to explore. When I realised that it wasn’t so much what I did that was important but how I did it, that I began to feel a connectivity and simplicity in the work that I did.

A JOURNEY’S END OR THE DAWNING OF A NEW DAY? How do you feel if your patient/client doesn’t get better? Do you see yourself as a failure? If you set yourself up for success then you’ve got to expect failure as well. This is fine if you react to success and failure in the same way ie. it doesn’t bother you if you succeed or fail, then you will have a peaceful and invigorating existence as a therapist. That may sound flippant, but attaching your self-esteem with certainty to the uncertainty of whether a particular technique will be successful or whether the person will get better, can be a very draining thing to do.

Many therapists find their work exhausting. In reflecting on my own experiences as a tired, frustrated, ‘fed up’ therapist, I hope you can see more clearly that this doesn’t have to be the case, identifying this predicament maybe a first step. We seek out the latest techniques, the latest theories as to what we should be doing to improve ourselves as therapists, but no one tells us how we should be. Exploration of a way of being is perhaps worthy of consideration.

THE AUTHOR

Stuart Robertson teaches both national and internationally on the facial system, as well as having a clinical practice in Somerset. He has broad clinical experience having worked with both international sportsmen and people with chronic pain. For further information see www.dmbem.com

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