Archive for January, 2007

Why an holistic approach to health doesn’t work

…did that get your attention? Me, a former holistic health coach and big proponent of the CHEK approach to health claiming it doesn’t work? What’s going on?
I don’t know what it is but I’ve had a nagging feeling recently that all is not as it should be.
I think it was triggered by an article I [...]

…did that get your attention? Me, a former holistic health coach and big proponent of the CHEK approach to health claiming it doesn’t work? What’s going on?

I don’t know what it is but I’ve had a nagging feeling recently that all is not as it should be.

I think it was triggered by an article I read in the Sunday Times a week or so ago. It was about the experience & expectations of the journalist who had just hired a leading UK personal trainer for a 4 week blast to get rid of a little paunch round her middle.

I can’t put my finger on it but there was something about what she wrote that triggered something in my brain – and it’s been languishing there as a partially-formed idea ever since. It’s bugging me, so I’m writing this in an attempt to coax it out.

I think it’s got to do with the fact that so many people use the term “holistic” nowadays that it’s boring.

It no longer means anything and it seems to be simply another adjective that people use when they want to convey that their approach is something more than average, something special and something better.

Except it’s usually not. It’s usually the same old stuff that pays lip service to a holistic approach.

I am not saying that a truly holistic approach to health doesn’t work – quite the contrary, I still believe it is the only approach to health one should take.

What I am saying is that if you are a CHEK practitioner, a CHEK exercise Coach or a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach (aaagh, there’s that term again) or anyone who works in the health & fitness industry, it might be an idea to move ahead of the game and not continue to follow the crowd.

In my humble opinion, “holistic” health is just another term that goes straight over most people’s heads.

All they really, really want to know is…can you help them? If you don’t answer an emphatic and confident “YES” within the first sentence or two, you’ve probably lost them before you’ve even got to second base.

Client Ups and Downs

I’ve been reminded this week just how much I enjoy what I do.
If it weren’t for all our exciting adventures coming up, I’d be quite happy living vicariously through my client’s lives (quite, not totally!).
This week alone I’ve spoken to clients who between them:
- Work for a royal family, lords & ladies
- Are starting up [...]

I’ve been reminded this week just how much I enjoy what I do.

If it weren’t for all our exciting adventures coming up, I’d be quite happy living vicariously through my client’s lives (quite, not totally!).

This week alone I’ve spoken to clients who between them:

- Work for a royal family, lords & ladies
- Are starting up new ventures in somewhat uncharted locations for the health & wellbeing industry
- Are investigating their own moves overseas
- Have reached, & in some cases, exceeded the goals we set for January
- Have started working with their very first clients – a big milestone & great achievement
- Are currently challenged financially but have all the tools, resources & support they need to thrive from here on out
- Are really starting to realise what it is they want and how they might just get there

Whilst the work can sometimes be challenging – gosh, clients can be just so demanding sometimes – perhaps, they like me, have that mantra in their head from some advert on the telly “BE MORE DEMANDING!” – it is always an absolute pleasure to see progress, success and achievement.

In the name of my blog…Success Rocks!!

Hooey, it’s weird!

Living with the parentals again feels very odd.
Strictly speaking Robert, my stepdad, is not a proper parental but it still kind of counts. We’re living with him until we move to Panama (less than 3 weeks to go now, can you believe it?!?) as our flat is pretty much sold now.
As things go he is [...]

Living with the parentals again feels very odd.

Strictly speaking Robert, my stepdad, is not a proper parental but it still kind of counts. We’re living with him until we move to Panama (less than 3 weeks to go now, can you believe it?!?) as our flat is pretty much sold now.

As things go he is much more relaxed, easy going and fun than a ‘normal’ parent. And what’s even nicer is that he really, really seems to enjoy having us. I think that although he’s been fine since my Mum died, rattling around a fairly large house is much more fun when you’ve got other people in it with you.

He also likes having young people around the flat and we definitely open his eyes to some of the new-fangled things going on in our hip, young world. The same hip, young world where we go out for early dinners so we can be tucked up in bed by 11pm!!!

I think he will also enjoy getting more familiar with his new computer. We’ve had the ‘Basics of Hotmail’ parts 1, 2 and 3. But I’m still not convinced he knows the difference between hotmail being on the internet and not actually on his computer. It’s definitely a challenge to my coaching!!!

However, I am proving to him how patient I can be – after he originally asked J if he’d teach him because he wasn’t sure how patient I’d be.

I think he’s possibly now ready for creating & filing things in folders on the desktop. I set some up a while ago for his various different architecture projects but I’m not sure anything’s been saved to them yet. ‘We’ also had a minor challenge printing things out yesterday, when ‘we’ realised that the reason it wasn’t working was because it wasn’t switched on.

To be fair, I had changed the plugs around so it isn’t usually switched off.

Anyway, it actually doesn’t feel that odd. It’s nice to be able to relax a bit, have a couple of saunas to acclimatise to the Panamanian heat before we go and generally just pootle about.

We’ve got Tanja – Robert’s daughter & my stepsis coming to stay at the weekend for a week. That should be even more fun with Dominic & Matthew – both gorgeous, cheeky and typical two-some terrors. J will be in his element.

Robert and I are just glad we’ve still got use of our flat for a few more days should we need a bit of peace and quiet!!!