Holistic Therapies at The Secret Space
Since I have been working in the office at The Secret Space, I have been introduced to many new experiences. I have had a massage, tried meditation, had a Myofascial release therapy, EFT therapy, and I have tried out different yoga and pilates classes. Here are just two experiences I had that have benefited my life beyond working at The Secret Space.
EFT with Karen
Emotional freedom technique (EFT) is an alternative treatment for physical pain and emotional distress. I suffer from anxiety and I spoke with one of our therapists, Karen about it once. She recommended that I try her EFT sessions one time. Similar to acupuncture, EFT focuses on the meridian points - or energy hot spots - to restore balance to your body’s energy. It’s believed that restoring this energy balance can relieve symptoms a negative experience or emotion may have caused.
At the beginning of the session, Karen asked me to rate my anxiety on a scale from 1-10 and be really honest with myself about how I feel, I wrote it down on a sheet she gave me. This helps with monitoring your progress after performing a complete EFT sequence. This scale was just for myself to look at and monitor.
She then gave me a phrase to say: “Even though I have this [fear or problem], I deeply and completely accept myself.” I was working on my anxiety so I said, “Even though I have anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.” This was to acknowledge that I have anxiety and accept myself despite this. This phrase alone already gave a wave of relief, knowing that there is a way to live with anxiety and I don’t have to ‘fix myself’, I just have to accept myself.
We then started the tapping process. Karen walked me through how to tap and where I should tap when. I continued to repeat my phrase, out loud, as I was tapping to make sure my focus was on acknowledging and accepting my anxiety.
Finally, at the end of the session, Karen asked me to rate my anxiety on the scale once again. Much to my satisfaction, I found my anxiety had reduced a lot just from a short 30 minute session.
EFT is really great because I can use these tapping techniques Karen taught me in my day-to-day life when I am feeling overwhelmed or caught up over my anxiety.
Pilates with Alex
Most Monday’s when I was in the office, I would join Alex for pilates from 12:15-1:15. I already do a lot of physical exercise myself, but I hadn’t tried pilates yet.
Alex has a wonderful way of teaching that makes the session flow from one position to the next, the time goes by so fast that I couldn’t wait for the next session! During our group sessions, Alex took the time to focus on everyone individually and notice how we were doing, for example, if we had taken ourselves too far and needed to make an adjustment to our pose.
Alex’s class is focused on joint care so his classes are suitable for everyone, especially as he walks you through moderations for each move to allow your body to move how it can.
One of the main things I noticed after I started doing pilates is that I was more aware of my body’s reactions to certain movements. I knew my body’s limits and I had learned how to focus on listening to my body’s needs. I also noticed that I had taken this into physical activities I do outside of the class, in my workouts my form was a lot better because I understood my body better.