I love this quote from Confucius. I am fortunate enough to be able to say that is how I feel about my own work, and I have also dedicated a good proportion of my own life in helping others to find work they love.
Mihaly Csziksentmihalyi was one of the first psychologists to investigate whenpeople were at their happiest. He had buzzers that interrupted people several times a day and asked them to note to what they were doing at that time, and how they were feeling. Surprisingly, he found that people were at their happiest when they were at work, rather than at leisure. It was at work that people had their most frequent experiences of flow, that state of being completely absorbed in what you do, that for many turned ‘work’ into ‘play’.
I am well aware however from my background in Career Guidance, that this isn’t the case for everyone. Consequently, I have always been delighted to be involved with the Irish Association of Holistic Medicine, which for 30 years has been training people for highly rewarding and meaningful careers.
Holistic medicine puts the person of the practitioner and the client centre stage. Unlike traditional medicine, where diagnosis is king, and the “magic bullet” theory reigns supreme, holistic medicine is more concerned with what sort of person has the problem.
The central concept in holistic medicine is that of ki, chi, life force, prana, vital force, that runs through all living things. Disease is seen as an interruption in this flow. Disease is seen as an interruption in this flow. Just as when a branch is cut from a tree, the sap will cease to flow, when we, either through stress, the wrong type of food, wrong type of thinking or not using our body properly get cut off from our source of life inside, the flow of vital force is weakened and problems of one type or another arise. A lot of the most recent research in psycho neuro immunolgy is backing up this ancient view – we are even less susceptible when exposed to the common cold virus when we are feeling more positive!
So if the job is to put the person back in touch with their underlying energy, the person and the presence of the practitioner is most important. The best results will come from someone who has a connection with that life and can help draw it out in others, very much a case of ‘physician, heal thyself‘.
The holistic philosophy, self development of the practitioner, their connection with life itself, their capacity to be fully present, is the foundation module of all the holistic medicine courses, and the one that I personally teach. Of course, technique and knowledge come into it. So if you are studying ki massage, massage technique comes into it as well as learning to flow energy. If studying to be a yoga teacher, of course practice of the exercises and class presentation skills come into it as well as meditation and philosophy. If studying nutrition, of course learning all about the different nutritional essentials, and observing the client and taking careful case histories are essential. All the courses include an Anatomy and Physiology module, essential for all practitoners.
INVITATION
If you would like to learn more about any of these areas, I am inviting you to a holistic evening on Thursday 10th September from 6.30 to 8.30 where you can meet our teachers and sample some of our therapies in action. Please RSVP by email if you would like to come, and also if there is any particular course that interests you.
Margaret
Holistic Evening
** Free **
66 Eccles St., Dublin 7
Thursday 10th September, 6.30 to 8.30 pm.
Please RSVP to ihcaoffice@gmail.com if you would like to come
Further details on these professional training courses on www.holisticmedicine.ie