What would make you want to do THIS?
I get this a lot. I understand, it’s generally not something you are aware of until you need it.
The first thought when a patient asks me why I would want to do this is “you’ll see”. Sometimes I say just that, sometimes I worry it sounds arrogant. The point is…when you see how this could change your life, you will see how I would want to be a part of it.
Truth is, I’m actually very selfish. It makes me feel good to see change that really matters to people and their families. I enjoy seeing hope in a person who is just starting out and is nervous, or in the person who has been everywhere, had every test, and still has complaints. It makes me happy to help relationships heal the intimacy they miss or never fully had. I love being able to tell a person that what they are experiencing is real and valid. I am proud to contribute to increasing awareness that these issues exist in abundance, are under-diagnosed, and most often completely treatable. That’s why I do this.
I also find the human body and its ability to survive, heal, and create completely amazing. Every single day, I am in awe at what the body does for each one of us. Our complexity veiled in simplicity is incredible. My mentor told me that we (health care providers) will never be as skilled or smart as the body itself. Respecting the body’s own potential is critical. My job is not to “fix”. My job is to “remove the barriers and the body will heal itself”. When we find the barriers and apply specific techniques and changes to move them, the body happily goes back to a smooth running, self-monitoring machine.
Almost all of us are unaware of how much we are telling our body and that it is constantly listening and adjusting. Our food, sleep, behaviors, anxiety, etc all gives the body information about our world and it accommodates as necessary for our survival. This makes the point of
Practice makes perfect. Be careful what you practice
We may be unknowingly giving the body information we don’t really need or intent, or is simply untrue, yet it goes about doing exactly what it is designed to do, survive based on the situation. My job is to help you do better than survive. Survival alone can become fatiguing and often unsustainable in the long term. Let’s work on our practices (thoughts, movements, chronic behavior, posture, emotions), to optimize the body’s ability to run smoothly.
That seems like a tangent, but explaining what I find so fascinating about the body helps understand why I want to be a part of each unique journey.
If know you have problem, get help. Soon. As soon as you are ready. If you are unsure if you have a problem, let’s be honest, you probably do. We constantly tell the body things, let’s start listening – and responding. Your body is telling you things. It will tell you when there is imbalance. Every symptom is the body trying to tell us something.
So, if you have pain, leaks of urine, digestive trouble, constipation, erectile or other sexual dysfunction, pelvic organ prolapse, urinary or fecal urgency, scars that haven’t healed well, separation of the abdominal musculature, or any number of issues that can occur in this region, your body is speaking to you. Is it weakness, pressure control, muscle guarding due to threat of harm?
Find someone who knows the language and can translate it to you. Once you and your body speak the same language, communication is much easier.
After you go through healing and look back, it will be very clear to you why I chose this for my career. I simply couldn’t do anything else after seeing what we can do.