70 | June 2013 www.womanthismonth.com To be a really good and responsible life coach or holistic practitioner takes years of training. Often people fail to realise that holistic therapies deal with people’s health and mind, body and spirit. “People’s lives are not for playing with,” adds Julie. “When I discuss these things or speak out about them I have people say to me ‘I don’t believe in training; either you have the gift or not, I use my intuition and that’s all that is needed, it does no harm’. “However, this is not true in any way. In the old days, before today’s modern medicine, those who did all the healing would have been apprentices for many years, working alongside an experienced healer. They would learn the trade, the pitfalls and good things, and understand how the body works as well as the minimum. This would be followed by lessons about herbs, crystals and antidotes; it would be a gradual process.” Not surprisingly, Julie believes that holistic therapists and practitioners — when taught properly — learn very quickly that they are just there to help facilitate the healing process. “There is no place for the ego. A properly trained life coach would know and do the same. In their case the moment their ego steps in or they decide they know what the client needs, over the clients inner knowing or ‘agenda’, they are no longer doing their job correctly; they are probably mentoring or even just telling!” Julie goes on to say that “...if you are going to visit a holistic therapist, check their credentials. You would not visit a medical doctor who was not fully trained and passed all the necessary qualifications. Why would you want to be healed/treated/coached by someone who has no professional qualifications? “It is these untrained and often egotistic therapists/coaches that give the industry a bad name. In the Middle East I am often asked if I can give people a qualification without them doing all the learning, both practical and theory. I get very upset with this because people think it is acceptable practice to cheat at anything and not learn anything fully, or the parts they don’t want to know or find difficult. “When I say no, they simply get cross or no longer want to learn. It’s like buying a degree, there needs to be learning” Reiki “Reiki these days is everywhere and most people have heard of it,” Julie comments. “When this amazing therapy is taught properly, its healing power is simply amazing — both physically and emotionally. However, it is about healing the self before others; properly trained reiki therapists are taught this and understand it. “There are principals that a reiki practitioner lives by and they can bring that peace to all. It is so misused and wrongly taught, with people being attuned over the Internet with so many myths and tales around it, that it too has become the source of very bad press and weirdness.” Julie believes that holistic therapies, often know as new age, have a bad reputation because of some of the people associated with it and their lack of responsibility and yet complementary and alternative therapies are extremely powerful and when used alongside modern medicine and ways, anything wonderful can happen and does. Julie says she has seen this many times. For further information about Julie, visit www.consciousconnections.com. Parenting Top Tips Take note of these tips to maximise the benefit to you: l You must like the holistic therapist or life coach you are working with. They are there to help you help yourself. l Check credentials to see if they are registered with an affiliated body or recognised institution/school/college. There are professional qualifications in all therapies that provide access to additional help, information and support for practitioners. l Check how long they have been practicing, who they were trained by. If you feel uncomfortable or you feel something is not right, leave! l Ask for references and the best ones usually come by word of mouth. Good therapists will be busy and their reputation will follow them. l A responsible and professionally trained holistic therapist will never diagnose an illness, or tell you to stop taking any medication you maybe on. They will always work with you alongside medical doctors and they will always recommend you seek medical or other help if they feel you need it.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk0MTkxMQ==