Why Quarantine was the best thing for me

While I am slightly stressed about the COVID-19 situation, I also realize this is something I have no control over. Everything happens for a reason, I just don’t know what that reason is. I like many other massage therapists, face a time that none of us could ever think would happen. Most have no money saved and have no idea how to work remotely since we touch people for a living. How do you touch people through a screen? Many of us have been able to “pivot and shift” but many have not. It’s scary trying to navigate a new business plan and stepping outside of your comfort zone. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I am thankful that I have already adapted some ideas on how to work remotely as I get older and get near retirement, but I was not ready to go head on into this. But quarantine forced me to look at everything and I mean everything in my life, from our finances, to the grocery list, to what was necessary and what was frivolous, what needed to change and what could stay.

This my friends is why quaratine was good for me. It has made me re-evaluate my game plan for the future, professionally and financially. It has made me realize what really is important to me. It has given me permission to just be. It has given me time and space to work on me and my mental and emotional health which is huge in my autoimmune disease recovery. I will not be the same therapist when I return, thanks to all the wonderful therapists, mentors and colleagues of mine who have graciously given their time to deliver top notch information so I can study and learn even more new things! For all the companies that I have wanted to take classes from but couldn’t because of time, travel or money who are offering their courses online at a reduced cost! I have been busy cultivating other business practices and exploring other types of therapies to help all my clients (remotely). It has given me time to de-clutter at home and get all those projects done that have been idle. It has forced me to slow down, listen to my body and give it what it needs. I have been able to meet other therapists from around the globe and have been able to extend my sessions online to people in other states and countries! It has forced me to learn how to become efficient at remote muscle testing and learn other creative ways to help my clients. Remote sessions kept me grounded and connected to my clients and my business. It gave me purpose. It made me realize that I can make a living doing what I love remotely. It also made me realize that I don’t need to physically be there with someone to make a impact in their health and pain levels. I primarily used movement for my assessments and for my treatments. Between breath and movement quality, I was able to work with clients and end up with the same result as an in office session. So what am I really doing with manual therapy? I will be forever grateful for my mentor Joseph Schwartz who continues to teach me his wisdom.

Something not many know that happened to me was back in March right before the AGOQ (the second stage for the CrossFit games) I started feeling off, tired, achy, depressed, and no motivation to workout. I made a appointment with my Func Med Doc to have some labwork done. Well after 4.5 years of being well and having my symptoms under control, I found out my kidney function was off ( from eating too much protein and overtraining) my thyroid antibodies were through the roof, my TSH was off, my A1C and cholesterol went up and a bunch of other things elevated due to the increase in inflammation in my system from all the stress from the past year(left my old gym and moved offices 3 x) and over training. I had so many changes over the last year, I was angry why everything was being taken away from me! I was angry at many things and sad from all the loss I took on. This is why quarantine has been good for me.

It has been the great pause for me, hitting the reset button. Re-evaluating everything. Making changes, purging, eliminating, cleansing, detoxing, restoring. I’m glad to say in the 2 months my labs are much better, my kidneys are back to normal and my inflammatory markers are coming down. Will I ever be able to compete competitively? Probably not, but I’m still going to be a really good masters athlete! At this point, I am starting to explore other types of movements with the help from my mentor. Movements that work well in developing body awareness, gait, kinetic chains, breath which I have already started to use with alot of my movement work with my clients. Getting strong in these positions will provide one the foundation on which to build strength off of. It’s just like coaching gymnastics. One needs good foundational strength and body awareness to master this.

Moving forward, I will not be returning to the same business that was abandoned due to a virus that was out of my control. I am not the same therapist. I have grown and developed even more skills and will continue to learn to help as many people as I can. That is my life’s goal. I want to give back to everyone what was given to me. I have spent countless hours taking courses in advance neurology such as IKN(Integrated Kinetic Neurology), AiM (anotomy in motion), Somatic, energy, trauma and hypnosis, ID (immaculate dissection), scolimethod, ANF(amino neuro frequency) and advanced lymphatic techniques including organ resets. I have managed to convert the framework for my business into an online school so everyone can learn the messages I want to get out to people, there is no excuse that people can’t come in to see me or work with me because it is all digitalized now! I still have a few more courses to finish up, but learning how to breathe, brace and pelvic floor is up as well as the autoimmune protocol, saving your shoulders, cleaning out your lymph, dry brushing for the lymphatics, how to get your first pull up, move well rx mobility and activation, top drill to be a injury free golfer, trainers guide to assessing your clients, CBD for beginners. I have also loaded all my videos onto my you tube channel for free so you can learn how to restore your joints, breath better, work you core etc…I also launched KB Athletics which focuses on the training and nutrition aspect of clients. And lastly my subscription based Vimeo On Demand is being finalized. Now anyone, from anywhere, can take me with them! There will be short and longer videos of mobility flow, kinetic chain movement, joint flossing drills, joint restoration videos, club bell training as well as steel mace and workouts. Bascially my you tube videos but longer.

So if your not ready to navigate in the world yet due to this virus, please know that I am still here to support you anyway that I can, in office, digitally and virtually:)