Inner Vitamins for Healers

by Coach Cary Bayer

Recently, while preparing for a road trip, I was packing jars of vitamins and happened to examine the minimum daily requirement labels on each one. It dawned on me that human beings also have minimum daily requirements for what I call "inner vitamins."

Inner vitamins, you ask? I'm referring to emotional qualities that build the heart and soul. They're analogous to the vitamins that build our bodies. After coaching more than 150 licensed massage therapists, as well as dozens of other healing arts practitioners from chiropractors and MDs to psychologists and hypnotherapists on how to empower their businesses, I've discovered that there are reasons why some healers feel forced to take full-time jobs to pay their bills, while others thrive doing the work they were trained to do. The biggest factor-assuming that the healers are good at what they do-is the lack of self-confidence.

As human beings, we have a minimum daily requirement for various nutrients, minerals and vitamins. If we don't get enough vitamin A, for example, our immune system can be compromised, our vision, bone formation, hair, and skin can suffer. As human beings, we also have a minimum daily requirement for what I like to call vitamin A1. I'm referring to appreciation. We also need vitamin A2--acknowledgment.

The word "vitamin" didn't appear in Webster's dictionary until 1912. For centuries, medical people didn't know that there existed "organic substances that are essential in minute quantities to the nutrition of most animals." Similarly, for centuries we didn't know the need for analogous emotional substances. Few traditionally-trained medical people today think of such needs either. Fortunately, many of you reading this column now are becoming increasingly aware of the need for this. Perhaps by 2012, medical professionals will also recognize the inner role they play in keeping us healthy on all levels.

"Inner vitamins" can be made available through a simple process that involves you and another person, and takes no more than two to four minutes. If you have a significant other, it's wise to do this with him or her. If not, do it with your roommate, your co-workers, or clients. If you live alone, do it with a friend. This process has been done at the workplace of some of the companies where I've consulted. It can also be done on the telephone.

Here's how to get your minimum daily requirement of vitamin A1: Acknowledge your partner in this process, while she says, "Thank you." The process goes like this:

Partner: "Something I'd like to acknowledge you for is your commitment to your healing arts business." You: "Thank you." Partner: "Something I'd like to acknowledge you for is what a fabulous therapist (or healer) you are." You: "Thank you."

And so on. After a minute or two, switch roles so that you can acknowledge your partner as well. Use your willpower to resist saying, "If you knew me better, you'd never say such nice things about me." When you're done, thank each other for providing your minimum daily requirements of appreciation.

So many of the massage therapists--professional givers almost without exception--often have a difficult time receiving. (I've given the keynote address at their national convention, and coached more than 150 of them, so I've seen this over and over again.) This can mean receiving acknowledgment and compliments, love and respect, and reduced revenues for their professional talents. Many healing arts practitioners have a difficult time simply taking a compliment on their clothes. How many times has someone acknowledged a dress you were wearing, only to have you reply, "This old thing?" Or "I got it at Marshalls for 50 percent off."

Vitamins A1 and A2 aren't the only inner vitamins you need each day. Others include Vitamin E1 (Enthusiasm); Vitamin H (Happiness); Vitamin H1 (Hugs); Vitamin K (Kindness); Vitamin L (Love); Vitamin M (Meditation); Vitamin R (Respect); and Vitamin V (Visualization). If you'd like real health, add these essential inner vitamins daily.

While many of these inner vitamins are taken orally and involve another person like the appreciation process described above, some of them can also be done alone. For example, another terrific acknowledgment process can be done alone-either verbally by you-or with another person present. It looks something like the following: "Something I want to acknowledge myself for is what a great hypnotherapist I am." "Something I want to acknowledge myself for is how sensitive my intuition is to a client's pain."

And so on. If you do it alone, run these acknowledgments one after another for about a minute. If you do it with a partner, have her say thank you and continue, again for a minute. The value of this is immense-it gives you a clear and powerful awareness of just how good you are as a healer, and therefore, how you deserve financial success. This level of self-confidence inspires clients and inspires you to persevere, even if your client roster drops.

Another inner vitamin is Vitamin V, visualization. Olympic champs wolf down this "substance," visualizing winning performances, whether they compete on a high bar, a skating rink or in a pool. Successful people in sports and business fill their mind's eye with thoughts and images of success. Try visualizing a full appointment book or see in your mind's eye a client signing up for a package of 10 appointments or treatments. Vitamin V can make a difference in your business.

Another powerful exercise to transform your consciousness so that you can build a more prosperous, say, hypnotherapy business, is to remind yourself of your successes during the day. Perhaps you gained a new client, or received a call from a friend you hadn't heard from in years. Perhaps you received a gift. It can be small stuff too: the great buys found at a yard sale, the quarter found in the street, the CD burned as a gift for you by a friend. For the days where "everything went wrong," you need to look harder. Consider the compliment on the sweater you wore to the party where your boyfriend left with someone else; the nice backhand you hit in a 6-0, 6-0 trouncing you suffered in tennis; your courage to go on, despite your freefall.

Do this one-minute process at the end of the day before going to bed.

When you find that it takes 10 minutes because your day is filled with so much good news, grin and bear your growing success. Soon, you'll no longer need to keep reminding yourself of the obvious.

Cary Bayer (www.carybayer.com) was keynote speaker at the 2006 American Massage Therapy Association national convention. Widely known as The Business Coach for Massage Therapists, Cary is a Life Coach; CE provider licensed by NCBTMB and Florida Dept. of Health's Board of Massage Therapy; and faculty member of Massage Business University, he writes for Massage Today, massage publications in 14 states, and a syndicated column, "Life 101," that runs in wellness publications. His 27 publications include 11 specifically for massage therapists. He's coached some 150 LMTs and dozens of alternative healers. His CE seminars, "Build a $100,000 a Year Massage Business" and "Healer, Heal Thyself," are very popular among alternative facilitators.