After my last article discussing trauma, I had a phone call from a beautiful lady called Renae. She is the owner and operator of Creative Body Flow, and an aerial yoga instructor here on the Mountain. What an amazing background she has in helping people who have suffered various types of trauma, among other things, and the way she is able to use her skills now to help in a physical outlet for this is incredible. She invited me to come along and try a session… which got me thinking about the matter of “Trust”.

Being a busy health professional, it’s not often now that I am on the flip side of receiving an intervention that I have never experienced before, or at least know a fair bit about. But this really had me thinking – what would it involve? Who was this lady? What would the practice of aerial yoga ACTUALLY include? I had seen some of those photos and spoken to other people – would she expect me to do some pretty crazy stunts or go into an inversion position? I almost started thinking perhaps I wouldn’t go. I almost talked myself out of it. But… curiosity got the better of me. And I am sure glad it did.

I started thinking about all of our amazing patients who we have been incredibly lucky to help over the years.

How must have they felt the first time they walked through the doors of Physique? Had they heard things about what a “physio” did before? Had they told their story to others and not been listened to? Were they really nervous about what to expect or what we would do to them, or expect them do something out of their comfort zone?

Good old Google defines Trust as “the firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something”.

Well, I want to thank you for placing your trust in me, in us. For not just entrusting your physical ailments, but also for sharing your personal struggles. To the person who is struggling to walk due to pain while also caring for their husband and daughter who has cancer.

To the person who is in constant pain with migraines and still has to get up and look after their family daily.
To the person who has had constant back pain and surgeries, and whose world has been turned upside down as a result. To the person who has an unexpected disorder affecting their nervous system, but still has to run the household and put their kids first. To the person who used to run marathons and now can barely walk some days due to a rare nerve condition.

There are so many more. Thank you for taking the step and being curious about whether physiotherapy could help you. Thank you for trusting us to be reliable, capable and truthful – even if that means admitting we don’t always know everything but will help you take the next step. And thank you allowing us to trust you too, for teaching us a lot and holding space for us to learn from you all as result.