To me, health is about more than just the place where someone is experiencing pain at that moment.
In my work as a physiotherapist, I regularly notice that a physical complaint is not the only thing someone is struggling with. During a treatment, the conversation might suddenly turn to poor sleep. To stress at work. To not knowing how to exercise responsibly. Or to the question of what healthy nutrition actually is. It is precisely those conversations that I find interesting. They show that health consists of many different components that can influence one another.
That is also why I recently completed further training in lifestyle therapy. I would like to start using the knowledge I gained there more within Energetisch Centrum Leonardus. In doing so, Positive Health particularly appeals to me.
My Positive Health spider web
What do I mean by Positive Health?
When we think of health, we often quickly consider whether or not someone has complaints or an illness. Positive Health invites us to look broader. For example, how is your sleep? How do you move? What does your diet look like? Are you able to relax sufficiently? How are your social contacts? But also: do you find fulfillment in your work and in the things you do in your spare time?
I find that broad perspective important because people are very different. Take exercise. The question is not just whether someone moves enough. It is also about which form of movement suits a person. Are you doing something you enjoy and can sustain?
The same applies to relaxation. Many people think of relaxing as, for example, sitting on the couch and watching Netflix. But is that actually the moment when you truly find rest? For one person, walking works very well; for another, it is sports, making music, or spending time with friends. Meditation or mindfulness can also be an option, but it certainly does not have to be the solution for everyone.
For me, it is not about prescribing a single correct lifestyle. Rather, I want to explore together: what suits you?
Sleep, nutrition, movement, and relaxation
Thanks to my further training, I have more tools to make lifestyle-related questions discussable in my work. I notice, for instance, that people have questions about healthy nutrition or losing weight. Others want to move more but do not quite know how to start. I also see people for whom sleep problems play a role.
Additionally, within Leonardus, we regularly treat people with stress-related complaints or burnout. In those cases, I find it interesting not to look only at the immediate complaint. What does someone’s daily life look like? Is there enough room for recovery and relaxation? How are things at work? Are there sufficient social contacts?
In this context, meaning may also come up. Do you still find fulfillment in your work? Does what you do make you happy? And if not, what does give you energy?
These are big questions. As a therapist, I am naturally not going to determine for someone which choices he or she should make. Ultimately, everyone decides for themselves what to do with certain insights or advice. I see my role primarily in asking the right questions and offering practical tools.
Not everyone needs a lifestyle trajectory
The fact that I have delved deeper into lifestyle therapy does not mean I will apply this to every patient from now on. It must suit the person and their specific request for help.
Sometimes such a conversation arises naturally during a physiotherapeutic treatment. Someone might mention sleeping poorly or ask what constitutes sensible exercise. I can then use the knowledge from my training without it having to become a separate lifestyle trajectory immediately. That is exactly what I find valuable: as a physiotherapist, I have gained an extra instrument.
At this moment, I have not yet offered lifestyle therapy as a fully independent trajectory. However, I have used parts of it several times during treatments.
Would you like to take a broader look at your own health?
What I like about Positive Health is that you can also get started with it yourself.
Through My Positive Health, you can answer questions about various aspects of your health and daily life. This gives you a broader picture of how you are doing and helps you discover which topics are important to you.
I do not see it as a test that tells you what is ‘wrong’ with you. It is primarily an invitation to consciously reflect on questions such as: how am I actually doing? What am I satisfied with? What do I find important? And in which area would I like to change something?
Curious about what this could mean for you? View My Positive Health and fill in the questions for yourself:
Do you recognize yourself in this and want to get started?
Within Leonardus, we would like to take the next step. Therefore, we are looking for a number of people who recognize themselves in the topics of this blog and who want to look broader at their health and lifestyle together with me.
We want to explore with these participants where opportunities lie for them. This could involve movement, nutrition, sleep, and relaxation, for example, but also social contacts, work, meaning, and quality of life. The starting point is always the person themselves: what is important to you and what would you like to work on?
In doing so, we want not only to provide guidance but also to learn from what happens along the way. Therefore, we would like to follow the participants over a longer period and, where possible, record changes, experiences, and personal insights.
With the express permission of the participants, we also want to publish parts of those experiences, for example via our website and social media. Not to prove in advance that this approach works for everyone, but to give others an honest picture of what working on Positive Health can mean in daily life. Even the things that prove to be difficult are, as far as I am concerned, part of that story.
That is why we are looking for people who not only want to work on their own health but are also open to letting others learn from their experiences.
Do you recognize yourself in this and would you like to be one of the participants? Then we invite you to sign up at Energetisch Centrum Leonardus. We will then discuss together what you would like to change, what suits you, and exactly what participation entails.
For me, that is also where Positive Health becomes interesting: not just talking about a healthy lifestyle, but discovering together what health means for someone personally and which changes are achievable in real life.
Because to me, health is about more than just the place where someone is experiencing pain at that moment.
Sometimes change begins with looking broader and asking yourself a different question.
Youri Bemelmans Energetic and Physiotherapist Energetisch Centrum Leonardus
Disclaimer
The information in this article is intended solely for sharing general knowledge and does not replace personal medical advice. Always contact a qualified healthcare provider for health complaints or questions. The insights described are based on the knowledge available at the time of publication.