Lets get motivated

The Clinics
We continue to offer chiropractic services and most massage therapy treatments in both clinics. With separation on different floors and increased waiting room space, we constantly monitor our activities for safety and well being.

We welcome a new massage therapist Samantha Morris to the Farnham clinic. She has some availability so call the clinic or book online if you wish to book a treatment.

Front Desk
We have some new staff! We are currently training our new recruits: Charlie, Cathi, Sab and Sarah, so you might see new faces behind the desk at various points over the next couple of weeks while they learn the ropes.

We are delighted to announce that our front desk staff will be returning to the clinics from the 7th September to pick up where they left off in March. In the meantime we say goodbye to Karen and Helen who are off to pursue new ventures. We thank them for their support and wish them well.

The Studio
We have been heartened by all the well wishes and positive feedback on our Studio, its offering and our instructors and the requests to open back up and run classes again. We didn't want to do so until we felt we could ensure your safety and well being and we could adhere to the guidelines laid down by Public Health England.

Our initial focus has been to safely open the clinics and offer chiropractic and massage therapy treatments first and now we feel ready to welcome people back into The Studio. Movement and exercise is often an essential part of the rehabilitation journey and so now we wish to re-establish our Studio classes as part of this process.

We are aiming for an opening date of 21st September 2020 but will confirm this shortly in a separate communication.

Our space is large and airy and our class sizes have always been purposefully small so that we can focus on each individual. All participants can be 2m apart and we will continue to ensure the space is cleaned and ventilated between each class. We encourage you to bring your own equipment to class but will have restricted availability for some specific items that will be sanitised and stored appropriately.

We have adapted our timetable for the immediate future to take into account class spacing, class sizes and safety requirements but you should still find a class for your needs. This will be published shortly.

As a reminder of the types of classes we offer, please click on the link below.

What is motivation?
Motivation is the desire to act in service of a goal. It's the crucial element in setting and attaining one's objectives and research shows that people can influence their own levels of motivation and self control.

Motivation can have many sources and often people have multiple motives for engaging in any one behaviour. Motivation might be:

Extrinsic, whereby a person is inspired by outside forces, other people or events.
Intrinsic, whereby the inspiration comes from within a person - the desire to improve at a certain activity. Intrinsic motivation tends to push people more forcefully and the accomplishments are often more fulfilling.

How do you start working on a goal?
The first step is to set specific, achievable objectives.

First, think about why you’re setting the goal and what you want to change. What's the next job you'd like to obtain? How do you hope your relationship improves? Identifying the importance of the goal can focus attention and strengthen the motivation to accomplish it.

Divide the overarching goal into a series of small, specific, measurable tasks. Small goals are easier to accomplish and checking each one off the list may invigorate you to keep going, as will the hit of dopamine delivered after completing a task. Making items measurable also allows you to recognise and celebrate when each one is finished and then move on to the next step.

Goals should be calibrated at a precise level of difficulty. If the goal is too hard, you might be too intimidated to begin. If the goal is too easy, you might be too bored to finish. The optimal goal is slightly out of reach - it presents a challenge that’s attainable. This concept is called the Goldilocks effect: people engage most with material at the precipice of complexity.

Create a plan to accomplish each small goal. Balance a realistic understanding of the challenges ahead with confidence that you can overcome them.

What if I lack motivation?
Everyone feels demotivated or devoid of willpower at times. Even accomplishing a big goal can, paradoxically, lead to a listless lack of direction, as there's a sudden motivational void that needs to be filled but no bullseye objective yet in sight.

If you're chronically unmotivated or unable to begin a task that is of clear importance, several possibilities are in play. Your goals may need to be re-calibrated, usually because the task is too big or too amorphous and needs to be broken into smaller components, as discussed above. You may be experiencing burnout.

You may lack confidence, rather than motivation and are therefore afraid to proceed. Close in kin to a lack of confidence are perfectionism and procrastination which we discussed in a previous newsletter. If you inherently doubt your ability to accomplish the task at hand, you may feel anxiously motivated but incapable of taking action. It's in the gap between motivation and execution that many forms of self sabotage and self doubt lie and it's important to identify what thought processes intercept the pipeline to goal achievement.

Finally, depression or dysthymia (persistent mild depression) can lead to a sense of apathy. In these cases, lack of motivation is a symptom of low mood. The anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure in pleasurable activities) associated with depression may be due to the neuro-circuitry that regulates reward and motivation not working in tandem.

When you visit your chiropractor, do you ever think of the full array of skills and knowledge your chiropractor can offer?

Chiropractors are extensively trained in the assessment, diagnosis, prevention and management of musculoskeletal conditions. To help relieve pain and dysfunction, joint manipulation is only one of many tools chiropractors are trained to perform effectively and safely.

However, in order to optimise outcomes, you have an important role to play in supporting your care. Studies have shown that chiropractic adjustments work best and are most effective when done in conjunction with other therapies like exercise.

Exercise, in addition to passive care such as manipulation and soft tissue therapy, can be an important component to recovery.

Click on the link to read why exercise and movement are an important part of the chiropractic approach.

Have you slacked off on your exercise routine? Maintaining your motivation is a very important task when developing a healthy lifestyle. Creating a solid routine is imperative to maintaining your discipline and sparking your motivation. But go easy on yourself. Think and plan small, have a long term aim, plan for small steady changes and remember it’s about changing habits and a lifestyle that gets results.

To tie in with our 5 year anniversary of the opening of the Studio, here are 5 tips to get you back on track and increasing your motivation to make a change in no time!