Every February there is a day dedicated to the act of kindness. It is great that this is highlighted on this day, however, I am sure most of you will agree that it is actually something that needs to be acted upon every day, if not several times a day.
I wanted to share with you just how much someone’s life can improve when they are on the receiving end of an act of kindness.
I have a client who joined me recently in my online low-impact class. She has a variety of health issues which, more often than not, cause her terrible pain. Day to day living has become one ball of pain. The ultimate goal is to have surgery on the painful joints. However, waiting lists are long and until she is called for surgery she decided to try one of my classes.
On paper it looked like this was the ideal class for her, but it turned out to be way more than that.
When she first came to the class she was very quiet, quite sceptical, and generally not engaging much. The more I spoke with her the more I discovered how she had tried exercise classes before and had felt very out of place and uncomfortable. In fact, the attitude of the others there actually made her stop exercising with them and ultimately stop exercising completely. But she was the one that lost out because that only made the pain worse.
Coming into our class, it took her about two weeks to realise that nobody here was going to judge or make her feel uncomfortable. In fact, the whole group rallied round and gave her so much positivity and kindness she was quite taken aback!
She may not have managed much movement in the first few weeks but with her confidence lifted and now feeling that this was a safe place for her, she has, over the weeks started to move more than she has been able to in a very long time. So much so that I feel like I am now meeting a different person in class now. She is smiling, talking, engaging and supporting others.
It is part of my ethos that I will always build my clients up emotionally as well as physically. But the fact that, without prompts, the rest of the class made a conscious effort to be kind to this client and actively took an interest in her has really been the making of her.
Now when surgery does come round she will be as fit and ready as she can be and so her recovery will be that much easier. In the meantime she is managing more easily in her day to day life now, and with a far more positive outlook too. And all due to those acts of kindness from a few people that had such an impact.
The exercise has helped - it has helped immensely. But if she hadn’t felt welcome and safe she would not have stayed long enough to reap the benefits of the exercise.
This example shows how the 1st Step approach has really helped this client, and many others have experienced the same. Being in a non-judgmental environment with something as difficult as exercise when you have health issues, this can be the deciding factor as to whether someone feels they can manage an exercise class or not.
It should never be overlooked how someone feels, and a simple act of kindness can literality be the making of them!
If you would like to know more on how we can help you get moving again, then contact us on www.1ststeprfs.com for more information. Or call Kamal on 07846 597460