I met Cynthia Talone, or "Mrs T", as a 12 year old at the Conservatorium High School. As a teacher, she was our dynamic, engaging and compassionate PDHPE teacher. She introduced us to meditation, yoga, and various mindfullness practices - constant movement activities pervaded her classroom; with no tables or chairs present, her classroom was more likely to be filled with gym balls, hockey sticks or yoga mats! Later when I left the Con High and continued into Uni, we kept in touch - aside from the fact that Mrs T. is an excellent massage practitioner, she has always been supportive of my work and generous with her time. I thank her, as many of her students would, for imparting to us the importance of self-care and self-love, and I'm so excited to share this interview with you all:
1. A few words describing your mood and where you are writing this now
I’m presently in Mt White 1hr15m from Sydney at our weekender on the Hawkesbury river at Neverfail park. Feeling relaxed and refreshed after a swim and my first induction to crab hunting.
2. Describe your work.
My work has spanned 32 years and has revolved around education, personal development, health and natural therapies. The last three years I’ve drawn on these skills and expertise to enhance massage, coaching and workshop experiences for my clients.
3. What’s in a typical day? I smiled when I read this, as there is no typical day in my line of work any more. This last week was a busy one. Monday night, I ran a 90m Kombucha workshop for the Eastern Suburbs Community College, Tuesday night I massaged 5 of my regular clients @ Coogee Sports & Remedial Massage, Wednesday - Corporate massage & Life coaching @ CBA bank, CBD, Thursday & half day Saturday I dedicate to my regular massage or coaching clients who have a myriad of issues ranging from RSI, Fibromyalgia, back and neck tension, inflammatory issues, anxiety, stress and more. Friday I presented a Stress busting workshop to 180 young teen girls from Sydney Girls High. Phew!!! Some weeks I do half that amount of work and take advantage of the things that bring me joy - gardening, cooking, reading, relaxing, getting a massage and acupuncture, or going away for a few days to recoup. Downtime is “me-time” and it provides opportunities to work on my Corporate or Teen empowerment workshops or plan a coaching session or 2. There’s always something to do and every day is different, challenging and exciting.
4. How did you come to discover this work/(s), and how has it benefitted you personally? I’ve always been active, drawn to natural therapies, and love helping people achieve a sense of peace and clarity. Psychology could have easily been my calling. I do think my vocation(s) chose me in the end. I’ve worked in Education as PDHPE teacher, the Fitness industry as a Personal Trainer, Gym manager, as a guest massage therapist at exclusive retreats and done stints in corporate health presenting stress management workshops. One thing led to another, teaching led to fitness, to massage, to management to self-employment, back to teaching, and back to self-employment as Reactivate Health Management.
The benefits have been many and varied. From the wonderful relationships I’ve forged with former students and clients, to healing and facilitating positive change in the Health and Fitness industry.
I believe we teach best what we most need to learn, so I guess I’m still learning and as I segue into the last stages of my working life, I hope to still make a positive impact to all I meet, treat and work with.