REE GEORGE
Our Margot Muse this month is Ree George. Ree is a powerhouse health coach that specialises in helping others combat mental health issues through the use of movement and manual therapy.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Ree George and I am a PreKure Certified Health Coach specialising in Burnout, Anxiety and Addictive Behaviours. I work with clients who are experiencing disordered eating, have been diagnosed with Anxiety or Depression, or have a curiosity about the role alcohol plays in their lives. I also work with friends and family who have loved ones in the throes of an Addiction.
As a working Mum with three children I focus my coaching on women who are juggling busy lives, marriage/relationships, children, family and careers and who are possibly leaning on addictive behaviours to help them get through challenging times.
My belief is that wellness is a state of complete physical, mental and emotional wellbeing, and not merely the absence of illness and disease.
What Do You Do?
My background is in Physiotherapy and Pilates (movement and manual therapy). As a Health Coach I combine a hands-on approach of myofascial release/massage with stretching and flexibility to work with the body. I also use coaching techniques to stretch and release the mind, and peel away behaviour patterns, old beliefs and practices that are no longer serving my clients.
Other aspects of my Coaching practice include:
Breathing – helping clients recognise and improve disordered breathing patterns.
Walk and Talk – getting out and about with my clients to do coaching while we exercise!
Fitness – using my background in Physiotherapy to help clients lose weight, improve their fitness and strength by creating personalised fitness plans.
Aiming High – offer my clients the opportunity to chose a mountain they want climb, train together and organise a weekend away to conquer it!
What Is A Health Coach?
As a Health Coach I help clients identify and understand what they want to change in their lives, and guide them through the Coaching process to help them create lasting behaviour change. Making big changes without support and accountability can be incredibly difficult, and I am here to make the process a little easier.
What interests you about Lifestyle Medicine?
Lifestyle Medicine provides ‘an interdisciplinary, whole-system approach to the prevention and reversal of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases through the modification of the behavioural, social and environmental drivers’. In other words, Lifestyle Medicine is the evidence-based practice of helping individuals and families adopt and sustain healthy behaviours that affect health and quality of life.
Examples include:
- Improving diet
- Increasing physical activity
- Reducing stress
- Avoiding substance abuse
- Smoking cessation
- Moderating alcohol consumption
As a Health Coach I help individuals adopt positive lifestyle behaviours around nutrition, sleep, community/social connection, exercise, reducing intake of alcohol, managing stress, giving up smoking and improving diet, amongst other things. This in turn not only prevents disease, but treats and manages it – the ultimate aim is to intervene early enough to reverse some of the early indications of the above illness & disease, and turn the client around towards a long, healthy, happy life.
Many GP’s and Doctors don’t have the time to spend advising their clients on lifestyle changes that would improve their health, and our current healthcare system is geared more towards acute care rather than prevention. As a Health Coach we have the time to spend with clients – educating them about a recent diagnosis of Type II Diabetes for example. We can explain the lifestyle medicine advice regarding positive changes that can be made to manage, and ideally reverse the disease in its infancy, and we also have the time and knowledge to support the patient, and help them with accountability along the way.
My favourite quote from Thomas Eddison supporting this is
“The Doctor of the Future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human body, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of Disease”.
Tell us about Te Whare Tapa Wha
Te Whare Tapa Wha is the Maori holistic model of Health that reminds us to take care of all the different aspects of our lives to support our wellbeing. It can also help us identify where we need extra support. It describes health as a wharenui (meeting house) with four walls. These walls represent taha wairua (spirituality), taha hinengaro (mental health), taha tinana (physical health) and taha whanau (social relationships. Connection with the whenua (land) forms the foundation of this meeting house.
When all of these things are in balance, we thrive. When one or more of these is out of balance our wellbeing is impacted.
Whenua (Land) – As the foundation for the other 4 dimensions, the health of the land and the natural environment is strongly connected to your health & wellbeing. Connection to the land and to nature has been shown to improve physical and mental wellbeing. I like to breathe in the air at the top of mountains, swim in the ocean, and harvest vegetables in our home garden.
Taha tinana (physical wellbeing) – This is your physical wellbeing – how your body grows, feels and moves and how you care for it. I like to focus on eating healthy (most of the time), avoid alcohol, do Yoga and Paddle board at the beach.
Taha hinengaro (mental and emotional wellbeing) – Taha hinengaro is your heart, mind, conscience, thoughts and feelings. It is about how you feel, as well as how you communicate and think. When taha hinengaro is strong, you can better cope with life’s challenges. What you eat can affect your mood, as can drinking alcohol, chronic stress, lack of sleep and too much caffeine.
Taha wairua (spiritual wellbeing) – Your spiritual essence if your lifeforce – your mauri. This is who you are and what you are, where you have come from and where you are going. Spiritual wellbeing can be expressed through beliefs, values, traditions, and practices that support self-awareness and identity. Taha wairua can provide a sense of meaning and purpose, as well as a sense of connectedness with the world around us.
Taha whanau (family wellbeing) – Your family wellbeing is about who makes you feel like you belong, who you care about and who you share your life with. Whanau is about extended relationships – your friends, colleagues, Community and the people you care about. As a core source of strength, support, security and identity, whanau plays a central role in your wellbeing.
By nurturing and strengthening all 5 dimensions (4 walls, and connection to the land), you support your health and wellbeing, as well as the health and wellbeing of your family and Community. If something in your life is challenging the wellbeing of one wall or dimension (for instance if you are struggling with low mood and possibly consuming too much alcohol), you can draw on the foundation and other walls until you can strengthen that wall again. Often it is when one of these 5 dimensions is being challenged that clients will initially seek the help of a Health Coach.
To build resilience and fill up your ‘energy bucket’ for the tough times, you can explore your way to wellbeing by choosing one small step at a time to strengthen each one of your dimensions. This is where I see my role as a Health Coach sitting – helping clients build up their ‘toolkit’ of strategies around diet, physical activity, social connections, spirituality, moderating substance consumption etc, and helping them understand when and how they can utilise each one in their lives.
What’s the best way to get in touch with you?
I see clients in person in my Studio in St Heliers, Auckland and also work with clients around the country using Zoom. You can email me at: [email protected]
