“What is my life? “” No desire to do this job for another thirty years! “I want to do something that has meaning, that makes me feel fulfilled.” After an endless pandemic, three confinements, thousands of hours of boredom, introspection and reflection, the appearance of Covid-19 has turned everything upside down in its path. Starting with our daily life, our certainties and our aspirations. So, for some, that has to change. The decision is made: no more “metro, work, sleep” on autopilot, to do a job that we no longer like.
A search for meaning, a need for fulfillment and a desire to reconnect with others have pushed some courageous minds to change their lives by focusing on the professions of well-being. Sophrologist, reflexotherapist, naturopath or even yoga teacher are among the new vocations that are emerging. To do yourself good by doing good to others.
“I said to myself: ‘I will not be able to continue like this until retirement” “
At almost 50 years old, Laurence decided to quit her job as a police officer to become a yoga teacher. “I had this idea for a long time, but with my busy daily life as a solo police mom, it seemed impossible to me,” she says. Until this month of March 2020, when the planet has stopped spinning. “Like many, I did not work to take care of my 5 year old daughter. Away from the stress of work, I took a step back, did meditation and yoga, and found myself. So, when I had to get back to work, where we are faced with very difficult situations, I questioned everything, and I understood that I was no longer in my place ”. Because it is often “at a pivotal moment in life that we take the leap of a total reconversion to our professions: after having had children, a long illness, or today, after a pandemic that has pushed to introspection. We realize that we have changed, and that we no longer want to return to our old life, ”explains Christine Bretin, expert in combined reflexotherapy and head of the training center.
REF training.
Like Alexandra, who worked like a madman during the first confinement. ” I was continuous improvement manager in a truck body manufacturing company. My job was to improve production while ensuring the working conditions of our 150 employees, explains the 48-year-old mother. With the pandemic, I felt the limits of what I could do. I was stressed, exhausted, I felt guilty about having less time for my three children, ”she recalls. In the summer, she consults a reflex therapist to get her head out of the water. “She said to me: ‘you are burned out, you cannot continue like this’. She took care of me, helped me in record time. And inspired me: that’s what I wanted to do ”.
But what exactly is “that”? “Reflexotherapy uses massages to request the places of the body where there are the most nerve endings – the hands, face, ears, feet, and which are a representation of the functional disorders of the body: pain, digestive disorders, sleep, fatigue, or emotions that are difficult to deal with. We act on all the things that the body can resolve on its own, without medication, ”explains Christine Bretin. Alternative medicine, the benefits of which Annabelle, nursing home facilitator for ten years, has appreciated to the point of starting a retraining. “I love my job, but taking care of 84 residents alone is not sustainable. I said to myself: “I will not be able to continue like this until retirement” “.
Follow a diploma and recognized training
But such a reconversion cannot be improvised. To become a reflexotherapist or yoga teacher, it is necessary to follow a diploma and recognized training, both to acquire the required skills and to know how, once the diploma is in your pocket, to start your activity. “My reflexologist advised me, and I enrolled in an 18-month training course,” continues Annabelle, imitated by Alexandra. And many others. “Previously, we had a lot of requests for small two-day modules, to learn basic techniques to take care of loved ones. The professionalizing courses, themselves, filled up as the year progressed. But since the pandemic, there has been a total reversal: the demand for small modules has almost disappeared and long training courses, which will start at the end of the year, have been complete for more than a month, observes Christine Bretin. What his students have in common: empathy, and having always wanted to focus on well-being ”.
This 472-hour course provides for “e-learning courses, face-to-face courses with support for people, and internships”, describes Christine Bretin. And the program is strong! “There is fundamental learning: anatomy, physiology, pathology, and patient safety. As well as the mastery of Chinese energetics in reflexology, and plantar, palmar, facial and auricular techniques. Then there is everything relating to the installation: market research, communication (social networks, website) and the facilitation of conferences and workshops. And finally, a final block on combined reflexotherapy, for faster and more efficient treatment ”. But not enough to scare Alexandra: “studying again at 48, it’s a challenge, but when you’re passionate, envy is the greatest ”.
For her part, when Laurence saw that Hélène Duval, founder of YUJ Yoga studios in Paris, offered a diploma course, “it was the trigger. I immediately signed up and made a request for conventional termination ”. With this recognized training of 200 hours which mixes face-to-face and distance learning, “we train guides who will then lead their students to awakening the body and mind,” explains Hélène Duval. We are in a desire for transmission, not to teach “Insta yoga” to take pictures with one foot behind your head, but a real ethical discipline, with rules to secure the practice. And a business component, to teach future graduates to make a living from their passion ”. And if “demand has always been high, in recent months we have seen a change in profiles: we have many more people coming from the provinces to train, driven by a desire for well-being, to reconnect with oneself and with the world. ‘other’. Like Laurence, therefore, who came from Nice to learn her “future profession and a new art of living”.
“I wanted to help others, but in a different way, by doing them good”
“I have just obtained my certification, and I will launch my activity as soon as my functions in the police officially end, at the end of the summer,” says the Niçoise. I am going to join studios to give private and group lessons, and why not create yoga retreats ”. But Laurence does not completely give up her old life. “I will also give lessons to my colleagues, and after years as a police officer in domestic violence, I would like to offer yoga workshops in associations helping women victims of violence, to offer them a moment just. ‘to them, to recharge their batteries and start to rebuild themselves. I wanted to help others, but differently, by being in a soft and serene environment, not by intervening in dramatic situations ”. A new, different life “which already delights my daughters. They see me fulfilled and no longer washed out and depressed ”.
At the end of her training, Alexandra would see herself opening her reflexotherapy practice. And is already training on the whole family. “I release the tensions of my stressed husband, I rid my children of minor ailments, and I said goodbye to my migraines. Everyone is delighted! Even my former colleagues, since I plan to do part of my internship in the form of reflexotherapy workshops in my old company ”. During her training, Annabelle plans to introduce her residents to reflexotherapy. “And if things work, I will go 100% liberal”. Delighted with their new life, the three retraining mothers are each convinced: “without the pandemic, I would never have dared to get started”.