Alternative health care options are finding growing acceptance and popularity in the Flin Flon area.
“We are so sedentary and lead such stressful lives that people have started to look at ways that will improve their overall health,” says Jelisa Wiegers.
Wiegers owns Zenergee Wellness Studio in Creighton, offering clients a range of yoga, meditation and training classes as well as nutrition counselling and planning.
While yoga and meditation have been around for centuries in other parts of the world, they are fairly new to many North Americans.
When Wiegers opened her business three years ago, she was encouraged by the response. She offers group and individual sessions and works with members of the entire family.
“We are finding that mindfulness for children is very important,” she said.
Wiegers teaches children how to cope with the world around them through mindful breathing, meditation and yoga. She has seen great benefits for children ages 3, 4 and 5 who take her class held at the Flin Flon Public Library.
She is hoping to expand the offering into the school system to assist children as they develop through their formative years.
That’s something that made a big difference in Wiegers’ own life. She was introduced to yoga and meditation at the age of 15 when she was suffering from migraines.
“It changed my life,” she says. “We need to find ways to handle the stresses in our lives, and through yoga, meditation and healthy eating we can find that peace and health.”
Wiegers’ business continues to grow to meet the increasing demand for services in the community.
“People are seeing the value of holistic health in general,” she says.
Shannon Smadella, the owner of Flin Flon Yoga, has also found an increase in clients since she opened her business three years ago.
Originally serving 20 clients, the business has grown to support 200 individuals in both Flin Flon and The Pas.
“People are realizing they need to take their health into their own hands,” says Smadella.
While many people turn to yoga as a form of exercise, Smadella explained that it is much more than that.
Through positive thoughts and actions toward oneself, others and the environment, individuals can find peace and healing.
“People often start practicing yoga for fitness and then realize that it can make them healthier in their mind, body and soul,” Smadella says. “It’s a great thing.
“Yoga is a life lesson and not just a fitness class.”
Smadella has also offered wellness retreats and has brought in various instructors to Flin Flon. She has found that people are taking a more hands-on approach to their own health and wellness.
“No one knows your own body better than you,” she says. “People are taking control of what’s going on in their own body and what it takes to lead a healthy lifestyle.”
In order to achieve complete health, Smadella encourages people to focus not on one specific area, but on their overall health.
“You have to look at the big picture when it comes to your health,” she says.
Dr. Evan McCarvill would agree with that mindset.
For the past year McCarvill, a licensed naturopathic doctor, has been bringing his holistic medical services to Flin Flon.
Based in Melfort, Saskatchewan, he travels north every four months to spend a few days in the community serving patients.
With a degree in biology and training in naturopathic medicine, McCarvill looks at patient care from a fresh perspective.
“There are two fundamental ways to approach health care: combative and cooperative,” he says.
For McCarvill, traditional medicine involves a combative approach. Infections and diseases are looked at as problems and traditional medicine works to fight against them.
“Traditional medicine works at combating the symptoms but is not necessarily addressing the underlying problem,” he says.
At Choice Nutrition, the practice at which McCarvill is employed, doctors take an approach to health care that involves physical exams, blood analysis and detailed interviews.
“We try to look at all the factors to find out what is contributing to the problem,” he says.
By examining sleep habits, diet, lifestyle factors, stress levels and other factors that can affect the overall health of the patient, McCarvill works to resolve the underlying problem.
“We want to achieve vibrant health through a holistic, cooperative approach,” he says.
In McCarvill’s opinion, people have begun looking outside traditional medicine because of their growing dissatisfaction with the combative approach.
He says patients are finding themselves on more and more medications that may be having adverse effects on their health while still not dealing with the problem.
“They are looking for new solutions and ways to take control of their own health,” McCarvill says.
Suzanne Daigle is a practitioner of Bowenwork, a massage technique, in Flin Flon. She describes her practice as complimentary to traditional medicine rather than an alternative treatment.
“Bowenwork is a unique type of ‘hands on, hands off’ holistic therapy that involves very gentle manipulation of muscles, tendons, facia, ligaments, joints and nerves,” Daigle says. “It can impact all body systems and is incredibly relaxing and restorative.”
In contrast to traditional massage, Bowenwork involves sequences of rolling movements with the thumb or fingers over precise sites on the body. The aim is to get to the root cause of dysfunction.
Similar to McCarvill, Daigle describes looking at the big picture when it comes to health.
“Instead of just looking at the area where a person complains of pain and then manipulating or forcing the body to take on a change,” she says, “Bowenwork triggers our brains to figure out what needs to shift and helps it into a restorative state to make these changes body-wide.”
Daigle was working in mainstream health care as a mental health clinician when she began seeing a naturopathic doctor herself.
She was struggling with several issues, including muscle aches and pains, carpal tunnel syndrome, adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism. Unable to find lasting relief through prescribed medications, physiotherapy, braces, massage and chiropractic care, she saw a Bowenwork practitioner.
“In my Bowenwork practice I meet many people who express frustration about our health care system, which typically offers medications or referrals for surgery,” Daigle says. “People are more aware of the long-time side effects of many of the medications used and wish to avoid these if possible. They are also interested in having someone really listen to them and take the time to figure out what is going on.”
By working with other complimentary practitioners such as naturopaths, Daigle and her colleagues are able to fully assist clients, adding to the traditional medical care available.
“Complimentary healing modalities are growing across the world and it is a sign that people want more options to stay healthy,” she says.
