“I had my limitations as a homemaker as I was self-trained and with no professional experience. Being unemployed made me restless. And after much research and risk, I trained to be a freelance Bowen therapist.”
My professional journey started with working in an event management setup in sales. The job was actually taken up due to desperate measures to kill the boredom as I personally don’t like to waste my time. Till the time I was in the sales job, I performed well but I knew it was not a long-term option. Once my husband and I moved to our own home, I knew that I wanted to be flexible with my time to be available to look after my home, my dogs and eventually my kids. And, my time as a homemaker started for the next 12 years. I started baking from home as and when I used to get time from daily chores. I used to bake brownies, cakes, cookies, etc. and got few clients too for it. Even though, I had a limited number of clients, they were regular ones who loved and bought my baking products for 7 to 8 years, continuously.
However, I had my limitations as a homemaker. As I was a self-trained baker with no professional experience, I realised I could not do fancy fondant cakes or theme cakes, which required professional expertise. But, I didn’t want to quit on that basis so I continued. Finally, an overused injured right shoulder forced me to give up baking and I actually didn’t regret it as I knew I had reached my peak personally.
After that, I was unemployed for one year, which made me restless. I started exploring something new. After much research and risk, I trained to be a freelance human and canine Bowen therapist. Bowen Therapy is a dynamic system of muscle and connective tissue therapy that enables the body to heal itself by using the body’s innate healing mechanism for everyday health issues as well as life/lifestyle threatening health issues. Bowen Therapy works on a canine’s emotional, mental and physical levels. To name a few, Bowen Therapy treats respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, ear and skin problems, injuries, arthritis and various muscle, bone and nerve disorders, behavioral and emotional issues. My main focus was to treat dogs and that itself was a risk I was taking career-wise, as in India, therapy for dogs is unheard of. Lucky for me that I had a decent start and steady clientele who were committed to their dogs’ well-being.
Today, I work on appointments only and also from home which I feel has been a hindrance in reaching my potential as a therapist. It’s frustrating sometimes that even after two years the awareness of this therapy is limited. These frustrations are temporary for me though as I enjoy the flexibility of working at my own pace and choice on most days. As I don’t have a clinic, I can afford to take holidays with my family but I do lose a client or two post my return but that doesn’t bog me down. Initially my clients were wary because therapy was a new concept plus I was working from home and that is not the best professional image one portrays. But, my work speaks for itself and the results of therapy are much stronger than the physical space I work in.
Freelance work gives me the freedom to do things I enjoy, like running in city marathons or learning new things to increase my knowledge which helps my work, further. The challenges of being a freelancer for me are more than its advantages.