EP30: Workplace Wellness with Gail Korpan

This is winning with wellness, a podcast about inspiring the wellness warrior in you. If you're feeling lost or alone in your wellness journey, or looking for new ideas and inspiration, you are in the right place, a place you can learn about all things wellness, in business life and living your host, Jenny rice, we'll be bringing you inspiring stories and practical tools to improve your overall wellness personally and professionally. Imagine what living a life of wellness would be like. Thank you for joining us today.

Hi, everyone, it is another episode of winning with wellness. I am really thrilled to have Gail here to share her wisdom around wellness and health. Gail, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me, Jenny.

Ah, it's my my privilege and my pleasure. And honestly, listeners, you guys, this is going to be a great episode because I'm going to share a little bit about Gail and I think what she does is going to resonate with anybody that sits in desk, or has body issues or need support in house. So Gail is a registered massage therapist, and an intuitive empathic healer. So what an incredible combination and uses her gifts for massage therapy. Gail is expanding her chair massage business, to bring wellness to the workplace. So she's looking at ways of bringing wellness to you where you're at. So Gail, again, welcome. Thank you so much for being here.

Well, thank you, Jenny.

my pleasure. Okay. I asked you a deep question. I'm curious, especially with doing healing, uh, you know, you do intuitive healing and massage therapy, tell me what is wellness mean to

you, of wellness is so very important to me. Wellness to me actually means that everything is integrated in my health. So my, my world is integrated, what I what I think how I feel, and what I speak, are all the same. And to do that, it's very, like I say, it's just very important. That's what wellness means to me is to have everything integrated.

And I love that you say that. Because if anybody has listened to the other episodes of this show, you will hear a theme that is resonating through all of the the people that have been sharing it's wellness is an inclusive, it's a holistic piece about our whole body. It's not just one area and many of us were raised with with just going to the doctor because we were sick, we weren't aware that wellness was looking at our mind, our body and our soul. So when you think about your own personal wellness journey, and honestly, you only have to share what you're comfortable sharing what is something you've learned along your own pathway.

I think that the important thing for me, what I've learned is that I need to put myself first, always, and not that has been sometimes a struggle with having a full time job having a family you know, having friends, relationships, those kinds of things. They can kind of interrupt any wellness that I have planned for myself. And so now I feel like I'm on the other side of that, and I can schedule my day so that I have time for meditation. I have time for a walk in the morning. I have time to eat right and to to breathe. Yeah, I can lay down for an app if I need to. Oh, I love so it's it's Yeah.

And what's great as you say, what are some of the things that you do? So you know, you highlighted those already. You do meditation, you eat right? You sleep. You listen to what your needs are. I missed one. What was the other one that you shared?

Um, yeah, I put yourself first. myself first.

You know, and this was, I think, a really hard topic and a really challenging concept for many of us. I was I adopted whether it was instilled in me from other people, but I adopted the belief system that is I'm a servant by heart that is I was raised that way I, you know, it's my natural DNA I want to serve and champion others. I was never educated, or brought to awareness that I need to actually take care of myself first. And that's been a new learning. And I think it is for many of us, we were, you know, we were always told, like, Hey, if you put yourself first You're selfish, but it was implied, if that makes sense. And wasn't necessarily from my parents or my grandparents or things like that. It, it could have been in an employment situation, all those different things. What do you think has been the hardest thing for you to implement putting yourself first?

I think that boundaries. Yeah, the boundary of saying no, the boundaries of, of just of just knowing that where it's at, is actually putting myself first because otherwise, I was always looking outside of myself. For for wellness, for fulfillment for the answers. When really, I have them all inside of me. And to get to them, I need to be quiet. I need to back hear that still small voice? I need to. Yeah, I just need to if I need to rest I lay down. But that was not a joke. So because

I'm just trying to navigate. Like, to me that was wasting time back in the day. Right. And so I I honor and champion the fact that yeah, when I'm tired lay down. I think that's beautiful that you instill that in your practice scale. And yeah, you know, no, is a one word sentence.

Yes, like, no.

Yeah. And I again, being somebody that wants to serve and be a part of so many things, I've learned that I have to say I have to get back to you. Because my instinct is to say, yes. And then I don't think of the repercussions of of saying yes, what does it take me away from all those kinds of things? So

yeah, for sure. What, what, how can? Yeah. Can I get back to you on that? Yeah.

Now I'd love to talk about your practice in what you do your you work in massage therapy, as well as intuitive healing, how do your modality support other people's wellness?

Um, I think my modalities work really well together because there's a great mixture of physical work and energy healing. And so with the with me being an empath, it's natural for me to incorporate the energy part of it and in and my gift with being an empath is that I can listen to what the body the body will talk to me and tell me what it's what it needs, or I'll get an intuitive feeling on you know, maybe Hearthstone would work better here, or cutting would work better here. You know, the holy porno pono has been a very powerful energy release for knots for feelings. And so that's how I support people is that, you know, I'll take a very thorough intake form with everybody, sometimes they last an hour long, and I can get an idea of where they're where their body is, you know, some people are at the point of self care, but a lot of people aren't they're still they're still here. Meaning that the the energy flow and the tension release before they can get to that. The properties of self care. Yeah. And

you know, what, if you could you explain, we might have some listeners that have never even heard the word Empath, would you mind explaining what that actually means? So, so if people are seeking out this type of support, they know what they're looking for.

For sure, there are many different layers of being an empath. I think there's 10 different layers. And what what an empath means is that I can sit beside somebody enter a room and I can feel their energy I can. Sometimes their thoughts are being thrown at me sometimes their feelings I can feel their feelings and so when I'm, what it allows me to do in the room is that I can You're working on somebody, and all of a sudden, I will feel anxious, I will feel upset. But I have no reason to feel upset. I'm fine. So I know that it's coming from that other person. And it's definitely a skill set I've had to learn. It can be because it can be quite quite confusing. If you're not aware that you're an empath, and you're picking up all these thoughts, feelings and energies from other people in a vehicle in a room, you know, when you're when you're sitting at a group with somebody at a table. You know, you may be picking up all these, all these and and you're not sure what to do with that. So, yeah, that that's basically and so it's a gift and a curse. Right? Especially, you know, right. Yes, it's a gift and a curse. So, yeah. Yeah,

I guess I would encourage anybody that anything that Gail just said resonates with you, anyone that's listening. If you're like, wait a minute, I think that's happening to me is to to connect, right? Reach out. Absolutely. And find find support in that area. So thanks for expanding on that. It's, it's for helpful. So you know, what is something in you in wellness or in your career that you are interested in and curious about what haven't dived into or giving it a try?

Jennifer have always been interested in his aromatherapy, essential oils and how they work together in helping release different emotions and feelings and energy from a body. I just took an advanced cupping class last week. And part of the training was in fact aromatherapy, which was a bit of a surprise to me a welcome surprise. So I just purchased this aromatherapy and Essential Oils book, which was recommended by the instructor. And then I purchased some essential oils. So I'm excited to start start to play with those.

I love it. I'm, I'm all about essential oils. So that's something you and I can have a conversation deeper. Down, I love essential

oils. So awesome.

You know, I think it's so important for for those that are looking for new ways of wellness, there are multiple ways to change your pathway. And it can be something as simple as, like you say, using scent to help, you know, release and move through and work through. So I love that. In fact, you know what's great is to it's amazing to hear that it's something you've been curious about now you're starting to move through it, which is yes. Great. Yes. So when you think about wellness, and also in in your own practice. Why do you think for many of us, redefining wellness is important.

I think it's so important to healing. I think redefining wellness is so important because it's more than a treat. A lot of I don't know if a lot of people still feel like this, but I know in the past, the idea of a massage was very, like a treat, like a very luxurious

Yeah, like luxurious.

Yeah, but yes, spa treatment, right. And yeah, it redefining it, because we did we do live in a different world than what our parents grew up in. And so we need to be we need sometimes we need help to release some of the things that the world is putting on us. And if we're not putting our wellness first or for our wellness has kind of been pushed to the back burner. And then yes, we need help. I need help, too. I have my own special set of healers that I go to for for my own wellness. And that's why I think it's so important because we do live in a different world than our parents. did. You know, there there is no super hard work. There's a lot more of computer work and stationary sedentary work. And yeah, there can be a lot of stagnancy that gets held in our bodies. If if we don't get that moving that energy moving. So yes, it's very important to redefine the wellness.