With stress, fatigue, weight loss, digestion and fertility being issues that rear their heads time-and-time again with Bec Dore’s yoga students, the owner of Lighten Up NQ is embracing her dream of opening a one-stop-shop wellness hub that takes an all encompassing view of health.
“There is so much more to wellness than looking at what’s on our plate and making sure we exercise”
The Wellness Hub will be right next door to the existing studio on Stanley Street in the CBD and will open as early as next week with the addition of osteopath Dr Nicole Bates, naturopath Juan Jose (JJ), mindfulness expert Andrew Roberts, health and lifestyle coach Tara Caetano and Bec herself offering Thai yoga massage and craniosacral therapy.
After opening Townsville’s first hot yoga studio in July last year, the expansion wasn’t something that Bec expected to happen so quickly, but she says people are calling out for this integrated approach to health and the Lighten Up community is ready to grow.
Lighten Up’s Bec Dore.
“Yoga is a really good bridge between old habits and people wanting to create new habits,” tells Bec who first rolled out her yoga mat at the age of 15. “I had people coming up to me after yoga classes all the time and telling me about their broader health issues, and I really wanted to help. I’ve always dreamed of having a wellness centre – even when I was a junior solicitor in my first year I’d spend my lunch break researching wellness centres and retreats, and ways that people could stay healthy and well before they ended up at the doctors with stress, nutritional imbalances, and back problems.
“It’s a bit of a nerve-wracking experience finally doing it, but I feel it’s something I need to do because I really want to help people to transform their health.”
“People are looking for long term health and wellbeing that’s holistic and realistic that they can maintain”
The Wellness Hub works on the principals that all health professionals are in one place, rather than having to see them separately in isolation – and they can collaborate and design programs to holistically address certain health issues.
Osteopath Nicole Bates with Bec Dore.
“People are looking for long term health and wellbeing that’s holistic and realistic that they can maintain. Through having access to these professionals in the one place we can teach people how to eat and live a lifestyle that’s nourishing,” says Bec.
“For instance, many of our existing clients are looking for support to detox, so we are tailoring specific programs and packages that they can sign-up for to access what they need, like infrared detox yoga, naturopathy and supplements – it’s an integrated approach to their health.”
One of the health concerns that’s increasingly drifting onto Bec’s radar is the mismanagement of fatigue and, as someone who has been in that position herself, she’s passionate about addressing it. She explains that few people give themselves the adequate amount of time for their bodies to rest and repair, with the modern human working long, demanding hours, leading a hectic life outside work, and thrashing their body in workouts to get the most out of the exercise time they do have.
“We are spending most of our lives in a state of stress response, but the parasympathetic nervous system needs to be balanced and have time to restore. Sleep alone is not enough – we need to bring our bodies into rest state more so we can digest and heal,” says Bec.
“There is so much more to wellness than looking at what’s on our plate and making sure we exercise. Through this new centre, our focus is to help people with preventive health so they can stay healthy and well and enjoy life.”
At the Wellness Hub
Nicole, Bec and Juan
Dr Nicole Bates – Osteopathy
Moving back to Townsville after spending 15 months travelling overseas and also working at the biggest osteopathic clinic in Australia in Canberra; Dr Nicole Bates is looking forward to getting back into the tropical lifestyle, reconnecting with past patients, meeting new ones and being part of a welcoming and holistic environment. With eight years clinical experience, Nicole is offering holistic healthcare incorporating structural, cranial, visceral and manipulative osteopathic approaches. She will be at the Wellness Hub fulltime looking after musculoskeletal complaints including back and neck pain, headaches, sciatica, RSI, pregnancy-related pains and much more. “The biggest problems I’m seeing at the moment are posture-related from people working at desks, and the effects of stress, fatigue and people not being kind to their bodies,” Nicole says, who also has a special interest in paediatrics. Treatments are suitable for all ages, from newborns to our older and wiser citizens, and late appointment times are available. Contact Nicole at [email protected] for more information.
Bec Dore – Thai yoga massage + craniosacral therapy
What’s Thai yoga massage? Bec says it’s not like any other massage you‘ve had before (in a good way!). “Thai massage will rock your world. It isn’t just a massage – it’s an ancient healing art that has been used in Ayurvedic and Thai medicine for thousands of years. It’s a rockin’ mix of acupressure, yoga, reflexology, physiotherapy, meditation, energetic healing, and Ayurvedic medicine. Some call it ‘lazy man’s yoga’; but I prefer to think of it as an ‘enlightened man’s massage’, a mini retreat, and an effortless yoga class/stretching all rolled into one.”
And craniosacral therapy? In a nutshell, by normalising the environment around the brain and spinal cord and enhancing the body’s ability to self-correct, this light touch therapy is able to alleviate a wide variety of dysfunctions, from chronic pain and sports injuries to stroke and neurological impairment; even physical and emotional health. Bec reveals she’s experienced excellent results with clients who suffer from anxiety, PTSD and trauma using a combination of craniosacral therapy and somato-emotional release. Having studied psychology at university she loves using this modality that works together with the mind and body.
Juan Jose – Naturopathy
Graduating from the Australasian College of Natural Therapies in Sydney and the University of New England in 2007, Juan Jose (known as JJ) has furthered his studies in the natural medicine field and will be focusing on detox, weight loss, stress and fatigue, and nutritional imbalances. JJ is especially passionate about assisting clients to detoxify their bodies, lose weight (while remaining strong), and manage fatigue and stress. “Our bodies have greater demands placed on them than what we have ever experienced before – there are a lot more toxins in our environment, fewer nutrients in our food, less sleep, longer hours of work with great stress, and an over-stimulation of our nervous system,” he explains. “This is why people today need that extra support to be healthy and well!”
Health and lifestyle coach Tara Caetano.
Tara Caetano – Holistic health and lifestyle coaching
Travelling her own journey to finally reach the destination of ‘contentment’; Tara Caetano shares her passion for self-love, connection and freedom with daring young women all around the world as a certified health and lifestyle coach, sharing both her wealth of personal experience as well as in-depth nutrition advice from her studies at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Her mission is to, “Put fun back onto your plate, and trigger a wave of heart-felt passion and desire to call this world your bitch”. She helps women journey towards a kick-arse, nourished life, bringing their wild, adventurous spirit out of their dreams and into the real world, through self-love, deep nourishment, self-empowerment and inner healing. http://feedmeblog.com/
Mental fitness expert Andy Roberts.
Andrew Roberts – Emotional intelligence and mindfulness
An expert in mental fitness, Andy – who’s already a teacher at Lighten Up – will offer assistance with mindfulness, positive psychology, and emotional intelligence. After discovering yoga in 1999 and going on to study it in northern India, in 2006 Andy obtained a Masters degree in Positive Psychology. As someone who’s worked in corporate finance for 10 years he knows about the stresses and strains of maintaining a healthy work/home life balance. In the past 10 years Andy has become an emotional intelligence and mindfulness coach, also training in different styles of meditation and mindfulness techniques in the UK (where he built a business with a team of 20 wellness experts), Canada, Australia and India.
There is still space for one more health professional the Wellness Hub. Contact Bec Dore on [email protected] to get involved.
The Wellness Hub opens on Monday, March 2.
