When I set out to write this journal I expected it to become a short one. I expected it to include maybe three or perhaps four good news items – none more than that. Yet, it was only when I started to write that an avalanche of other things came to mind too. It took me two evenings to write it and as I am still mid-sentence, I realise I am still not quite done either.

I am conscious that publishing a journal like this may be construed as bragging. So be it. There’s nothing stopping me from being absolutely proud of what we’ve achieved because, let’s face it, all this required the help and support from many, many others. For starters, none of this would have ever seen the light of day without our clients. I am proud of that, and exceedingly so. Countless thank you’s to all of you.

As for those achievements? Here they are –

Passing the three-digit client mark!

Yup, that’s right! Earlier this year we celebrated the registration of our 100th client. As more clients continued to arrive throughout the remainder of 2023 we are now well on our way to repeat such celebrations of our arrival at 200. If you consider that about 95% of these clients book more than 10 sessions with us you’ll understand why our booking system is often so jam packed.

That’s not a bad achievement for a small bodywork practice that’s located in a small New Zealand coastal town.

Refurbished practice

With a little luck we will be able to complete a three-year Advaya Healing refurbishing dream before 2024 knocks on our door. We built a dedicated bathroom, complete with shower and toilet; replaced the ceiling; redesigned our lighting; and insulated the entire building from top to bottom. All that happened after we replaced all of the building’s exterior cladding, dug new fresh and wastewater pipes, and updated our electricity cabling.

What was particularly awesome about this was the fact that we only closed our doors for two weeks for all this! Thanks to many of you, our clients, we kept operating while you didn’t mind navigating through the refurb mess. All of you are totally awesome – and thank you for all the laughs and giggles we shared along our ways.

We’re nearly there for the practice – just one or two coats of paint on the interior walls, new shelving and, who knows, we might even be able to celebrate the completion already before Christmas. That still leaves some work to be done in the adjacent room, which we are now converting into a studio apartment. More to be told about that later…

Demand for new treatments

We have always been inspired by you, our clients, to develop new treatment sessions. This year has not been different. What we did notice is that throughout 2023 our clients requested treatments that differed from ones offered in previous years. This resulted in a few brand-new service offerings –

Scarwork

Throughout 2023 we gave more scarwork sessions than in any other year. We welcomed more clients who asked to us to attend to their surgical scars. Most had undergone hip and knee replacements.

We also saw a significant increase in plastic and cosmetic surgery clients who requested scarwork mostly for aesthetic reasons. We welcomed more women who had undergone – or were about to undergo – breast augmentation procedures to either enlarge, reduce, or completely eliminated their size. That the number of these clients continues to rise is nothing but humbling.

Psycho-spiritual bodywork

The number of clients who wished to switch bodywork gears to venture deeper into the psychological and spiritual dimensions of bodywork continued to grow as well. These are Phase III clients who passed significant stages in their physical, psychological, and emotional healing processes. Typically, Phase III clients advanced to become increasingly sensitive to the energetic and neurological changes that then occur during treatments.

Although it is nearby impossible to predict when clients progress to next phases Phase III clients typically worked with us for more than twelve months. Their number increased during 2023, and so did the number of clients who worked with us four years or longer. More experienced clients suggested we should write a few journals on these phases. We will.

Pregnancy

As a bodyworker few things are as precious as working with pregnancy. During 2023 I was honoured and privileged to be trusted by a few of such amazing clients. As usual it all started with one client who had been working with us for years already. Interest in the treatments we designed specifically for pregnancy continued to rise throughout the year.

Pregnancy bodywork treatments differ from others. For one, due to large tummies and sensitive breasts clients are treated on their sides, seated, or in face-up positions only. Focus is usually on alleviating discomforts in low back, shoulder, and neck areas. Some clients request attention to hips and inner thighs to prepare for giving birth.

Of course, we will say that all of our bodywork sessions are beautiful in their own right. However, we are especially proud of the ones we developed for pregnancy. These sessions will soon be included under their own header in our booking system.

Bodywork for athletes

Throughout 2023 we welcomed more athletes at our practice than ever before. There was a noticeable increase in bookings made by athletes who asked us to help them prepare for important competitive events.

We worked with runners, triathletes, and both cricket and hockey players, some of whom compete at national and even international levels. What turned out to be an exciting aspect of these clients was working in parallel with some of the best physiotherapists and sports coaches our nation has to offer. This work put Advaya a little firmer on the map as a professional, reliable, and knowledgeable bodywork practice.

Familiarity of our work and our brand is now slowly permeating the world of professional and semi-professional sports. We believe that this isn’t a small feat. It certainly is a development to stay aware of…

Retreats

Interest in having us support retreats is growing gradually. To this point we declined such invitations simply because of conflicts with our existing bookings and other priorities that made it difficult for us to go ‘on the road’. We are now figuring out with interested retreat organisers how this can be avoided throughout the new year(s).

The first dates have now been pencilled into our diaries, including national and international events. We are slowly getting our heads around the logistics necessary to transport the tools, equipment, and materials we would need to give meaningful treatments at the proposed locations. We are also thinking of developing new bodywork sessions for such events.

Although retreat work requires us to prepare seriously we are well excited about the prospect of working with new clients at those wonderful places. How would it be to give people bodywork evening treatments at warm tropical beaches? There is a chance that 2024 will allow us to find out…

Advaya’s growth and operating hours

Finally, this has been one of the questions asked most frequently by you, our clients: “When will we extend our operating hours?”

As so many of our clients understand, extending our operating hours is not as simple as…well…just opening more booking slots. Over the last few years we kept an operating model in place that allowed us to fund the growth and expansion of Advaya from alternative sources of income. This model enabled us to fix our treatment prices, thereby ensuring that our bodywork services remained affordable for even our most financially challenged clients.

The way we choose to manage Advaya is less driven by demand – of which there is plenty – but by how we want the practice to grow over the next three years. We plan to keep that growth slow and at a pace that enables us to manifest our visions and dreams in a manageable fashion.

Taking foot slowly off pedal now…

It’s almost unimaginable but it’s now only one week before we will close AHB’s doors for this year. That last week will be busy, with all booking slots taken and requests for more still coming in. It’s official though – 17 December will be our very last treatment day, until 8 January 2024.

Although it is very likely that we might finish some stuff off here at the practice we are going to try our hardest to do nothing for a few weeks. I may write one more journal here, tinker with the new shelving that’s coming for our practice and succumb to writing down some of the new treatment ideas that have been playing around in the back of my head for a while now.

Other than that, I think we’ve achieved enough for this year. More than enough. It’s time to take foot off the accelerator…