Mindful Movement as Medicine [Podcast Series]
[:55] Dr. Bantham introduces her guest, Elaine Economou
Elaine Economou is Co-Founder and CEO of MOVE Wellness, a Pilates and Gyrotonic studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[1:25] Inspiration for entering the health & fitness industry
“I used to say that people were coming for a six pack, and I was teaching them how to be mindful and more self-aware.”
[3:00] Supporting clients through their whole health journey
“I realized there was this missing piece of the pie that I didn't know how to address, but it felt compelling to me to figure it out. So I did a wellness coach training early on, Well Coaches, which is such a great evidence based training, and I began to have a vision of a place where we could help meet clients and support them through their whole health journey.”
[5:52] MOVE Wellness mission
“Our mission is to help people get as strong as they want to live a life they love, and our vision is to live in a world where fitness is defined by how you feel and not what you look like.”
[7:36] Building relationships with healthcare providers
“So when I opened MOVE, I had a really strong foundation of we're going to work with healthcare. We're not going to be afraid to go out and meet healthcare partners in the area who might have patients that they can send to us. And so we did a couple of things. First is we talked to our clients, and when clients would have issues that they found we were helping them with, I was not afraid to ask the client, Hey, your doctor said you look great, and you're really progressing in this area, would you mind asking your doctor if you would meet me or talk to me?”
[12:04] Helping healthcare partners solve problems
“But then the other question, that the other learning for me has been not to be afraid to ask the question of, what problem are we trying to solve when I talk with a potential healthcare partner, because once I get them to tell me what it is that they would like to see for their patients, it becomes much easier for us to say, well, this is the part of it that we really feel strongly, that we can make a strong impact on.”
[17:59] Inspiring empowerment and change
“And, to me, it feels like there's an opportunity to shift the dialog for providers, to say, I really believe you can do this. What's one thing you love to do, to move? And I'm sure people are, I'm very, having those sorts of conversations, but we know that that's how behaviors change, right? Is that feeling empowered to actually make, effect change.”
[22:05] Being trusted experts
“Well let's get together and help me figure out what it is we do better than anyone else in the world, right? And the words that came out of that night, about 20 people with white sheets on the wall and markers, and I had doctors, physicians and university professors. I had all kinds of people here, where, that we were the trusted experts. And so ever since then, I thought, okay, we know where we are in the world of, of how we help and support our clients is that we, people trust us.”
[28:15] Michigan Fitness Association annual conference
“This panel discussion that you will be facilitating, I think, is such a wonderful way for people to hear others’ voices, because it's such a diverse group that you will be having share their experiences about healthcare referrals. We have a presenter on leadership and culture. We have a presenter on lifestyle medicine and behavior change science. So we have experts coming from all of those areas, people who are very well known.”
