Jasmine Evelyn, the founder of Mindful Movement Physiotherapy and Yoga Practice joined me via Skype recently for the latest episode of the Backstage with Bajan Brands podcast and we have so much in common that we could have chatted for hours.
I have been following this young physiotherapist on Instagram for about a year now. A few things appeal to me. She has a background in dance, which I have, she practises yoga, which I do, she specialises in physiotherapy for pelvic health, which I find fascinating, and she just really seems to enjoy doing what she does.
We don’t tend to think of practitioners in the healthcare industry as brands, but their professional reputations, approaches to patient care, areas of specialisation, and individual personalities are under scrutiny by patients and potential patients and have a transactional value. They are most certainly brands even if they are legally restricted in the use of aggressive promotional activities normally associated with branding (tangible expressions of a brand). In fact, those restrictions make the development of a personal brand even more important and that, along with a few other reasons, is why Mindful Movement has been added to my list of favourite Barbadian Brands.
Personal brand - After following her Instagram handle @mindfulmovement246 and watching her practice yoga flows and share nutrient-rich meals, Jasmine was the “mindful movement” lady for me before I knew her name or profession. But when I discovered that she was a physiotherapist it made all the sense in the world.
Distinctiveness - With almost 40 physical therapy practitioners or clinics offering physical therapy in Barbados Jasmine’s combination of interests set Mindful Movement apart.
She shared with me that normally, many physiotherapy patients are referred by general practitioners or surgeons but because of her focus on men’s and women’s pelvic health she also gets referrals from gynaecologists and urologists. As she puts it,
“I still treat knees and backs and elbows and hands... I enjoy it. But my area is pelvic health. And so I will always refer to myself as a pelvic health physio because that is really my passion. And that is really what I want to promote in Barbados, obviously, and then in the wider Caribbean.”
She is also a trained yoga teacher and leans towards a definition of yoga that, for her, explains what being mindful is,
“When you are doing something and you're just focused on that, you are in union with that one task and that's the only thing that's consuming your attention for the time being.”
Jasmine applies this to her practice in two ways. First, her approach to patient care is about focusing on and tailoring treatment to each individual patient based on their distinct challenges, preferences, and peculiarities - being mindful of the individual. Second, she asks her patients to use their time with her to focus solely on each movement, “listen to their bodies”, and put aside any worries.
Advocacy for associated causes - Jasmine sees a lot of patients who battle endometriosis, a condition where the tissue that makes up the lining of the uterus grows in other areas outside of the uterus, most commonly on other organs, housed in the pelvic area. A typical symptom of the condition is intensely painful periods which usually prevent the sufferer from attending school or work.
Apart from providing relief for endometriosis sufferers in her clinic, she is also the current President of the Barbados Endometriosis and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) Association. One of the objectives of the association is,
“to bring awareness to these “invisible illnesses” and their direct impact on the individual and extended impact on the society.”
She explained that symptoms like painful periods are often trivialised and many women are diagnosed late because,
“...they’ve been trying to cope for such a long time and being told that it’s nothing.”
Yoga studio - Aside from the incorporation of yoga into patient’s physical treatments, Jasmine has also opened the Mindful Movement Yoga Studio, a home studio where patients or any yoga beginner or more advanced enthusiast can take classes.
Jasmine through Mindful Movement is a brand talking the talk and walking the walk.
Listen to our full conversation here.