Different forms of therapies growing in popularity among professionals

Xu Zhen, a 29-year-old white-collar worker, recently found a new way to find relief at work.

Through a meditation class provided by Shen Xin Ling counseling group (which provides classes on astrology, music therapy and hypnosis) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Xu says she's discovered an entirely different way of relieving stress that's a lot more fun than catching a movie, doing yoga and traveling.

"I meet some people who suffer from the same stress of work. We therefore can talk and communicate," Xu says. "We are surrounded by mountains, water and there are teachers mentoring us on meditation."

Xu is just one of an increasing number of people who are giving psychotherapy a try in China. More and more Chinese executives are suffering from high amounts of stress. Many of them have now turned to psychotherapy as a new form of release.

Yang Lihong, founder of the Shen Xin Ling counseling group, says those who seek out psychotherapy are executives, university students and entrepreneurs who are just not happy.

"These groups of people (returning from the overseas) tend to pay more attention to psychological health as they consider it very important for their personal development," Yang says.

Yang set up the counseling group, China's first organization providing psychotherapy, back in 2009 when she met Terry Hu, a famous psychotherapist from Taiwan.

Born in 1953, Hu is also one of Taiwan's most popular actress over the last century.

"Originally psychotherapy is from Western countries such as the United States. It became popular in Taiwan in the 1980s, but on the Chinese mainland, it is still quite new and not known by many people," says Yang, who is also a psychotherapist.

Since opening in 2009, the number of people seeking psychotherapy at Shen Xin Ling has apparently increased by 20 percent per year. The group already attracts a following of about 4,000 practitioners.

In 2012, Yang moved her office from Beijing to East Tianmu mountain in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, to expand the office.

Liu Xia, a 50-year-old white-collar worker who participated in a meditation event in Qinghai last September, says psychotherapy is a healthy way of life for urbanites.

"We spent most of the time in our offices, and we deal with mobile phones and computers every day. It is therefore necessary for us to take a rest in nature," says Liu, a manager who works at an energy company in Beijing.

Yang says there are more women than men who take psychotherapy at Shen Xin Ling because women are more likely to express their feelings and to open their hearts. Yang also found that there is an increasing number of young people who are finding out about psychotherapy.

As Chinese society continues to fall in love with material wealth, more young people are tending to feel uneasily with their lives.

Xia Fang, an aromatherapy specialist for more than 10 years, says aromatherapy, which is one type of psychotherapy, is also enjoying a small level of popularity among many Chinese women in recent years.

"A lot of women executives come to us for aromatherapy during their lunch break because they know it will make them be in a better condition during their meetings in the afternoon," Xia says.

Xia opened Summa Spa Institute in Beijing in 2003 after receiving training in Hong Kong and finding a partner from Singapore. After an initial customer base of 50 to 60 people a year, in 2008, the number of customers rose to 800.

Still, Xia says the aromatherapy market in China is underdeveloped.

"Aroma therapists have not been recognized as a formal profession here, but in aromatherapy-developed countries such as the UK, aroma therapists need to have a background in medicine," Xia says.

"Aromatherapy is a required service at every five-star hotel, and it is more developed in Hong Kong and Singapore, but it will take some time for the Chinese mainland to be well developed in this field," Xia says.

People who come for aromatherapy are usually female executives and housewives who are affluent.

She believes aromatherapists play an important role because they act like a matchmaker between clients and what treatment they want.

"We are not going to accept too many clients per day because we need to make sure that our therapists are not overworked," Xia says.

Her plan is to expand her business into other cities such as Shanghai and Wuhan, first trying to make train more aromatherapists in other cities and then providing treatment in these cities.

Contact the writers at liaoxue@chinadaily.com.cn and lvchang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/21/2012 page11)