Health & healing journey

My journey began when I was a child, I had an interest in health that just came naturally. I was always an advocate for natural health— educating my friends on what foods were healthy and which were not, and why. I know at the time I was only repeating what was taught to me by my Mom and Dad, but I loved learning about it. We had a garden growing up, and my dad came from a family of farmers, so he knew what to plant and when so we would have veggies almost year round, and we also had many fruit trees as well. He also made the compost for the soil as well. And my mom loved gardening and grew herbs, and she had this herb book, I remember, and I was so curious about it! They still carry out all these practices today. Being surrounded in this environment fostered my love for natural health, and I learned many things along the way.

Loving natural health seemed to just stay with me and be a part of me as I grew, I was always curious for more! When I went off to college, I would buy all the organic foods that I could (although there wasn’t much then), soak up any information I would come across on vitamins, herbs, and immune supplements, and continued to educate others on what I would learn. As organic started becoming more in demand, it was cheaper and easier to buy, and natural health stores weren’t too hard to find, this was really exciting for me, and I was so grateful!

My passion for natural health has always been this innate thing for me it seems. When I was pregnant and had my 2 girls, I feel like I definitely went to the extreme of searching high and low to make sure I was eating pure, and that anything they came in contact with was pure, and without any toxins as well. I did a lot of research during this time and learned so much! Then, shortly after my second was born, a friend was hosting an essential oil class, and I had always wanted to know how to use them, so I joined and learned a little about them, bought some of my own, and my essential oil journey began…since then, my kids and I have used them for medicinal purposes, and everything and anything else in between.

Shortly after that time, I came across a Health Summit with many leaders in the holistic health world on it such as Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Axe, Bruce Lipton, Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, and many more. Dr. Axe’s talk on the Summit actually answered my life long question of growing up with “arthritis” he spoke about healing the gut with different foods and supplements and how autoimmune diseases start in the gut, and can be healed with diet and lifestyle changes. I was completely fascinated and thunderstruck! I was told by my mom as a child, “If you ever experience your joints hurting let me know and I’ll give you some ibuprofen; your grandma has arthritis and her mom had it and it was passed down to me as well”. And I did experience the joint aches when it rained or the pressure would change, and it was painful. I remember telling the Dr. as a kid, and adult, that I had arthritis, and it was always ignored…”Oh, you’re too young for that.”, it was not even questioned. My mom never questioned it either. But after listening to Dr. Axe, I immediately called my mom and I asked her what kind of arthritis Grandma has, and she told me rheumatoid arthritis…I was in shock. I had symptoms of an autoimmune disease that was PASSED DOWN…WHAT?!! I had NO CLUE that autoimmune diseases could be passed down!! That started a WHOLE research project for me. I could not believe that the “arthritis” I had my whole life was an autoimmune disease!! Now granted, I didn’t have it nearly as bad as some because I didn’t have high levels of stress and I ate healthy, so I must have been keeping it somewhat at bay with that. I didn’t know anything about it at all though until I had started my research. And I absolutely don’t blame my Mom for anything, she didn’t know. But to know I could help heal my gut and get rid of my pain…without a Dr. I knew the power lied within me to do this! And I did rid my body of the joint pain by applying what I learned.Through all of this I learned that, only we have the power to heal ourselves, others may help guide and point in a direction, but WE have to do the work.* (More on this at the bottom of the page.)

I was so excited after that Health Summit though, and learning of these Dr.’s that were and are changing the meaning of “Health Care” as we know it. It ignited this FIRE in me to learn more and spread this overall message! Very soon after that I came across the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I learned that Health Coaching is actually a thing, and that I could make a living off of doing what I had been sort of already been doing! I had a 3 month old baby and a 2 year old at the time, so I didn’t enroll until I felt not so sleep deprived, which was about a year and a half later. I enrolled at IIN in 2018 and I became a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in a year, it was an unforgettable program and experience, where I learned and grew even more.

Also around that time, I had come across Kundalini Yoga and fell in love with it. When I started practicing it on a daily basis, that is when everything really started to change in my life. Everything was so synchronistic during that time, especially while I was in at school at IIN. There was no way of denying this was all meant to be for me. This yoga helped me to wake up to my life and really be able to see. I didn’t know this at the time, but Kundalini Yoga is the “yoga of awareness”. In short, Kundalini Yoga works with chakras and meridians, and it changes the energy inside your body, and when that changes, your outer world begins to change as well. (I had no clue about any of that when I started though, all I knew is that I felt more energized, I didn’t feel the stress I normally felt, and could think and see more clearly.) After practicing for a while, I felt a very strong calling teach this yoga and share it with others, I knew I had to share it so that I could help others like it helped me, so I signed up for a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training with my Kundalini teacher, Gloria Latham. Since then I have taken many Yoga Courses from Gloria from her Self Mastery Series. I have learned and grown so much from doing this work, it helped me to heal things in myself that I didn’t even know were there. I am so grateful to her for the work she does, it is transformational on a soul level.

Again, during the time of my schooling, I come across my meditation teacher, Emily Fletcher, who owns Ziva Meditaion, she teaches Nishkam Karma Yoga (a type of Meditation from the Vedas) and also teaches Manifestation. With 2 young kids, I knew meditation was definitely something that I needed to be doing since it has been proven to help with stress response, so I enrolled in her online training. It was so fresh and easy, unlike anything that I expected. And again, I had embarked on another life changing modality that helps you to heal and change from the inside out. This type of meditation not only helps your response of the daily stressors, it heals your nervous system where stress is held. It helps to heal the stress and traumas from your entire lifetime, and the stress and traumas passed down from generation to generation. Interestingly enough, the body has been shown to hold up to 8 generations of trauma and stress! Needless to say, this meditation has been life changing for me. And since then, I have taken another course from her in order to go even deeper and experience more with my meditation. And I love what my teacher Emily says, “Whoever started the rumor of having to “clear your mind” for meditation…someone needs to teach them how to meditate!”, haha! As a sidenote—clearing your mind is NOT meditation…thoughts will happen, and thoughts are very welcome in this meditation. You can’t stop your thoughts…they are involuntary, just like your breath and heartbeat.

In addition to my yoga and meditation teachers, I am so grateful to have come across many other amazing teachers since then, some still in human form, and some not. To include: Louise Hay, Ram Dass, Byron Katie, Gabrielle Bernstein, Light Watkins, Eckhart Tolle, Gary Zukav, Marianne Williamson, and Tara Brach. And I also feel compelled to mention Brene Brown, I love the studies she does on the human emotions, and I love listening to her talk as well, she’s so funny and so down to earth!

Since all of this unlearning, I continue to unlearn, and learn, continue to do my own work, and walk my path, in order to help others to do the same. I know it is how I am meant to be of service in this lifetime. I am so very grateful that all of these modalities and great teachers found me to help me along my life’s journey.  

*Louise Hay, who says that all the dis-eases in our bodies are from negative thought patterns and beliefs, and not loving and accepting the self. And these beliefs can be carried into our current lives from previous generations and past lives. (She has a whole book on different ailments, and the metaphysical causes, along with positive affirmations/mantras to say to help.) She says that Arthritis comes from criticism of the self and others. My mom had told me that my Grandmas’ Mom was so critical of her throughout her childhood, and she also told me how critical my Grandma was of her. Because of my Grandma, she decided to parent my sisters and I differently and we were raised with so much love and nurturing. However, the genes from this dis-ease were already embedded and passed down. The generational pattern stops with me though. Isn’t this incredible? We are not a victim of our genes or our beliefs and pattens passed down from generation to generation, and our genes can be up-regulated, and down-regulated with thoughts and foods. If you’re interested in this, pick up a copy of You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, and/or You Can Heal Your Body!