Q: Tell me a bit about yourself and what you do.
I’m a multi-passionate soul, including the work I do as a Coach; I love surfing, Yoga, Jiu Jitsu, writing, and dancing. I’m consistently working on myself on every level. (Meditation has been key in my life!). In terms of the work I do as a Coach; I facilitate women (mostly) to shift their life from the inside out by growing their self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-love, so they can experience epic wellness and their true purpose – being themselves!
Q: Why did you decide to become a health coach?
I decided to become a Coach nearly three years ago when I had hit rock bottom. My life had taken quite a dramatic turn, the universe had decided it was time to really get to know myself and to release the courage I had within. It’s been quite an up and down journey, which hasn’t ended. But more so, a few years ago I struggled with anxiety, panic attacks, overworking and was in an abusive relationship. It was through this time, I experienced how ‘mental health patients’ were misunderstood and mistreated. Luckily for me, I was quite aware and stubborn. Through numerous experiences coupled in a really short period of time, I realized there was a massive gap between the patient and the Doctor. I was both curious and frustrated at the way in which Western Society perceives and treats health. From that point, I knew I had a message to share through my own experiences, I knew there was a greater ‘calling,’ if you say.
Now because I have hindsight, I realized how everything had lined up perfectly for me to be placed where I am today. I can now see before I hit rock bottom, how I had no sense of self. I literally had a total deconstruction of who I thought I was, over the last two or so years. I also realized the impact of quality nutrition on the body and state of mind. I’ve dived deep into mindset; how the mind works, the Ego and really allowing my heart and soul to speak louder than the mind. It’s a conscious effort but to express the truth of who we are is so worth it!
Q: When creating healthy changes, why do you think mindset shifts are so important?
Mindset is so important when creating healthy changes, as the body and the main line of communication (the central nervous system) cannot distinguish what is or isn’t a real threat. What does this mean? Well, when we are thinking thoughts that are not conducive to our natural state of pure love and joy, then the nervous system perceives this as a threat and will shut down systems in the body such as digestion, the immune system, aspects of the brain, excretory and reproductive system. We are run by instinct and when we place ourselves under stress too much and too often, then our bodies’ efficiency begins to decrease and hence our state of well-being can diminish quite rapidly.
However, the most important step to shifting mindset is expanding your self-awareness. You can’t change what you don’t know. It’s an incredible and sometimes chaotic journey when your self-awareness starts to expand exponentially, as I have experienced. So it’s important to stay grounded through meditation, being involved in a supportive community, moving your body in a way that excites you and doesn’t need motivation (this is surfing for me) and quality nutrition; grounding food, such as greens, root vegetables and lots of magnesium.
Q: How can you change your mindset so that you can achieve the best results?
To gain momentum in your life, the best way to change mindset is to look at the unconscious mind, where our belief systems lie. The unconscious mind processes approximately 2 million pieces of information per second, whereas the conscious mind is only capable of processing approximately 5 pieces of information per second. Consider this for a moment.
The unconscious mind, therefore, stores a lot of information through our experiences, which ultimately form our belief systems. Hence why many clients discover limiting beliefs relate back to their childhood. The environment we were brought up in plays a huge role in forming our belief systems at an early age.
Some of the best tools I use on myself and clients include meditation, breathing techniques and various journaling exercises to access the unconscious mind. For example ‘morning pages’, this technique is quite effective and I utilize this technique most days. Simply have your journal near your bed, so upon waking you start to write uninterrupted (without consciously thinking or stopping to read what you have written) for 5-10 minutes, whatever flows through you, allow it to be. This is great for those people who have a lot of mind chatter and/or seemingly endless ‘to do’ lists, anxious, overwhelmed etc.
Q: Have you always been healthy, or when did your passion for health and wellness start?
I have always been active from a young age and continue to be active, however, emotionally, mentally and spiritually I haven’t always been healthy. From the age of 10 till 22 I had body image issues. To compensate for this lack of self-confidence, I overachieved in a lot of areas of my life, particularly sport and academically. As I begun to do the inner work on myself, I realized a lot of this was to prove my worth, not only to myself, but to my parents, particularly my Father because I held fears of disappointment for such a long time. Progressing into my mid to late teens, I was sexually assaulted, this deepened my own insecurities and trust towards males, which later played out in my relationships, both intimately and within the workplace.
However, I was fortunate in 2014 to start working at a wholefood cafe, where I deepened my nutritional awareness and really started to change up my eating and progress towards a healthier lifestyle. It was at this time, I was also working at a medical centre, where I witnessed not only first hand through the anxiety and health issues I had at this time; a complete breakdown really. But more so, I saw this first hand in patients, who were experiencing stress related illnesses and Doctors who were simply overworked and trained to prescribe, rather than really listening to the patient, and then applying their medical training in a way that supported their entire well-being. Through these experiences, I knew this was the path for me. I had to share my message, so I researched the best institute to study at that was holistically focused and that’s where I came across the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in early 2015.
Fast forward a few months, I had hired my own personal life coach, moved closer to the beach and begun studying at IIN. A necessary lifestyle change. It wasn’t until I had started working with a coach that I realized my beliefs created my experience, what it meant to be human and what life is really about. In this work, I experienced the power of living from the inside out. Everything from relationships, to money, to emotional eating, conscious communication and spirituality were areas in my life that showed up mostly as resistance. Although I had felt like I had a complete deconstruction of who I thought I was when I had left that toxic relationship, but it felt like that all over again, I was stripped bare and was rebuilt with a stronger more supportive web of belief systems in order to change what I was experiencing in my life. I understood, realized and experienced the true guidance we all have within to create optimum well-being. This is exactly what my coach supported and guided me through and exactly what I do with my clients today, empowering you to be your own guru.
Q: What are your recommendations for any reader that may feel unbalanced in a certain area of wellness (mind, body, or soul)?
As you can see from my experiences above, the best decision I made in order to balance all the necessary areas of my life; mind, body, heart, and soul was to shake things up a little and invest into my self-awareness. Hiring a Coach and studying at IIN excelled my personal development, to the point where if it wasn’t for those heart centered decisions, I wouldn’t be impacting, serving and living in a way that invites inner peace and epic experiences in this human body. Make it happen, invest in yourself!
Q: You previously studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. How has your philosophy about food changed since enrolling there?
My philosophy dramatically changed as I continued my studies at IIN and still has an impact on myself and how I coach clients today, which supports the concept of living from the inside out. I allow clients to check in, and eat in a way that is intuitive and truly feels good, allowing people to reconnect with their bodies, the joy of eating and the innate intelligence within. I educate and make clients aware of misconceptions but what I’ve found since I started coaching, even before I graduated, is that in all cases, we make decisions 100% from emotion and this includes what we eat. Therefore addressing the emotions is critical to sustaining a way of eating that supports their lifestyle and body. No one is the same, we are all unique, therefore there is not a ‘one size fits all’ diet, (which by the way diets are never sustained).
Q: What’s your favourite go-to healthy food option?
I love this question, as recently I’ve been going through some further changes with my body to support a better functioning digestive system, which in my experience and knowledge underpins our entire physical health. Lately, I’ve been loving rice with poached pears and cinnamon. This is really grounding for me, simple, filling and great for my digestive system at the moment. After lunch, I usually have an oat and cranberry cookie, which I make using my own recipe of:
1 cup almond meal
1 cup oats
1/2 cup of olive oil (or coconut)
1/4 – 1/2 cup of rapadura sugar
Handful of cranberries
1 egg
Mix together, make balls and flatten then cook for ten minutes on approx 160 degrees. A simple, healthy snack.
Q: What’s your favourite wellness habit or hack?
I am deeply passionate about gut health, so each morning I drink 500ml-1L of filtered/spring water upon waking, then I take a dose of activated charcoal to detox and cleanse my digestive system. I meditate, exercise and/or do some work for an hour, then I cook breakfast. Detoxing from heavy metals and keeping our gut bacteria balanced is crucial to mind-body health.
Q: What does “Living Well” mean to you?
Living a bold life; meaning, you are connected to your heart, your truth and you go out in the world and be exactly that. You understand the incredible and sometimes chaotic gift of being human. You serve others and Mother Earth by doing the deep inner work, embodying love and following what excites you the most. It is our birthright to live well!
