Wellness Lounge Interview Questions
What inspired you to get involved in wellness, and how has that journey shaped who you are today?
My journey into wellness was two folded. Primarily, I was stressed, that's the short of it. Corporate leader in a demanding role, divorced sole parent of two, sole provider of my home...it all came to a head. I found myself holding on to so much emotion and pressure that I broke down in a meeting. Shortly after, I turned to some eastern wellness practices that I’d experienced before, hoping to find a way to manage the stress. It was so mentally and emotionally freeing to reconnect with myself and quiet the external noise that I decided to go deeper into how these modalities worked.
The second factor was that I was also working as a part time psychotherapist and I wanted to bring holistic wellness into my talk therapy sessions to help clients with anxiety. I started my journey with training and certification in Reiki, followed quickly by sound therapy and meditation, then Qigong, and finally breath work. Having had so much experience in corporate, and genuinely liking what I did, I didn't want to fully leave that chapter behind. So, despite the evolution of who I was and how I now viewed helping others, I created a framework that infuses emotional intelligence with ancient healing modalities for complete mind, body, and spirit wellness.
Wellness means something different to everyone, how do you define wellbeing? How has this changed over the years?
To me, wellbeing means feeling like you can live with vitality and mental and emotional freedom. What that looks like is different for everyone, but for me, it's when I wake up feeling recovered and refreshed, when I'm naturally energized, when my body feels well strong and well nourished, and when I feel spiritually grounded in purpose. This is foundational for me and everything else, clarity, financial wellness, relational wellness, and so on follows from it. When I'm sleeping great, eating what my body needs, getting a little movement in everyday and spending time in silence with just me and my spiritual guides, I feel optimal. That's wellness, to me.
Over the years, that definition has changed. I used to define wellness and wellbeing more from a physical viewpoint, working out, being fit, and being able to run a few miles felt like ideal. As I got older and started to recognize how important good sleep was to essentially everything, I began to prioritize it more. The same shift happened with physical wellness: It's less about how much I'm able to do now, and more about how my body feels doing it. I'm far more in alignment with my body and my organs, and with how I feel overall, than I was when I was younger.
What is one wellness practice or ritual that has truly transformed your mental, emotional, or physical health?
It has to be meditating daily, even if it's only 10 minutes a day. And to be honest, sometimes I find it hard to sit still if I’m feeling antsy or my mind is busier than normal. When that happens, I take a mindful walk. Having that time to train my mind in patience and presence has been truly transformational for me.
Many women struggle with consistency or self care guilt. What advice do you offer for navigating wellness without pressure or perfection?
The advice I offer is to be kind to yourself first, and to recognize that peace doesn't come from pressure. If you miss a day, there’s always tomorrow. No one is perfect, and self compassion helps you understand that. If you can't practice mindfulness for 10 minutes, practice for 5. That was one of the hardest things for me when I started years ago, I was so hard on myself, and kept thinking I was "doing it wrong”, until I learned how much self compassion shifts that paradigm. I'm much kinder to myself because of it now.
Self care guilt runs a little deeper for a lot of women, and might take more than a few words here to unpack, but the best succinct advice I can give is: practice from your why. If you view self care as something you're supposed to do, feelings of guilt or selfishness can creep in easily. I get it, self care is a hot topic right now, and everyone wants to get on board, but at the same time, it can feel hard to prioritize when other people or things need you.
Here's what I mean, when you say to yourself "I want to live long to see my grandkids grow up" or "when I'm emotionally well, I can better support my loved ones" or even "I'm taking daily time for myself, because I deserve to be happy and well too”, that’s when things shift. Attaching a meaningful why to your wellness journey, makes it something you truly want to do, instead of something you feel like you have to.
Looking ahead, what are you most excited for this year as you continue to create an impact in health and wellness?
I am most excited to expand my Qigong offerings and classes to get more people familiar with the practice and experience the benefits of it. Since it's a combination of movement, breath work, and meditation, it brings a lot of separate modalities into one beautiful practice. It's a truly wonderful and accessible way to love your body more and experience wellness from the inside out.
