How I went from Hating to Absolutely Loving My Life Story.
My work schedule has never been so flexible. I’m able to block off time when I have friends and family in town, but also increase my hours when I need to work some longer days. I truly love my life story. I get to help people feel better in their bodies by showing them how to stretch, breathe, and move properly. I teach people how to live their life story by design, not default. I coach people how to have a positive relationship with food and body image. My clients find their freedom again.
I love to cook meals and eat healthy. I have the time to plan and prepare my food so I’m not stressed out about what I’m going to eat next. Not only do I provide high quality food for myself, but for the people (and pup) that I love and care for everyday. I practice mindful eating, enjoying every bite that is put into my mouth. I’m grateful for all the wonderful experiences that involve delicious foods. I don’t judge myself of my food choices because I’m tuning into what my highest self needs to get relief.
I invite pleasure into my life story with open arms. I’m not afraid to give myself some dark chocolate, a 90-minute massage, or go out dancing with the girls. The most pleasurable thing of all is being my goofy, fun, creative self; hoping that the people around me will join in the shenanigans!
After reading the book, Taming your Outer Child by Susan Anderson, I learned how to listen to Inner child’s needs and desires, be proactive towards Outer child’s behaviors and actions, and inevitably strengthen my Adult Self.
My passion for the great outdoors is shared with all my local clients and friends.
I organize groups to go hiking, biking, and camping. Nature has always helped me unplug and become more present. The feeling that I get after reaching the top of a mountain has to be shared with others. My physical environment is just so perfect for me. I get to live in the beautiful state of Colorado, while only a short drive away from my home in Kansas. I love all the sunshine, the rain, the snow, and the beautiful fall colors. I can imagine my kids growing up here and living the life story of their dreams.
I have the positive kind of stress in my life (well, most the time). I strive to live in Parasympathetic Nervous System dominance; in more simple terms, the Relaxation Response. Most the time 10 deep breaths, Viparita Karani (‘legs up the wall Pose’), or a hot bubble bath is just what the divine was calling for.
All of this wouldn’t be possible without my fiancé, David. He’s my biggest motivation to live life to the fullest, and to be the best I can be. He has taught me how hard work and showing up consistently every day is what’s important.
BUT my life story was not always this way…
Just five years ago I was working my first corporate management job out of college. The hefty salary blind-sighted me from the terrible schedule and work-life balance that was ahead. While David had a normal 8-6pm schedule, I’d be leaving the house at 12pm and getting home at 5am. We never had supper (yes, I say supper!) together, and he would be asleep on the couch waiting for me to come home. I still remember it was the first time in my life I didn’t see fireworks on the 4thof July.
The team I worked for didn’t take me seriously. I was a 22 year-old female manager in charge of a 30 person team that included mostly males ages 18 – 50. Many of them had been there for years, and had way more job knowledge than I, yet I was their boss. This environment was the perfect example of living my life story by default. It seemed like everyone was ‘bleh’ about their job, did enough to get by, and didn’t really care that much about each other. I knew that I wasn’t fulfilling my greater mission.
My love for cooking was no longer. I simply didn’t have enough time or energy to make any meals. My “eating rhythm”, which I learned about later as a Mind Body Eating Coach, was completely out of whack from working the night shift. The quality of my food diminished, I had to multi-task while eating over my break, and I was living off of vending machine cappuccinos to stay awake.
Nothing in my life story at this time was pleasurable. I had no social life, my love life was suffering, and I developed a negative relationship with food and body. I began binge eating and drinking alcohol as a coping mechanism to numb out to all the things going wrong in my life. This was my way of surviving with all the tough emotions and situations that were thrown at me.
Looking back and referencing Susan Anderson’s book Taming your Outer Child, my Inner Child’sneeds and desires were not being met, my Outer Childwas acting out by binge eating and drinking, and my Adult Self was so weak that it had no control over anything in my life.
The kind of stress I had at this time was debilitating. I was living in Sympathetic Nervous System dominance, also known as “The Stress Response”. Constantly in survival mode, I was either ready to fight and defend myself or shut down and freeze. I had forgotten what it felt like to be happy, open, integrated, and turned on.
At least 12-hours of my working days were spent in a warehouse with no windows, no outside access, and no creative outlets. When I would walk outside from work I could smell the Lay’s potato chip factory and wanted to ‘vom’ every single time.
After 11-months of not wanting to give up, thinking that if I quit than I would be a failure, I finally came to a breaking point when my primary relationships began to crumble. I knew that in this life I had to learn how to love myself, body, spirit, work, environment, people, and mission.
That’s when I found yoga.
My Aunt Dianne lives in San Francisco and has always been that quirky spark of inspiration to me (I remember growing up she wanted me to join the circus). I didn’t listen to her then, but I did hear her loud and clear when she invited me to come stay with her and do a Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Garden SF. My Mom was a huge component in this happening too. Thanks Momma.
I thought, “What a perfect way to find out who I am, and what I want to do. Plus, I’m unemployed so lets live it up!” I must admit to you that the biggest reason why I up and left for San Francisco, no questions asked, was to help me through my binge eating and drinking habitual cycle. I felt helpless, out of control, lost, and very lonely. I was guilt and shame ridden. I didn’t know much about yoga at the time, but I did know that it would provide me a healing and supportive journey back to truth.
I learned so much in my time in San Francisco. Sure there was yoga philosophy, asana, anatomy, adjustments, and cueing; but the life lessons that this Midwestern girl learned about people, life, culture, and art meant just as much. After I completed my immersion training, I took the rest of the summer to travel the West Coast visiting friends and up to Alaska for a family vacation. I had been aching to travel again ever since I got back from studying abroad in Italy. It felt so necessary at the time.
Once I got back home from my adventures, I immediately started teaching at Healing Touch, my mentor Annette Terry’s massage office. I’m so glad I did this because I had the confidence to teach and the knowledge was fresh. I had healed many emotional wounds, but binge eating was still showing up in my life and sabotaging my success. I’m a continual learner, and got online to seek more wisdom on what was going on with me.
It didn’t take long to find my next calling, The Institute for Psychology of Eating based in Boulder, CO.
After attending a conference I immediately signed up for their Mind Body Eating Coaching Certification. It was an intensive online program that taught me the foundations about how to overcome binge eating, overeating, binge drinking, negative body image, poor digestive health, and so much more. It was a long journey to dig deep into my emotional and spiritual realms, and to live a fully expressed physical form. The more I learned, the more I practiced. This new lifestyle allowed my unwanted symptoms to slowly dissipate. In this time I also moved to Colorado, started a new job as a Wellness Coordinator for Ascent Therapy Clinic (physical therapy), and moved into a new home with David.
As a Mind Body Eating Coach I began attracting clients that had similar stories to mine.
I have been able to help people feel better about their relationship with food, quit binge eating, develop a healthy body image, discover long time food sensitivities, cut back on wine, bring light to sugar addiction, hormone imbalances, bloating, eating speed, eating rhythm, and so much more.
I truly love helping people, especially women, through their eating and body challenges, but I’ve also realized something.
That it’s hardly ever about the food.
Your binge eating, or other unwanted habit, is showing up in your life because you are not living authentically to you!
Look at all the aspects of your life – career, family, financials, primary relationship, spirituality, sexuality, hobbies, friends, physical environment, etc.
What is no longer serving you?
Which aspects are holding you back from being the authentically you?
Do any of these areas in your life cause you more stress than relief?
Take a moment to reflect here. I want you to pause, take a deep breath, and be a witness to your own life.
My last certification as a Lifestyle Design Coach taught me how to be self-employed and fully focus on Hungryoga (Yes, even more so than a Business Degree). I’ve learned so much about mindful marketing, and what it takes to run a freedom based business. Now I coach other entrepreneurs and business-women how to take charge of their schedules and charge what their worth. I’m passionate about guiding people away from doing jobs they hate, and really going after what their heart is set on in my Lifestyle & Career Design Program.
I tell you my life story because I am a Coach. I’m here to be open, vulnerable, and deeply listen to your life story. I don’t want you to hide anymore. There is no guilt or shame with how your life is now. There are so many people just like you searching for help and relief with the exact same issues – binge eating, overeating, hating their job, hating their weight, and hating life all together.
I want to help you get to where I am now, only way faster than how I got here. It’s time to feel free in your body and not be ashamed of your imperfections. The limits are off with your desires and your purpose. Now you can charge forward with confidence in knowing that you are ‘on the right path’.
I want to leave you with this…
“You attract the way you act. You act the way you think. And you think the way you choose.”