Okay, right off the bat, I am celebrating.
Why?
Because it’s my business birthday!
Real Food Wellness is celebrating 7 years of supporting the Mid-west and beyond blending the, often separate, disciplines of nutrition and psychology.
I asked two of my office mates to capture me doing a celebratory heel-click last week (yes, leprechaun style). 15 minutes later, laughing, and winded, here’s a few of the best:
To give you the gist, here’s the general development of Real Food Wellness over the past several years:
In 2007 I took a big leap of faith, quit my full-time job teaching ballroom dance, found a part-time job at a local gym, and began flying to NYC 1-2/x month over the course of 2 years to study holistic health and nutrition
By 2009, I began seeing clients at coffee shops, bookstores, and over the phone.
Shortly after that I found a quaint office space a mile from my home which allowed me to go much deeper with my in-person clients. Less than a year later I was given three weeks notice that I’d need to find a new office space due to unforeseen circumstances. I hustled but found a great space, and took a deep breath as I doubled my rent.
In 2010 I began investing in deeper training for my client work, flying out to Boulder, CO, and spent a year studying the psychology of eating, health, and healing.
By 2011 I left my part-time job and fully committed to my counseling/coaching practice full-time.
In 2013 I was invited to be a part of a collaborative wellness center (now called The Wellness Collective GR), doubling my rent once more. This has been my home base for the past few years working with clients locally in west Michigan and organically growing my reach nationally and internationally.
This is a VERY general overview of things. Peppered in the mix is more training than I can keep track of: healing nutritional protocols, personal development, yoga, feminine consciousness and psychology, program development, and entrepreneurship, and much more. But whew, were some of these transitions riddled with anxiety! I often found myself mentally clinging to the safety of the familiar, because with many decisions, there are no absolute guarantees. Anyways, all this to say, it’s been a pretty fantastic and self-growthy kind of 7 years. Years that have taught me much about trust. And the heart is yet again beckoning on to new adventures… I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work more closely with a mentor of mine who is a Jungian psychologist and medical anthropologist. I will be continuing to develop myself as both a coach/counselor and healer to serve my clients from a deeply embodied place. As you know, I am not interested in pop culture health fads as the means to sustainable shifts. Understanding various healing systems for the body as well as a solid understanding of depth psychology and human behavior informs my work a ton. You will have the opportunity to work with me in all the usual ways: in person if you choose, via Skype/phone, as part of my online learning community, or for live workshops. I’m even cooking up some new offerings that I can’t wait to unveil in the coming year or so. (If you receive my bi-weekly newsletters, you’ll be the first to know). My in-person office hours will be shifting slightly starting in March as I will be splitting my time between two towns soon. For many of you, this makes little difference. I do a good deal of my work via phone and Skype so my office hours will remain the same. For those in west Michigan, all this means is my in-person availability will shift a touch. Something that is definitely, as Marie Forleo calls it, “figure-out-able.” That’s the scoop for now. Wishing you a beautiful February! Like this article? Then you might also like: The shadow side of healthy eating With love, Laura (And as promised, here’s a post from 2014 with reminders that I think you’ll appreciate with all the diet, exercise, nutrition hub bub running amok)