Growth from Wholeness
Education, Certifications, & other Trainings
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B.S. Exercise & Nutrition Science, George Washington University
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Certified Strength Coach, NCSF
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Certified Nutrition Coach, Precision Nutrition
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OCB Professonial Bodybuilder
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Body Image Fundamentals Course, held by Shannon Beer
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The Power of Awareness Training, held by Jack Kornfield & Tara Brach
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Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training (2-year program, in progress)
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Integrative Somatic Parts Work, Level 1
Holistic personal trainer, nutrition coach, mindfulness teacher, wellbeing educator
I’ve been an explorer of fitness and health for as long as I can remember. As a kid I remember working out for fun or when I was feeling low. I found fitness as a way to clear my mind and get in touch with the best version of myself…
Fast forward some years, and mix in some cultural and familial confusion around healthy eating and body image, and I ended up with an eating disorder and a case of what I call
e n d l e s s s t r i v i n g.
…Always chasing a body ideal or perfect health (or some other illusive state of arrival) and never quite getting there. Never quite relaxing into the skin I’m in.
I was constantly struggling with myself, my habits, and shame around it all...
It’s exhausting. And it’s limiting.
The good news is, my struggle became my path. I slowly and surely learned to be more self-loving, and self-embodied. I now practice eating and moving in a way that gives the mind a break and let’s the body talk. I’ve begun connecting more with my nature ~ a natural way of being in this humanness. I’ve been relaxing into my skin rather than trying to change it.
It's not always an easy path to follow, to relax into this, but it's life-giving.
Where there was once a river running dry, the waters have begun flowing again.
It seems that what I was seeking has always been right here.
It's takes both time and no time at all,
To recognize that our work, our life, our joy is right in this moment.
And to be brave and willing to see and feel all the messiness and confusion that's here, too.
To expand, to hold it all with greater and greater peace and equanimity, and lightheartedness...
I've come to discover that wellbeing is not a state to arrive at all.
No endless striving necessary.
It's more like an arrival in each moment.
Wellbeing is a new life orientation.
One that embraces this moment, exactly as it is, and moves whole-heartedly from there.
One that embraces practices over perfection, with creativity and playfulness as the vital fuel.
And one that embraces true self-care as the necessary starting point for honestly caring for others and our planet.
My mission is to help others discover an easeful and enjoyable relationship with food, body, and self so that they may be an expression of joy and wellbeing rather than obligation or endless striving.
Further Mission
As I've journeyed through the fitness, wellness, self-improvement, and self-transformation worlds I've come to realize that the e n d l e s s s t r i v i n g runs deep. It's deep in our cultures and deep in our patterns. And, it's a shape-shifter, constantly birthing itself anew, often in disguise that's hard to recognize.
My further mission is to exist within these industries and go about it differently. If we can remember our Already Wholeness, we land back in this moment, and growth becomes the natural way.
Instead of striving, we practice arriving, and from there we can experience true thriving.
I call it ~
Growth from Wholeness.
Let it be Playful
Let it be Joyful