Welcome to the origin story of Wellness Haven and Health. The inspirational stirrings existed and ideas were emerging many years before but I have chosen to start with the year 2022 as it was profound in so many ways for me personally and professionally. I challenged and questioned how I practiced life. These questions emerged out of a desperate need to find answers. The answers came through incredible soul searching and digging deep into my thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and psyche. This awareness set me on a path of learning new ways to live fully and being present in the moment. When faced with emotions that felt like too much, instead of relying on old practices that did not serve me, I chose to sit with the emotion and take the time to identify what I needed to learn. What was being revealed to me was life material I was now ready to receive, work on, and grow from. 

    Stepping back for a moment, I would like to share what brought me to this place and desire to explore my life in this nature. I am a nurse by profession yet I identify with this role so much that it has become a part of my personhood. Much of my personal value and worth came from this designation and I did not know myself outside of this identity.

     As so many have experienced the life changing effects that a global pandemic brings, I was feeling it fully. I came to realize that I did not have the strategies in place to personally handle it. As I communicated with others, this unpreparedness seemed universal, which inspired me to work towards sustainable solutions. I had a strong emotional, physical, and spiritual support system but still felt the struggle. If I could be feeling this way as a supported person, I knew the realities would be that much harder for those without support. This sent me on a path, eager to find the tools I could use to help others. Little did I know, the best approach to helping others was to do my own inner work. 

   A true caregiver by nature and design, I was set on this course so that I could be of service to others. I enrolled in a community college online program that offered a Life Skills coaching certification. The thing I valued most about this experience was the collaboration and diversity of the group. It optimized our perspective and widened the lens I was seeing from. It was enriching to learn from one another and feel such a sense of community. We carried one another through challenging times and built off each other's strengths, it created a greater thirst for knowledge and self growth. This was further inspiration for our Wellness Haven and Health community. 

     At the same time, I was recognizing the physical impact of living life behind a surgical mask. I remember seeing masks littering the street and it felt so out of place to me. I had only really used masks in the hospital when clients were in isolation or we were doing procedures requiring a sterile field but now masks were everywhere and on everyone I was in contact with. It actually became a thing of fashion, newly designed colors, patterns, and ones made out of cloth- who would ever have thought this would be common? 

     I started worrying about the quality of my own breathing, noticing it was shallow and often quickened. I started to investigate the idea of having a breath coach - was there even such a thing? As it turned out, no one I approached on the subject knew of breathwork. This pushed my search along and I eventually landed on Neurodynamic Breathwork founded by Michael Stone. I felt so compelled that I needed to be a breathwork facilitator. This consisted of nine months of training, getting quiet, and feeling through my conscious and unconscious mind. One of my greatest lessons was learning how to hold sacred space for others to do their deep, inner work. I have long since become a faithful breathwork facilitator and participant and have not looked back.

     All which leads to Wellness Haven and Health, a business created with the vision of supporting individuals on their journey to wholeness, so that we all may experience wellness of body, mind and spirit. My daughter, Abbie, works alongside me as a co-creator that brings greater dimension to the work shared. Our sense of well-being will be transformed into knowing as we embark on your journey.