As with most journeys, my road to co-founding Well & Truly as a trained health food chef, yoga teacher and holistic health coach was not a straight-forward one. To put it bluntly, as a child and teen I was overweight, anxious and I seriously struggled to focus. I had zero awareness that the sugary snacks I routinely indulged on and the lack of exercise I stubbornly committed to were taking a huge toll on my mood and my concentration.
The building blocks of my own health and my passion for helping others create wellbeing in their own lives came first with my discovery of yoga; a non competitive, calming and body positive form of movement and breath with an ancient philosophy behind it dedicated to living a mindful and healthy life. I then channelled my (once disordered) love for food and cooking into a health supportive outlet through my culinary training at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York (while Kathryn was mastering the art of running workshops just a few blocks down). I went on to share my love of cooking, and to find my love of teaching groups of people, as a teaching chef at Jamie Oliver’s cookery school. From there I completed my training in holistic nutrition coaching and finally, coming full circle, I trained as a yoga teacher.
As with anything new and disruptive to the status quo, I’ve no doubt our method will be met with some eye-rolls and sighs (primarily at us taking away our participants’ phones), and I can’t wait for the challenge.
My private coaching practise has been dedicated to helping my clients free themselves of disordered eating, increase their energy levels naturally and reduce stress through the various tools I can equip them with. When Kathryn approached me with the concept for Well & Truly, it was a resounding yes for me straight away, and not just because she’s my favourite person bar none and also happens to be the smartest and most talented mediator I’ve met. I jumped at the opportunity because I’ve seen through my 1:1 coaching that due to the work and productivity approach most workplaces take, the effort individuals make in their own time to improve their health is often an uphill battle. As Kathryn says, people shouldn’t have to compensate for the damage done at work in their personal lives. I’m so excited that during our Well & Truly Workshops, we will be showing what can be achieved when we tackle many of the health impeding workplace habits which often stifle productivity, such as poor nutrition and constant consumption of sugary snacks and caffeine.
I often see people get stuck in what I call a lethargy loop, especially in the workplace. It looks something like this: Feel tired – stare at screen – drink coffee – stare at screen – eat biscuits – feel more tired – stare at screen – get nothing done – repeat. It can be really challenging to break this loop, but at Well & Truly workshops, we create a framework where our participants just can’t fall into it. It will feel so energising to break free of that, even just for a day. And hopefully our participants will see that the more often they can bring themselves into that space of feeling naturally alert and light in the body and mind, the more that lethargy loop will become a thing of the past.
As with anything new and disruptive to the status quo, I’ve no doubt our method will be met with some eye-rolls and sighs (primarily at us taking away our participants’ phones), and I can’t wait for the challenge. In yoga, we talk about the heat of transformation. This isn’t just physical heat, it’s also metaphorical: the resistance to change causes friction, which causes heat, and this heat allows even the strongest iron to soften and bend. So just as I’m excited for the many participants who will openly and gratefully receive our nourishing food, simple movement flows and breath work, I’m equally excited for the many participants who will resist, as those are the people who need what we do the most.
We’d love to chat about how we could work together, so please do get in touch at hello@wellandtrulyworkshops.co.uk
