the pivot behind digesting wellness

If you're familiar with my work, or you've taken my Decoding Digestion course, you may know that I (probably like you) have endured an arduous chronic illness journey.

In the beginning, I bounced from doctor to doctor with no answers for 24/7 throat pain, stomach burning, inability to eat, nausea, and severe bloating (not just a little puffiness—the kind that was utterly painful and came with SIBO).

I was told I had a precancerous condition of the esophagus, and that I would need to take a medication for the rest of my life. This only made things worse.

For now, these details are all that matter. In the evolved version of myself, I've found it best not to get fixated on the "sickness" part, because that's where people get stuck. You'll see what I mean by this in a bit 🌚

The important thing is, this called me to take control of my own situation, learn everything I could about supporting my body’s ability to heal itself, and guide others to do the same.

The pain I described was deeper than a lab result to "fix," a pill to take, or a food to avoid. It was a calling—a calling that began with digestion, but was truly a bridge to "awakening."

path to "awakening" (Part I)

My guess is you're here reading this because your pain or challenges have guided your awakening, whether or not you see it yet.

While it's easy to get frustrated with symptoms and the journey they take you on, I promise they really can be your greatest gifts, when channeled towards your growth.

Keep reading to see what I mean by this, and plant the seeds for your own healing...

⚡️I was meant to go through that pain to "wake up" to something more. This was just the beginning.

My healing practice started guiding people who, like me, had chronic digestive issues.

I initially got certified as a "Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner" and Restorative Wellness Solutions Practitioner (training in functional labs like stool tests, blood panels, and hormone tests).

Yet, nutrition and test results seemed like a small (yet still important!) piece of my work.

Naturally, my conversations were covering more than food journals or plans. They were unveiling deeper work and pieces, which all laid the foundation for the work I do now.

Clients were getting amazing results. The practice was bustling with a 6-month waitlist. People were getting better, eating foods they could only dream about before without pain. Thriving through their day, whereas they were barely surviving before...

Yet my soul knew there was still so much more and something was off.

It felt like an identity crisis when someone would refer to me as a nutritionist, because I knew whatever I was doing to support healing didn't fall into one label or category.

I'm here for radical change. I felt this huge piece missing with diet, protocols, and labs...

path to "awakening" (Part II)

Yes, it can be easier to "blame" the problem on something to "kill" (Candida, H. Pylori, SIBO), something too "high" or "low," or something to "get rid of" — than excavate what traumas, emotions, and energies created imbalances in the first place...

Labs feed the "ego" part of ourselves that wants validation for what might be "wrong," rather than working energetically to release, rewire, and self-heal (more on that below)!

I saw beautiful souls putting EVERYTHING into the next lab, diet, supplement, or prognosis. All their hope. All their faith in answers. Everything in something outside of themselves.

Many were looking at themselves as broken, seeing the labs and sickness as a reflection of that — which broke my heart!

While labs and protocols have a place, relying on something outside you won't give you what you're looking for deep down; it takes the power away from you.

Every time someone got lost in rabbit holes of food sensitivity tests, scopes, or breath test levels, my soul was lovingly screaming: "How do they not see it?? It's your purpose to help them see, to guide."

The labs and labels had a major problem — they were bypassing the deeper work.

No matter how many pharmaceuticals they swapped for natural supplements; no matter how much they changed their diet; no matter how many labs they ordered to tell them what was "wrong"… they still felt chronic pain (in mind & body).

It became crystal clear that you can’t outsource your healing. You’ve got to do the work.

Because in healing, and in life, those looking for silver bullets will end up disappointed. Every. Single. Time.

No piece of paper, diet, or "leaky gut protocol" was going to spit out someone's healing.

No. There had to be more...

Why? Because nearly every client with reflux, SIBO, IBS, autoimmunity, period pain, Lyme, thyroid imbalances, or any chronic pain was also experiencing some form of anxiety, depression, OCD, or stored emotions, whether or not they had a "label" for it.

"I don't know what's happening, but this is the future" — words I said to myself, as I held the microdose of plant medicine in my hands the first time, before I swallowed anything...

Those words may not make sense to you right now, and that's okay. As a primer, this didn't mean "future" in some new-age sense. After all, these sacred medicines have been around since the beginning of time. It didn't mean everyone's future. They're not for everyone.

Rather, there was a soul connection. As if I had done this before in another lifetime. That this was part of my path, and the self-healing work I'd facilitate with clients (which you'll see can be experienced even without ingesting anything, more on that to come)...

path to "awakening" (Part III)

Both weekly microdose experiences and guided full dose ceremonies with a mentor I'm deeply connected to helped me explore parts of myself that felt locked away before. Now they were becoming fully alive.

This is powerful medicine. BUT it's not just what you ingest. It's how you integrate it. The plant is no silver bullet.

If someone takes any plant medicine hoping it will do the work for them, or doesn't know how to work with energy and emotions, they will be sorely disappointed.

You may have seen headlines, showing the future of these as "cures." But this is not just another conventional medicine swap. Where you just take the pill and hope for changes.

I started shifting so quickly. The most radical changes I ever experienced.

Let's provide a bit of context. The plants I'm referring to are mushrooms (you may have heard them referred to as "magic mushrooms") containing the compound psilocybin. 🍄

They've been ceremoniously respected for ages to facilitate physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, as these areas are all interconnected – not separate...

Microdosing (taking a minimal amount, often stacked with adaptogens such as reishi and lion's mane) does not produce a hallucinogenic effect, is subtle, and is usually quite safe.

[That is not medical or legal advice. This is for education and sharing my story only. It's important to note that these plants are still illegal in many areas. However, with all the research being done and many cities decriminalizing them, the path is shifting].

//

The plant is like a spiritual teacher — you have to do the work each day to rewire your system and cement in your new patterns. It really is a daily practice.

The plants can make things more flexible. So you can see clearly what those new pathways look and FEEL like with every fiber of your being, whereas before those pathways or possibilities may have been cloudy or completely dormant.

The medicine is like the map showing you a path to a new destination. Maybe you wouldn't have known how to get there without the map.

But once you arrive and take in the view, you can go back without even needing the map the next time, because the pathways have become your new hardwiring.

While the plants were the window and I have infinite love and respect for them, they weren't everything. There's so much more to the story, keep reading to see...

The magic happens working with energy, your soul, and mind — to shift patterns mentally, emotionally, and somatically in the body🌀

I was seeing and FEELING self-healing first hand. So were my clients.

Let me be clear though – it's not all smooth sailing or easy.

There were difficulties and emotions that surfaced for me to work through. Experiences that rocked me to my core — where I was left with more questions than answers.

But those experiences, trauma release, and rewiring were absolutely pivotal to my healing and growth. We don't heal or grow in our comfort zones.

It's an ongoing process. The work is never finished. But having done a good chunk at this point, and seeing the transformations in my clients, I can honestly say it's all worth it.

I knew I was meant to go through all this, all these chapters and stages (which by no means are "finished" yet), to see just how far I could take myself — and my clients.

We can only take others as far as we've taken ourselves. Direct knowledge comes from direct experience.

Not only were my clients healing in a totally different way, I never felt more in my element and fully alive.  It felt so natural. When something feels natural, it's what our soul is meant to be doing ;) Pure magic.

Keep reading to see what clients started experiencing, and plant the seeds to step into your own power and self-healing 🌀

Soon I was exploring all aspects of non-ordinary healing practices (healing in states of consciousness that are different from our regular, everyday, automatic wiring) 🌀

Plant medicine is only one beautiful way to access them or "get there."

But energy work, deep meditation, somatic release, and active breathwork can all allow us to access these non-ordinary states of consciousness.

Yes, we can enter a "psychedelic" state through energy, breath, and body release connected with emotional release! 

Breathwork is different from breathing techniques. Breathwork is an active practice, where you are "circular" breathing to evocative music, often while wearing an eye mask to help you go "inward." As you can see, it's very different from your "relax and take a deep breath" (which is also important, just for different purposes).

Breathwork is a wild ride. Our lungs release DMT, a psychedelic compound naturally activated by this practice. Therefore, this practice can help you enter a psychedelic or "non-ordinary" state. It also allows you to shift patterns somatically in the BODY.

Energy work also facilitates an "altered" or "non-ordinary" state. When I guide energy and breathwork sessions with clients, many report being in a trance, or psychedelic state, seeing visions, releasing traumas, and experiencing a somatic release in their bodies.

Through lying down, surrendering, and receiving the healing energy, clients FEEL physical sensations and emotions — allowing the body to release to heal.

(And yes, this happens virtually!)

Clients said energy work together was the first time they felt at their core what it was like to see how your body can heal itself.

By working with breath, somatics, and energy, I've seen how we can transform chronic illness, rewire our systems, and gain a whole new perspective on the world around us.

I've also seen how the real roots of chronic physical or emotional pain reside in implicit memories stored in the body — hidden from conscious awareness until the body feels safe to release.

I've detailed a few radical, personal experiences below:

path to "awakening" (Part Iv)