My Holistic Health journey so far...
(& how it's spiritually intertwined)
My journey officially started back in 2015, as I was noticeably struggling with my own health (& life) issues. From painful periods to digestive upset to debilitating anxiety and depression. The daily struggle sent me out searching for help. First, Gastroenterologists, in hopes of addressing my stomach pain and constipation. But I got no definitive answers there. Then, psychologists, in hopes of determining why I was anxious and paranoid all the time, or why some days I had no desire to get out of bed. Then, OBGYN's because certainly there had to be a reason for my painful periods. And then changing my primary care doctor again and again because of the lack of answers and support. I was so deeply unsatisfied with the care that I was getting from one mainstream doctor or specialist to the next. I started to realize that I had to become the person in charge of my health instead of outsourcing.
As any well-intentioned millennial would do when wanting to figure something out, I turned to Dr. Google and found something alternative. Turmeric. Turmeric was the trendy alternative thing at the time and rightfully so. I bought a supplement (a cheap one at that) and thought this was going to fix all the issues I was having. At that time, I also read a lot about the benefits of going vegetarian or plant based. It was super cool too, and I was into being cool, so I tried it. These were the first two things I remember trying to help heal whatever was going on with my body and ultimately life. I didn't go much further than that immediately, I didn't change or even think about changing any bad habits or lifestyle factors. After about two continued years of struggling but also dabbling into holistic health I was still feeling stuck, maybe even more stuck in life and in the same poor health condition I was years prior. After some major life events or what some would call hitting rock bottom, I changed everything- literally everything. This is when I began to dive deeper into holistic health and whole-body healing.
In 2018 I took a great online course led by a female holistic health coach based on healing women's reproductive health and this really helped me heal some trauma I had as well as some of my other health struggles. The course mainly consisted of an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle changes to reduce stress as well as inflammation. After seeing amazing results from this course, I became more certain that I wanted to pursue some type of career in this direction. This is the year I began pursuing my certification as a Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP).
Things took an interesting turn for me in 2019/2020, as did life for everyone around the world. With the COVID-19 pandemic that shook the world awake came another awakening for myself and with it some major life changes from diet to my beliefs and values. What I had learned in the Holistic Health world kind of flipped upside down when we discovered the carnivore diet. Up to this point we had done a lot of physical, mental and spiritual healing. But I would still experience dysregulated emotions, depression and anxiety. I couldn't seem to crack the code and what we were doing only helped with an extent. I was willing to try anything, so we did, we tried the meat, salt and water only diet. Coming from the belief that plant-based eating was the healthiest I really had to work through that eating all meat could really be healthy or even potentially healing. This led me to start questioning many other areas of my life and beliefs I held as well.
In 2021 after many years of detoxing, diet and lifestyle changes as well as researching and learning in the realm of Holistic Health my soon to be Husband (now husband) and I decided we were ready to start a family. This decision then led me further into learning about womanhood particularly all things preconception and pregnancy. Then I became pregnant! We were so excited only to be very quickly (at our first midwife appointment to be exact) let down once again by the mainstream medical system. This disheartening appointment left me sad, a bit angry but also impassioned even more than ever about holistic health and truly knowing what our bodies need to thrive. It also sparked another passion in me which is to be with and support other growing families so they would not have a similar experience as us.
Throughout my whole journey-pregnancy included- I became my own health advocate spending hundreds of hours learning and researching so that I could make the decisions that were right for my family. From what I ate to the thoughts I was thinking to the best non toxics products to birth and newborn procedures then to postpartum, motherhood and beyond. I remember getting to the end of my pregnancy having people ask, So are you prepared? and I truly felt like we were prepared. But it is very true that having a baby, specifically the first child, is something you can't truly prepare for. Thankfully, we still had a lot of knowledge and tools. One thing I didn't realize we needed that was missing was community and support from likeminded people. This made the transition and honestly the time period from birth until our son was 18 months old, very lonely and isolated.
It was around this time in 2022 that our worldview started to shift, and we knew what we needed and had been searching for, for many years. Christianity. My first instinct being raised protestant/non-denominational was to lean back into the protestant church. I found myself wanting to interpret scripture and watch mega church services online. This was all well intentioned, but my husband (Keith) had other thoughts and plans.
Being raised Catholic he had an idea that there was more to Christianity than the protestant church. Keith knew he didnt want to go back to Catholicism due to some factors from his childhood. interestingly enough his father was always very interested in Orthodoxy. We later found out that his father's mother was Russian orthodox. So, Keiths entire life from young age to adulthood was filled with icons, prayer books and books on the lives of orthodox saints which his dad would subtly recommend or mention every now and again.
Upon my experience of this ancient faith, I felt deep in my bones that this was our path. Our journey was not linear; we attempted going to one parish as a family and felt like foreigners and were turned off. This initial experience led us to step back and question if this was really the path we were meant to take. After that we agreed until we found our home parish Keith would be the one going and exploring local churches. So, he did, he went out and explored, met with priests and spent time at coffee hour chatting with local communities. I remember the day that he found our home parish, he called me on the way home and I could here in his voice the excitement, I knew he found our church. When finding this church and community that felt like home my initial feelings about this being our path were even more solidified. After a about a year and a half of regular church attendance, catechesis classes and confession we had a baptism date on the calendar! Three months before our Baptism as a family we found out we were expecting out second child! Upon entering the church, we felt truly that this was only the beginning of our journey and that holds true to today- almost 3 years later.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Today as a certified Women’s Holistic Health practitioner, Doula and Childbirth educator I strive to provide the same support, education and knowledge with other women and families so they too can make the best decisions for themselves and their growing families.
My prayer is that by supporting women and families in the childbearing years we can lay a solid foundation for the next generation to thrive.