WELLNESS INVESTMENT PLAN:
7 Stages to Create a Model for Lifelong Wellness
Meet Angela
You've evolved to having a very well-rounded wellness mindset. Tell me a bit about the evolution.
I started this path for pain management. After college I had desk jobs working on computers and I would get horrible neck pain, even though everything was set up ergonomically, and anti-inflammatory medicine was the only thing that helped. I developed a very painful cyst on my left wrist, and my knees would ache so bad. I was one of those people that could tell you when a cold front was coming in because my knees ached. I saw a community offering for a beginner yoga class and it changed everything. The instructors approach made it all very accessible and I've carried that with me in my approach to wellness and coaching. One thing that stuck with me for these past 20+ years, was her saying if we only do five minutes it's five minutes we weren't going to do and even that has its benefits. It was so true, because telling yourself you only need five minutes to focus on your breathing, those five minutes can change your mindset and physical state, and you start to feel the benefits of a regular practice. I apply this concept in the approach to understanding well-being and building wellness awareness.
Share with us one of your inspired moments. What led you on this path?
This path really kicked off when I decided to start running again after a 15-year hiatus after college. I was doing my yoga teacher training and friends were training for marathons, and I never thought I would run a marathon, and it wasn't my intention when they encouraged me to start running. I was a sprinter, 100 meter and 200 meter, distance was never my thing. But I had learned so much from my yoga training and pain management. I understood the importance of nasal and diaphragmatic breathing and the movement of the body and I thought this can be directly applied to endurance training. This was in 2006 and I ran my first marathon in 2007 and I have run 2 marathons, 2 Hood to Coast relays, a half-dozen half marathons and the Triple Crown Series which the final leg is the Pikes Peak Ascent, the distance of a half marathon straight up to the top of Pikes Peak. If I could run these, after considering myself only a sprinter and from all I had learned about understanding movement and breathing, I wanted to help others achieve the same goals so I received endurance running coach certification, a developmental coach certificate, and studied a life-strategies coach certification course.
Tell us about your initiative. What is the primary solution or progress you focus on?
The primary focus is on building wellness awareness by understanding the concept of well-being of body, mind and spirit, but I use lifestyle as the motivation. We're told as young adults onward about financially investing in our future and the motivation is: what dream lifestyle do you want to achieve? But what is not discussed is what if you're not well enough to live your dream lifestyle you're saving for and all your savings has to go to health care costs.
Through the course and workbook you learn strategies and tools to apply to achieve well-being and the lifestyle you want. This is an active, hands-on practice. What makes this challenging throughout our lifetime is that we are consistently changing. Just as you think you reach some kind of wellness stasis, our bodies change, and this happens about every decade or so. So wellness is a concept that seems elusive because we are consistently changing, and something we are always striving to achieve. That's why this program is available to any age adult because the sooner you can learn these skills the easier to navigate the wellness path; and particularly for those that may be going through a life event like a job change, moving, marriage, children, divorce, empty nest, a health scare or a death.
WELLNESS INVESTMENT PLAN covers what wellness means for your lifestyle right now and in the future, addressing seven stages of wellness. Each stage offers a wellness explanation, a lifestyle question, and a discussion of common experiences; concluding with an exercise designed to bring focus to that area of wellness.
"Angela has a very well rounded model for her members to consider wellness. She really helps you see how wellness of body, mind, spirit affect all other areas of your life. Knowing how Angela walks her life and that she has many wellness practices that she is very committed to daily, assures me that anyone would truly benefit from the courses she facilitates. I definitely recommend signing up!"
~ Paula Robbins, client and Founder, ConsciousPreneurs International
Learn a bit more about her journey to well-being in this interview about Wellness Masterminds.
“Angela will teach you breathing, body awareness and more. Angela’s approach is gentle yet filled with wisdom and knowledge. She taught me in ten minutes what I couldn’t ever learn from a video or class. She explained the body and body systems which helped me embrace the new breathing techniques even more — I liked that! I felt so encouraged and relaxed with her. Thank you, Angela for your help. I can’t wait to meet with you again to learn more!”
~ Melissa Taylor – Freelance Writer, Entrepreneur