Holistic Healthstyle Coaching

In my coaching service, I provide unique value in support of clients on their path towards holistic healthstyle, optimal performance, and lasting change. I combine the best practices of fitness trainers, nutrition consultants, executive coaches, and wellness experts. My approach integrates the emotional and the physical to overcome the mind-body duality driving most illness, stress, chronic fatigue and injury, stagnant performance, and unsatisfactory work-life balance. I apply the latest research advances in physiology, nutrition, and biomedical science to the timeless wisdom of natural healing, consciousness, and the integrative arts. The only obstacle to realizing your goals is dedication; there are no short-cuts to a holistic healthstyle. Things like body composition, sleep patterns, stress, or performance in the workplace are merely indicators of your mind-body condition, and of its connection to your personal and professional contexts. We may set goals for weight loss or establish performance metrics for your team at work, for instance, but we always do so with an eye towards building your capacity for changing the contextual conditions (inside and outside of yourself) which will promote lasting change and overall healthstyle.

I tailor my service package to meet your needs. While you determine the emphasis—training, nutrition, leadership consults, wellness—the program I design for you will always be holistic and geared towards building your capacity for lasting change. As a lifelong athlete (soccer, cycling, swimming, cross-country ski, cross-fit) and artist (ballet dancer, writer), I learned how to utilize rigorous physical and mental training to reach high performance levels. I applied this discipline and rigor to a successful career as a research scholar and university professor. For many years, I unconsciously leaned on my training to excise difficult emotions and handle stress. As I explored yoga, martial arts, and natural healing, I learned how to listen better to my body and to problem solve with it when it told me something was wrong. Most importantly, I began to approach a door inside of myself. With this shift in awareness, I came to see that my professional experiences were signaling that I needed to pursue a more grounded approach to my life’s work. This inner door has opened into a new level of balanced practice that has enabled me to change my life course. Along the way I have found holistic solutions to both debilitating back pain and skin cancer, while realizing new levels of creativity that I previously could not have imagined. I have turned my research analyst skillset towards interpreting key findings in the medical sciences that can support holistic and natural approaches to healing, growth, and performance.

My services are based on my unique skillset and integrative knowledge. Most people who work out with a fitness trainer come to rely upon the external motivation of the trainer and do not address their internal challenges nor access their own capacity for lasting holistic change. Exercise is vital, but training in isolation, absent a holistic approach, is like having a sterling horn player in your band while the rhythm section is floundering. At the same time, my services also expand the terrain of traditional executive coaching. Due to the pressures of leadership and the complexities of organizations, it has become standard for high-level executives in business and the non-profit and higher education sectors to utilize executive coaching services to maintain a healthy work-life balance and improve professional performance. Studies of executive coaching services routinely demonstrate that the returns on investment are many times the cost of engagement, including significant intangible benefits to individuals and their organizations. The best executive coaches can elevate company performance while promoting healthy lifestyle practices in leaders. Most executive coaches do not have the expertise, however, to offer the integrated modalities necessary for holistic and lasting personal change.

While there is an increasing awareness these days about the benefits of "wellness" practices, it frequently remains disconnected from reliable guidance on the insights and limits of allopathic medical science. I am a problem-solver versed in multiple modalities of healing and prevention; I utilize this diverse tool kit to best support my clients' needs in finding what works for their individual situation.

When you work with me, the onboarding process begins with a detailed, two-part client assessment: a survey of your present practices, needs, experiences, and goals; coupled with a follow-up conversation to further identify challenges and establish your priorities. Based on this information, I build a personalized and comprehensive start-up plan for you. Depending on the client, the plan may include: detailed training and nutritional plans; guides for mind-body integration; the latest science in disease prevention; and homework towards effective leadership and a successful work-life balance. This start-up plan serves as both a preliminary resource guide for you and a blueprint from which our work together unfolds. After the onboarding process, I provide weekly consultations, as well as monthly intensives, depending on the client's needs and goals.