Hiya! I'm Hannah

With so many new folks joining our community lately, I thought I would pop into this week's newsletter and share a bit about myself, from the Heart. I welcome you to do the same with me. 

I grew up in a rural town in the mountains of North Carolina, the daughter of artists- which is probably why I have past professional adventures of being a singer-songwriter, potter, and art teacher.

Early on in my life I was interested in natural healing because my parents were always curious about using food as medicine, healing with herbs, and keeping the body fit.

I have always been interested in health, joyful thriving, and natural healing. My middle school yearbook had a page titled “What will you be doing in 20 years?” and my peers decided I would be doing the following: laughing joyfully and educating others about health risks. Ha! I find that pretty predictive, and honestly hilarious!

However, my road to get to the point of “laughing joyfully and educating others” hasn’t been easy. I have really struggled with my own health along the way. Starting as a teenager, I suffered from chronic sinus infections, dealt with horrible allergies, constipation, anxiety/depression, and painful periods. As I grew older, things got worse and I added insomnia, gas, bloating, panic attacks, and weight gain to the mix as I went through my 20s and 30s.

I became a yoga teacher and found that my yoga practice helped a lot with the emotional struggles, but my body was so uncomfortable most of the time because of inflammation and digestive distress. I sought out different diets and systems of eating, but nothing really worked. Can you relate?

In 2013 I was diagnosed with a scary precancerous condition and told by a doctor, “If you don’t have surgery you are going to die!” Whoa! This lit a fire under me. I was determined to heal my body without surgery. I believed deep down that bodies can heal if given the right conditions. My body needed me to change how I was living, instead of me cutting out part of my body. This is when I really got serious about healing myself which put me on the path to studying Ayurveda.

Long story short, I healed the pre-cancerous condition in its entirety and went to Ayurveda school where I learned how to heal the other dis-eases that had been plaguing me for decades. I finally felt good! I lost 20 pounds, cultivated awesome digestion, alleviated my allergies, eased my menstrual challenges, and trained myself to sleep well. I made all of these changes without any drugs or procedures, depriving diets, or frustrating protocols. And, I wanted to share with everyone I could, that understanding your unique elemental blueprint as well as aligning with the seasons and life stages could save years of struggle and misery. In 2016, my passion led me to create Heartfelt Wellbeing LLC with the mission to “alleviate unnecessary suffering in the world through sharing the wisdom of Ayurveda in support of Women's Health." I originally opened a private practice, but decided to take my biz online in 2018 to reach more people and build community through founding the Vitality Circle. 

In 2020 I moved to Floyd, VA from Brasstown, NC to join my partner David in creating a beautiful homestead and nourishing life together. It has been a lot of hard work and a dream come true. 

Last Autumn (2023) another health challenge arose when I broke out in a full body rash and was eventually diagnosed with Alpha Gal Syndrome (AGS), a tick-borne syndrome that creates an allergy to mammal products. Some people are just allergic to meat, others are also allergic to dairy and even gelatin, carrageenan, and lanolin. I have the later form although I am lucky that my allergy shows up as skin rashes and not severe digestive distress or anaphylaxis (thanks Ayurveda!), as it does in many who have AGS. I have been learning so much in the past several months and I am back to thriving through applying ancient Ayurveda to this modern dis-ease. Keep your eye out for more info on AGS and Ayurveda coming soon.

And... perimenopause is another adventure I am currently on, but I will save that for another time...

To this day, I know it is truly my choices, each moment of each day that make my health great, the day flow with ease, and my perspective positive. I know what it is like to struggle with health issues and feel like there is no hope. I also know what it is like to heal, even against the odds, with natural approaches that do not require drugs or procedures.

In my 8 years as an Ayurvedic professional, I have been honored to helps hundreds of women regain their health and vitality. During the past 6 years leading the Vitality Circle, I have seen tremendous growth and healing take place for the women who choose to work with me. This path requires us to get in the drivers seat of our own lives and to simultaneously dance with the elements of the natural world as we flow through the seasons of each year and the stages of our lives. In this paradox between choosing and aligning, we find ease. 

Much love and light,

Hannah

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