Welcome to the we achieve podcast hosted by the agnete achiever network. Our mission is to help a business professionals build momentum behind their career and lives to achieve their full potential. We'll explore together the path of professional development and lead you to a better tomorrow. Everyone, welcome to the we achieve podcast hosted by the achiever network I'm your host, Tyler curtain. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of the show. That's a date. I'm thrilled to welcome Jillian arena on the program. She's the owner of intuitive Belen's coaching. And we're going to discuss what it means and what it looks like to be a holistic life coach and learn some lessons from Jillian today. And so thrilled to welcome Jillian on the show. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. So, Julie, let's start off just a really basic question. What does it mean. And what does it look like to be a holistic life coach? Well, holistic basically means that I'm working with my clients in the capacity of mind, body, and spirit. So a lot of coaches will kind of focus just on the mental, emotional side of things. You know, a lot of them will focus just on the action steps that need to be taken to create this life that you're really trying to dive into. I do a little bit of all of those things, and I bring in some of this spiritual stuff as well, because I kind of feel like all of these things are affecting our overall happiness. Right a lot of people, for example, will come in to me in a sticky situation with their job. And when we kind of dive into all the different facets of that, we realize it actually had nothing to do with their job in the first place. Maybe they weren't feeling connected, right? They weren't feeling connection in their community or connection to something greater. Or maybe it was some limiting beliefs. Maybe it was some mental, emotional blocks that they were having around believing in their own ability to perform at their job. So there's just a lot of different components. So when I work with my clients, we get into their bodies for doing embodiment exercises or trying things on for size. We're also kind of fleshing out the mental, emotional side of things. How do you feel about these? What does it look like for you? And then we're also saying and what do you need to sort of surrender to get to this next space that you want to be in your life? This really fascinating. And it's obviously all encompassing. I suppose that's why it's called a holistic life coach. But give us the story of how you found your way into doing this. What was your career path and how did you how did you find your way into being a holistic life coach? Sure So I actually always kind of joke that it found me. I was in a space in my life where I didn't really know what I wanted to do next. I had two little kids. I had gone back to bartending after leaving a corporate position just to be home with my kids. So as bartending in the evenings. And I wasn't happy. I was just in that stuck space, which ironically is what a lot of people will call me for. They're just like, I don't know what's wrong. I just don't feel good. I just I'm not sure what I want to be doing or what I need to do. So I was in that space. And a friend of mine suggested that I go to a yoga class and I'm a girl who has like a kickboxing background. I was like, I'll do yoga. And I went to the yoga studio. And I actually fell in love with it. And to make a long story short, over time. I sort of decided to take their teacher training in the teacher training. It changed my life, like, absolutely just changed my outlook on life. And it introduced me to a dear friend, Amy Lombardo, who was a life coach out in California. And at the time, I hadn't even ever heard of a life coach. And to be quite honest, the whole idea of it sounded pretty pretentious to me. I was like a life coach because you got it all figured out right. But I loved her, and I loved everything that she stood for. And she actually contacted me and she said, listen, I'm doing a coaching training. And I would like for you to come and join it out in Los Angeles. So I went and I flew out there for. Another thing that I was doing. And I met up with her for lunch, and which she described to me, didn't sound pretentious at all. I mean, it sounded very uplifting and empowering. And it sort of changed my whole perspective on what a life coach was and what my role was if I were to be working with clients. So I went through the training. It was pretty extensive. 9 and 1/2 month training was crazy. I had to fly out there for these crazy long weekends. We'd be there for five days of just intensive 14 hour days of training and then all the stuff that you're doing on your own in between. And yeah, by the time I got to the end of it, I was like, I could do this. I believe this is a wonderful experience. And just having recognized how much it changed me. And how much. I agree with you being coached and going through that process, it was super empowering. And it puts the client in charge. It's not me telling you what to do or it's really me showing you your own light. And this is what you have inside of you. Let's let's use it. Let's tap into it. Yeah so that's sort of how it landed in my lap. And the rest is history. That's that's incredible. I love hearing that story and learning a little bit more about how you ended up doing this, which is really incredible to me, because it takes into account your own experiences and your own journey, which I think is really great. So how do you help people, I guess see and think of themselves in a holistic manner? Because the health is one thing, but the. This isn't just I'm eating good food and taking care of myself and exercising, that's also a mind and a spirit thing. How do you get people and help them kind of wrap their minds around this holistic idea of getting everything aligned in a way that is pointing you towards wellness and well-being and things along those lines? It's kind of a big and heavy thing to try to wrap your mind around. It is oftentimes what I'll do is I'll really just leave that person back into themselves, because I think we all know that innately. We all know what we need innately. It's just maybe we haven't been given permission to trust ourselves. So we start typically with clients very small. What is some way this week that you can say, know where you've been saying yes. And you've really wanted to say no? Right or where are you saying no? Where you really, really, really should be saying yes or want to be saying yes. Right something because of fear or anything like that. So we start with these small baby steps. Some people are harder to crack than others. Right, because we have been many of us raised to believe that we have to follow a certain structure in a certain timeline and things have to look a certain way. But I never I'm never forceful with anyone. I think really it's just leading that person. It's asking them the questions that will lead them back into their own truths. Right yeah, I think that's AI think that's a really, really good way of putting it. And one of the things that you've said in the past is that we can't think something into reality. Often times you'll hear someone say, like, I'm just going to think positive thoughts. And that's what's going to turn things around. So what should replace just that idea of thinking? There has to be something else that goes along with it. Right so give me your thoughts on that and just your general take on that perspective on life. So there is a lot of things out there. There are things out there that tell us. If you just think positive thoughts, things will appear. And that is a beautiful way to think. And I'm sure that there are people out there who are manifesting left and right doing that. If you figure that out, please call me up and tell me how it works. For most of us, the vast majority of us, there has to be an action component to it. So if we're just thinking the positive thoughts, that is an important component of this, right. Saying the affirmations, treating ourselves kindly, kind interspeech. All of these things are extremely important. However, that being said, if there's no action steps to accompany that train of thought, then it's always going to be somewhere off in the future. It's always something we're thinking about, but it's nothing that we're actually believing enough in ourselves to actually make it happen. So when we're coaching, we're setting the tone, setting the container of the mental, emotional part. Right and the spiritual part. But we're also creating a concrete action step plan that's going to get you from where you are over here to where you want to be over here. I really like the way you put that, because I think there's that temptation right. Regardless of background and maybe religious experiences and things like that, to say, oh, I'm going to think good thoughts for that person or pray for that person or whatever that may be. But I won't go out of my way to help somebody or I won't go out of my way to make that change happen with my actions. I simply just want for that to happen. And that's really not how the world works right now. And and having those concrete action steps, I think gives people that next thing that they need to do in order to make the things that they want to see happen, happen. Right and I think that that is a really great way of putting it. I think of the intention as the seed that we're planting. Write the intention is so important. Then without because without the intention, you can't have anything. Nothing grows. Right but that intention is the seed. And when you start to take the action steps, that's where the stem begins to grow. Right and then all of a sudden, it's this. The blood is starting. And then before you know it, you've sprouted this beautiful flower or tree or plant or whatever it is, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that's a really good analogy. Julian, I wonder, from your perspective, what the last year has looked like for you, because it seems to me that wellness has never been more at the forefront than it is right now, not just health, but also, I think just given the circumstances of the last 14 months or so, I think everyone has struggled a little bit just with the current situation of what's going on around the world. Maybe we're spending way more time at home, and not socializing as much with friends, and that's left people feeling a certain way. I think wellness has really come to the forefront. What does that look like for you? And just what's your what's your take on the last year. And what that's done to people just in general, when it comes to their overall wellness and a holistic look at a person's being? Well, I think that obviously, the past year, 14 months has been I mean, it's been a lot for anybody to handle. It's sort of I don't think the human psyche was really built to wrap itself around the idea of something like this happening, you know, so it's definitely been a lot. That being said, I think that we always have to kind of look for the gift. And so when I have been looking at this situation, what I've tried to focus on is the. Amount of opportunities that people have been gifted and the amount of time that people have been gifted to come back home to themselves to realize like, wow, I was going into this job every day. And I really don't like it. And I'm loving now that I'm working from home, and I'm right. Or some people were going, wow, I was going into work. And I was complaining about it every single day. And now I'm like, I don't have it. And I miss the camaraderie and I miss being in the office. And I miss, you know, a lot of us. Maybe we were looking our family and friends. Take it for granted, you know, and saying, oh, they'll always be there tomorrow or whatever. And then all of a sudden, those opportunities to spend ample amounts of time with them sort of whisked away from us. So right in the bigger picture, I think that the past 14 months has given us an opportunity to come closer to our own personal truths. And I think that's why the wellness industry has blown up. So much over the past 14 months, because in essence, in our truest form, we absolutely know what we need. And we oftentimes know that we're not giving ourselves what we need. I think that's a really good point. So if people are listening to this podcast and they're hearing what you're saying and they're like, Julian, you're spot on. I love what you're saying, what's one thing that maybe people can start to do tomorrow to maybe put them on the track to holistic wellness? Let's say, you know, if we could just give people one small step that they could do right now that would kind of put them on that track, what would you recommend for people? I know it might look different for everyone to a certain extent, but. But but what would you say? I would say the first step, honestly, for anyone, regardless of where you're at on your journey, I think that the first step is to get really honest with yourself and give yourself permission to assess the areas of your life in a very, very, very open and honest way. Am I really happy here? How am I contributing to it if I'm not feeling very happy here? What can I change? You know, I think self responsibility is a really huge part of any transformation. We have to recognize that we might not always be able to change the environment. COVID is a wonderful example of that. Right a lot of things have been out of our control over the past 14 months, but the very first thing we can do is become accountable for our own actions and accountable for ourselves and how we are showing up and kind of test this out. Like, if I'm not feeling happy, what is one baby step that I could take to change that to move in a separate direction, whether that's researching a new job or really talking to your spouse, if you're in a relationship. And maybe that's not feeling in alignment. Right if you're always fighting with your kids, maybe it's that moment to go. Am I modeling some of this, like, what is going on? Right so that self-assessment, that's going to be the very first step. That's a fantastic first step and just amazing advice. So Julian arena, owner of intuitive balanced coaching. Jillian, where can people get in touch if they want to maybe reach out, ask questions, learn more about you and what you do and what life coaching looks like in general? Where can people reach out and find out more? Yeah, the best place to get a hold of me is on my website, and that is Killian arena. See why I. I'm also on Instagram, but I never use it. I never use my Instagram or my Facebook. I'm terrible about that. So my website's probably the easiest hit of the website. Forget about Instagram, Facebook yet. Go to the website. And Julian, if you have questions, we want to learn more. Jillian arena, thank you so much for joining us here on the show and sharing a little bit more. All right, Tyler, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Absolutely and everyone, thank you for tuning into this episode of We achieve. We appreciate it very much. Stay tuned for future episodes of the show and go and subscribe to the podcast on the Apple Podcast for Spotify to stay up to date with the latest episodes. And we'll be back soon with those new episodes. So stay tuned for those. But until then, I've been your host today. Thanks for listening.
