Stephanie Calhoun
Your Health Boss
I have been working within health and wellness for twenty three years now, and have worn many hats. I have practiced as a Registered Massage Therapist for thirteen years, a Yoga & Pilates Teacher, Yoga Teacher Trainer, Fitness instructor and Personal Trainer. I have found my deepest passion in my roles as an Ayurvedic Practitioner and a Nutrition Coach. I have been an active member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association since 2012, and have enjoyed offering my clients guidance on their journey to balanced health. I am NOT a medical doctor, naturopath or a dietician. I do not prescribe or diagnose.
What I offer is guidance through dietary and lifestyle habits, to support the individual through their current season of health, their season of life, and the season presented by the nature around us. This is a very individualized approach to their needs, and empowers the client to be in charge of making changes for themselves.
More than anything I consider myself a teacher. I offer people recommendations, guidance and knowledge, and they choose to apply this or not. My goal is to support others to be the ultimate leader of their own primary health care team, and to understand the deeply powerful medicine offered to us through our own lifestyle, and food choices. Ultimately, I help others to eat, live and move better.
Obstacles are Opportunities, the key is in understanding the difference.
Out of my experience of struggle and overcoming adversity, it is my wish to share with you the truths I have learned on my journey to health and vitality.
I like to think of myself as your ultimate health boss; not in an actual bossy kind of way, but the one to go to for all things health whether that be for your mind, body or spirit. I've spent the past 24 years empowering people to take back control of their own health by teaching them how to make simple and profound changes to transform their everyday life from "fine" to extraordinary.
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What are you most proud of professionally? And who or why?
I am most proud of the fact that everything I've done in my career for 24 years has been completely on my own, as an empowered and independent female entrepreneur. I may reach out and ask for help, but I don't take handouts. I believe there is great strength that comes from doing the hard things, and making something beautiful out of them.
What’s your vision for Atlantic Canada in 10 years? What’s our biggest opportunity now?
I feel Atlantic Canada is at a tipping point where the level of illness is far higher than the level of wellness. I feel it's critical for us to all take charge of our own lives and take the necessary steps to make this life we have been given the healthiest and happiest it possibly can be. I hold an uncommon opinion, in that while others feel we have a shortage of medical doctors in the Maritimes (or Canada as a whole), I say we actually have plenty of doctors, we just have too many sick people. That's not the fault of the doctors, it's a flaw within the entire health care system. The focus is on treatment, and not prevention. Only once we change our perceptions, beliefs, behaviors and patterns, will we transform how we see health and wellness. At that point I truly believe we will feel we have too many doctors. I want people coming to the Atlantic provinces to see what we are doing right and how we have become a region of thriving and flourishing people in every way possible.
What was your greatest stage of growth? What made it a shift for you?
My greatest stage of growth was what I called my moment of impact. I was put into early retirement by my own family physician due to a spinal injury I incurred from a repetitive stress injury and mental burnout. I was spending so much time helping others with their health and wellness that I put myself last. That was a key turning point for me. I didn't have the capacity to get my body out of bed in the morning and was depending on pain killers to survive the day. While sitting on the waiting list for a two year period to even be assessed by a surgeon, I took matters into my own hands. I became my own Health Boss. I dove deep into my own physical therapy, meditation, yoga, high quality nutrition and supplementation, allowed myself to rest and recover and essentially healed my own body. Through doing so, I not only didn't require surgery, but I found my true calling. I discovered a better way to live than working 80 hours per week at a career, and decided my path was self healing and helping others support themselves in their own journey.
What’s your favourite or most read book or podcast? Now or at each of your greatest stages of growth?
Right now my favourite book is Untamed by Glennon Doyle - that shook me to the core and woke me up in a deep way to the person I have always been at my core.
From a mindset and business perspective my favourite book is likely the Slight Edge - because I believe everything in life is about doing what is uncomfortable, getting out of our own way, doing what others are unwilling to do, and going the extra mile for myself and those I serve.
From a healing perspective, while sitting at my lowest of lows and wondering if I'd ever climb out of that deep valley of pain, I relied not on what I read, but what I knew all along. My capacity to dig into the nature of my mind through meditation, and start to understand what was behind all the pain, was the most critical work I've ever done. And so my greatest physical challenge and obstacle was my greatest gift and opportunity to truly discover myself and my true purpose.
What’s your deepest learning from this past year? How did/will you apply it?
From this past year, I've learned that resilience has served me well. When COVID struck, I felt the stress and fear of the unknown like everyone else did. However, what I witnessed taking place in high levels of anxiety, blame, anger and blame, was incredibly eye opening. I recognized what I saw in society at large, because it's exactly how I felt when my world was falling apart and I had nothing but questions which seemingly had no answers. I had been there before, in that type of trauma, and I knew there was a way out, and so I took it into my own hands to take the steps to help shed some light where there was a lot of darkness for many. I offered several weeks of daily guided meditations through my facebook platform to allow people to have a safe space to be present, breathe, and reconnect with themselves. That sparked me to listen to my inner voice and begin teaching yoga classes again, only now in an online platform as a virtual studio space. This has allowed me to offer what I have in resources, experience and knowledge to all members of my community, whether they be former students, friends, colleagues or strangers. The capacity I have to be able to reach people across the globe has allowed me to scale the potential level of impact that much more beautifully. I have re-launched my ten week Ayurvedic lifestyle transformation program at a more affordable rate for those struggling financially right now, but also struggling to find their way. I have also understood that my offering of these services to my community has been just as beneficial for me to connect with them as it has been for them to connect with each other. There is not much more powerful than a community of people with a common goal and common experience, willing to be vulnerable and show up.
Who’s inspired you, directly or indirectly? How have they inspired you?
So many people have inspired me over the years, whether they know it or not. I feel like I have mentors in so many walks of life, many of whom I have never met. My first mentor I ever had was in eighth grade, Mahatma Gandhi. We watched the documentary film of his life in school, and I've lived by the mantra "Be the change you wish to see in the world" ever since. It's what shapes everything I've ever done.
There have been many famous authors who have helped form many of my beliefs such as Robin Sharma, John Maxwell, Brene Brown, Glennon Doyle and Rachel Hollis.
My greatest influences in my spiritual life have all been teachers of mine; Paul Grilley, Krishna Das and Sharon Salzberg.
The most powerful teachers of my life, who have inspired me to constantly grow, learn, develop, be brave and vulnerable in life are the ones who have modeled that for me the most; my yoga students, my massage clients and my parents. It is only when people begin to let themselves be seen that they can truly heal, and I've been so lucky to be trusted by so many people on a deep level, that they have allowed me to learn from not just their vulnerability, but the depths of their resilience.
What would you have done differently?
I wouldn't have done anything differently. Had you asked me this while neck deep in my most difficult circumstances I would have maybe said I'd do it differently, but the truth is I really wouldn't. There are no failures in life, only opportunities to learn. I wouldn't take business advice from someone who hadn't experienced or teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. I would't take health advice from someone who had never been sick, injured, or experienced deep pain. And I wouldn't have any of the teachings I have to guide me and my clients through any of the challenges of humanity if I hadn't experienced every single beautiful and tragic thing I ever had to face in this lifetime. They were all gifts and made me who I am today.
What are the principles you live by?
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Strength is not the absence of weakness, it's the ability to stand up despite feeling weakness.
There are no failures, only opportunities to learn.
We have one life and we can't expect someone else to make us happy.
Health and happiness are our inherent right, so don't give it away.
We are one.
How have you recovered from fractured professional relationships? What uncomfortable truths have you learned about yourself in those experiences?
I have absolutely experienced fractured relationships in business over the years, including my very first year in business. When someone tried to sue me for moving my business out of a shared space, without breaking any contract, I learned a strong lesson in creating personal/professional boundaries and that it may not be wise to be in business with friends if you don't truly know all sides of their personality.
My more recent incident was with a former yoga teacher that I trained for over 300 hours of professional training, over a three year period. Out of nowhere one day via social media this individual slandered me horribly, made multiple false statements and false accusations toward me. These statements brought out dozens of people that I thought were friends of mine, teachers I had taught, and colleagues in the yoga community, who all shared their own commentary to what he had said. Some were encouraging him to continue on with his slander, and others were defending me and calling him out. I had a choice to react or respond. Years ago my defensive ego would have reacted, but I've grown in life and learned it's always best to respond. Once again, it wasn't about me, it was about him. So I engaged with him on an individual level, rather than responding publicly on an online platform, and pointed out to him that he had engaged in this behavior in the past toward other teachers, and perhaps he should reflect on that. While this relationship is certainly fractured, and I do not trust this individual, I have enough compassion to understand his past behavior is a reflection of something in him, not me. Meeting him with aggravation would have worsened the situation. In the end he removed the post, and I removed him from my life. I still wish him well, but my boundaries are clear. Hurt people, hurt people. It's not about you, it's about them. Be a bigger person and move forward with compassion.
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Ayurvedic Practitioner, Nutrition Coach, Yoga Teacher Trainer, first time author