5 Ways to Up Your Wellness Game

Fall is undoubtedly my favorite season. I feel a bit like Mr. Fitzgerald in that life seems to offer a second, and equally romantic, Spring, or new beginning when early October rolls around. Yet I’m also well acquainted with the struggles and temptations that come along with the changing seasons. The days get shorter, schedules mount up, self-care tends to wane, and I often feel a dank, subtle chill of loneliness sneak in. 

Have you struggled much with seasonal depression?

I have…big time. That said, I’ve learned the hard way how vital it is to intentionally manage expectations and routines in order to stay connected to daily hope and healing. In light of this, I like to send out a Fall Edition of sorts—full of new ideas and opportunities to stay on top of our self-care game as we head into the coming months. If you follow fashion, it’s a bit like that thick, bounding, September Vogue edition boasting fall’s most delicious offerings. Pure magic. 

This year, I’m more excited than ever to explore some new opportunities to connect to yourself and your community in life-giving ways. 

All too often we’re tempted into autopilot—that sleepy trance of contained chaos—and end up just going through the motions. I don’t know about you, but I want to feel alive and awake in my experience this fall, savoring each moment like a gift—or that inaugural pumpkin spice latte. 

Here are a few ideas to support you in this pursuit. I think you’ll find something you can enjoy despite the hectic demands of the season.

1) Enneagram Mastermind:  Do you long for greater sense of community? New friendships? Do you want to better understand yourselves and your relationships? Do you want to take your enneagram understanding to the next level? Do you desire a safe place to share some of your story? Do you want to unlock personal and professional opportunities? Do you like the idea of group therapy, but over a delicious lunch?

I know, that was a LOT…however, if you said yes to any of the above, you would LOVE my new Enneagram Mastermind group that is just getting started!  It’s the perfect blend of deep connections, learning, fun, beautiful hospitality, and sharing sacred space as we move through an 8 month curriculum I’ve built specifically for this experience.  Click here to sign up!  

2) Body Work/Massage: Something I’ve become far more focused on in my practice as a therapist and my personal healing and development is the body.  Throw in a cancer diagnosis and it took things to a whole new level.  I have found such power in body work alongside psychotherapy.  Some call it massage, and that’s fine too.  However, my favorite practitioner, Anna Jenkins, of Crieve Hall Massage is truly  a healer.  After putting my body (and emotions) through so much during two years of surgeries and treatments, I’ve come back to doing regular work with Anna and it has been a game-changer.  Her intuitive and cliented-centered approach to body work is vital for ongoing processing of emotion, stress, and the tightly wound ways in which we carry ourselves in this modern world.  I can’t recommend her enough! 

3) Walking Meditations: Do you love the idea of meditating but find it hard to show up?  Maybe you’ve always thought you’re not the meditating type.  I get it.  Sitting is not my favorite, but the benefits of a mindfulness practice are undeniable.  That’s why I created walking meditations for the Practice, my Enneagram-based self-care toolkit.  They are a quick and supportive guide to literally move you through meditations if you’re on the move or love this fall weather like I do.  Check them out by signing up  today!  

4) Infrared Sauna: Need a detoxification boost? I always do!  Immunity is a whole new ball game for us as a world today! That’s why I swear by infrared saunas.  If you’re in Nashville, you must check out Pure Sweat Sauna Studio.   Pure Sweat Sauna Studio is a space for wellness, rooted in community and connection, offering state-of-the-art, full spectrum, infrared saunas. 

Acclaimed by the world’s leading health experts, elite athletes, and people just like you, Infrared Saunas deliver an abundance of clinically tested and research-based health and healing benefits, including detoxification, pain relief, weight loss, reduced inflammation and deep, mental + physical relaxation.   I always feel lighter leaving the sauna!  

5) Breathwork: Breathwork is an active meditation technique that facilitates powerful emotional+energetic release. It can change emotional default settings, lifetime patterns of depression, anxiety and addiction, connect you to your intuition, and open your heart to increased gratitude and self-love. It is an efficient and effective way to emotionally detox.  We receive 90% of our daily energy from breath alone and 70% of our bodily toxins are meant to be discharged through breath.  What are the benefits? 

• Releases tension and everyday stress that makes you feel anxious, burned out, and overwhelmed

• Creates a renewed sense of vitality

• Supports healing on all levels—physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual

• Brings balance to your life, allowing you to tap into your inner peace and joy

• As the energetic blockages are cleared, you are able to manifest what you want in your life effortlessly

• Leaves you with a deeply relaxed and calm state of being

Breathwork engages the nervous system to release tension and distress that negative thoughts and traumas cause in the body. Over time, healthier new neural pathways are developed and the nervous system is re-calibrated to bring optimal well-being.

For more info or to book a Breathwork session, contact the lovely Sarah Richey and take your wellness journey to a whole new realm. 

The Fall Reset

This week, we dive into the Fall Reset, a quarterly health reset week as part of the Practice, my Enneagram-based self-care membership program.  Let me give you some backstory.  

I’ve always considered myself healthy-ish.  My relationship with food and exercise started early.  Around 9-years-old, I began running and writing as a way to process big, unruly emotions that felt overwhelming at the time.  

Guess what? It helped. Big time. 

I’ve always considered self-care to be about doing things that promote our truest, most alive expression.  All those little things that create a life we don’t want to escape.  

It’s no accident that still, to this day, my life and work are very focused on helping others access this for themselves as a therapist, Enneagram teacher, and creator of the Practice.  I firmly believe how we treat ourselves, both physically and emotionally, has massive impacts on the whole trajectory of our lives.  

I also believe it is why I fared so well through my cancer journey.  For all intents and purposes, those two years of surgeries, chemo, doctor visits, and side effects were far more palatable than most stories of cancer survivors.  In fact, I remember at one of my follow-up oncologist appointments, I asked my doctor how many people go through what I’ve just gone through and have a similar, positive experience.  

Her response?  1% 

I was floored.

She commented that my attitude, faith, physical strength, and good health played a massive role in those odds.  

Now that I’m on the other side of the bulk of that trial, I’m more passionate than ever to really nourish and care for myself, body, mind, and spirit.  In fact, I’d love for you to continue to join me on this path.

Every season, I lead a Health Reset because just like Anne Lamott said, “sometimes we all need a little time to unplug and refresh.”

 My dearest friend, Anna Watson Carl, author of The Yellow Table Cookbook, designs an incredible, healthy, flavorful menu along with a shopping list to take out all of the guess-work.  

This is meant to be a restorative, life-giving week, not a restrictive one.  I’ll provide the guard rails, you can choose your speed.  Those guardrails will be gentle, so as to add in plenty of rest, movement, and vibrant, whole foods.  Sure, I’ll be taking out some of the fun stuff like dairy, gluten, sugar, and alcohol, but there will be plenty of delicious options to take their place.   And again, you choose your pace.  

Half-way through the week, we’ll hop on a 30-minute call and see how everyone’s doing ;) It’s so much easier to do this stuff in community, right? 

If you’re not a member of the Practice, I’d love for you to join and be a part of this exciting new offering! 

The Practice 2.0

Do you ever feel like…

You struggle to prioritize self-care? You’re alone and overwhelmed?
You’re lacking in support & community? Perhaps you’ve tried therapy and it didn’t work? Maybe therapy was too expensive? Or, you’re feeling stuck in limiting patterns?

If so, you’re indeed, not alone! 

These are all reasons I created the Practice nearly three years ago, an online self-development toolkit that combines practical ways to use the Enneagram, mindfulness, and self-compassion in your daily experience in order to truly thrive and create the optimal life and relationships you desire.  

I kept hearing a common theme in my work as a therapist.  Clients would spend time and money in therapy, often experiencing breakthroughs, yet they’d go about their lives and forget the progress they achieved.  

Sound familiar?   

What if you could experience these ongoing results instead?

• More awareness around your need for self-care

• More agency and accountability to make it happen

• Easier access to tools that can help, whether you need to meditate, move,  journal, or reset 

• Better understanding of your Enneagram type and what that means for your own self-care

• A community of like-minded individuals working towards their own self-care practices

• Breakthroughs in areas where you feel stuck

• More confidence and overall life satisfaction

I believe you can. And I’m thrilled to announce the Practice 2.0, a more robust and effective offering of tools and resources you can use at your own pace.   

It has all the goodies of the first iteration, and so much more including:

• Weekly meditations

• Weekly Enneagram teaching video with Katie

• Meditations per your Enneagram type

• Walking meditations 

• Breathwork sessions

• Daily journal prompts

• Full library of yoga videos with expert yoga teacher Meagan Stevenson

• 1-hour targeted monthly group call 

• Quarterly expert interview  

• Quarterly health reset 

The absolute best part? It’s only $19.99/month!

I’ve taken away any obstacles that might hinder you from accessing the best Enneagram-based tools for ongoing success.  

As we move into the Fall, time gets pretty crunched and self-care slides to the back burner.  Let me support you in a more intentional and empowered daily experience.  I’d be so honored to be your guide.  

Sign up for the Practice today!  

You and Your Type: The Gifts and Challenges

The prolific and oh-so-wise Fr. Richard Rohr likes to say, if you’re on the fence about your Enneagram type, it’s likely the one that humiliates you the most.  This checks out for me big time.  The first time I read the description of type four, the Romantic, I felt equal parts seen and squirm.  To this day, when I teach the basic nine types to folks, type four still feels a little cringy.  

I believe this is due to the fact that as humans, we are well aware of our weaknesses.  Most of us tend to focus more on those than the glowing parts of us.  

Have you ever had a work review or played a show or given a presentation where 95% of the feedback was positive and 5% negative only to spend the remainder of the day fixated on the 5%?  I can’t even count the times in my experience.  

There is actually science behind this phenomenon which we won’t get into here, but suffice it to say, the Enneagram gives us a clear bird’s eye view into both the gifts and challenges in our type.  

In my new Enneagram & Lunch Mastermind series, we will spend some time understanding what motivates us in our unique type in order to have greater self-awareness and compassion.  I’d love for you to join us! 

Today, I want to unpack the high-level gifts and challenges for every type.  

Type 1: The Improver

Gift—True to their values and convictions and motivated to make the world and themselves a better place.

Challenge—In the process, they fall prey to perfectionism and chronic self-criticism, resulting in others-criticism and resentment.  

Type 2: The Helper

Gift—Generous, warm and compassionate.  Twos focus on other people and prioritize deep bonds in their relationships.

Challenge—In the process, they repress their own needs and desires, placing them on the back-burner and let their own physical and emotional well-being fall by the wayside.  

Type 3: The Achiever

Gift—Due to their steely determination and drive, they achieve great things in the world and inspire the rest of us to do the same.  

Challenge—Work and the appearance of success take center leaving relationships with others and themselves to falter, often resulting in disconnection dishonesty with their true selves.

Type 4: The Romantic

Gift—Creative, idealistic, and emotionally honest, fours draw out the meaning and beauty in life and invite us into deeper authenticity.   

Challenge—In the process, they get stuck in comparison with others and focused on what is missing in life resulting in self-absorption and a feeling of being misunderstood.  

Type 5: The Observer

Gift—Inventive, knowledge-seeking, and inquisitive, fives are motivated to find interesting solutions to problems and have a huge capacity for learning and mastery of all sorts of subjects.  

Challenge—Due to their need for privacy and solitude, they often struggle in interpersonal relationships prioritizing a sense of self-sufficiency and the preservation of emotional and material resources.  

Type 6: The Loyalist

Gift—Sixes live with a sense of responsibility and foresight, highly attuned to the safety and security, and maintenance of the common good.  They are incredibly loyal to their friends and beliefs.  

Challenge—In an effort to avoid potential problems, they become seekers of problems often going to worst-case scenario thinking and high anxiety.

Type 7: The Enthusiast

Gift—Sevens are upbeat and positive, always looking for the good in every situation and inviting us into greater joy and adventure. 

Challenge—In the process, they avoid the painful realities of life, always looking for the next fix or adventure.  In turn, this can result in a fear of commitment and an inability to follow through.  

Type 8: The Challenger

Gift—Eights are bold and impactful, effecting change in the world due to their passion to protect others, often the marginalized, and seek justice.  

Challenge—In the process, eights can become overly impactful, controlling and impulsive, often aggressive, asleep to the softer vulnerable parts of who they are.  

Type 9: The Peacemaker

Gift—Nines bring a sense of openness and harmony to the world.  They are  incredibly grounded and invite us into more presence and spirituality.  

Challenge: As they focus heavily on the agendas of others and maintaining the peace, they fall asleep to their own needs and desires, often feeling that their presence and voice don’t matter in the world.  

How do you experience your gifts and challenges of your type?  I’d love to explore this more with you in my upcoming group!  

The Enneagram and Self-Compassion

It’s storytime. 

I’ll never forget going to my little brother, Gates’, junior high basketball game.  He must have been in sixth grade or so.  He was a damn good player.  Gates and I have an extra special bond as he is 15 years younger than me and was born on my birthday.  I’ve always felt a deep connection to him and this parent-like pride in everything he does.   

It was a heated game.  As point guard, Gates dribbled the ball in from center court.  The clock was running down to the bone.  The teams were tied.  This was a make or break moment and everyone knew it.  I could feel the weight of all those parents’ hopes and dreams hanging on the chiseled little shoulders of my brother.  

He had to take the shot.  With two seconds left, he launched a three-pointer into the air with perfect form and a prayer.  The buzzer scowled back.  He missed the shot.  

His whole body sunk low to the court as all the oxygen on our side of the gym was snuffed out.  My heart ripped open and I wanted to rush down there and give him the most embarrassing big sister hug of his life.  In that moment, I was more proud of him than ever.  I wanted him to know that.  I wanted to take away all of his pain.  

I didn’t know it then, but looking back, this was compassion operating in its purest form.  

I know you have stories to illustrate a similar brand of compassion you’ve felt for loved ones in your life.  Yet tell me this: when was the last time you actively participated in it towards yourself? 

I honestly can’t think of one time in my experience that I’ve had an organic, visceral example of self-compassion like I did that day for Gates.  I am slowly learning to grow that though.  

Guess what? If you’re like me and lack this seamless sense of loving kindness towards yourself, it’s okay.  Chances are, you, like me, missed that day in Self-Compassion 101.  

Compassion takes empathy one step further and is something we get to cultivate in relationship.  Compassion is the feeling that comes up when we join in with another’s suffering and feel compelled to help relieve that suffering.  Self compassion points this act of courage inwards, to our “me.” 

I believe what makes it so difficult for most people to treat themselves with the same compassion they do others is wrapped up in the fact that we simply do not fully understand ourselves.  Sure, we put a mask on and present a pretty picture to the world in efforts to gain approval and acceptance.  Yet over time, we lose touch with the truth of who we are and the basic understanding of what motivates our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  

This is why the Enneagram is such a powerful tool.  It uncovers and drills down the story we’ve been living out of—essentially our personality.  

Living fully alive—thriving—requires us to wake up and take the steering wheel of our life.  The comfortable route involves lots of trance—or falling asleep at the wheel.  So, if you’re looking for the easy way out, the Enneagram (or self-compassion for that matter) is probably not for you.  Staying comfy and cozy where you’ve always been is.

If you’re looking to get out of your own way and play on your own team, welcome to a new way.  Yes, it requires that you and I show up, but also saves us from a lifetime of regret.  I can’t think of a more defeating end game than to wake up one distant day from now wishing I’d have valued myself along the way. 

What a dynamic duo! Self-compassion and the Enneagram.  They go well together in so many ways.  The Enneagram helps us know and understand our story—why we think, act, and feel the way we have for years and how we hide behind a mask called personality to conceal the parts of ourselves we aren’t too proud of.  This deep well of understanding is the most profound act of love.  

Combine it with the tangible practice of self-compassion and all of the sudden we put skin on that understanding. How? By showing up for ourselves and our stories in a new way.  Instead of trying to hide behind a mask, we now are able to lean into our real, raw experience and befriend her.  No more striving, no more shaming, and no more fixing.  

Self-compassion allows the pain, hurt, or fear to just be.  It also creates space to show loving kindness as we would to a dear friend so as to move through the pain of life as opposed to dancing around it. 

Are you ready for lasting transformation in your relationship with you? Are you tired of playing small in your own life? If so, I’ve got a roadmap and would love your company in my lunchtime Enneagram Mastermind. We meet once a month to explore various Enneagram-related topics while learning to foster self-compassion in a community of like-minded women.  To register or learn more, click here.