Member Spotlight – Kendall
We recently spoke with one of our founding members, Kendall – who during her 20 years of attending Elixr, has experienced the pregnancies and births of her two daughters, the opening and closing of several businesses, and a 6-year stint living in Bali with her family!
Throughout all the changes in her adventurous life, Kendall keeps coming back to Elixr for the variety of classes, the professional instructors, the calm atmosphere, and her favourite: the magnesium and salt pool.
“From those early days in Pilates classes, where Rachel guided me through my pregnancies, until now as I ease into my “wiser years!”, I’m grateful for the variety of classes that I can attend based on my energy levels. Elixr always feels like a peaceful, grounding place for me to move my body and maintain my physical and emotional health.”
As a certified Healing Practitioner and Coach, and owner of IKU’s retail store at 25 Martin Place: a plant-based takeaway store in Sydney City, Kendall has a unique understanding of health from an energetic and holistic perspective.
How do you maintain a healthy balance as a small business owner?
If you asked me this ten years ago, I would’ve told you I was doing a great job at maintaining a balanced life, but looking back I can see that I was taking on too much responsibility in both my business and personal life – and the result was some niggling health issues that I didn’t understand at the time.
Since becoming certified as a somatic healer, I now understand that my body was trying to communicate with me – that my physical health is intrinsically linked to my emotional health – and the health issues were signs of stress. These days I maintain balance and sustainability by focusing on a few specific areas including:
Nourishment – I believe that every time we eat, we have an opportunity to nourish our bodies. With this philosophy, I ensure that what I put in, and on my body, enhances my overall health.
Nourishment isn’t only about food – what we ingest on an environmental and emotional level is equally as important, so I take time to nurture and nourish my relationships and ensure my overall environment is supportive of my wellbeing. It’s one of the reasons I love Elixr so much – you promote a mind-body experience in a calm, professional environment that supports members with both physical and emotional wellbeing.
Energetics – Working WITH my energy, not against it. I love this work so much!
We are conditioned throughout life to work in one way, which usually involves long hours and hustle. However, we are not all designed to push through extended hours of consistent work 5 or 6 days a week. Understanding my unique “energetic blueprint” has had a huge impact on my work style, and in turn my health. I no longer make myself wrong for working in the way that suits me, and I have cultivated the ability to tune in to my body’s rhythms and needs, clearly recognising when I am out of alignment.
Team, Focus and Delegation – this has been a game changer for me. As a recovering “I can do it all” person, and a creative big thinker, it’s taken some practice learning to focus on what’s important, and to let go of controlling every aspect of my business. Empowering my team to take on extra responsibility, and work in their zone of genius leaves me more time to work on the areas of the business that I’m passionate about. I believe that when we empower each other, we all win.
Elixr: What started you on this journey to health and healing?
My relationship with food, energy, and healing hasn’t always been this clear. The catalyst down the holistic wellbeing path was a period of diagnosed infertility in my late 20’s.
During my husband’s and my journey to conceive a child, we practised natural fertility management which included detoxing, supplementing, and wholefood eating. This opened my eyes to the idea of “food as medicine”, and we loved the benefits we were experiencing so much that we purchased an Iku Wholefood store in Martin Place.
That was 18 years ago, and throughout all the twists and turns of life and the economy, we are still proudly serving the healthiest takeaway food in Sydney!
About 6 years ago, a period of debilitating chronic pain sent me on another investigation to understand the root cause of my “frozen shoulder”. When doctors and practitioners couldn’t explain WHY I had this pain, I started studying metaphysics. Within 3 months I had completely healed my shoulder – on my own – with a simple shift in understanding.
Now my passion is supporting others to connect to the language of their bodies, and move beyond health, to a place of deep transformational healing.
What does being happy look like to you?
I know that my mindset plays a huge role in my happiness. I’ve always been a “glass half full” person, and genuinely find beauty and joy in the simple things in life. I’m happy when I’m learning and growing, and I find peace when I give myself time on my own to be quiet and creative. It’s why the pool at Elixr is one of my happy places – my quiet space for “moving meditation”!
I also believe happiness is available to us when we acknowledge that the challenges we experience in life can be opportunities for growth. We can move beyond painful experiences in a powerful way if we choose to find the lessons, and learn from them. If we are constantly wanting things to be other than what they are, we set ourselves up for disappointment, resentment and victimhood.
How do you maintain good health?
Gentle movement and wholefood nutrition are non-negotiables for me, but it’s important that food and exercise are enjoyable and not a chore. This comes back to my mindset, and also tuning in to my body to understand what it needs at any given moment. I have a loose structure, but overall, I take an intuitive approach to my health, tuning in to the flow of my different cycles – whether they be short-term cycles based on immediate stressful events, or longer-term cycles such as the changes I’m experiencing as I age.
My health is also intrinsically linked to my core values of peace, freedom, personal growth and healing. I feel healthy and alive when living in alignment with my energetic truth and sharing the possibilities of transformational holistic health with others.
Follow @NaturallyKendall or visit her website www.NaturallyKendall.com for holistic health news, events, coaching, and courses.
Special Elixr Member Offer
- Visit www.eatiku.com.au and use code “NATURALLY” at checkout to receive 20% off your first online order of Iku’s home-delivered Ready Meals.
- Visit Iku takeaway in the food court at 25 Martin Place, Sydney. Look out for your special in-store discount and loyalty card at Elixr reception.
