About Anna

Most of what we were doing back then has caught on in many circles, but back then, it was definitely swimming upstream in a culture that at the time viewed alternative wellness as suspicious, holistic practices as Voodoo, and non-traditional spiritual and educational ideas as just plain old weird. 

I still remember the slight embarrassment of my green (avocado) Ezekiel bread sandwiches compared to the typical peanut butter and jelly sandwiches of most of the kids I knew. 

While this upbringing had many upsides and is of course, part of my story, there were some significant downsides. Which is what passionately drove me to integrate the tools and concepts you’ll soon learn into my paradigm. 

During my early teens and all the way into my late twenties, I battled an eating disorder that no level of nutritional work I knew at the time, intensity of prayer, bible knowledge or willpower would seemingly alleviate. I also had serious gut issues, skin issues, and general discomfort in my body that someone who had as much health knowledge as I’d gained over the years should not be dealing with. 

I remember begging and pleading with God to take these ailments from me. I was genuinely in despair, but also supremely confused - because how could someone who was doing all the “right” things, still be feeling so stuck, weighed down, sick, and unhappy?

I had been instructed that if you love God enough, if you read your bible, pray and study more, you’ll be able to overcome any issues in your life. And when confronted with physical issues, if you know how to work with it spiritually AND physically, you’ll see results. 

Which isn’t wrong, just incomplete. 

God didn’t answer my prayer the way I though He should. But hindsight is 20/20, and looking back, now I’m grateful He didn’t snap His finger to heal me in an instant. Instead, what I thought was a barrier became a door, and He opened the door to an entirely new paradigm of what it means to be well and whole. 

Thankfully, by osmosis I had picked up on the way my parents modeled of the idea that if something isn’t working for you, it will behoove you to go beyond the current norm to find what’s missing and learn how to integrate it. 

In my mid-twenties, I somehow landed in a training course on how to heal emotional pain. It was like a crash course in psychology while also allowing Jesus to be the center of healing emotional pain. It was all completely new to me and I felt a deep hunger to know more. 

I went week after week, month after month, year after year, to not only receive a deeper understanding of emotional health, receive healing for myself but also to become certified to become a facilitator for others. 

What I slowly began to understand, is that I had no paradigm in my upbringing for how to handle emotions, what’s at the root of addictive behavior, what to do if you’re unable to put into practice what your mind knows to do, how to get out of stress-mode, how to thrive emotionally, etc. 

I hadn’t realized how emotionally stuck I was, how judgmental I’d become out of fear and stress, and how many deeply rooted self-beliefs were running my life. 

I also became fascinated by the interface between physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. How the body responds to the the mind and emotions, and how the nervous system responds to stress, or conversely, the way it responds to heart coherence. 

I discovered my chronic gut and skin issues were largely emotional, and my eating disorder was a hyper-vigilant nervous system and not knowing how to navigate my inner life. 

During this time, I experienced many beautiful and transformative healing session, but during one particular one, I sensed Jesus saying to me “when you’re living in My Love, the world is like a playground of possibility.” 

This helped me feel safe to explore and gain certifications other modalities such as meditation, yoga, heart coherence, and EFT Tapping.

Over the years, I have been fine tuning my approach to wellness, to demystify, to understand the science behind it, and how discern what is right for me and what isn’t.

I have done my own fair share of wandering around, circling old patterns and false beliefs, deconstructing my faith, and reconstructing a life-giving lens on true wellness and healing.

I began to understand that when we’re living in the safety of our identity in Christ, we don’t need to fear going beyond our current paradigm. Our issues are actually gifts to us, opening the doorway toward a more whole and healed life.

Now, in my forties, I feel healthier, lighter, more embodied, more grateful and freer than I ever did in my twenties.

Please note: Even though my certification and training is in emotional wellness, I am not a licensed therapist, counselor, psychologist or theologian. I don’t have letters after my name. If you have letters after your name, I heartily salute you. It’s just not where my path led me. Someone might view that as potentially problematic, but I espouse that the Holy Spirit helped me create my own degree and sweet spot in my life’s work by placing leading me to certifications, trainings, mentors and experiences at just the right time. 

The concepts and ideas you’ll hear about in this work are hard won experiential concepts and hours, weeks, months, and years of journeying. Both digging into books on detoxification, functional medicine, theology, psychology, spiritual healing, and the like, and thousands of hours working one on one with clients, leading wellness retreats, teaching and speaking at events.

I’ve been working as a Wellness Coach for almost 12 years. It’s one of my greatest light-ups to support people clearing blockages and becoming free. 

I offer one-on-one coaching, lead “CORE Wellness” events, yoga classes, and retreats. I’d love to get to know you, to support you, and help you unlock your most vibrant life and health.

You can learn more at www.unlockcorewellness.com