How did you get started in the business?

I firmly believe that this industry chose me for many beautiful reasons, and that I put very little thought into it at the beginning of my career. I had a difficult childhood where touch, affection and personal security were very skewed and unhealthy. I wandered for many years determined to do what I thought I should be doing, then one day I just slowed down and let my spirit guide me. It was that surrender that initially got me started in the field of healing. Quite frankly I’ve been healing myself ever since, and finding the wisdom and strength to be a support for others who are going through the same process.

What is your background, what were you doing before this business?

Shortly after high school I jointed the military and looking back realize it was a grand gesture that came with very grand attempts at finding myself; I enlisted in the U.S Army as a field medic with the 82nd Airborne Division where I also obtained my EMT certification. I followed the voice of my internal caregiver, but needed self discipline I suppose. I continued the path of my caregiver and received certification as a massage therapist and an esthetician. It’s the layering of all my experiences that created who I am today and formed such a solid background for who I continue to become.

What is a good story about your business?

A good early story about my business is how I came to be part of Natures Spa. I had just recently relocated back to Charlotte from Asheville and had many uncertainties surrounding me. It was one of those moments we all face; “what do I do now”? I woke up one morning with the same pressing question snuggled up within me and I didn’t have an answer. I went through a few motions and then made a request out loud; “Guide me to where I need to go first and give me the guidance to walk forward from there”. Within hours of that statement I walked into Natures Spa and a path as clear as the day opened before me. I shifted into solid; the watery, uncertain sensation was gone. I worked there for several years before the owner offered to sell and I agreed to buy. “Life is strange with its twist’s and turns…”

What is unusual or unique about your business, in comparison to similar businesses?

Natures Spa in my opinion is very unique. We are an appointment only spa that really focuses on the clients experience and where they are in their life at that very moment. We work very hard to stop the business energy the minute a session begins, we turn the office phone off, and we lock the doors and mentally move into a place where we may even silently ask; “Please let this treatment be what this person needs right now”. We strive for connection and personal relationships that are bounded by professionalism and empathy. We know what an honor it is to have someone trust us with special events, precious time and such personal space, not to mention the trust of touch. We take that honor very seriously and want to make it the safest, most nurturing experience possible.

Is there a customer experience you are most proud of?

There are several customer experiences that I am most proud of and all of them contain one shared element; connection! We are busy people with very busy lives and it’s a beautiful moment when we can slow down enough to truly see one another and feel safe in our vulnerability to reach out and show one another. It is the “customer experience” that moves into a “human experience” that I am most proud of, and it doesn’t always have to be smiles, laughter and happiness, it can be grief, fear and weakness that really open you up.

Do you do any charity or non-profit work?

In this volatile economy paired with an often unpredictable field, purchasing Natures Spa was not just a knee jerk reaction. The desire to work, somehow, with those who have also had difficult years behind them filled with unsafe touch or gross lacks of healthy love and support is a huge part of why I chose to step forward into this particular leg of the journey. Natures Spa is a big supporter of charity work and donates to several non-profit organizations, but our goals for community involvement continue to grow and evolve into something more meaningful and personal. I would love to watch Natures Spa grow into a full Wellness Center that supports not just the body but the spirit that lives within it!

Who are some of your most notable clients?

Some of my most notable clients are those that stretch into what’s uncomfortable, those that work to release themselves from overly high demands of either work, family or self deprecation and fight for their spirit, fight for their health and well being. It’s not easy to put yourself first at times or to walk onto the battle field of societal expectations. Have you ever talked to someone who is striving to create a gluten free diet or someone whose profession requires they either sit at a desk all day or travel non-stop? Theirs stories are not uncommon but they do require a great deal of perseverance to integrate a healthy diet or body care routine into. When a person reaches the point of “I matter” it’s very notable!

What are some of your greatest challenges in your business?

Some of the greatest challenges in this business come from the ever pressing need for balance. I walk everyday with the desire to heal, connect and be a care giver to those who are in a place to receive it and at the same time have to return calls, schedule meetings, put out fires, re-visit procedures and tackle tasks that sometimes create a disconnect from the softer side of yourself. The growing edge is to try and blend and welcome all parts.

What would you most like the reader to know about your journey in the business?

If there was one thing I would like the reader to know about my journey in the business is that I have not walked it alone, I have walked with fear, anxiety, grief, excitement, awe and gratitude. A great friend gifted me with a plaque one day that read “Your story matters…tell it”! Every time I schedule a client or think of a new treatment to offer, in some small way I tell my story and when I place my hands on someone, either for a facial, body wrap, massage or any other treatment another story unfolds.

We all have a story, it flows through us everyday and I can only hope that when a person enters Natures Spa they at least get the sense that their story matters too.

Thank you to Oliver and Lauren for the wonderful trigger point roller ball training!!! So often during a treatment we come across tight, blood deficient areas of the body that need more than just an occasional massage to not just loosen but be made healthy. At home care for both the body and the skin is essential! You certainly wouldn’t forego brushing your teeth until the next time you met with your dentist and your skin and muscle tissue need the same attention.

Frequent stretching, releasing tight muscles through at home massage and rolling and a healthy diet are all powerful tools against aging, injury and illness.

A good at home skin care plan using organic products that FEED the skin along with routine professional facials will keep the youthful glow and healthy vibrancy we all strive for.

Taking this class was inspiring and motivating!! In fact I gave myself a mini facial and worked with my foam roller once the kids went to bed and I felt very taken care of!

I have a lot in my head. I’m one of those “thinkers” that is often asked as a hand is waved gently in front of my face “You O.K, what were you just thinking about”?

Often times I snap out of it, smile and simply say ; “nothing, sorry” then turn on the hyper speed and move about as normal.  The truth is, I am always thinking, about something I read, something I heard, something I wonder or something I cant fully grasp yet.

This blog has plagued me!  I keep thinking I need to have a plan or that I need to write in a way that is followable, like a book.  I back down from writing when it seems too “personal” or doesn’t support Natures Spa-when it doesn’t speak about the benefits of massage or why exfoliation is so important to the skin.

Ha!  I will never do that.  I cannot sit and write as if I am constructing a brochure.

Here is what I can do.  I can tell you that I read a wonderful article in the Well Being Journal May/June titled “The Lipid Hypothesis: The Big Fat Lie, by Pauli Halstead.

As long as I can remember I have had intense aversions to “fat free” products.  There once was a “Snack Good” cookie that came out and professed great taste with no fat.  Curious and just embarking on my passion for nutrition, I tried it.  Once was all it took.  My body reacted exactly how it should have, it rejected it and I listened.  Since then I have continued to shy away from eating that which does not make sense.

Nature’s Spa is a big supporter of detox programs, we carry one that I have grown to enjoy over all the others we have tried.  Its pretty cut and dry and the truth is the hard part isn’t really in the detox supplements themselves; its in the modifications of what you ingest that gifts you with the struggle :)

When people ask me what they can eat during their prep week and I tell them: lean cuts of meat, chicken, fish, sauteed vegetables to just under crisp, small slices of hard cheese, avocados, nuts and coconut water just to name a few things, I often get a response similar to “really, isn’t there a lot of fat in some of those things”?

The answer is yes, there is a good amount of fat in most of the food  ideas I’ve mentioned and that’s O.K.

Back to the “Big Fat Lie”, the  reason I loved this article is that it gives some good statistics about fat.  Read up a bit on the Lipid Hypothesis which states that ingested fat causes heart disease.

Then research the Framingham Heart Study which revealed, among other things, that the more saturated fat a person ate, the lower their serum cholesterol became and that declining cholesterol levels in people over fifty were associated with an increase in overall mortality and death from cardiovascular disease.

Studies conducted within modern indigenous tribes who still consume their original diet of up to 400 grams of animal fat per day found that, unlike Americans, suffer no rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, cancer, chronic and degenerative diseases or high blood pressure.

“The Okinawan Japanese people are the longest living people on Earth.  Of those Japanese groups studied, those who ate the most eggs, butter, whole milk and cheese and fish had a 28{09567f47b7ea9b6de6144197c431bfcd21c27514908de8047263d79e9e39addc} lower risk of stroke than those who ate the least”.

In Primal Body, Primal Mind, Nora Gedgaudas speaks on the value of cholesterol that I found most interesting:

Despite the body’s ability to manufacture its own cholesterol it is very critical to supplement cholesterol in the diet.  Historically the human diet has always contained significant amounts of cholesterol.  Restricting or eliminating its intake indicates a crisis or famine in the body.  The result is the production of a liver enzyme called HMG-CoA reductase, which, in effect, then overproduces cholesterol from carbohydrates in the diet.  Consuming carbohydrates in the diet, while decreasing cholesterol intake, guarantees a steady, overproduction of cholesterol in the body.  The only way to switch this overproduction off is to consume an adequate amount of dietary cholesterol and back off the carbs. 

Now this is not to say that we should go out and ingest any type of fat out there.  NO, we need to look at “good fats”.  Look for grass fed beef if you eat meat, look for butter made exclusively from grass fed cows, opt for good oils that will boost your omega 3 and 6 such as coconut oil, olive, sesame or palm (RED PALM OIL) and know that when you eat a combinations of good fats throughout the day it helps with weight loss by curbing those cravings for carbohydrates, thereby keeping your blood sugar stable.

Another point I found interesting was that our body cannot easily break down cooked oil and may cause weight gain.  So avoid the fried foods, instead, drizzle a little  flax seed oil and vinegar on that blackened salmon salad with toasted pine nuts, avocado and grass fed goat cheese and enjoy. But please don’t feel that you cant enjoy a good, not so healthy dose of fat every now and then…its OK.

All the best,

Corie