I had the distinct pleasure of recently welcoming Monique Hessler to The Purpose Gathering. Monique is a wellness coach, photographer, wife, and mother of three. After suffering 12 years from a series of debilitating chronic illnesses, Monique managed to heal her body naturally through food and understanding the concept of nervous system dysregulation.  She is a wellness coach who specializes in healing chronic illness by encouraging clients to listen and trust their body again. Today we are talking about taking self-care into our own hands and what to do when traditional medicine doesn’t have all the answers.

After visiting several specialists over the years and the birth of her first child, Monique was also diagnosed with lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Even with these diagnoses, she still continued to face hurdles with her health, especially whilst carrying her second child, to the point where she had to scale down her photography business to focus on her family and healing. 

During her second pregnancy, Monique complained of experiencing symptoms such as gasping for breath and difficulty with standing. Determined to find a solution to her health woes, she took matters into her own hands. With the help of the medical team at the Mayo Clinic, she was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).

Still not satisfied with these diagnoses, she stumbled upon the Medical Medium in 2016, who championed the power of the body to heal itself, through proper diet and nutrition, regardless of the ailment or condition.

How to Achieve Healing

Monique shares the following tips on how she was able to heal her conditions. The key to her recovery was understanding the connection between the mind, body and our environment.

Body

• Reducing fats in our diet  – This can be done by reducing high fat foods (e.g. bacon, eggs etc.) as well as processed and inflammatory foods and incorporating healing foods such as fruits and vegetables. This allows our liver and our body to clear out the pathogens in our bodies.
• Regular snacking throughout the day to stabilize our blood sugar – Don’t go more than two hours without having a snack. Have healthy snacks like fruits (apple, orange or grapes).
• Support your body through exercise and keeping active. Just doing a little bit at a time until you feel stronger and healthier.
• Monique uses a tool called Dropping the Adrenals, where we simply apply heat or warmth to our bodies to help us relax the adrenals and reduce that fight or flight mode. So taking a warm bath or applying a heating pad to our a lower back can help to relax the muscles and target the adrenal glands.

Mind

• Understanding nervous system regulation.
• Recognizing and turning off that constant fight or flight mode in our bodies and our need to react to every situation.

Environment

• Limiting our exposure to toxins within our environment.
• Take a step back and identify the source of stress or trauma in your life, which triggers the flight or fight mode.

Think of an old cartoon where there’s a big bubble being filled with water. Then suddenly, holes start to show up and water spills out the bubble and we see the cartoon character frantically trying to cover up the holes with gum or tape.  Think of our symptoms and ailments as that bubble that we’re trying to fix. The water represents our nervous system, you can simply solve the problem by turning off the water and reducing our source or trigger for the release of adrenaline.

In closing, Monique offers these words of advice and to remember that:

1. Your body is not attacking itself, your body loves you and is working hard for you and you need to support your body.
2. You can heal, it’s just a matter of identifying your unique root case and being patient with your body and supporting it to work out what’s happening.
3. Listen to your intuition as many times the answers are right there. Turn down the volume on the outside opinions and limitations set on us by others. Listen to what your body is telling you.  Listen, support, heal and repeat

For more information on Monique’s work you can check her out on Instagram or visit her website. You can even schedule a virtual consultation through Zoom and work with her to design a program suited to your needs.

If you enjoyed today’s post, I would love for you share it with other mamas and share it on Instagram and tag me @thepurposegathering. I cannot wait to connect with you more.

As always mama. I am here rooting for you and you are not alone on this journey.

Resources

• Join our Facebook Community
• Find me on Instagram: @thepurposegathering
• Website: thepurposegathering.com
• Free Masterclass: Productivity with a Purpose
• Monique Hessler: Instagram | Website