[00:00:05] Your unconscious mind is powerful. It's the other 90% of your mind and yet you're not even taught about it at school. What if you could access the other 90%? It would be like driving the highway in 6th gear instead of 1st gear. That's what you're doing when you only know the tools of the conscious mind, the 10%. You're going through life in 1st gear.

[00:00:30] Are you ready to ramp up and go through life in 6th gear? Learn the powerful tools of your unconscious mind? Healing trauma, clearing anxiety in minutes rather than weeks, months and years? Join our next Meet Your Unconscious Mind workshop so that you can start to learn the power that you already hold within and the tools to access it. Look for the link to register in the show notes.

[00:00:58] Imagine getting up every day full of energy as if you were in your 20s again. What would that be like? What would that be worth to you? What is your health worth to you? Think about it. Your health isn't everything, but without it, everything else is nothing. And yet too many of us are taking it for granted until something goes wrong.

[00:01:34] No one wakes up hoping to be diagnosed with a disease or chronic illness. And yet we've never been taught how to be proactive in our health through our school system or public health.

[00:01:44] As a registered health coach and integrative health practitioner, I believe it is time this information is made available to everyone. Combining new knowledge around your health and the ability to do my functional medicine lab tests in the comfort of your own home will allow you to optimize your health for today and all your tomorrows.

[00:02:12] Welcome back to another episode of the Don't Wait for your wake up call podcast. I am Melissa Deally, your host. And today with me, I have Kelsey Bowmaster. And I hope I said your name right, Kelsey. Welcome to the show. You did. You did. Good job. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:02:29] I'm very excited to have you here. And of course, our we met at a conference where both integrative health practitioners and that's where we met and I invited you to the show because I love your story and want to share it with the audience. And just to introduce you to the audience, Kelsey is an integrative health practitioner, somatic breathwork practitioner, yoga instructor, personal trainer and founder of Better You Health Coaching.

[00:02:56] After spending years navigating her own healing journey, including overcoming trauma, rebuilding her health and discovering the power of mind body healing, Kelsey has made it her mission to help others claim their health and transform their lives. So that's a lot of expertise that you have, Kelsey. And your bio goes on for quite a bit more than that. And I read it in the show notes. However, I always love hearing people's stories on the show.

[00:03:25] So I would love for you to just share, you know, where you started out and the journey that led you to where you're at now with this incredible ability and skill set to help others heal. Yes. Thank you for this opportunity. I know I have a lot of titles. I really started in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, yoga, just fitness was my first love.

[00:03:53] And it was a way to get this feeling. It was really hard to describe out of my body, like using my body was kind of therapeutic for me in a way. And I really loved anything fast paced. It was like I needed that overstimulation. So when I first started with yoga, it was like, oh, I hate this. I have to be slow. Like I'm just sitting here.

[00:04:22] It was so hard for me. I bet. So to challenge. Yes. So to challenge myself, it was like, OK, maybe I should get certified in this. Like maybe I should teach this. I found myself crying on my mat as the instructor once I started to slow down. Didn't even think about it at the time. I didn't really understand. How trauma impacted the body at that stage of my life.

[00:04:51] Fast forward to covid. Such a transitory period in my life, which I think it was for everyone. Yes. The whole world had to slow down at that point. Yes, I think because at the time I was in the service industry and the fitness industry. So a lot of running around all the time will take away my ability to make money. My income when I was on my own since I was 18.

[00:05:20] I cried for two weeks straight like I was in this complete fight or flight for two weeks, complete panic. Like, what am I going to do? Well, the next step, once I settled down, it was like, OK, what can I do? Started looking into different educational programs. I got a hospitality and tourism certificate from FAU online. And then I came across Dr. Cabral's program, the Integrative Health Practitioner Institute.

[00:05:50] I was like, oh, my gosh. This seems right up my alley, because even in the past, I had suffered from IBS issues where I didn't know if I'd be constipated for four days or running to the bathroom. Right. With diarrhea. Like my gut was such a wreck. I had low thyroid. I would have breakout all over. Like at one point it was horrible. I was doing a modeling contest and I had red rings around my eyes.

[00:06:19] Not helpful. I had no modeling contest. No, it was absolutely horrible. And of course, now I know why I broke out like that. But at the time, I'm like, of course this would happen. Right. It was just like, I just have bad luck. It's just how my life is. Everything is hard. So going through all of that, it's like, oh, my gosh, I love natural. Like I would always just look up Google. What's one way to fix this?

[00:06:48] Because back then I didn't have medical insurance either. So. Coming across Cabral's program, I'm like, this is amazing. And I'd always had ADHD where I couldn't really focus if I was sitting still. But with his program, I was hyper focused. It was like the information was so good. And I just. Yeah. Became obsessed with learning how I could rebalance my body.

[00:07:15] So once I started putting myself through all the protocols, doing all the gut work. My IBS issues went away. I was able to fix my low thyroid. My random skin breakout stopped. Like everything was going amazing. And then I relapsed. And then I would do amazing again. And then I would relapse. And I'm like, OK, there's something else going on. And I still didn't really understand the trauma part at that time.

[00:07:44] That trauma connection. So I ended up. Reading the book, The Body Keeps the Score. I love that book. It completely changed the way I viewed trauma, my body. Because I used to have this very somatic reaction happen in my body where. I couldn't do fine motor movements like sitting at a computer like right here, right now would have been impossible.

[00:08:13] There's no way I could have been just sitting for this amount of time. I couldn't change my own rings. I couldn't. Like if I got stuck in traffic, it would look like I was tweaking out drugs because my nervous system would just freak out. And doctors couldn't explain it. I was fine. I was normal. I'm like, this is not normal. So after reading that book, I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's trauma and emotion stored in my body.

[00:08:43] Like this is the missing piece. Well, I worked with a bunch of different practitioners. I've tried a bunch of different modalities. But in the back of my head, I heard of plant medicine and I was like, yeah, I want to do ayahuasca. I think that's what I'm being called to do. But I had heard, you know, you need to be careful. Women get taken advantage of. And I didn't need any more sexual trauma added to my plate.

[00:09:11] So I'm like, OK, I'll just wait until the right opportunity arises. Well, instead, I received this other email about a boga and a retreat in Colombia with a boga. I had no idea what it was, but my personality was like, OK, let's go. So I show up to this retreat and the facilitators are like, wait, you've never done any other plant medicine.

[00:09:39] And I was like, no, like most people don't start with this one. I was like, well, I'm here. I'm going to do it. So that was another stepping stone that completely changed my life for the better. My intention going into this retreat was to address my childhood trauma.

[00:10:00] And my mindset, my thoughts about this was because all my other trauma kind of stemmed from my childhood trauma. So if you're abused as a child, you find yourselves in these other abusive situations. So, again, being trained to get to the root cause, I'm like, all right, childhood, it's time to go after this. And it was so hard. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

[00:10:27] I had to relive all of these memories I'd shoved down, tried to forget. The auditory hallucinations, re-listening to all the things I'd been told my whole life. You know, it also pieced together where my limiting self-beliefs were stemming from. But at the very end of the ceremony, all of a sudden, this lightning bolt appeared. And it was like I knew it symbolized the trauma and emotion stored in my body.

[00:10:57] Broke into a million pieces. Shot out my body through the bottom of my feet. And I never felt it again. And I could cry just telling the story because it was such a life-changing moment. And it also opened my eyes to more of the spirituality side of things as well. Because I just felt so guided to end up there and to go through that and have this healing journey. And just to be kind of shown the way.

[00:11:28] So, yeah, that's kind of like how it all progressed. And then, obviously, plant medicine isn't as accessible to most people. And I don't necessarily recommend that for everyone. So, then that kind of pushed me into, well, what kind of trauma work can I offer to my clients as well? Because so many people are coming in with trauma.

[00:11:54] And so many people don't realize how much that can be tied to their physical ailments. Chronic disease. Chronic disease. Absolutely. Yeah. All that stuff down negative emotion. We know it causes disease. It's causing energy blockages in the body. Yes. Yeah. There's. Yeah. So, I found this somatic breathwork training. And I think I was just on, again, I'm just a yes person.

[00:12:22] So, I just like, if I see something, I look at it. Don't really dig into the details too much. I'm like, okay, I'm going to want to learn. I just love learning. You're going with your intuition. Exactly. Yeah. And I do trust that God is guiding me because I pray, you know, to be guided. And these things just seem to flow way too easily. So, I feel very blessed.

[00:12:46] But with the somatic breathwork, it's learning, you know, how to lead these group sessions or solo sessions through certain breath holds and breathing patterns to help release any stored emotion trauma from the body. And I went through my own experience having crazy breakthrough with this as well.

[00:13:14] And I get another story, which if we have time for it, I can share. But just how I truly believe my path has been divinely guided. And I think that really helps also with just innate joy, happiness, having that connection with God. I think that plays a huge role in healing as well. And that's something I've found. Absolutely. Anytime.

[00:13:39] It's what we teach in our academy that when we come to that place of being and living our mission, our purpose. And we know we're there when we're in that place of that divine guidance. And it's just so joyful to wake up every morning and get to help others. Yes. And it just reinforces when you can wake up in that feeling every morning. It also reinforces that, yes, I am in the right place. Because we still have doubts come in.

[00:14:09] You know, can I really make a living doing this? Or am I doing this the right way? Or just other people talking about their careers and we get into that comparison mode. And, you know, it's just that's all natural human thoughts that come in. And we can then come back to ourselves and that feeling and that check-in and go, yes, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. And this is how I fulfill my mission. So I love that you found it. Yes. Yeah. It's been very fulfilling.

[00:14:38] I feel like I am living out my purpose. So, yeah, just completely enjoy it. When I went to the breathwork training, I had done this form of breathwork before. Have you tried it? I have. I have. And funnily enough, literally my business partner and I, right before recording this podcast with you, we've signed up for an eight-week breathwork training session ourselves.

[00:15:02] Because we want to bring it in to support the trauma training that we run as well. It's another piece. So, yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Again, divinely guided, right? You reached back out to me after two years for a reason. Oh, my timing is just perfect. It's just perfect. It is.

[00:15:27] But, yeah, with my journey, like, through the breathwork, and I tell my clients this as well, that you're not really aiming. It's okay if you don't have a big release, right? Like, I had done probably six breathwork sessions prior to my huge release. And that's normal. And now I've done a handful more. Still no major release.

[00:15:54] But the one thing that the, how I knew I was on my path, I was being divinely guided to this breathwork training, was while I was there. You know, I felt the first breathwork session of the first day of training, I had this contraction in my heart. And I was like, oh, that's weird. And then it happened in my back, like, behind my heart. I was like, oh, well, no big emotional release.

[00:16:22] It was just a little contraction. That's okay. You know, I still felt relaxed. I still got benefit from it. I was still lowering my cortisol, right? All the other benefits to the breathwork. Well, the next day, I was talking to another lady at the same training. And she started in the conventional medicine space, switched to functional medicine, and then she's also psychic and does energy work.

[00:16:47] And so I was talking to her about these dreams I was having because I have dreams where I can really tune into people and I see things that I don't necessarily control. And sometimes I don't want to see them. And this person in particular, I was asking her, I'm like, do you think this is like a karmic connection? Like, I can't stop this. And it's driving me crazy. I don't want to see these dreams anymore. And she asked if she could read me.

[00:17:15] So after she reads me, she goes, no, it's not. It's tied to something that happened back in 2017. And you have stuck emotion in your heart. And I was like, okay, well, that's weird. Because yesterday, I had that contraction. 2017 is the year that I broke up with my psychotic ex-boyfriend that had two domestics against him.

[00:17:45] He had threatened to kill me, took a knife to me, locked me in a parking garage. Like, I had PTSD from him. Yes, yes. Very traumatic. Yes. And I thought I was over it. Well, consciously, perhaps you were over it. And unconsciously, it was still stored in the body. Yes. So the next day at this training, we had to practice hands-on training.

[00:18:12] And the simplest act of just sticking my hand out to touch someone, I start bawling. And all of these memories start coming back from my 2017 ending of that relationship and how he had always told me, you know, you're terrible in the bedroom. You know, you suck at this, you suck at that. And if I would be like, well, what can I do? Nothing. You just suck.

[00:18:41] And it was just like, you know, degrading me. Right. It was abusive in every form. And I'm going to say cancel, cancel, cancel to all of that because we know it isn't true and our unconscious minds don't need to hear it right now anymore. The crazy thing is that I never told anyone that. I never even told my therapist. It was like some part of me still believed that up until this training.

[00:19:06] So my first time talking about it was to this group of like 30 to 40 people. And as I'm bawling and all these tears are coming out and I'm processing this, then the next day was the last day of training. And I had to receive a breathwork session. And this is when all of a sudden, like my whole body was shaking. My head went back. It was like an exorcism, like complete. And I couldn't stop it. Like I'm bawling.

[00:19:37] I was the last person to come back to as he's like trying to get people to sit up. My body's still like shaking. Yes, it was so wild. But I'm glad I saw that and went through that. Because if I had led a group and someone started like seizing like that, like shaking like that, that probably would have been like, oh my gosh, what do I do? But to have myself go through that and be like, okay, it's okay. Like they're processing.

[00:20:06] It is. It's literally your body releasing the trauma. And, you know, people release it in different ways. Sometimes tears is just enough. Sometimes it's another way. And with animals, if you've ever noticed, they don't carry the trauma in their bodies that we do. They will actually convulse and shake it off same day or immediately after the event. That's what their nervous system is wired to do. And unfortunately, ours isn't.

[00:20:32] And with all of the programming in our world that, you know, we carry it for far too long. Because the unconscious mind experiences the trauma and its job is to keep us safe. So in that moment, it's doing everything it can to keep us safe so we can survive. And then when we're in safety, it will bring us triggers. And then that's when, because of societal programming, we're like, nope, nope. I don't want to deal with that. I don't want to deal with it. Push it back down.

[00:21:00] But the unconscious mind doesn't give up on us. So the trigger comes again and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger until in many cases, we decide to resolve it using tools like what, you know, you've used, whether it's plant medicine or breath work or what we do, timeline therapy, et cetera. Or that's where people start numbing. Mm-hmm. Yes. And I was guilty of that. You were guilty of that too.

[00:21:27] And that's why I love having you on the show and having these conversations is to let people know that there's more than one way to heal and that we don't heal until we release it from the body. And talk therapy is excellent at bringing things to awareness. Talk therapy doesn't release it from the body. Talking about the event over and over again is actually firing the nervous system because the unconscious mind doesn't know the difference between real and imagined.

[00:21:53] And the moment you start talking about it, the unconscious mind thinks it's happening now and your nervous system is firing. And so that's why a lot of people feel worse when they leave the therapist office than they did when they went in. Because we've just triggered all of that again. Yes. Yeah. And I do love my therapy appointments too, though. Exactly. We're not knocking it. It's just there's different aspects to every healing journey. And it's what is the right tool for what you need right now in the moment.

[00:22:23] And then continuing to go to therapy and being able to talk through things and bring things to awareness is awesome. However, society often promotes it as the only way to heal trauma. Correct. Yes. And I have many clients. That's part of what I love to do is just be a resource. Really refer people to the right people. Yeah.

[00:22:48] For example, I had a 16-year-old client who came in with four gut issues, you know, reacting to all these foods, getting super, super sick. Well, she had been raped by a family friend at the age of seven. And she was in talk therapy.

[00:23:13] But again, I had to explain, you need to be working it through the body. It can't just be talk therapy. So and nervous system dysregulation, you know, we need to work on feeling safe. Like how can we create that safe container? Yes, exactly. Beautiful. I love, you know, how you're getting this out and helping people and in this work.

[00:23:40] So you also you've added this on to your integrative health practitioner practice. Do you work with people like in all of it? Because I know. So my listeners know I always talk about the four bodies and the three minds. So the spiritual body, the emotional body or the mental body, the emotional body, the physical body. By the time the symptoms shown up in the physical body, it's moved through the other three. So we start the healing in the physical body and then we have to clear the other three. And that's exactly what you're doing.

[00:24:08] And so when you're working with clients, do you have a specific way in which you bring in the aspects of this mind body healing for them? I would say if clients come to me at the wellness center that I work at as a practitioner and it's for something physical, I'm always bringing up the fact that we need to look at these other things, but I also respect them where they're at.

[00:24:37] So for example, I've had a client who's been on a weight loss journey and she'll do so good for so long and then all of a sudden completely derailed. Right. So good for so long and then again. And so I had to explain to her, this keeps happening. We have to get to the root cause of why these self-sabotaging behaviors are happening.

[00:25:07] So I kind of suggested a therapist and she was so resistant to it or any kind of work like that. So again, I'm like, okay, if, if coming to see me inventing to me is what you need at this moment. Okay. That works.

[00:25:29] I just got an email a week or two ago from her saying, do you, I remember you talking about your therapy and your journey and your trauma journey. How did you find a therapist? So I like did a little happy dance myself and I was like, yeah. So sometimes people just even need to hear it. And then when they're ready, they'll take that step. So I'm always talking about resources. I'm always giving it to them.

[00:25:57] I'm always giving them different ideas, trying to find what resonates with them. But again, it's just meeting them where they're at. Yeah. I love that. And, and letting people know that there's more than one way to heal really. So much of the programming is, you know, you go to the doctor and they'll diagnose you and then they'll give you a drug. And, you know, if it's chronic illness, you have to take it for, you know, every day for the rest of your life and you're not going to get better.

[00:26:25] And we know that's what Dr. Cabral was told for three chronic illnesses at the age of 18. And we know that isn't true. And yet a lot of people are still in that programming. And so, yes, I love the work that you're doing and helping people to understand that there are more than one way to heal. And when you're ready, you can step into that journey. That doesn't mean you have to do it right this minute. Exactly. Even when I started, it was like one thing at a time, right? You just try one thing at a time.

[00:26:55] Even with my physical health, I didn't change everything at one time. It's like, okay, I'll work on this and then I'll work on this, right? It can be baby steps. It's just about being consistent rather than needing to take a huge leap. And I think that's a better way anyway, because if you do everything at once, you don't really know what's working or what, you know, if you're overdoing it. When you do one thing at a time, you can test, okay, this worked, this didn't, this worked, this didn't, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:27:23] So, and we can put people into overwhelm when we give them too much all at once. It's too hard for them to adapt into their lifestyle. Wow. So I want to move forward into the future. You have more that you want to be doing and implementing in this lifetime, including writing a book, running retreats. Let's talk about that. Yes. Yes. Well, I have something super exciting coming up at the end of this year.

[00:27:48] Um, the retreat that I go to in Columbia in March every year invited me to go to Gabon. So West Africa to be initiated into the Bwiti tribe. And then they invited me to go back and work as a facilitator next year and serve the plant medicine. Thank you. Yeah. My life seems so surreal. Yeah. You're giving me full body truth bumps here. I love it.

[00:28:18] So that's super exciting. I look forward to having that play a role in my life more so as well, because again, I feel just so much gratitude for finding that pathway. Then yes, I do plan on writing a book. I joined a book writing mentorship program, and this is something that I've been working on. It was one of my limiting self-beliefs, right? Because I was like, well, I can't sit still. Well, this is back when my nervous system was super dysregulated. It's like, I can't sit still.

[00:28:48] There's no way I could ever write a book. And so that was always in the back of my head. And now to be able to be like, okay, like this is definitely doable. Like just again, something that blows my mind, how much your life can change when you're just taking those steps. You just start changing your life. And then, yeah, with the breath work, I'm still playing around with ideas on retreats,

[00:29:16] where I want to host it, exactly what it's going to encompass. But I have a lot of ideas and I'm really excited and I love traveling. So to be able to mix my love of travel with helping people and having fun and healing all in one, like, yeah, I'm super excited for the future. That's beautiful. I love it. I love everything that you've got planned and how, you know, you're stepping into things

[00:29:44] that you couldn't have done before, like book writing, that you can do now because of where you're at in your healing journey. And let's face it, our health is a lifelong thing. Therefore, our healing journey is a lifelong thing. And we're always healing. We're always growing. And I love that you don't just, you know, teach that to others. You embody it for yourself. Yes. That's really beautiful. Love it.

[00:30:11] So Kelsey, I love to ask guests that come on my show. What does don't wait for your wake up call mean to you? Don't wait for your wake up call. To me, that means, again, take that step. Even if it's just a baby step, like being proactive towards growth, becoming the person you really want to be and enjoying the journey, like enjoy it. It's not about the destination.

[00:30:41] It's definitely about enjoying the journey. Have fun. Exactly. I love that you say that. We always say that too. The destination, what we think it is today may not actually be the destination. Because when we're divinely guided, we might end up somewhere else. Even better that we don't have the capacity to even imagine right now. My life is a true testament to that. I'm like, I never would have ever imagined.

[00:31:07] That you'd be, you know, over to West Africa for an initiation and then running plant medicine rituals in Columbia. That's amazing. So if somebody is listening to this, Kelsey, and they're like, oh my goodness, I want to learn more from her. I want to work with her. Can you please share with the audience how they can get hold of you? And also please share your very generous offering as well. Yes.

[00:31:34] So the best way to get a hold of me right now would be my email. So it's Kelsey, K-E-L-S-E-Y, treeoflife at gmail.com. And then I am offering a complimentary breathwork session. So it'll be a group online session. The date is still to be determined. I want to see how many participants I get as well, but it would be this fall. So if you can reach out to me, I'll be happy to guide you through one. Beautiful.

[00:32:04] Thank you very much for that generosity. I'll have all of that in the show notes as well as your social media handles as well. And as we wrap this episode, are there any last words of wisdom that you would like to share with the audience? One saying that I've found myself just repeating over and over to myself is lead with love.

[00:32:29] Like if you, yeah, I just, with all the healing I've done, like to think, view myself, I've changed so much. Like I used to be very masculine, very like, which I think is why I was drawn to a boga first, right? It was very masculine. And now I'm like finding my feminine side and this softness and just my heart just feels so filled with love, just in gratitude for where my life is taking me and seeing the benefits

[00:32:59] of what I went through. You know, I mean, obviously it wasn't a good thing, but if you can find the positive and even a negative situation, it can be life-changing. I think that's the beautiful sign of true healing is when you can actually look back at that negative situation and see the positive or even see some gratitude for it because you wouldn't be where you are today.

[00:33:25] You wouldn't be the person you are today if you hadn't gone through that because all of that was designed to teach you something. Yes. Yes. I believe that now. Congratulations on your healing journey and how far you've come. And thank you for being courageous and sharing a very vulnerable story with the world in order

[00:33:48] to help others and also for continuing on your healing journey, knowing that it's never over. And for your time today, really appreciate it. And to my audience, thank you as well for wanting to learn, being interested in your health, your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health, and to tuning in each and every week to these episodes and continuing your healing journey as well.

[00:34:16] Thank you for investing this time with me on the Don't Wait for Your Wake Up Call podcast. I'm so glad you joined in. If you can take two minutes to share this episode with someone you think can benefit and have a positive impact on their life, that would be wonderful. Please leave a review by going to your favorite podcast listening app and let me know what you enjoy or would like to hear more of. It will support me in my effort to bring the possibility of natural healing to a wider audience

[00:34:44] and help disrupt the sick care system we have today and make human health a global priority. Health is your true wealth.