Have you ever found yourself caught in the exhausting cycle of pushing through—ignoring your body’s signals until it finally forces you to stop?
I know that cycle intimately.
My Wake-Up Call
There I was, a creative agency project manager juggling large-scale events and tight turnaround deadlines. The tension headaches? “Just need a glass of wine… to wind-down.” Digestive issues? “Normal stress response.” Bone-deep exhaustion? “Everyone’s tired.”
Sound familiar?
The turning point came during a Nordic sauna experience at Cedar & Stone in Duluth. Sitting in that quiet, warm space—away from notifications and deadlines—I finally heard what my body had desperately tried to tell me for months.
My body wasn’t my enemy. It wasn’t something to override, push through, or ignore.
It was my wisest guide, speaking a language I’d forgotten how to understand.
The Missing Piece in Wellness
This realization fundamentally shifted my approach to wellbeing—eventually leading me to become a National Board Certified Health Coach through Mayo Clinic’s evidence-based program.
Recent research confirms that sustainable wellbeing isn’t found in rigid plans or pushing harder—it emerges when we listen to our body’s wisdom.
Health coaching is a ‘powerful intervention to help patients initiate and maintain sustainable change’ through a ‘patient-centered collaborative partnership’¹ that honors your unique needs. As a board-certified health coach, I don’t prescribe one-size-fits-all solutions—instead, I help you reconnect with your body’s signals and develop ‘practical steps forward’ where you’re the expert on yourself.² When you learn to respond to what your body is actually telling you, you create lasting shifts that work in your real life.
Beyond All-or-Nothing Thinking
If you’ve landed here, chances are you’ve tried numerous wellness approaches—perhaps with initial success followed by inevitable burnout or a sense that the approach just doesn’t fit your real life.
This is precisely why health coaching stands apart from other wellness modalities. Unlike prescriptive approaches that tell you exactly what to do (often ignoring your unique body, life circumstances, and values), health coaching empowers you to discover what genuinely works for YOU.
A 2018 study in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine found that sustainable health changes require addressing multiple dimensions of wellbeing simultaneously—not just following another diet or exercise regimen that doesn’t account for your actual life.
What Transformation Looks Like
My clients—primarily women navigating career demands, family responsibilities, and significant life transitions—typically experience several key shifts through our work together:
- Developing the ability to notice early stress signals and respond thoughtfully instead of automatically pushing through
- Creating morning routines that energize rather than deplete
- Building practical implementation skills that bridge the gap between health knowledge and daily practice
- Replacing all-or-nothing approaches with gentle consistency
- Establishing a framework for making health decisions aligned with personal values
The most profound transformation? Moving from a relationship with your body based on force to one built on deep listening and trust.
Is This Approach Right for You?
This Gradual Shifts approach to wellbeing is especially valuable if you:
- Are tired of “all-or-nothing” approaches to health
- Find yourself navigating career demands, parenting challenges, or midlife transitions
- Want practical tools that work in your actual life—not some idealized version of it
- Value both compassion and meaningful action
- Have tried multiple approaches without lasting results
The clients who benefit most are those ready to move beyond temporary solutions toward sustainable practices that evolve with changing life circumstances.
Your First Step: Reconnect With Your Body’s Wisdom
Ready to start rebuilding that essential connection with your body’s signals?
I’ve created a free Body Wisdom Guide with simple practices you can implement immediately—including the seconds-long body check-in that has been transformative for my clients who previously thought they “didn’t have time” for wellbeing practices.
Inside you’ll discover:
- Simple somatic awareness exercises that take less than a minute
- How to recognize your body’s early warning signals before burnout hits
- Practical tools to respond to stress in real-time
- A framework for creating your own personalized body check-in practice
Download Your Free Body Wisdom Guide →
This guide contains the foundational practices that helped my clients begin their transformation from exhaustion to sustainable wellbeing—one gentle shift at a time.
If you’re ready to explore deeper transformation through personalized coaching, I also invite you to book a complimentary clarity call to discuss how we might work together.
Book Your Complimentary Clarity Call →
Cally Reed is a National Board Certified Health Coach (NBC-HWC) with specialized training from Mayo Clinic and a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200). She is also a Sauna Guide at Cedar & Stone Nordic Sauna. Based in Minneapolis, MN, Cally helps clients create sustainable health practices that work with their real lives, not against them.
