Welcome! I’m Carolyn
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My Story:
The oldest piece of wisdom I remember being given is “always be a leader, never be a follower”.
This wisdom stayed with me as I made many important decisions throughout my life.
One of these big decisions took place in 2016 when I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease called eosinophilic esophagitis.
Essentially, my esophagus was swelling shut due to years of chronic inflammation caused by foods I was eating and was apparently intolerant to.
As a result, I was struggling to swallow food, l was living with debilitating heartburn and my hair was falling out at an alarming rate.
The first G.I. doctor who informed me of my diagnosis told me that EoE was pretty uncommon in adults and the best thing I could do to lean how to manage my symptoms was to "Google it".
I will never forget how alone I felt after that call, with a major health diagnosis and no one to turn to who could help guide me through this journey.
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Of course my family was as supportive as they could be, but no one knows how it truly feels to navigate a new diagnosis unless they have been there themselves.
After going on more than a few self led research benders and tirelessly navigating the medical industrial complex, I was finally able to see a doctor who specialized in my disease.
This moment felt like a true breakthrough.
I was beyond elated to finally be seeing a top doctor who was an expert in EoE in the center of my home, New York City.
Unfortunately, I found my 26 year old self in the examination room surrounded by doctors who were trying to convince me that I should agree to begin taking a very high dosage of a powerful medication that had an incredible range of side effects for the rest of my life.
How could this be their ONLY solution?
My inner being knew that I absolutely was not going to rely on pharmaceuticals for the rest of my life, so I firmly took a stand against their collective advice.
This was when I truly realized that my health is my greatest asset.
I refused to be a follower of advice that fundamentally felt harmful to me, to my soul and to my temple.
I told the doctors that I was going to heal myself naturally with food, exercise, & lifestyle changes - and so I did.
In hindsight, this diagnosis and my complex journey to recovery profoundly changed my life.
It was the coercion my consciousness needed at that time in order to undergo a major expansion.
Lesson 1: I gained more confidence by listening to my body and intuition, which allowed me to stand up to a medical system that wanted me to rely on quick fix pharmaceuticals for my health.
Lesson 2: I had the ability to take everything I had learned to help other people who were also seeking alternative paths to wellbeing. My health journey encouraged me to become a certified nutritional therapist, yoga instructor, personal trainer and Reiki practitioner.
But that’s not all that happened..
At this time, I was still working as a high school teacher but I began coaching my friends, family and coworkers through making improvements in their wellbeing.
Teachers are the original coaches: So much of being a teacher is being a caregiver.
I was becoming more interested in permanently shifting my coaching and caregiving persona from the classroom towards helping my clients feel better.
I began to feel major energetic alignment when I met with my clients.
It really felt as if this was the beginning of something bigger.
And then it happened..
My personal transformation and conscious awareness experienced another catalyst in 2021.
While I was working as a high school social studies teacher in New York City, the mayor announced the COVID vaccine mandate for all city workers.
The invaluable information I had uncovered about the nefarious practices of the pharmaceutical industry over the past few years flooded my mind.
Flashes of memories I had of myself waiting in doctors offices, waiting for medical results, enduring extreme elimination diets and everything else I had done to restore my health was all I could think about for weeks leading up to the mandate deadline.
Once again, I recalled, “be a leader, don’t be a follower”.
My inner being knew that I absolutely was not going to be forced to take a dangerous pharmaceutical product that I did not want in my body, in my soul, in my temple.
The stress was unbearable.
Teaching is a highly stable job. NEVER in my life did I imagine I would be unemployed, especially under such short notice and under such forceful conditions.
Each time I came close to caving, I just imagined myself sitting in a chair, rolling up my sleeve and watching someone walking towards me with a needle filled with something I did not want in my body.
Thinking back on those visions, I can recall feeling an overwhelming need to protect my inner me, my soul, my higher self.
As an autonomous woman, my body was under the control of me and me only - not my employer.
As a manifesting generator (for those human design junkies) with the Right Angle Cross of The Vessel of Love in my chart, embodying moral & ethical behaviors that aligned with the essence of my true self was at the forefront of my mind.
Therefore, I once again took a firm stance against the medical industrial complex, the pharmaceutical industry and newly, the Department of Education.
As a result, I was forced to resign from my tenured teaching position.
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A dark night of the soul had commenced.
It felt that everything I had worked for for years had been taken from me.
I had an undergraduate degree and two master's degrees in teaching, but when it came down to it, nothing was more important to me than standing by what I believed in with integrity.
I was freshly unemployed in New York City and was unable to be hired to do any kind of work due to the city wide vaccine mandate.
Instead of continuing to feel victimized, I developed an incredible amount of personal strength and conscious awareness as a result of protecting my body, my soul, and my temple, at all costs.
Quite literally - all costs.
In hindsight, the COVID vaccine mandate was the coercion I needed to bring me into unison with my soul’s purpose.
I knew that I was not the only woman in history who had faced struggles as a result listening to my innate feminine wisdom instead of obediently following guidance and mandates from establishments that had everything other than my own personal wellness in mind.
The high school history teacher in me hopes you remember learning about those good ole’ “witch” trials that infamously occurred for hundreds of years in places such as New England, Europe and countless imperialized nations..
Those “witches'' were simply spiritual women who lived in accordance with their innate feminine wisdom.
Their body / mind / spirit energies were harmoniously integrated.
Their “witchcraft” or “voodoo” was a profound understanding that the tools of food, herbal remedies, rituals, exercise, yoga and meditation infuse the body with life force energy, allowing for the expansion of creativity, free thinking, vitality and consciousness.
They were silenced because the establishments of their time knew that if the masses were connected to these life force and cosmic energies, their own power structures would completely crumble.
In my personal life, it felt as if history was repeating itself.
I decided that it was time for me to integrate the information I had acquired through my lifelong interest in human development, my ten years in classroom teaching, my five year personal health journey, and the countless hours I spent studying to become a personal trainer, yoga instructor, nutritional therapist & Reiki practitioner. Because of my experiences, I was ready to help more women in their 30's create a lives filled with vibrant wellbeing. I wanted to share the message that
Vibrant wellness isn’t a myth..
It’s a multidimensional craft.
Wise Woman Wisdom, my five month, 1:1 coaching container was born.
My why behind Wise Woman Wisdom is two-fold:
To honor all of the women that came before me who utilized natural healing modalities & conscious practices even when they were silenced.
To help the women of today step into vibrant wellbeing by crafting their unique routines so that they can live fully, express their souls’ purpose and age gracefully without any limitations getting in their way.
Credentials
Nutritional Therapy Practitioner - Nutritional Therapy Association
NASM Certified Personal Trainer
NASM Certified Group Fitness Instructor
Yoga Alliance - Registered 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification
Reiki Level 1 Certification
Yoga & Mindfulness for Individuals with ADHD Certification
SUNY Albany Bachelor of Arts - American History
Pace University Master of Science in Teaching - Inclusive Adolescent Education
Pace University Master of Science in Education - Advanced Literacies
NYS Social Studies grades 7-12 Certification
NYS Students with Disabilities grades 7-12 Certification
NYS Students with Disabilities Social Studies grades 7-12 Certification
NYS Literacy grades 5-12 Certification
Cornell University - Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Specialist Certification
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When you & I engage in this process through the lens of curiosity, all of potential paths for achieving your identified goals remain available. Keeping all doors open is key!
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The body and mind can be unpredictable. Slight setbacks should be met with flexibility as we evaluate new challenges in our weekly sessions & recalibrate recommendations.
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You know yourself best. Learning to listen to your intuitive voice inside as a guidance system is invaluable as we work together to develop a realistic and impactful coaching program.
Values
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We can count on one another to be committed for the entirety of the coaching container.
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The coaching process is the most effective when you show up as your true, authentic self. Be you, always.
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Helping women come into balance with the natural cycles of their body is my dream job. I promise, a few weeks into coaching, you will be just as excited when you begin to experience positive changes taking place in your life.
Disclaimers
I do not treat medical diagnoses. My services are not a replacement for the care of a doctor.
Having a clearly defined medical diagnosis is not a prerequisite for working with me, but if you are seeing a healthcare provider for any of your diagnoses, our work together will support the care you are already receiving.
Finally, coaching is a dynamic process that works best when both the client and the practitioner are 100% committed process.
