Before afternoon coffee, Kimberly May had written a poem, traded a healing session with a friend (Pranic for her, Havening for him), and counseled clients on how to find their inner fire.
Years ago, this certified life and wellness coach, and owner of Inspire Wellness, would never have imagined these items on her daily agenda — a drastic shift from her former life in the corporate world.
“I went from fast food to wellness,” she says with a chuckle, describing her days at Papa John’s Pizza. “I was using all my life’s energy to get people to eat cheese and dough. I was stressed and overwhelmed and out of balance. It took a terrible car crash for me to begin my own healing journey,” she explains.
A few months into her marriage in 1991, Kimberly was trapped inside her crashed vehicle and broke both her arm and leg. Even then, she had trouble slowing down. “I remember calling my boss and telling him I was ready to return to work on a walker. I was a headhunter —you can’t do that!”
Yet this event led her down the path to her current passion: inspiring others. “I wanted to feel happier and follow my heart. I wanted to help other people, so I quit my job and enrolled in a certification program for life and wellness coaches.”
Seventeen years and countless certifications later, Kimberly has built a business on “igniting the fire within” so that her clients can find their soul’s purpose. She consults with businesses to help employees cope with change and trains educators and children on how to lower emotional stress and gain inner focus using the HeartMath method. She hosts workshops on health, emotional eating, and gardening. Her business, Inspire Wellness, is an integrative model holistic health center that works in collaboration with therapists, nurse practitioners, massage therapists, and other healers to meet the whole mind, body, and spirit approach to wellness.
Her latest endeavor is to become a certified practitioner of Havening — a research-based alternative therapy based in neuroscience that helps patients deal with trauma, fear, and anxiety. Havening uses touch and talk-therapy to reroute traumatic memories from the amygdala (the fear center of the brain’s limbic system), thus eliminating the fear from the traumatic memories.
“I noticed my clients would get so far in their treatment and then they’d get stuck. It always seemed to be a thought or a memory that blocked them from moving forward, from achieving their purpose.” Kimberly recalls feeling stuck in her own fear, triggered from being trapped within her vehicle, where she had to be removed with the Jaws of Life. This memory spawned a phobia of closed spaces and being trapped, but Havening therapy has helped her move beyond this fear.
In order to be the light that helps others find their way from dark places, Kimberly surrounds herself with positivity. She avoids the news and practices the art of self-expression. She is working on a book (with the working title The Cosmic 2x4) about her life-changing accident, reads an average of five books at a time, and frequently writes poetry.
“It’s my job. People come to me to be uplifted and inspired, so that’s what I have to do. I spend all my time researching and immersing myself in inspirational topics. I read inspiration, I listen to it, I watch it, and I live it. I love it. It’s my purpose!”
So what’s inspiring Kimberly these days?
Reading
 |
| Photos by Melissa Donald |
- Kimberly’s favorite: The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope. “I’m a book junkie. Everywhere I go I carry books, but I tell everyone about this one!” Summary: Author Stephen Cope goes on a quest for dharma, or your life’s purpose the only way, Cope says, to have a fulfilling life. Along the journey, he highlights Western luminaries such as Jane Goodall, Walt Whitman, and Harriet Tubman, who all shared the inner dharma despite the astronomical obstacles obstructing their path.
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book helped Kimberly see the magic in self-expression, so she now writes poetry as part of her routine. Summary: From the author of Eat, Pray, Love, this acclaimed book is divided into six sections including Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, and Divinity. Through these sections, Gilbert encourages readers to live creatively by living a life that is guided by curiosity, not fear.
- The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Summary: Marie Kondo takes readers through her Japanese cleaning method that emphasizes decluttering, simplifying, organization, and storage. This is a step-by-step guide on how to rid clutter forever, focused on only holding onto items that “spark joy” and liberating those that don’t.
Watching
“I google ‘uplifting shows’ to find inspirational media. Right now I’m into Kindness Diaries, which is about a man who travels the world on his motorbike relying on the compassion of strangers. They offer him places to stay, a seat on a bench, and he pays them back with special gifts at the end.”
Listening to
To become inspired on the go, Kimberly listens to Hay House Radio: Radio for your soul. This online, live-stream radio station offers podcasts on topics meant to inspire and uplift. Search topics such as affirmation, angels, prosperity, and relationships. Free live streaming at: Hay House Radio.
Great to see this article on Kimberly!
ReplyDelete