Team

At the age of eight, my journey to wellness started with pretty chronic un-wellness. I was diagnosed with a skin condition called psoriasis and of course at that age I, nor any of my family members, had no idea about the body’s response to lifestyle, and autoimmunity and it’s role in our overall health and wellbeing. What followed was endless doctors visits, specialists,  pouring through health food shops trying to find the right ingredients to treat my dry, splitting, itchy skin patches; daily tar and oil treatments…. dealing with the sledge-hammer subtlety of school yard curiosity and constant questions – what’s wrong with your skin?

As twenty years of living with a painful, at times isolating, and expensive condition went by, my health care professionals back then only ever sought to treat the symptoms of my condition, no-one ever tried look for the cause of what was happening to me and making me pretty miserable. I began researching the causes of common chronic illnesses, including inflammatory skin conditions. It was through this research that I came across some studies on the “Leaky Gut” and the wonderful world of fermented foods and the key role they play in treating digestive conditions (the cause of my skin disorder) by building healthy gut flora.

I’ve learned that by addressing my autoimmune disorder through rebalancing the good bacteria (flora) in my gut, after 25 years I have been able to reverse my psoriasis and begin to feel great. The solution was so simple – and was also something I could integrate into my home and life!

How did this convert to my work and For Life Retreats? After completing a Bachelor Of Business in Marketing, I have spent more than ten years building a successful marketing and events consultancy business, and because of my health history, I found I was naturally inclined to taking work and clients in the lifestyle, health and wellbeing sectors. I took some amazing opportunities and was fortunate to complete a work experience program at The Golden Door  at both of their locations – the catalyst for my desires to lead in this industry.  My recreation time is mostly spent with nutrition and wellness in mind.

With my experience of developing a curative approach for treating my condition with fermented foods and strong gut flora, I began developing my knowledge in ways that would benefit others. I became an accredited Health & Wellness Coach through the School of Integrative Nutrition and took my natural focus for digestive health into the development of a retreat-based program designed to create an atmosphere of empowered learning, sustainable nutrition (using delicious, local, organic, produce), and diverse movement and activity.

As a guest at For Life Retreats you will walk away from our retreats with the tools to transfer to your daily life. I’m so thankful to be sharing this journey with you.

 www.enkompass.com.au 

From an early age wholefoods just made sense to me. Walking the aisles of bulk organics stores was my happy place. It was no surprise that my first jobs were cooking in vegetarian cafes and organic stores in Fremantle in Western Australia –my journey in food grew and meandered around the country and globe from there.

To date I have acquired two culinary qualifications, training in New York at The Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, as well as holding certification as a qualified chef in Australia. I also hold Bachelor of Business, an adult education teaching qualification, and for the founding years of the school, worked as a teacher and joint co-ordinator of The Whole and Natural Foods Chef Training Program in Perth with Wholefoods educator and author Jude Blereau.

I have seen many food fads and paradigms rise and fall in this time, and I have witnessed our growing confusion about what is good and wholesome and right to put in our bodies. My food journey has led me to look back at our ancestral wisdoms – at how our grandparents and great grandparents lived and ate, and at how we can draw on the knowledge of the past to literally feed ourselves in the future.

It is my belief, where we once learned our food wisdoms at home, we have, to a large extent lost access to the learnings that used to occur at the hearth, from our mothers and grandmothers. Many factors have combined to create a highly undereducated and ignorant food culture in the west that is bombarded with confusing and contradictory media messages.

It is my sincere privilege to be able to share the food wisdoms and culinary techniques that I have learned through the years in my classes at Artisan Wholefoods, and empower people with the knowledge to prepare and cook wholesome food from scratch. In the world that we live in, this is indeed a radical act of independence.

I wholeheartedly look forward to sharing my skills and knowledge as a workshop facilitator and caterer with For Life Retreats.

www.artisanwholefoods.com.au

Taking control of my health was a huge step forward for me, and being misdiagnosed with ADHD when I was in Grade 9 of high school was the turning point in my life and my career path. It was believed that ADHD was the cause of my ongoing health and energy issues, yet my Mum had her doubts and persevered until it was actually discovered that I had hyperglycemia and not ADHD at all. With this correct diagnosis, it was clear to me that I had to be more vigilant about keeping my health at its best in order to sustain balanced insulin levels. This journey, and purposeful attention to my wellbeing made something click in me and as the years went on, I knew I couldn’t do anything but get into the health and fitness industry.

I have twenty years experience as a personal and performance trainer and I have had the tremendous fortune to have been at the coal-face of dietary policy development having worked for two years with the Australian Sports Commission in their drafting of guidelines to tackle childhood obesity. I have furthered my passion for leading the way for personal trainers in my role as National Training Manager at Vision Personal Training, where I now own a PT gym.

I have loved meeting so many wonderful clients through my role in their life as a personal trainer. I believe I help their new lives to take shape. I work hard alongside the people in my care who struggle with their body, with movement, fitness and what they eat. I am committed to tackling obesity, particularly in children, and mostly I’m passionate about leading people to their full potential and their best sense of personal, mental and physical self.

For Life Retreats gives me an opportunity to show how to connect women with their bodies’ natural abilities and inner strength. I teach them that activity can be a fundamental and enjoyable part of every day, and that they can take their whole family or support network with them to achieve wonderful, healthful outcomes for everyone. I can’t wait to get moving!

 www.visionpt.com.au/studios/randwick

“By eating consciously, with full heart and deep presence, you nourish yourself and all of your inner and outer connections.”

After 20 years of work in the medical field (Diagnostic Medical Imaging), I decided working as a Natural Health Practitioner was more where my passion lay. Thus, I went on to study Remedial Therapy and then Nutrition, Naturopathy and Medical Herbalism and have been running my own successful clinic since 1992.

In my practice I aim to educate, empower and assist in the patient’s wellness. By gaining insight to the underlying cause of imbalances I direct my analysis and thus treatment to return homeostasis to the body.

My passion is to use food as medicine to heal from the inside, at a causal level.

My work and research has focused on gut health, detoxing the whole body, weight management and adrenal fatigue. Working on mindfulness and having a true understanding of how thoughts effect digestion which then effects absorption and nourishing soul as well as body.

Having worked at many multi-disciplinary clinics and at many retreats I have seen a lot of varying conditions, a lack of true understanding and confusion with the plethora of information available.

By working with For Life Retreats, I hope to give you a clear concise understanding of your unique health status and steps you can follow to heal yourself in real time in the real world.

www.sallypattison.com.au

Hi Ladies, my name is Susan Garrad. I am a qualified Naturopath (B. Nat, B.A. MNHAA), Nutritionist and Herbalist with more than eight years clinical experience. My passion is improving the health and wellbeing of women. My philosophy is to treat every woman individually and take the time to understand who you are in order to gain a clear understanding of your health problems.

I hold a Bachelor of Naturopathy having completed a four-year degree from Southern Cross University, Australia’s most respected and rigorous qualification for naturopaths. I have also  studied in the USA at the prestigious Bastyr University where I learnt the latest in natural medicine treatment. I am also a regular newspaper columnist and blogger as well as a corporate trainer and speaker delivering wellness seminars to workplaces around Australia.

Using the combined wisdom of natural medicine with the most up-to-date medical information I  provide professional, comprehensive healthcare to support you at every stage of your life.

In my consultations I use the highest standard of natural therapies and traditional medicine based on the latest research and information to help you achieve effective, long lasting results. Life is too short to spend it being ruled by your hormones, feeling tired & fatigued and struggling with your digestion.

I’m very much looking forward to connecting with you at For Life Retreats.

www.womenshealthnaturally.com.au

By the age of 32, I had carved myself out the life I had always imagined would equate to my “Success Status”, all the money that I needed and, ultimately, my happiness. I had become a successful fashion buyer and designer, flying around the world and making a comfortable living. Perfect, right?

This life, I soon realised, was burning me into the ground – I had a tonne of competing work deadlines, blurring lines between a work and social life that revolved around too much alcohol, caffeine, a canapé-based diet and not enough sleep. I was being pulled in so many directions. I would compensate for the emptiness this brought to me through a spending addiction. I was filling my life with ‘stuff’ simply because I thought it would tick the boxes. I was terribly unfulfilled.

When it all became a bit too much, a friend introduced me to a Kinesiologist – and a method of treatment that was completely foreign to me. But, hey, something had to give…. I really had tried everything else I thought could work.

Through Kinesiology, I learned to clear my old thought patterns about success and the role of money in my life. Kinesiology tuned me into what I actually wanted and what I needed in my life at that time. After only a few treatments, I sensed a deeper happiness in myself that ‘stuff’ just couldn’t replicate. I was in control of my life – a life that I truly wanted, full of goals, and reaching my full potential. I was so inspired by the change Kinesiology invoked in me that I knew I had actually found the path I had always needed to follow.

Today, I know kinesiology has guided me to the things I always wanted – a safe and comfortable home, a wonderful – and successful – Kinesiology practice in Byron Bay. It’s success resides in the actualisation that it allows me to balance life’s needs of purposeful work with the things that sustain me outside of work.

My clients come to me because I show them how to clear the unnecessary elements of life and focus on the things that matter to their inner selves. Life actually isn’t meant to be a struggle. Life is meant to be fulfilling, fun, healthful and uplifting – full of energy and vitality. I impart this on my clients because it is how I live my life now and it is something I was born to share. My goal as a Kinesiologist is to bring my clients a sense of purpose, of making every day count, and approaching their goals with focus and attention, but with joy and happiness in their heart. I cannot wait to explore this in the For Life Retreat setting.

www.tarashieldskinesiology.com

“Life is a journey of adventure and trust.”

Hi – i’m Hayley Carr! I’m a 9-time World Champion Karateka from the beaches of Australia, carving out a delicious path of self discovery and unique experiences on a daily basis. 

I was diagnosed with chronic Illness and after spending almost 3 years in bed, i was able to heal myself and return to sport to win my ninth world title at age 26.

I believe that learning to break the rules we have laid down and trusting in yourself with your own life is the biggest gift you can ever give yourself.

My most passionate project is helping people unlock their true nature and purpose, harness their natural intelligence & intuition, and create life deliberately through teaching her unique life distinctions.

Find out Hayley’s tips on how to reduce and manage stress in your life via our For Lifer Blog here.

www.hayleycarr.tv

I was first introduced to yoga in 1996. After experiencing my first class and the high that accompanied it, i started on a yogic path of discovery, initially under the guidance of Simon Borg-Olivier and Shandor Remete.

After travels to India and Burma in 2000-2001, where i spent time at the Sivananda Ashram as well as investigating the meditation path through multiple Vipassana retreats, i found that the heart of yoga was the balance between the sthira and sukha of the practice – the balance between the spiritual and physical.

In 2001, i undertook a three (3) year one-on-one teacher training apprenticeship with Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss of Yoga Synergy, one of the few yoga schools in Australia still instructing in this traditional way. It was then that i taught full-time as a senior teacher for Yoga Synergy until 2008, during which time i continued to self-study and attend intensive retreats with Clive Sheridan, with whom i continues to study to this day.

From 2008-2011 i also taught with Matthew Bergan at Dancing Warrior Yoga in St Peters and extensively at Body Mind Life in Rozelle. My classes are a strong flowing style of asana; with a focus on grace of movement, alignment for flow of prana and control of the breath in order to find the full potential of the practice.

I relocated to Byron Bay in early 2012 and bring a genuine love of Yoga in all its forms as well as a desire to share this passion with others.

Hi everyone, I’m Amanda, the resident ‘wordie’. I am a copywriting and content development specialist with more than nine years experience in creative writing, digital and hard copy content, developing and deploying media strategies, bid, tender and policy research and writing, and a full range of editorial services.

I believe that identifying and developing strong, clear and consistent messages are the key to successfully engaging your passion and purpose, and that of the people and organisations you interact with. As Director of watsonwords, my work has supported an extremely broad range of clientele and I am a regular contributor and editor to a number of publications and online resources both for education and personal interest subjects. I admit that I favour editorial, however really I love contributing to all aspects of written work that supports my client’s message.

Words are a powerful therapy and I use a few moments of each day journalling my experiences, however small or seemingly unimportant. I encourage everyone to give it a go – it is so rewarding and much simpler than it seems.

When I am blessed with spare time, you’ll find me reading mystery novels, anything with a bit of intrigue. I’m inspired by the works of Hilary Mantel, James Ellroy, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I get a lot out of Mark Epstein’s teachings and of course where would I be without Jane Austen. Audiobooks and podcasts are my salvation when faced with the me-time-poverty of raising two little men and running a business.

Teaming up with the For Life Family has given me immense opportunities to access and document the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills being curated for the benefit of women who maybe, like me, have been struggling with digestive ‘unwellness’ that has lead to a multitude of related health issues. I’m excited to learn more, so I’ll see you on retreat. I hope we can share some quiet moments with our pens to reflect on this incredible opportunity!

www.watsonwords.com