Hi Reader,
I never imagined that today, at the ripe age of 39, I would be so grateful to be me.
Eight years ago I was trying to find my way out of a life that felt increasingly like it was happening to me rather than being created by me. I faced addiction, depression, anxiety — and beneath all of it, an aching question I couldn't silence: is this really all there is?
That question drove me everywhere—therapy, a Master’s degree, anything that could explain why we hurt ourselves the way we do. And still…nothing fundamental changed.
This discovery of WEL-Systems® came at a time when I was about to give up. I was at rock bottom – using at work again, lying to my then-partner-now-husband, knowing that if I kept going, I would choose to die.
By all external accounts, my life was great. I had the job I worked toward, a kind partner, a home.
But internally, I was dying.
There’s something profoundly defeating about accomplishing everything you worked hard for … yet still feeling empty inside. Like your life feels like it belongs to anyone but you. Like your mind is working against you.
So when I found WEL-Systems, my body knew way before my mind caught up. Meeting Sheila Winter Wallace changed my life forever. I met her at a wellness fair at the lobby of StatsCan.
I remember standing there, watching this woman with white hair staring at her phone. Her table was plain, and everything on her display sheet was unfamiliar to me. I had no idea what any of it meant – but something about her drew me in. So I waited for her to look up.
Once she did, we spoke for two hours. We spoke about the body, about energy, and about what actually matters in life. By the end, Sheila invited me to her monthly Conversations that Heal. It was $20. But even then I wasn’t going to go. That’s how low my trust was. I couldn’t handle being disappointed again.
So instead I went to her daughter’s jewelry sale where I met another woman who invited me to join the conversations. Something about her sharing her truth drew me in, so I went. And – my heart beats as I type this – my life transformed forever. For the first time in my life, something didn’t just make sense, it landed.
It’s not like I didn’t understand what she communicated with me. I’d heard it all before – I was well studied and read, after all.
But what I didn’t know is exactly how all that I intellectually knew applied to me in my daily life, right here, right now. What I discovered about myself wasn’t just information – it was an experiential shift that pertained directly and specifically to me, my experience, my nervous system, in that moment. Turns out, THAT is what makes The Difference.
Plus the unusual format of the space – four hours, three women, no interruptions. No rushing. No dismissing. No hurrying. No performance. And no 55-minute hour.
This was the first time in my life where I could be the full measure of myself and tell the truth of my experience. And I witnessed other women doing the same. It wasn’t pretty. But it did dissipate the shame we each carried around the false belief that we are alone.
For someone like me, who has sought her whole life to live in and from truth, this was the Oxygen I had been waiting for. I was hooked.
Since then, I have gone on to create a magical life for myself; a life that belongs to me.
My home is peaceful. My husband is Present. My son is the Soul I knew I’d birth. My work enlivens me and keeps me in conversations that matter. I don’t know what work-life balance is, because my life is in flow.
I live in the quiet of the woods, and rejoice in the extreme weather polarities we experience here. As a refugee with the mindset of “fleeing” any discomfort, it feels grounding to know that I belong to this land. The nostalgia for my childhood home still exists, but I can tell the difference between what’s fantasy and what’s reality.
More than anything, this life has only happened because I discovered how to live by making aligned choices instead of defaulting to conditioning.
That’s a big claim. One I wouldn’t have trusted a few years ago. And I didn’t believe it until I lived it.
What I discovered in my journey didn’t just make sense – become how I live.
And over the next few emails, I will share more about it with you. You will have an option to opt-out, if you choose.
🎂 An invitation to celebrate with me!
For my birthday this year, I don't want to celebrate in the usual way. I want to be in conversation.
I'm opening a space to share more of my story — what I've lived, what I've learned, and what I see now that I couldn't see before. You can ask me anything. About the work, about my journey, about whether any of this is for you.
If that feels like somewhere you want to be, I'd love to have you there.
Sunday April 19th — 11 AM EST — Zoom
If you want to get a feel for this journey before Sunday, you can start here: