Lauren Vaknine is a health and life coach, wellness educator, speaker, podcast host and intuitive alchemist, using the experience she gained during her 3-decade long journey from disability to remission, to help women to heal, step into their purpose and transform their lives. She does this through workshops, private coaching and her hugely popular Recondition Your Life Academy, by using a range of holistic healing arts in a unique, whole-person approach that incorporates tools such as inner child & Divine Feminine healing, trauma release, reprogramming limiting beliefs, the science of manifestation, spiritual development, purpose coaching and so much more. This approach enables Lauren to take her clients on a journey from existing to living a life of purpose, intention, self-mastery and fulfillment. You can find Lauren on Instagram @laurenvaknine, her podcast, Reconditioned with Lauren Vaknine – which is quickly edging up the iTunes charts, and has had guests such as Jay Shetty, Dr Shefali Tsabary, Jim Fortin, Shaman Durek, Kate Northrup, Jon Gordon and many others – as well as her website www.laurenvakninecoaching.com and her blog www.laurenvaknine.co.uk where she shares healthy living tips and recipes
What do you do?
What I do is often hard to nail down in an elevator pitch and requires a bit of backstory! I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis before my second birthday and was wheelchair-bound by 18. At that point, I decided that disability wouldn’t be my story, remission would be. So, I started teaching myself everything I could about what makes the human body and mind work and not work. I immersed myself in self-study for over a decade, eventually going into remission in 2013 (though of course being very healthy in the lead-up to full remission for a good few years before). What I realised in my journey from disability to remission, was that we cannot heal using a linear approach. The ability to heal is a result of complete physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing – a holistic approach. I used a range of holistic healing modalities including homeopathy and other treatments whereby the body learns to heal from the root cause, and qualified in a bunch of others, such as life coaching, NLP, CBT, EFT, nutrition and Divine Feminine Healing. So, I now present myself as a health and life coach, health writer and speaker, podcast host and intuitive healer. Because my approach is very unique – as it incorporates all aspects of self and uses a whole-person approach – the people who approach me range from CEOs wanting to improve performance and stay-at-home mums who want to find their purpose, to people suffering from dis-ease and women wanting to love themselves more. My passion is really helping women to heal and find their purpose.
How do you think someone can find their fulfillment?
The answer to that is simple. We cannot ever be fully in our purpose until we KNOW OURSELVES. Knowing who you authentically are – IE who you were when you came into this world before conditioning, trauma and labels took you out of your authenticity – is what leads to true, internal happiness and fulfillment.
How important is a collaboration with other individuals and organisations?
Oh my goodness, I cannot stress enough how important this is to me, and generally for anyone in business. Firstly, I’m a huge proponent of women working together to help build each other’s businesses, to encourage, support, motivate and promote one another. Energetically, this puts us in a better space to manifest, because the Universe enjoys when we are generous and living from gratitude: this is us operating from a place of ABUNDANCE, not scarcity, which is what jealousy is. For me, some of the most exciting things I’ve done have come about as a result of collaborations, and I’ve made incredible friends because of it too!
When it comes to running a business, how do you decide which route to take?
Interesting question because there are so many facets to it. I teach a lot about Feminine and Masculine energies and how we harness them to operate optimally. Business and money are Masculine energies, and intuition is the Feminine. So, I try to balance them out in business. I look at all the facts, data, statistics and generally pragmatism first, then check in with my intuition to see if it feels right. That’s the balance aspect I use to make all decisions. I also have the most INCREDIBLE PA (shout out to Kim), who is more like a business integrator and makes sure I have brilliant systems in place that make everything run smoothly. Essential for time-optimisation.
What would you say to other individuals who want to help their loved ones going through difficult times?
That no one modality works in isolation. Whether your “healing” is healing from a negative money mindset, disease, self-worth issues, trauma or anything else, that isn’t the only issue. We are whole beings; cosmic beings having a human experience, therefore our healing requires a complete, whole-person approach that goes into everything from inner child healing, shadow work, ancestral healing, spiritual practice, brain training, health optimisation and so much more. This is why what I do is unique because it is individualised and takes a holistic approach to life.
How are you changing the world?
Gosh, I hope I’m perhaps doing my part. My passion is to help women step into their worth, to heal from any trauma holding them back and learn how to love themselves fully and deeply. When all women operate from this space, imagine how beautiful a place the world could be. Generally inspiring people to heal anything from the root cause instead of using a band-aid approach is my jam. I’m also very passionate in my activism for free choice in healthcare, healthcare reforms, and teaching people how to educate themselves to be the healthiest they can be and turn within for health and happiness before looking elsewhere for it.
To what do you attribute your success?
Failure! Had I not been disabled – and as sick as I was – I would not have been pushed to work as hard as I did to heal, and therefore be in a position to help others do the same. If I just “had arthritis a bit” and it was uncomfortable but not life-altering, I would probably still be living in that No Man’s Land of “fine”. “Failure” is the best thing that can happen to a person. It’s the only thing that really teaches us. The things I had to sacrifice taught me a lot. Having children, I could see the negative in how little time there is for everything, or I could see it as having to learn how to manage my time very efficiently and make a conscious decision to be very present in both motherhood and work. Also, mentors. I have some incredible mentors who have taught and inspired me so much. I think every entrepreneur needs a mentor.
Which is the one piece of advice that has impacted you the most?
I work with a very powerful South American shaman. He has taught me MANY, MANY profound lessons, but the two that always stick out (sorry, you asked for 1!) are: 1. you have to get comfortable with the discomfort. The most exponential growth happens after you have pushed yourself past your comfort zone into doing something you really didn’t want to do (caveat: something that is within your mission and purpose, not just something you really really don’t want to do that doesn’t fit your authenticity at all). 2. Sit in the silence. The answers come in this place, not in the noise and not in the asking of questions. They come in the silence. So, I sit in the silence a lot and I dance a lot on my own!
How do you think modern women can be more fulfilled in their lives?
Again, know themselves. Work on their purpose. When you are operating from a place of purpose and authenticity, you become fulfilled. Also, stepping into your role as a Divine Feminine being and owning your sexuality. This was huge for me.
Tell us about your proudest achievement
I guess I’m expected to gush and say “My children!”. But I’m a radical non-conformist so I’m going to take this somewhere else … My proudest achievement is and will always be how I took myself from being head-to-toe disabled, to being fully able-bodied and therefore able to teach and inspire others that the impossible is possible.
I’m also pretty proud of my marriage; the inner work my husband and I have done to reach a place of sacred union
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