My journey

Welcome to Cohēlo Coaching. My name is Caroline. I’m a certified Health and Life Coach and certified Yoga Practitioner. Cohēlo Coaching is the culmination of a decade long journey focused on feeling well in every area of my human experience. My healing journey began in 2013. I was coming out of two abusive relationships back to back and showing signs of a severe substance abuse disorder. I hit what some might call a rock bottom. In this place of despair I started searching for answers to the questions, “How did I get here?” And “How do I get out?”. This lead me to reading books on spirituality and watching documentaries on the environment, alternative healing modalities, spirituality, trauma, and substance abuse. As I educated myself, I stopped binge drinking, I went vegan and I went back to school. I started going to power yoga classes and riding my bike everywhere I could. I started feeling like I had more control over my life. I kept building and strengthening habits that were focused on taking care of the body I’d once been determined to destroy. No matter what I did to change my lifestyle, I still struggled with severe digestive issues and symptoms of malnutrition. In 2017 I saw a doctor who said I was severely anemic and not absorbing iron. They said I had leaky gut as well. I was given gut repairing supplements. I was also put on an animal protein heavy diet and told to avoid inflammatory foods like wheat, eggs, and dairy. I felt so much better without these foods but I was still struggling to absorb nutrients. I also started showing symptoms of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. I was frustrated that after all these years of working on my wellbeing, my body wasn’t doing great. As more research was emerging about the gut-brain axis and vagus nerve gut health connection, I committed to working not just on my digestive system but on my nervous system too. I added in breath work, meditation, therapy, and kundalini yoga. I got completely sober and started taking supplements for my brain health. I eliminated anything inflammatory from my diet and started paying close attention to my sleep and my stress levels. Things improved but I still struggled with severe digestive issues. In 2020 I was finally diagnosed with Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency. The answer I needed. I had to start over with repairing my digestive system but with the digestive enzymes, the repair work stuck. With my digestion improving, I was better able to see my patterns that create a disregulated nervous system. I was able to see how stress caused digestive disruption. I continued my work on calming and regulating my nervous and limbic systems. I’ve finally reached a place where everything feels balanced most of the time and when it’s out of balance I know what to do. Here’s what I’ve taken away from my journey up to this point:

1. Get to the root of what’s going on. My pancreas not working was causing issues everywhere else. My unresolved traumas and substance abuse had taken their own toll on my body(especially my nervous system and digestive system).

2. Recover from the root. Enzymes and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy gave me a different foundation to heal from. They helped stabilize me so I could benefit from the work I was doing to heal.

3. The mind and body are deeply connected. What we THINK about the food we’re eating, the company we’re keeping and the things we’re doing matters even more than the reality of what we’re eating, who we’re influenced by and what we’re doing in our day to day lives. Those thoughts relay messages to every system in the body and the body reacts to those thoughts.

There was so much trial and error, half hearted attempts and low levels of commitment throughout my journey. I spent hundreds, maybe even thousands, of dollars I didn’t need to on things that didn’t help. I’m sharing what has worked for me in the hopes that it works for you too. My hope is that you won’t have to search, spend and struggle through the journey. Healing happened so quickly once I knew what was really going on. If you’ve been struggling to get your digestive system healthy and working properly, let’s connect. I’m here to help. Let’s get better, together.