The creation of nela wellness

How this whole journey started. If you know me, you know holistic health has been a major part of my life for years, before I even knew it. It really started back in high school when I went to my first ever yoga class (initially just for an injury from track and field) but there was something else that clicked for me in that class. There was this peaceful feeling I got when it was just me and my breath on that yoga mat. The mind body connection. Ever since that first class, yoga became an important part of my life, for stress management mostly. I always tried to incorporate it into my life although in college when running D1 track and cross country, life happened and I moved away from that connection. I became extremely focused on my running and my goal times and that’s when I started to have an unhealthy relationship with food (will elaborate on this more another time) and ultimately with myself.

College was overall an extremely challenging time for me health wise. I started freshman year with Mono and by junior year I was having extreme bloating, cramps, and fatigue that had me seeing doctor after doctor, desperate for an answer to what was going on. I’ll never forget a doctor mentioning that it was probably just depression but at that time I knew there was something else going on with my body. You know your body best. I decided to see a holistic health doctor in Philadelphia who was the first doctor who made me feel as though he really cared about finding a solution. After ordering multiple tests, he suggested I cut out gluten and dairy from my diet and I went on digestive enzymes to reset my system. After 2-3 months of that I remember feeling like a new person. People would often ask me how I had the discipline to cut out gluten and dairy that quickly but when you know how bad something can make you feel, there was no question that that’s what I had to do. So I cut out what was causing inflammation in my body for the summer but that was going into my senior year of college so a lot of drinking still happened (and at that point there was no thought of cutting back because well, college..). I started to step back from running though and would run to Bikram yoga classes instead whenever I had the chance. I always went back to yoga no matter how often I strayed away from it.

Towards the end of high school and through college I never had a normal period. I would have a period maybe 2-3 x a year and would become anemic because of how heavy it was. In college, I remember we would get our body fat tested at times and I would get “tips on snacks” when they found out I wasn’t getting a period, thinking it was due to not eating enough. At the time I figured that was probably the case so I didn’t look into it being any further hormonal issue (and at the time, I was not about to eat more). I did try birth control a couple times but hated how it made me feel so stopped almost instantly (what not to do..)

After college I went to Sri Lanka for a couple months and then moved to Denver for nursing school. The stress from nursing school and my hormones being all over the place, I was the lowest I have ever been in my life mentally. My eating (or non eating) was the only way I knew how to deal with stressful times and over exercising. I was not taking care of myself and I knew I needed help but I also was not at a place to speak up about it. I was not in a healthy head space but thanks to yoga teacher training for saving me right after school. I did end up getting a herniated disc in my back from overexercising at the time and now when looking back, it’s not surprising. It’s so true how our body gives us signs when something is off balance. I’ve come to learn that those signs you really need to pay attention to.

Throughout all of my life transitions, whenever the stress would increase, my periods would get worse, my anxiety and depressive feelings would creep up, I started to have migraines, I would have to call out sick from work because I was dealing with such pain and nausea and all the while trying to balance showing up as a strong, positive person to the outside world and being there for all my friends and family. And moving around a lot, it was always a new gynecologist I was going to.

Fast foward, I moved to NYC. My absolute dream since I was young. I remember I used to see the skyline when we’d visit and think, I need to live here one day. New York has been amazing but my gosh, stressful. Especially when you’re trying to find yourself in the big apple. It will test you but ultimately, this is the city where I have found myself.

I’ll never forget one day I was hunched over on the floor with cramps wondering how I was going into work. I decided that day I had to find a gynecologist in New York to see what was going on with my body. At that point I had tried an IUD already and when the gynecologist took an ultrasound and heard about my symptoms she asked if I’d ever been told that I have PCOS and Endometriosis. I hadn't… I went right home and did all the research and when reading the symptoms I was in shock how no-one had ever mentioned this to me before. My symptoms were straight from the text book. I don’t know how I hadn’t thought of that before either but I hadn’t taken the time to get to know my body and really understand the underlying reason to the symptoms.

I was sent a referral to see a surgeon about having a laparoscopy for the Endometriosis and to have a second IUD placed, a different one to see if it would be any better. I went along with that at the time but decided against the surgery.

After doing all my research, and becoming more and more plant based just because I’d realized it made me feel my best, it wasn’t until 2020 when we were all forced to slow our lives down that I decided to experiment going 3-4 months completely plant based, meditate every morning, and cut out alcohol. I woke up every morning and went on a morning walk, I meditated and drank my celery juice. Consistency was key. I didn’t get on a scale that whole time because my point wasn’t to lose weight; I just wanted to see if I could truly figure out my health now that I had the time and space. I got to know myself in a way that I never had before.

I ended up clearing my cystic acne, reversing my PCOS symptoms, felt lighter than I had felt in a long time, I started going to acupuncture when things opened up again because I read that that could help hormone imbalances, and I ended up losing 15 pounds and felt better than I had in my adult life. I realized how much anxiety I had been holding in and how much nature helps to calm me. How prioritizing self care is so important.

While I know that cutting things out completely isn’t the way I always want to live, I have found balance through it all and I now know when I do need to take a month here and there without drinking or if I crave a piece of meat I’ll let myself have it or go out with friends. But I try to stick to the consistency while listening to what my body needs. I wake up most mornings and drink lemon water with my probiotics before I meditate. I journal and go on the morning walk or run. But overall, that time in 2020 was what made me realize how we all deal with so much stress in this modern world but when we put in the time to connect with ourselves, we’re able to show up in our relationships with ourselves and with others in such a different way. More grounded. More present. Giving ourselves extra compassion when we need it most. Setting those boundaries. And overall more in tune with what we need in each moment to deal with life’s ups and downs which we all know will happen. Change is the only constant and while knowing how low I have gotten mentally at times in my past and the unhealthy relationship I had with myself and with food, this is why I’m so committed to doing the work and putting in the time to show up for myself every single day to not ever go back to that place.

Ever since that time in 2020, I haven’t had the painful periods, I haven’t dealt with the intense ups and downs, and I’ve stayed committed to doing the work. And this is why I feel so passionate about helping other women who can relate and who are going through similar hormonal imbalances. While so many of us trust the doctors who tell us that medication is the only way (and sometimes that is needed alongside the holistic tools) but I can say that I turned away from all the medications that doctors tried to start me on throughout this journey, and I could not be happier now that I did. Now that I have the stress management tools for myself. I don’t have an IUD anymore, I’m consistent with acupuncture and I know myself better than I ever have. And because of this long journey to get to this point, Nela Wellness was created to hopefully help someone out there who is going through any hormonal imbalances.

Namaste,

Lena