Intro to Happy Healthy with Hadlee

Hi, I'm Hadlee Garrison of Happy Healthy with Hadlee. I'm a health coach and lifestyle change guide who helps people feel better in their bodies, become more confident in themselves, have a better relationship with food and their bodies, and become less stressed and more joyful in their day-to-day lives. I come from the world of academia, graduating from University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience, and then a Master's in Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education. So while I was in school, I recognized that behavioral research and evidence was really, really fascinating to me and really, really important to me. But I also realized that I didn't want to conduct it as much as I wanted to use it to help people actually create tangible change in their lives. So I saw that there was this disconnect between behaviors I wanted to be doing and me actually doing them. And I also saw that the same was the case for behaviors I didn't want to be doing and the fact that I was doing them. And the more that I talked to people about this, the more I realized that almost everyone was in the same boat as me. So, in fact, as I talked to people about their own struggles in wellness, I found that most people were really frustrated with themselves and their own efforts in health. I found that most people really wanted to take control of their wellness and lifestyle, but they ultimately would kind of fall off the wagon, give up until motivation kind of kicked them back into gear, and then they were, They kind of went back into that cycle again. So they had these really, really big plans for themselves. They would gear up for it. And then a couple of weeks later, or maybe days later, they would kind of fall off and say, well, it didn't work out, so I can't really do it. I also found that the struggle with health was closely tied with people's, and especially women's, relationship with food, with their bodies, and with their self-worth. So this is something that I totally experienced when I was a kid and when I was in high school and in college. While I was health conscious throughout my childhood and beyond, my concept of health was really, really wrapped up in my body image, and that negatively impacted my relationship with food, which resulted in restriction, binging, emotional eating, those kinds of things throughout my high school and college years. So I had really, I had thought some people dealt with this, but I thought that I was pretty alone in that until I realized that almost every woman I later talked to had a version of her own food struggle story, and I found that that was incredibly, incredibly common. So it was while I was studying this intersection of health behaviors, body image, and food that I interned for a company called YogaHealer. So I started writing the show notes for their podcast, and they had an online group program called Body Thrive that helped its participants incorporate health habits to live a better life. So as part of that internship of me writing the show notes for their podcast, I got to be in that program, and it totally changed my life. Totally changed how I saw my health, all of my behaviors. It changed my habits. It really beautifully blended some really cutting-edge behavioral science research with habits that are essential for the healthiest possible body and the healthiest possible mind. And it came— these behavior changes came from the holistic science of Ayurveda, which is an ancient Indian health science that means science of life. And basically, it took those habits of that science of Ayurveda, which provided kind of a path to a more sustainable and intuitive relationship with our bodies and with food and appreciation for, for those things, and it blended it with Western science and the proven methodologies of Western behavioral science. So I was totally hooked. This is This is kind of what I had been wanting to help people be able to actually do, and I had then gone through that, that shift that I could now help other people through. So I became certified as a yoga health coach, and now I have my own online group program called Happy Healthy Habits, which is based on that original Body Thrive course. So I help people who feel frustrated that they can't gain control over their well-being. They can't gain control over their, you know, their day-to-day lives. I help people who are kind of struggling to manage their time, their health, their relationships with food, their stress, their confidence. I help people build respect for their bodies and cultivate more body intuition. I help them acknowledge what their bodies need at any given time instead of relying on any sort of external or prescriptive rules on what to eat, how to move, how to be present, how to do all of these things. So In this world where we're kind of inundated with information, where there are distractions everywhere, where our work demands follow us everywhere we go because we have this little phone that comes with us, or watch that comes with us everywhere we go. I help people create more ease in their lives. I help them cultivate the habits so that they can actually feel grounded in them and then also have the freedom to do all the things they actually want to be doing instead of being slaves to their technology or to their work or to their family or to whatever else they feel like is Controlling them instead of having that autonomy for themselves. So basically, I help people create the life they actually want to be living. If you're at all interested in working with me, or if you just want to talk about and gain some clarity on your own health and wellness goals, I do offer 30-minute strategy sessions to help you explore where you are on your, your own health and wellness journey, where you want to go next, you know, the next steps to kind of get there. It's totally free. It's a great way to get to know each other better, even if you don't want to continue in a formal health coaching program. A lot of people come away from these sessions with a new understanding of what needs to shift in their lives. And so I really want to be able to help everyone and anyone do that, regardless of whether they decide to do my program or not. So if you do want to talk with me further, we can also talk about how that, how that might go in a strategy session, how it might go to work with me in the future. So if you're— if you are interested in that, I do make sure to take special care to determine whether your goals that you tell me about in that session align with what my program provides. I don't just take everyone into my group, and I want to make sure that it's not only going to work for you, but that you'll also be a good addition to the rest of the group in my Happy Healthy Habits program. I'm very particular about making sure that everyone is a really, really good fit, and I want to make sure that you are as well. So definitely sign up if you are at all interested in gaining a little bit more clarity on your health and life goals, and I look forward to talking to you soon. Thanks.