The one constant is change.~ Heraclitus

As a woman and mother, I have been faced many times with choosing my hard…Getting clarity on big decisions is not easy, especially when you have multiple small people to consider. So how do you roll with the punches of life? How do you get peace and clarity to make big decisions? Well, it starts with recognizing this one little truth:

Hustle culture is a lie. A lie I willingly bought into as a young woman. 

Years ago, I willingly burned myself out participating in hustle culture. I worked 12+ hour days, most days of the week, and every second in between them I parented. There was literally no time off to be found. You could say I was a cult follower of the entrepreneur ethos of the day.

Let’s be honest though – hustle culture is still being shoved down our throats, every d*** day. In fact, it may even be worse. I adopted the “hustle” BEFORE the internet was born, and now, the cultural messages are EVERYWHERE. Ads on social media with coaches galore pushing their version of “make a million” if you only do “A-B-C” (and of course buy their expensive coaching program). Right?

But – let’s also be honest about this little fact – HARD WORK IS required to build anything meaningful.

From a decent marriage to a business to raising children – choose your hard (to borrow the words of Glennon Doyle) because it’s all hard. 

But I officially declare hustle culture to be a big lie. It never helped me, but here’s what did.

How I Got Clarity to Make Big Decisions

I come from a long line of solopreneurs. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and their parents – were all micro business owners. They worked hard, and it wasn’t glamorous or massively profitable. But it put food on the table and shoes on our feet.

I grew up seeing what kind of sacrifice it took to build a small business. I was all in to give it a go. I worked hard and gave birth to both my three babies and my business at the same time.

Being a start up business is not easy in the US as a mother.  Having our voice heard and heeded, as women, is statistically, far harder. There are so many other women struggling or who have struggled the same way.

I’m not sharing my story as a pity party. Rather, it’s a solidarity story. My story is a celebration of the family and business I was able to build in spite of the hurdles, and of all women who are doing the same.

Over time I got better at working smarter, not harder. But on teaching weeks and weekends – those working days consistently stretched to 12 hours because that’s what the job requires. 

Fast forward nearly 2 decades (my oldest turns 18 this year) – and this past summer I took my first sabbatical.

I know, it should not take that long. However parenting and budgets dictate how much we work in this country, which is too much, as you well know.

So what did this sabbatical bring? It brought the exact thing I meditated and prayed for: satori.

Read my post about how you can get the wisdom of sabbatical if you can’t take one right now.

What is satori and how does it factor into big decisions? 

Zen masters describe it as a flash of insight, in the words of Eckart Tolle, a moment of no-mind, and total presence.

But the thing about satori is it doesn’t last, it can be fleeting, if you don’t act on the wisdom it brings you.

This satori brought me exactly what I had gratefully asked God for before starting it. Clarity and a total mind-body-soul reset. 

 So in keeping with satori, I have an announcement to make! 

Birthing & Business: Choosing Your Hard Brings Clarity

Much like birth, creating a business requires transition. Transitions can be painful – but just like birth, they bring forth beautiful miraculous things.

So it’s with a LOT of emotions that I am joyfully announcing a massive shift at Living Well Institute.

As my firstborn child prepares to leave the nest next year, so will Living Well Institute. The certifications and all the continuing education courses I have passionately taught and administered for nearly 20 years have grown to the point where they are ready to leave the nest. The work will continue, but I will no longer be at the helm. 

This change is bittersweet, and absolutely necessary. 

For nearly 2 decades, I have raised my children and business at the same time –  alongside and literally inside live CEU courses I was teaching.

My students have always been just as important to me as my children – mentoring both at the same time was a joy and an honor. Now, I am over the moon to be watching my life’s work fly the nest and land in a new home! 

The need for this evolution has grown on me for years now, as I watch all the wonderful colleagues I have mentored and taught across the globe, become experts in their own right.

Now is the time.

How the Transition Will Work 

2024 will mark the end of Living Well Institute as a CEU provider, after over 2 decades in the CEU space. As the oldest therapeutic yoga certification for healthcare providers worldwide, I am proud of our teamwork, graduating more than 29 cohorts and training thousands of therapists.

My flagship Medical Therapeutic Yoga & Integrative Lifestyle Medicine Certifications, and all CEU coursework, will be moving to a new platform, with new management and leadership! 

I am excited to announce that you will have multiple places to find my courses and certifications, which will launch soon.

• Pelvic Global 
• Herman and Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute
• Embodia

Expressing my Gratitude 

We have always been woman-owned, woman-powered, and family run. We are the classic definition of a small family business.

So I want to take a moment to thank ALL the staff and employees that have worked at Living Well Institute over the years. 

I could not have accomplished what I have in bringing therapeutic yoga, and integrative and lifestyle medicine into PT and OT, and healthcare in general, without your bright minds and dedicated work. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.  

Next Steps: Welcoming You on the Journey

What is next? Well for starters…

New Podcast

I have launched a new podcast, a big dream of mine since 2017, this year. Watch the Season 2 Trailer on How to Create Safety for Women in Healthcare. This season is all about medical gaslighting – and how to stop it and advocate for better healthcare for women and all people who identify as female. I invite you to please give me a follow wherever you get your podcasts! Learn about my Living Well Podcast

I welcome your input & invites

Perhaps your organization would like me to teach, give a lecture, or do a podcast. I’m now a free agent, and happy to oblige! Please email our general inbox at info@gingergarner.com or info@integrativelifestylemed.com for inquiries. 

If you are Enrolled at Living Well Institute as a Healthcare Provider

Our provider status will continue until their natural expiration dates in 2024. After this time LWI will no longer be a PT and OT CEU provider. Instead, our new partnership will pick up the CEU torch.

We will be helping our final students matriculate. This includes those who have started the MTY and ILM Certifications and/or the Hip course. This will require everyone who wants CEU’s to finish their coursework no later than the dates listed above. For questions about finishing your coursework at LWI before the transition, please email KC Coninx at kc@gingergarner.com or kc@integrativelifestylemed.com.

If you are Enrolled at Living Well Institute taking Wellness Classes

Your classes will still be available to you as in the original terms. Nothing will change here. We will be creating new, exciting offerings and retreats!

Stay tuned and watch our newsletter – Sign up here to join our bimonthly newsletter, The Longevity Lab.

What You Can Do Now

Here are a few options for you!

I have written and been a part of editing and/or coauthoring multiple books and book chapters. They are all based in Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine, as well as therapeutic use of Yoga through Medical Therapeutic Yoga. I also continue to own, operate, and practice at Garner Pelvic Health.

You can invite me to:

• Teach, speak, or give lecture(s) at your university program or organization. One of my favorite things is being around young people just starting out in PT, OT, and AT.
• Write and teach CEU’s for your organization.
• Coauthor or conduct research on my favorite topics:
  • Voice to pelvic floor ultrasound imaging, including respiratory diaphragm imaging
  • Hip dysplasia and hip labral tears and/or impingement rehab and/or ultrasoundimaging
  • Making yoga safe and therapeutic for those with hypermobility, especially in the hip
  • Using yoga for voice, instrumentalists, and musical theatre artists
  • Integrative and Lifestyle Medicine, including functional endocrinology for pelvic health
  • Advocacy for pelvic health services – ending medical gaslighting and improving access
• Speak at your event on advocacy in PT practice. I have a long time passion for improving access to PT services in the US through bipartisan policy creation and legislative advocacy.

Please reach out if you are interested in having me lecture or teach for your organization at info@gingergarner.com.

FAQ for those currently enrolled or considering enrolling at LWI

Will the MTY and ILM Certifications, as well as the Hip Course, continue to exist?

That one is easy, yes! They just will not live at the Living Well Institute any longer. See the sites above for their new homes. We expect the courses to be in their new homes throughout 2024.

Can I finish my certification if I’ve already started?

Yes! For those of you who are currently enrolled, you will be able to finish your certification – do not worry. If you want CEU’s for it, however, you will have to finish before the deadline expires in 2024. Please email our office for those details.

I am already certified. Will my credentials still be valid?

Yes! For those of you already certified, you will continue to use your credential, as it is recognized worldwide.

I was about to sign up for certification or CEU. Can I still do that now?

Yes! For those of you looking to get certified, you can still sign up for our coursework. You will have approximately 11-12 months to finish it. If you cannot finish the final (Level 3) before the deadline, you will have the option of continuing on to finish it with the new provider. For the short courses (Hip Diff Diagnosis and ILM Certificate), those are easily finished in a year’s time. Please email our office with any questions at kc@integrativelifestylemed.com.

Some loving side notes for the skeptics and haters

If you are thinking – what a privileged b****. She has the privilege of taking a break. Not everyone does. Well – here’s the thing is – we should ALL have the same opportunity for a sabbatical – for clarity, but in the US we don’t. My European colleagues doing the same job as me are also not wealthy either – but they manage to get MORE than a month of time off each year. How can we do that? Well, it starts with having the same core values as European countries do when they give their employees and workers several weeks off (not just the 1 or 2 typical Americans get) each year plus holidays. So even when we don’t have the budget, we should have humane working conditions in the US that allow us to take time off as small business owners, instead of working ourselves into the ground and glorifying “busy.” So the short story is, nope, I had to really budget to take a break; it’s not easy, and I applaud anyone who does it. We have to stop glorifying busy. Want to know how my sabbatical went? Read my full post. 

Another side note on being a female entrepreneur – I want to be clear – raising children in the US as a female small business owner is incredibly taxing and challenging and not for the faint of heart. I had to roll with sweet interruptions from my babies during international zoom calls while teaching, breastfeeding breaks in live courses, and even carrying them across the country so I could keep nursing them and parenting while teaching. 

It required me to travel with my babies or find care for them to leave for extended periods of time. That was heartbreaking, expensive, and logistically difficult. It also took 100% of any salary I would have made for many years. 

It required me to suffer through the misogyny of callous comments made by those who were not invested in raising or supporting the next generation. Comments that knocked me back professionally because I was mothering and working, because the people who held the power were not parents, and/or had no time or compassion for those who were.

It required me to stay soft on the inside but grow a thick skin on the outside. 

I hope that future mothers do not have to struggle as my generation, and all previous generations, have. I hope that we are taken seriously, have equal pay for equal work, and finally get paid parental leave and health coverage so that we aren’t abandoned (as we are in the US now) trying to raise the next generation of people for this world.