Why Health Coaching?

Welcome to Lioness at the Door, holistic health coaching for women of faith and their families! 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of Lioness, so hurrah for progress!

I am delighted to have you here, and I hope to be able to support you on your journey! I am a faithful member or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I welcome those of you of my faith as well as those of you, my brothers and sisters, of other faiths. (Learn more about what I believe and the see the values we share here.) We are all God’s children and I believe that we are all needed to lift and bless humanity. I firmly believe that we are each loved and valued beyond our current understanding.

I have been on the journey of marriage and motherhood for over a quarter of a century (35 years and counting) and I believe now more than ever, that in our families we learn life’s greatest lessons; those messy, inconvenient, difficult lessons that change us into more compassionate, potential-reaching human beings! So I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be in such a classroom with my husband and children and parents and siblings as my tutors.

The idea for health coaching came while I was anticipating the fast-approaching day that all of my children were going to be leaving home. I was feeling the discomfort of major change and wanted to have something fun and challenging in the works to ease the transition.

What job could I create that I could put my heart into while still having the flexibility to enjoy the close relationships that were built in years of being at home with my children (and now their children)? What could I do with my time and energy that would make a difference to someone?

I read back through my journals and poetry and revisited my own struggles with health, cooking, parenting, anxiety, personal validation, the challenges of getting an education, of raising a child with a disability and so on. How could I offer support to my younger sisters in the world, and their families, who are now in the middle of the intensity I had just come through?

The result of this cogitating, as my Granny would say, was an idea to use my education along with a certification process, and life experience to offer encouragement to those who might be wondering if they’re going to make it past the current stage; past potty training, past sleeplessness, past a learners permit, past a diagnosis or past just feeling wholly inadequate for the challenge at hand whatever may be!

I pray that this site will be a source of peace and comfort, of ideas and light, of love and hope!  Most especially a reflection of the truth that you are loved.

Why Lioness at the Door?

Twelve years ago, I heard, then church leader Julie Beck say, ” …women are like Lionesses at the gate of the home. Whatever happens in a woman’s home and family happens because she cares about it and it matters to her. She guards that gate, and if something matters to her, it matters to her family.”

Fast forward a year. I was putting my health coaching business together and the lioness visual metaphor popped into my head. I loved it because I was aiming to help myself and other mothers see themselves as the powerful leaders we can be when we know who we are, that we are loved and that it’s never too late to learn the skills we need to care for and love ourselves and our families!

Hence, the image of Lioness at the Door is intended to inspire us to see ourselves as  converted, wise, strong and able women who create and hold healthy boundaries and who are making correct decisions at the threshold of choice: the door represents the God-given opportunity to choose our path, moment by moment, in all circumstances.

How would you describe a mom who is lioness-like?

I think of a family leader, a watchful mother who has a loving and teaching way about her. She is aware of her kids, though not hovering and interfering, but doing her part in grooming, feeding and protecting them. She is focused; she is intuitively caring for herself so that she can give of herself.

She is determined! She is not living in denial; she is living in awareness. And part of awareness is being willing to learn new skills when her family’s progress depends upon her evolution and leadership.

Most importantly, she is loved by God and knows it! And that feeling, knowledge and understanding, that she is loved, valued and cherished, colors and shapes her family relationships in a beautiful way. She drinks daily from an unlimited flow of God’s love through prayer and study, and she gratefully shares that love with her family, friends, community and the world.

So thank you for the inspiration Sister Beck, and kudos to all of you “Lionesses” out there. You are doing a great work!

“Now you are a lioness,” said Aslan. “And now all Narnia will be renewed. But come. We have no time to lose.”

C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia