Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to MJ Boyd. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, MJ thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I am so lucky to have an unbelievably kind, patient, and endlessly supportive partner by my side. The kindest thing anyone has done for me is offer me a safe space to rest, heal, and allow my creativity to flow while focusing on building my business. By doing this, my partner has opened up so many possibilities for me to continue to pursue my passions despite navigating múltiple obstacles in life.

I have always been a very independent, self-directed person — sometimes to a fault. As I’ve experienced major life changes like unexpected injuries and illnesses, layoffs from seemingly stable corporate jobs, and difficult heartbreaks, I’ve tried to maintain an independent mindset. At times to support my own ego and pride, as well as to avoid burdening others with my needs. At a particularly challenging time in my life, I had a chance encounter that ended up changing my entire outlook on how to lead a fulfilling life.

I met my partner when our dogs literally ran into each other in the courtyard of our apartment complex. It was a fated meet-cute, and it took almost no time at all for us to fall deeply in love and admiration. We are both small business owners in the health and wellness industry that also experience chronic health issues ourselves. We quickly became friends, confidants, business colleagues, and each other’s biggest supporters. We listened to each other and related to shared experiences of navigating entrepreneurial life while maintaining self-care. When life became unpredictable and my stress factors increased, my partner was right there to remind me of my worth and my “Why”.

One of the kindest, most thoughtful gifts she has given me is unconditional love, care, and understanding. Even on hard days when I could barely see my value and I felt like giving up, she never gave up on me. She never gave up on us. She offered a cozy, safe home, delicious and healthy meals, and reminders to take time off to rest my mind, body, and spirit. She held me when I cried and told me it would be okay because we would face whatever scared me together. When I look in her eyes, I feel seen and safe. I feel like my dreams already exist, I just have to reach out to touch them.

It’s difficult to put into words how meaningful it was to hear someone say, “You are at your best when you have freedom and space to create. You need rest to flourish, and you need to let yourself be intentional about your dreams. I can provide that space for you, so please let me help. We need each other.” In that moment, it was like the universe sent an angel to Earth to directly answer my prayers. To remind me that I am valuable simply by being myself and I am deserving of the same care I give to others.

I am able to sustain my career goals because someone deeply believes in me, and I cannot think of a kinder or more compassionate offering than being seen, understood, and wholeheartedly supported.

MJ, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a certified holistic birth/postpartum doula and registered yoga teacher (200-hr). I’ve been a yoga and pilates practitioner for over 14 years, and the transition into teaching and guiding has been the joy of my life. I’m passionate about community care and holistic wellness.

Since I was about 16, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in holistic healthcare. I come from a family of natural healers, and my spirituality is deeply rooted in a connection to nature. I always knew I would have an unconventional career path, and I’ve explored many avenues on my way to building Sacral Bloom Wellness.

I feel called to support and serve underrepresented communities, with an ultimate goal of working toward health equity and more positive outcomes for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and disabled individuals, and low-income families. Many of my loved ones and I sit at the heart of these intersections, and I understand first-hand how difficult finding adequate, personalized healthcare can be.

I became particularly interested in teaching yoga and birth work in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, watching how our systems failed to prioritize, protect, and save certain lives. I understood how impactful holistic healthcare had been for myself and so many people in my life, and I wanted to expand my knowledge and resources so they could be spread to a wider audience. I started out doing guided meditations and yoga sessions at a local park with close friends as a safe, relaxing way to get back into social engagement. Soon I had several requests to start offering live yoga classes on Instagram and TikTok, and I decided to follow the path to becoming a certified yoga teacher.

Once I fully stepped into that decision, it was a logical next step to pursue doula training as well. I am passionate about reproductive justice, and I wanted to help change the heartbreaking statistics regarding Black maternal health outcomes. Combining yoga and doula work allows me to offer multiple avenues of support outside of the traditional healthcare route. I saw so many gaps that needed filling, and my vision with Sacral Bloom Wellness is to provide an inclusive, affordable bridge for people to care for themselves and the next generation.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I’m learning that to be successful in running your own business and serving others, it’s important to remain humble, patient, and true to your values. Success is not just about how many clients you have or how much revenue you bring in. Success is also providing for your inner child’s needs. It looks like scheduling and rescheduling appointments four times over six weeks with a nervous, first-time client who is also a full-time nurse and a mother with a hectic schedule and a dedication to improve her health. It looks like inspiring others to follow their passions, too.

In my first year as a small business owner, my idea of what success looks like has changed so much from what I thought prior to starting Sacral Bloom. I have turned down opportunities that didn’t align with my values or my personal needs, even though they may have been financially beneficial in the short-term. When those doors closed, that created space for much more aligned, long-term opportunities to find me. I have learned to deeply trust my instincts. To remind myself that I can offer a sliding-scale fee business model to be inclusive and accessible, and that will not diminish the value of my services.

Often the hustle and bustle of capitalist society convinces us to change our hearts and minds to fit in more and stand out less, to appeal to wider and wealthier audiences. Especially in the health and wellness industry, where it can feel so over-saturated and like you have to compete for loyal customers. But an important lesson I’ve learned from my clients is that authenticity is what allows the right audience to find you. Staying true to what brought you into your industry is the best way to find long-term satisfaction and success.

This journey has not been easy, and I am still learning so much every day. I am so grateful to have met incredible clients that benefit from my services. I feel successful knowing that I’ve helped someone take time to care for themselves. The ripple effect that makes in the world is priceless.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I was inspired to name my business Sacral Bloom Wellness for two reasons:
First, the Sacral Chakra is the creative energetic center in our body. For females, this is the place where our sensuality/sexuality, fertility, and intuition lives. It is located in the abdomen region and characterized by the color orange.
Second, I felt the life cycle of flowering plants – from a subtle seed, to a young sprout, to a beautiful fleeting blossom, to decay and back again to something simple and bare – was a perfect metaphor for the human growth journey as well. To bring life into this world is both a miraculous and a commonplace act. Creating life is a necessary part of life. All of us – humans, animals, and plants alike – need support and seasons of rest to sustain our continuous life cycle.

When I was 24 years old, I was in a life-changing motor vehicle accident. In the span of two weeks, I lost my ability to walk independently, to speak at times, and to write and draw. As an active, artistic person, this was a devastating moment that nearly caused me to lose hope in ever living a fulfilling life again. I experienced excruciating pain that I believed might eventually kill me, but somehow I survived. Traumatic brain and spinal injuries are difficult to recover from, and my recovery is still ongoing in many ways. This challenging circumstance taught me to cherish life differently than I had before that fateful incident. I worked hard to walk again, I kept speaking even when my tongue struggled to move the way my brain told it to. I used art therapy to regain my fine motor skills, and I deepened my spiritual practice through yoga to build the resilience I needed to show up for myself on the hardest days of my life. I began a cycle of rebirth that allowed me to bloom into another version of myself that could not have been created without the loss of the first version. I also learned that, like vines, it’s okay to lean on support systems while we grow up.

That experience strengthened my determination to pursue my dreams. It urged me to trust the business acumen I cultivated working for others and to reinvest those skills into myself. Tapping into my spirituality opened me up to visions of welcoming orange light, intentional community care, relaxed movement, and a world where health equity is the norm – not a lofty ideal.

Resiliency for me has looked like a mixture of being shamelessly stubborn about the life I want to live and a little delusional about my ability to create the change I wish to see in the world. I dreamed about doing exactly what I’m doing today, and I refused to stop dreaming until it became my reality. And I still have more dreams in the works! The journey has just begun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sacralbloomwellness.org/
• Instagram: @sacralbloomwellness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EUCcoANNp/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjb24

Image Credits

@camsbrain, @jordynradney