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

Hi Kristi, thanks for joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

The defining moment so far in my career was the moment when I started to learn about the nervous system, and the impact of living in survival. All of a sudden all of the questions I had been asking professionals for all of these years about the diagnoses I had received- it all started making sense. It all starts within the body and with the nervous system- it wasn’t just the simple ‘here is the diagnosis and here is the prescription’ as I had been told. I actually started to really lead myself, learn all about the nervous system in general and then bring that knowledge into my own life and make it my lifestyle and now I have the absolute privilege of sharing that wisdom with others, and what becomes possible when you lead yourself first from an embodied place.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into this line of work like a lot of other Practitioners- because of my own evolution first. Once I started learning all I was learning about the nervous system and the subconscious, and integrating those tools into my life, things started to shift significantly. And heres the thing- the shifts actually lasted. This isn’t a band aid or a quick symptom relief- this is shifts that actually land in the system and in the body, creating sustainable growth.

I work with a lot of Practitioners, Leaders, Facilitators and Entrepreneurs to guide them to a place of embodied Leadership- no more leading from powering over, or trying to control to meet your own needs. This is a leadership from within, a safe nervous system that people can feel as soon as you come into contact with them. This is bringing the human into the work and not needing to look polished and perfect. This is where business growth happens from a place of integrity- you build the capacity in your system to actually HOLD all that you are calling in, and then it has space to land with ease. This goes beyond the push, hustle, grind that many entrepreneurs have been taught- this is actual sustainable business growth from a. clean, embodied place.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Something I see a lot in this field is Practitioners and Leaders not trusting themselves, or trying to lead from a very disembodied place. So- leading from the head and from that side of knowledge and training only rather than leading from the place of embodiment and trusting themselves in the process.

Another big thing I see is the need for ‘just one more certification- THEN I will feel confident/good enough’ This is a wild trap that I see a lot of Practitioners and Leaders get caught in – the next shiny thing, the next fancy certificate program- when really, YES knowledge and training is important, but there is no amount of certificates collecting dust on the shelf that are going to lead you to an embodied place. This is why I lead through the lens of Somatic Authority- it is not another certification, it is leadership from the body first.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the story of burnout. I used to teach preschool and eventually, after 4 years, I got extremely burnt out. Naturally, I thought this was because I was doing too much, just like we always hear about burnout- when I was teaching most of the kiddos were on IPP’s (Individual Program Plans) and given the day with 16 3-5 year olds, there wasn’t a lot of focused time to sit down and actually update their IPP’s daily. So we would take them home on evenings and weekends to get it done.

I ended up having to leave that position after 4 years due to being extremely burnt out. Now, looking back on that time, Ib realize that it actually was not due to ‘doing too much’ as we are so often told, it was actually being in a place that was very out of alignment with my values. I won’t go into the story, but in my last year there I was asked to keep something quiet where I felt a child needed protection. I didn’t keep quiet. Then I quickly found out the director at that centre was going to make sure my time there was quite challenging.

What that led to though when I started my business was a fear of burnout- a fear of ‘doing too much’ and getting burnt out like I did before. Until I realized its not about doing too much, its about doing too much of whats not aligned. Pushing through to do something that doesn’t align with my values and morals. Since I have made that distinction it is very easy to tell when I start to feel that burn out like fatigue- what am I doing that is our of alignment?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.somaskyewellness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somaskyewellness
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kristi.mcleod.3
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-mcleod-431b272b3