Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dr. Michelle Robin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dr. Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?
Earlier this year to celebrate my 30th anniversary in chiropractic medicine, I put together 30 lessons I’ve learned over the years to commemorate the milestone. With every lesson, I included a small story about who taught me that lesson and why it mattered in my life to learn it.
What happened was this amazing collection came together, and I decided to send this to my connections who are leaders, visionaries, and other small business owners. I believe one of the most valuable things that I’ve been given in my life was the ability to learn from those who have walked the path before me – and I wanted to pay that forward by sharing my life lessons with them.
After such a positive response from people in my life, I decided to upload them to share with the world at SmallChangesBigShifts.com/30lessons/. I invite everyone to also watch the video on that page, which is a powerful illustration of how connection to others has mattered to my well-being. There are so many people who have crossed my path that have played an intricate role in where I am today and my life’s work in our community, and I want to inspire others that this can happen for them, too.
Dr. Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
In 1992, I opened Robin Chiropractic Acupuncture Center in Kansas City. As it grew, I noticed many people were looking for a place that supported their whole-person wellness in addition to chiropractic and acupuncture. This led me to open Your Wellness Connection in 2001, an integrative health center where people could receive whole-person care under one roof in a variety of ways from practitioners including chiropractic, acupuncture, functional medicine, massage, counseling, Reiki, and more. Today, the facility is recognized as a home base for well-being in our community, where people from all over Kansas City come to nourish their spirit, mind, and body.
With the growth at Your Wellness Connection, I realized something was missing – a simple framework that helped people understand their well-being, in addition to something that allowed practitioners to speak a common language about wellness. In 2013, I founded Small Changes Big Shifts, an organization that develops whole-person educational content around a simple framework called the Quadrants of Well-Being. Every program encompasses this framework and has served large and small companies by helping their team members step into their best lives – at work and at home. Today, the Quadrants of Well-Being has become the guiding foundation at Your Wellness Connection, the Wellness Consortium, and the Big Shifts Foundation.
Once I saw how powerful it was to bring practitioners together at Your Wellness Connection, I launched the Wellness Consortium in 2014. This collaborative network of wellness practitioners and vendors would fill a multitude of needs for our community, such as helping like-minded practitioners and vendors to connect, build, and support each other. This group would also help meet the needs of residents looking to step into their best lives by finding practitioners and vendors in their own neighborhoods. Today, the Wellness Consortium consists of five groups, conveniently planted in different parts of Kansas City for easy access. Since launching this network, wellness practitioners and vendors have experienced a boost in referrals from each other and have found a new sense of belonging and shared purpose in our community.
In 2018, I began tuning in to the mental health crisis happening with kids, which inspired me to launch the Big Shifts Foundation, a non-profit organization to support ages 5- to 30-year-olds. The initial offering was a six-month wellness discovery program for ages 18-30 that included blood work, acupuncture treatments, chiropractic adjustments, mental health support, nutritional guidance, and six 21-day self-care virtual programs – all aimed at correcting deficiencies and helping them feel better. In turn, graduates from this program learn to build community and resilience to face today’s challenges by learning when and what their bodies need to thrive. Today, the Big Shifts Foundation continues to evolve and develop resources to help kids step into their future with a bright spirit, mind, and body.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Five years after I graduated chiropractic college, I was living a fabulous life – I had a successful practice, the dream house, and so on. But there was something deep inside of me that felt lost and dead, and this really started making me ask questions like, “Is this all there is to life?” It was on a drive home that I called my spiritual mentor, Mary Omwake, asking her to speak some truth into my life and provide some guidance about the way I was feeling. What she said next changed my life forever, and that was, “You give your joy to everybody else, but it’s time you need to go find your joy.”
It wasn’t long after that I signed up for a week-long retreat at the Hoffman Institute to go on a personal growth journey. This step in my life helped me identify negative behaviors, moods, and ways of thinking that I had likely learned as a child but had never been able to move past them. What I found out was that unresolved trauma in my heart was holding me back from stepping into a better life. This is about the point in my life when I began to experience the profound power of self-love, self-worth, and self-care. Without the program or nudge from Mary, who was always known for planting seeds in people’s heart, I don’t believe my life would have ended up on the path that it is today.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
One of the key things I learned at a very early age was to “show up” in people’s lives. Like most people, I experienced trauma and drama in my life, but there were some people in my small town who saw me struggling at home and stepped in to show me extraordinary acts of kindness – such as welcoming me into their family, inviting me to temporarily live with them, and even making my clothes.
Looking back, I couldn’t understand the significance these people played in my life, but there was one couple that taught me one of life’s greatest lessons – and that was to show up. Their kids were the most important thing in their life, and when they welcomed me into their family, I will never forget seeing them there in the stands at every single one of my school basketball games.
Because of their influence, “show up” has become a core pillar in the Wellness Consortium. I’m deeply rooted in our community and make an appearance at as many events as possible to support others who are doing profound and great things to improve the world around us. I love to celebrate people, which is one of the reasons I launched the Small Changes Big Shifts podcast several years ago to help highlight all the ways people are bringing light into this world. I believe my reputation has been built by showing up, being kind, being authentic, and simply wanting others to step into their best lives – spiritually, mentally, and physically. Connection matters!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SmallChangesBigShifts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drmichellerobin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drmichellerobin/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichellerobin/
- Other: www.YourWellnessConnection.com www.BigShifts.org www.SmallChangesBigShifts.com/wellness-consortium