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

Crysta , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

I can not stress this one enough. Establishing your own practice, or space within your business is all about how you show up and serve your community.

Majority of my learning came from observation of those who had been doing the work well before me. Become the student and never stop learning. If you truly want to show up in service, no matter what that may be in, you have tony set stand your community and their needs. You need to SEE where positive changes can bloom from and where broken places can be mended. What do you bring to the table that’s different then the ones before you? And how can you also keep the bridge that allows those in that specific community to trust the work you are here to do.

You show up at the events. You set up the free consultations. You shadows others and learn from them. You take time to serve your community and through this you begin to see the roots of establishing your own little space in your practice with genuine authenticity and longevity.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a full spectrum Doula focusing on the entire scope of womb work. From birth, postpartum, lactation, loss and trauma healing I seek to help bring advocacy to womxn and their families as they come into the journey of pregnancy and through the other side. My goal is to educate, support and focus on creating a safe space for those who seek a positive possibility within this multi faceted human experience.
This work is sacred and a fundamental part of our growth as human beings as we move through pregnancy, labor/birth, postpartum, and beyond.
My key focuses here are herbal healing, sacred womb binding, birth knowledge and self autonomy, postpartum support from proper nourishment, bonding, healing and recovery. A major emphasis on shadow work and release! You can not feel safe to bring forth life when still holding previous trauma or painful stories.
My journey into this innate part of living began in my own introduction into motherhood. My experience was far from pleasant and I knew that there was more to this journey then what I had encountered. Since then I have spent over a decade working hard to fill in the gaps and lend a hand into some of the most sacred places of our lives.
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As my experience through this spectrum grows, I am continuing to seek furthered education, partnerships and raising the bar of womb work and healing. Since 2011, I have been a practicing herbalist and in 2014 I opened my first shop to the public instead of only offering herbal medicinals to my clients. In 2016, that shop closed to keep focus on small intimate healing circles and push focus back to birth support and surrogacy.
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2018 allowed me to begin the work of a true shadow guide for woman and plant medicine healer. Since then, I have dedicated my life to bring a conscious connection to the collective human experience through shadow integration and plant medicine allies. Thus bridging the gap of all my studies.
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Through these incredible opportunities I have watched people heal, love and let go of different parts of their own stories to create new ones. I am blessed to be able to offer and hold this space for others.
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Above all the things I am passionate about my biggest passion is my family. I am a mother to 6 (4 I have birthed and 2 I have had the pleasure of loving as my own) I have a wonderful partner who fully embodies and supports all of my work and creates space for the sacred masculine and partnership through mentorship and community support.
Through this we have explored the world of surrogacy and are changing the narrative in supporting families, completing a journey in 2018 and connecting through another journey in 2020/21. We are currently in our final surrogacy journey and due in early September.
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This place we call home is beautiful. My continued goal is to find ways to create bridges that foster living it all fully and in wellness.

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

Unlearning can be incredibly difficult. We become so conditioned into think we know it all when we become “experts” in our field of work.

The biggest lesson I have had to unlearn has been that I simply do not, can not and will not be able to know EVERYTHING.

I can NOT be a perfect expert in every topic. But I CAN always be a student. I can always take time to learn new tools from others. i can always make space to expand my knowledge and take the time to truly listen to others and NETWORK!
Someone else’s success is not your failure. But it can be a beautiful asset to help catalyst you into a deeper and more meaningful business and clientele.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

If you asked me in a million different ways would I be what I am today the answer would of been no until I had my own children and experiences first hand the deep power of what birth holds.

Same goes for herbalist. Had I not experienced sickness to the point a modern Dr had no solution for me I would have never explored this form of healing.

Had I not navigated the deepest shadows of life and loss I would have never sat in a medicine man or woman’s presences and purged trauma.

So no, if I could of gone back I’m time so wouldn’t have chosen the professions I hold now. But they would have found a way to me eventually :)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ilithyiaspace.wixsite.com/doula
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/crystaraew?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Other: https://crysta-whitehurst.mykajabi.com/offers/EbaQAZya/checkout