We recently connected with Debra Heslin and have shared our conversation below.

Debra, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I was working as the General Manager of JFK airport for a major airline (JetBlue Airways) where at that time I was under a tremendous amount of pressure and personally felt depressed, overwhelmed and anxious most of the time. My role in corporate America involved a lot of time, energy, and emotional strength to get through each day. In order to “cope” better at that time I started going to yoga every day. I have always been physically fit and into exercise and nutrition, having done a triathlon, extensive long distance bicycle riding including the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to L.A. about 450 miles along the coast and rock climbed many of America’s classic climbs. However, it was yoga that started a change within me that I was not sure what it was about. Sometimes I would feel great, other times I would cry in class, sometimes giggle and laugh, and other times just feel “normal.” However, what I noticed was shortly after I was out of the yoga room and going about my busy schedule I would go back to feeling anxious, overwhelmed and emotionally drained. So I wanted to understand why in the yoga room no matter what emotions came up and released with me I felt better or some relief that I hadn’t experienced before. I went to a psychologist on Long Island and I told him I was depressed and needed medication. He actually told me I was not depressed I was unhappy with certain things in my life and he recommended since I was practicing yoga to take some time off from work and go on a yoga retreat and during that time find those things that made me happy and go for that. Instead of going on a yoga retreat, I took time off from work and went to a yoga training and became certified as a yoga teacher. I began teaching yoga while still working as the G.M. of JFK. The more I studied the philosophy of yoga the more I wanted to learn about the mind body connection and ultimately how everything effects how we feel and what we can personally do about that to be in charge of our results. That led me to my first life coaching course where although I didn’t feel at that time it gave me enough information to be a “good coach,” it taught me something personal that has stuck with me ever since. “It is easy to maintain a higher vibrational awareness (spiritual connection) when that is all you are doing, such as being in a yoga room or with like-minded people, and the key is how to you keep that with you when you are not in those environments and not to be effected by all that is happening around you.” So began my study of the mind-body connection and numerous other coaching courses including Jack Canfield Success Principles of which I am one of his trainers, Brendon Burchard High Performance Coaching, NLP Coaching and Training and many others. Of course I ended up resigning from my role in the airline industry as my private practice had become a full-time career, where I was working with corporate leaders, business professionals and anyoine who wanted to find peace amidst our chaotic lives. I originally felt I was alone and no-one felt like I did and today by doing this work I love there are many people with anxiety and overwhelm and looking to “cope” better with life. My motto is working with people to not just cope but to thrive in life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Some of these responses are on the previous question. About me personally, I am a grandmother of 8 and recently became a great grandmother at 67. I got into this industry because of my own anxiety, depression and overwhelm and wanting to find a way out of the dark hole and didn’t know how. The more I studied and learned the more I realized I didn’t know and wanted to learn more and understand more. My branding is around helping others get from where they are to where they want to be and getting rid of the limiting beliefs they have that are stopping them from achieving the results they want. I am very disciplined, and start my day with a morning ritual of drinking 32 oz. of water, 3 minutes of breathwork and 3 minutes of gratitude, doing my daily yoga and full body workout before starting my day. Taking care of myself so that I can assist others in taking care of themselves. My products I sell are full breakthrough coaching packages and high performance coaching packages. I run trainings and workshops on NLP – neuro linguistic programming – which is understanding our patterns of thinking, how we language it to ourselves and what happens and how we filter that through our five senses. I teach resilience through the HeartMath Institute for teams and for individuals. What sets me apart is all of my clients will say I provide a safe space for them where they can open up at a deeper level and get rid of their limitations. I follow up with my clients and don’t just wait for their appointment. I check in with them and we work together to achieve their results. Most of the work I do is around limiting beliefs and doubts, goal setting with a difference, and what you after you have achieved your goal. Most people go through life thinking and believing this it how it is and it can be and is so much more and helping them discover that within themselves is so empowering for them. I have worked with teenagers, CEOs, doctors, lawyers, and moms and dads. Anxiety and overwhelm does not discriminate.

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

The lesson I had to unlearn was I was not good enough and did not know enough about what I do. I did not realize I had these thoughts, they were not there on the surface, they were beneath the ice-berg. I began to realize that when I first started my practice and it was with what I charged. I associated price to my self-worth. “I can’t charge that, because who I am I to charge that amount, etc.” It wasn’t until my clients were achieving and exceeding the results they wanted that I started to question myself and my doubts. about my self-worth. I was packed in my schedule and still was not making an income that I could sustain. So I “coached myself” around my belief and my self-worth and in general not charging to the industry standards.

Once I changed that limiting belief into a belief that was what I wanted to have instead – not only did my business flourish more – my financial situation changed as well.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

My husband flies back and forth to NY from Florida almost every week for business. During one of his flights he started a conversation with another regular customer on that flight and it led to the work that I now do.

The person he was speaking with was a corporate leader at a large medical facility in NY and was looking for someone to work with her team of 250 employees there. His conversation with her about the work I do led her to want to have a conversation with me about team building and communication.

I ended up doing a workshop there for over 250 employees of which they asked me back and ended up with regular workshops with them and individual coaching for their leaders on a quarterly basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.debraheslinwellness.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debraheslin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debra.heslin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-heslin-b4669517/