We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ivonne Gonzales. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ivonne below.

Ivonne, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

A defining moment in my career was the moment I learned that in order to do great things, we have to learn resilience and accept rejection and setbacks with grace. A moment that changed the trajectory of my career was my mother’s hospitalization this year. She is the most influential person in my life. Throughout the years, I have seen her model resilient behavior which was necessary to endure moving to a new country to expose me with better opportunities, caring for her sick mother, working, and demonstrating stellar single parent behavior. Due to always demonstrating strength and successfully adapting to challenging life experiences, it was absolutely heartbreaking to see her in this vulnerable state. I had two choices: blame life for being completely unfair to us and kick and scream, or accept that this was happening and move forward with a lesson to be learned. I questioned the expectations I have on myself, my relationships, and my business/career goals. This questioning brought light to the fact that behind adversities, an opportunity lies. The opportunity this situation was fuel to my fire to create the kind of life I want so that I could take better care of myself, my family, and my patients. We learn resilience to endure whatever life throws at us and to love the path that our life is in, the good and the bad.

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 background and context?

I have been a Physical Therapist for 2 years and I always knew I wanted to combine helping people with pain reach their health and wellness goals. I have a background in cardiac rehabilitation and fitness where I have taught different styles of exercises classes and found yoga to be my favorite thing to teach. During my work with cardiac rehab, I was able to learn how stress and diet played a huge role in cardiac health and how it they are often overlooked risk factors. The mind and body connection has always fascinated me and this is how Mind Body Physiotherapy was created which focuses on physical therapy acknowledging that pain (especially when it is chronic) is multifactorial and different systems need to be addressed in order to get the best results. I help people get out of pain by teaching them that the whole body is connected and that dysfunction in one area could affect another. I have been able to help many get out of a chronic pain cycle and progress them to their goals which many are to be able to workout again and adhere to an exercise program to keep themselves pain free. I treat all orthopedic conditions but specialize in TMJ disorders and tension type headaches. I look at the body as a whole system and know that the body can heal with proper guidance. I take pride in being able to provide 1:1 care and take the time to listen and get to know my patients. I also take pride in my profession as being a movement (nerd) specialist and apply advanced clinical skills daily. Everyone of my patients gets an individualized program to fit their needs. The most important thing that we have is time and I ensure that my patients get the best use of their time with me.

Can you open up about how you managed the initial funding?

After graduating 2 years ago, I went full throttle working full time and also working home health as a side hustle. I wanted to buy a home and was saving up for that. After realizing that my vision for my business was very clear, I decided to open my business as a side hustle. Eventually, life’s crazy turns lead me to investing the money I was saving for my home in personal and professional development. I could not be happier with my decision because as scary as it felt to derail from my goal to invest in a home, investing in myself first was what my life was being called to do at the moment. I think it is important to realize that sometimes we have to pivot in order for greater things to enter in our lives. A home wasn’t what was in the books for me this year, but a growing business was!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The book that has completely changed my outlook in life personally and in business is “The Obstacle is the Way” by Ryan Holiday. It is important to feel our feelings and process them in a healthy way as much as possible and it is also important to understand to not get stuck in them. It has taught me that we can turn any obstacle around and see it as an opportunity to learn or practice other skills. In all situations we can learn that whatever blocks our path can also lead us to create a new path for ourselves. If it all fails we could still learn humility and acceptance when things don’t go our way, then continue moving forward. We cannot control what is happening around us, but we can control how we react to what is happening -I think this is one of the most important things to remember to help keep your sanity while running a business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mindbody-physiotherapy.com
• Instagram: mind_bodyphysio
• Linkedin: linedin.com/in/ivonnegonzales
• Other: Calendly: https://calendly.com/mind_bodyphysio/15 Book free 15 consult