We recently connected with Jamie Durner and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

For 30 years I have worked in the holistic health field and a large part of my success I feel has been around staying connected to my inner self for strength, inspiration, clarity, and knowing which direction to follow next.

It was in around 2006 that I had a powerful moment that ignited my inner “I can do it” entrepreneur moment. I had just finished teacher training in Kundalini Yoga and had gone to a week long event called Summer Solstice. Part of this event is a 3-day White Tantric Yoga during which one does a series of partner meditations that total either 31 or 62 minutes in length. These are not necessarily quite still meditations. Rather, the meditations can include holding certain body positions, chanting internally or externally mantras, and/or connecting with your partner visually or physically. This was not only my first time doing such an event, but I also found out afterwards that it was one of most challenging series in years.

Add in to this that I was reading the book “Eat, Pray, Love” and had just finished a section about meditation where the author was describing staying completely still for the time of practice.

With this intention, I went into the second day of the event. My body was sore from sitting much of the day prior. I was tired because the first day ran from 5:30 am until almost 8 pm. And I was feeling nervous about what was next. But I made a commitment to myself, that if only for the first meditation of the time, I would hold it and not move, stretch or shift.

Naturally, it was a 62-minute meditation. And it included holding one hand over my heart and one arm raised with a finger on my partner’s third eye – the spot between the eyes a little above the brow line. Next to me, one of the participants was struggling and moving all over the place, creating a new level of distraction. When doing these meditations you do not know where you are in the time sequence until at the very end the moderator says, “you have three minutes left.”

To this day I am amazed that I made it through the entire 62 minutes without pause or breaks. I no longer remember the exact details of my self-talk but I know that I drew on a deep well of internal energy, positivity, and firm commitment along with a sense of larger energy that was there to help keep me up.

When the moderator announced the three minutes left, my entire arm that was raised started shaking and tears were streaming down my face. And at the end, while definitely fatigued in many ways, I feel a euphoria and lightness that came from feeling my own power as well as a deep trust in the universe.

This moment in time stayed with me in the years ahead as I faced fears to start my own integrative health practice, had challenging conversations with clients, and strove to find a balance as a working parent. It also anchored in the knowledge that to be my best in the world and with my business, I needed to have a consistent self-care practice to connect and nourish me. Though the form and timing shifts on a daily basis, I have not missed a day of yogic awareness and practice since 2005. I attribute much of my success – monetarily and satisfaction – to this practice.

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?

I have a diverse background which includes training in massage, Craniosacral therapy, yoga, life/health/business coaching, and Ayurvedic medicine. For 25 years I ran an integrative practice using my skills to help individuals connect to and express their authentic self into the world.

Currently I act as COO and Program Director for a whole-person health corporate wellness company. We offer a variety of keynote presentations along with virtual programs to help individuals come fully alive by taking making small changes in their lives that lead to big shifts over time. In 2023, we will bring our core material out of the boardrooms directly to the consumer in a digital format with greater access to all. Additionally, we will launch a heart-centered business training and mentoring program for independent professionals working in the wellness space. More information can be found at https://smallchangesbigshifts.com/.

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

Each aspect of my training was critical for my personal and professional journey and all served a purpose and had their own rewards as I added the new pieces in. As I sit now towards the end of my career, I wouldn’t change my field of well-being but I think rather than the massage and bodywork elements I would dive deeper into neuroscience and neuropsychology. We have learned a great deal about the brain over the past 25 years that has opened up new ways of working with human behavior, vitality, and resilience. I have incorporated some of this knowledge in my current work, but were I earlier in my career, I would go back for the masters or doctorate in this area.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Although I have almost 4,000 hours post Bachelors training in wellness, very little of it was put on the business aspect. In running my own private practice, not only did I need to learn those business skills, but I needed to find a way through the approaches that didn’t feel salesy or manipulative. It was through that process and recognizing the value of how our internal vision and energies ties into and must be balanced with our outer business actions, that led me to success and also creating a heart-centered business program for my peers who I saw struggling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smallchangesbigshifts.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holisticcoach/