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

Alright, Leila thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I love this question! It is so important to look back on the positive things in your past and be grateful for those moments.

My parents impressed upon my brothers and I a spiritual upbringing. An upbringing inspired by the Baha’i Faith – our Faith. The Baha’i Faith truly has some wonderful principles. Principles of the Oneness of Humanity, Equality of Men and Women, Investigation of the Truth, Unity in Diversity and so much more. My parents were not hypocrites about what they believed and did their best to live it. We grew up believing that humanity is one family – whatever color or place of origin – we are all spiritual one.

Higher education, the arts and sciences were an important part of my upbringing as well. My mother was a world renown concert pianist who worked hard and both of my parents are published author’s. I had so many diverse experiences growing up and moving around. These experiences helped me to learn a lot about various topics. I also had a myriad of interests and am an avid reader. Combining these attributes helped me to feel comfortable talking to many diverse people from all walks of life. This has helped immensely with my clientele too.

One of the key principles in the Baha’i Faith is investigation of the truth. Because of this I have always being curious about things, asking many questions and then following my own path. At least to the best of my awareness of myself – my inner self. My parents did not coddle us and instilled in us a hard working mentality – one that we could do anything if, we worked hard enough for it.

Believing in a higher power – God, helped to give us a foundation of prayer, action and meditation. Quieting the mind to create something bigger. That no matter the circumstances and hardships in life – we are not alone. Your thoughts create your reality and we can always create something better for ourselves.

Leila, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started my professional career working for celebrity trainer Jim Karas at JKPT in Chicago where I trained one of Oprah’s producer’s at Harpo studios. A couple of years later I went on to further my education in Florida by working for a few years with Dan Hellman. Dan is an incredible Physical Therapist and is well known in the Golf community – he worked with Tiger Woods to help heal his injuries using the ELDOA method – a method that helps heal spinal issues and more. I went on to study with Dr. Guy Voyer, DO, a brilliant French Osteopath who created ELDOA and I became an ELDOA trainer to help heal back pain pathologies and more. Always striving to learn the best methods to help my clients, friends and family.

I have decades of experience and education. Starting with a Bachelor of Science degree and many certifications including with the C.H.E.K institute, ELDOA and Animal Flow instructor. I received a myriad of certifications in whatever peaked my interest as I love learning new movement modalities of exercise. It has helped me train a diverse clientele including the aging populations, pre and post natal, those with pelvic floor dysfunction and so much more.

The ELDOA spinal method is of active postural exercises and is truly revolutionary. They help with postural issues, pelvic floor dysfunction, scoliosis, and other joint pathologies. The primary goal being to increase space within a chosen articulation (joint). ELDOA creates more space for the discs of the spine which improves joint mechanics, increases blood flow, reduces pressure on the discs, reduces pain and hydrates the discs. It is truly the best tool to have in your toolbox for life!

I have also written and published an Ebook entitled “I’m Healthy? The Big Disconnect” to help people connect deeper with easy action steps to implement into your daily lifestyle. I wrote many health and fitness articles for Active.com and Bahaiteachings.org during my many years in this industry.

I train my clients in a gym setting and, have packages that include getting into nature to explore athleticism through hiking. I think it’s so important to get into nature, to connect with Mother Nature for our souls – mind/body/soul deeper connection.

As a holistic trainer and health and wellness consultant, I have helped clients from many walks of life from all over the nation to achieve healthier states of living. The sense of personal satisfaction in seeing my clients lose body fat, improve self-esteem, overcome vertigo, bipolar disorders, rehab injuries, or fibromyalgia, fuels my continuing interest in how nutrition and movement affect the human body.

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

I think it’s really important to be comfortable being uncomfortable. Having your own business comes with pros and cons. Some months you may do well but others you don’t. You have to get creative, you have to save money and you have to do/learn a lot of things that are out of your scope of practice. Such as, bookkeeping, record keeping, marketing and more. If you don’t have the money to hire someone to do it for you, you’ll have to sit and figure it out. Social media is another thing that you may have to think about doing. Writing blogs, having new content for SEO on Google. You wear many hats so you have to be prepared to weather the storms. And – be comfortable being uncomfortable.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I moved to Ft. Lauderdale from Chicago it was a very difficult move – during the crash of 2008. Starting a business there was very hard due to that market. I had many skills but there were no jobs and it would take time to build my training business. Perhaps, not the smartest of moves on my part – but I learned a lot. Always, taking the harder roads. I ended up having to work at a restaurant again as there were no other jobs available. I then got my real estate license as well thinking it may be good to add on for additional money making. I had a hard working, I’ll figure it out kind of mindset… and doing what I had to do. I was also trying to build my personal training business. It was one of the hardest times of my life. It took a while but I finally became more successful building my PT business. Looking back I definitely did some things wrong but I learned a lot from it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sculptedphysiquesbyleila.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sculptedphysiquesbyleila/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sculptedphysiquesbyleila
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sculpted-physiques-by-leila-austin

Image Credits

Georges for some of the pictures and his instagram is https://www.instagram.com/georgespictures/