We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Millar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

I was a stay at home mom at the time with a blended household of 4 boys, financially secure enough that the decision to pursue a career was born out of fulfilling a personal desire versus a necessity. I’d always loved working out so I decided to become certified as a Personal Trainer. Being at the gym and training clients was the spark I needed to feel like I had a purpose beyond wife and mother. One of those clients in particular I attribute to be the catalyst for the path that’s lead me to where I am today. She opened up a deeper desire I didn’t know I had. She survived a terrible car accident leaving her with neurological & physical damage. At the onset she was told she wouldn’t regain the use of her limbs but she was a fighter and was determined to heal what was broken inside and out. At the gym, she showed up ready to work and she gave her all into regaining whatever mobility & functionality be it limited she could access at the time. Working with Tricia awakened first and foremost gratitude for my own body and helped quiet the self critical voice inside my head. On the days that Tricia didn’t feel up to the challenge we would have these raw heart to heart conversations instead about what was happening within her home life. It was then that I felt this awakening desire that perhaps there was more I can do for my clients beyond the walls of the gym. The thing is, I didn’t know what that looked like at the time. I took a step back and thought, how wonderful would it be to work with someone not just on a physical level but to be able to meet them, wherever they are in their life, and help them heal on an emotional level. From that moment, my career turned towards adding Yoga and Life Coaching to my host of skills, but that’s another story.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an Intuitive Lifestyle Coach and I work with women who have reached a point in their lives where they feel stuck or blocked from living the life they want for themselves. Most of the women I’ve worked with are either empty nesting, going through a divorce or separation or have simply come to a crossroad where they want to be able to experience something different but they just don’t know how to go about getting there. I chose this niche because it is relatable to everything I’ve been through over the last couple years. Shortly after the death of my mother, my 15 year marriage ended and I was in such a dark & sad place, my boys decided to go live with my ex husband. I was stuck in the middle of a trifecta of despair and confusion that loneliness and fear blocked me from seeing a way out. With the support of a network of family and friends I was able to keep my head above ground long enough to see that I had a lot more to live for. I had a thriving Yoga studio full of students who served as reminders of the skills I knew I had. But even though I had all of that, I couldn’t quiet the noise in my head of the parts of me I thought I failed at- being a wife and a mother, I realised the only way to heal those thoughts would be to deep dive into the triggers behind those beliefs & emotions. Becoming a Coach with Health Coach Institute and going through their Holistic Mastery Program provided the work I needed to redefine certain thoughts I had about myself. It reminded me of that saying that ‘the only way out is through’. Having my own personal coach throughout the program helped keep me accountable for the version of myself I desired to be. The most important lesson I try to impart upon my clients is that those triggers don’t magically disappear. We work together, one on one, to get to the root cause of their why and then slowly develop achievable & sustainable action steps that align with the vision they hold for themselves. I prefer to call myself an Intuitive Lifestyle Coach versus a Life Coach because I have seen, even with my own self, that it is only through a constant practice of letting go of old habits and reintroducing new ones, that we can be successful in reshaping our beliefs. It is not a one and done way of being or living, such that I have designed a ‘On the Go or OTG’ 90 min catch up time for anyone needing that type of support after going through my programs. To commit in the beginning is scary I feel that totally, which is why our first meet and greet aka discovery session is free. It is within this space both the client and myself are able to gauge compatibility which is paramount to how coachable the client can & will be. What sets me and my style of coaching apart from others is that most of my coaching clients have been women I’ve met through my work as a Yoga instructor. That special connection on the mat offers a clearing of trust and communication that you won’t get simply by reading my bio or following me on social media. It has taken tremendous discipline and dedication to continue to evolve my private coaching practice and my skills as a Yoga, Barre & Fitness Instructor to adhere to the path I have chosen for my life.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think first off, is to have a clear vision of what being successful looks like to me. It’s so easy to become engulfed by what everyone else is doing for their business and lose sight of who you are. I Define my own personal success simply by adhering to the why I took this path in the first place. I am an ALL-IN kind of person. If I am not doing it or have already gone through it, then it’s not a tool I use in my practice. Everything that I say I am today, has shaped the trajectory of my success. If there’s something that i feel is missing or not matching up to where I see myself, then I set course to either learn or experience first hand. Therefore I would say that one of the most helpful assets in my tool box of success is my desire to be as authentic to myself and who I intend to serve as a future student or client, and the other would be my discernment in believing that I am worthy of it all.

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

I started off as a Personal Trainer, so definitely I can say I would have chosen a profession in the fitness world. Specializing as a Yoga Instructor and an Intuitive Lifestyle coach however was borne out of circumstances at the time so maybe I would have eventually found my way to practicing Yoga at some point, but if I am being honest I probably would not have chosen to become a Life Coach just on a whim. I believe those are roles your heart and soul are called to serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://butterfly-effect-lifestyle.blog
• Instagram: b.e.lifestyle_coach.rachel
• Facebook: Butterfly-Effect-Lifestyle with Rachel Millar
• Twitter: @ButterflyMusing