I've officially graduated from the IIN program after a year of taking classes at 8am every Monday morning, putting in eight hours a week of work, listening to lectures, taking notes, and completing four major exams. Phew! I cannot begin to express the impact this program has had on me, on the development of Well Inspired Travels, and (looking forward) on the lives I will be able to affect in the future with this knowledge.
Need a quick summary of what the Institute of Integrative Nutrition is? A wellness and holistic health expert, Joshua Rosenthal, started this program 28 years ago in a small kitchen in New York and has grown it into a global program with more than 100,000 students/graduates across the world. The foundation of the education provided revolves around two things: "primary food" (relationships, physical activity, career, and spirituality--everything that fuels us outside of actual food) and bio-individuality (the principle that every one of us has individual dietary and lifestyle needs). After completing the course, which covers more than 100 dietary theories, features instructors like Brené Brown (one of my personal favorite humans), and provides education on everything from meditation to sleep to gluten intolerance, you come out of it a certified Health Coach.
This program fed my soul in a way that I didn't expect, encouraged me to analyze my passions, and most importantly, helped guide my vision for Well Inspired Travels. As a student, I often heard Joshua Rosenthal teach about the "ripple effect," which is the global shift that is happening and will continue to happen as more and more health coaches get out into the world to use their practice to change lives one at a time.
Rosenthal has said, "Human beings can heal themselves by themselves" and through this program, you learn exactly how he’s been teaching clients to do this for years. This particular concept struck a chord with me, as I grew up watching my father implement it in his own life through travel while fighting a difficult battle with cancer.
Travel was a form of healing for my father, with each destination serving as a restorative home away from home.
This became a sort of "full circle" moment for me in the curriculum. A moment that I was forced to pause and reflect on. Here I was, getting ready to launch Well Inspired Travels, a business fueled by my passion and belief in the healing benefits of travel, which was instilled in me from watching my father's health during his cancer battle improve during times of travel with our family. To help aide in the launch of WIT, I dove headfirst into the IIN program to find that one of the greatest thought leaders in the world behind holistic health is preaching how human beings can heal themselves, just as my father did.
Some refer to moments like this as "God winks," but at that moment, the wink I felt was my father's.
Our goal for Well Inspired Travels is to create that ripple effect Rosenthal speaks of through every client's life we touch. We aren't simply sending our clients away on vacation. We source properties that focus on and prioritize wellness and restoration, we jump through hoops to ensure each of our client's unique needs are met, and we guide our clients to destinations that will foster their desires for a life well-lived, from the inside out. It is on these trips that our clients can experience the cultures, cuisines, and rituals of their wellness destinations, then bring home and implement those practices into their daily lives.
My education through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition cleared my vision for Well Inspired Travels and helped guide our mission toward providing a complete mind, body, and spirit experience. Now, as a graduate of this program and a certified Health Coach, I'm excited to begin doing my part to continue the global health revolution.
