Taylor Norris Author On My Trending Stories
I am a person who strives to cultivate an ever-deeper appreciation for life. I currently live in Monroe, LA, my hometown. This time appears to be an important layover in my spiritual journey.
I am super excited to be enrolled in a year-long course with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition to obtain certification as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. I plan to develop a private practice with individual clients as well as to lead group-based classes and webinars on holistic health topics. Additionally, I have the blessed opportunity to sink into my writing and share my experiences with the world through blogging. I hope to write many books in my future :) I also give holistic health and wellness workshops at the local health food store Fiesta Nutrition on everything from raw foods and plant-based nutrition to kombucha! It is an absolute joy and pleasure to elevate consciousness around health in Louisiana!
I also work an 8-5 job at Vantage Health Plan and Affinity Health Group in Monroe. I am grateful to be of service to people in need of conventional health services and do all that I can to effect positive change within the old paradigm. In my down time, I focus on maintaining a balance of healing and play with meditation, hot power vinyasa at Blue Sky Yoga, 12-step meetings, and lots of long walks on the levee with my two Alaskan Klee Kais to enjoy nature as much as possible.
My spiritual journey has taken me all over the country. From April-December of 2015, I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. After two years as a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctorate program at Indiana State University, I decided it was time for me to follow my heart--not my head--for a major change of scenery. A lightning flash of intuition too powerful to ignore led me to the Big Island of Hawaii in April of 2015. I spent a few months on the aina on a raw vegan fruit orchard and aspiring organic farm, where I created a farmers market stand at one of the world's top farmers markets in Hilo. I shared homemade fermented vegetables, kombucha, raw vegan pies, and tropical fruits with the community. This was a radically different change of pace for me after two strenuous years in a cut-throat doctorate program, and I learned a lot about the aspects of myself that still need nurturance, attention, and healing. My dogs made the journey out to the Big Island in September, and with their arrival, I moved to Pahoa, where I completed a series of coconut water, water, and juice fasts.
Back in Indiana, I learned arguably way more than I need to know in the field of clinical psychology, but this knowledge has prepared me to be an extremely effective Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. I am particularly grateful for my experiences seeing clients at the Psychology Clinic and teaching two semesters of the Psychology of Health Behaviors to undergraduate students. I am proud to say that I earned a M.S. in psychology during my time at ISU.
While in Terre Haute, IN, I had the blessed opportunity to be a part of the Maple Center for Integrative Health's Lifestyle Education and Food leadership team. LEAF provides lifestyle education courses to the rural Indiana community that focus on nutrition, exercise, and stress management. I had the pleasure of providing the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) Food for Life courses specific to cancer, diabetes, and children in addition to more general lifestyle change courses. I am excited to bring these types of educational workshops and programs to Monroe, LA in the future.
I have always been passionate about food, nature, spiritual growth, self-discovery, and writing, and my journey has been one of infinite evolution. As a child, I always intuitively gravitated towards healthy foods, nature, and recreation, but these instincts became buried and repressed in my high school and college years. In the last four years, I have undergone exponential growth, gradually ridding myself of patterns which no longer serve me and embracing creativity, vitality, health, healing, harmony, and connection. Along my journey, I have let go of many poisons, unhealthy foods, and habits. I can honestly say that I am more myself today than I was yesterday, let alone 5 or 6 years ago. I do my best daily to embrace plant foods in the context of the most natural, fulfilling lifestyle I can manage in the modern world. I enjoy meditation, yoga, playing, all experiences outside, gardening, painting, photographing the sky and living foods, journaling, making things with plants, creating in the kitchen, learning and growing, and connecting with infinite beings like you!
My life is filled with meaning when I get to share my personal experiences with you and do all that I can to promote healthy behavior change in myself, first and foremost, and in others willing to take on the task of transformation. I strive to hold space for growth and realization of one's inner potential for health and happiness. Writing and teaching are my passions; they give my life meaning. Feel free to check out my writing here.
For now, listen to your inner guidance, first and foremost. The body is always present and willing to communicate to us if we listen. I invite you to embrace the opportunity to tune into your intuition and to revitalize your mind body spirit’s natural intelligence and capacity for health and happiness.
Namaste,
Taylor Ann Norris, M.S.
