A Movement of Wholeness

BY: Nicole Mixdorf

Because of the extremely challenging times we have all been going through over the past several years, many people are struggling with their health and well-being now more than ever, individually and collectively. The pandemic turned all of our lives upside down, shifting the way that we live and work.

Many people fell ill, lost loved ones, and struggled with financial insecurity. We have also faced political turmoil, financial crisis, racial and gender injustice, and senseless war, on top of the pressures we each experience through our circumstances and daily responsibilities.

Our bodies have been in an active ongoing state of stress response for several years, taking a huge toll on our mental and emotional well-being. A recent Deloitte report on Mental Health in the Workplace shows that one out of three C-Suite executives and employees constantly struggle with fatigue and poor mental health, with 70% of them seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being.

We are in a mental health crisis that can no longer be ignored. It's time to disrupt the business-as-usual model of overworking our people, overlooking that their lives are so far out of balance that they are left feeling exhausted and disengaged, leading to burnout, illness, and record levels of turnover.

Businesses have a unique opportunity to step up as leaders to support and retain their staff by cultivating a culture of wholeness. Employees need the tools and skill sets to regulate their nervous systems and heal their bodies physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and energetically to function and thrive. When we bring all areas of our lives into balance: our careers, finances, health, relationships, family, mindset, and fun – we can achieve a state of wholeness where we feel complete and at peace and able to show up as our whole selves to do our best work.

In my ten years of running Balance by Nature, an award-winning corporate well-being company that has worked with major national and global brands, I have seen how many organizations need help to unify their people under a solid organizational culture. The pandemic intensified this through the shift into remote work, and now with the attempt at bringing employees back into the office, which has been met with resistance. This has left many executives and human resources teams wondering how to support mental health and increase engagement and a sense of belonging so they retain their #1 asset – their employees.

From a business perspective, several initiatives affect company culture, including Core Values, Health & well-being, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, Learning & Development, Leadership Training, Employee Experience, and Behavioral Coaching. Each of these initiatives is often managed independently from one another by different teams and vendors that don't communicate with one another, which pulls the culture in different directions.

On one hand, Health and Well-being programs strive to create a healthy culture that supports employees in feeling their best. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging programs aim to create a more open and inclusive culture where employees feel psychologically safe to show up as their whole selves. Leadership Training programs are designed to shift how leaders connect with and manage their teams, impacting the business's culture.

And on the other hand, Behavioral Coaching provides employees with insights into how they and their colleagues are wired so they can improve their emotional intelligence, communication, and performance personally and collectively, which impacts the culture. Employee Experience initiatives are designed to create a welcoming environment that fosters engagement, productivity, and performance. Learning and Development initiatives aim to upskill staff members so they can be more inspired and creative in their projects, driving new plans that impact the culture.

Doesn’t it make more sense to unify and manage these initiatives together to facilitate a culture of wholeness?

At Balance by Nature, we are taking an integrative approach to culture development by bringing together a team of culture experts in the fields of Health & Well-being, Learning & Development, Diversity Equity Inclusion & Belonging, Behavioral Coaching, Employee Experience, and Leadership Training who collaborate under a strategic culture plan for the business which ensures that each of the initiatives is moving in the same direction for maximum impact.

This collaboration sparks greater creativity and the sharing of resources and insights, which allows for cross-content delivery and cross-promotion for impactful engagement. Through this, we move the needle forward to create environments where employees feel appreciated and supported in being their whole selves.

I am passionate about creating a Movement of Wholeness, both in the corporate world and beyond, where we can inspire people to make sustainable balance in their lives so they can thrive as they heal physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's time to ignite humanity under an umbrella of healing and wholeness, where we can unite as a community to share our stories and lift one another to become our best selves.

Releasing the pain from our past allows us to grow, evolve, and shine our inner light for others to follow. Life is beautiful, challenging, and tragic all at once, and we can simultaneously hold space for all of it as long as someone shows us the way.

As a thought leader, I have created a Balance by Nature Wholeness program delivered via a mobile app that incorporates work-life balance, mindful leadership, personal development, fitness, nutrition, and holistic healing to provide people with the tools they need to live their best lives. Much of the motivational content is inspired by my own healing journey.

I launched Balance by Nature 10 years ago after experiencing a debilitating illness brought on by the intense stress of my corporate career and my dad's 7-year battle with cancer. The pressure hitting me from all sides caused me to develop bleeding ulcers, eventually impacting my ability to do my job and function. When I took time off work to remove a significant source of stress from my life and focus on self-care, the most amazing thing happened - my symptoms disappeared!

This was an awakening moment where I realized that a 'healthy lifestyle' of fitness and nutrition wasn't enough in the face of intense chronic stress. It was also then that I got inspired to launch Balance by Nature because I wanted to encourage people to create sustainable balance and heal.

I realized that busy professionals everywhere were buckling under the stress of their lives, affecting their health in many ways: migraines, digestive issues, anxiety, depression, insomnia, autoimmune conditions, and many others. The sad truth is that most of them didn't even realize that stress was the underlying culprit that triggers these symptoms in their lives.

Throughout the past decade, I experienced additional flare-ups of bleeding ulcers that coincided with intense periods of stress in my life, including my dad's recurrence of cancer which happened three times, and then losing him and several other close family members in a short time. I also experienced the painful physical, mental, and emotional toll of three miscarriages as my husband and I started our family.

I went through a lot of loss and grief while simultaneously being depleted by my health challenges as I worked to grow the business and raise two beautiful children, but I never let those stop me from pursuing my purpose and fulfilling my dreams. My mindset allowed me to create the emotional resilience to hold space for all these experiences and keep my life balanced as I moved forward.

The beautiful part is that I got to teach others how to do the same thing in their lives. Our circumstances and challenges may differ, but the suffering is the same, and I inspired my clients to move forward through the storms of their lives to find their light and the beautiful rainbow waiting for them at the end of it.

In 2019, my health condition hit a critical point where it wouldn't respond to traditional medications or treatments. The doctors had nothing left to offer me, so I embarked on a remarkable journey to heal my body where I tried 14 different healing modalities, including nutrition, naturopathy, acupuncture, energy healing, light healing, medical intuition, Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, hyperbaric therapy, shamanic healing, Reiki healing, Sai Shakti healing, sound healing, and Reconnective healing.

After experiencing and receiving a true healing miracle from a Chinese Divine Healing Master that defied the laws of physics and what we can comprehend is possible in this life, it inspired me to start incorporating holistic healing modalities into Balance by Nature's corporate well-being programming. My clients needed to be introduced to new ways of healing their bodies that transcend the Western symptom management system, and this is how we move beyond wellness and well-being into wholeness.

Balance by Nature’s Wholeness program is available as a Corporate Well-being and Learning & Development initiative, but we have also decided to open it up to the public so everyone can access its inspiring content via our mobile app. If you are ready to find balance and heal from within, I invite you to download our app and start on one of our self-development or healing journeys.

You'll be supported by a daily schedule of live-streamed holistic healing events (meditation, somatic healing, Reiki, EFT tapping, and more), and a library of on-demand fitness and nutrition classes. You’ll also join a community of peers where you can share stories and cheer each other on as you achieve your health, happiness, stress, and energy goals. Our physical and mental health is our true wealth, and it’s up to each of us to reclaim it and live our best lives. Let’s build a Movement of Wholeness together!

About the author:

Nicole Mixdorf is a #1 International Best-Selling Author, Keynote Speaker, and the Founder & Chief Wellness Officer of Balance by Nature, an Award-Winning Corporate Culture and Well-being Company. She has been recognized as Most Influential Woman in Corporate Wellness Services USA 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, Top 100 Healthcare Leader in the World 2021, Top 10 Successful Business Leader Revamping the Future 2021, Top 50 Woman Business Leader of Los Angeles 2023, and Thought Leader of Our Generation 2023.

Nicole consults with executives developing corporate cultures of wholeness to become Top Companies to Work For, where leaders and employees are supported in creating sustainable balance in their lives to heal and thrive. She is a prolific speaker, master teacher, and healer, delivering transformational personal development and wellness experiences to audiences in the thousands.

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