Soul Transformation - How Health Coach Jackie found the Answer & then Discovered the Emptiness
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January 19, 2021 - Episode #52 - Soul Transformation - How Health Coach Jackie found the Answer & then Discovered the Emptiness
There is so much we can learn from other people's stories. We see that we are not the only one who struggles. Today you will hear the story of Jackie Sanchez. Now, she is a Certified Health and Wellness Coach, an Instagram influencer and the Creator of Conscious Body. Then, she was a little girl who struggled with weight and body image and was put on her first diet at the age of 12. From cystic acne, tremendous weight gain and PCOS; Jackie was a girl that wouldn’t even go to college because she was so ashamed of her weight. After thinking she found the answer in Holistic studies and New Age, she discovered the emptiness and only temporary feelings of happiness. It wasn’t until a YouTube video and family friend opened her eyes, that she felt the blind fold fall away and Jesus Christ transformed her life Jackie has had a complete body, mind and soul health transformation and today we are talking about the transformation of her soul. Listen to Part 1 of her eye-opening story today on Healthy Harmony and join us next week for the 2nd part of Jackie Sanchez's story as we dig into the mind and body aspect of her journey. You are not going to want to miss this! If after listening to this, you find yourself relating to Jackie’s story. The shame, the horrible body image, the struggle with emptiness in searching for spiritual health. There is help. I created Healthy Harmony to help women address all aspects of health...body, mind and soul so they can live confidently in intentional harmony. If this is what you are looking for, consider booking a one-hour, virtual coaching session at inspirehealthyharmony.com. Read Full Transcript below Where else to listen: (note: Google is only available on android devices)
FULL TRANSCRIPT
January 19, 2021 - Episode #52 - Soul Transformation - How Health Coach Jackie found the Answer & then Discovered the Emptiness Speaker 1: There's so much to learn from other people's stories. We see that we're not the only one who struggles today. You will hear the story of Jackie Sanchez, now she's a certified health and wellness coach. The creator of Conscious Body. She's an Instagram influencer. Then, she was a little girl who struggled with weight and body image and was put on her first diet at the age of 12. From cystic acne, tremendous weight gain and PCOS Jackie was a girl who wouldn't even go to college because she was so ashamed of her weight. After thinking she found the answer in holistic studies and new age, she discovered the emptiness and only temporary feelings of happiness. It wasn't until a YouTube video and family friend opened her eyes that she felt the blindfold fall away. And Jesus Christ transformed her life. Jackie has had a complete body mind and soul health transformation. And today we're talking about the health of her soul. Listen to her story today on Healthy Harmony. Hello, Jackie. I am absolutely thrilled that you are joining me today. So how are you, my friend? Speaker 2: I am excited to be here. I'm fabulous. How are you? Speaker 1: I'm so good. I'm so good. I'm just glad. We have chatted several times and I am so glad that we're getting to record this because I think people are just struggling and I know you are no stranger to struggle. You have struggled a lot with your weight and your body image. So I want to hear your story. Speaker 2: Oh, Jen, this goes way back. And I would say I was, I was nine years old when I first felt like something was a little bit off of my body. And that's because I overheard conversations with adults about how I may be a little bit heavier, for my height and for my age. But it wasn't until I was 12 where something just clicked and that something was this little boy on the playground who told me that I had really big legs and that kind of reaffirmed what I had been, what I began to think at the age of nine. So at the age of 12, I embarked on a weight loss journey. Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. It's an, I think what makes me sad about that statement is it, it wasn't just the adults in your life. You were hearing that negativity from them, but it was that one little boy that made that statement. You having big legs. And so you started on a weight loss journey at a very, very young age. What did that, what did that journey look like? Speaker 2: So at the time my mom had just given birth to my youngest sister and she was trying to lose the baby weight. And as a mother, I mean, I don't have any kids, but I could just imagine as a mother, you just want to help your child as much as you can, however, whatever way that you can. And so she saw that I was struggling and she saw that I was in pain because I emotional pain because I couldn't fit in the clothes that other little girls could fit in. I always wore sweats. And I don't know if you guys have a Mervyn's out there, but I used to buy my, and it closed down in California now, but I used to go to Mervyn's and buy my jeans because those were the only pants that would fit. I can look back now and say that I was just built a little bit different than the rest of the other little girls, but my mom saw that. And her way of helping was, well, I'm trying to lose a pregnancy weight. My friend gave me this diet to follow. You can follow along with me. And so that was a, that was thinking back now, all I was eating, it was supposed to be a low carb diet, but all I was eating was a piece of steak. That was it all day. Speaker 1: Okay. And how did that make you feel when your mom said, Hey, I've got to lose the pregnancy weight. You can go on this diet with me. Like, what were your, and, and that was so, so long ago, but what were your thoughts and feelings when she told you that? Speaker 2: I saw that as hope I saw that as like, okay, I don't have to do this alone. And of course she didn't know better and I didn't know better. So we both thought that that was a solution. And she herself had gone through her own weight loss struggles and weight issues from teenage years up until then, up until now. And so again, that was just, that's just all she knew and that's all she can teach me. She could teach me at the time, Speaker 1: But I love how you know, in her thinking process, she was like, Hey, we can do this together. So that's like that whole mentality of we're in this together. And I think that's a beautiful thing. Speaker 2: Yes. And actually throughout my entire journey, she was, she was supporting me and it ended up being that later I developed PCOS, I'm not sure if you're familiar with polycystic ovarian syndrome. I am, I am. Yeah. So I had gained a lot of weight and not just that I had a lot of acne on my face, so the weight gain and the acne, it really affected my confidence. And so, again, as a mother, she, wherever I needed to go, if it was, I mean, Jen, I tried it all. If it was a diet, if it was a product, if it was a random lady at her house coming up with some potion for acne that she, my mom was there 100% taking me to these places. And again, that was just her way of helping. But at the time we both didn't realize like, Hey there, the thing that we had to do was create an actual lifestyle change. Speaker 1: Yes, yes. And that's hard to do, especially when there's no knowledge of a lifestyle change. I mean said, you know, your mom, someone had given her a diet that was the best she knew. So I think it's hard to make that really big change when you haven't been coached on how to make that change. So when were you diagnosed with the PCOS and, and the cystic acne? Like, what did that look like? Speaker 2: Yeah, so the cystic acne that started at a very young age, I must have been, I would say 13, 14, and it was an ongoing thing. And I was going dermatologist after dermatologist at this point, I'm still not diagnosed with PCOS. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on with my face. And we, even for that, we try to everything under the sun and nothing was working until we came across Accutane. And that's a whole story of its own. If I could go back, never done that. Like looking back now, because I still, this is now like more than 10 years later, I'm still having issues, different types of issues with my skin because of that pill. But anyway, yeah, the acne ended up clearing because of the Accutane. And I did a couple rounds of that, but the weight was still an issue. And I remember losing and gaining weight over and over all throughout junior high and high school, because I kept trying different diets. So that, that diet that we did at, when I was 12, that wasn't the first, then last diet that we did. We tried multiple things, whatever we heard, we worked jumping on it and we're like, okay, let's try this. And when I say we, my mom, and then not just my mom, but my siblings, because I had a brother who was also struggling with his weight and then a sister, the sister that was a newborn that grew up, right? So it became like this family thing where we were, we were all trying to lose the weight. And I remember even at one time, we came across as personal trainer on a radio station and we were following his meal plan. And part of his meal plan was, I think it was like once a week, you had to wake up at 3:00 AM and take and drink a protein shake because they would do, I don't know what to your metabolism. So here we are four of us waking up at 3:00 AM, walking down the stairs, half asleep, taking protein shakes, 3:00 AM. Speaker 1: That's crazy. That is crazy. Yeah. Speaker 2: So I struggled with the weight and it wasn't until senior year of high school when they, they diagnosed them with PCOS and I knew something was off just because my, my cycle was a little bit off. And then I would also get these terrible pains around where my ovaries are and we would get to the point to where it would hurt to breathe. I couldn't even walk. Sometimes I just had, I just had to lay down and just be there. And it turned out that I did have cyst in my ovaries because of the PCOS, but all this was, I didn't even know any of this. I just thought, I thought that there was something wrong with me because I was the girl, always on a diet, always trying to lose weight yet my weight never really changed. And that to me was embarrassing. Speaker 1: And I was going to ask you, because listening to your voice and, and what you went through with the, the losing weight of, on a program or a diet or whatever the thing might be, and then regaining the weight what were the main feelings that stood out at you? What was that? What did that guilt and that shame? How was that manifested? Speaker 2: Oh yeah. I always blame myself for not being able to keep the weight off and looking back now, Jen, I have made a lot of lifestyle changes, but I also feel like a lot of the weight that I was holding onto was definitely on an emotional, spiritual level. Speaker 1: Okay. That's very, very powerful. So talk to me about that. You know, hindsight is always 2020, but you've realized that one of those big obstacles was emote was emotional health. So what did that look like for you and how did you realize that? Speaker 2: Yeah, so I didn't really realize this until I was in college. So I always identified with my physical body. I couldn't see beyond that. And I couldn't feel beyond that. And I never, it really never crossed my mind that there could be more to me than just a physical body. I just focus on that. And that was it. That was all my attention and my, and my feelings, but it wasn't until my first, my first year of college, well, technically would have been my first, my first year, but really quick. I actually didn't go to college right after high school, because I had gained so much weight for that point that I was ashamed and embarrassed, and I didn't want to be seen. So at some point, my parents, because I was at student that you saw and you'd be like, okay, this girl is going to go to a, for a university. She's going to do, she's going to do great things. But because of my weight, I was so ashamed that I lied to my parents about getting into schools. I said that something went wrong with financial aid, that I was going to be able to go away. And my parents, because I was also the I'm the oldest. So I think that that was kind of a relief to them because they didn't want me to go anyways. They just wanted me to do community college and then later transfer. So my mom was like, okay, that's fine. But then I lied about that too. I said, Hey, I can't even get into community college because everything's taken their classes are filled up. So that was just a way of me continuing to hide. And eventually they said, Hey, you can't continue to just go to the gym and be home and, and go to work. You have to go back to school. So I remember going to the school catalog and I saw a class, I said, spiritual health, and I didn't really know what spiritual health meant or what it was, but I just had this feeling, Jen, that I had to be in that class. So I ended up taking that class at summer cause I had to catch up on credits. And the first day that I was in that class, the professor said something along the lines of you're more than just a physical body. You're a spiritual being, having a human experience. And although I didn't really understand what had just been said, it resonated at a deeper level. And I knew there had to be more, they had to be more to life than just my physical body and actually being in that class shifted a lot for me in my life. Speaker 1: This is such a pivotal moment and it's so heartbreaking to hear how your physical body, your weight and all the guilt and the shame that came along with that weight. And, and all of those failed diets, how that really kept you, held you back from living in freedom that held you back from even pursuing, you know, education. But I love, I love that moment where you were, you were looking at glasses and you thought, okay, that spiritual health, that kind of gets my attention. I'm going to take that class. And that is a powerful statement that you're not just a physical body, so that, it sounds like that class was, was pivotal was just a transformation process for you. So as you started on that journey of truly transforming and looking at mind, body, soul, and how that all works together, what did that look like for you? What were your next action steps? Speaker 2: Yeah, so the information that was presented to me was very new. I had never been exposed to any of this and yes, it was a spiritual health class, but I didn't understand that it wasn't, there's different, there's different types of spirituality. There's the faith that we believe in God. And then there's also a different type of spirituality that's out there. And so I learned what was the new age spirituality. And to me, Jen, that was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. I, I loved it so much that I ended up getting my degree in holistic studies. And it was something that I thought because I grew up in a Christian household. And when I came across this class and then not just that class, but now all the other classes that I had to take to get my degree in holistic studies, it's like this whole new world was open. And I was, I didn't understand how nobody ever talked to me about this way before. And I thought that was the solution to all my problems. Speaker 1: And so what did you find? Because it's easy to see how, especially when it's presented in a certain manner, it sounds like this whole new age of thinking, Hey, this is the answer to all my problems. So did you find it was the answer or did you find the opposite ? Speaker 2: So at the time, and for years after that, I thought that that was the answer, especially because I was so angry at God, senior year of high school, because I saw, I saw myself and I had gained a lot of weight and I had the fresh stretch marks. So they were still red and I equated being skinny or having a perfect body with love. And I just thought that if I was that person, then I would attract the perfect boyfriend or the perfect love in my life. And so when I saw the way that I looked, I was so angry at God. And I asked him if, if I am your child, why would he do this to me? Why me, why would you pick on me? And so that created a lot of anger and resentment that I wasn't even aware of. So when I was in this spiritual class and the special health class, things are presented to me as such in a very nice way, and there was no good or bad and everything was just like this huge learning experience. And I really took it all in because those were the words that I needed to hear at the time. Speaker 1: My goodness. And I love your, thank you so much for your honesty, because I think so many times we just, we hesitate, we as women, we don't want to talk about our struggles, but you're getting real with us here. And you're talking about this anger at God, because you had associated him with those struggles and, you know, and, and you had grown to accept this notion of, if I have a perfect body, I can equate that with love. And so why has God allowed me to go through these things? And then you kind of saw this, Hey, is, is this, you know, new age, holistic, you know, approach? Is this the answer for me? So when did you find that it was not working? Speaker 2: Yeah, so I actually, I loved that so much that even the health coaching program that I, that I did really tied into a lot of these new age beliefs, and I didn't know it at the time, but I went off to also get certified. I went to be a Reiki master. I did all these classes with psychics and mediums, and I really thought Jen, that that was a truth. And that was the solution to what I had been looking for because it all made me feel good. Right. But what I did know and what I didn't realize that it was all temporary, I would feel good for a little bit. And it would kind of numb what I was looking for. I always, I always preach self-love self discovery and self-awareness, and what I found out is that that can only go so far without God. And so I went years. I mean, I, even at 23, I must have been done with college. But by that time I bought a one way plane ticket to Mexico. And I said, I'm moving there until I discover the self love that I'd been looking for. And my first day there, someone said that what I needed was God in my life. And I said, I don't, I don't understand what you're talking about because I've learned about God in school. And the God that you're talking about is that the God that I've learned about, because he, God and Jesus were painted very different in my holistic classes. Okay. Yeah. So it wasn't until then, I'm going through that journey and trying to fill this void and realizing that no matter what I did, there was still somewhat of an emptiness. And what I came to realize recently about a year ago was that these words are empty. They can't really feel you up. There's no substance to the words and you can't be the problem and the solution at the same time, you cannot be your own God. So these things that I was preaching about self-love and body positivity, I understand that now, but there's so much more to it. It's not, it's not like it was being thrown out there on social media, especially on Instagram. Speaker 1: You're so right. And so many powerful statements there. I like how you said you can't be the problem and the solution at the same time, you can't be your own God. And I just, I really admire your faith journey. So how did you come to know him and what was the real truth? Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's kind of a crazy story on its own because I felt like God came knocking at my door many times, especially growing up in a Christian household and then going to college, forgetting about that, building my own coaching practice on these new age beliefs, getting a degree. So I was sold out. I was like, this is the answer. This is the way, how can no one have ever told me about anything else? And so I did that for quiet. I would have say over five, maybe six years, Jen, until one day, my, my boyfriend had asked me to introduce him to a friend of mine and this friend, he was an older man. He was in his seventies. And the reason why I had met him, my mom connected me with him. And I had gone to my mom when I was in college. And I said, Hey, mom, I have $5,000. I want to turn this into 10,000. How can I do that? And my mom looked at me and she said, if I knew how to do that, I would have done it a long time ago. And she's like, but I'm going to connect you with someone who may know how to do this. So she connected me with his man. His name is Frank and Frank and his family had owned over a hundred plus rental properties managed a lot of things in the, in life. So he was someone that I could learn from. But every time I went to meet with this man, Jen, he had a Bible and he would tell me that any, any question or any concern that I need is solved within that book. And I remember getting so frustrated because I just wanted to know how to make my 5,000 to 10,000, that's it. But he would never get to the point. So I eventually stopped showing up and every now and then we would stay in contact, but that was it. So when I told my boyfriend about him, years, years later, he's like, Hey, I would like to meet him. And I said, sure, because my boyfriend's in the financial industry. So it kind of peaked his interest. He wanted to kind of get to know him, pick his brain. And I said, yeah, I'll introduce you to him, but be warned. He doesn't get to the point. He's gonna, he's gonna want you to re read the Bible. And he's like, that's fine. Like, I just want to meet the man. So long story short, they met. Next thing I know they're doing a Bible study together. Don't even know how that happened because my boyfriend was not, he didn't even believe in God. He was, he's more of a science person or was more of a scientific person. So they had their first meeting. I remember this on a Sunday at 3:00 PM for their first Bible study. I think it was like a 16 week course. And I remember feeling so left out because part of me always wanted to, to know God, the way that other people have described him, I didn't know how to do that. So when they were doing their Bible study, I said to myself, well, I guess I'm going to do my own Bible study at home. I don't need them. And so I don't know what I typed into YouTube, but I came across. I don't, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Doreen virtue and I'm not. Well, she was very, she was very big in new age and she created a lot of the tarot decks. And I, I had three of her decks. And the reason why I even bought these decks is because it had angels on them and Jesus and Mary and Joseph. So I thought they were very innocent decks and I'm like, okay, there could be nothing wrong with this. Although I bought them, I never really used those. I went on to purchase other decks that I did use in life, but I had her decks. So I knew who she was. And that one Sunday, when I went onto YouTube, I saw her video that said during virtue conversion from new age to Jesus or new ways to Christianity, either one. And I remember seeing that and I thought to myself, okay, I heard about her conversion a whole year prior. And when I heard about her conversion, I went on her website and on her website, she had a list of all the things that were new age, crystals, Reiki, meditations, yogas. And I remember looking at that list and I thought to myself, poor lady has gone crazy. Like what happened to her? And a whole year later when I come across as YouTube video, I, I watched it. I didn't even question it. I watched the whole thing and I felt like a blindfold in that instant was taken off my eyes. And I didn't even know how to feel. Jen. I felt numb and YouTube recommends videos. So I went onto the next video and it was another person, another testimonial of someone who had converted from new age to Jesus. And I've watched a couple of videos and I felt like my whole world had shattered. I felt deceived. I felt life too. I felt like, how could I have fallen for this new age trap? How could it be? And so I later that day, or the next day I called the pastor up and I said to him, Hey, I finally understand what you had been trying to tell me all these years. And to me, it was a pretty big deal because I don't think he understood how far deep I wasn't to this new age. I think he was just trying to introduce me to Jesus and be saved, but it was like the world collapsed. The rug was pulled out of under my feet. I feel a whole coaching practice on this. I couldn't do this anymore. Then I just knew in that minute that I, that I could no longer move forward with that. I also didn't know what to believe because I wasn't well versed in the word of God. I didn't know anything. So it was so hard to move forward. I ended up joining them in that Bible study class and ever since then, my life was completely transformed. Speaker 1: I love, love that faith story and yours is so beautifully complex because it wasn't just your personal story. It's also your livelihood because you had built your whole entire coaching practice on these new age beliefs. And it was very powerful when you said that there was just so much emptiness there that, you know, all of that was very, very temporary. Any kind of feel-good would just be temporary. And then as you leaned into learning and opening up your mind and your heart to guide that, that fell off. And I love what I love, how you have come back to Jesus Christ and your faith journey is such a pivotal aspect. Now I'm going to tell our listeners real quick. I know you want to hear more from Jackie because her story is very powerful. So we're actually doing a series together. So I just want to put a bug in your ear. I want you to join us again. Next week, this week, we really dug into Jackie's story with her health transformation, with regard to soul. But we want to look at mind, body, and soul. So next week we're going to dig in to the rest of her health transformation with regard to mind and body. So I hope you will join us for that. Jackie, thank you so very much. I know you have got an appointment, my friend, but I can't wait to dig into this further with you and I love seeing the transformation here. It's just incredible. Speaker 2: I'm excited, Jen. I'm excited for the series because I have some stories for you guys. I love it. I love it. And thank you for your honesty. And I know our listeners are lifts are looking forward to this series. So guys, we will see you next week as we dig into Jackie's story further, Jackie, thanks for joining us. I'll talk to you soon. All right, Jen. Thank you. Speaker 1: I'm so thankful that Jackie joined us today and was just so candid and honest about her struggles and what she realized. We had the new age move. If after listening to this, you find yourself relating to Jackie's story, the shame, the horrible body image, the struggle with emptiness in searching for spiritual health for so nourishment. I want you to know there's help. I created healthy harmony to help women address all aspects of health, body, mind, and soul so that they can live competently in intentional harmony. So, if this is what you are looking for, consider booking a one-hour, virtual coaching session at inspirehealthyharmony.com/coaching.html. Now I want to make sure you join us next week for the second part of the series. As we dig into the mind and body aspect at Jackie's journey, you are not going to want to miss this until the end. I hope you have a healthy and happy day. Bye y'all |
