Joyce Friesen BA, BLS

Joyce Friesen Quick Facts

Main Areas: Integral Living Coach; whole food nutrition; meditation
Career Focus: Business Owner
Affiliation: Novalis Integra Center for Healing and Transformation

I'm an
integral living coach. I help people identify their major challenges
and support them to make their most resonant choice to resolve them. As
advisor and advocate I support people to revolutionize their overall
health and well-being, physically, mentally, emotionally, and
spiritually.

Find me at www.novalisintegra.com; email joycefriesen@novalisintegra.com

As a
result of my own experience, and over a 30-year career in medical
information and management at both the Vancouver Hospital Medical
Library and the Woodward Biomedical Library at the University of
British Columbia, I have developed an integrated system for physical,
mental, emotional and spiritual regeneration.

A
lifelong seeker, I discovered my spiritual path during the depths of my
stress and depression. I have been studying meditation with spiritual
master Sri Chinmoy for over 15 years.

And now for the behind the scenes version

My
mother died of stomach cancer when I was 18. It was horrible. They
removed her stomach and she starved to death. On the day that she died
I told myself, I am not going there. This is not going to happen to me.
I could not allow such tragic sickness and suffering into my life. I
had to find answers that would empower me in my commitment to wellness.

And So My Quest Began

For
years I read nutrition and self help books, bought a supplement because
it was advertised as “the solution” to my problem. I tried several
different therapies. I ate margarine because butter was bad. Then
“they” said margarine was bad, and butter was good. So I switched back.

My diet
wasn’t great, even though I thought I was eating healthy. Acording to
the latest research and what the media said, I was eating well and
should be full of vitality. In fact, this is the most common phrase I
hear from people today, “I’m eating healthy, but I just don’t feel
great.” So I share my story and then their light bulb often goes on.

Just
like the ice cream flavour of the month there always seemed to be
something new that would fix me. I spent 1000’s of $’s and couldn’t say
I felt any better. In fact I felt worse.

Of
course life got complicated, and like most women, I made lifestyle
choices that were destructive. I smoked. I drank too much. I took birth
control pills. I got married and had children.

On the
surface, it appeared as though I had it all together: the perfect
career, a lovely home, a beautiful garden, a swimming pool and a
country club membership. I was like a lot of women—superwoman or bust.

But I
was not only stressed. I was sick with severe colds and flu, and
constant headaches that often lasted for five days. I was depressed and
totally exhausted, but I kept on pushing myself.

And
then one day, when I got out of bed, I was so dizzy, I couldn’t move.
My doctor did a battery of tests that indicated there was nothing physically wrong with me. And yet I didn’t feel good. I didn’t look good and I was afraid for my overall health.

The Road Less Travelled

Out of desperation, I went to see a homeopath. She gave me the full picture of what was really
going on inside my body. I had allergies I didn’t know about. I had
fungal, bacterial and viral infections in various parts of my body. I
had parasites. I had chemical and metal overload and the list went on.
Internally, I was a toxic waste dump.

That
rather horrifying assessment was my wake-up call. I knew I needed to
flush out the toxins and waste from my body. But where did they all
come from? And how was I going to get them out?

And I
knew I needed to take a hard look at my toxic lifestyle. But not just
what was going on with my body. I needed to look at my attitudes, my
thoughts, and my beliefs. And the biggest question of all—who am I?

Ancient Principles—Modern Science

My
homeopath introduced me to the ancient Chinese principles of nourish,
balance, and cleanse—the philosophy of regeneration. These principles
applied not only to the body, but also to the mind and emotions.

The
philosophy of regeneration says that the body is best nourished by a
wide variety of whole foods. Once the body is nourished, it has the
innate ability to bring itself into balance and harmony, to create
optimum health. It is a blue print for vitality and well-being.

I
finally understood the problem of modern nutrition. There is no
philosophy. The single isolate or single nutrient approach is just a
prop up job. If you try to do something to strengthen the body with one
single herb or nutrient and expect to get a whole effect, you won’t.
And you will probably get a side effect as your body is pulling in too
many different directions all at the same time.

Our
bodies have so many different parts, and so many different things are
required to nourish all these different parts. If you don’t nourish the
whole there can be no balance. There will only be excess and deficiency.

But
regeneration goes beyond the body and encompasses the mind and heart
also. If we have negative thoughts our minds are out of balance. If we
have anger our emotions are out of balance. And if we have hatred our
hearts are out of balance and we cannot become the love we came here to
spread.

And now
the exciting news. Even contemporary science is beginning to understand
what the ancients knew. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

As a
result of the mapping of the human genome, a whole new science has
emerged—epigenetics. The greatest discovery during this project was
that it is the context of the cells that is the most important factor
in determining health—not DNA. It is what happens outside the cell that
is the critical factor. It’s what happens to the DNA that makes it respond.

This
applies to nutrition as well. An exciting aspect of epigenetics is
nutritional genomics, the discovery of the path to personalized
nutrition. What we put into our mouths has a profound effect, not only
on our body, but on our entire being.

The
deeper I dig into this knowledge the stronger is my inspiration to
share my journey with all those who resonate with me. I believe that
anything worth having is worth sharing. So by building a better me, I
build a better world.

 

 

 

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