Self-Care & Mental Wellness: Lisa Roche Of Nagare and Spirit Calling On The Top Five Selfcare Practices That Improve Mental Wellness

Let’s face it. It seems that everyone is under a great deal of stress these days. This takes a toll on our mental wellness. What are some of the best self-care practices that we can use to help improve our mental wellness and mental well-being? In this interview series, we are talking to medical doctors, mental health professionals, health and wellness professionals, and experts about self-care or mental health who can share insights from their experience about How Each Of Us Can Use Self Care To Improve Our Mental Wellness. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Lisa Roche.

Lisa Roche is an expert Healer with nearly two decades of practice and specialization addressing the root causes of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual discomfort, helping clients who are ready to experience profound change to heal their pain and live in peace. Lisa also co-founded Spirit Calling, an online resource offering community, education, and guidance from an intentionally curated collection of practitioners to ensure the highest quality of support as you align your life to fulfill your Soul’s purpose.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal story? What has brought you to this point in your life?

In 2005, I had suffered yet another back injury and instead of following the same protocol of rest, muscle relaxers, and ice, I was introduced to The GYROTONIC® Method. Working with the movements, I was able to rehabilitate my back pain in minutes. I never looked back — I practiced regularly and then wound up becoming a certified instructor.

During a stressful period of my life, I continued to help others, but fell away from helping myself. We had just been through the sale of one house which stayed on the market for 11 months, downsizing with a family of 4 and 4 pets into a rental home for 2 years and the purchase and renovation of our new home. We had just moved in when a month later, I suffered an injury to my atlas.

The atlas is the first vertebrae of the spine, tucked away under the occipital ridge of the cranium and very difficult to see in traditional x-rays and MRI’s. I went from being a thriving, vibrant 42 year old woman to being in a wheelchair, unable to sit up unassisted, walk, hear, see or hold things. After feeling a tremendous squeeze at the back of my head, I blacked out while at breakfast with friends. When I came to, I couldn’t hear, see or find my balance. I was taken home and began a 9 month long exploration of my mind, body, and spirit connection.

I saw every doctor imaginable, suffered through inappropriate treatments that made my symptoms worse, went through hearing tests, sight tests, MRI’s, CT Scans, vestibular training, neurological treatments, medications, dry needling, PT — you name it, I tried it. Finally, after an ENT suggested drilling a hole in my skull behind my ear to relieve pressure and explore what could be going wrong with my brain, I broke down and followed my sister’s suggestion to see a Chiropractor. Within minutes of that initial visit and adjustment, I could see and hear. I regained about 75% functionality, the problem was that I couldn’t hold the adjustment for a full recovery, and that then became my fixation.

At a very low moment, I lay on my floor and prayed to be taken. I begged to end my pain, end my family’s burden, and for peace. I dropped into the deepest state of meditation I had ever experienced. While there, I heard a voice telling me that I had the ability to heal and that help would come if I asked. I was then told to go onto Facebook and into a local group. The very first post in that group was a woman saying, “It’s the Easter season and I am looking for someone to help. If you or anyone you know could use a helping hand, please reach out.” I did…and it changed my life.

The woman came to help me with my PT. I couldn’t walk unassisted or unsupervised, so she came to help me walk down the street and back to my home. While we were walking, she asked what had happened and I shared my story. She replied that she knew exactly what I was talking about and had a specialist to recommend. She gave me the name and number of an atlas subluxation chiropractor only a town away. It was a Monday evening and I called expecting to leave a message. But no, as miracles happen, someone picked up and they had just had a cancellation for that Wednesday afternoon.

I went to the specialist and had very specific x-rays shot through my mouth and there it was. My atlas had misaligned to the right and had twisted to the front. When that happened, my brainstem, vagus nerve, and carotid artery were compressed limiting my hearing, sight, and balance while also igniting brain fog, anxiety, depression, gut issues, heart issues, and bowel issues. You name it, it was affected. My entire nervous system had been thrown out of balance and there was the visual proof.

With my first adjustment, I was significantly better within a half hour. After a few weeks of regaining strength and function, I had mental clarity and was able to map out a plan using The GYROTONIC® Method to retrain my body and make new neural connections to help me heal. Within only a couple of months, I was back to living independently and re-opening my wellness studio to help others.

Since then, I have incorporated other modalities to help with the mental and emotional trauma that is trapped in the physical body to release, process, and heal. The mind, body, and spirit connection is the foundation upon which a life is built — the perfect tripod for strength and vitality.

What is your “WHY” behind what you do? What fuels you?

I follow a higher calling. It’s as simple as that. That same voice that told me to ask for help, guided me to re-open my wellness practice and the large majority of new clients were those with atlas injuries. I followed my passion and helped others regain the entirety of their lives again.

My passion, calling, WHY is to create a world of peace and that begins with helping people recognize that they exist to heal. The human body is designed to heal. Our lives are meant for abundance in all ways — abundant physical health, abundant mental peace and bliss, and abundant purpose. Every single person is worthy of those and when we find the harmony of abundance, we live in peace. And then, when there are enough people living in that individual experience of their own flow, they emanate that vibration into the world to create peace around them.

Simply said — my goal is to live in peace. I get there by celebrating my whole being and I do that partly by helping others heal their pain to live in peace. If they leave the studio smiling, they’ll smile at someone on the way to their car. The person who walked past them will feel better and they’ll have a smile on their face…so when they pass the next person, they smile and the cycle continues.

That’s my WHY — I want peace for all.

Sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake or failure which you now appreciate has taught you a valuable lesson?

My entire healing journey is a series of learning opportunities. I don’t consider anything a mistake or failure. I don’t believe in those words or concepts. I believe in opportunities to grow and expand and my journey is filled with them.

My greatest lesson was not taking care of myself. I was lost in taking care of others. I was consumed with the stress of trying to control every aspect of life to the detriment of my health and well-being. There’s a beautiful saying — you can’t pour from an empty cup — it’s absolutely correct. Now, I had an extreme and horrible way of learning that lesson, but I learned it and I am grateful! It set me on a path to ultimately discover my own self-worth and empower me to stand in respect and awe of a human’s capacity to heal, learn and grow…and I’m not done, nowhere near it! I can’t wait to see what more I can learn!

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Compassion — I have a great amount of compassion for the human journey — the pain, trauma, and fear that people suffer from and how they impact how a person shows up in their life. I have an amazing ability to hold space for another human, to listen without judgment, and the ability to clearly see a path forward for them.

My entire career is an example of compassion. Every day of my life is spent with either private clients or our community holding space for someone’s healing journey. Listening, guiding, providing insight, helping others to heal — it is every part of my every day with everyone I meet. A client in the studio — the first thing I ask is how are you, and I mean it! How is your body, your mind, your spirit? How are you, as a whole being, feeling in this now moment and what can I do to help? A community member — every day I post guidance, share my vulnerability or offer healing in some way. And it’s the same with my family. What I practice in my work, I practice at home. There is no separation of personal and professional — I am a healer and I help everyone in my life.

Openness — I am always open to receiving guidance and information. I welcome a constant state of education and the ability to learn from others. I crave knowledge and understanding. I love being open to connecting with others and sharing in their healing journeys. I love sharing what I know and offering assistance. I love creating this new space with Spirit Calling so others can connect to learn and grow from each other.

I spend a lot of my time in a channeled state to receive divine guidance. I use that in every moment. I am open to receiving when working with clients — I am guided to a certain part of their body to help release stored trauma that is showing up as physical pain. I am guided to specific essential oils to stimulate an olfactory memory to help release emotional pain.

I am guided to learn new information all the time! Right now I am using the art of feng shui for my business (I had used it for our home with amazing results!). I am learning about the history of the Romans and am enthralled with the cycles of human behavior and how it’s connected to current trauma.

At Spirit Calling, we just launched an entire series on stress through the holidays and how to support yourself so you can be aligned with making the best decisions for you. Our plan is to be open to what people need and listen to what they are saying so we can include them on their own journey of learning and growing.

Strength — I am able to hold my own power without conceit or judgment of others. I am able to focus on becoming the best I can be without it being at the detriment of others. I have an incredible ability to rise and bring others with me. I have learned this from other mentors — leading from a place of empowerment for all, compassion for all, and in the expectation that from a place of peace and love in our hearts, we all benefit. It takes an amazing amount of strength to be able to hold that higher calling and not slip into a place of competition and fear. There is enough for everyone — enough money, enough recognition, enough clients, enough of everything and I work very hard to remain in that mindset.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now? How do you think that will help people?

My latest endeavor is expanding and helping as many people as possible through their spiritual awakenings. So many people are waking up to realize that they have created lives that don’t support their passion or calling. They feel disconnected from their souls and lost in their meaning and place in life. That’s an incredible place to be…at the beginning of a brand new existence. It can also be very lonely and overwhelming. Mine brought me to my knees begging to die…I don’t think it has to be that dramatic and difficult.

The voice that told me to ask for help that fateful day on my family room floor was the same one that woke me up almost a year ago instructing me to create a portal for people to find support and care as they discover their lives need to have meaning. To that end, I am the Co-Founder of Spirit Calling, a Portal for Purpose. We are an online resource offering community, education, and guidance from an intentionally curated collection of practitioners. Our mission is to ensure the highest quality of support for people as they align their lives to fulfill their soul’s purpose.

As I said previously, my passion is to help others live in peace. When your life is aligned with your soul’s purpose, you find peace. When you make every decision in support of serving your highest good, you find peace.

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, about the interface between self-care and mental health. From where you stand personally or professionally, why are you so passionate about mental well-being?

Mental well-being is one of the hallmarks of a life well lived. Without it, you lose your physical well-being, and living in mental distress is the number one symptom that you are not living a purposeful, purpose filled, life. Our bodies store every single event we have ever experienced. Within every cell, we carry the energy and emotion of every single event. If you are not at peace emotionally and mentally, very quickly your body will experience pain — muscle strain, arthritis, illness, depression, anxiety, and disease. Our bodies are breaking down BECAUSE our mental and emotional health is not supported by our general society and lifestyles. In fact, we celebrate ignoring our bodies until they break down. We celebrate gritting our way through life despite our hearts and minds telling us to stop. We ignore every calling of our souls to fulfill a fake standard. We ignore our minds and bodies to make money and be socially acceptable. Generally, we ignore our mind/body/spirit connection and balance for things like cars, clothes, status, education etc.

Our mental well-being is directly correlated to how authentic we are and how empowered we are to live in that authenticity. This world would be a completely different place if we focused on emotional and mental well-being over anything else. Someone who is mentally and emotionally at peace isn’t walking around pained and hurting others. Being at peace, living in harmony with your true self, allows space to grow, learn and achieve. Stress is reduced, thereby lending to a body that isn’t under constant strain, a nervous system that gets to relax and break the fight, freeze, or flight response.

Based on your research or experience, how exactly does self-care impact our mental wellness?

Self-care is at the crux of mental, emotional, and physical health. When I teach people about self-care, I stress the importance of being selfish. When did being selfish become a dirty word? When did focusing on yourself become a taboo, negative concept? Being selfish is being self-ish. All it means is that you are an ISH, part of a whole, on your way to becoming whole, so you have to focus on your needs and serving your whole self in order to be your best self. Do we hold resentment for a shirt that’s blueish? No, we say it’s blueish, almost blue but not quite. So why judge yourself negatively when you are self-ish or self-centered? Pay attention to what you need. Now, that doesn’t mean you go around hurting others because that’s how you’re best serving yourself. That’s not what I mean in any way. Hurting someone else in no way serves you. It serves your ego, judgment, and fear. In no way does that serve your truest and highest self. What is in your best interest is always what will bring you peace — not vengeance or satisfaction, but peace and only peace.

So real self-care is speaking to your soul and asking, what do you need to be whole? How may I serve my self in the best way possible? How may I process fear and pain in order to exist only in peace? That’s REAL self-care.

Of course, there are a million things you can do to help your physical body process with ease as well. You can support your body with healthy food, exercise, essential oils, salt baths, massage, Reiki etc. You must care for your physicality simultaneously as you care for and align your whole life in accordance with your soul’s purpose. Bringing ease to your body helps to change brain chemistry and hormonal responses. You wind up leaving the fight, freeze, or flight mode to be at peace.

In that regard, every aspect of life becomes very intentional when you practice self-care. You ask yourself questions like — does this food help me, is it in my best interest? Is this drink in my best interest? Is this job in my best interest? Does my home, neighborhood, town, state, or country align with whom I want to be? Am I living a life that supports the best version of me OR am I living a life I’m told I should want?

Here is our primary question. Can you please share your “Top Five Selfcare Practices That Each Of Us Can Use To Improve Our Mental Wellness”?

1. Recognize and accept that your soul’s purpose is to live in peace.
2. List everything that brings you peace and then take an inventory of your life — how do they line up?
3. Make changes — if your two lists don’t lineup, incorporate more things that bring you peace and get rid of the things that don’t.
4. Surround yourself with like-minded people who will support you as you make changes to realign your life.
5. Keep growing and exploring. Never give up on discovering more and more about what brings you peace and how to incorporate new experiences, products, and people into your life that will support you as you change.

Can you please share a few of the main roadblocks that prevent people from making better self-care choices? What would you suggest can be done to overcome those roadblocks?

The number one roadblock is caring what other people think. Competing with others and thinking you have to do things a certain way just because that’s what is “normal” is the biggest error you can possibly make. You have no one else to measure up to. At the end of the day, look yourself in the eyes and take stock. Do you LIKE that person? Are you looking at your soul? Are you looking at the very best version of yourself? If you can say yes — then start sharing that version of yourself with others.

The second biggest roadblock is fear — fearing that the work involved to realign your life is too hard. Thinking that revisiting or releasing your trauma is too scary or that conversations and truth are too difficult to share. Don’t let fear stop you. You are WORTHY of unconditional self-love. I’m going to repeat that. YOU ARE WORTHY OF UNCONDITIONAL SELF-LOVE. You are worthy of a life well lived, of connection to others, of a judgment-free, celebrated existence. If you are seeking peace, you need to get comfortable with people thinking you are different and non-conforming. Keep making changes anyway.

Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does this quote resonate with you so much?

My grandfather once stood me in front of a mirror and said, “Look at her. Are you happy with who she is? Can you look her in the eye? Are you proud of who you see?”

Those are words I share all the time, I shared them above. At the end of the day, you are all you have. I have been reduced to a world of silence, disconnected from everyone and everything. I have lived through that darkness and have come out the other side knowing that I am the creator and the participant in my own life. What will I create? How will I live it? Who do I WANT to be? What do I want to experience?

Those are the only things that matter to me.

I am passionate about being and living my very best so that I can then share my very best with others. I get to live my life. I get to help others. I get to live a life well lived…and every single person deserves the same.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

Wow, this is difficult. I admire so many people. But if I had to choose, I would choose Drew Barrymore — she is the perfect example of someone who is doing everything she can to heal her past to create a healthy future for herself and her children. I honestly feel I could offer her some assistance and she would then share all that she learns with others to impact even more people for the better.

I truly appreciate your time and valuable contribution. One last question. How can our readers best reach or follow you?

Instagram: lisagroche and Spirit_Calling

Facebook: NagareLisaRoche and SpiritCallingLiveTheCall

lisagroche.com

spirit-calling.com

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.

About The Interviewer: Maria Angelova, MBA is a disruptor, author, motivational speaker, body-mind expert, Pilates teacher and founder and CEO of Rebellious Intl. As a disruptor, Maria is on a mission to change the face of the wellness industry by shifting the self-care mindset for consumers and providers alike. As a mind-body coach, Maria’s superpower is alignment which helps clients create a strong body and a calm mind so they can live a life of freedom, happiness and fulfillment. Prior to founding Rebellious Intl, Maria was a Finance Director and a professional with 17+ years of progressive corporate experience in the Telecommunications, Finance, and Insurance industries. Born in Bulgaria, Maria moved to the United States in 1992. She graduated summa cum laude from both Georgia State University (MBA, Finance) and the University of Georgia (BBA, Finance). Maria’s favorite job is being a mom. Maria enjoys learning, coaching, creating authentic connections, working out, Latin dancing, traveling, and spending time with her tribe. To contact Maria, email her at angelova@rebellious-intl.com. To schedule a free consultation, click here.