Meet Lisa Taitelman

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Taitelman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
After I Lisa lost my mom to cancer at a young age, I started on my path of self-discovery and learned how hiking could change the course of my life. Today, I have educated and inspired many through the healing power of nature to shed limiting beliefs and live a life of joy and fulfillment.

In fact hiking is something I MUST do for myself. It takes me away from all the noise in my own life. Hiking gets your body in shape and well as releases those awesome chemicals that make you feel good known as Endorphins and gives you energy to boot! Research has shown that outdoor experiences are a great way to transform and connect back to your unique spirit. I have found this to be so very true! It has given me clarity and inspiration to overcome obstacles in my own life. It is like MY MOVING MEDITATION and I want it to share it with you!

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
In 2016 I went back to school at the age of 53 to Become a Health Coach. I was terrified at the time because I was a stay at home mom for over 23 years and didn’t think anyone would take me seriously in this new venture. I have always felt a pull to m make a difference and make real change but didn’t know at that time what that meant.

I wanted to inspire people and help them live their best life. I absorbed every detail of those courses and was in so many lanes that I could not find my own. I struggled with all the information….I knew I had to find my OWN voice, that was extremely important to me.

It wasn’t until I met a fellow health coach at a retreat in Miami in 2017 who sensed my frustration and asked me one question: “What brings you the most joy in your life”? Funny how I never stopped to think about finding my “trail” this way, but it all was so clear when she asked me that day. It was right in front of me all along, HIKING for ME brought me the most joy, healing and clarity . I am my most authentic self when I am hiking and forced to be in the present moment… and this is where I come alive! SO from that day forward my team worked tirelessly to start a hiking program of my own which is now called Follow Your Trail.

I have guided many through our mountains and seen the dramatic transformations through the years. We tap into the physical, emotional and spiritual all at once all out in nature. I have built an incredible community and that is and was always my mission. I still find myself saying…. I get paid to do what I love and I want other coaches to feel the exact same way!! I hear from other coaches all the time how hard it is to get clients. This is when my group decided to license the program to help other coaches jumpstart their business by adding an outdoor program to their current business. I am thrilled to say Follow Your Trail has expanded the globe and it is all so exciting that this little idea morphed into something so much greater than I could ever have imagined!!

I have been written up in numerous magazines, newspapers and been on many podcasts. I even made the Top 10 Female Life Coaches to Follow in YAHOO! FINANCE in 2021!

I wanted to make sure that my participants were going to get an EXTRAORDINARY experience, and to keep coming back again and again. Fast forward 7 1/2 years and here I am guiding groups through mountains with Follow Your Trail Program!

Today, I have guided many in “following their trail” their truth and their passion, all while fulfilling my own by building communities all across the country through the great outdoors through my FYT Licensing Program. I hear everyday how unique and special FYT is and have lit many fires in other coaches since they have added this program to their business and molded it to make it their very own.

I am beyond humbled by it all and we now have an awesome group and excited for our journey together because together we are making a huge ripple effect!

You can check it all out here:
http://www.lisataitelman.com/fytlicensing

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think the hardest part for me was getting past the belief that I have been a stay-at-home mom for 23 years and who would take me seriously as a health coach at this time in my life at age 53? I truly believe once I started to trust and believe in myself, everything changed for me. I now inspire others through my hiking journey how it is never to late to reinvent yourself, freeing yourself of self-limiting beliefs and live a life filled with joy and fulfillment, even through our darkest days. I believe that our pain can turn into our passion if we listen to our voice inside. Our voice is our greatest teacher. We must always listen to our voice, I believe once I did that, I can now help others in finding their own voice and helping them find their power they did not know they had, it is a magical experience witnessing it out in glorious nature.

1. Trust and believe in yourself
2. It is never too late to start a new life for YOU
3. Our pain and story can turn into our passion if we listen to our voice inside, our voice is our greatest teacher.

My advice is to TRUST and BELIEVE in yourself and not let fear and self-doubts to get in the way of your message. I kept looking to others for their validation and opinions, but when I started listening to ME, this is when the universe was right there to guide me. Another piece of advice for me is I had a really difficult time charging people to hike since they can go out their door and hike for free, but once I got into the mindset that this is not just a hike, but an experience I am giving them, it all changed for me. It is all about mindset and we must believe in ourselves. I also realized that most women who join my groups have never hiked in our mountains because they don’t have anyone to go with, so I am holding them accountable to show up for themselves as well as the group, and if they pay, it gives them even more incentive to show up.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
It was after the loss of my mom, over 26 years ago to cancer it took all my strength to forge ahead. In that time of unbearable grief, I started on my path of self-discovery and self-love, and learned how a hike changed the trajectory of my life as I once knew it.
Although I felt dead inside, I felt like I was being held under water, drowning, suffocating. It was hard to get out of bed, but I knew I had to get out of this overwhelming feeling of despair and grief.  A friend suggested I get outdoors and go for a hike with her. I didn’t know at that time how this hike, the one that got me out of bed, would change the course of my life.

I started hiking 23 years ago, alone, with my dog, my husband, with friends and my kids. With each step I took I learned more about what hiking had to teach me.

Hiking forces you to go within, be in the moment and be away from the noise in our lives. It puts you in the present moment, because you are forced to be there, to be raw and real with yourself and with others. I noticed that when I hiked and was out in the wide-open space, breathing fresh air and surrounded by beauty and nature, I started to feel better mentally as well as physically, I was getting stronger in my body as well as my mind, and I started to heal. I found mind-body connection, and it was on the top of that mountain that I started to feel alive again. Hiking is about the goal, it’s a form of nourishment you give to yourself, I call it my moving meditation.

I wanted to shout out this experience to everyone I knew, what hiking taught me, and how it changed everything for me. And it can for you too. I started to think about all the people I can empower with what I learned so they don’t feel alone in their struggles or challenges, all through the healing power of nature and being outdoors. We all have the power to change our thoughts into happy ones, it all comes down to a decision we make, it is a decision, be careful how you are talking to yourself, because you are listening!

I truly feel my mom is with me on every single hike I take and know she is the reason I am on my path to help others heal in their own lives.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Lisa Statt, Photographer

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