We were lucky to catch up with Heidi Low recently and have shared our conversation below.
Heidi, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Relaxing on my back patio one lazy hot July afternoon my text alert pinged, “This is it! You won’t be hearing from me for several months.” Because it was from Ed, it carried a context. We’d encouraged each other’s fantasies around the notion of leaving our careers in politics to follow some crazy dream. He didn’t end up going anywhere, but his text sent my imagination to another world.
After eight years of growing through my grief and redefining myself after the death of my only biological daughter and subsequent divorce, I was literally living the best life I’d thought possible. I’d built a great career, bought a house on my own, enjoyed a fun circle of friends, and sat in the best financial position ever. But…
My friend’s text created an overwhelming sense of envy in me. In that moment, I let go of all barriers real or imagined, and allowed myself to dream up what I’d be doing if I’d been the one bouncing out.
It turns out my fantasy life looked like kicking it on a tropical island, putting my passions to good use. I’d combine all of the tools and resources that’d worked for me in my grieving and growing process and offer them to other parents in a retreat. I may have still been physically sitting on my back patio in Boise Idaho but I felt like I’d landed in the tropics doing something that made my heart skip a beat with excitement.
My process on that patio felt clear and immediate. In hindsight I recognize it came after years of periodically pondering and playing over scenarios in my head. Whenever I felt an inkling of dissatisfaction or restlessness, instead of pushing the uncomfortableness away, I’d welcomed it as a whisper of new possibilities. I’d create space to listen to what wasn’t feeling good and dream about what would.
Once I had the vision, completing the change in course from my Boise patio to landing on Kaua’i with four pieces of luggage and my dog took a year and half. After I’d transported myself into a place of infinite possibilities, felt in alignment with one in particular, I started with immediate action -making small changes to direct my life towards my newly discovered purpose.
Put simply I:
* Took the time and space to listen to the whisperings of my heart and soul – even when they were uncomfortable and unconventional
* Gave my imagination a limitlessness to be creative without restriction
* Got in tune with my inner alignment
* Took courageous action – one small step at a time
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
20 years ago in a few short months I went from stay at home wife and mom to one terminally ill daughter and 3 bonus children to single girl working and going to school fulltime.
I spent the next eight years researching like crazy, trying everything from therapy to energy healing. Most weren’t directly related to grief, but focused on growth – using my deep pain as a catalyst for creating something good.
Born out of that work, I walked away from an established career in health care policy to start ‘Ohana Oasis, a non-profit serving bereaved parents nationwide with weeklong retreats. What began as me facilitating one small retreat, has expanded to retreats held regionally across the United States, a leadership training program and new cohorts being full supported by trained alumni leaders. 10 years later I’ve developed, facilitated, and overseen more than 15 retreats.
When you combine people seeking restoration and/or change, effective tools, and the undistracted space and time for it, there’s a special alchemy that makes retreats so magical and transformative.
Seeing this time and time again, I share the same strategies I used to achieve my first retreat with no following or professional background to 45 on the waiting list two weeks after the retreat finished, to help heart centered entrepreneurs. I walk them through creating their retreat (from the logistics to woo factor) so they can deliver more powerful results, and build community quickly while making good money through offering “Create Your Retreat” trainings. I cut to the chase on logistics, zero in on highlighting their special woo factor, and address the mindset challenges that come with stepping into a new, high-touch format of delivering services.
In January I’m offering a one day VIP Intensive where participants will walk away with their Unique Retreat Masterplan, from picking dates on the calendar to their template email sequence nurturing their participants after the retreat’s done, along with a strategy for getting people to show up and make their first profitable retreat happen in 2024.
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?
Curiousity – Curiousity about what was coming up for me, what was working and what wasn’t, and more importantly, the why behind it. The feelings I was having and the feelings I wanted to have.
Audacity – The audicity to believe even if I didn’t have the formal training in event planning or grief, my experiences and the dream I had was actually meant for me. It may not wind up looking exactly like what I envsioned (it didn’t), but it’d be what it was meant to be.
Courageous and Thoughtful Action – I take immediate action once I feel led or inspired. It isn’t erratic and life altering action…right away. It’s about taking the next “right” step and seeing where it leads then the next and the next and suddenly it is life altering.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
There are so many wise people who generously share their wisdom born out of both professional and life experiences that I value and go to time and time again. And even though grief and loss served as the biggest catalysts of change for me, the authors who’ve helped me most can be found in the self help section. The first was Wayne Dyer followed by Gabby Bernstein (Happy Days) and now No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz PhD have all had a profound impact on my life.
I think a comon theme through each is a marriage between accepting and living as your authentic self and surrendering to something greater than you – living in a dynamic dance of embracing both.
Contact Info:
- Website: heidilow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heidichristinalow/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidilow/
- Other: Create Your Retreat VIP day info: https://heidilow.com/create-your-retreat-vip-day/
Falling Apart of Falling into Place Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/falling-apart-or-falling-into-place/id1714320780
Image Credits
Kitta Bodmer Photography
