We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krista Parks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krista below.
Krista, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resiliency is something I’ve been required to figure out. It’s part of my dharma, so I’ve learned. I’ve had many things in life to strengthen that muscle, as have most of us, but the one time that sticks out the most was my junior year of college. I think I have been prepped and coached to be resilient when I was younger for this very moment. I was a cheerleader my whole life. Small, loud, and spun and flipped just as much as I walked so it was a natural step. I loved being in the air. I loved challenging myself and working as a team. I made my local collegiate team my freshman year and by the time junior year rolled around I was voted female captain of the co-ed team. We traveled, practiced, and competed at a national level each year and I ate, drank, and slept everything this team stood for. But one night at practice my junior year took a turn. We were struggling with a pyramid and I had been moved to a different position to figure out what was going wrong. I was supposed to do a front flip from another girls stomach as she was hoisted into the air but instead took a dive. If you can imagine diving into a swimming pool with no water then you can imagine how this went wrong. My body immediately went numb… but excruciating pain at the same time. I was in and out of consciousness for the first several days and had spinal shock paralysis that no one was sure would resolve. I had broken my neck in several places, including a chip of bone that was floating in my spinal column that I was reminded could kill me on the spot if I moved wrong. I was determined to get the feeling back in my arms and legs and at this point I was determined I would cheer again soon. But after several days in the ICU things took a turn for the worse once again. I began having seizures and swelling on my brain that required emergency surgery and a few more follow up surgeries thereafter. They drilled a hole in my skull to drain the fluid, hoping it would go back to normal on its own. Turns out my traumatic brain injury was so severe that I required a permanent drain to keep the fluid off my brain and I still rely on that implant today. I fought every day in the hospital to stay awake, alert, alive…. but the real fight would be returning home, and to the regular world. To my surgeon and hospital staff they had helped heal several issues: fractures, blood clots, and swelling but I had suffered a traumatic brain injury back when brain injuries weren’t really widely spoken of. I had memory loss, slurred speech, word finding issues, mental fatigue, gait and balance trouble, and migraines that knocked me out for sometimes days. I sought help with little return so I took matters into my own hands the best I knew how. I wouldn’t say I’ve healed from my brain injury… I still struggle with those things although tons less often and less severe. But I’ve learned how to mitigate my symptoms to live a “normal” life. My resiliency comes from necessity. It comes from choosing to live. I’m reminded every day that I’m able to walk and talk for a reason… and I’ve had to teach myself to overcome a lot of hard obstacles to get here so I will be choosing to seize each and every day.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
After running and selling a successful wellness studio focusing on health and fitness, I have recently switched roles to being a Holistic Life Coach. (although you can still catch me teaching my cardio dance class there on occasion) Being an athlete my whole life and suffering my injuries led me to health and fitness where I worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant, Personal Trainer, and Group Fitness Instructor but running my own facility and connecting with my clients in the way I did opened up new doors of work. I realized so many of my clients “weight loss” issues weren’t really coming from their physical bodies… it went deeper than that. And if I was going to help people get healthy I had to help them get to the root. Between that and a toxic marriage that ended in divorce I struck out on my own healing journey and that has led me to the work I’m doing now. I’ve been focusing on following the things that set my soul on fire and the work I’m doing is so fun and so fulfilling! I’ve been offering 4 main things, all centered around empowering people to live a more calm, connected, and authentic life.
Reiki/Energy Healing- This is a practice that uses the energy in your physical body to cleanse and realign your mental, emotional, and spiritual body. This alignment creates so much healing, growth, and release… its magical!
Embodiment Coaching- I teach people how to reconnect with themselves and use their physical bodies to stay present, relieve stress, and manage day to day life with less anxiety, depression, and stress.
Sexual Polarity Coaching- I help people step into their authentic feminine and masculine energy and release the protective walls keeping them disconnected, discontent, and dis-eased. Sexual Polarity has nothing to do with sex, by the way, but we all have a balance of sexual polarity that is important to embody to feel more calm, connected, and authentic with ourselves and in our relationships.
Retreats- I host men and women’s retreats as well as private retreats 1-5 people) where I focus on using these modalities to help people reconnect and recharge. These are transformational retreats and an immersive experience so we have an equal mix of work and play! My favorite place to suggest is Sedona, AZ 🙂
You can also catch me teaching Trauma-Informed Yoga from time to time and offering online workshops in a small group setting!
This work is part of my life purpose and I feel so blessed to work with people in such a life-changing way. It’s definitely work, don’t get me wrong.. but I have created a safe space for people to feel comfortable and trusting of the process.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Deep intuition, Hard work, and listening to your clients/employees, coaches, etc.
If you want to serve your purpose, just do it! If you don’t have resources, get resourceful! There’s no other time in history that we’ve had so much information at our fingertips… don’t let limiting beliefs stop you!! And don’t be afraid to pivot 🙂 I ran my last business for 10 years and people thought I was crazy for selling it but the new owners are doing great and I’m digging into work that is more aligned to my purpose 🙂
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth and improvement this last year has been letting go of perfectionism. I had a story I was telling myself that nothing was ever good enough and doing big things wasn’t worth the effort if they weren’t perfect but that kept me from a ton of stuff. I still have work to do around this but have made huge improvements the last year.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mymoderntribe.com
- Instagram: @kristaparks901
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1617988931710660
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCedAXjNilOe2WERd0ES2Ohg
- Other: linktr.ee/moderntribe
