We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Miriam Jacobson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Miriam, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I think we often don’t understand how ‘strong’ we are until we move through challenging experiences in our lives. That’s definitely how it has been for me.
When I was 13 years old my father was killed in 9/11 and about two weeks later my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was the single most challenging few weeks of my life, followed by an excruciating teenage existance. I spent the following five years avoiding my feelings because I thought that’s what it meant to be strong and resilient. I buried my pain, but the trauma manifested in my body. At 13 years old I suffered from migraines several days a week, I had stabbing stomach pains, and so much anxiety that I feared being alone. When I finally went to college, I realized I needed support. Seeking help in therapy was the first time I took a pro-active role towards truly healing. Moving through therapy required me to re-examine my entire belief system. In a lot of ways it felt like diving into a black hole, from which I wasn’t sure I could emerge. I needed to completely unravel before putting the pieces back together, and building a life that was truly aligned. Doing that has lent me so much strength.
Life since hasn’t been easy, but every time I have been faced with a massive life challenge I remember what I was able to survive and move through at such a young age. It’s lent me strength when I feel hopeless, because I know that I can do hard things. I’ve done them before and I can do them again.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I support individuals on their health journey, using functional medicine nutrition. That basically means I help people uncover and resolve the root cause of their health issues – together we explore different aspects of their nutrition and their physiological health that causes digestive issues, fatigue, low mood and pain and discomfort.
My personal healing journey has also informed the work that I do. Since becoming a dietitian I have also begun to weave in breathwork into my client practice. While our diet and metabolic health impact our well being, so do our thoughts, emotions and spiritual well being. Enter: Breathwork. Breathwork is a powerful way to process big emotions in the body – it has taught me that while emotions can be uncomfortable, none are bad. They are just an extension of our experience in the world and inform where we need a little more TLC + healing. It’s such a privilege to offer this work to others.
I recently launched my corporate wellness programs. I work with various companies to provide wellness education for their teams, which improves morale and promotes healthier workplace culture. These workshops have been so impactful and fun, and I am looking forward to offering more.
I truly love my work and that I get to support others in becoming the best, healthiest versions of themselves!
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?
1) Formal nutrition training – I am a life long learner and have been studying and practicing nutrition for the past 15 years.
I not only received my bachelor’s degree in nutrition, but also my master’s degree in functional medicine and two board certifications RD (Registered Dietitian) and CNS (Certified Nutrition Specialist). This education is the foundation to my work and I could not do what I do without it.
There is always more to learn. There’s so much nonsense nutrition information out there. So I suppose my advice is to stay curious, and stay humble. Listen to experts and vet people’s education and background before working with them professionally.
2) Breathwork – as I mentioned before this is integral to my work. It’s highlighted areas of my own life that need more healing. It’s changed the relationship I have with myself, and helped me understand my own Truths and what’s truly important for me. It also has been an incredible tool for processing grief and other big emotions.
3) Being a human – Honestly just being a human and going through life’s challenges has taught me so much about the world and myself. No one has all the answers – and remembering that we are all just human and doing the best that we can reminds me to stay kind and compassionate with both myself and others.
My biggest advice to folks just starting out on their health journey is take it ONE step at a time. We often want all the answers and to see the entire roadmap. It can feel terrifying when we can’t. But no one has all the answers – one step will inform the next, and so on. Just start, and the answers will begin to reveal themselves.
I also want to emphasize that there is no rush when it comes to healing. I think sometimes we’re ready and other times we’re not. We can’t resolve everything all at once because healing is a lifelong process.
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My parents were the most loving and hard working people. The biggest lessons they taught me were through witnessing how they approached life …
My dad oozed love – not only to us as his family but to everyone he was in community with. He showed me how love can heal. Even though he was killed in an act of terror and hate and violence, I always knew that hate breeds hate, and violence breeds more violence. His lessons on loving hard has been a guiding light for me and my work in the world.
My mother was a creative – an artist who was repressed from childhood. After my dad died, her artistic endeavors exploded and she created without abandon. She created everything from watercolors to encaustics to enamel to metal smithing, pastels, charcoals, mosaics – you name it. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed – and taught me how much we can heal and transform even when we experience great loss.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.everybodybliss.com/
- Instagram: @everybodybliss
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-jacobson-10066555/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/every-body-bliss-los-angeles-2
Image Credits
Melodee Solomon Ashley Kickliter
