My Story

The Journey That Led Me to Bella Zen

For more than three decades, I have been fascinated by the relationship between our bodies, our health, and the many things that influence how we feel and function throughout our lives. That curiosity has taken me through years of studying medicinal plants, nutrition, psychology, traditional healing systems, human physiology, yoga therapy, embodied sound healing and the connection between our physical and emotional well-being. I have always wanted to understand why we experience the health challenges we do and what we can do to support our bodies through the different seasons of life. Along the way, I have had the opportunity to work with women, continue my education, and develop a deeper appreciation for the complexity of human health. Yet some of the most important things I have learned have come not from my studies or professional experiences, but from navigating my own health challenges and discovering how much I needed to change the way I was living.

My interest in natural healing began with medicinal plants. I was fascinated by the ways herbs had been used throughout history and wanted to understand both the traditional knowledge surrounding them and the science behind their actions in the body. Over the years, I pursued extensive independent study and formal herbal education, including coursework through The Herbal Academy in materia medica, herbal formulation, botanical safety, plant chemistry, and Western herbal traditions. I also studied aromatherapy, herbal energetics, botanical identification, and traditional systems of medicine. The more I learned, the more I appreciated that supporting someone's well-being requires much more than knowing which herb is traditionally used for a particular concern. It requires understanding the individual, her history, her circumstances, and the many factors that influence her health.

In 2012, I began working independently with herbal clients, which allowed me to bring my education into practical application. Many of the women I worked with were experiencing chronic stress, digestive difficulties, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and other concerns that affected their quality of life. Through consultations, herbal preparations, educational guidance, and follow-up support, I came to understand just how important it is to listen carefully to someone's story. Two women may describe similar symptoms while living very different lives, and those differences matter. My work reinforced my belief that wellness should never be reduced to a standard set of recommendations. It should begin with understanding the person and helping her become more knowledgeable and confident in caring for herself.

As my interests expanded, I became increasingly drawn to the relationship between the nervous system, movement, and emotional well-being. In 2016, I completed a 900-hour yoga therapy certification through Holy Yoga, followed by additional education in trauma-sensitive yoga, Yin yoga, therapeutic movement, breath awareness, and somatic practices. This training helped me understand how prolonged stress can influence breathing patterns, muscular tension, digestion, sleep, and the way we experience our bodies. It also introduced me to the importance of restorative movement and the idea that meaningful care does not always require more effort or greater physical intensity. Sometimes what we need most is an opportunity to slow down, become attentive to what our bodies are communicating, and allow ourselves to rest.

My education continued to expand into Mediterranean nutrition, digestive wellness, Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, psychology, and Christian counseling. Through coursework with Liberty University and Light University, along with continued independent study, I explored human behavior, emotional well-being, stress physiology, and the relationships between our experiences and physical health. Although these disciplines approach wellness from different perspectives, I found that they often brought me back to the same realization. Our bodies are not collections of unrelated parts, and our health cannot be fully understood without considering the whole person. The way we eat, move, sleep, think, relate to others, and respond to the circumstances of our lives all contribute to our overall well-being.

While I was learning these things professionally, I was also living through years of extraordinary personal stress. Like many women, I had become accustomed to carrying responsibilities, managing difficult circumstances, and continuing to move forward regardless of how I was feeling. Over the years, I experienced numerous health concerns and received diagnoses that included fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, and multiple sclerosis. There were periods when I felt as though my body was struggling in nearly every direction, and I spent years searching for explanations and trying to understand what was happening. I was constantly learning, researching, and looking for ways to improve my health, yet I was not always giving enough attention to the circumstances of my life or the enormous amount of stress I was carrying.

Over time, my health began to improve, and many of the conditions that had once occupied so much of my attention no longer defined my daily experience. I believe that reducing chronic stress, changing certain habits, and learning to approach life differently played important roles in that improvement. What I gradually began to understand was that I could not continue living under the same pressures, responding to everything in the same ways, and expecting to experience a different sense of well-being. I needed to make changes not only in how I cared for my body, but also in how I understood rest, responsibility, and the expectations I placed upon myself.

One of the most significant realizations came when I began examining the way I had thought about my body for much of my life. I had spent so many years viewing it as something that needed to be fixed. There was always something I wanted to change, whether it was my weight, my health, or some other aspect of my appearance or physical condition. Even when I was making choices intended to improve my well-being, those choices were often motivated by dissatisfaction with myself. Eventually, I began to question that way of thinking. I wondered what might change if I stopped approaching my body as a problem and started appreciating it for everything it had carried me through. Instead of caring for myself because I believed something was wrong with me, I wanted to learn to care for myself because my body was worthy of that care.

My Christian faith became especially important as I began working through these changes. I have always believed in the importance of my relationship with God, but I began to understand more deeply what Scripture teaches about the body, rest, peace, and the way we are called to live. I had spent so much of my life doing, striving, worrying, and trying to manage everything around me that I had rarely learned how to be genuinely still. The words of Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God," began to take on a much more personal meaning. I realized that stillness was not simply about sitting quietly or finding a few moments to relax. For me, it meant learning to stop striving long enough to listen to God, trust Him, and recognize that I did not have to carry everything through my own effort.

I cannot separate my journey toward restoration from my relationship with Christ. My faith has changed the way I understand my worth, my responsibilities, and the body I have been given. I began to recognize that caring for myself could be an expression of gratitude rather than an endless attempt at self-improvement. I also began to understand that rest was not something I needed to earn by accomplishing enough or meeting everyone else's expectations. It was something I needed to make room for as part of living faithfully and well. These changes did not happen all at once, and I continue to learn what they mean in my everyday life, but they have profoundly influenced the way I approach my health and the way I hope to help other women.

Throughout my life, music and sound have always been closely connected to my emotions. I have often found that music can express something I am feeling long before I can find the words to explain it. There are two places I have consistently returned to when I need peace, and those are water and sound. Whether it is the movement of water, the rhythm of music, or the quiet resonance of an instrument, I have always felt a particular connection to the way sound can change the atmosphere around me and influence how I feel within it. Sound has never been simply background noise in my life. It has been part of the way I process experiences, find comfort, and reconnect with myself.

When I began experiencing sound baths, I discovered that they offered something I had been struggling to find in other parts of my life. They gave me an opportunity to be still without feeling that I needed to accomplish anything. I could lie quietly, listen, become aware of my breathing, and allow my attention to settle. For someone who had spent so many years feeling responsible for everything, that experience was deeply meaningful. Sound created an environment in which I found it easier to let go of the constant mental activity that had become so familiar to me. It also became a time when I could turn my attention toward God, pray, and experience moments of quiet that were often difficult to find in the middle of ordinary life.

The more meaningful these experiences became, the more interested I grew in understanding sound itself. I wanted to know what happens in the brain when we listen to music, why certain sounds evoke such powerful emotional responses, and how rhythm, auditory stimulation, and contemplative listening might influence relaxation and the nervous system. My interest was not limited to the spiritual or emotional experience of sound. I was equally fascinated by the physiology behind it and the growing body of research exploring music, stress, and well-being. I began to see an opportunity to bring together two things that have always been important to me: the desire to understand how the body works and the love of creating experiences that speak to people on a deeper level.

As an artist, I have always been drawn to creating things that evoke emotion and invite people to experience something meaningful. I began imagining how I might bring that same creativity into sound by developing original soundscapes, immersive listening experiences, and guided meditations. I wanted to create experiences that women could return to when they needed a moment of peace, whether they were resting at home, practicing restorative yoga, or simply setting aside time to be quiet. I also wanted to create an educational space where women could learn about the relationship between sound, the nervous system, stress, and the restorative practices that support everyday well-being.

That vision eventually became Bella Zen.

The name reflects my growing belief that a beautiful life is not necessarily one filled with extraordinary accomplishments or perfect circumstances. To me, a beautiful life is one in which we learn to appreciate what we have been given, care for ourselves and others with greater intention, and make room for the things that genuinely sustain us. It is a life in which we are not constantly measuring our worth against how much we accomplish or how closely our bodies resemble an ideal. It is a life that allows for rest, creativity, meaningful relationships, spiritual growth, and the simple enjoyment of being alive.

I created Bella Zen because I believe many women have become so accustomed to living under pressure that they have forgotten what it feels like to be genuinely rested. We are continually encouraged to be productive, improve ourselves, meet expectations, and keep moving forward. Even the pursuit of wellness can become another demanding responsibility, filled with rules about what we should eat, how we should exercise, and everything we need to change about ourselves. I wanted Bella Zen to offer a different perspective, one that encourages women to become more attentive to their bodies, understand the importance of rest, and approach their well-being with compassion rather than constant criticism.

At the center of Bella Zen is restorative sound. Through original sound experiences, guided meditation, and restorative practices, I hope to create opportunities for women to step away

Learn More About Jane