Healing with Hilery: From Fitness to Feeling Fully
The healing process is part of growing into our full human potential. What better way to discuss this topic than with Healing with Hilery herself?
Hilery Hutchinson is one of the expert guests on the Major League Nutrition podcast, sharing meaningful learnings from her life experience. Hilery’s journey to becoming a spiritual life coach and the unplanned events that shaped her growth create a heartfelt conversation that’s sure to bring anyone a little hope as they navigate their own healing journeys.
This is a story of healing the past to move forward in the future, but it’s not what you might expect. You’ll learn how an unexpected realization led Hilery to El Salvador to open a retreat and the magic of tuning in. While Hilery is well-versed in fitness, this chat goes much deeper.
You’ll learn about the inner child as a method to heal past trauma and the power of forgiveness. In just a few minutes of listening to Hilery speak, you’ll see why Nicole feels such a connection and admiration. While this episode is one you will want to take advantage of listening to entirely, grab a glimpse through the following five ways to exercise healing therapy.
Meet Hilery
So, who is Hilery Hutchinson?
Before you dig in, let’s start by helping you get to know Hilery’s vast experience in the fitness, well-being, and alternative healing space. Hilery currently lives in El Salvador, running a retreat with her boyfriend, but getting there has been a wild experience.
Hilery began her career in the fitness industry as a personal trainer at 14. She grew up immersed in personal training from the early days of her Disney Mousercize workout (throwback!). Hilery’s dad engrained an appreciation for sports. As he battled cancer, she honored his legacy with a commitment to the field.
She didn’t stop there, either. Hilery experienced her period of illness despite a healthy lifestyle. She found healing in alternative wellness approaches that focused on the mind-body connection. Hilery now holds 58 certifications across yoga, Ayurveda medicine, and more.
“I help people heal the past so they can embody the highest version of themselves, find peace of mind, greater vitality, and build the life they truly desire.”
3 Ways to Exercise Healing Therapy
Break out of fear to find life’s purpose
There’s nothing like a life-changing decision to show you what you need in life.
In September 2021, Hilery moved to El Salvador with her boyfriend. She was wrapping up a dharma training and decided to practice a coaching session on her boyfriend. During that process, she asked several questions about what brings him joy and lights him up.
That experience made it clear that his life purpose was not in a soul-sucking job. It was in pursuing a new chapter, which he quickly felt was in El Salvador. It would scare many people to take a leap like this and uproot their lives. Still, Hilery and her boyfriend turned intuition into the retreat they run together today. It’s important not to let a comfort zone hold you back from following a dream. What’s right for you might be on the other side of fear.
“Any time we step out of our comfort zone, it feels like this huge big deal, and people tend to like to stay safe. That’s our brain’s functioning primarily because the ego part of our brain (the lower brain) is trying to keep us alive. People often think it’s too big of a dream and stay afraid to jump out of their comfort zone.”
It’s important to meet yourself where you’re at
Whether it’s fitness training or achieving a new goal, we must honor our body’s unique pace.
Hilery spoke a lot about her training technique of telling people what they need instead of what they want to hear. She described health habits as part of personal evolution and always met people where they’re at on that path.
Understanding that you will have different goals from the person next to you is an essential skill as you grow. Respecting what your body and mind need to heal and expand is an act of self-care. If you’re rushing your progress or becoming discouraged about not achieving a result you saw in someone else, this is a sign of giving yourself grace.
“You’re not just overnight going to become this vegan super-yogi powerlifter who can perfectly juggle all the balls. Everyone is in a different place with their journey, and it’s about understanding that and meeting them where they’re at”
We can’t outrun our emotions
Emotions that lie within us, especially those from our past, need to be fully processed to see healing happen.
Hilery had personal experience addressing her past and areas where she needed to tap into her inner child. She found relief in reliving events from the past and came to a place of forgiveness to move forward. It can feel scary to dig into sadness, grief, and pain, but if we don’t, those feelings live in our bodies.
Hilery speaks about the idea that we need to muscle up and swallow everything that circulates in the fitness industry. Too often, people run from their emotions or stressors, using coping mechanisms and looking for a high to escape them. It’s time to honor what’s underneath those actions to end the cycle of limiting beliefs, poor habits, patterns, and illness that only continue if emotions fester in our bodies.
“Time doesn’t heal; we just adjust to our pain. We become so used to being wounded that we forget what it’s like to feel whole. We have to be ready to heal and do the work.” – Hilery Hutchinson
Embrace Your Healing Process
By now, you’re seeing why healing matters in our greater hierarchy of needs. A perfect fitness and nutrition routine can’t benefit you if you’re not processing what’s happening in your mind and the deep emotions that live in your body. You see yourself fully and understand your potential when you start to heal.
Hilery explains the moment she realized she hadn’t looked at her reflection in the mirror with the intention for 20 years. When she did the healing work her mind and soul needed, she began to see herself fully and show up to pursue the dream she’s now living. We all have our “El Salvador moment” waiting for us on the other side of fear, rushing progress, and avoidance. Now, it’s time to go find out what that is.
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Join Nicole Chenard, MS, RD, LDN, for educational interviews with the best experts across health, fitness, and sport, as well as science-backed answers to nutrition and health questions. Each week, catch a new episode full of expertise from Nicole’s ground-breaking work in the field.
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