After going on her own journey of healing and discovery, Kate Jones wanted to create a safe place where women could be vulnerable, curious, grow and feel seen and heard. She supports women to feel worthy and enough in their everyday lives, encouraging them to continue to show up and do the work on themselves, and ultimately choose love over fear. She works with women who desire to feel fulfilled, happy, confident and connected, and guides them to discover who they are and take that first step towards the life they desire. Here, Kate talks about the inspiration behind what she does and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The backstory – what happened in your life to lead you to this career?
After all the healing that I was doing, there was a niggle that someone needed to do more. I couldn’t see anyone creating a space that I would like to be part of with a community of like-minded, eager-to-grow souls, based on showing up daily for themselves, real connection, deeper conversations and no judgment or expectations. A safe place to be vulnerable, to be curious, to grow and to feel seen and heard. So, after a lot more healing and training, I realised that it was up to me to create the change I desired to see in the world. More training ensued and then I took a gigantic leap of faith and landed here.
I have been working to pull everything I haven’t been taught and experienced over the last 42 years together to create a safe, brave, container where women can remember how sacred they are and give themselves permission to heal. I support them to feel worthy and enough in their lives just as they are, to turn all their fears into love and create the life their heart truly desires.
My backstory is similar to that of a lot of white women growing up in NZ. I had a loving family, I went to good schools, I had good grades. Yet, I felt disconnected and alone. I was confused by the way people treated each other. I didn’t get the rules, I didn’t know how to play the ‘game’.
I can now see that I was very afraid and was living in a fear-based cycle. My head was cluttered with webs of shame, guilt, judgment and self-attack. I was operating from a lack mentality and making unhealthy life choices. This fear started ruling my life. Eventually it caused me to push everyone away. I hated everything about myself, I abused my body ceaselessly and as much as I wanted to scream, I had no voice. I felt totally numb inside, from going through the “should” motions in life.
When it came to relationships, I felt forced by society to pretend to be something I wasn’t in order to be accepted. Anxiety is the gap between our expectations and reality. This divide breaking inside of me was widening and I felt I was continuously falling down the hole. What you need to understand here is that this is all internal. No one would guess from looking at me that I was playing an academy award winning role of being alive. Outwardly, you would have seen an attractive, white, tall, slim, woman who “should” feel that she can do anything. Magically, I met the right person who pivoted my trajectory.
At the age of 26, I was dragged along to a women’s circle which would ultimately be where I would be reparented. This group was my nursery, these women my mothers, sisters, grandmother, aunties and daughters. The beings in this group sparked a curious joy in me. It was here I began to heal and understand what needed to change in my life for me to feel loved, precious and safe. You might be thinking that these would be big changes I needed to make, but no, they were small, subtle, everyday choices that added up to big transformation. The principles of my growth and that I now support others in are: being honest with myself; surrendering to my own inner wisdom; acceptance of what I do and don’t have control over; being willing to learn new perspectives; a gratitude practice; forgiveness of myself and others for the roles they had played in my life; opening up to abundance; rest and reflection; and the beauty and potency of ritual.
When I began to understand that my story was actually very common, I knew that someone had to do something to heal this. At the time of this realisation, I had no idea it was going to be me. I kept following what lit me up: crystals, reiki, sound therapy, jin shin, being in nature. Over time I began to trust my intuition and then one day I knew that I had to go to Peru. I left my supportive husband and 2 young kids at home and headed off on an adventure that shattered many self-limiting beliefs and left me without doubt that this work would be my service to the world.
Who do you work with? What is it that women are seeking when they come to you?
I work with women who just like me desire to feel seen, fulfilled, happy, confident and connected in the world. I feel there is a giant misconception out there that coaches have everything together. We don’t. However, good coaches know that they need to do the work on themselves continuously. I do the work on myself because just like my clients, I have challenges with my kids, my partner, and myself. There is always something new to explore and grow from. The women I work with come to me for support and guidance, asking questions such as: How can I feel more connected to my children?; How can I feel more confident every day?; What makes me react so fiercely to the small stuff?; How do I trust myself more and listen to my intuition?; What am I trying to fill with food?; How do I rekindle a loving relationship with my partner?; How do I find purpose and happiness in my life?
