After suffering health issues of her own and not receiving definitive answers from health professionals, Jamie Steinmuller opened herself up to the idea of holistic healing, something she had never considered before, and it changed her life. As a personal trainer with a lifelong passion for helping others, she then embarked on a journey to help women achieve their health and wellness goals through nutrition, movement and mindset. At EQUILIBRIUM FOR WOMEN, her ultimate goal is to guide women to a balanced life that is filled with love, happiness, inner peace and good health. Here she talks about the passion behind her business and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Since I was young, I have always been passionate about helping others in need – women in particular.
I could see early on in my career within the Health & Fitness Industry that there wasn’t an effective way to support women to reach their unique health goals. I wasn’t taught a substantial method for supporting women on this journey either. I was taught the diet culture method which is very messy!
I had a deep knowing that this wasn’t the way things should be and it kept me up at night. No woman should define her worth by a number on the scales. No woman should punish her body for the purpose of trying to fit into unrealistic ideals. No woman should have to live in the constant pain of digestive issues. Every woman deserves to create her life the way she wants to, on her own terms.
I also had what felt like mountains of my own health issues in the early stages of my career. After countless GP appointments, scans, needles and hospital visits without any definitive answers for why I was feeling the way I was, I started searching for new ways to define what health meant to me. It felt like no one was listening. I opened myself to the possibility of holistic healing and in my ‘past life’, I would roll my eyes at the idea of this method. I made the choice to dive in 6 years ago and my life changed completely.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I started as a Personal Trainer teaching fun group fitness classes and then moving into 1:1 PT. Personal Training is something that I am still very passionate about and I have redirected from saying “Go hard or go home”, to teaching women about how to move and nourish their bodies appropriately for each stage of their menstrual cycle. This helps women to be gentle with themselves, when their bodies need a little more love and support! It also supports women to improve their overall training and progress without a high risk of injury.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I am having a bit of a chuckle at this question – I have had so many breakthroughs, haha! I experienced imposter syndrome (intensely) at the beginning of this journey. I learnt to trust myself and I love my personal experience on this path. I was receiving messages from women who said that the content I was sharing was really helping them. This made me finally see myself as a leader in the industry. I studied for years to build a really solid understanding of holistic health and women’s wellbeing, and it would be silly to not pass on the information to others. I let go of my need to be in control of everything and learn that it’s okay to accept help from others. It’s normal to need help in order to achieve your goals. This also helped me to move into alignment with my own offerings and deliver my services from a place of integrity and compassion.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
The foundation of EQUILIBRIUM FOR WOMEN is about creating a balanced lifestyle that works on your own terms. I use the same methods of creating balance between work and family that I teach through EFW.
We currently have our 18-month-old boy, Charlie, being raised by a village two days a week and will shortly move up to three days. These two days are my big work days where I work 1:1 with clients and I do admin tasks on other days, when Charlie naps. I personally love being a stay-at-home mum so we wanted to make sure that I could be a mother to Charlie, lover to Ben and businesswoman for EFW! Charlie reminds me how to live slowly and he is very gentle natured, so our days together are beautiful and spent mostly barefoot in the outdoors.
I have to say that I couldn’t possibly do any of this without my supportive fiance, Ben. He is such an active father in Charlie’s life and he has been my shoulder to cry on as well as my biggest cheerleader through the entire process of building EFW. I have immense gratitude every day for our relationship and for him.
My boundaries with work/family/life balance are very strong and I believe this is what has allowed me to establish and expand EQUILIBRIUM FOR WOMEN over the last year.
Really enjoyed discovering more about Equilibrium for Women and what’s on offer. Such a natural fit.