Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Lambert.
Hi Chelsea, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
In 2002 I was involved in a catastrophic car accident. It was 2 weeks after i got my driver’s license. I was airlifted and diagnosed with a TBI. I went through PT and OT. I was prescribed opiates by my doctor and was soon addicted to coping with life’s trauma I was experiencing at home. My mother is mentally unstable as a result of deep seeded unresolved generational trauma. I left home and found myself homeless. In 2006, I met my daughter’s father. He offered me a shot at sobriety. I took it. A month later I was pregnant and never looked back.
My healing journey from substance use disorder is very different than most. Traditional meetings, treatment, and Christian based didn’t align with my beliefs. It felt like conformity, institution, and like I was being asked to climb into a box and fit in. I have never fit in anywhere nor really wanted to in most senses. I forged my own path of what I thought I wanted and needed for myself.
In 2011, now an adult with my career and health insurance I reconnected with the one therapist who I felt I connected with as a teen. She had previously gone into private practice and I had lost her as my advocate and sounding board as a teen. At the time I was married and struggling with self-identity, communication in my marriage, and wanted to save my marriage and learn how to have a healthy/ successful relationship. Ultimately, my marriage ended in divorce. We suffered several miscarriages among other things. With all of the losses I started looking at health and wellness. I started studying nutrition and learning about American food processes and the horrific effects it has on our society. Divorce was the best decision I could have made for myself and my daughter. I wanted her to know what love, respect, and communication looked like. It was not in that relationship. I continued to unpack my childhood trauma in counseling as well as the present grief of losing everything, including my babies. I dove immediately into another toxic relationship that ended in a restraining order. and two more miscarriages. The last of which landed me an emergency ectopic removal. This was a pivotal moment for me. I did some deep self reflection. I was celibate for eighteen months. didn’t date. I looked inward and started building a relationship with myself. I started learning about loving myself first.
I took two intuitive development classes online. I connected myself in community with other women who had many similar life experiences and were looking for the same. I met my life coach Kerri-Anne Livingstone. We began working together. I reconnected with my intuition, and my witchy curiosity of pendulums, herbs, crystals, and tarot which I had been super connected to when I was younger. I started to feel whole again. In 2018, for the third time in my adult life I was raped in the front entry of my own home. I was in disbelief. I didn’t think this could happen to me after so much healing and effort to resolve my childhood trauma. I felt like I was back at square one. I felt small, ashamed, and guilty. After a few months of struggling with it, I told my therapist. I ended up reporting it for the first time in my life. I felt empowered and soon discouraged. So much time had passed. There was no evidence. It was now he said/ she said. Nothing came of it ,except….this was my rock bottom in sobriety. Though I did not have a reuse, the self sabotage behaviors were present. I quit taking care of myself. Depression set in.I felt so low, I was willing to do ANYTHING to not feel like this anymore.
For years my therapist had encouraged me to try EMDR therapy to process my trauma. I have more than most. I always shot her down and made every excuse in the world not to go. I was afraid. It sounded intimidating. I threw in the towel. I went. She referred me out to the second therapist I have found value in. I did EMDR weekly for two and a half years. It changed my life in the best ways possible. I am now and forever an advocate for it, especially for people who don’t want to talk about or relive their trauma. I also tried air network which is another method I recommend.
Simultaneously to all of this I led a successful career in R&D at a well known company in the Twin Cities. I was never passionate about engineering. I wanted to give my daughter a good life. I committed myself and did what I needed to do after her dad and I ended our relationship to make that happen. The first five years, I felt like a valued asset to the company. I accomplished so many amazing milestones and crushed the glass ceiling. After an injury I moved from the process lab to the materials lab. Over time Things shifted. I went from feeling valued by the corporation to feeling only valued by my managers. little by little the benefits and atmosphere changed. I knew by 2018 as I started healing that my long term goal was to get out of corporate when my daughter finished high school.
In 2023 I had a respiratory reaction to the acrylates I was working with developing new materials for pressure sensitive adhesives. By this time, I had finished Reiki, yoga teacher training, and my Thai yoga bodywork certification. Rather than go on disability, likely get a severance package, and easily transition into kicking off growing my own business I started in 2022 in health and wellness, I took a new job within the healthcare part of the company as the Global facilities coordinator. After being overloaded with more work than I was hired for and finding out reporting a pay disparity that was not corrected in a timely manner, I quit rather abruptly.
I have not looked back since. I couldn’t have anticipated the emotional and fundamental changes that have occurred in who I am and how I now show up in the world as a result of leaving corporate. The similar threads of corporate, my family of origin and colonization are one in the same. I can never go back to that life again. I continue to find my way as both a Thai therapist and most recently a CPRS in the recovery community. I go where I am invited and continue to grow my community.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has been less than smooth sailing or easy. It is perhaps the hardest thing I have ever done. I have cried on my knees more than once asking myself “What did I do?” In those moments, I use my tools to sit with it, show love and compassion to it all, and remind myself the feeling will pass. Going from a job that paid over $100k a year and adjusting to getting paid daily and making sure I schedule enough hours to pay my bills has been a hard adjustment. In the ideal world for longevity bodyworkers should only do 15 or so hours a week of bodywork. I have had to get creative and hustle to keep my head above water. I can’t thank the creator or my close friends who are my family enough for their support. I cannot deny that divine timing works in mysterious ways and for my highest and greatest good.
I have had to learn to let go of control and go with the flow. As soon as I relinquished my expectations, time table, and decided to only go where I was invited rather than where I thought I should go things happened really quickly in my favor on a daily basis. It is remarkable and I am so grateful to walk side by side with the universe in creating this life for myself. I don’t remember most of what has happened or is. It keeps me really present in the moment and I feel fulfilled everyday. Following the breadcrumbs left for the next thing takes the stress off of me and I can focus on cultivating life and luster for me and those around me.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I started my business at the end of 2022 as a Thai Yoga Bodyworker. I work with clients 1:1 and in small groups. Thai yoga bodywork is unique from other types of bodywork and massage, Thai Yoga Bodywork also combines rhythmic massage, assisted Yoga poses, acupressure along pathways of movement in the body known as the “Sen,” healing energy work, and meditation. The first spiritual roots of this ancient system date to over 2,500 years ago at the time of Buddha in India, and were carried through the Buddhist teachings into SE Asia. These teachings merged with traditional therapies of the region at that time and became what we now call today “Traditional Thai Medicine.”
I integrate Thai bodywork with the other training and modalities. I am also certified in Chi Nei Tsang (abdominal massage), Tok Sen, and Reiki. Combined together I create a custom experience for each client to receive the treatments they are seeking to help support them in reaching their goals.
One of the priorities for my business is to create accessibility and equity to “luxury” services like Thai bodywork, yoga, acupuncture for those who would not otherwise afford it. I am developing collaborations within the community as well as the Maternal and Child Health Task Force of MN and other DHS programs. As a healer, I want us to follow the true tradition to these medicines and modalities by providing this work to heal our communities. Traditionally healers give bodywork etc. to those that need it. Money is not the motivating factor for work. We in America have been forced to do that as a result of capitalism. In my opinion that has been a detriment to our society and the people in it.
I have helped clients get relief with Neuropathy, opening up their hips and shoulders, digestive issues, and in other cases releasing body trauma. I will be offering workshops this year teaching other skills and tools I have picked up over the years that I use to regulate my nervous system and keep myself grounded.
I collaborate with Anything Helps in N. Minneapolis to provide free community Yoga every third Tuesday of the month at 5pm at their Hub location at 3859 Fremont Ave N Minneapolis, MN 55412. These classes are designed for people who do not have access, have thought about taking a class but may be intimidated to go to a studio, want to learn about the basics, and how to utilize yoga for their body. Yoga is for everyBODY not just fit people. I like sharing that message with others and providing individual modifications based on body types and anatomy.
I have recently been elected Executive Director and President for a non-profit forming as a result of the street outreach I have been doing the last few years in S. Minneapolis. All Nations. One Purpose. Currently provides food every Sunday to the community as well as clothes and harm reduction. We are collaborating with Anything Helps and ACT 2 recovery homes who help us with harm reduction supplies and food donations respectively. We primarily serve the Native community with this work . I grew up with connection to the Bad River reservation and have started getting involved with activism from my experiences then and now. The racial disparity of our Native relatives is something I have always found unacceptable. I will continue to support my Native relatives in the community.
I am the event host for Devanadi school of Yoga and wellness. I coordinate and host for the school I attended for most of my training. I am also a staff practitioner.
I am building my own foundation “HEResilience” to educate and create a community to support women and girls with Endometriosis and other uterine born health issues. I suffered with it from the time I was in middle school until I was almost 30 before I got a diagnosis. I want to empower women and girls with the resources I have gathered through my experience so they don’t feel as alone as I did and can receive support.
I had the privilege of knowing, learning, and receiving teachings from Joe Rose Moka’ang Giizis’(Rising Sun). Joe Rose was an elder of the Bad River Tribe. He was a member of the Midewin medicine lodge. He was an activist, teacher, caretaker of mother earth, storyteller, and pillar of the Indigenous community. He was a father and grandfather. This heavily influenced my life. I learned how to carry medicine, honor the ancestors. I have only ever sought out teachers of his caliber as a result. Integrity, honoring tradition, authenticity, and love are what I seek in any teacher I work with. It shows in my work and shared with me by my clients and teachers. I have studied with traditional healers from all over the world. I studied in Thailand and continue to connect with new teachers to continue to deepen my connection to traditional medicine. I am both proud of this and it sets me apart from many other practitioners. Being referred to as “The real deal” to me is a high honor.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Since I can remember I have always been what I would consider a risk taker. Earlier in my life I was reckless and careless in my actions. After spending a large amount of time, money, and self reflection I think I was able to channel that innate risk taking into a healthy relationship. Now I would consider it an asset. The most recent example being quitting my corporate life in exchange for the life I am living now. I feel like a base jumper that is still finding my balance as I free fall. A former version of myself never would have taken that leap of faith. There was A LOT of preparation that went into this leap of faith. I had not planned on taking it until after my daughter graduated in 2025. I woke up one day and followed the whispers in my ear, what I believe was divine nudging. I have nothing but gratitude for my capacity and capability to trust the creator, my intuition, and divine timing.
I think there is a big difference between leaping blindly and taking a calculated risk. Neither will ever be guaranteed and sometimes both have purposes to serve to be a catalyst for change. I have no regrets for any of the decisions I have made. They have shaped me into who I am today, all of it. The good, the bad, and the very very ugly. If I never took any risks, I would have remained stagnant and change would have been near impossible to change and heal from the generational trauma of my family. I knew if I could survive having a mentally unstable mother, emotionally abandoned and unavailable father, childhood sexual abuse, and all the other life experiences that were presented in my life, I could chase the light and overcome anything.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chelsealambertenterprises.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelsealambertenterprises/
