Testimonials

I will be eternally grateful for Catherine’s insight and expertise in helping me get my life back.

Before working with Catherine I was at the end of my ability to cope. I had no life, was bed bound most of the time and lost faith in ever being well again. It was like a jail sentence with daily torture on every level – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The fear of dying was nothing like the fear of my living death. I had exhausted all my resources and knew something  or someone extraordinary was my only hope.

My medical mayhem began in the summer of 2012 when a large meningioma tumor was diagnosed. The tumour was resected successfully via craniotomy, however this was just the beginning of an 8 year journey that was SO awful I wanted to die.

In 2012 my first diagnosis was a meningioma brain tumor. Then came Cushing’s disease, a pulmonary embolism, pernicious anaemia, chronic fatigue, severe shortage of breath, peripheral neuropathy, chronic headaches, arthritis, chronic depression, low growth hormone, non existent progesterone & estrogen, high blood pressure, stroke, narcolepsy, Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM), severe pain in lower back and abdomen and finally to top it off – a pituitary tumor!

Catherine’s ability to see what is going in the body was life saving for me. Combined with her insights to certain causes, she prescribed outstanding solutions which started me on the road to recovery in a short time.

In treating in an integrated way – mind, body, spirit – Catherine’s sessions soon gave me hope, determination. future vision and also gave me back control of my life and future. It took a long time to get into my sorry state but a short time before my life completely changed on all levels. Her practical, compassionate and down to earth approach made working with Catherine a joy.  Finally after so many medical battles, late diagnosis insults, and at times callous disregard, near death experiences, as well as anger and and frustration, I felt supported, guided, safe and SO happy with the improvements in my health.

Never give up. Listen to yourself and don’t be trampled on, sidelined, ignored or to feel it’s “all in your mind” which was my experience with some medics. Educate yourself, keep a health diary and a healing journal. I have also learned to love myself again, go easy on myself, give myself permission to go at my own pace, to be grateful to those seen and  unseen who are helping me, particularly Catherine. Seeing Catherine work is extraordinary and learning from her is definitely life saving.

Getting better starts with the right support when you are so far down the rabbit hole you need someone to pull you out by the legs and take charge. Working on all levels to heal is essential – I had a sticking plaster for years that had to be ripped off so I could see what was underneath. Once done the veil was lifted and my healing opportunity began.

I feel so fortunate and grateful to have the opportunity of working with Catherine. Her practical process honors any existing medications that are helping you. Catherine’s prescribed supplements, modalities and healing are integrated with her books, guidance, exercises, nutrition and self help videos. Perfection is not demanded nor expected, there is no “do as I say” project. Simply the process is a partnership and a highly successful one at that. Her insights are mind blowing and accurate. What’s not to like?!

Before seeing Catherine I had spent the previous 2 years on heavy pain medication and lots of it. Being an addict in recovery it was really getting me down. I was in victim!, and had no idea I was in it, nor did I believe there was a way out. I was running a successful landscaping business and my back went out from the stress and I tore a disc. It sent me on a downward spiral into helplessness, pain medication, 3 day surgeries, bankruptcy then major spinal surgery to fuse my L4/L5 vertebrae…. After 8 months of post op recovery I never thought I would get off the meds! Little did I know that I didn’t even need them!….Before my first session with Catherine, after coming off the pain meds my pain level was at 7/10. Within one week after following her guidance my pain level is now 2 and it only comes and goes. I’m drug, alcohol, which is a drug! Gluten, Sugar, and Fried Food Free! With Catherine’s help we have cleared the blocks to healing, finances, and other energetic blocks / belief systems. My career is now going where I knew it would but didn’t feel like it could! I feel blessed that I know have my power back and am healing myself with Catherine’s help/guidance. Catherine is very loving, very kind, highly intuitive, and has helped me tremendously to help myself. Looking forward to our next session!. Lots of Love to you Catherine….XXX. Highly recommend Catherine to anyone in need of a little or a lot of help! Jules Utichi, Sydney, Australia.

I’ve utilized Catherine’s services for several years, both for career advice and personal guidance. What she offers is insights into life’s situations in both a truthful and healing way. She has supported me during hard times and helped me see that there is a natural order of things that are healed through acceptance and God never leaves us without hope. Her healing and insights offer a perspective that is unique to the person, and not dictated by guidelines or artificial standards. I am always in awe when she presents an alternative to a problem that shifts everything. Her ability to understand situations on multiple levels, often unknown to the person, is why working with her has become invaluable. And, when the work is done it moves quickly. Energy shifts and situations soon follow. Even when the change is uncomfortable or not expected, it can be trusted (and faith grows) that the result of her work is positive change. It’s the light that keeps me on path even when I don’t understand….until I do…and life once again is filled with joy. Her guidance is genuine, as is her heart and desire to see people happy, healthy and fulfilled. Her books are a must read. Use them as manuals for life!

This past year I have been dealing with a nagging pain in my chest.

After making a variety of changes in my lifestyle to correct the problem, I was able to often get the pain to stop temporarily only to return a bit worse within a few weeks or so.

Then one Sunday evening when I was taking a shower the pain returned sharply and was radiating into my neck.

Thinking I may have been having a minor heart attack due to the symptoms and location of the pain I was having, I went to the ER.

The doctor at the ER ran the typical battery of expensive medical tests only to find nothing, no heart attack, no obstruction, no tumors or anything like that so I was given a prescription for Advil and Percaset and sent home.

It was a relief to have the medical testing verify that indeed I was not having a heart attack but the pain had already been slowing me down and at this point I was not able to work the next day and wanted to get to the bottom of the problem not simply reduce my awareness of or dull the pain because I knew that would not take care of it since I had been dealing with it in a variety of ways at this point for quite some time already.

I called Catherine Carrigan who I have been working with for many years now and fortunately she was in town and willing to see me the very next day at 7:30PM well outside her normal working hours and even at her normal rate.

Catherine was able to use her incredible intuitive gifts and insight to get right to the source of the problem for me. She determined that I was having an ongoing reaction to toxic chemicals, pesticides in particular, in my system. This made perfect sense because I am a landscaper and though I do not apply pesticides regularly I am exposed to them and along with other factors my body was having an ongoing adverse reaction to the chemicals in my system because my body could not remove these variety of chemicals enough without additional measures.

Catherine did some incredible healing work on me during our session and I was amazed at how rapidly the pain in my chest subsided, by the next day I was feeling much better, and my pain was reduced to a whisper of what it was without the use of the pain medication prescribed by the MD at the ER.

Among other things in particular on this occasion she insisted that I needed to use a far infrared sauna to get these chemicals out of my system. Fortunately she has a very kind and generous friend who lives close by and was willing to rent me her sauna to use for one month.

Being a landscaper in Atlanta I thought I knew what heat and sweating was all about but I was in for a very new experience in the far infrared sauna.

Along with specific supplements she recommended and supplied for me I have been doing exactly as she prescribed as best I can and the pain in my chest though it has come back slightly a few times over the past month, I am confident and very fortunate she got to the source of the matter, knew exactly what I needed to do to take care of it, and I am now on the other side of this terrible chest pain health problem I was having that was otherwise getting to the point of being debilitating.

In fact, as I mentioned I have been going to see Catherine for a variety of my particular health concerns over the past 10+ years and she ALWAYS knows what I need to do get better, she even recommended I do the far infrared sauna years ago but I had never tried it until now when I developed a desperate need to do so.

She recommended that I purchase a sauna due to the nature of my work and the area I work in Atlanta, GA, and I knew I would be a fool not to do exactly just that. But the particular far infrared sauna she recommends (and it is important to be specific because some of them do not work) was on back order with a delivery time of 7 weeks to get it so again very fortunate she was able to find one that I could rent for a month that I have been using daily and getting the results I need.

One thing I really like about Catherine’s holistic approach is that when I do the treatments she prescribes I also get beneficial side effects. She mentioned that after using the far infrared sauna for one month her energy literally doubled and now I am experiencing the same tremendous increase of energy along with reduction and elimination of the pain at its source, along with other easily observable improvements in my overall health, and it feels awesome.

Catherine is a true healer, I always call on her when I face troublesome health problems and she always figures out what is going on and what I need to do to the results I am in need of and back to a state of feeling great, strong and healthy.

I feel so lucky to have met Catherine. She has changed my life. I met Catherine shortly after being diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. At the time, I was severely anemic and suffering tremendously. I was also depressed and could not see how I would ever bounce back from this. The doctors said that I would have to stay on a routine of medications and I may have to have surgery. Since working with Catherine, I have been symptom free! Catherine helped me to be healthier than ever both physically and emotionally. Her skills, intelligence, experience and support are priceless.

My scoliosis is getting better! I can actually see that it’s slowly shifting, which is kind of amazing to me. I feel vibrant and alive when I am able to stand up straight and breathe. The thing that has been absolutely so life changing for me is that I am able to make a difference in my body structure and the way my body moves and lives. I thought I was stuck with it! I’m 63 and it’s been that way for a long time. This has inspired me to do other things because I see a light!

I had my annual physical in December. My whole life I have been 5 foot 1 1/2. I went to the doctor and the nurse said I am now 5 foot 3. I was so shocked I made the nurse retake it! I have been 5 foot 1 1/2 my whole life so now at age 49 that’s the tallest I have ever been. I was really excited knowing you are doing yoga and it’s feeling good, but to see measurable results, I was shocked. I’m getting a firmer belly which I am really excited about. I had a lot of back pain and fibromylagia so I had pins and needles all the time – sleeping and waking. My whole body was achey. I don’t have any of that any more. I had cracking in my shoulders and constant pain. I was on steroids for four years. I don’t need pain meds any more. I can sleep through the night. I used to feel 80 years old getting out of bed. I feel more fit than my niece age 29. My mother shrinks so I just assumed that was going to be how it was going to be.

The first thing you notice when you work with Catherine is her sense of humor, brutal honesty and great compassion for those who are facing physical, nutritional, spiritual and emotional challenges.  She is, indeed, a very intuitive and knowledgeable practitioner.  Having met Catherine during a interesting transition in my life, I was able to move through it effectively by minimizing stress and by looking at myself in a more healthy and realistic way.  I lost 20 lbs. Her expert guidance with nutrition, supplements, managing a realistic fitness schedule (finding ways to work smarter instead of harder) and managing stress and anxiety were key to my personal development.  Using these tools has helped me to develop a firmer foundation in everyday life as well as during change and transition.  I am grateful for the work Catherine and I have done, and continue to do.  No matter who you are or where you are in your life, positive change is possible and the benefits of making those changes is cumulative and life-affirming.

I struggled with chronic autoimmune health issues that held me back in both my personal and professional life. Eight years and thousands of dollars later I found Catherine Carrigan. After only two powerful sessions with her, Catherine helped me get to the bottom of my health issues and it has been life changing on all levels. Her method achieves real healing by addressing issues spiritually, mentally and physically. I continue to learn from Catherine’s intuitive gifts and old-soul wisdom. I recommend her books to anyone who has struggled with and been let down by traditional medicine. You may never look at your own health or healing the same way again.

Six weeks ago on a beautiful Spring day in Atlanta, Catherine received a desperate phone call from a dear friend of mine, begging her to see me that afternoon. Catherine, being the kind and compassionate person she is, was willing to work me in and told my friend to have me at her studio at 4:00 PM. Due to the news I had just received from my doctor, I was very hesitant to meet with her, but agreed to do so since my friend told me that Catherine had saved her business partner’s life several years prior. When I arrived on her doorstep, I was very weak, having had severe abdominal pain (8 or 9 on a scale of 1-10) for several days. My doctor thought I might have kidney stones, however my pain was sporadic, therefore making that diagnosis false.  My pain was less severe in the mornings and would progressively worsen throughout the day. A sonogram performed earlier in the day showed a plethora of gall stones, several tumors on my liver and a small cyst on my ovary. Needless to say, I was an emotional and physical wreck upon meeting Catherine for the first time.  She started with kinesiology and found my body to be in shock.  She then had to get my body out of shock prior to proceeding with her diagnosis.  Within ten minutes, Catherine was able to determine which of my organs were inflamed and the percentage of their functionality.  I was amazed!  Not only was she able to make the diagnosis quickly and accurately, she knew how to proceed with treatment to reduce the inflammation and heal the performance of my organs.  After being with Catherine for an hour and a half, my body was no longer in shock, and after her reiki techniques, my pain had lowered from 8-9 to a 6-7.  I was in complete amazement by now!  She wanted me to cleanse my system by taking her total fitness products, (i.e, Bio Detox, Inflammatone, Lipoic Acid, Destressing Formula, etc.) eating only organic foods and start juicing twice daily.  I started the cleanse immediately and continued to see Catherine daily for the next ten days.  During this time, I was also having more tests (CT and MRI) performed.  Luckily, after all of this, the tests showed no cancer and due to Catherine’s healing abilities, my pain was at Zero! And to top it off, I’ve lost 21 pounds due to my change in eating habits, therefore good news all the way around!  I will continue to see Catherine and highly recommend her to others in need of healing.  She is extremely knowledgable and truly cares about a person’s total fitness; both mind and body.  Thank you Catherine for helping me and I look forward to working with you in the future.  See you at your next Meditation session and also Qi Gong!

This is my testimonial for the miraculous healing you’ve helped me acquire.

Before I came to see Catherine, my stomach was very bloated and I had sores that itched terribly on my arms, legs and back.  I’ve been to a traditional dermatologist and food allergist several times over the past three years, yet the bloating and sores persisted.  After only two months working with Catherine, 98% of the sores on my body are gone as well as 100% of my stomach bloating. 

Since my first visit with Catherine on Valentine’s Day (how appropriate!), I’ve been drinking coconut milk with Bio Detox and Immunomax every morning.  Catherine says that it’s important to cleanse from the inside.  I’ve also replaced my personal hygiene products with non-toxic brands.  My food intake has been completely altered due to numerous food sensitivities that Catherine identified through kinesiology.  I now make quinoa, carrot/butternut squash soup, wild rice, and other pure foods.  I actually enjoy browsing around Whole Foods and Trader Joes and cooking the delicious food that I buy!

Catherine is helping me identify the major stressors in my life which have contributed to my body sores.  I’ve added meditation to my weekly health routine, eliminated several toxic relationships from my life, and am carefully choosing the events that I participate in to avoid burnout.

I constantly share my miraculous results with all my friends and family.  I tell them that I feel so much better mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally.  One of the best results from my healing is that I get goose bumps all the time when something inspires me.  This tells me that my “feeling sensors” are working at a much deeper level than ever before because my food sensitivities aren’t blocking my nervous system any more.

I am so thankful to my good friend, Jeanne Dow, for introducing me to Catherine after I told her about my chronic health issues.  Being on this new holistic well being path with Catherine has made a significant difference in how I feel, think and act every day!

Before my visit, I felt trapped in the past by things I cannot change. I feel more free inside than I’ve felt in 18 years. Now I feel the power to make my own luck.

Catherine has an extensive background in corrective exercise, Reiki, yoga, Qi Gong, nutrition, medical intuition, physical healing and emotional healing, just to name a few.  In short, she works miracles for whatever the issue.

Before I was referred to Catherine Carrigan at Total Fitness a month and a half ago, I had suffered for 15 years with fibromyalgia symptoms.

Having gone through a complete cleansing and nutrition healing program and being treated by chiropractic for over a year, I still had fatigue, stiff joints, allergy issues, nosebleeds, tight muscles in my entire back, pain to the touch in my legs, muscle spasms and brain related problems such as brain fog, confusion, indecision, fearfulness, memory loss, hopelessness, loss of creativity, loss of spiritual connection, agitation, feeling very alone and feeling like I had no control over my thoughts.

Prior to this 15 year period, I rarely ever saw a doctor or had any medical issues at all. I had always been very healthy, full of energy and creative.

During my illness, I suffered with no relief for the first 4 or 5 years without seeing a doctor. Eventually, I saw several different general medical doctors, an internist, a gastroenterologist, a gynecologist, an allergist, an ear nose throat specialist, a pain specialist, physical therapists and had sessions with my pastor and a psychotherapist. I had many, many medical tests and even had a hysterectomy. All this brought very little, if any, relief and most relief was short-lived. I was told by all that I was very healthy.

In answer to my deep, distraught prayers for at least some mental and spiritual help, I was referred to a spiritual counselor, who then referred me to Catherine Carrigan at Total Fitness.

I had a medical intuitive reading with Catherine who finally confirmed underlying issues that were causing my symptoms – every last one of them.

These underlying causes were each directly related to my personal life and personality and were right on. She connected the physical, emotional and spiritual and was right on every count. This helped me to quit blaming myself for all my problems and I felt like someone finally really understood what I needed.

I have been working with Catherine for a little over a month now and my life has improved so much. I have much more energy and focus for my life and goals. I have a renewed sense of hope and joy back in my life. I had not seen them for a very long time. My pain and stiffness has been reduced by at least 50% and my allergy issues have disappeared, including the nosebleeds. I am able to relax my body and mind and control my thoughts more effectively to keep from getting agitated and angry. I no longer feel like there is a war going on in my head and I feel more like the positive person I used to be. I generally feel loved and safe. My husband says I am more energetic, more fun to be around and less cranky and whiny.

The methods of help I have received from Catherine are numerous, but I will give a few of the key things I use all the time to be healthier and feel better:

• avoiding foods that I am sensitive to
• juicing daily for energy, antioxidant and vitamin boosts, plus it tastes great!
• stretching and exercise, tailored for me, as well as lymphatic system stimulation to reduce pain and stiffness and increase energy
• walking everyday outdoors to keep my body moving and flowing
• drawing upon spiritual energy for an unlimited supply and protecting myself from negative energy
• to stop being so critical of myself and reduce rigidness, to “go with the flow”
• to treat myself well, because I deserve it
• to accept help and quit trying to do it all myself

I so look forward to my appointments with Catherine every week to see what new thing I am going to learn.

If you have lost hope and been to every doctor or taken every treatment you are willing to take, the greatest gift you can give yourself is to call Total Fitness for an appointment. Catherine has been there and she really understands, no matter how weird your symptoms or how bad you think your “head” is.

If you are willing to get better and to have a renewed sense of purpose in your life, she is able. She is a real person who is easy to connect with and trust. There is hope (in the biblical sense of the word hope – a hope that knows it is and will be so) to get your life back and a life that is better and more joyful with less stress and work.

Kathy Martin, happy client

I have worked with Catherine and she is an amazing practitioner. She is very experienced and is at the top of her field in knowledge and expertise. Her healing empowers transformations.

There is nothing like a job that makes people happy!

I am always so thankful to do what I do. Occasionally, I will drive through the business district of downtown Atlanta and thank God that I have found my own path of service. Here is one testimony from a client who received Thai yoga body therapy as one aspect of his program. We also used nutritional supplements, food allergy elimination, specialized kinesiology, yoga, traditional exercise to repair the back and rotator cuff shoulder muscles and life coaching. When he arrived at my doorstep, Ernesto’s ailments were numerous. I keep my client’s actual symptoms confidential. You can read for yourself his results!

Dear Catherine,

You have made me 16 years younger! My horizons have opened up again to those of a young 20 something about to embark on life’s adventure.

When I started working with you last April you commented that I had my lights turned off. I was sliding down the path of stiff, lethargic and inactive existence that clearly stated that my best days were behind me.

Today I have the energy and vitality of 16 years ago. Today my best days have yet to come. Today I believe that my dreams will become a reality. With your help I have initiated a process of transformation that is truly life enhancing.

During our first meeting you asked me what I wanted to do in our sessions. I remember voicing a desire to create a new business. Your encouraging response was “Let’s get your physical body to regain its strength and later we will see how you can branch out on your own”. At that time I was in so much pain that I could not sit down during the meeting. What I never anticipated was the depth and scope of the physical recovery. Today I feel as strong and full of life as I did when I was 27 years old and not my 43 years of life on the face of this planet. Good to your word, nine months later my body was sufficiently recovered for me to open a new chapter of my life.

In our last session I stated that I felt that I needed to walk alone on my adventure. You have given me many tools and coping techniques but I was not taking responsibility to benefit from them through their regular use. You commented once “It is not what one says that is important but what one does that counts. You need to use the exercises, nutrition, journaling and meditation if you are going to regain your health.” In the month since our last session I have learned the accuracy of your warning.

By the second week of after seeing you last, I returned to eating recklessly, missing my exercises, journaling and meditation. By the end of the week, my energy was depleted and I was back feeling lethargic. You gave me the formula that is customized for my physical, emotional and spiritual needs and all I have to do is use it regularly.

The beauty of this adventure is the never-ending challenges that we face each and every moment. The tools and techniques you taught me have given me the opportunity to decide how to benefit from this challenges. Now it is up to me to craft my life adventure through the diligent use of your teachings.

Your professionalism, caring and willingness to explore new ideas has given me an immeasurable gift of love, hope and enlightenment. Please accept my gratitude as a humble reflection of your outstanding contribution to my wellness.

Best Regards, Ernesto Bergeron

What if you could lose 18 lbs. in six weeks by eating every two hours, resting more, and doing gentler exercise that also heals your back?

It’s with great happiness that we report to you the success of Patsy Saye, daughter of long-time Total Fitness client Theresa Dean. Theresa sent her daughter to us after Patsy lost no weight despite participating in a local boot camp.

Patsy is living proof of what  I am constantly advising our clients – follow the principles of Total Fitness and avoid high-intensity aerobic exercise if you have a damaged metabolism. Despite running three times a week for 1 hour early in the morning, all that huffing and puffing had brought Patsy three results: exhaustion, an injured back, and even greater frustration about her weight.

I worked with Patsy on critical point analysis to identify the key areas she needed to shift in order to lose weight. These included bringing her blood sugar back into balance, correcting her adrenal health, getting her inflammation under control, and taking more rest. James wrote an corrective exercise program that she could do at home to heal her aching back.

Result: Patsy has lost 18 pounds in six weeks.

How did you feel before you came to Total Fitness? “I felt tired, discouraged and unhealthy. I basically felt like a lump on auto pilot.”

What had you tried before to achieve the weight loss you desired? “I have tried many diets on my own – the cabbage soup diet, diet for your blood type, Sugar Busters d iet, South Beach diet, Fit for Life program, using Metabolife, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, taking random diet pills, getting B-12 injections, taking prescription appetite suppressants, and taking the newest pill on the market Alli. I have also tried different exercise programs: I joined Gold’s Gym, LA Fitness, did Jazzercise and Pilates. I have had two personal trainers, joined a 6 a.m. morning boot camp 3 mornings a week. You name it, I have likely tried it!”

What are the key things you have learned through our work at Total Fitness? “That everything that I had been doing for most of my adult life, as far as diet and exercise, was contributing to my weight problem, not solving it. I was trying to find the magic pill to solve my problems instead of using good, sound principles to get my weight under control. I have learned that I did not have to work as hard as I had been, I just needed to listen to my body, regain all my depleted energy through lots of rest, and eat clean, real food. I have also learned that I did not have to kill myself with high-intensity exercise programs.”

How did you feel after running in a boot camp 3 times per week and still not losing weight? “Defeated! I was miserable!! Getting up at 5 a.m., dressing as if I was going snow skiing, and driving to the outdoor parking lot, working out for 1 hour in the dark and then coming home and getting me and my family out the door for work and school was torture!! And for what? Nothing but a back injury after 8 weeks!!”

What advice would you give other women who are frustrated with their weight? “To stop trying to treat dieting as a game. I have heard it before, but thought there had to be a better way…you have to eat right and smart. Dieting is wrong, eating like a thin healthy person is the only way!!! I was addicted to sugar and carbs. I learned that this was wreaking havoc with my body!! I basically wanted someone to tell me I could eat anything I wanted and still lose weight. I did not think I could live or enjoy life without sugar and bad carbs in my diet. Thankfully I was wrong!! It is a huge perk to eat without guilt!! After all these years I know what I really want, not just to be thin, but to be healthy.

The Total Fitness program has helped me identify my true needs, helped me get off medications that were contributing to my poor health, taught me how to eat correctly, and determined my food sensitivities. It’s also put me on a good exercise program that is helping to repair the damage I have done to my back at Boot Camp.

I have lost 18 pounds in the last 6 weeks! It has been fun watching the weight slip away. My hair and skin have never looked better! But the bottom line is I feel (and look) healthier! Plus, I know what I am doing is right for my body!”

Before I started working with Catherine In Dec 08, I had 6-7 years of physiotherapy, which was from a structural point of view was very, very beneficial. I had in my previous career as a golf professional picked up some bad pelvic, back and neck injuries.

My physio’ in the UK referred me to Catherine as he believed that a lot of my problems were emotional, spiritual, and dietary, and indeed were leading to a lot of the physical and emotional pain I was experiencing. From having his own session with Catherine, he assured me Catherines abilities were truly world class. We both agreed that I needed more than just fascial/soft tissue and muscle work doing. My physio assured me without any doubt whatsoever Catherine would help me. Now after three sessions that I have had in the last month, Catherine has categorically through her incredible healing and spiritual powers, and phenominal nutritional advice, changed my life forever.

Not only do I feel better mentally and physically, as I was experiencing some fairly significant depression, but my body feels like its beginning to work again. Now as someone who is 35 years of age and was smoking at age 15, so thats 20 years of smoking, and many miserable attempts at giving up!! I have now given up, and the thought of smoking frankly makes me feel sick.

I have started to learn that its actually ok to feel and have emotions! and guess what the pain is starting to go! Catherine has put me on a really cool nutritional diet, mental exercises, and told me stuff about myself that I didnt even know myself. I must make a very clear point here, everything Catherine has said to me about myself, I know really deep down is 100% true. Catherine has identified issues of old and new from this life and previous.

It’s very difficult to summarize a particular area that Catherine has helped me in the most, because Catherine has helped me already in every single department. I would say that any person working with Catherine must embrace, believe, trust, and truly cherish every second that this wonderful, wonderful, lady is giving to you. There are times when we all have setbacks, and sometimes we have to be patient with the healing process, I have been in situations where I have wondered if I will ever get better, I have met so called experts and healers before, but never have I met someone as passionate and as successful about healing as Catherine.

As a final note I live in the UK, so have had my sessions over the phone, and look at the results Catherine has achieved. I really envy you guys that have the privilege of your sessions face to face with Catherine. Catherine you are an inspiration to us all, and I hope I know you for many many lifetimes to come, god bless you.

Your forever thankful client in the U.K., Barrie Moore. Hamish Hurley, CHEK Level 3 our friend and colleague was kind enough to refer Barrie. Hamish is the wonderful physio’ who had done such excellent work helping Barrie.

Before I started working with Catherine In Dec 08, I had 6-7 years of physiotherapy, which was from a structural point of view was very, very beneficial. I had in my previous career as a golf professional picked up some bad pelvic, back and neck injuries.

My physio’ in the UK referred me to Catherine as he believed that a lot of my problems were emotional, spiritual, and dietary, and indeed were leading to a lot of the physical and emotional pain I was experiencing. From having his own session with Catherine, he assured me Catherines abilities were truly world class. We both agreed that I needed more than just fascial/soft tissue and muscle work doing. My physio assured me without any doubt whatsoever Catherine would help me. Now after three sessions that I have had in the last month, Catherine has categorically through her incredible healing and spiritual powers, and phenominal nutritional advice, changed my life forever.

Not only do I feel better mentally and physically, as I was experiencing some fairly significant depression, but my body feels like its beginning to work again. Now as someone who is 35 years of age and was smoking at age 15, so thats 20 years of smoking, and many miserable attempts at giving up!! I have now given up, and the thought of smoking frankly makes me feel sick.

I have started to learn that its actually ok to feel and have emotions! and guess what the pain is starting to go! Catherine has put me on a really cool nutritional diet, mental exercises, and told me stuff about myself that I didnt even know myself. I must make a very clear point here, everything Catherine has said to me about myself, I know really deep down is 100% true. Catherine has identified issues of old and new from this life and previous.

It’s very difficult to summarize a particular area that Catherine has helped me in the most, because Catherine has helped me already in every single department. I would say that any person working with Catherine must embrace, believe, trust, and truly cherish every second that this wonderful, wonderful, lady is giving to you. There are times when we all have setbacks, and sometimes we have to be patient with the healing process, I have been in situations where I have wondered if I will ever get better, I have met so called experts and healers before, but never have I met someone as passionate and as successful about healing as Catherine.

As a final note I live in the UK, so have had my sessions over the phone, and look at the results Catherine has achieved. I really envy you guys that have the privilege of your sessions face to face with Catherine. Catherine you are an inspiration to us all, and I hope I know you for many many lifetimes to come, god bless you.

Your forever thankful client in the U.K., Barrie Moore. Hamish Hurley, CHEK Level 3 our friend and colleague was kind enough to refer Barrie. Hamish is the wonderful physio’ who had done such excellent work helping Barrie.

“Typing this letter has brought tears to my eyes,” Shirley Retter wrote. “I realize more and more that I am so fortunate to be working with such intelligent and gifted and helpful people. You know I talk/type too much, but I couldn’t help it! I want people to know how I really feel about Total Fitness.”

We asked Shirley to tell us how she felt before coming to Total Fitness:

“I felt as though I had nowhere to turn. I felt that there were no more options, I had just taken an MRI for my migraines, blood tests for my complete exhaustion! I had been to so many doctors and tried so many medications and nothing seemed to be making me feel better.

“Worse, no doctor could find anything wrong with me except they could see I was exhausted, having trouble sleeping, having terribly upset stomach aches and feeling so low at times that tears were constantly just welling up in my eyes.

“I had lost interest in my hobbies, which for my whole life had been my way of relaxing. I had let friendships with people just wither away because I had no energy to deal with it. I had let my family go and do things without me because I just did not have the drive, interest or energy to do anything.

“I was very upset about this, I love my husband and I love to do things with him, but it’s hard to be upbeat and hard to go out when you just can’t get the energy to get dressed and feel enthusiastic about going out! My children were so worried about me.

“They tried to get me to go for walks at the river, to just get up and go out with them, but it was too much of an effort. Staying at home was just easier.

“The very first time I met with Total Fitness, I think I cried six times.”

How do you feel now?

“I honestly feel like a new me! I have NOT felt this good physically and emotionally in YEARS! I have NOT had ONE migraine since starting with Total Fitness! I feel as though I am taking positive and healthy steps to becoming a healthy person. It’s a learning process and a big change, but as I told I will take one day at a time. I am ready and willing to change for the better! I feel so grateful to Catherine. They have literally turned my life around in the most positive and INTERESTING way possible!

I am reading tons of books again (previously I did not have the ‘focus’ to finish a magazine over the last few years, let alone almost one book a day now!). I feel empowered by my meditation sessions! James taught me how to meditate the proper way, and it has become a daily ritual – not a religious ritual, but a personal ritual of treating and taking care of myself in the right way. At first I felt guilty taking so much time for myself now, but I am learning that I am only good to others if I am good to myself first.

“It feels wonderful to be looking after myself! In the process, without really even thinking about it, I have lost 6 pounds this month! I am thrilled. I am not concerned with the number on the scale, I am concerned with how I feel when I get dressed. So now when I put on my clothes and they’re not tight and pinching me……I AM THRILLED!!! This was an added bonus I had really not thought would happen for awhile! What a great surprise!”

By the time Marlene Rivera was 31, she had already had six operations on her eyes. Beginning in second grade, she became nearsighted. At the age of 10, she developed a bad case of shingles that affected her right eye, and needed her first eye operation, a corneal transplant, at age 12. The last of her six eye operations resulted in cloudiness.

It wasn’t until eight months later, when Marlene attended my Natural Vision improvement class in Los Angeles, that the cloudiness began to clear up. She learned simple exercises she can do while taking brief breaks from her job managing music ads for Yahoo.com. In less than a month since learning her personal vision improvement program, Marlene has improved her eyesight 15-20 percent. “I just feel for the first time in a long time I have two eyes. Wow. It is an actually a noticeable change.”

You can learn the same exercises that helped Marlene improve her eyesight by joining us for our next Natural Vision Improvement class in Atlanta June 4-5.

Marlene had never done anything for her eyesight other than go to doctors before her friend Chris Watson, a fellow Chek practitioner, encouraged her to come to my Natural Vision Improvement class in Los Angeles.

“I didn’t even really know what alternative healing was about until this experience,” she recalls. “I think I understand more now that the holistic approach affects pretty much everything about me and that specialists only focus on one thing but there may be other things beyond that are affecting one problem.”

I am always thrilled to help my clients achieve what they never thought they can do. Many clients whose vision has been less impaired than Marlene’s have noticed measurable improvements, but because of her long struggle to see better, I wanted to share her story.

“At age 10, a breakout of shingles on my face infected my right eye, rendering my vision permanently hazy and blurry despite multiple surgeries. For many years I have tuned out the severely impaired vision in my right eye as ‘visual noise,’ learning to ignore the hazy halos that it would cast on everything I saw. Though my healthy left eye is very nearsighted, requiring use of a contact, I have relied heavily on this eye to compensate for the vision loss in my right eye. Because I have been actively using only my left eye, my peripheral vision was very limited and I frequently had symptoms of fatigue in both eyes.

“My right eye has undergone several surgeries over the years, including a cornea transplant, cataract removal, two lens implants, and two cornea reshaping laser surgeries, but resulting vision has always remained hazy and blurry. Nearsightedness in my left eye is clear with the use of contacts.

“In Catherine’s class I learned to make the most of my vision. The exercises in class helped to get my eyes working together, expanding my awareness of the usefulness of what I could actually see with both eyes. With noticeable improvements in my field of perception, I felt a newfound sense of control over the health of my eyes rather than feeling resigned to a lifetime of progressively stronger lenses and/or surgeries.

“I noticed immediately that my range of peripheral vision was extended significantly, and the general symptoms of strain, fatigue and irritation were greatly relieved. Until the relaxation techniques taught in this class, I was hardly aware of how tense my eyes really were! Since the class, I have become more aware of my surroundings and have noticed a reduction in the haziness cast by the vision in the right eye. This change alone is already more progress than I ever felt after one of my many surgeries!”

The changes Marlene has experienced since learning eye exercises are not just physical.

“I feel more balanced. Friends have noticed I have become a lot more confident at work and am speaking my mind more. I used to feel the two sides of my brain were constantly at odds with each other. There was too much going on and nothing ever seemed to come together. Lately I don’t feel as muddled. This has exposed me to how much control I have over my body and my mind.”

One of our great joys at Total Fitness is helping our clients find their own way to happiness. Such is the case with Anne Shoulders.

How did you feel before coming to Total Fitness?

Unfortunately, it took hitting rock bottom for me to find Total Fitness.

Physically, I was overweight, tired. and had global body pain all the time. I had recently been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes which was scary and was not making healthy food choices or eating regularly. I’m embarrassed to say I actually did not really know about food despite being a very educated person. I was not exercising, and I had lots of great excuses.

Emotionally, I was so depressed that I had almost checked into a mental hospital – I was crying at the drop of a hat, pulling away from friends and family, unable to focus or concentrate well at work – yet still forcing myself through high-powered work situations. I had daily feelings of being lost, helpless, and alone. Resentment, anger, and frustration were all common emotions for me, despite knowing I am a happy person under it all.

Spiritually, I was questioning how God could let me fall so low and pour myself into my work, simply because I felt there was no other substance in my life.

What have you tried before to get better?

Like so many other people, I have tried lots of different tactics over the years to “get healthy.” My experiences with weight loss (Weight Watchers, Diet Center, South Beach, Atkins, etc) were successful but never sustainable…the weight always came back on once I hit a hiccup in life. I have spent years in therapy and asked multiple medical doctors for help. They put me on many anti-depressants and blood pressure meds yet I felt like they were only treating the symptoms instead of the root cause, and I was never actually getting better. Then I found Catherine Carrigan and Total Fitness.

How do you feel now? What improvements have you noticed?

Wow! What a difference three months with Total Fitness has made. I meet with Catherine several days a week, and I genuinely look forward to each session. I actually feel like I have caring partners helping me bloom. My body pain has decreased exponentially. I have exercise and nutrition plans that have been specifically created for me given my needs and limitations. My blood sugar is under control. I am happier and have more energy. I am continuing to learn how my mind and my issues are linked with my body.

And while I still have a lot more work to do, I now enjoy taking care of myself because of Catherine and James. I am not a chore. I am a gift.

What would you say to other people who are facing similar challenges?

I am convinced that the mind/body/soul connection is supremely important to a healthy and balanced life – you simply can not focus on only one area of your life and expect incredible sustainable results in all the others. Sometimes you aren’t even aware of what is blocking your success. But Catherine at Total Fitness can help. They understand what it feels like to be out of balance and can guide you through a total body solution tailored to your needs, at your speed.

Several months with Catherine have done what years of other treatments have never been able to do for me. I feel happier, healthier and more in control now that I understand what my body needs. Calling Total Fitness was the best thing I have done for myself in years.

1. How did you feel before coming to Total Fitness? I was very sick. In fact, I had never been more ill in my life. Since January, I had been treated for kidney stones, prostate enlargement and finally, on March 6, I was diagnosed with acute viral hepatitis B.
2. What had you tried in order to be healthier before coming to work with us? My treatment, as always before, was traditional western medicine under the care of my physician and following a regiment of prescription drugs and rest. When my viral load pushed my AST and ALT liver enzymes up over 3000 IU/L, my doctor basically said to stop taking everything and rest. He indicated that chances are my system would eventually eradicate the virus, but that I should expect 6 to 8 months of symptoms.
3. How do you feel now? Better than I have in recent memory. On May 10, I had a follow up blood analysis that showed my AST and ALT numbers had dropped to 50 and 53 respectively (well within the normal range for healthy adults). My system had completed eradicated the virus in two months.
4. What have doctors, friends and acquaintances said about how much better you are doing now? My doctor was astonished. He told me not to expect recovery for several months, and was amazed at my rapid recovery.
5. What do you feel that we did that was especially helpful for you? Contrary to the traditional medical approach to the treatment of hepatitis, which was rest and fluids for several months, Total Fitness took an aggressive, holistic approach to the state of my health. Catherine worked with my physical, emotional, and spiritual health to identify the roots of my recent illnesses. They put a multi- faceted plan of action into place and monitored and coached me through a nutritional lifestyle change that included cleansing and detoxifying supplements, herbs and essences as well as physical conditioning and energy healing methodologies. They also prescribed regular, focused massage and colon hydrotherapy.
6. What would you say to other people who are considering working with us? I think you only ever get out of anything what you’re willing to put into it… that being said, Total Fitness helped me get the energy and interest to put my whole self into my healing, and have been great guides to help me get to a better physical and emotional place than I’ve been in years. I’d have to say, if you’re serious about a quantum change in your current situation, run – don’t walk – to Catherine at Total Fitness.

Theresa Dean, a registered nurse and the coordinator of health, safety and legal programs for Westminster Schools, has always worked hard on her fitness, nutrition and overall health. She was referred to us by her gyrotonics instructor.

“During my annual physical,” Theresa recalled, “I told my physician that my gut was way too hyper. This seemed to be my main complaint at the time of my last three annual physicals.

“When I asked her if the foods I was eating could be causing this, she said she did not think so but wanted me to see a gastroenterologist. I thought the GI work up may shed some light on my food questions, but that physician did not want to discuss food but wanted to schedule an endoscopic procedure.

“I did not want to subject myself to that procedure, so I started reading more on food sensitivities.

“I discovered that the authors described my symptoms and explained that even when we eat healthy food that is good for you, not all digestive systems can tolerate these food such as soy, gluten, corn, wheat, etc. and that daily discomfort and bloating is not normal for a healthy gut. I was looking for a nutritionist to help me discover what my personal food issues were rather than just starting to eliminate food groups from my diet.”

Although Theresa had eliminated wheat and soy on her own, she and I worked together to identify the specific foods that were irritating her gut. But we didn’t just stop there. Many people struggle with eating a very strict diet for years because no one has taught them how to heal their gut. We also put her on a program to heal the inflammation that had been plaguing her system and bloating her belly for years.

“After approximately six weeks of avoiding my food sensitivities, my gut is much calmer and I anticipate more improvement. I have much less flatus, cramping and bloating. I also participated in a two week diet to reset my blood sugar and I feel this contributed to me being even more aware of my body and what I can do to feel optimal every day,” Theresa said. “I think the key was regulating my blood sugar and discovering my food sensitivities.”

“I came to Catherine looking to find a solution to my deteriorating physical health. Although I am a young man, I felt very old physically and mentally. My body shape ashamed me and I was at my wits end on how to effectively lose weight, have more energy, and feel better. Catherine taught me how to eat better and, most importantly for me, that exercise does not have to be a miserable experience. Having being an athlete in my high school days, my mindset was that exercise was to be a tortuous, painful experience that, over a period of time, would produce results. Catherine showed me that “slow and steady wins the race” and that pain does not necessarily mean you are having a good workout. After an initial period of struggling through my workouts, mainly because my body was fighting back because it was not used to the activity, I began enjoying my morning routines with Catherine. Over the last 7 months I have lost 20 pounds, I look better, I feel better, and my overall attitude has drastically improved. I have learned how to eat for my body type and am now in a routine where I eat less overall and eat more foods that are better for me and my body type. I would strongly encourage anyone who feels the same way I do to speak with Catherine about her programs. She is a very knowledgeable, caring individual who will create a tailor-made program to ensure your success. “.

Hi my name is Buffett. I am an eleven year old American Eskimo Spitz. About a year ago, I was diagnosed with the onset of Cushings Disease, a condition usually caused by small tumors on the pituitary gland which cause it to over produce cortisol, the stress hormone. I had shaking in my legs, joint pain and was thirsty all the time. The vet put me on some medication that seemed to help at first. However, after 4 months on the medication, I became overly sensitive to it and it was killing me. No appetite, extreme muscle pain and disoriented. This is when my human took me to see Catherine. She tested me and it was determined that that I should take a variety of human supplements including pituitary support, omega 3, liver support, a homeopathic remedy for tumors plus a few other things. Within 2 weeks I had my energy back and now after 3 months the shaking in my legs has almost stopped. I have little or no joint pain, I am able to go for long walks with Curt and I feel as good as I did 2 years ago. I would like to th

What can just one visit to Total Fitness do?

Ask Ashly Margenthaler, age 22.

Since the senior year of her high school, Ashly had suffered four to five migraine headaches every week. Her parents, both medical professionals, had sent her to five different medical doctors. The five doctors had put Ashly on five different medications – either muscle relaxers, preventive medicine or pain killers – but the migraines still kept coming.

“The medications increased my symptoms and made me feel worse. Usually for about an hour after I took them, I was immobile. Sometimes I would have tightness in my chest and trouble breathing,” she recalls. “I felt very nauseous.

“I didn’t want to take medicines every day. I didn’t feel they were doing anything for me because I was getting more headaches. I was very frustrated because I was told this may be something I would have to live with.” Fortunately, Ashly had heard about Total Fitness through her boyfriend’s mother, a regular client.

Ashly came to visit us from Princeton, N.J. We only had 2 ½ hours to see her. As usual, we went through our thorough protocol and did what we could in the time we had before she went back to school. We used specialized kinesiology, Total Body Modification, identified her food sensitivities, made specific recommendations for nutritional supplements, explained a personalized eating plan and did craniosacral therapy with her. In other words, we identified multiple factors that were aggravating her migraine headaches and addressed each one using an integrative approach with nutrition and alternative healing.

Result: In the 8 weeks since coming to see us, Ashly is off all 5 drugs and has not had one migraine since. “I am very, very happy!” she reports.

“I have not taken any medication and I feel 100 percent better. I was worried that when I started school, maybe I would get more stressed and the headaches would come back, but that hasn’t happened.”

“Ashly studies rigorously as a second year graduate student in music education and opera. “I am writing six papers a week and testing a lot of the time. It was worrying me that the migraines would start again, but they haven’t! “I feel more energetic, I am not tired. I have also lost about 10 pounds. I feel healthy. I’m eating smaller meals more often, and that has controlled my shakiness, which hasn’t happened since I started all this.

“For six years, I have been trying to figure out what has been plaguing my body, and Total Fitness has been the only thing to fix the problem.”

Congratulations, Ashly!

Gayle Lehman, age 39, estimates that before she came to Total Fitness, she had lost 120 pounds and regained another 140 in various programs – Weigh Less in her native South Africa, Weight Watchers, South Beach, Atkins, diet pills and various strategies she had discovered reading different women’s magazines.

“I know how to lose weight, but that’s not the issue,” she observed.

“I felt tired, depressed, overwhelmed and anxious and I had no direction,” she recalled. “I was a compulsive overeater, there’s no two ways about it. That’s all past tense now. I don’t eat through my emotions any more.

“A friend had told me how great another of your clients looks, so I searched the website, Totalfitness.net, and I knew this is what I wanted to do.

“I’ve not had an issue with depression almost from the first week of being here. One of the things I couldn’t believe was how you just knew what I was thinking and how I was feeling. I felt understood.”

Our first goal was to go without bingeing for 30 days. Gayle easily sailed through. Gayle and I worked with kinesiology, yogic breathing techniques, nutrition, supplements and life coaching. James Williams also did a postural analysis and set up a corrective exercise program to heal her back.

“I hated exercise before,” she said. “Exercise used to flatten me and tire me out. I didn’t want to do it again because I didn’t like the results. When I do James’ exercise program, I am not feeling tired by it, I feel energized. My muscles feel warm and tingly afterwards.”

Gayle has lost body fat, but what’s more important to her are the profound changes on other levels. “I am not focused on losing weight – I am focused on being healthy – that’s a change for me. I always believed I was fat – a fat child, a fat teenager. I know a year from now I will be a totally different person. I’m not dealing with the weight – I am dealing with what has caused the weight. My husband is happy to see me more content and my children are delighted.”

Many clients are so exhausted, depressed, filled with physical pain and discouragement they feel that no one can help them. Here is a testimony from Ailan Sanchez, Total Fitness client and yoga student: “The dark night of the soul was a cliché that I thought only happened to mystics and white clad gurus on the high mountaintops. “When my life began to unravel in my professional, personal, married and family life, I thought there could be no possible way to get out of the downward spiral. My dark night arrived. “Working with Catherine, I’m healthier than I’ve ever been emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. Her methods addressed me as a whole complete person to regain perspective to help me help myself. I was in an abusive marriage after escaping an abusive childhood, very deeply depressed, exhausted from a stressful, demanding job and a myriad of health problems from eating disorders, self-mutilation, hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, and arthritis. “Today I’m totally conventional drug-free healthy and making positive changes in my life. My courage Catherine helped me find in myself. From the outside, I had a loving family, wonderful marriage, happily employed, and healthy. After 16 years I realized the outside illusion was what was slowly killing me. Thank you Catherine for believing in me when I was ready to stop believing in myself.”

Ailan learned about Total Fitness from her deacon and my client, Tom Shuler. She started coming to our regular yoga classes Tuesday and Thursday evenings at Holy Spirit Catholic Church and then worked with me one-on-one. Ailan’s program has included:

Regular yoga practice. Just learning proper yogic breathing can lift a person out of depression. The fitness expert Moshe Feldenkrais pointed out that for every mood, there is a corresponding body posture and breathing pattern. At Total Fitness, we teach our clients about the many benefits of proper breathing by using our HeartMath computer program. Deep yogic breathing helps the brain produce its own natural antidepressants and DHEA, the master hormone of the body, which shifts metabolism from a catabolic (breaking down) to an anabolic state. The companionship of other yoga students helped. Ailan made friends and joined them for walks outside of class.

Life coaching. Ailan learned about specialized kinesiology for the brain, and began life coaching with me. I learned specialized kinesiology from my mentor in Canada, Sue Maes (www.brainwhiz.com), and study healing for the brain about four weeks every year. The work I learned from Sue, in addition to teaching Brain Gym for years, has enabled me to put together a coaching program that brings profound results very quickly.

Nutrition. Ailan learned how to optimize her brain chemistry by the way she ate. Although medical professionals had recommended she turn to more drastic treatments, she was surprised how simple lifestyle changes made her feel happier and more energetic.

Rest. I taught Ailan that according to scientific research, the brain needs 10 hours of rest every day to restore its neurotransmitters. The physical body restores itself when you are sleeping between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Psychic regeneration occurs between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. If you don’t go to bed and turn your lights out by 10 p.m., you have trouble restoring your energy to enjoy the following day. Many clients who have arthritis and severe pain are amazed how they can regenerate by sleep.

Walking. I encouraged Ailan to replenish her Vitamin D levels and the brain chemical serotonin by walking daily in the sunlight.

Water with Bach flowers. All neurotransmitters work in water. I recommended a personalized Bach flower remedy to be added to her water to aid in emotional balancing.

Gabe Horrisberger is one of our many clients who has benefited from antioxidants, not only for his physical health, but for his looks. This summer, he went to the dermatologist for advice about acne. “I had acne all over my back, face and shoulders,” he recalled.

The medical doctor recommended a course of antibiotics. After a month, the acne had not only gotten worse, it had spread to other areas. “They didn’t recommend anything else – they didn’t even recommend any cream – they just told me to keep taking more antibiotics,” Gabe said. “My back was itching and my face was just gross.”

Frustrated, Gabe came to visit me. I identified food sensitivities that were aggravating his skin problems, put him on an individualized supplement program, including antioxidants, and taught him about the benefits of fresh vegetable and fruit juices.

I also gave Gabe a scientific medical research paper outlining the connection between acne and nutrition. Acne is aggravated by a high glycemic diet. I recommend he cut out soda pop and taught him an eating plan that helped to keep his blood sugar more balanced.

The skin is your largest organ of detoxification. When the liver, kidneys and colon are overloaded, toxicity shows up on your skin. I advised Gabe to have his liver function scientifically tested, and we discussed simple things he could do to start cleaning up his lifestyle. We used kinesiology to evaluate his skin care products. I recommended that he wash his face with plain water, rather than slathering on products that would only make his condition worse.

“The first week my skin was twice as better. After two weeks, it was probably 80 percent better,” Gabe said.

“Antibiotics do not work for acne. They will either have no effect or in fact make it worse. I think the best course of action is to address your diet and toxic load. As the acne clears up, you will feel better at the same time, not only because you are looking better but because you are healthier internally. I already have more energy, I’m losing weight and other issues that I have got going on are being addressed simultaneously.”

“Allergy tests have revealed sensitivities to every food commonly eaten, but most prevalent are allergies to milk products and grains – precisely the two foods added to man’s diet when he changed from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of cultivation and domestication.” Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions

My Background Story:  I started struggling with my health as a teenager. At fifteen years old, I had to miss school due to excruciating abdominal pain, frequent urgency to run to the bathroom, weight loss and blood loss. I was visiting doctors, having blood drawn, undergoing x-rays, colonoscopies, sonograms and MRIs in search for an answer for my ills. My diet was dismissed as having nothing to do with the cause of my issues. Doctors diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis. I was treated with various medications including steroids. The steroids seemed little help. Rather, they left me undesirable physical and emotional side effects. Soon, I was in the hospital attached to IVs providing nourishment and more medication. I underwent a number of blood transfusions to keep me alive. Soon, I became so ill that I underwent surgery to remove my large intestine. After this initial surgery, though feeling better, I had to learn how to live as a teenager with an ostomy bag. Two more surgeries were scheduled to reattach my digestive trac and reverse the ostomy. After my final surgery I felt healthy for about 8 years. When I was 22 years old, I began to experience similar symptoms to when I was a teenager. I was then diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and forced to undergo further surgery and increased medication, including immunosuppressants. I did not like the idea of being on these drugs and although the doctors all reassured me that the side effects of the medications were minimal, I always knew that there had to be a more natural way to heal my body. That is when I met Catherine Carrigan.

My Experience in Convalescence: Catherine listened to my story with compassion and quickly educated me about the impact of my diet and lifestyle choices. She worked with me at my pace, helping me to make changes when I was ready for them. I started with changes to my diet, soon began to add supplements recommended by Catherine and quickly felt better than I had felt in years. Catherine identified food sensitivities I was experiencing and taught me how to eat the way my body needed me to. I learned to eat meat for the first time in 6 years – something that has helped me immensely. I eliminated foods that I never thought I could live without – my individual food sensitivities that had been irritating my gut. It’s been about 8 months since I’ve eaten these foods and I don’t even get cravings where I used to constantly crave things like cookies, breads and sweets. I am also completely off the immunosuppressants! My medical doctor is happy with my progress and the medical tests show I am improving even better than when I had been on more medication.

Beyond helping me heal through nutrition, Catherine helped me with changes in my lifestyle that were effecting my energy and general health. I learned to meditate – something I never thought I could do, despite years of doing yoga. I learned the value of resting – the cheapest and easiest way to heal my body. I learned that I could be more successful by working smarter rather than working harder at my job. I feel I have achieved greater health than I have before by working with Catherine. She is a truly gifted coach and healer.

My Recommendation: If you are seeking support for physical, mental or emotional difficulties, or if you are healthy but want to learn how to maintain and optimize your health, there is no doubt that you should consider Total Fitness as a resource for health, happiness and success.

I met Jeanne Dow at an Atlanta conference sponsored by PAX, a company whose goal is to promote better relationships between men and women.

Jeanne is a long-time PAX mastery and leadership coach. You can find out more about the wonderful work of Jeanne and others like her at www.understandmen.com.

Jeanne had suffered from digestive problems her entire life. She had also struggled with back pain, carbohydrate cravings and inability to lose weight despite visiting with multiple practitioners – both nutritionists and various exercise experts, chiropractors and massage therapists.

I met Jeanne and her husband at a PAX course and it was her husband who actually recognized that I could help her. Now that is true love for you!

I put Jeanne on a gut healing program, ran a lab test to determine the root cause of her long-term gastrointestinal challenges, analyzed her posture and taught her exercises she could do every morning to relieve her back pain.

“ MY Gi was terribly messed up, out of balance my whole life and I had food sensitivities my whole life. I couldn’t eat to be satisfied. My pain level was an 8 out of a 10. I had gone to see so many practitioners and they never really looked at the whole picture actually,” Jeanne relates.

“My carb cravings are gone,” she says. “I have hope. I feel lightness a balance that I can have control over what I eat. My blood sugar seems to be more in control. My GI problems are gone. My pain level was down 50 percent even before we started doing back exercises.”

I asked Jeanne what she would say to other people who are considering working with me. She said, “They should definitely come get the whole body system analyzed.”

Why did I succeed where others did not?

• I have a system of how I work with people. I work through the root causes first.
• I use kinesiology to determine which supplements will and will not work. Many people have gone to see nutritionists who have given them a lot of pills that either upset their stomach or don’t work in the first place, or both. I like to figure out not only what you can digest and assimilate but also what will actually work to make you better.
• I do postural analysis. Although Jeanne had seen many people who had sincerely wanted to help her eliminate her back pain, no one had figured out the key causes or how to eliminate them.

This is simple to me because I do it all the time. It is a great joy to me to help people who once thought they could not get better.

I sought out Catherine for yoga in the spring of 2002, for relaxation and pain relief, because at 43 my body was in such pain I found it difficult to walk down the stairs when I got up in the morning. My lower back and legs were so tight nothing I did relaxed them. I was also physically and mentally exhausted, not sleeping well and very much discouraged about the general condition of my life. And it was getting worse.

I have always been in shape and active, but now the thought of exercise caused anxiety because I knew how much I would have to push myself to work through the pain. Several doctors had told me that I would probably just have to live with the pain and would I like Prozac to feel better about myself. Somehow I just knew this was wrong and that I needed to get my metabolism back in order for everything else to fall in line. Although I had no idea how and nothing else I had tried had worked.

After starting Yoga with Catherine she told me about life coaching and that we should start with a program of exercise and nutrition. I agreed. After a careful analysis of my nutritional needs it was determined that my body was very deficient in the minerals it needed to function normally, plus my joints we inflamed, so she worked out a supplementation schedule. With the supplementation started we began working on the physical.

A combination of yoga, yogassage and exercise designed to allow my muscles to begin to relax and function more normally. At first simple exercises were an effort and our work outs were more stretching than anything else. With a fairly intense schedule, 3 personal sessions a week plus 2 yoga classes, I began to notice a difference after a couple of weeks. During this same time we began talking about my mental exhaustion, which was a combation of being in physical pain and pushing my self too hard in all areas of my life. Without allowing myself to relax mentally and become more spiritually grounded all of the physical work we were doing would be like treading water.

Catherine explained to me that we all hold tensions in our muscles and that I was holding a lot in mine. With a combination of kinesiology and holistic therapy we began a parallel course to the physical therapy, with my mental and spiritual well being. This 3 part approach: the nutrition, physical exercises and the mental began to produce dramatic results. After about 2 months I woke up and realized that I had not felt any pain for the last 2 mornings. I had not felt like that in over 3 years! I felt more centered and less stressed mentally, my sleeping patterns were starting to return to normal and my body was beginning to move with out constant pain.

It has now been almost 6 months since I started working with Catherine and it is amazing how much better I feel. I will leave the “how to” explanation of the processes we went though to get to this point to Catherine, but I would like tofeel more enjoyment for life and my connection to God is greatly improved. I have also learned new ways of looking at life and how to follow my own intuition to make the best possible decisions I can. I have had some other health benefits as a result of my association with Catherine. One of them being a condition that effects some men over 40, a prostate infection. I went to the doctor and he threw antibiotics at me and said it would go away. Well it did not. Catherine was able to find the appropriate supplementation for me and even though it took 3 months for the process to work I now am completely free of irritation in this area.

All of these things plus many more that I have not mentioned have greatly improved the quality of my life. It has taken a lot of time and commitment to get there, but when I look back at where I was 6 months ago I can’t believe bad I felt then and how good I feel now. My life is not all light and happiness by any means, but I now have the tools both mentally and physically to work through whatever life throws at me. I would just like to say thank you to Catherine for all of her time and effort and patience that she has given me.

It was Gale Shafer’s neurologist who initially made the recommendation – her health would dramatically improve, he told her, if she started a program of regular walking, weight training and yoga.

At age 62, Gale is the coordinator of admissions for Atlanta’s prestigious Wardlaw School, which assists children with learning disabilities. Although she loves her job, she had been plagued for years by bouts of vertigo and episodic migraines. “I would get dizzy just walking down the halls,” Gale recalls.

About a year and a half ago, Gale took up part of her doctor’s recommendations – she stepped into our yoga class at Holy Spirit Catholic Church and quickly became an avid fan of the peaceful practice and our loving, supportive atmosphere. Frequently, she would show up at class wearing a T-shirt that read, “Addicted to Yoga.”

Although her dizziness diminished with yoga, it did not go away. I encouraged her to come and see me for private healing work, but she didn’t take up my offer until an accident forced her to reconsider.

No-one knows how Gale broke her left foot, but shortly before spring break this year, she took herself to the doctor to figure out why it was hurting. The doctor told her she had fractured it and informed her she had osteoporosis. Upset that she couldn’t come to yoga class, Gale reluctantly came to me to learn how to lift weights. She never thought she would actually like it – what happened surprised her.

“It was much easier than I thought. I feel like it’s a piece that I needed. I never thought I could have a strong upper body,” she said, showing off well-toned biceps for a woman of any age. “I think it’s really important to have a sense of your body. So many things happen when you get older that you have no control over. But this is something you can do that makes such a difference.”

In our one-on-one work, we began with a re-evaluation of her nutrition. Although she had always been slim and didn’t need to lose weight, identifying Gale’s food sensitivities allowed her to free herself completely from dizziness and migraines. She has only had three headaches since we first began – all after eating foods we had identified as problematic for her body. We also used kinesiology and healing work to improve her vestibular system and balance, and after her cast came off, James Williams did a thorough postural assessment and wrote a therapeutic exercise program to help her stand strongly and squarely on both feet.

Since then, Gales’ workouts have begun to inspire others. Her husband, David, took up weight lifting after she brought her exercise ball home to practice and a neighbor joined our yoga class after noticing that Gale’s breathing had improved.

Now that she has all three aspects of her fitness program working – walking, weight training and yoga, her doctor advised her, “Now you have to do it until you die.” But there’s no complaint from Gale. “The more muscles you get, the easier it gets,” she says.

“I barely remember when I first appeared at Catherine’s door to see how she could help me – I was in such a dazed and confused state of lethargy and physical distress. In one treatment – her advice helped calm and bring focus and hope to me. After the second treatment I could feel a shift in my energy and understanding, giving me direction and helping me clarify how a feeling of good health might actually return! “Now, in my life following the third treatment, I feel like I have begun a new life. I am joyous again and getting the first indications of building renewed energy and strength. On a day just this past weekend, after a restless night with my toddler niece who was visiting for the night, I spent a long day cleaning out a huge stack of boxes in a part of my home that had been neglected – cooked a home-cooked meal, practiced an hour of yoga, and carried on about the usual housekeeping for a home with a teenager, two dogs, and a rabbit. At 10:00 that night I marveled that I was still looking for more to do and smiled a huge smile over how quickly, with Catherine, energy and zest that I hadn’t seen in years was mine again. Thank you doesn’t seem enough to say.”

“For years I exercised and ate healthy foods, healthier than anyone I knew, and I felt great. Then some things happened in my life and my healthy lifestyle twisted out of control into a full-blown eating disorder. Catherine has helped me regain control over my eating, both what I eat (the blood sugar diet has made my energy level skyrocket) and how much (the fist-sized portion concept is simple to follow). She is also showing me how to work out smarter, not harder. Past sessions with other personal trainers left me exhausted and ravenous. I leave my workouts with Catherine energized and ready for the day, and looking forward to the next session.”

Few things are as satisfying to me as to assist a client overcome unhealthy family and societal pressures about eating and exercise. Jennifer Wade, a teacher at Pleasantdale Elementary School, had faced virtually constant pressure about her weight since she was a child.

Many of her thin acquaintances have eating disorders—but she herself takes a dim view of the way many women starve themselves to be thin. Our first steps were to balance her blood sugar and repair back and ankle injuries.

To date, Jennifer has lost 15 lbs.—and counting—eating five times per day. “I enjoy working out on the ball and using the free weights,” Jennifer says. “I definitely feel healthier and have more energy.”

When Bob Ellis came to me, he had lived for years in chronic pain—knee pain, shoulder pain, pain all over. Although he exercised regularly—going to a gym to use machine weights and enjoying a regular step class—his ability to participate was diminishing. He felt so bad he wanted to have his shoulders operated on.

I suggested Bob give Total Fitness a try. After all, we have helped many other clients regain mobility in their hips and shoulders. Bob was dubious—he could not put his jacket on to go to work without assistance from his wife, and he could not lift his arms higher than chest level.

Today, Bob has lost 20 lbs. And he can swing his arms in full rotation. There’s spring in his step, and his energy has returned. How? We used a combination of yogassage, acupressure, nutrition, Feldenkrais and shoulder rehab exercises. “If there’s one thing I’m a believer in, it’s nutrition,” said Bob, who has learned to enjoy wheatgrass juice and forgo the pleasures of fried foods.

Shannon Shuemake was a typical beginning exerciser who benefited from the sugar eating plan.

She had three common characteristics I see in novice exercisers:

A personal and family history of blood sugar imbalances.

An elevated resting heart rate (average is 72 beats per minute).

A history of gaining weight during stressful work situations.

Shannon’s husband, a former British soldier, was accustomed to running marathons. For him, harder was better. Had Shannon taken the same approach given her situation, she probably would have hurt herself, not lost weight, gotten frustrated and come to the conclusion that dieting and exercising were a waste of time.

I recommended that Shannon use an Acumen Heart Rate Monitor every time she exercised so that she did not overstress her already-stressed biochemistry. She followed the sugar plan for 2 weeks and took supplements to support her adrenal glands. Results: She lost 10 pounds in 7 weeks. Her energy level improved, and the back pain she experienced before she came to me went away.

Margaret Price was very worried when she found out her daughter Michelle, a 34-year-old with severe learning disabilities, had diabetes. Michelle had been heavy most of her life, but recently she had developed such severe pain in her feet —a common side effect of diabetes —that walking made her cry.

After visiting a nutritionist in Savannah, Georgia, Michelle’s blood sugar was still astronomical –170 or 180, even on medication.

So Margaret and Michelle drove to Atlanta to attend a Total Fitness weight loss seminar.

Due to Michelle’s learning challenges, I kept my recommendations simple:

Remember, big meals make you fat. The body can’t digest large amounts of food at one time. Eating lots of fat makes you fat—fried foods especially. When you look at your plate, the concentrated foods like meats should be no bigger than the size of your fist. Wby? Your stomach is the size of your fist. Eat as many vegetables as you can and lots of fruit.

Eat 5 times a day to keep the blood sugar stable-minimeals, not feasts. Certain foods make your blood sugar go way up very fast—breads, pastas, rice, sweets. Treats? If you can’t resist, have just one bite. Drink as much water as you can.

Results? Both mother and daughter lost 14 pounds in two weeks and blood sugar stabilized below 120.

Real estate agent Mary Ann Ellis has been an avid exerciser since a severe back injury at the age of 22.

But for the past 10 years, despite dieting, weightlifting, racewalking and even daily medication, this 66-year-old had not been able to lower her blood pressure below 140-150 over 95.

Recently, after attending the Total Fitness weight loss seminars at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, she began attending our yoga classes.

Mary Ann tried a few classes and decided to join by the month— Atlanta’s best deal in yoga classes, at $65 per calendar month unlimited. After less than two months, she went to the doctor and her blood pressure was 102 over 67. Her doctor was amazed. Given these results, she has now convinced her son to join yoga.

I am proud to announce the winner of the Total Fitness weight loss efforts for 2001 — Tom Conroy, investment banker.

Too often, I hear excuses. Here’s how Tom has overcome what others might have seen as insurmountable challenges to lose more than 30 pounds since January:

Injury. Tom sprained his ankle after just the first two weeks of our working together. No bother — we kept working his upper body, improved his core muscles and flexibility and eventually rehabilitated his ankle. He wasn’t about to use injury as an excuse to sideline his goals.

Too busy to eat right? Take it from Tom, who works 11-12 hours a day — no one is too busy to plan ahead. He started a blender club at work and brings his own protein shakes and healthy snacks to eat throughout the day.

Family support. Tom wanted his wife, Mariah, to share his enthusiasm. Even though she has chronic fatigue, we began with kinesiology, life coaching, nutrition and yoga. “Her energy level and eating habits improved, and she’s taking better care of herself,” he says.

Stress. On days when he had a tremendous load at work, I encouraged Tom to go easy. “I’ve learned to listen to my body more. Not every day has to be a really hard workout,” he advises.

Tom Conroy’s Weight Loss Secrets

You want to lose 30 lbs. — or more? Follow Tom Conroy’s example.

Last year, he actually gained weight trying to work out on his own. His big mistakes — skipping breakfast, focusing exclusively on cardiovascular exercise, not wearing a heart rate monitor and eating late dinners. He chose Total Fitness because he liked our holistic approach — working with mind, body and spirit.

Exercise: Tom works out 5 to 6 days each week. Two to three times a week, he comes to Total Fitness to lift weights at 6 a.m. The other days, he does an elliptical machine at home or walks in the park. He stays in his optimum heart rate zone on cardio days, and takes it easy when stress at work gets out of hand.

Eating: Breakfast is now his most important meal, and dinner is usually before 6 pm. “I’ve gone on an elk diet — I graze all day,” he says.

Water: Tom drinks about 2 gallons of water per day. This is a very important secret! He fills up a jug four times before lunch, and again four times after lunch. “I like the fact that working out with Catherine is a surprise — I like variety,” Tom says. “I do not think of her as a trainer, but more of a life or success coach.”

Although I had tested many cosmetics for many clients over the years, working with Sally Larsen has taken my dedication to organic cosmetics to a whole new level.

When Sally first came to me, she was unable to lose weight despite eating very little food. After hearing Sally’s plight, I remembered that 40 percent of people have impaired Phase II detoxification – which means their liver doesn’t break down toxins fully. This may predispose them not only to cancer but also to having a hard time processing alcoholic beverages and reducing body fat.

Seventeen years ago, Sally had cancer. Like many other former cancer patients, Sally had the good fortune to be cured, but unfortunately the doctors had not worked with her to change the underlying biological terrain that led to her cancer in the first place. Using kinesiology, I quickly determined that Sally’s liver and kidneys were highly stressed. We ran a medical test on Sally’s detoxification capacity and the doctors at the lab were so alarmed at her results they called me repeatedly to make sure she was getting the best care available.

Meanwhile, Sally would come in and tell me about her hives. We identified her sensitivity to wheat and gluten grains, and removing the gluten out of her diet made a big difference. But we also noticed that when she would experiment with new cosmetics or skin creams, she would experience hives and other unpleasant symptoms. One of those side effects was that she would stop losing weight. I tested her personal care products and we probably threw away about 95 percent of what she had been using.

We also had many discussions about the spiritual aspects of her business, kindredspiritskincare.com, and now, when Sally makes skin care products for her clients, she realizes she is feeding their skin and organs right down to the cellular level. I am proud to offer Sally Larsen’s skin care at Total Fitness. Ask me to show you the mineral foundations that – unlike most mineral foundations – are free of parabens. Try her hand creams and body scrubs and feel the difference for yourself.

TF: How did you feel before coming to Total Fitness? EL: I felt very lethargic and was extremely moody. I had no energy and had suddenly put on weight in the past month.

TF: How do you feel now? EL: I feel better than I have ever felt, honestly, I stopped drinking coffee in the morning and have more energy now than before. My moods are a lot more even and I am more aware of my stress levels.

TF: What are some of the improvements you have noticed? EL: I have more energy, I sleep better and feel more rested when I wake. Less moodiness, my weight does not fluctuate, I lost weight since I started the program. I am never hungry and my cravings are pretty much nonexistent. If I do have a craving it is easier to satisfy than before.

TF: What had you done before to try to get better? EL: I tried to change my diet by myself but there are so many different “diets” that it is so hard to find out what is best for you. I tried high fiber, low calorie etc. At Total Fitness it is so easy – it comes down to wholesome fulfilling foods that are given to us naturally.

TF: What advice would you give others who are facing similar challenges? EL: Eat a balanced diet of fat, protein, carbs and veggies. It is amazing how much nutrition affect our bodies.

TF: Is there anything else you would like to say about your experience with Total Fitness? EL: I went in to fix a problem and came out with a new life that I love. No more diets, hours in the gym, or stressing over life. Total Fitness gave me the tools I needed to live life to the fullest.

Lee Townsend was already a determined woman when I first met her. She was working out four days a week, eating only about 1,200 calories a day—and when she heard about me, she insisted on finding time to train with me, even though at first I wasn’t sure we could find time.

At age 58, only 5 feet 1 inches tall, it would have been easy for Lee to accept her excess pounds. Many people blame their weight on their age or the fact that they aren’t quite as tall as they would like to be.

We put together an individualized program for Lee that included finding out her ideal body type diet, Peak Performance/Life Coaching training through specialized kinesiology, yoga therapy, and specific breathing exercises to maximize her thyroid and pituitary functions, as she had been struggling with hormonal imbalances. Results? Less than 6 weeks later, Lee has lost 6 lbs. “I’m not having to kill myself,” says Lee, who has been enjoying a combined workout program of yoga, weights, and early-morning treadmill. “I feel so much better. I am not hungry, my sugar levels are even. I am so much calmer than I ever would have been before.” Her advice? “Don’t worry about your weight every day. Just know it’s going to come off!”

C.B., a beautiful woman in her 50s, was recommended to me by her minister. For seven years, she had struggled with such severe pain in her TMJ that she had lost teeth, was unable to swallow or chew her food.

Thanks to the specialized kinesiology I have been studying with Sue Maes of London, Ontario, Canada, C.B. began to see immediate improvement.

One night, after working with me, she was able to chew her food again. Both her husband and son were astounded.

Because she had planned to have surgery to correct the problem, I advised C.B. about psychoneuroimmunology, the science of using your mind to build up your immune system. Despite the stress of the surgery, she sailed through the procedure and felt calm and at peace before and afterwards.

It was wonderful to see her after she returned, but the muscles and the bones had been cut in her face. Her jaw was crooked, and she was unable to smile.

Once again, I turned to specialized kinesiology, and used acupressure for the bones and muscles in her face. Result: This beautiful woman is now smiling again!

One of the many reasons I love my job is that I get to help people do things they never thought they could do.

Such was the case March 13-14 when we held our class in Natural Vision Improvement.

Here is what a few of the students had to say two weeks afterwards:

“I can’t believe the difference,” said Lee Townsend, 61, who has worn glasses since age 5. “Everything is much clearer, especially at a distance. I also have better balance since I worked on my eyes.”

Curt Bush was dismayed to find himself needing glasses in his 40s. He works in front of computers all day. “My eyes are definitely more relaxed and I can see smaller objects or words for longer periods of time without having to resort to my glasses. This also seems to be helping me sleep better.”

Margaret Price, 62, had far vision before the class but still needed glasses to read. “Since I’ve done the class, my far vision is crisp and I’ve been using my reading glasses much less,” she said. “If I am in good sunlight, I can read without my glasses. I also have more energy since taking the class.”

Charlenne Carl, a retired marketing executive, had this to say: “I have been wearing glasses to correct nearsightedness since the third grade and contacts since my teens. As my eyes changed further in my forties that required bifocals, I began wearing one contact for distant vision and one contact for close up –letting my brain do the compensation for varying focal lengths. But in the last couple of years I began having trouble focusing when reading, so I added the ‘drugstore’ reading glasses.

“In the last year or so the right eye sight worsened. The optometrist called it ‘the lazy eye.’ The right eye is my dominant eye, the one with the contact for near vision. Butthe optometrist could no longer correct it to 20/20. We tried a new lens on it correcting for astigmatism, but I still couldn’t read without those little reading glasses.

“After having taken the Brain Gym classes from Catherine Carrigan at Total Fitness, I asked if she would determine my brain profile-determining which hemisphere, eye, ear, etc. were dominant. During this process which confirmed that my right eye (the ‘lazy’ one) was, in fact, the dominant one, she said; ‘Oh, your right eye is turned off. Would you like me to turn it on?’ “I responded affirmatively. So through the application of specialized kinesiology she ‘turned on’ my right eye. Meaning an energy flow to the eye was now reinstated. I didn’t notice a thing. Oh well.

“That night at home I mindless picked up the Newsweek magazine that had arrived that day and thumbed through it…finding some article that looked interesting and began to read. Half way through the article I stopped cold: Oh my gosh, I’m not wearing any reading glasses!

“Now I’ve gone to Catherine’s Natural Vision Improvement classes, learning many exercises to strengthen and relax eye muscles, which continues to help my eyes. On a recent flight, I laid my head back, closed my eyes and did a Feldenkrais eye exercise that so relaxed me that the next thing I knew I was being awakened by the stewardess’s bustling drink cart. Hummm, relaxed eyes do relax the body!

I have so much compassion for Charlene Bayer, Ph.D., a research scientist at a local technical university.

Like me and many other women, Charlene taught aerobics many years ago.

We were all trying to be thin in those days, little knowing then how excessive aerobic exercise and the unhealthy mental attitudes that went with that particularly industry were undermining our metabolism.

Unfortunately, Charlene had worked for an Atlanta-based chain of aerobics centers that required surprise weigh-ins. If she was carrying more than 103 lbs. on her 5-foot-4-inch frame at that time, she would have been barred from teaching.

I feel that Charlene’s current metabolic challenges could be traced to those years, when she was starving herself to stay employed and doing hours and hours of aerobics every week. She literally trained herself to survive on very little food.

I wish every woman who has tried to keep her weight under control this way could learn from Charlene’s example!

I asked her a few questions for the benefit of our readers.

1. What was it like for you in the past when you tried to diet or lose weight? I have lost weight in the past, but have always gained it back. In the last few years, my weight loss efforts have pretty much been unsuccessful.

2. How has the Total Fitness approach helped with your cravings?The Total Fitness approach has significantly helped my cravings. Particularly the last two or three years, every time that I tried to lose weight, the sugar cravings always won. I have very few cravings with the Total Fitness approach and most of those are fleeting thoughts.

3. How has your energy level improved? My energy level is improving as weight is coming off, but I do find myself sleeping more and being ready to go to bed. Until I started this program, I never got more than four hours of sleep and many nights less than that.

4. How much weight has been lost? To date, I have lost 13 pounds and three inches off my hips.

5. Is there any advice you would offer other people who are considering working with Catherine? Catherine is great! She is showing me a healthy lifestyle rather than focusing on weight loss.

My client G.E., who asked me not to use her full name, was dubious that I could help lower her cholesterol. After all, her cholesterol was 304. Her husband, a medical doctor, did not believe that any nutritional advice I could give her would make a difference. The only other option was drugs.

In less than three months, G.E.’s cholesterol has dropped more than 70 points to 231 without any medication. Keep up the great work, G.E.!

In the last five weeks, Charlene Galanti has lost 10 pounds. “I was always able to lose weight before by following a very low calorie diet but I would gain it back as quickly as I lost it. I never exercised and often felt tired and had headaches which I blame on my poor nutritional intake.”

Whether or not she was dieting before, Charlene used to struggle with tremendous cravings. At Total Fitness, she learned a whole new way of eating. “I have had no cravings (not even once!) in the five weeks since I have been ‘on the plan.'” Her energy level has improved, making it easier for her to take care of her two daughters. “Now I feel great until the time I go to sleep.”

I asked Charlene if she had any advice for other people considering making a change at Total Fitness.

“Go in with the attitude that you are gong to make a lifestyle change that’s for the rest of your life. It’s never too late to start being healthy and treating your body well. This is the first really healthy thing I’ve ever done for myself. It’s not only for me, though, because my family has benefited from my new-found knowledge as well. They are eating healthier and exercising with me, so it’s a win-win situation for us all.”

Finding Your Dharma, Rediscovering Health and Passion.

Jill Retter, 26, came to Total Fitness for life coaching with Catherine Carrigan.

“Before coming to Total Fitness I felt very stuck,” she recalls. “Nothing I tried to do made me feel better. I was very tired, irritable and unmotivated in my career. “I was completely unhappy in my work because I knew I was not in the right industry, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do or what was a good fit for me.” While working with Catherine, Jill learned about the concept of dharma.

You are doing your dharma when you are doing what you are uniquely meant to do here on earth in only the way you can do it. Finding your dharma is more than a matter of finding a new job or career – it’s about finding your true passion in life, your true gift to the world, and understanding how you can uniquely make a huge difference in the lives of others through your work. In just six weeks, Jill discovered her dharma. The excitement was palpable. Since then, she has been eagerly researching and planning the career of her dreams in every spare moment.

“Now I feel like a different person. I feel in control of my life, my health and my future.” Along the way, Jill learned that in order to contribute the most to others, she also needed to be healthier herself.

“I learned that nutrition is the first step in helping you become happy and healthy and that everything can fall into place with a healthy gut. I learned that I had a major food allergy, gluten, and at 26 I had been eating wrong my whole life. I have already told all my friends and co-workers that they need to go to Total Fitness because it is the best way to become healthy. At Total Fitness, you can choose what you want to work on and see results right away. In only 6 weeks I feel so much healthier, I have no headaches or stomach aches and I am starting a new career that I know I wouldn’t have been able to do without Total Fitness. My boyfriend has joined Total Titness too and we are working on a healthier lifestyle together.”

“Thank you!”

My name is Jazmin Fernandez, I am 26 years old and I have battled my weight for the last five years. I tried the Weight Watchers and many of the other fad diets out there, but in the end the weight always came back. After some real soul searching and being TRULY HONEST with my self, I finally came to the realization that I have overeaten and make bad food choices because I did not feel worthy of being thin. I didn’t feel I was worth taking care of. I have always put my family, friends and work before myself, which has led me to being overweight and in not so good health.

Through my brother, I learned of am amazing women named Catherine, who has taught, supported and encouraged people to heal their bodies through nutrition, fitness and rest. I can remember my brother telling me, “You have to meet her, she leads everything back to nutrition and she will help you lose this weight.” He also informed me she is an overall amazing life coach. Even with this little knowledge I was intrigued and wanted to meet this woman.

My first visit with Catherine was the second week in March of this year. The minute I walked in, I could feel my eyes well up with water and I knew if I blinked tears would come streaming down…. I held back the tears through our initial introduction to one another and for a series of questions she was asking me. Then the question came that would make those tears come pouring down… She turned to me and said “Do you think you are overweight?” As I sobbed, I was able to get the word “yes” out… That was when I explained to her my issues of not feeling worthy.

After our first session, she put me on the “Sugar Diet” along with exercise and rest/relaxation. This new way of eating and lifestyle changes allowed me to eat every two hours and lose 8 pounds in a week. My energy went through the roof and I felt great. So far I have lost 14 pounds and I am feeling AWESOME!!!! My clothes are loose and my spirit is lifted. Catherine helped me learn how to take care of myself and to make “me” a priority. It is possible to lose weight in a healthy way and not feel deprived. It is possible to feel good about yourself and you deserve it. Total Fitness has done wonders for me. They offer a ton of resources such as their radio show and website with more information then you can imagine. The tools Catherine has taught me have been life changing! My crusade continues as this is a lifestyle change for me and not a temporary diet. I am forever grateful to Catherine!!!!

Thank you, Much Love Jazmin Fernandez

Before going to Total Fitness and meeting with Catherine, I felt anxious, nervous, everyone got on my nerves, I was tired and extremely depressed.

Before working with Catherine, I thought working out for two hours everyday, skipping meals and drinking lots of coffee could keep me thin and keep me from being depressed.

What I did not realize was the way I “yo-yo dieted” and over exercised used to work when I was in my 20’s, but was depleting my body and damaging my mood in my 40’s. When you turn 35 (as Catherine explained) your body needs nurturing and kindness, the way I exercised and the way I ate needed to be smarter and kinder to myself.

We worked hard together and I worked hard to feel better. I finally was able to allow myself to rest and say “no” more. Trying to be “Super Woman, Super Mom (we have a 5 year old) and Super Wife” was trashing me and would not work anymore.

Now, I eat 5 small meals a day, never feel deprived, exercise less and have lost nearly 12 pounds in 6 weeks of working with Catherine. I am much happier, I look and feel healthier, and more importantly, with Catherine’s total approach to health, she is working with me on what my passion in life is, what type of work I should be doing.

Total Fitness is the total plan to helping you feel better, starting on your inside and then working on the outside. If you have struggled with depression, anxiety, weight fluctuations or just not “knowing what to do with your life,” Total Fitness is for you. It’s not easy, it does not happen over night and Catherine has a tough love approach which works. Total Fitness has made a total difference in my life!

It’s always fun for us at Total Fitness to work with athletes. Of course, each of us can be an athlete when we work out regularly, but not all of us compete in day- long rally car races through the hills of Ireland.

Such is the case of Patrick Keenan, 44, a keen competitor in the Irish National Forest Rally Championship. Although Patrick works as the U.S.A. product manager for Hiab Inc., a distributor of forklift trucks, his real passion in life is rally car racing. Little than two months after starting work with Catherine Carrigan, Patrick placed 10th out of more than 90 racers in Cork, Ireland. Before working with Catherine, I struggled to be inside the top 20, recalled Patrick. Our work with Patrick focused on nutrition, brain integration, kinesiology and life coaching.

” I have been more focused, calmer, had more energy, had a better tone of voice and was more productive and more of tolerant of others,” Patrick said. “These things were also noticed by other people I work with. But the biggest shifts I noticed were in my ability to control the car and concentrate during the race, which is spread over the whole day. Before, I had trouble trusting myself and the car. The work I did with Catherine helped me deal with the high speed sections of the race.”

Patrick’s navigator, who had driven with him before his coaching at Total Fitness, noticed the changes immediately. “He said my control had improved phenomenally.” In all, Patrick estimated his hand- foot-eye coordination a key aspect of success due to the quick changes demanded by high-speed auto racing, had improved about 30 percent. “I am a firm believer in the science Catherine uses I am living proof.”

Have you ever felt that everything was great, not realizing the messages your body was sending you? I had always been active, with a part-time job working as a fitness instructor, teaching eight classes a week. I was strong and fit, but not thin by any stretch of the imagination. Last year, I began running and lost a bunch of weight, just in time for the adoration of my high school classmates at my 20th year reunion. So I kept running, this time competitively, and garnered medals in 5K, 10K and half marathons. But I started putting on weight again, even though my “thin” eating habits hadn’t changed much. Since I had begun a new full time middle school teaching job, I thought the weight was because of the stress and the jars of goodies everyone had on their desks, so I ran more and tried cutting back further on my eating.

I guess you could have called me the Queen of Denial up until March of this year. I had just run my third half marathon and was frustrated because I had put on ten pounds over the course of the year despite running over 25 miles a week in addition to my fitness classes. But then I received an email from a friend that redefined what was happening to me.

The email contained the article from March 2007’s Total Fitness newsletter, and although at first I scoffed (a max of 90 bpms? I get that high if I even hear fitness music!), I reread it and identified myself as someone who suffered from adrenal fatigue. I listened to one of the Total Fitness radio shows, and when Catherine identified herself as a fitness, nutrition and healing coach, I knew I had found someone who could help, who could understand. I emailed her that day.

I was irritable, edgy, impatient, and frustrated, realizing that I had an eating disorder, but after four months with Catherine, I feel as if I am starting to get control over my underlying anger and self-doubt. I am learning that for me to achieve my ideal size, I will need to heal my eating disorder and restore my metabolism to normal. My skin is clearer and my brain is sharper, less foggy.

The biggest changes, however, came from getting enough sleep and taking supplements that could heal my brain chemistry. I am learning coping skills that can identify when my emotions interfere with my healthy eating habits, am becoming more mindful about my eating, and am dealing head-on with more emotional issues. Most of all, I think I am making much quicker progress in overcoming my eating disorder than I would with traditional medicine.

If you are considering working with James or Catherine, know first that they are dedicated practitioners and talented healers. They care about you and will do what it takes to improve the quality of your health as well as your relationships with others as well as yourself. Their work is profound and meaningful. You won’t regret a moment.

Gwynne Davis, a participant in the Total Fitness Life Coaching/Peak Performance program, went to the eye doctor recently for her regular exam. To her surprise, he reported that her vision had improved so much she now needs weaker glasses.

Since August, Gwynne has been repatterning twice a day (see theNovember newsletter for Total Fitness) to reconnect all parts of her brain for optimal functioning. How can repatterning and specialized kinesiology improve eyesight? Twenty percent of your vision is devoted to proprioception—literally keeping your place in space. As you access more of your core muscles, a tremendous stress is relieved off the visual system.

Even though I teach a three-day class in natural vision improvement, we had not set out to improve Gwynne’s eyesight. Better vision, weight lost—Gwynne is very happy!

     How did you feel before coming to Total Fitness?

I was at the end of my rope. I was barely functioning physically or mentally. I could take a shower but then I would have to get back in bed because I was too exhausted to do anything. I could go on maybe one or two errands a week. I spent the majority of my day in bed. The smallest tasks seemed insurmountable.

     What sort of professionals had you seen to try to get help before? Many different types of doctors: a GP, 2 different endocrinologists, a gynecologist, a psychiatrist and also an acupuncturist. While all of them had my best interest at heart, none of them had the answers. Many of the doctors gave me prescription drugs that only made my problems worse. I would feel better for a little bit and then I would crash all over again.

     Who referred you and why?  My gynecologist actually referred me because I have low cortisol.

     How do you feel now? Soooo much better! I still have some work to do, but I am already at least 90% better than I was.

     Have the changes we suggested led to improvement in reducing medication, improving energy levels, feeling healthier? I have been able to get off of 3 of the 7 medications I was on. My energy is definitely better.

     What are some of the important things you have learned about what it takes to be healthy? One of the main things is being aware of what I am putting into my body. I am also trying to get enough exercise and also enough rest and sleep. Patience and a good attitude are goals that I am working on.

     Were there any techniques that especially helped you? Everything has helped. Getting my custom amino acids has been one of the best things. Getting rid of my parasites has helped also. Catherine has been able to give me some valuable insights that I might not have ever gotten even if I had been in therapy for years.

     What advice would you give to other people who are in a similar situation? Well, I have already referred my husband, my best friend, my cousin, and now my daughter to Total Fitness. I think anyone would benefit from working with Catherine. My advice: Don’t waste anymore time feeling bad, with their help you can take control of your health.

Sarah English Perry was referred to me by her medical doctor.

We began as we do with all new clients by going over a thorough health evaluation. At that time, I recommended further investigation for parasites. Subsequent lab testing proved that she had parasites, and Sarah English was able to take her test results to her medical doctor for effective treatment.

We put together a program that included these elements:

Exercise: Easy walking outside in the sunlight for 45 minutes and qi gong she does at home for 30 minutes to build her energy for a total of 5 workouts per week.

Nutrition: I recommended daily juicing as well as organic food and individualized nutritional supplements. We also tested her amino acid levels and put her on a personalized suppolement to balance her body chemistry.

Healing: She saw me for medical intuitive readings and kinesiology, and I recommended flower remedies to accelerate her healing. I also recommended that she receive permission from her medical doctors before going off any medication, which she was able to do very easily over the course of just three months.

It’s always an honor for me to coach other fitness and nutrition experts. Such is the case with my work with Maria Huntsman of Navarre, Florida, who has studied extensively with both Paul Chek and Charles Poliquin and who is working to earn her master’s degree in nutrition from Clayton College.

One thing Maria’s case demonstrates is the simple power of coaching. No matter what our level of expertise, we can all become even better by working one-on-one with a mentor. My coach is Sue Maes of London, Ontario, Canada, and I have coached other coaches around the world in the fields of fitness, nutrition and natural healing.

Maria and I worked primarily by phone but I met her in person when she recently travelled to Atlanta. Here’s what she had to say about her experience:

1. I have more trust and confidence in my intuition and in myself.
2. I no longer allow other people’s foul moods to affect me.
3. I believe in myself and in my work.
4. I cope better with my personal reality.
5. I stay present and do not allow worry or fear over the future consume me.
6. I do not focus on the past.
7. I sleep soundly throughoutt the night where before I would wake up in the middle of the night with panic attacks or sweating with my heart racing from anxiety ridden thoughts about the future, my personal relationships and responsibilities.
8. I find myself proud of my work and what I have to offer others where before I was shy about it and wanted to hide it. Strange but true.
9. I am better at asserting my worth and as a result my marketing efforts are far more effective.
10. Growth as a person.
11. I have learned what feeds my spirit.
12. Improved financial potential. As I continue to clear away old negative patterns I notice my clientele increasing.

“My ability to handle a very difficult personal life has very much improved, ” Maria concluded. “I find it easier to accept my circumstances and find comfort in knowing that as I learn to overcome more and more of my emotional blocks all areas of my life will improve. In a way it’s very exciting to know I have so much potential that has not even been tapped into yet. ”

As I am traveling through this life. Marrying, having children, raising children. Sometimes I have clear thoughts. Last month, it became clear that my fourteen year old daughter, Isabelle, was really struggling. She had developed intermittent depression, insomnia, low energy levels, severe premenstrual symptoms, and worsening A.D.H.D. We had tried medications for the above symptoms and tested her for anemia and sleep apnea, but it seemed that the medications actually made her feel worse.

We all know that being a teenager is difficult and wish that we could make the “teenage angst” disappear, but this was different. Isabelle had lost lost two brothers, one to pneumonia and one in a car accident. Her father and I had divorced then remarried. I was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease (a rare genetic disorder.) All of this with the backdrop of 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She had been in a stressful environment for years.

I had been receiving Catherine’s newsletter for several years, and we had exchanged emails about some of my health concerns. Having known Catherine since we were young girls, I had no questions of her intellectual brilliance. She was at the top of our class. What I did not know was that she has many other gifts, spiritually.

Isabelle and I spent several days with her last month, and what she discovered, using those gifts, was amazing! Isabelle had been a vegetarian for several years. Although my father, an internist, had always expressed concern that she was not getting the amino acids that she needed, Catherine was able to convince her by explaining to us that Isabelle was lacking the essential “building blocks” of brain chemistry which was causing many of her difficulties, seriously affecting her brain development. In addition, Catherine’s medical intuition unearthed other emotional struggles with which Isabelle was burdened.

It is quite something to see the light come back into your child’s eyes and relief as well, the frustration of feeling things that you can’t put into words and, suddenly, having someone speak those words for you. Isabelle was amazed each time Catherine correctly identified an issue! By the time we had driven back to Savannah, my daughter was literally dancing through the grocery store, smiling at everyone that she passed! She slept nine hours that night and every night since then. She listened to Catherine and is slowing integrating meat into her diet.

It is too early to know how her A.D.H.D. will be ameliorated, but with sleep and more complete nutrition, she will certainly perform better. I am immensely grateful to Catherine  for the amazing work that they accomplished during our visit!

P.S. Although I was merely an observer as Catherine worked with Isabelle, I have been able to stop taking one antidepressant and one anti anxiety drug! Hurray for alternate nostril breathing! Also, I am no longer experiencing nervous leg syndrome! I am sleeping through the night without having to take any meds. For my fiftieth birthday, I am treating myself to a visit with Catherine!

“I write this today 10 months from the date of my first session with Catherine. I was recommended to Catherine through my practitioner Hamish Hurley, who is the best operator I know of in his field the UK.

“I am still enjoying the way up and recovering now quicker by the day from my initial assessment from Catherine, which essentially told us that I was in stage 2:2 of adrenal fatigue.

“Through the last 10 months I have engaged in a healing programme with the excellent advice of Catherine, and we have together addressed the following areas: nutritional overhaul, mental re-programming, and from an exercise point of view tai chi, qi gong, yoga and specific stretching. There have been times where progression has been like a roller coaster ride, one day up, and then a day back down, but I have to say that due to my absolute 100% trust in firstly Catherine and the whole process the difficult times become much easier to manage, and actually believe it or not, have come to realize that bad days are critical to the healing cycle.

“As my education has obviously increased in the various different areas, I would advise certainly newer patients to trust the avenue that Catherine is taking you on.

“Catherine’s 360 degree comprehensive approach is by far the most in depth and thorough I have been through. I have at absolutely no point ever second guessed, or questioned, any single part of the healing process, which I’m sure, has really helped me from a psychological point of view. I think we live in a world where everyone wants everything too fast and too quickly, and indeed often with compromise. Therefore again I think it’s important not to compromise at any level, whether its exercise, nutrition, rest etc. etc. I know we all feel like saying, ‘I don’t get time to do this stuff,’ well guess what, I HAVE! And it’s easier to do than you think. I now get compliments like ‘you look so healthy’ and trust me, that feels great!

“I think it’s very fair of me to say that not only will I heal from adrenal fatigue, but the work I do with Catherine now is taking me to the next level of overall health and fitness.

“I know there will be many times where the question mark may remain in your head about ‘am I getting any better, or is this really working?’ Well if you feel that, then I would recommend you do something I promised myself in my first session. Trust at all times, engage the process, and engage and listen to Catherine.

“I know how highly Catherine has been trained throughout the world, but Catherine in my opinion has something that cannot be trained, and if you listen hard enough and you follow 100% the advice you are given you will work out what this is.

“Thank you for your world class advice Catherine and I can’t wait until our next session.”

In the first half of 2005, I was emotionally strong, healthy, happy, optimistic and madly in love with my husband (we had met twenty-two years prior).

In July of 2005 my husband passed away unexpectedly followed less than two years later with the loss of both my mother and father, just five months apart.

Needless to say, my world STOPPED. I was broken, emotionally, physically and spiritually. To this day, I’m not exactly sure how I survived except by the grace of God. I felt like a body wandering the earth without a soul.

In a feeble attempt to find relief, I turned to my medical doctor. Since I was suffering from a variety of symptoms due to unbearable grief, they were quick to dispense medications.

I was given sleeping pills, anti-anxiety meds, pain meds and antidepressants.just to name a few. Although the intentions of my doctor were encouraging and the drugs probably kept me alive during my darkest hours, they basically created more physical problems than they corrected.

Over the next four and a half years I tried everything. Therapy, research, massage and of course I continued to try different medications.

I believe I went to see thirteen different therapists, all repeating the same mantra, “Time heals.”

Well, maybe, if you can make it through time. I was failing, struggling, damaged emotionally and physically, and completely at a loss. I was desperate.

In a last ditch effort to keep from committing myself to a mental facility, a little voice in my head kept telling me to sweat. Since I had practiced yoga on and off for several years and at this point was almost afraid to leave my house except for work, I began my search for a private yoga instructor that would come to my home.

Just over a month ago my good friend Google (and all those looking out for me from above), presented me with a wonderful gift, Catherine Carrigan.

I immediately sent her an email in hopes of beginning what I thought was going to be private yoga instruction, someone to literally drag me out of bed and physically work the negative energy from my being.

She immediately responded and an initial assessment meeting was planned. She gently suppressed my yoga idea with, “let’s start with getting your will to live back.” Hmmm, what a concept! I thought to myself, “She GETS me.”

Our first meeting went well, although I think I just sort of blurted out what happened and cried a lot. I was so emotionally beat up by that point that I was spewing grief, anger and negativity. When I managed to get what was to me an important point across, her answer was what finally clicked in my head.

For almost five years, I had been describing my anxiety as what you feel like when you stand next to a huge electrical tower, a continuous, annoying buzz inside.

Catherine looked at me and said, “Well, it’s obvious that you’re exhausted and when that happens, your body makes up for it by increasing the production of adrenalin.” Wow! I had been trying to explain that feeling for YEARS to doctors and NO ONE ever told me the logistics behind it, they just gave me more drugs.

I’m not exactly sure what happened at that meeting except she listened asked if I minded her being direct and then she gave me some flower essences to take several times a day.

We talked at length about working on my negative behaviors, destructive thought practices and harmful energies. She requested that I fill out a couple of health related questionnaires and recommended tests for clarification that we would review in the future. I was just beside myself with optimism because I believed I had stumbled across a lifesaver.

The next meeting, I was ready to start changing.be careful what you wish for!

Catherine put me on a two week no sugar diet, a personalized nutritional supplement program, told me to drink half my body weight in ounces of water a day, recommended Qi gong class and exercise (mostly walking) six days a week. Not to mention the magic she works on me during our sessions. Uh oh, type A personality here was a little freaked out that I would slip up and not ‘be perfect’ and then what would happen? Being a lot more relaxed than I, Catherine assured me to just do the best I can and if I mess up, just try and get right back on track.

Today I hesitate to say what a difference I feel for fear of jinxing myself but hopefully, this will help someone else in their struggle to feel better. Emotionally, I cry much less than I did before (which was a lot!), I am beginning to have mental clarity where there previously was mush, I have dreamt every night since day one (which I haven’t done in almost five years), I am learning to replace negative thoughts with positive ones and I have begun to see that there is a future waiting for me to discover.

Physically I have also seen improvements. I had NO PMS this month, none! I can’t believe it. I used to be afraid of my period because I would just fall apart emotionally and physically. I retain less water, am losing weight and begun to have more energy to do things that normally, I may just put off. Overall, I just feel better.

Although I recognize that we learn and grow from our difficulties, I had given up. I was just done. I didn’t know how to move past the mentality that a person can only take so much. Catherine is helping me not just physically, but emotionally and on a soul level as well.

I have a long way to go and if I look at my list of things to fix, it is overwhelming, but this is the first time in years that I have felt a ray of light in my spirit. I am just ecstatic that something is finally beginning to make a difference.

Good luck! – Gretchen S. Cannon, Atlanta, Georgia

Many men in middle age find themselves turning to pharmaceutical answers to correct flagging libido, only to discover that the drugs do not solve their problems or lead to disturbing side effects.

Recently I had three sessions with the husband of a regular client. I had helped him a few years before by educating him how he could lower his blood pressure without medication. Despite regular exercise, he recently found himself suffering from high blood pressure once again due to the stress of his job, only this time he also was suffering from disappointing performance in the bedroom.

I recommended a change in his exercise program as well as personalized supplements to rebalance his metabolism. I used kinesiology to find out exactly what his body needed. I did healing work to rebuild his second chakra and rebalance his brain chemistry.

Results? In two weeks, neither he nor his wife were suffering from disappointment.

Because this is a personal issue, I assured him I would keep his testimonial anonymous. He said:

“I was having blood pressure issues and low testosterone effects from taking the meds. I was told I have the hormonal makeup of a menopausal woman. I thought, ‘I’m only 49 what gives…’

Catherine was able to help elevate my testosterone levels so that I was having the same desires I had when younger. My wife saw the difference where it mattered the most – in the largest room in the world, the room for improvement. No More Despair, Atlanta GA.”

Ellie Richards, a reading teacher at the Atlanta Speech School, had two deep abdominal surgeries last year that left her with pain in her lower back and hips. She started working out with me to heal these injuries as well as to correct shoulder pain.

“Catherine is very good at matching exercise to people’s needs,” she said.

We have done corrective exercise, corrective stretching, worked on her nutrition with natural anti-inflammatories and discussed proper sitting techniques for her car, desk and chairs at home. I showed Ellie how she can heal the scars from her surgery using organic essential also. I have also taught Ellie specific stretches and mobilizations she can do on her own at home if specific muscles start to feel uncomfortable.

“It’s helped with the pain,” Ellie said. “I have learned what exercises to do, how to do them and how long it takes to get rid of the pain. Plus, Catherine recognizes when I’m feeling good and she pushes me to do more. She recognizes the good days and my bad days. She pushes me on to do more so I feel a sense of progress.

“I feel the best after the individual workouts than at any other time during the week. I usually come in with pain and go out without pain. ”

Part of my work with Ellie has been teaching her about her body. I use charts and pictures of muscles to explain to her which of her muscles are weak and need to be strengthened, and which are tight and need to be stretched, so that we are working on greater musculoskeletal balance.

“It helps me to visualize what I am working on,” Ellie said. “You learn to feel the muscles you are working on so you can do the exercises with better form. I have a better understanding of what good form is. Better form leads to more progress.”

When I asked Ellie what advice she had for other people experiencing low back, hip and shoulder pain, she said, “Learn to do the right exercises. You can do a little bit and go along way. I am happy not to be in pain when I walk out.

About 10 years ago, Genia Sutton, 41, was in a severe traumatic accident. She was riding in a boat at nighttime in the Bahamas. The boat hit something underwater, and she was knocked backwards into the boat and then again knocked into the water, where she was fortunately found, floating unconscious. The accident broke the transverse process of her spine at L1, her first lumbar vertebrae.

What followed was years of suffering and hopelessness. “It was painful,” Genia recalled. “The pain was probably a 7 or an 8 out of 10. I hurt all day. Mentally I couldn’t concentrate because of the back pain. Then the past December, I fell on the stairs and the corner of the stairs hit me on the spine, probably around L1-L2.”

Even though Genia works as director of outpatient imaging at the Outpatient Imaging and Specialty Care at Camp Creek, she resisted the many doctors who recommended she come to see them for back surgery. Fortunately for Genia, one of my regular clients recommended she come to see me.

S I began as I always do with a complete health evaluation, going over all her goals. Not only did Genia want to overcome chronic back pain, she also wanted to look better and feel better overall. I put her on a healthy eating plan and recommended natural anti-inflammatories. We started slowly and carefully with exercise. I taught her simple mobilization exercises she could do for 5 to 7 minutes every morning. I taught her how to sit comfortably in a chair. We did workouts just focusing on healing exercises for the back. Then I taught her qi gong exercises recommended by a qi gong teacher from Portugal who overcame 15 years of supposedly incurable chronic spondylolisthesis with qi gong. I recommended that Genia take off her shoes in her office and do these qi gong exercises in the afternoons for 5 to 10 minutes every afternoon. In addition to healing back pain, these exercises also help to give you more energy. I also did energy healing work with her. As Genia began to progress, we started lifting weights so she could become stronger overall, and she joined our yoga class, where many other students have healed their back pain by practicing with me regularly.

“I just thought the pain was something I was going to have to live with,” Genia recalled. “The back pain would keep me from exercising. I wouldn’t even want to take my dog for a walk. Even doing menial chores like laundry, I wouldn’t want to lift up my laundry. It was just part of my every day life, and I never thought I could get rid of it.

“I have really enjoyed being able to do yoga, lift weights and feel better about myself all the way around. It makes me want to take my dog for a walk. I feel like my attitude is more positive. Even dealing with my employees and peers at work, I seem to have more patience.”

Genia’s back pain has been dramatically reduced. Most days, she reports, her back pain is now a 1 out of 10, and on bad days it is a 3 out of 10 after just two months of working with me. We continue to strengthen her back and include healing exercises for her back in her regular workouts.

“There is hope. You can get better. Never give up hope, Catherine can help you.”

My client Lolly (not her real name), agreed to give a testimonial about how I helped her reverse female pattern baldness. She asked that her real name not be used. Although it is well known that men can go bald, women can suffer many of the same symptoms, due to stress, hormones, vitamin deficiency, genes and/or iron deficiency.

Last June, Lolly went to her dermatologist, who diagnosed her with female pattern baldness. “I felt horrible. I felt sad and frustrated,” said Lolly, who used to enjoy many compliments on her wavy, thick, naturally curly hair in her younger years. At age 64, she would wash her hair and find thick clumps in the drain.

“It made me feel old.”

A professional researcher for well over 30 years, Lolly is accustomed to finding solutions to all sorts of problems. She got on the internet and read about numerous supposed cures that had worked for other people. She bought a few products, and her nails got stronger, but there was no change in the quality of her hair. Nothing she found would actually make a difference in her hair.

Finally, Lolly came to me. We used kinesiology to determine which supplements would actually work to help her regenerate her hair and which shampoos, conditioners and treatments she could order that would actually improve the situation.

The benefit of kinesiology is that this technique allows me to determine exactly what a person needs and what will actually work for their unique body chemistry.

“My hair is probably 30 percent better than it was at its worst point,” Lolly observed recently. “It has a way to go still, but it is easier to manage now. I don’t feel that the spare spots are as noticeable. It is comforting not to see my hair going down the drain and falling out when I shampoo.

“I feel a lot better about it. I don’t feel as panicky about it and I am not as obsessed about it as I was. “

Lolly’s hairdresser confirmed that her hair is definitely growing back.

“Working with Catherine saved me time and money in my search a remedy for my hair loss,” Lolly said.

“You are not shooting in the dark. You don’t have to wait a couple of months to find out that your products are not working and you have wasted that money and time.”

Fini Shell is the mother of my client Paxton Shell.

“My son who is 20 years old was diagnosed as bipolar with anxiety and ADHD. His entire life has been spent in physical and psychological pain. He had no energy . He has endured stomach bleeding, bleeding esophageal ulcers and esophageal surgery, gallstones, migraines and myriad other illnesses. All these made it impossible for him to function, either at school or in life. He had trouble walking and was so weak and exhausted that when I moved in 2005, I had to do all the work myself.

“He has tried traditional medicine, chiropractors, acupuncturists, Chinese medicine, Reiki, acupressure, homeopathy, shamans, psychologists and psychiatrists and been hospitalized multiple times. No one could make him physically better.

“Since seeing Catherine, for the first time in his life, his body is better. He has energy, and he is now able to do physical things. He feels so much better, he is going for walks and is even considering getting a job. He is now able to do 110 full body pull ups. I wish we had found her 10 years ago!”

Catherine’s comment:

One of the things that I absolutely love about what I do is that I get to see people become healthier and happier than many of them ever thought possible.

Paxton had been sick since the day he was born. His mother had complications during her pregnancy, and when he was born, he was stuck in the birth canal for over three hours.

The work we did together has encompassed not just Paxton’s health but also his home. When he first came to me, I did a medical intuitive reading and told him that 65 percent of what was wrong with him was in his environment. I helped Paxton and Fini pick out the best people to remove mold from their home. The mold removal experts said that they were lucky to be alive! It was the worst case of mold in a house they had ever seen.

Given that Paxton has spent his whole life trying to get better, I asked him one day why he thought all the other well-meaning practitioners – both traditional and alternative – had not succeeded. He told me, “They were not comprehensive enough.”

The work that I do encompasses the physical body, the energy body, the emotions, the mind and the soul. I have studied healing work for 18 years and have mastered many modalities.

Recently, I was at a women’s business conference. It was really excellent, however, the focus of course was on making money. It is great to come up with systems that help large numbers of people. However, in many cases, the issues at hand are so intertwined that you may not be able to get better simply by reading a book, doing an online course with 50 other people or by following a few simple steps.

Sometimes you really need someone to sit with you and work through all the levels.

I absolutely love what I do. My clients’ health and happiness is my greatest reward. To see someone like Paxton become a fully functional human being for the first time in his life gives me satisfaction beyond measure. It is such a privilege to see someone like Paxton finally be able to enjoy the health he deserves.

Catherine has an absolute art at not only getting to the route cause of health issues, she cures them through her various healing techniques. If you are looking for a complete 360 approach to health at any level then Catherine will leave no stone un turned. You will need to be open minded with some of the practice, however if you just trust this then you maybe pleasantly suprised.

I was recommended Catherine from my expert physio in the UK nearly four years ago. Thanks to this g uy he put me in touch with a health genius. Having spent a week with Catherine in the US I was totally gob smacked at just how thorough and complete her knowledge is, and definitly something I will do again.

“I’ve gone to Catherine for wellness coaching for over a year now, and in that time I’ve lost more than 30 pounds, have more energy, more harmony in my relationships, and greater confidence in all aspects of my life,” says Panya Walker.

“Pulling from an incredible reservoir of knowledge and expertise, Catherine supported and motivated me to take the steps I needed to be my best self, and gave me the tools I needed to sustain a lifetime of glowing good health and vitality.

“If you want to experience positive personal transformation, Catherine’s holistic approach to wellness, her incredible ability to present information in a way that is easy to digest /and/ to translate into action, and her unwavering love and support will help you get there.  Go see for yourself, you’ll be glad you did!”

Catherine Carrigan says, “Panya was referred to me by another client here in Atlanta, Georgia. I met her once when she was visiting Atlanta on a business trip, but most of our coaching was done by phone.

“When I coach clients, I take an integrated approach. I work on goals in all areas of my client’s lives. I helped Panya through a job transition out of corporate America into successful self employment. We worked on improving her body image, her marriage and relationships as well as exercise programming. We also worked on food plans and nutritional supplements to overcome various health challenges.

“After working with me, Panya was inspired to take two workshops with Sue Maes and has signed up for Sue’s internship in Self Empowerment Coaching. It is a joy for me to help my clients recognize their many talents and direct them to other careers that are more fulfilling to them on all levels.”