[00:00:00] Kevin Stafford: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Conversations with Coaches podcast. I’m your host, Kevin, and today I have already had the delight to make the acquaintance of Natalia Adleman. Adleman? Adelman, Adelman, Adelman. Okay, A, A, I gotta channel my inner Canadian, even though I’ve never set foot in Canada.
There’s just something in me. Anyway, Natalia is, as you can probably already tell, delight and is, is great at, you know, putting up with me and some of my, some of my silliness and my strangeness. But let me tell you a little bit about Natalia before we dive into everything that makes her tick as a coach.
As a life and business strategist and founder of Wellness for Wealth, Natalia empowers leaders to redefine success wellness, and limitless living through her bespoke coaching, consultancy, and retreats. Natalia has an CPA, is a two time best selling author, and a certified holistic wellness coach. And a recent podcast host, just launching a podcast very recently.
I’m sure we’ll get to talk about that at least a tiny bit. Natalia, thank you so much for spending some time with me today. I’m, like I said, I’m already delighted to make your acquaintance, and I’m very pleased to share you with my audience.
[00:01:06] Natalia Edelmann: Oh, likewise, Kevin. Thanks so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to
[00:01:09] Kevin Stafford: be here.
Well, let’s, let’s dive right into your, your superhero origin story. How’d you get to be you? And I liked, I liked to couch it like that because I feel like a lot of times a coach, it almost feels like when you got your powers, when you realized whether someone told you in the right way at the right time or the right opportunity opened up, um, or the right door closed at some point in the past.
What was that? What was that origin story for you as a coach? What prompted you to really move into coaching in pursuit of your purpose and your passion?
[00:01:40] Natalia Edelmann: Well, I’ll tell you, Kevin, I was in wealth management for about, well, for over 10 years and, uh, I loved it until I didn’t. And I, I felt that my hips were really tight and I was fatigued and burnt out and I was on track for a promotion, but we were, um, doing a bit of a restructure.
So it was like this calling inside of me that was like, this is your now or never chance. Like, and it was that need. It did feel like I needed to escape life to find life. And so I remember it was, um, after the, the May two, four weekend in Canada. And, uh, I walked into my boss’s office and I was like, I just need a sabbatical.
And so from that, that choice really propelled me. Into asking myself, what do I want and also to have that wellness reset that I so desperately needed and, uh, it was. It was that, yeah, from that moment where I started to say, okay, I’ve got this time. What do I want to do? What does Nat want? Which is, which is, like I said, some, one of the most hardest questions for some people to
[00:02:50] Kevin Stafford: ask.
And you, you asked it and then you. Waited for the answer. You didn’t just rush the answer out of fear of silence or fear of that empty open space or that limitless seeming possibility you asked the question and then you, then you chased it down, you were like, okay, I’m going to live the asking of this question.
I’m going to move into the space that will eventually be occupied by not only the answer to that question, but also the next better questions. That’s so like, I don’t know if it’s, it’s such a, I love, I love getting a coach’s personal origin story, because there are such. foundational similarities in what like sparked that motivating moment, that desire to like find something different, to move away from something and towards something at the same time, to be able to serve people and help people in a way that’s much more expressive of who you are.
And it’s always, I, it’s, it’s, I find it relentlessly unique. Everybody has their own like special pivot points and they’re, they’ve done the work to identify it, which you clearly have. and really grapple with like what it was for you, why it was for you. I love that you found the question in your body where you’re just like I’m my and I honestly like my heart like not didn’t skip a beat but like I warmed up to you when you said my hips are tight because that’s one of my like stress indicators where I’m just like oh.
Yeah, like, uh, why is my posture up? Oh yeah, my hips are really tight, and I’m just like, it’s one of those things where it’s like your body starts to tell you what maybe it’s going to take your mind a little bit of time to like catch up to, or maybe you’ve got to turn the volume down and the noise in your life before your mind can actually realize what your body’s already screaming at you.
Well, that’s
[00:04:26] Natalia Edelmann: just it. And it literally was screaming at me. And, you know, I decided from that moment, it was like, okay, uh, I, I, I mean, I asked the question, what do I want? And it was like this eat, pray, love moment in my life. Because from that point, you know, I went, I went and did a road trip in Spain for 30, for 30 days.
Like I rented a car by myself, you know, and went retreat hopping. That was the, that was the start of the retreat hopping adventure. And I ended up in Bali and did a yoga teacher’s training, uh, core, uh, retreat. It was 21 days. And It was, it was where I found yin yoga as well. So kind of going, coming back to the hip piece, because that’s where I learned that your body stores all of your emotions and your hips is where like, it’s, it’s been proven that it does hold your emotions there, but, but everything that you do in life gets Get stored into your body somehow, unless you release it or you find some way to let it go.
[00:05:29] Kevin Stafford: I’ve always really appreciated, I think it’s more of a saying from athletics than anything else, but I find it to be very applicable to this kind of conversation as well. It’s like the body keeps the score. And I, I’ve always really, I was always drawn to that immediately because it’s a very, it’s, it’s very, it’s one of those things that the moment you hear it, you’re like, Oh yeah, yeah, of course.
And you think about your body and think about like, Oh, I’ve got this scar from when I was like nine and I fell off my BMX when I was trying to do something I probably shouldn’t have, or, you know, whatever the story is. But then it’s even beyond that to where it’s like your body does, it does hold. The sum total of your experiences, physical, emotional, mental, it holds it all, it’s all there.
And once you, not just realize that, but allow yourself to accept that. Then, like you did, you start to be able to find interesting questions to ask yourself and seek out those kinds of experiences that are, I mean, for lack of a better word, just the perfect word, that are holistic, that encounter and engage your whole being, not just reading a book to grow your mind, but, you know, going on a retreat, going, putting yourself in those spots, you know, it’s like immersive learning, but instead of a language, it’s instead of a foreign language, it’s the language of yourself.
That sounds a little too cutesy. No, I think it’s perfect.
[00:06:46] Natalia Edelmann: Yeah, no, it’s, it’s absolutely perfect. And, uh, you know, when you start to, when I was away, retreat hopping and, and sort of reconnecting with myself, I took this holistic wellness coaching certification. Like I’m a forever learner, I love, I’m an academic and, you know, when you start to really understand and take a step back and look at, you know, your life areas.
You start to realize just how imbalanced and, and how, um, you know, the, the specific areas that you wouldn’t necessarily suspect are the ones that you feel or rank yourself, however you want to say it, like where you don’t feel your best. Um, and, and that’s such, it’s such an eye opening, it’s such an eye opener for people because they think it’s, oh, it’s my career, like, I’m just, I’ve fallen out of love with it, and then, but then it ends up being something else, like their health or their relationship that’s, that’s sort of crippled in or creeped into that area of life, uh, and then you start to see, oh, wow, like.
Where, where else can I find more balance? And it’s not about trying to have everything equal. You know, there’s that huge debate. Is there work life balance? Does that exist? And I think everything, it does exist when you start, when you start to look at that in that way, that balance is just trying to balance everything in a way that you’re where your state of being doesn’t become impacted negatively.
Um, and I sometimes don’t like to use those words, positive and negative. It’s like that low vibrational feeling is, I guess, what I, what
[00:08:25] Kevin Stafford: I, where I’d say. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s, it’s, it’s unfortunate that positive and negative have such positive and negative connotations, but it’s, it’s why we gravitate towards those words.
And I love, I honestly, I genuinely love the way that you call out that balance is not just what’s a good word. It’s not just. The weight being evenly distributed everywhere. That’s not what balance is. Balance is there is a pivot point on which everything else that is you is balanced. You are centered.
You are, and you, you know what balance feels like. It’s, it’s one of those things where it’s like, it’s, it’s much more profoundly felt. Then it can merely be spoken to, but it’s important for us to speak to it because we’re trying to help ourselves and each other find what balance looks like for us. It’s like the way a lot of people will say to, um, or to encourage you to seek out what success looks like for you.
Same with balance. It’s like, what does balance look like for you? Because maybe you’ve got like a lot of weight over here and not very much weight over here. So if you center it, you’re going to tip over that way. So you’ve got to like, maybe move your pivot point and you’ve got these weights over here and back there.
Oh, and there’s this updraft over here. There are all these forces and vectors and powers kind of working on you at any given moment. And that seeking of and finding of balance. It’s, it’s an active pursuit. It remains alive just as you remain alive for your whole life. As you continue to learn more about what’s.
It’s what’s moving you and what’s weighing you down and what’s lifting you up. It’s, I don’t know, I get really like, you can see my hands start to creep up into the zoom window as I’m talking. I get really excited just even talking about it.
[00:09:58] Natalia Edelmann: Well, and you said something really interesting because a lot of people ask me, what does wellness mean?
What does well being mean? And I say, wellness is well being, is your state of being, is an active process of making the choices and the decisions that lead you to a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. So I love that you said it’s an active It’s you’re actively pursuing it because if you’re not, then there’s something you’re always going to feel like there’s something missing.
Um, you’re, you’re, you’re not going to be able to find that balance because, because you’re, you’re, you’re so flat because you are in a sense disconnected. Not you’re you’re passive. You’re on autopilot all of these things that are the opposite of active And then that’s when you start to maybe fall into victim mode when you’re like life’s happening to me But actually I’m a firm believer that life happens for you You know It’s good when you have those low vibrational feelings because it’s a signal that something is off something needs more attention and you need to sort of pause and really look at it.
But, but that’s, I mean, I love looking at it like that and reframing it that way. Um, so yeah, that’s, I love that you said, I love that you brought that in.
[00:11:23] Kevin Stafford: Yeah, absolutely. It’s like, even something as basic and foundational as pain, pain, pain is not a problem. Pain serves a purpose. Pain is a voice letting you know, it’s like, put your attention over here.
Check this out. Something is something is not quite the way that it should be over here. Please apply your attention over here. You’re like, Oh, look at that. I burned my wrist when I was cooking. I didn’t even realize that because I was busy doing other stuff. But my body drew my attention to it with with pain, which was not the problem.
It was the beginning of the solution because I had to become aware of it first. And I think about that kind of stuff all the time because it’s just like, it helps me to not slip into those very reductive definitions of positive and negative, good and bad problem and solution. Um, and also when I think about balance, I can’t, the kid in me, I know I’ve already made one bicycle metaphor in this conversation.
I’m gonna make one more. If you ever try to balance yourself on a bicycle, when you’re not moving, It takes a lot of effort. It’s kind of hard. Like you could, it could be done, but you have to engage so much energy in so many different muscle groups. It’s, it’s, it’s rather difficult. The real balance comes from the movement.
Once you’re moving on a bicycle, the movement balances you and then you can navigate. where you want to go. And I’ve always, I’ve always, even since I was a little kid and like, you know, my, my dad taught me how to ride a ride a bike. I was like, I was kind of drawn to that idea of how much easier it was to do when I was moving than when I was stopped.
And I think I, I think I’m going to continue learning that lesson for the rest of my life. Kevin,
[00:12:56] Natalia Edelmann: I absolutely love that. I feel like I need to, I want to borrow that story.
[00:13:02] Kevin Stafford: Something that most people will understand. Almost, almost everybody has learned how to ride a bike at some point.
[00:13:08] Natalia Edelmann: Yeah. Yeah. But it’s true. It’s true that the, and it’s, it’s a perfect analogy because, you know, I was thinking what else, what other sport could you kind of maybe wrap that into? But I think the bike is.
Is is key because you’re it’s also that inner child coming in and having that playful, you know, that’s like learning to ride a bike, you know, it’s it’s it’s scary, but it’s fun and it’s exciting all at the same time. Yeah.
[00:13:35] Kevin Stafford: I love it. It opens up the world for you. And yeah, I love that. I love that you said that word play because there’s, there’s always an element of play.
Things can be serious and still have play in them. I think I feel like we get, we get caught in those little compartmentalizations where it’s like, okay, play times, play times over. I have to, you know, focus in a particular way. It’s like, play can come with you. The spirit of play can come with you.
[00:13:58] Natalia Edelmann: Yes. I love that.
And I, I remember, um, I can’t remember who I was speaking to, but they, they were saying, Oh, I’ve got some home play from my coach. I was like, home play. I was like, yeah, it’s homework, but it’s home play. And I was talking to my niece yesterday. She started her first day of, uh, you know, big girl school. Like.
Grade one or whatever it was. And she’s like, I have homework. And I said, let’s think of it as work play, you know? And she’s like, okay, yeah, that’s way more fun. And you can tell her whole, her whole body, her whole like light, like her whole face just completely shifted. And, and I think that’s the power of language and maybe we all need to start using home, like bringing home play in, in the schools and say, you know, you get to take this home and, and play with this a little like mm-hmm.
feel into these questions like, And just have fun with it, not make it so serious all the time.
[00:14:52] Kevin Stafford: Well, speaking of teaching and learning, let’s, let’s talk. I feel like I can talk to you about this kind of stuff, the conceptual stuff, the foundational stuff all day. I want to talk at least a little bit about what your coaching practice looks like today.
How you, how you bring the spirit of play, how you bring this sort of holistic approach to health and wealth to people. So I like to kind of ask this as like a simple two parter, cause I feel like it gets at the. The heart of what a coaching practice looks like, who do you coach primarily and how do you coach them?
The who is if you have any particular focus or particular clientele that you tend to work with or want to talk about today, you know, whichever dealer’s choice, and then the, how being your methodology, you know, primarily one to one group coaching, obviously you published books, um, course worth, et cetera, et cetera.
So who, what’s the, who, and what’s the, how. The who,
[00:15:41] Natalia Edelmann: the who, uh, is female leaders, visionaries who are ready to make an impact with their wealth and their wisdom. And how I like to do that is through a very tailored approach. So every person that I work with, we sort of look to see. Okay, where are you at now?
Where do you want to go? And how can we build the strategy, the bridge there? Like I always say, vision is the destination strategies, the pathway there, but you are the key to making it happen. And so most of my clients, they are either, um, wanting to leave their, their current job, like someone from the corporate world.
So I, and, and start their own business. They’re like, you know what? Had a good run. Um, I’m just ready to Live for me and and I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t know what that next chapter is And and so that’s when people tend to come to me is when they’re in that transition. It’s usually career related sometimes it’s when you know, maybe they’re experiencing a relationship breakdown or Those are primarily the two the two big ones but mainly career and so when we look at the how again, it’s about First of all, getting yourself into a state of being where you are clear on your vision, you like, you know what you want, you prioritize yourself.
in self care and all the ways that you need to. And you ultimately have the self love for yourself, which is also the discipline. Because when you have the self love, you also have the discipline in, in, in my mind, because, you know, it’s easy to say, I’ll go to the gym later. It’s easy to say, Oh, tomorrow.
But if you really commit. To change and being the person that you are choosing to be, you’re saying, I want to be this person. It’s like, okay, well, your activities, your, your dues, they have to match who you are trying to be. And so we look at that bead, you have, um, Modality, I guess you could say during the the visioning stage.
So it always starts with vision values and taking a look at your sort of life journey because in your life journey, you’ll have certain struggles that you’ve dealt with that you are. So likely to be able to help that person, you know, I think, I think I can say this generally in the coaching industry, you, you, you tend to help someone you used to be, um, at some point in the career, at some point in your life, like, so, so I love that life map exercise and just getting an understanding of.
Of the vision and, and putting some numbers to that vision and then sort of working, working yourself backwards and saying, okay, well, if this is the life that I want, and this is how much is going to cost me and what are the activities that I do and, and, you know, how many clients would I work with? What, what’s my ideal work week look like?
Is it 40 hours? Is it five hours? Like, there’s no point in building a business that keeps you at your desk for 30 hours if that’s what you were trying to get away from and you wanted to have more time freedom. And so I see it a lot where, you know, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, they, they just, they just create this massive thing and it ends up leading to the exact same patterns that they, that they used to get into, which is typically, you know, like bad habits, burnout, fatigue, et cetera.
Um, and then of course there’s there, I like, I love. Involving retreats. Um, because to me, it’s the second you step out of your door, you’re already so much out of your comfort zone than if we were just to have an hour conversation. Super effective coaching conversations. Absolutely. But I’m saying when you were able to take someone out of their environment and and Using all the senses as well, and you bring them away, and there’s no distractions, there’s nobody saying, I need this, there’s nobody, like you get to prioritize you in that setting, and you leave a completely different person because you’ve allowed yourself to just be.
And, and I think the key to that as well is, you know, after the retreat, what happens, because I’ve been on lots of retreats and it’s like, that was amazing. You meet so many people you’re bonded for life, but then you get home and you’re like. Okay, now what? And then back to work. So
[00:20:18] Kevin Stafford: back to work.
[00:20:21] Natalia Edelmann: So that’s, you know, I loved sort of, that’s kind of like the how, um, and, and really taking people outside of their comfort zones and, and really letting them dream the big dream, having like childlike experiences.
I mean, I, I really believe that your heart opens with travel and, and, you know, you start to get. You just start to see, see things so much more limitless, like, especially when you try, like, I love being above the clouds in a plane because suddenly you’re like, Oh my gosh, like the world is so big and you see so many people in the airport and you’re like, there are so many people on this planet trying to, you know, live their own lives and be their best selves.
And You know all this other stuff and I think it’s just such a special experience and it’s always it’s always curated to the individual because that’s that I mean there’s no point of bringing someone on a treat and you’re going to do some an activity that that’s not that’s going to keep them in a bad place a bad place or something like that like but anyway yeah so that’s That’s, that’s the answer to
[00:21:28] Kevin Stafford: your question.
Oh, I, I, there’s, there’s so much I love about that. And I’d like, I’m looking up at the zoom clock and I’m realizing that I’m going to have to wrap the conversation up. But I want to say, I want to speak to a couple of things. Number one, love the bespoke approach. And I, I often find myself thinking in those terms, whenever I’m doing really anything for anyone else, there’s sort of a structure.
There’s a plan. Like when you’re tailoring something to someone. It’s an article of clothing, like literal, like, you know, clothing tailoring. Um, it’s got, it’s got a common shape, but it’s specifically designed to fit them. And so there’s those systems, those frameworks, those processes that you develop over time that, okay, here’s our starting place.
Here’s, here’s the roadmap. Here’s the framework we’re going to work with. And we’re going to make this fit you like a glove. And that’s, that’s where the conversation begins and where the conversation stays. And I, I really, I not only love that, I feel like it is essential. For the kind of changes that, you know, your clients, our clients are going to really be looking for.
If you really want that kind of change in your life, you really do. It has to be specific to you. And I feel like the retreats are such a, I really, I love the way that they’ll, and the way you describe it too, is beautiful and perfect. It really speaks to what is required for these kinds of big changes.
You not only have to commit to it, like really not, not just like commit and say, like, I’m going to do this, let’s figure it out. It’s like, actually. Put the skin in the game, you know, put yourself literally out there and also get out of those places that you are currently. It can be very difficult to understand where you end and your circumstances begin unless you get yourself out of those circumstances.
And then very, very quickly, I think in a lot of cases you begin to see it’s like that thing that you felt like was something that was inside of you. Is actually something that was outside of you. That was some aspect of the life that you had built for yourself. That you’re like, you know, I don’t think I want that to come with me.
I don’t like being at my desk for 30, hours a week. I’m going to leave that there in my, in my, in my next plan. Um, and I just, I really, I think that is an underutilized tool. For real true life changing experiences is just to, I don’t know if people are turned off by the idea of a retreat or they think of it like a vacation or something like that, it really is to do the real work.
You do have to, I don’t know, consider it like a tactical retreat, you know, where it’s like, I’m not away from something. I’m moving outside of something. And perhaps into what might come next, and I think some some redefinition of those terms and some embracing of that power is more than called for and I’m just I’m really I love your approach and I just I really wanted to call it out specifically and just kind of put my arms around it because I think it is I think it’s fantastic and I love I love what you’re doing who you’re doing it for and how you’re going about it.
It’s great.
[00:24:12] Natalia Edelmann: Aw, thanks so much, Kevin.
[00:24:14] Kevin Stafford: That’s really sweet of you back on, because this was just like, just like ripping off a band aid. I’m just like, man, I have so much more I want to talk to you about, and I want to like, dive even deeper into stuff, and explore some broader horizons, but perhaps that’ll be for a part two, which I’m totally gonna have you back on.
Before I let you go, where can people find out more about you, who you are, what you do, why you do it? Get a little bit, a little bit, a little bit more than just this all too brief taste here on the podcast. Speaking of podcasts, where can people find your new podcast? Where can people connect with you if they want to start a conversation or a relationship or hire you or find out about when that next retreat is?
So where can people find out everything they’re going to want to know after this conversation? Well,
[00:24:55] Natalia Edelmann: I would go to www. nataliaadelman. com and, or, you know, find me on LinkedIn. Uh, it’s just my name and, um, the podcast is called Modern Self Mastery Unleashed. And it is a joint, I’m actually co hosting that with Paul Davidson, who is the founder of, uh, Warrior Mind Body Method.
Um, so we’re having a great time. Um, but yeah, I mean, connect with me. I’m on literally every social channel. Um, just find my name. It’s either going to be an Italia underscore Adelman. Um, but yeah, like, uh, I think my preferred is LinkedIn and Instagram, um, but you can find them on Facebook as well.
[00:25:37] Kevin Stafford: Nice.
It’s so strange how we’re kind of, we have to be everywhere, but also I would prefer if we hang out here. It’s like, I have, I have my preferred hangouts that I feel comfortable in that we can have like real relationships on. And then the other stuff is just there like for you to find me, I’ll put a sign there saying, thanks for, thanks for finding me.
Come over here. Meet me, meet me around the corner at, you know. Well, this is,
[00:26:01] Natalia Edelmann: this is why we do it, because we want to meet people where they’re at. Like, it’s really selfish of me to say, no, come and meet me here. Like, if you’re sort of already there, so that’s kind of why I say that, but yeah. No,
[00:26:14] Kevin Stafford: it’s, it’s actually a core, a core principle of our own approach is just be, be everywhere.
And then bring people to you as, as they, as they desire to come closer to you. I just, I feel like, like, just like you do, it’s very important to construct that path from where you are to where you want to go. And that’s, that’s the work you do. And I’m, I’m, I’m glad you do it. And I’m glad to have met you.
So thank you for spending some time with me today. I really, I really, I got a charge out of this conversation. So I think I’m going to go, I think I’m going to go take a walk and, and maybe do some journaling.
[00:26:44] Natalia Edelmann: I love it. I love it. It’s been so fun. Kevin, I can’t wait for part two.
[00:26:50] Kevin Stafford: Awesome music to my ears for the, for the audience.
I think it’s music to yours as well. You know what to do next links in the show notes to all the stuff we talked about the website, LinkedIn, I’ll throw an Instagram link there as well. And you know how to find her, her name, which will be spelled very clearly multiple times in the show notes. So if you have any questions at all, drop a comment, reach out, find Natalia, get to know her a little bit, if only for the, the energy and the joy that you will experience just chatting with her.
I have to say. It has been a delight. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here with us. And we’ll talk to you again very soon.
