Here is an attempt to share some of my story, and my journey to here. So grab a cup of tea, and let’s dive in….

I’m Elanor Christianson. A soulful business strategist, certified coach and Qoya teacher. I am a quirky, nature loving, book nerd with a loud laugh. I love travel and adventure, and exploring new places and ideas.

I have been on a journey of slowing down to connect more fully with my body and my own inner wisdom, in order to come home to myself and my unique truth. A journey to laugh more, dance more and live with more joy.

Following the path laid down for me

My favourite memories of childhood are the endless Kiwi summers at the beach, creating huts in the trees at primary school, and discovering the world of reading. I always had my nose in a book – Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, The Hobbit. I loved stories about mystery, adventure and epic quests.

I was a smart kid who excelled at school, and from early on I followed a path laid down by expectations from teachers, my parents and then my peers. Somewhere between primary school and high school (…yep in the midst of puberty), I lost a lot of my playfulness, in the pressure of doing well in exams, and trying to fit in. In high school I studied subjects because I was good at them, not because I enjoyed them; and stopped reading for fun as ‘it was a waste of time’.

I moved from school to University not knowing what I wanted to do, and ended up majoring in operations management (a mix of process design, systems thinking and production management) and statistics…along with a smattering of psych and environmental science. I threw myself into a student organisation, which also pushed me to do more, produce more, achieve more.

Then still not really ‘knowing what I wanted to do’ I become a management consultant for a large global consulting firm. If you don’t know what that is, don’t worry… I didn’t really know either. I just thought that I would be ‘successful’ if I landed a job at one of the ‘big firms’.

What followed was years spent constantly in my head, working in strategy and business development in large corporates in New Zealand and London. I excelled in supporting teams to create a pathway through the complexity. Together we created, built and launched new products where technology and consumer needs were converging, and we had to create the future. I mentored and supported product and marketing leads in strategic development, and translated the visions they held in their heads onto paper. I was the glue within teams, and my roles always expanded to support multiple projects and areas of development. I was moving up the corporate ladder, getting promotions and more senior roles, I was succeeding…but I felt lost.

I felt like there was something missing…

I was constantly looking outside of myself for the answers, and for the next job, promotion, or relationship to feel fulfilled. It often felt that I was fighting my way through these patriarchal, masculine dominated organisations. I realise now I was losing a connection to myself even more in the process.

So feeling lost and disconnected, I would then drop it all to travel to far flung places around the world, secretly hoping it might all become clearer while I was somewhere else. I loved experiencing new cultures, stretching out of my comfort zone, and spending timing hiking in magnificent mountain ranges. The time and space away would help put things in perspective,

but when I got back from my travels, I still couldn’t figure out how to connect my head and my heart. I often looked for ways to switch out of the corporate world, but would fall back into the same work and the same measures of success.

I was all in my head and not connected to my body. I didn’t honor my body, and thrashed it with partying and long hours of work. It responded by being constantly tired. Looking back now, I also didn’t love and respect my femininity and all the wonders of the female body. Part of me just wanted to fit into the male-dominated environment I was surrounded by…but another part of me knew that I never would.

Along the way I met my husband, and we travelled the world togetherMy husband and I spent three years in London, but decided to come back to When my husband and I tried to start a family (after three years of partying and living it up large in London), I struggled to conceive. It took over three years of trying before my daughter was born through IVF.

My body was trying to tell me to slow down, reduce my stress, nourish it with wholefoods, and restore it with soulful movement; but I kept ignoring it in the chase for external validation. I was constantly searching for the next job that was going to help me be happier, and when back in NZ I changed organisations three times in 5 years.

Looking back now there were nuggets of truth trying to peep out at me. Leadership courses and experiences which supported me to reconnect with my values and my true nature. Threads where I kept coming back to a love of dancing, the enjoyment of mentoring and coaching others, a passion for the outdoors and a desire for leadership that honors the feminine as well as the masculine. Threads that are being weaved into my work now. Trying to constantly find the next stepup the ladder often muddied this. I found it so difficult to connect with my intuition, and truly see myself and my strengths.

Birth and motherhood was an initiatory gateway

Everyone told me that becoming a mother changes you, and I expected it to. But I didn’t expect it to alter my worldview so dramatically.

I experienced the true power and strength of my body and spirit, as it birthed another human into this world. Choosing to birth at home was one of the first times I had truly felt and listened to my intuition, and it was magnificent.

However I felt lost in the months afterwards. I struggled finding my intuition as a mother and instead read ALL the books, trying to support a baby who was unsettled and cried a lot (we now know due to allergies). It slowly started to fall into place though as I connected to what felt right for myself and Olivia.

Then less than four months after Olivia’s birth I gave life-giving CPR to my husband Dave as he had a cardiac arrest at home. Dave spent a month in hospital as they first bought him back to the living, then tried to figure out what was wrong and how to support him. My whole life became centred around providing for Olivia and being there for Dave. I was just trying to keep it all together, pushing a whole lot of emotions down and eating emotionally to dull the pain.

Sometimes the tough times, provide fuel for change. As we came out of the fog and Dave came home, we re-focussed on what was important for us. We overhauled our diet and environment, simplified and decluttered; and I started to relish motherhood as I leant into what felt right rather than what I had been told.

I wondered what I was waiting for, to live the life I truly wanted. My work that I had excelled in, but didn’t fulfil me, no longer seemed so important.

I circled my family in love and focussed on my own and my family’s wellbeing rather than going back to work at the end of my maternity leave. I invested in a coach who connected me to my soul’s gifts. Slowly I reconnected to my body, and all its changes from motherhood. I started to respect and honor my body’s beauty and wisdom. I spent more time outside, and more time playing and exploring what I enjoyed. I nourished deeper connections with other women whose presence lit me up. I followed my curiousity and started my journey of coming home to me.

This curiousity led me to complete a year long health coaching course to to take back control of my family’s health. After years of living inside my head, the course opened up my eyes at a deeper level to the importance of reconnecting with our bodies, truly nourishing them with good whole foods, water, sleep, movement; alongside good company, purposeful work, and spiritual practice.

The soul whispers of being a mentor and pathfinder for others became stronger. I wanted to support others in taking back their health, their life and making the choices they wanted to make, to have the life they wanted. The health coaching course sparked an interest in me to pursue coaching, and I completed a more focussed 8 month life-coaching course.

I also rediscovered the magic of dance, and through that Qoya. Qoya is a movement practice which supports women to remember that at their essence they are wise, wild and free. From my first class, I felt I had come home to me, and I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and share it with other women. I finished my training at the start of 2019, and I glow when I get to dance in circle with other women.

My work in the world

This journey of bringing together my mind, heart, body and soul in a truly holistic way, has been so powerful. It is a journey I will constantly be on, as the seasons of my life changes, and new challenges arise. But I step into it, with a greater ease and flow with the unknowing.

In my work now I support women to slow down and reconnect with their beautiful feminine body and it’s innate wisdom. It is so easy to lose sight of who we truly are, and what we truly want; especially in the midst of trying to integrate motherhood and career. I provide space for women to come home to themselves and cultivate more joy, flow and ease in their lives.

I am also still the strategy geek who still loves bringing clarity and simplicity to the complex. I support female entrepreneurs to carve their own unique path through the messiness and overwhelm. Enabling them to make choices that work for their business. I also consult to larger organisations I believe in, with people I love working with. But it is now on my own terms, and without the same chase for the next role or promotion.

There are still some moments where I don’t know how all of these passions, interests and talents will blend together, and I want to have it all mapped out. But then I sit with it, and see the magic of continuing to follow my curiousity, and the beauty in the unfolding.

I am passionate about supporting others to come home to their inner wisdom and it’s deep truth. As I believe together we do truly rise.