Michelle Haley
Michelle Haley
Amanda “Mandy” Ruhr
In the Natural Health Industry since 1996
Professional Qualification: DHHP, BCST; Owner and wholistic healthcare practitioner at Joy of Health Consulting
Current Position: Wellness Provider
Michelle was born in Spirit River, Alberta, and was raised on a farm in that area. She has always had a keen interest in natural health and healthy living and is especially interested in understanding the cause of symptoms of dis-ease. Michelle's curiosity and determination to lead a healthier life helped her heal herself from heavy metal toxicity, bouts of depression and gut-related issues. Her passion for health lead her to attend Hahnemann College for Heilkunst and then to open Joy of Health Consulting. In her private practice, Michelle offers a unique approach to trauma recovery through craniosacral therapy and dynamic medicine and homeopathy. She also uses hair tissue mineral analysis to recommend individualized nutrients and supplementation. Michelle loves to educate, empower and guide clients and customers to support them in their healthcare journeys. At The Health Hut, Michelle's genuine and conscientious manner, humour, and wealth of experience add a gentle and wholesome energy to the store.
What is one item on your bucket list?
I would love someday to have a home by a lake or an ocean within a mountainous backdrop.
What inspires you?
I feel most inspired when I come to understand something about myself or human nature through science -science that incorporates both the soul/spiritual and biological realm. An example is when my health met huge challenges a number of years ago. I was having some intense and very scary symptoms that had begun after initiating a detoxification protocol. I ended up in a situation where I was completely at a loss to help myself. I sent a sample of my hair off to a specific lab in the US for analysis and when I received my first test results back, my fear was immediately converted into action because I knew just what to do and exactly what my body required. This pushed me forward yet again and I decided to take hair analysis training and incorporate this work into my professional practice.
A woman knows by the feeling of expansiveness in her body when something makes so much sense, and here it could be grounded very scientifically and rationally. That to me is inspirational.
What are your thoughts on gratitude?
For me, feelings of gratitude put me into a receptive state where I'm more in touch with the core of my being. That's a great place to reside.
What is a self-care practice you're doing or would like to start doing?
On a daily basis, I work with specific minerals that are guided by my most current hair tissue mineral analysis. I also incorporate a specific protocol for combating inflammation and ageing to protect against daily oxidative stress and toxicity exposure. Right now, I'm really focusing on the mineralogical and physiological levels of my health, plus educating myself in what I'm drawn to.
I enjoy food: I eat well and I make a daily fresh vegetable juice incorporating fresh pea or sunflower shoots. I love to walk and I love those moments when everything gets set aside for a good movie.
What is your current favourite quote, mantra or affirmation? Why?
“Let thy will be done in me this day is my daily reflection when I meet the shower each morning. Another one that I often reflect on is the road is narrow. I reflect on this last one when I'm being challenged by something in my life. It helps me to stay focused on the “narrow road” that is my own to follow, for my own unique individuation.
What area of holistic health do you find the most interesting? Why?
There is not just one area per se, but right now, I'm really interested in Dr. Reich's work. It reveals the reason for psychic and physical armouring that operate in unison in the human being and results in suppression and repression of the life energy. He believes this is at the root of many health disturbances.
What do you find enjoyable about working at The Health Hut?
I most enjoy the camaraderie between the staff. I also really appreciate the genuine caring nature that I observe in the staff towards the customer.
Holistic health is described as the health of the whole body, the Mind-Body-Emotion-Spirit connection. How does holistic health show up in your life outside of work?
My health and my education have been my priorities in my life for a long time and there is no separation of that from my regular life. It really is my life. I have discovered along the way, once getting quite close to really losing my health, that if one doesn't have good health, it's not conducive to having any life whatever. Good health is everything really, in the truest sense.
Describe a memorable conversation with a customer.
It was one of the first shifts I had at the store. I approached the customer to ask if he needed some help and indeed he did, he was having some gut concerns. I really caught him off guard when the first question out of my mouth was how are your bowel movements? We both laughed (and I think a couple of the staff giggled in the background too). I realized I was not in my office with a client taking a case history, as it was just so natural for me to ask that question because it is a huge concern for many people. I realized at that moment that I may have to preface it going forward by at least saying, do you mind if I ask you a question about your gut function? or at least something of this nature. I've had some funny faces from kids over the years when I asked them that question too!
How has your understanding of health or dis-ease changed throughout your career?
It's in navigating my own inner calling and also my own resistances that stand in the way of the core expression of my being. When I go into these resistances, which are often challenging and almost always uncomfortable, I always learn more about myself. For me, it's the feeling of expansiveness after coming through a bit of a compressive phase that always shows me, I'm on the narrow path. No matter the challenge or struggle, it was a necessary burden for that time to advance me in health.
It's been gradually over time that I have cultivated the ability to make more peace with the challenges and struggle that often accompany life, to accept that growth and true knowledge often arise out of accepting these challenges as my own to bare.