Marketing Mambo

The Path from Financial Marketer to Ayurvedic Wellness Coach with Kellen Brugman

December 27, 2021 Terry McDougall Season 1 Episode 53
Marketing Mambo
The Path from Financial Marketer to Ayurvedic Wellness Coach with Kellen Brugman
Show Notes Transcript

Kellen Brugman is a Certified Holistic Wellness Coach and professional writer.  She also has certifications as an Ayurvedic Practitioner and yoga teacher. 

Using her Saint Mary’s finance major and 10 years in corporate marketing, she blazed a new career path, helping individuals and corporations like Aveda and lululemon invest in holistic wellness. Through personal sessions, corporate classes, and community events, Kellen helps others navigate change and unknowns in order (and holy chaos) to manifest career dreams and creative goals. 

She helps people transform their immunity portfolios from a liability risk into an asset statement, by using Ayurveda’s practical and potent self-care strategies. Kellen consults and coaches people and corporations on how to navigate change and uncertainty in order (and holy chaos) to manifest career dreams and creative goals. 

Kellen has helped thousands of people weave easy, effective, and enjoyable self-care routines and spiritual rituals into their daily life routines and adventures. She and her shelter dog, Machi, live a completely holistic, Ayurveda lifestyle in beautiful Petoskey, Michigan.

“Investing in daily self-care routines and spiritual rituals creates lifelong health and happiness.”

https://www.kellenbrugman.com

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If you'd like to talk to Terry McDougall about coaching or being a guest on Marketing Mambo, here's how you can reach her:

Website: https://www.terrybmcdougall.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrybmcdougall
Email: Terry@Terrybmcdougall.com

Her book Winning the Game of Work: Career Happiness and Success on Your Own Terms is available at Amazon


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Here's how you can reach host Terry McDougall:

www.terrybmcdougall.com

www.linkedin.com/in/terrybmcdougall

Terry@Terrybmcdougall.com

Her book Winning the Game of Work is available at Amazon

Hey everybody. It's Terry McDougall with Marketing Mambo and I am so excited to bring you this week's guest her name is Kellen Brugman she is an Ayurvedic Holistic health coach. She's also a master yoga practitioner. And she came to this career 20 years ago after having been a marketer for a number of years. And we'll talk about how marketing prepared her very well for being somebody who needs to go in and. Listen. And sometimes diagnose. And help people to reach their goals, whether it's,  from, a mind body health standpoint. 

And. Let's face it. All of us could use a little. Bit of help when it comes to. Being in the right place from a mind, body and health standpoint. So I think you're going to be really interested in what Kellen has to offer. Offer today. I'll just give you a little preview of a quote that. She shared. 

From Gerta. The universe acts as our advocate. When we take the steps we know are necessary. I just absolutely love that. And that's just one of the many tidbits that you'll enjoy when you listen to the rest of this episode. And speaking of taking the steps that you know are necessary. If you're 

in a situation at work where you're not reaching the goals, you're not getting the results that you'd. Like to get, and you could use a little bit of help figuring out how to achieve your professional goals and then. 

Reach out to me and set up a free exploratory call. Go to Terry B mcdougall.com. And you'll see my calendar there. You can set up a free exploratory call and I can help you get clarity on your goals. Help you to build that roadmap. And importantly, shift your mindset so that you actually believe that that's possible. 

And Kellen, and I will also talk about that the whole law of attraction. So now without further ado let the mambo begin. 

Hey everybody, it's Terry with Marketing Mambo and I am so excited today to bring you Kellen Brugman, 

she is somebody who. Many years ago, we met when we were working for a large national bank and she got her start in her career in financial services, moved into marketing, and then at some point decided to break out on her own and become the yoga entrepreneur that she is today. So Kalin, welcome to marketing Mongo.

How are you to Terry? I am well happy to be reunited with you in this. New realm. Yeah, me too. Well, one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on, I mean, first of all, I just think you're a delightful person and so interesting and have done some really interesting things in your life, but I also think it's so cool how, people can kind of come through marketing as a career and really pivot in so many different directions and you've done some super interesting things since.

 Last work together, which is like, gosh, almost 20 years ago at this point. But, I'd  like to open it up and let you introduce yourself because I feel like I just sort of scratched the surface of who you are and what you do so talent. Tell us more about you. All right.

Well, for 10 years, I,  worked in. Corporate banking on customer service and then the marketing areas. And that position, I was supporting, institutional trust and retirement savings plans. And now what I do is I actually help companies and people because I work both with individuals and with corporations, using holistic wellbeing with.

background and my certifications in IRA Veda as an Ayurvedic practitioner,  as a yoga teacher and then also a holistic wellness coach. And so what I do is help people come up with plans so that they're using plans spiritual assets, what I call to help create self-care routines and lead, wellness adventures.

What I love doing now is  helping people look at. Their wellness portfolios and look at  what they're doing, what they're eating is like an asset, what could be a liability and how to come up with, daily and then seasonal plans, you know? And just like in the investment world, you look at like, 

as we did at Wacovia that, the banking industry and those four quarters. And so I use the four seasons and, how does one change, how they're investing into their holistic wellbeing as the seasons change too. And that's what I, our Aveda is. I, our Veda is learning how to.

Live in harmony. I used the word harmony instead of balance, because balance would kind of think it's gotta be at an exact point, but harmony is learning how to flow with change. And, that's all what Veda does because the more one is centered and what we call an IRR Veda, their natural body mind constitution.

The easier it is to flow with change. Yeah, that's so cool. Callan. I mean,  I love so many things that you talk about. First of all, I love how you characterized, what you do is helping people go on a wellness adventure, and then I definitely want to delve more into IRB data and that whole idea of.

Being in harmony, because I agree with you, when we talk about balance, you sort of think of that teeter-totter or, something being, on a pinpoint balance. Right. And there's just so many different factors in the aspects that, we encounter in our lives that it would be really difficult to think about it as.

 Finding that perfect point of balance like the flow. I just think that's such a better, way to think about it. But, before we get into what you're doing now, I want to go back to your story  this is marketing Mambo, so I always like to start with.

How did you get into the world of marketing? Let's go back to how did you get started in your career? Hmm, well, my whole career from post-college to where I'm at today has been due to both,  the holy Trinity of what I call. My dreams, what I planned and then holy chaos.

Um, because, you know, my plans were to be an investment banker in Chicago after graduation. And,  my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. And so I decided to stay back in Michigan. And from that, the first banking job was in institutional trust and retirement services. And it was, working as customers, support and just, I felt it wasn't creative enough.

I had a liberal arts background, and that was both  business with a finance major, but then also a creative professional writing. And so I really needed something more creative. And I had an opportunity to transfer down to North Carolina for Wacovia bank.

And at first, I was in the same field, but then through what I call just a little holy chaos in my dreams and landed in a more creative part of the bank, marketing, and from there being able to. Use my writing skills a bit more. I was with a more creative team of folks. And so I really loved that environment.

And then from the stress of the corporate world I started taking yoga classes and and I started feeling better. And then I realized like, just how much I loved. As well. So I felt really lucky that at that moment, that was like the it was mid nineties that right there doing my job, a new career opened up as well.

So that's takes me to the marketing path in the corporate world to when I just started to. Do a little, what I call spiritual bushwhacking and onto like the new career path that's led to where I'm at today, but yet it was rooted. It was rooted in marketing. love it because I feel like, there was a goal and it was serving.

And helping a client in the corporate world. What is their goals for success? And then what I do now is using some of those marketing principles and, that experience for sure as to how can I help my clients now reach them. health and wellness goals so that they feel success, not just in their body, but in their mind and their relationships and their career, with their creativity as well.

Yeah. Yeah. It's so interesting. And you and I met whenever you moved from institutional trust  into marketing, where I was working and we were supporting that business. So it actually was a really great benefit to have somebody coming out of the actual business to marketing, because you are knowledgeable about it.

And I talk a little bit, because writing about institutional trust and using that in the same sentence as creative. I find a little bit funny, but obviously we know that, when you're doing B2B marketing in  financial services, like, creativity.

Might be a little bit narrow, but there is some creativity there for sure. We can have the words and the pictures and the colors and everything that go along with marketing it. And we've certainly had a lot of fun doing some of the events, that we did. There was certainly an ability to be creative there.

But,  I also sense from, talking to you that you're sort of in touch with. I think you called it like your spiritual chaos. But that you were in touch with your intuition, right. And then being guided by that, because, going from having an ambition to be an investment banker, which I did marketing for investment banking and boy, what a hard-nosed, you know, it's lucrative, but boy, it is a hard.

Profession, to starting your own yoga, venture it's an interesting journey that you've been on. Mm it has. And what's really neat is, this past six months, especially, but I would say six months to this past year with a lot of, you know, changes in the macro world. Ben  like a homecoming of ways and full circle, both on coming and full circle because, coming back to just really seeing how, my early education and my career in the corporate world was, and is a integral part of how I am.

Working now as, an Ayurvedic practitioner, consultant and holistic wellness coach and a yoga teacher. And what I realized is that, in the financial world, One is always looking at what's happening in the macro economy to the micro economy and my love of that. And that, that love came from my finance teachers at St.

Mary's. And, I thought, gosh, it's just feels so natural to me. I just, I love this perspective and now it's like, that's I are Veda. The sister science to yoga is. The art and science of looking at the macro world. So the micro world, which is human being. And so, like what you said, my career path, it was dreams.

It was, plans, I had plans of, wanting to. Do something different and then it was holy chaos. You know, it was the holy chaos could have been anything from,  just a change of management at the bank where I was like, Hmm, I'm just not like working here anymore, or it could have been, another change in my life, the relationship ended, or even the change from when my mom passed that I didn't go into investment banking.

And instead I stayed in, the Detroit area and that holy chaos. Was a force that was part of what I call the divine blueprint of my life, of where an ad, which leads back to what you said about  the intelligence, that divine intelligence, the intuition, is soaked.

Yeah, one of the things that's really interesting as I'm hearing you talk about this too, is that I think that there can be a real tendency and I certainly see it a lot in my coaching where I really focus on. Executive and career coaching. And a lot of times people will come to me with this idea that, there's a silver bullet, right.

That like, oh, I want to get promoted. And if I can only get my resume right. That, I'll be able to move to that. And, I'm not an a or Vedic coach, but I always believe that. We have to start with us. Right. We have to start with us as individuals and really get clear on what's my goal.

Like, what does my heart say? What does my gut say? What do I feel from a spiritual and intuitive standpoint? And sometimes at the beginning of a coaching relationship or in the exploratory calls, people are sometimes like a little skeptical of that because they kind of look at the business world as like black and white.

Right. And then. Somebody like desires and creativity and, the things that they just are don't matter. And I think that it couldn't be further from the truth that even if you're in the most, square of business roles, that of course you have to bring yourself to it.

And that's the only way that it's really sustainable. Right. That we can't just say, oh, here's a box I'm gonna contort myself to sit into that. Like, that's just not really a sustainable, way to. Live or to lead your career, what do you think about that? Yes. I love that and I understand that because, for, I don't know, 10 years of my life being in the corporate world and back then,  in the early nineties to 2000 and.

Back then it, this, like yoga spirituality, meditation, that wasn't even in the corporate world, maybe out in California at the time, it might've been, but it wasn't,  in Michigan or North Carolina where I lived. But what is beautiful about what you just said, that both the strategy and the energy of planning and dreaming merge and can co-create. Career goals, wellness goals, marketing goals, client success goals, marriage goals, educational goals and all of that. And, with that,  having, a plan and structure to one's goals is important because if we look at the analogy of, energy efficient windows, That's air Preston to structure two panes of glass.

And with IRA, Veda and yoga, the air element is associated with creativity and imagination, the air and the space on that actually, because, you know, daydreaming, it's drifting off into space and then the mind is imagining. And so, The air that's compressed into the space between two structures and glass.

No one's dreams and desires. What they daydream needs a plan and structure, just as much as plan and structure, needs. Imagination. And you can call that,  imagination it's with clients. I say affirmations, could be prayer. It could be dream, but something in that spiritual realm, and science proves this.

Now that's the beauty of it because we now know thought creates biology. And then with the Eastern art and science,  I Aveda is the art and the science. Of, , living in harmony with the macro to one's self body mind spirit, is that what we call Prada and Prada is a vital life, energy prana follows thoughts.

And then of course thought creates biology,  right? So it is the most subtle energies that. Are as real and as functional as when we look at the more solid matters and energies of life, which is, you know, fire, water and earth. Right? So all of that comes together in a beautiful. With ire Veda.

And I feel like for folks to be able to,  just have little bits of what I call holistic wellness or spirituality, when I've worked with, corporate clients, whether it's individuals or corporations like Aveda or Lulu lemon, I see the corporate goals succeed.

When people start bringing in holistic wellness and spirituality. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's really respecting the humanity in organizations. And hopefully corporate world is waking up to this. And actually I think that a lot of the things that we're seeing coming out of, this COVID crisis with, people not wanting to go back to work or the great resignation is,  in response to a lot of organizations that have not recognized that they're actually made up of human beings.

and that, there is a lot more to what could be done and these organizations, if they would recognize, people on more than just, you know,  it's a body to fill this role,   that there's a lot more to people than just that. Oh, for sure. love that.

Phrase, respecting the humanity and the corporate world. Yeah. And it's interesting because we look at, the term human resources   and yeah. It's not corporate resources. That's something different, but yeah, human resources, what are the resources to bring the humanity?

Back into the Workday on, I just had a, zoom virtual event with the GI clinic out in Samsung hospital, in Santa Barbara and the, director of that department. When I was living in Santa Barbara, I'd go in live and we'd call it just moments of wellness on Friday. And they had half days and she recognized that this was so important, for her staff to have something that was stress-relief and they were being pampered and inspired.

And, so yeah, for more human resources departments to do that, it's showing appreciation for their staff and then also it's  investments in. The corporation itself because as stress levels decrease, productivity increases, creativity, imagination, innovation , teamwork, sick days go down.

So , it really is. Something like what we're talking about, it's as important as, paying the electric bill for your building, to keep the energy moving,  investing in, wellness events and, whatever that is helping to keep the energy moving and flowing in.

The people, the employees, the staff. I think that, we are all so much more valuable, and have so much more to give than sometimes. We give ourselves credit for it, quite frankly. I think it's. Super interesting. And I've found in my coaching that a lot of times, like when we get, deep down inside that people, really give too much credit to external validation of their worthiness.

I'm just wondering if you find that in your own coaching. Oh, absolutely. Yes. For sure. Because.

What I see in clients is once one starts to actually pause and reflect versus just doing and react. You know, there's a difference there. Then one can really start connecting with, what we say is that their higher self, their soul and start, Communication, which is both inquiry and listening 

and so that voice within starts just become louder. And that voice is it's that voice of truth.  If that voice of, when one was younger, what they dreamed of doing and even with corporate clients where. They're in the corporate world.  They love it.

Or maybe it's just that phase of their life where it's like, this is what I need to be doing is basically, what they can do is like still weave in, what are their creative dreams what is it? They got joy from when they were younger and look at, can I do something. Can I do something for five minutes every day that, reconnects one to their heart, their soul, their spirit.

And that often to almost always is enough to rejuvenate the body, the mind and the spirit.   agree with you so wholeheartedly on this. And you know, a lot of times when I'm working with people, they'll tell me like, okay, I'm not happy in this situation, but I really don't know what I want.

And I always believe that deep down, inside really deep down, we do know what we want, but we've kind of paved over that spring. That connection, where things bubble up from our Depot. Most wise and connected, places. And to your point, if you will dedicate a little bit of time, Even if you're just getting a few little drops out, right.

You know what, with you like listening to music or making music, or, being creative or dancing or whatever it is, those things that like when you're a child that you enjoy doing, I think that that's when we are so connected to who we're really meant to be. If we can start to do those things again and not judge ourselves about it, that we can 

repin nacked to that part of ourselves where true authenticity and validation comes from.   Know you've mentioned, Arivale, I don't know how to say it that well or elevator. Okay. Can you define that? Because I think that. We see it and there's definitely more focus on this, getting back in touch and, more natural way of being authentic and having  renewed respect for the ancient wisdom.

But tell us more about like specifically what is era data? So. commonly called the sister science to yoga. And so its roots are in the Hemali is, Northern India, Pakistan, and the word is a Sanskrit word. And it's two words. And so the first is I U   a Y U and that means life and Veda.

And so  it came about it was 5,000 years ago that ancient seekers were seeking just truth, ease, joy, something that was more fulfilling than what was  the day-to-day grind shall we say? And they started watching. The universal world, the map, what we call the, the macro world, the weather, the change of seasons,  the geography of a place and started to watch how everything started to affect the micro world, which is the body, the mind.

And so I Aveda is that, which looks at the relationship between. The human being and the macro world and how one can live in harmony through the changes of seasons through weather changes through changes of life. And then with that, the macro world is made up of the five basic elements, which is space, air, fire, water, earth.

And so is the bottom. And the mind, the mind on a more subtle level. So everyone has all five elements in their body, but some people got a little more dose of fire. Some people got a little more air, some people got a little more water and I, our Veda takes those five elements and breaks them into what we call the three doses.

And that's the body mind. And so the Vata dosha is the space in the air element. Primarily air and it's governs the nervous system. And then the Pitta dosha is the fire and the water element with water being oily, but it's primarily the fire element and that governs digestion. And then Casa is the water and earth element water as a cool substance and cough.

Is the structure and the body. So it's like the bones, the muscles, which structure is protective and it also is cohesive. And so with IRB or the goal is, once one understands their unique constitution because, with Vata Pitta, coffin, Are primarily just Vata. Some people are Vata Pitta.

Some people are pit the Casa. So once one  understands what their body mind is made up. Then one can start making, daily. Weekly seasonal lifestyle, food choices, relationship choices, career choices, that support who they are. And it all, can get tied to, Shakespeare, to thine own self be true.

Well, if we don't know, one's true self, our body mind, makeup, it's hard to be true to oneself. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah. So. A little bit of a nutshell. That's not, too hard to crack that nut, find, find out more about their own nature. Hmm. Well, so an Ayurvedic practitioner.

Is educated, an experience to do a consultation, a consultation in person would include a pulse analysis. But when I work with clients, virtual these days, I know what to look for. So those five elements, how are those five elements showing me? And a client speech. Are they talking really fast, their sentences, all over the place in complete sentences, that's more of the air element or the cough, a person who talks slow like James Earl Jones.

And I there's smooth, steady moving like water voice.  Or  the Pitta type person, who's just to the point sharp voice, to the point sharp is that sharp quality of Pitta. So,  as a practitioner now with more virtual things, it's really looking at, the person, body, their eyes, their posture, their voice, and all of that to see like what.

National constitution is. And then through what we call it, just like an intake form, what are the imbalances with digestion, with sleep, with stress, anxiety, and, every dosha manifest stress, differently. And it also what system it comes in. So it's like a Vata person.

Their stress will show up primarily like. Nervous system, a Pitta person, their digestive system. There was  a client I saw, this week at a spa here, I did an acupressure session and she was Pitta predominant. And her head was so hot. Her feet were cold, which shows  heat rises in her head and she had digestive issues.

And any time I was doing some acupressure that I could feel. It was helping to release stress from her body. Her stomach would Gribble, and that's that? Yeah. It's so fascinating, Terry. Yeah.  It's really amazing, and a cough, a person will tend to have water retention, so maybe like the edema and their skin, or put on weight like that stress,  type eating.

So it's really amazing. Knowing one's true nature, body, mind. It's so empowering to know, what are the choices that just goes back to what you just said earlier about,  being true to oneself, listening to that inner voice, it makes all decisions easier.

And it's a system to of expansion because a lot of people think, oh, if I'm,  cough. Sweets again, or if I'm Pitsa I can't eat, enjoy my chili dogs or, if I'm Voss, I can't eat potato chips. I say, no, it's just knowing when one can and one can't, you know what you know?

Yeah. So  it's expanded freedom when people get into balance. I'm sure  that maybe they can make choices that under other circumstances they might not be able to write. And so it's so interesting that you're saying that because I'm sure that in some cases, people are like, well, I don't want to know because I want to eat my chili dogs.

Right. And, the reality is that,  if you understand that and then you can make wiser choices and maybe you're not going to have the pain that you might normally have. So with what you just said, like taking what we just talked about to a coaching client and so realizing somewhat for someone who's feeling. They're at a dead end in their career. They feel stuck.

They feel confused and they feel worried. Being able to bring it back to ones, self care, like a daily routine helps one align more with their dream. And it also helps to restore the nervous system back to that state of flow of clarity of ease, where one starts to see possibility and potential more than like, oh, there's a roadblock up there, or this is impossible, right?

Yeah.  I love that. Cause it's funny.  I look at, in my coaching business, a lot of times, obviously in the beginning, people are talking about all the payments. Right. And it's like, we can listen to that and we can process that. And that's very natural to feel pain. Right. And to not want to, maybe to one event about it.

But at some point we do have to kind of flip the table and start imagining, okay. If I don't like what I'm getting right now, what is this? Did I do. You know, and that's necessary because, we typically don't reach our goals if we don't have clarity around what those goals are. And it does, I think require, tuning into our dreams.

What do I want? Right. And sometimes it's funny. Cause I think people will, say , oh, no matter what I do, I always get this. And it's like, well, if you're always focusing on the pain. That's kind of what you're attracting. And it can be scary to like, say out loud the thing that you actually want, but it's important to do that if you really want to get it, it is.

That's what you touched on is a little bit of that law of attraction.  And also that,  going back to, Pronto follows, thought energy follows, thought, and thought create. Biology. And the other thing that, what you said reminds me of, with taking  the baby steps, I would say the baby steps are the miracles, right.

Choosing to change direction is a miracle. A lot of times, like for myself,  10 steps down the road. When I'm wanting to do something, I should be at step 10 sooner. And what I'm realizing now for myself is just the miracle of deciding to change and taking that first baby step because that's the momentum and the new direction.

And then there's a quote, one of my Ayurvedic teachers at the Ayurvedic Institute.  Shared a quote by,  I think it was the Swiss philosopher. Gerta G O E T H E. The quote is, the universe acts as our advocate when we take the steps we know are necessary. Okay. I love that. Isn't that phenomenal and that's coaching, right?

Yeah, it is. And that's the beauty of. I feel like, folks seeking, a holistic wellness coach, a business coach on all of that. Just that first step and starting to have curiosity, starting to wonder, which is that forward movement versus what you were saying early. Like, rehashing going back as to what didn't work, what didn't work all my life and the corporate world was, this was, this was that.

And when we switch to possibility, what am I dreaming of? What do I desire? The universe is like, oh, sweet. Okay. Now we can start this movement flowing forward with more ease and grace and connect all the dots. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah. Well, Carolyn, oh my gosh. I love this. I feel like I could talk to you for ever, And maybe I'll have you back and we can do another episode later on in the year.

But, before we wrap up, I just want to give you an opportunity to let people know where they can get in touch with you and how they can interact with you. If what you've talked about, resonates with them. Hmm. Thanks, Terry. And yes, I've enjoyed this so much too. Then one of my favorite full circle moments of you and I reconnecting after all these two decades.

So thank you folks can find me at, Kaelin brookman.com. K E L L E N B R U G M a N. Dot. And that's also my Instagram and Facebook as well. And right now I live up in Northern Michigan, but just for folks that are not living up in that general area, I do virtual consultations, virtual events have sun upcoming.

What I call virtual retreats as well. And. I sent out a bi-monthly MailChimp campaign that has both educational and inspirational little tidbits on that. And, same with my Instagram. I like to blend in, I R Aveda with my writing and also, goal setting  type posts for folks. So that's the best way to get ahold of me.

And yes, that's it. Thank you. I had such a great, great time today with you and appreciate you bringing me on the show. Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you. You obviously Challenge me to think bigger. And I feel like this conversation was just another one of those conversations that we've had many of them over the years.

And, so folks you heard here Kellen broekman.com. Go check her out. She does post a lot of really inspirational. Messages and had some, typically really beautiful photography as well. That is, you'll see what an incredible yoga practitioner she is as well. But Kaelin, thanks so much.

I mean, it is amazing to me about, how the whole marketing mindset, being curious and wanting to, understand goals and, create in order to make things happen, can align so closely with coaching because I found the same thing in my life and career.

It's interesting.  But, thanks for being on again. It was great talking to you. You're welcome, Terry. Thank you. Okay. Bye. Bye.