EMILIA ERIKSSON ON LOVE & LIFE
From growing up on the cold west coast of Sweden to the drunken high of Barcelona and Ibiza, the beaches of Bali, the money-hungry energy of Dubai, and finally Los Angeles — Emilia Eriksson has lived many lives inside one. At 31, she turned years of chronic illness, silence, and self-erasure into a practice. This is her story.
From growing up as a slight introvert on the cold west coast of Sweden, to feeling like a star in the drunken high nightlife of Barcelona and Ibiza, healing my soul on the beaches of Bali and Thailand, to chasing success in the money hungry city of Dubai, I have finally landed myself in the city of big dreams, The City of Angels.
At the age of 31, I feel like I have lived many lives in one. This has been a long journey, where every story has its purpose, leading me to where I am today. If you would had asked me about purpose a few years ago, I would had said it's an abstract word — a word that caused me a feeling of anxiety, a feeling that there was something I had to find, which I had no clue where to look for. To the outside world I was living a good life. I was making good money, traveling the world, getting paid to go to fancy events and parties, and I had lots of free time to do whatever I wanted. Yet, I felt empty inside.
The show of the self-empowered, free spirited woman I was putting on Instagram was not reflecting what was truly going on in my life. The truth was, I was very sick. For years I had been suffering with digestive issues, food intolerances, candida overgrowth and high levels of inflammation. I spent thousands of dollars on treatments and supplements, but still nobody seemed able to fix me.
Two years ago I started to get really worried. With a diagnosis of "unspecified colitis," a higher risk of intestinal cancer and a doctor telling me it was chronic and there was nothing to be done, I decided to take the matter into my own hands and heal myself. I spent a lot of time journaling, meditating and connecting with my body. Even though I was very good by myself, I felt very lonely and isolated at times, as if no one could relate to me.
"I started dreaming about what it would be like if there was a place to go and heal — fun and inspiring at the same time. A place in nature, where we would come in touch with our creative gifts, our life force, and feel connected to others."
A month later in Costa Rica, I met one of my best friends today, Nadav Wilf. With his coaching, he inspired me to put my vision into words. At the time, my vision felt like nothing but a distant dream. But something had sparked in me. I hired Nadav as my coach and with his help I started inventing small, obtainable action steps that would take me closer to that dream. That's when the magic started happening.
I decided that I was going to turn one of the worst things that had happened to me into something good. All those years of pain were now transforming into purpose. I took action by signing up to a year-long program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a certified health coach. Only 3 months later, I started coaching my first client. A year after that I co-invested into The Imiloa Institute in Costa Rica — a magical community and retreat center where I now host life transformational retreats.
I've realised through my own healing journey that most digestive issues are emotional. They are often connected to experiences we've gone through in life which we haven't fully been able to digest.
In the past I put my body through a lot:
- Years of bad eating habits
- Daily drinking and drug use
- Abusive relationships
All the times I had been silencing my voice had become congested in my belly. I walked without a clear sense of direction in life and it left me feeling unfulfilled, insecure and worried about the future. Those were all choices I made, because I didn't know what I needed or how to love myself.
Before you will learn what love is, you will learn what it isn't.
I'm an integrative health coach running my own business, In the Glow. I take my clients on a very personal, holistically guided journey, where they will learn to feed themselves in all areas of their lives. Most of my clients have initially come to me with digestive issues, only to discover that this was partially caused by them feeling unfulfilled with their career or unloved in their relationships.
Together with a customised nutrition plan, my clients and I identify in which areas of their lives they feel out of balance. I work with each client for a minimum of 3 months. Healing is a journey — not another quick fix or fad diet. It is deep, transformational work, building a lifestyle that creates long-lasting, sustainable results.
I love Dr. Axe — my go-to resource anytime I want to find a natural cure. Another amazing resource is Anthony William, the Medical Medium. I am very inspired by motivational speaker Lisa Nichols, who speaks in such a raw, touching way about her story. And my emotional clearing coach Lisa Warninger — intuitive, badass, and her happy voice feels like sunshine every time we get on a call.
"The best love is self love. When you start treating yourself how you want others to treat you, you will start attracting the people into your life who treat you like that."
Whatever it is you want, write it down. Be as clear as you can. Come back to it, read it again, share it with others and continue adding in more specific details. Writing is spelling — you are casting spells. The universe only knows how to give, when you know what you want.
I want for anyone who is reading this to know that you can have anything you want, if you put your mind and heart into it. The only thing standing between you and your vision are your own limiting beliefs. Every coach needs a coach — therefore I work with coaches too, so that I can always continue growing.
Photo Christian Lamb