After working in the biotech industry for 20 years, I began to feel a strong pull to pursue my other passions. I asked myself numerous times over a 12 month period “what are my top 5 passions?” and the ones that consistently called to me were food, movement, and nature. Walking away from a wonderful company after 20 years was a huge decision that carried much uncertainty but I knew that if I didn’t leave, my soul would grow more restless and my inner voice would keep chattering in my ear.

A friend introduced me to the CHEK Institute and I geared up to learn all I could about diet and exercise. What I didn’t expect was how the holistic approach to these topics, and more, opened me up to a much deeper understanding of mind-body-spirit and how to heal, or more exactly, how to come into myself. I didn’t just learn about diet and exercise, I learned how my body, energy, and psyche respond to everything in my environment and that awareness of that response is key to knowing how to nourish my body and mind to gain optimal health.

©Donna Lind Photography

Becoming aware leads to positive change and though it is a simple concept, it’s not always an easy undertaking. I’ve always been physically active with a strong affinity for outdoor activities and sports. I was a collegiate rower, a marathon and sprint paddler, and avid hiker, logging over 500 miles on the Appalachian Trail. But a severe car accident, a neck injury from a fall, and a hit on the head by an OC2 (outrigger canoe) forced me to rethink the way I go about moving and living. (How many whacks to the head does it take to realize something’s got to change?!)

After the injuries, my body began to change. Or maybe changes already in progress began to worsen. My digestion weakened, my joints ached even more, and I had a nagging, intermittent pain in my lower abdomen. What was happening in my body occurred simultaneously with what was happening with my spirit- that pull to start fresh. Since that time, I’ve studied with numerous teachers of martial arts, functional movement, nutrition, energy medicine, shamanic healing, human physiology, philosophy, and spirituality. I didn’t realize it at first, but I was on my path to wholeness and understanding of myself more than I was on a new career path. I experienced the pain and freedom of realizing that a trauma when I was 18 years old unknowingly effected decisions I was making in my 30s and 40s. I experienced the joy of remembering what I love and bringing more of that in to my life. Opening doors to opportunities around you is fantastic but opening doors to yourself is where the magic happens!

The road to recovery and a healthy body requires motivation and includes a healthy mind. One cannot have a healthy body without a healthy mind and a healthy spirit. On my journey I recognized that my physical pains and disconnect had roots in not only my physical body, but also my mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual body. Working with Reiki, Shamanic practices, and Tai Chi/Qigong were every bit as helpful to my progress as changes to my diet and exercise routines.

Through my teachings at the CHEK Institute and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition®, my study and practice of Reiki, Qigong, Tai Chi, and Shamanic healing, plus much introspection, I make continuous progress in attaining my optimal health. Life gets better everyday. You too, have the power to attain your optimal health and happiness. I can guide you on your journey.

Suzanne has a B.A. in mathematics and was a scientist in the Biotech field for 20 years. She has worked as a health coach since 2012 and is a licensed CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach (HLC 2), Certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition® Practitioner (FDN-P), Tai Chi & Qigong teacher, Reiki Okuden, Shamanic Practitioner initiated into the Unani tradition, and author of The Optimal Health Cookbook: Your Guide to Real Food Made Easy.

 

Publications:

1) The Optimal Health Cookbook: Your Guide to Real Food Made Easy

 P May 2016 Advantage Media Group/Forbes Books

2) Expression and purification of BmrI restriction endonuclease and its N-terminal cleavage domain variants.

2007;   Publication Protein Expression and Purification, 58(1):42-52

3) Restricition Endonucleases

2001; Molecular Biology Problem Solver; a laboratory guide (Gerstein, A.S.) pages 244-245

4) Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of MspI restriction endonuclease in complex with its cognate DNA

2000; PActa Cryst. D56:1652-1655

Check out this fun interview I did with Annmarie Gianni Skin Care at:
Beautiful Voices: Suzanne Sweeney – Annmarie Gianni Skin Care, April 17, 2015

 

©Donna Lind Photography

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.

~ Maya Angelou