"What In The Wellness?!" A global perspective on integrative health &wellness Hosted by Ansley Knopf

In this episode, we continue the November Series, Healthy, Happy, Harvest with a chat with our lovely friend, Juli Madacey. 

Juli tells us about herself: 

"I love traveling and staying active. I've been an exchange student twice in my life and got the travel bug that has been with me ever since. I've been ordained as a Priest and knighted as a Dame of Grace with the Hospitaller Order of the Knights of St. Lazarus (a religious medical order).  I now live in Italy continue to pursue my passion for nutrition and wellness.  I have certifications as a Pn L2 Master Nutrition Coach, Certified Online Trainer, TRX Level 1, Holistic Nutritionist, Master Herbalist, and Aromatherapist." 

In this episode, we talk all about herbs! Where they come from, how they're grown, their ancient uses, and how they're still helpful today.

We talk about their many properties, uses, ways to prepare them, and how to get started growing and harvesting your own herbs! 

Herbs are a powerful component of your health and work as an adjunct to many other treatments and modalities of health. 

Tune in to make sure that you don't miss anything during this fantastic conversation! 

You can find Juli ( and ask her more questions about herbs!) at her website: http://www.evexiahealth.com

And as always you can reach me on Instagram at @ansleyknopf_valkyrie

Want to be a guest or know someone who would be a great guest? Send an email to me! I'm currently booking for 2021 episodes! 

[email protected] 

Have a listener question or topic suggestion? You can submit those via email too! 

And as always, we appreciate your support! So please like, share,  and follow so I can continue to bring you more of these amazing interviews! 

In this continuation of the November Series, Healthy, Happy Harvest- I am incandescently happy to debut our first episode with Laurie Weeks! 

Laurie is a healthy living advocate and a bringer of pure joy to every room she enters and every person she meets! 

She is the embodiment of living her best life with an impassioned vision of helping others do the same. 

As a self-proclaimed novice tower gardener, she uses her child-like wonder, curiosity, and joy to cultivate and grow food easily from the comfort of her home and patio. And then inspires others to find the joy in their food and subsequently their health through education, advocacy, beautiful photos and all-around fun! You can always catch her opening up her home with beautiful hospitality to taste the goodness of the garden, and as she says: "I bring the food in from the back door and the friends through the front door and we all meet in the middle in my kitchen." 

We discuss our passion for helping people find their way to their best lives in health, with the cornerstone of nutritious and delicious food. 

We also discuss the importance of our relationship with food, how it's sourced, how connected we are to it, and how we enjoy and partake in it. 

Food is so much more than fuel. And it can and should bring us joy as well as nourishment. 

I know you'll enjoy this discussion, and probably want to start your own tower garden! 

You can find Laurie, her beautiful Instagram, and ask her all the tower questions you have at @laurieweeks. 

And as always, you can find me @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and @trainandflourish. 

To kick off the November  series of Happy, Healthy Harvest, I am pleased to share my discussion with Sarah Rucker. 

Sarah shares about herself: "I was born in rural Mississippi.  I joined the military at 18 and am now in the twilight of my career, preparing for retirement.  We knew that this would be our last duty station and wanted to get back to our roots and work toward a homestead and at least partial sustainability.  We have 18.5 acres in rural Georgia where we are a few years into gardening and raising poultry." 

Sarah shares her journey through a cancer diagnosis and what that changed for herself and her family. 

She answers the all important question of "When is the best time to start?" making a change or working towards better health? 

What is the best time to start?  I have come to the personal conclusion that there is no best time.  There is only the time you make.  A lot of people try to kick things off after the new year as a New Year's Resolution.  Don't wait.  Start now.  Do as little or as much as you want without overwhelming yourself.  You will not get this time back, but you may be able to extend what time you have in the long run. 

And she recommends reading: For gardening, you want to go with the old classic - Farmer's Almanac.  It is super informative and they are online.  I like to watch Homestead Rescue, and find some of the workarounds and saves that they do very cool and helpful.  For reading, I like Hobby Farmer, The New Pioneer, and sometimes Mother Earth magazines.

And offers the actionable and timely advice: 

You can let life happen or make life happen, and I would encourage anyone to work to control what they can within their sphere of influence...and work through the stuff that they cannot control in the healthiest way possible.  Do as much or as little as you are comfortable with, but do something.

You  can follow Sarah and her journey on her instagram and her website: @themotherruckinghomestead

And as always you can find me at @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and @trainandflourish or email me at [email protected] 

Want to be a guest on the show? I'm now accepting applications for guests for the 2021 season! 

Please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line: Podcast Guest

In the final episode of my birthday month series, I am honored and excited to interview Dr. Juan Michelle-Martin. 

"Dr. J" is an incredible woman, brilliant entrepreneur and passionate practitioner,  there is absolutely no doubt as to why she is one of the most sought after pelvic floor physiotherapists.

With her business and practice JMM Health Solutions based out of Atlanta, GA- she offers both in-person and online services for women, men, pediatrics, and athletes. 

In our discussion, we discuss what even IS pelvic health? Why is the pelvic floor so important and what is creating all the "buzz" around the pelvic floor and core. Who should see a pelvic floor physio and when. What can women do to help support their pelvic health. How does gut health play into pelvic health? Who should schedule a pelvic floor consult? And SO MUCH MORE. 

This episode is JAM PACKED with incredible info and insights, and you'll be wanting to hear even more from Dr. J! 

You can find her and her amazing content, (she's one of my top 10 people to follow on social media.) at her website: www.jmmhealthsolutions.com or her FB and IG- JMM Health Solutions, @thepelvicperspective 

And as always you can reach me at my email [email protected] or on my IG @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and @trainandflourish

To continue with my series for my birthday month, supporting women from TTC through postpartum, we continue with my interview with Doula Melissa Schultz. 

Melissa is a Certified birth doula with DONA Int.  A CLC Spinning Babies certification  Cloth Diaper Educator

And she loves helping moms feel empowered as they transition from pregnancy to newborn life!

In our discussion about preparing for postpartum we discuss questions like: 

Why is preparing for postpartum important?

 What can we do to prepare for postpartum?

 What elements of the postpartum stage are often overlooked?

 How can spouses/partners support the postpartum mom? 

 What do you wish you had done differently postpartum?

Melissa can be found at @strongbirthjourneys @hope_infusers and her actionable advice is: 

 Know where community resources and support exist and communicate with  your partner about how to handle household needs before the baby arrives.

She recommends you follow @themotherdoctor @thebreastfeedingguru  and read the book: The 4th Trimester. 

And as always you can find me @ansleyknopf_valkyrie @trainandflourish or via email at [email protected].

Continuing my birthday month series on supporting women through TTC and beyond postpartum, I am interviewing Caitlin Tarleton of Kiwi Birth and Baby. Caitlin shares about herself: 

Hi, I am Caitlin and I am a hypnobirthing mom and a hypnobirthing instructor! I fell in love with calm birthing through my own hypnobirthing course when I was pregnant with my oldest.  It was a  transformative experience for my life.  This course helped me gain calm in every pregnancy and in my life. I use these strategies to find calm in parenting and help my children do the same.  After the birth of my youngest, I was ready to pass this knowledge on to more moms.  I had that same transformative experience as I went through the training.  I  truly believe in the power of self-hypnosis and the ways it can help with a positive birth experience and positivity in life.

We discuss questions like: 

What is wrong with birth in this country? What can providers do to support better birth? What is hypnobirthing?  Is hypnobirthing only for homebirth? What options exist for mothers? 

And her actionable advice to moms and future moms: "Get cohesive, independent, childbirth education." 

She recommends you follow: Evidence Based Birth, ICAN, Hypnobirthing International.

You can follow her at @tinykiwibirthnbaby on facebook and instagram. 

And as always you can find me @ansleyknopfvalkyrie @trainandflourish and email [email protected] 

During my birthday month celebration, I'm bringing  birth related series of interviews to support women from TTC through Postpartum. 

I'm interviewing natural fertility experts, to hypnobirth, pelvic floor physios, doulas and more! 

To begin, we start with my interview with Anna Reyes, a natural fertility expert. 

Anna Reyes, LHNP, received her holistic diploma from the Canadian  Holistic School of Nutrition. She is licensed and a member of the  Canadian Association for Integrative Nutrition, which is the leader in  professional training, standards and ethics for holistic nutritionists.  Anna received her legal degree in one of the top universities in Moscow,  Russia.  Anna’s professional background has given her an opportunity to serve  women who struggle with infertility and change one life at a time. Anna  can be heard on her own podcast, The Fertility Mentor and on her Youtube  channel NaturaFertility.

In this episode, we discuss the answers to questions like: 

How inflammation impacts your fertility?

.How can you identify the causes of inflammation in the body? 

What does nutrition before conceiving have to do with anything? 

Anna's takeaway quote is: “Under stress, our body chooses its priorities: survival comes first, reproduction comes last” - Anna Reyes.

She recommends you follow: Cathy McKinnon, Jennifer  Robertson Fertility Mentor & Coach, Leslie Fiala Urbas - R.D. 

And you can find Anna at her website, https://naturafertility.com. 

And as always you can reach me at @ansleyknopf_valkyrie, @trainandflourish or by email at [email protected]

In this episode, I am deeply honored to have my very own master coach, Kate Solo, as my interview guest. She has both challenged and inspired me and I am pumped that the original SOLO "hugs" coach is making her first appearance on the podcast! We discuss her thoughts on the all or nothing mindset and how to switch it to something far more productive. 

Kate Solovieva is currently a Master Coach for Precision Nutrition, the largest online nutrition coaching company in the world. Her academic background includes undergraduate and graduate  degrees in psychology,  focusing on health, resilience, and trauma. Kate has presented at ,international conferences, helped companies like Equinox develop  curriculum for their trainers, and coached over 1,000 clients to eat,  move and live better. She now works with health and fitness professionals, helping them do the same.

Her actionable advice? "Read books outside of your field of expertise. Talk to people outside of your social circle. Steal from everyone." 

She recommends that you go and follow Jessi Kneeland. 

And as for Coach Kate? You can find her at her website: http://www.solovieva.com and on IG @k_solovieva. 

And you can find me on IG @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and @trainandflourish or email [email protected]. 

Oh my goodness! In this episode, I am beyond excited to sit down and discuss with Zach Pello of Pello Fitness, all about SLEEP. 

I titled this episode, Don't Sleep on Sleep, because it,'s one of the most underrated and overlooked when it comes to optimizing health, energy levels, mental clarity, heart attack risk, metabolic disorders and even weight loss. 

Zach is a fellow PN2 coach and a respected colleague. I am so excited for you to be able to hear his interview! 

In this interview, he answers questions like: 

1. What are the health effects of a low sleep quality and duration 2. How does poor sleep quality/duration affect body weight and nutrition 3. True or False. It is better to sleep in to make up for lost sleep. 4. What are the top strategies to improve sleep quality and duration? 5. How can the menstrual cycle affect sleep?

A little about him: 

Zach Pello has had an interest in health and fitness since his high school days and has always had a love for sports and movement in  eneral.  He founded Pello Fitness approximately 17 years ago and enjoys helping people regain their confidence and achieve their fitness goals today as much as when he first started his business. These days, Zach is a  happily married man with three amazing children. Despite his often busy home schedule, Zach still finds the time to stick to his fitness goals and loves helping others learn the best ways of doing so in their lives too.

His actionable advice? "Sleep has a major role in our health, body weight, and our mental state.  Prioritize it to the best of your ability by setting intentional goals  to improve your sleep duration, quality, and environment." 

He recommends to follow: Garrett Serd of Tandem Nutrition, Atomic Habits, and Sigma nutrition if you are wanting to learn more about science-based nutritional  information.

You can find Zach on Facebook, and IG @pellofitness

And as always you can find me at @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and @trainandflourish. You can also send an email to me directly at [email protected].