I'm a Montana girl, born with a drive for self discovery. I strive to think outside the box, create value in everything I do & live life to the fullest. That can look different during different phases of life. Some days, living fully can be working in the garden, doing a river plunge at the base of a waterfall, or challenging myself just to "show up" for the goals I have set for myself. They don't always have to be something extreme or adventurous. Like, being present in those little moments with my dog, being in nature, or taking a moment to recognize another human for their unique greatness and creativity.
I've explored many paths on my journey, which is always evolving. I have always had a passion for movement & nature. Gymnastics, art, auto mechanics, welding and shop classes were the main reasons I went to school. As I reached my 30's, this deep seeded desire to "design my life" more in alignment with my core values, began to emerge. I invested many years doing the 40/80hr work weeks, doing whatever I could to survive. I wanted to THRIVE. My heart craved more joy, aliveness, passion, purpose, & connection with nature. These core values evolve as well. The foundation ones are health, nature, adventure, personal growth, meaningful connection & creativity.
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For many years, I defined myself as a high end carpenter, woodworker, painter, artist & mechanic. I loved working on cars, custom wood projects, yachts & creating with my hands. With an eye for detail, I transformed restaurants, homes, yoga studios & brought trees back to life in the form of live edge tables. What inspired many of these values & this desire to learn were some of the people I worked with. I witness many dealing with health concerns, health problems, or unhappy in life. No matter how fancy their house was. I helped transform many of the homes, while the people living inside them seemed to live desperate lives, often trunging to the bottle or drugs to numb out their pain. These were supposed to me my "role models". Did I really want THIS for my future?? So I dove deep into personal growth & character development. As Jim Rohn would say, I began to "chisel my character". I took bold risks & began to transform my life. Danaan Parry in "Warriors of the Heart" describes this like the flying trapeze, "You have to let go of one bar before you can grab onto the next. The space between spaces, the Unknown, which most people try to avoid - where the most growth occurs. That new trapeze bar is my aliveness coming to get me."
I submerged myself into to countless books, seminars, podcasts & courses surrounding health, relationships, the brain, & philosophy - before it became popular. I appreciated multiple perspectives so that I could form my own, well rounded beliefs & perceptions on life & health.
Despite my fear of "going against the grain", I stepped away from my career to become a whitewater river guide in 2013. I designed my life around working at ski resorts in the winter, aerial arts training & running rivers in the summers. The rivers & mountains also have a way of chizeling your character - like the snow, rain & the rivers shape the landscape.
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Creating optimum health has been a strong focus as I invest my energy into sports that I believe require peak performance. My habits dramatically affect my ability to perform physically, mentally & emotionally in all arenas. These, I still continue to refine & sometimes suffer the results of the choices I've made. Hydration became a huge contributing factor to my performnace. The more that I learned & experienced, the more I knew I had to make some changes in my habits & share this with others. If I was going to invest my life, energy, reputation & time into something, it had to be more in alignment with my core values.
Becoming a rep for products such as Kangen water, running river & becoming a fitness coach began to feel more in alignment with my values than when I was slinging drinks at ski resorts. I had a lot of fun - but I was contributing to peoples health problems & pollution to make a living. I wanted to stand behind programs that strive for sustainability, excellence, quality & HEALTH.
As the world went into "lockdown" I was coming back from a 24 day, private rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. I did a lot of reflection while rowing my 18ft raft those 270 river miles. When I returned to "civilization", I didn't know how to "fit back in". Did the way of living projected onto society really make sense? Being out there in the wild felt more real to me. From there, I completed 2 Yoga Teacher Trainings & got my Personal Training certification & started Arieal's Active Arts.
Because so much of river running, life, relationships & being a fitness instructor involves communication skills, I invested into courses like: Personal Mastery, Advanced Leadership, Heart of the Samurai & Samurai Camp. I read books on high performance habits & started working with a coach in effort to better refine my habits & achieve some of thes dreams that felt out of reach.
Inspired by Whim Hof, I've been consistently doing river plunges most mornings for the past 2 years - rain, snow or shine. I feel that this helps me to push through mental blocks & really embrace the intentions I set each day. Yoga, journaling, working with mentors, the Artist's Way & Kangen Water are also a huge part of my practice. Establishing healthier habits & boundaries around my self care has been one of my biggest challenges & also my greatest reward.
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My intention is to integrate this experience into my own unique platform. To connect with, explore, & inspire others to feel stronger, healthier, more confident, & tune the instruments of the body/mind to be in more in harmony with our personal potential & our planet, one breath at a time.
I continually strive to develop myself & my practice to be unique, authentic, creative, safe, valuable & inspired by the wisdom of nature - our greatest teacher.
