MY STORY
Hello, I'm Laura-Mai!
Born in England, raised in Jamaica. I spent my formative years learning to trust my natural instincts, guided by nature, in the lush hills at our home in Walkerswood, Jamaica.
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My family weave together a wonderful combination of Jamaican, Scottish and English fabric, a nurturing and intriguing wrap of culture. But it has been a complicated journey of identity for me, and an on-going search for belonging.
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When there is a gap in belonging, it is easier for obligations and duty to creep in, showing up for me as 'I should do this or I should do that,' in decision making rather than knowing what I truly wanted.
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I realised this after twelve years in high intensity corporate roles and seemingly at the top of my corporate ladder as Chief of Staff for Reuters Editorial; I found myself at rock bottom with my mental health, unable to anchor myself to anything other than work. ​​
'Groundation' the connection of a person's roots, identity or community. At around this time, my Uncle said to me, 'Laura-Mai, you've lost your groundation.'
This reality felt isolating and confusing. I knew I needed to make a fundamental change. Navigating change over the years had become a mind over heart decision, often made without the grounding gut instinct that I recognise now, when we are truly connected with ourselves.
Our fast paced world often prevents us from feeling this connection.
The fundamental change I decided to make was to take a one year sabbatical, to travel back to my home in Jamaica and then to travel to the mountains of Colombia.
During my time away, I found myself grounding and rooting back into a self I had pushed aside for many years, my authentic self, which was always deep within but required creating intentional space to re-discover.
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It was from this place of rooting and grounding, I was able to re-create a new path for myself, one of connection, curiosity and creativity. My imagination began to run wild and I started creating the pillars of what is now, Root Beginnings.
I realised the key ingredient was to stop measuring success by external factors and to start trusting my own intuition and abilities. Re-framing in this way, it allowed me to draw upon my full authentic self, my unique experiences and transcend them into what I am truly meant to do.
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Reroot, Recreate, Reignite is the cyclical guide which i created through my own journey of transformation.
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I felt inspired and compelled to share what I had learnt. Harnessing the invaluable 12+ years of corporate experience, I trained to become a Certified Coach, recognised by the Association for Coaching, and a Vinyasa Yoga Teacher (Jason Crandell 200hr.)
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Root Beginnings represents the core pillars of my work:
mind-body coaching, seasonal workshops and retreats.
