Restoring wholeness is essential for workplace wellness, says Balance by Nature founder

Promoting a culture of wellness in the workplace is a topic receiving a lot of attention lately. And for good reason. Employers who provide social and psychological conditions that optimize employee well-being can help them feel healthier and happier. I spoke with Nicole Mixdorf, the founder and Chief Wellness Officer for Balance by Nature, to talk about workplace wellness and the need to address the whole person, not just a healthy lifestyle, for the maximum employee benefit.

Disclosure: This sponsored interview focuses on corporate wellness and how Balance by Nature positions wholeness as the key to maintaining optimal health and reducing stress in the workplace.

Interview with Nicole Mixdorf, Founder & Chief Wellness Officer for Balance by Nature

Nicole Mixdorf is no stranger to the stress-related impacts of the work environment. After climbing the corporate ladder in a worldwide firm, she became mentally and physically exhausted to the point that she had to take leave from her job. Rather than staying in that low place, she took what she learned in 2012 and founded Balance by Nature, a holistic corporate wellness company to help employees do their best work by addressing their whole selves.

Nicole inspires as the Balance by Nature founder and Corporate Wellness Officer. Her professional accomplishments are many, including:

• Most Influential Women in Corporate Wellness Services USA – 4 years in a row
• Top 50 Women Business Leaders in Los Angeles, 2023
• Best Health & Wellness Consultancy – California, 2021
• World’s Inspiring Woman Making a Difference, 2021
• Top 100 Healthcare Leader, 2020 – 2021
• Top 10 Successful Business Leaders Revamping the Future, 2021

I wanted to learn more about her education and experience to begin our interview. From there, we began talking about the wholeness movement and workplace wellness. I hope you find our conversation as meaningful as I did!

Welcome, Nicole! Can you please share a bit about your background relating to health and wellness?

I have a BA in Psychology, two yoga and meditation certifications, and a corporate wellness specialist certification. I have learned so much about health and wellness throughout my own healing journey over the past 12 years, which has taken me to work with countless holistic healing modalities, including naturopathy, ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, nutrition, energy healing, light healing, medical intuition, reiki healing, sound healing, hyperbaric therapy, yoga therapy, shamanic healing, EFT tapping, qigong, meditation, mindfulness, plant medicine, animal medicine, mind-body healing, and more.

After witnessing and experiencing true healing miracles (spontaneous healing) that defy what we understand is possible, I discovered that there are so many ways to heal the body. This is why I am so passionate about incorporating holistic healing modalities into our programming to introduce these practices to populations that don’t even know they exist.

What exactly are workplace ‘wholeness’ programs?

Workplace wholeness programs are designed to create environments where employees are welcomed, accepted, and supported in showing up as their whole selves to do their best work.

Wholeness programs take wellness and well-being to the next level by incorporating holistic healing modalities that give employees the opportunity to transcend the traditional system of symptom management to find their true healing and feel whole. Balance by Nature helps employees achieve wholeness through programming that brings all areas of their lives into balance – health, mindset, finances, career, relationships, and purpose.

Strategic culture development consulting plays an essential role in successfully implementing wholeness programs, which creates a collaboration between Health & Well-being, DEI, Leadership Training, L&D, and Employee Experience initiatives for a unified wholeness culture experience.

I love the wholeness approach. I’m curious, if we take care of ourselves outside of work, do we still need workplace wellness programs?

Yes, absolutely! People spend most of their day working. The purpose of wellness programs is to improve work-life balance, morale, employee engagement, and health outcomes so the company can reduce burnout, attrition, and healthcare claims.

It’s in the employer’s best interests to offer wellness programs at work regardless of what employees do at home.

In your opinion, how do we know when we are achieving a good balance in life?

Achieving [a] good balance in one’s life is when you feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of the workday rather than feeling stressed and overwhelmed. It’s when you feel happy during the work week and aren’t living solely for the weekend because you’re still enjoying other things in your life and not just working.

If we don’t seek help, how might work-related stress take its toll on our lives?

I know all too well what work-related stress can do to a person. It can lead to burnout, illness, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, anger issues, etc.

Our bodies are not meant to be in a constant state of active stress response, and yet, that’s what most busy professionals experience on a day-to-day basis. This is why we are seeing such big increases in attrition and mental health claims.

Interview with Nicole Mixdorf cont’d.

Which exactly is Balance by Nature?

Balance by Nature is an award-winning corporate culture & well-being company that helps businesses create cultures of and environments of wholeness that support employees in showing up as their whole selves to do their best work.

We offer integrative culture development consulting, creating internal cross-functional culture teams that collaborate to create an inclusive, safe, and healthy environment that attracts and retains top talent. Our programs consist of a wide range of content, including personal development, work-life balance, fitness, nutrition, stress elimination, holistic healing, and mindful leadership.

What inspired you to launch this program, Nicole Mixdorf?

Prior to launching Balance by Nature, I had a successful career in the corporate world, working my way up the ladder in a global firm. The stress of my job, combined with the stress from my dad’s battle with cancer, eventually started making me sick to the point that I was forced to take time off work to heal my body.

During that time, as I removed a large source of stress from my life and focused more on self-care, my symptoms started to clear up. It was then that I had an epiphany that an active and “healthy” lifestyle of exercise and proper nutrition wasn’t enough in the face of chronic stress.

I noticed how my colleagues and corporate clients were also suffering from stress-related conditions (digestive, migraines, insomnia, anxiety, depression, autoimmune, etc.) without even realizing that stress was causing their symptoms. I realized that we were experiencing a stress epidemic in this country and the world, and I felt called to do something about it.

I left my corporate career behind to launch this program so that I could inspire other busy professionals to create sustainable balance in their lives so they can heal and thrive.

What makes your programs different from others?

We focus on experiencing wholeness – healing from within and radically accepting ourselves as we are to achieve that ultimate balance in our lives.

Can you share some positive results from the programs you’ve seen so far?

We’ve had great success with our programs and have worked with many amazing clients. Our pre- and post-evaluations show a 67% reduction in stress levels after participants take our wellness classes. We have helped many of our clients earn Workplace Wellness awards as a result of the wellness programs we have launched for them.

Wow! Is the wholeness mindset going to revolutionize the workplace?

I believe it is already revolutionizing the workplace. When we sit down at our desks to work, we bring everything with us that is going on in our lives, including the stress we’re experiencing, the fight we had with our partner, the financial worries, the strain from being a caregiver, etc. When our lives feel out of balance, we don’t feel whole.

Wholeness is about accepting ourselves as we are, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We are all a work in progress, so our lives don’t have to be “perfect” to feel whole.

It’s about radical acceptance of who we really are, and loving all parts of ourselves, and living to our fullness no matter what is going on in our lives. As employees embrace a wholeness mindset, they don’t simply see each other as “workers” but rather as “whole people” with complex, beautiful, and messy lives, and accepting, supporting, and celebrating each other as they are.

A culture of wholeness embraces the uniqueness of each individual and their contributions toward the vision and mission of the organization, fostering greater cohesion and success of the business. Creating a collaboration between Wellness, DEI, Leadership Training, L&D, and Employee Experience allows companies to strategically develop healthy, inclusive, and safe workplaces where employees are supported in showing up as their whole selves. We cannot ask employees to be their “authentic” selves at work if we don’t create safe spaces that welcome and celebrate wholeness.

Interview with Nicole Mixdorf cont’d.

I appreciate how Balance by Nature praises uniqueness. I’ve been wanting to ask, who inspires you?

On a personal and professional level, I am inspired by watching people go after their dreams. Life is too short to stay in a situation that is unfulfilling. As an ambitious and purpose-driven person, I find it incredibly inspiring when I see people connect to the truth of who they are and step into their power to intentionally design their lives in ways that light them up.

Have you always been interested in health and wellness?

Yes! I was blessed to grow up with my uncle being a naturopathic doctor, so I was introduced to natural ways to heal the body throughout my life.

Acupuncture was a regular practice in my house growing up, and my mom always served us a healthy diet with a lot of vegetables. I have always been athletic as well, with gymnastics, waterskiing, and martial arts as a kid and then diving into yoga, kayaking, running, and snowboarding as an adult.

Thank you for being here, Nicole Mixdorf! Celebrating wholeness benefits individual employees and the organization as a whole on many levels.

Connect further with Nicole Mixdorf and Balance by Nature

Learn more about programs at Balance by Nature to improve employee health and wellness within your organization and schedule a consult. The website includes testimonials, awards, info about videos on demand, and much more.

Nicole Mixdorf is also on social media. Be sure to follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn

Reach out to Balance by Nature for corporate wellness services today.

 

Feature photo courtesy of Nicole Mixdorf.