Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Ray.
Ashley, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
For me, it all started with a basic question that occurred to me around the age of 13; “Why do people respond differently to similar situations.”
Basically, I wanted to know how and why human beings are the way they are, what makes us similar and what makes us different. The question of how we make positive changes to who we are didn’t come until later; not until I was 19. Anyway, that basic question leads me to study human psychology in college. I was figuring out the psyche of human beings while also discovering who I was. It was only natural for me to explore, “Who am I, how do I change the things I want to change, and how do I become the best version of me possible” while studying psychology and fresh out of the bird’s nest. I found my therapy, which was a combination of involvement in group self-development courses through Landmark Education, and a dedicated daily practice of yoga and meditation that was guided by a teacher.
I had my first experience of being able to shift my thinking, shift my feelings, and write my own story in the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college, and I was ecstatic, experience greater degrees of joy, happiness, pleasure, and life satisfaction than I could ever remember experiencing. This is really when the commitment to helping others through their suffering began. I felt as though I had discovered the magical keys to a life of non-suffering, the keys to happiness and self-authorship. I went on to get my Masters in Social Work, with a focus in clinical studies. I was bound to be a therapist and by the time I was out of grad school I truly understood and experienced the mind, body, heart, spirit connection; thanks to coursework in neuroscience, psychology and my continued yoga and meditation practice.
Not only that, but I was living a life that I loved and took ownership of that. I wanted to teach others how to heal, how to integrate the whole self and create a life that they loved. 2008 – 2011 I lived in the Caribbean, initially as a US Peace Corps volunteer teaching emotional intelligence to at-risk youth. Living in another culture helped me to see the commonalities in the human spirit. I gathered the understanding that we are all made up of the same basic stuff – mind/cognition, emotions, soul/spiritual self, the physical body, and our environment/community/relationships. Human dis-ease in any of these aspects of who we are seems to impact all of the other aspects. Wellness in one area often times translates to wellness in another area.
Where this isn’t the case, there is often a disjointed, confused, dissociated sense of self and unification of these aspects becomes necessary in order to heal. After Peace Corps I worked for a crisis intervention agency in Dallas, eventually becoming their Clinical Manager. I worked with severe mental illness, suicide intervention, psych hospitals, and the county jail environment. I witnessed and worked with individuals that experience the greatest degrees of mood disregulation and disfunction that show up in society; extreme human suffering. In this time I also become a yoga instructor.. it was about time (I had been practicing yoga nearly 15 years). Then got a certification in Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy. I developed a complex understanding of the nervous system and how its functioning impacts our thoughts, emotions and physical comfort.
The Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy gave me the skills I needed to teach somatic techniques designed to create relaxation and calm in the body. When the body reaches a heightened stated of calm, the body opens up, the mind opens up and the heart opens up. It becomes possible for one to shift their perceived experience and live life from a state of peace and ease. I identify as a Holistic Psychotherapist and went into business full-time for myself May 1st, 2017. I work predominantly with individuals that struggle with high levels of anxiety, stress, emotionality, anger, have histories of trauma, or feel they are in some sort of spiritual life crisis.
Currently, there are plans in the works to expand my practice into a complete holistic wellness center that provides therapeutic services from a multi-disciplinarian team that will synergistically work together to help people achieve wellness and self growth rapidly and efficiently by targeting all aspects of the self simultaneously.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Learning the business and marketing aspects of being an entrepreneur has been challenging, especially without any type of prior education in business development.
After some struggles on my own, I finally hired a marketing coach that is skilled at helping psychotherapists grow their practice. When I quit my job as the Clinical Manager for a local crisis intervention company I thought I would easily redirect my time and energy into the build out of my holistic wellness practice. Boy was I wrong. I had to learn how to block my time in a whole new way.
Two books, The Miracle Morning and The Twelve Week Year helped me to put daily and weekly structures in place to meet my business development goals and still have time for my daily personal development interests.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
AUM Integral Wellness is a holistic wellness center that is in the early stages of development. Currently, we offer Holistic Psychotherapy, Yoga Psychotherapeutics, Energy Healing, Meditation, Mindfulness, & Breathwork training, and Spiritual Life Coaching.
We partner with local Acupuncturists, Naturopaths and Functional Medicine Practitioners. We are moving towards an integrative holistic wellness model to treat a variety of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health challenges. I specialize in providing therapy services to individuals that struggle with a history of anxiety, trauma, or some sort of spiritual life crisis. As a Holistic Psychotherapist and Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapist, I marry my formal clinical training with my 16 years of experience as a practitioner of Hatha Yoga.
Client’s learn advanced breathwork techniques and somatic processing techniques designed to calm the nervous system and rapidly enhance relaxation in the body throughout the psychotherapy process. I am proud of our dedication to the mental, emotional, physical and community wellness of each individual. AUM Integral Wellness is a holistic wellness center that is in the early stages of development.
Currently we offer Holistic Psychotherapy, Yoga Psychotherapeutics, Energy Healing, Meditation, Mindfulness, & Breathwork training, and Spiritual Life Coaching. We partner with local Acupuncturists, Naturopaths and Functional Medicine Practitioners. We are moving towards an integrative holistic wellness model to treat a variety of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health challenges. I specialize in providing therapy services to individuals that struggle with a history of anxiety, trauma, or some sort of spiritual life crisis.
Pricing:
- Introductory Package (Initial Evaluation, 12-week wellness plan, & one follow-up session) $400
- Initial Evaluation $225
- Individual Session $150
Contact Info:
- Website: aumintegralwellness.com
- Phone: 469-321-2107
- Email: ashley@aumintegralwellness.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AUMIntegralWellness/
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