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

***Special Episode Release** 

Usually, these are released on Thursdays, but because enrollment is happening until June 11th, I'm releasing this episode early so you don't miss out!

In this episode, I am ECSTATIC to have a fantastic interview with Jessie Mundell. 

Jessie Mundell is a Kinesiologist, Fitness Educator, and Fitness Coach specializing in  prenatal and postnatal exercise training. 

  Jessie is the creator of the Postnatal Fitness Specialist Academy, Core + Floor  Restore, To Pregnancy & Beyond, and co-host of the To Birth and Beyond podcast. 

She's focused on effective exercise during pregnancy and postpartum, rehab of the  core and pelvic floor, and C-section recovery.  Jessie teaches people how to exercise  safely and strongly in pregnancy, and how to regain their core, confidence, and fitness  as moms and parents.   Jessie has worked with hundreds of women during and after their pregnancies and is  extremely passionate about giving them the care they need. 

She also runs a  Certification program for hundreds of trainers and health professionals who want to  learn methods for training postpartum clients. She aims to steer the conversation away from the 'pre and post-baby body' madness  and into a place where women feel supported, encouraged, strong, and confident.

Education and Certifications: ◦ Bachelor of Physical Education (Queen's University 2009) ◦ Master of Human Kinetics (University of British Columbia 2010) ◦ Professional Kinesiologist (Alberta Kinesiologist Association) 

More information: 

In this episode, we sit down for part A of our conversation with Sophia Hyde, a certified life coach. 

In 2011, Sophia hit her breaking point. She was working over 80 hours a week, burning the candle at both ends and making no time for self-care or the relationships most important to her. She was carrying around an extra thirty pounds and constantly feeling exhausted. She and her husband were drowning in over $100,000 in debt that they couldn’t see a way out of, and she was waking up everyday having to go to a job she didn’t love.  In what could only be described as divine intervention, she spontaneously decided to take a one week sabbatical and press the pause button on life. She spent a week in voluntary isolation at home, in silence. 

This decision to pause and listen was the beginning of a brand new journey.  She set a new course, executed the vision and now has a burning desire to help others who also feel there has to be more to life than the hamster wheel.  She and her husband created the life that once felt out-of-reach. On most days, it is filled with peace and calm, but it didn’t used to be. There were never enough hours in the day. Their net worth was growing in the wrong direction, and their dream life was feeling unrealistic.  

For some people, success is defined as a luxury vehicle, home and wardrobe. For others, success is defined by intangibles. Sophia defines success as loving the life you live, loving the people you share it with, and most importantly, loving yourself.  

She set out to create this for herself and find a way to teach it to others.  Using the principles of the Ziglar Wheel of Life, she transformed her life. She aligned her priorities with her habits. Now, she uses those same principles to guide others. As a Ziglar-certified coach, she is trained on how to help others define what success and peace-of-mind looks like to them and customize a plan to help them get there.

Sophia and I talk about her journey, why life coaching is important, how it's different from other types of coaching and how you can stop "shoulding" all over yourself! 

In this episode, we begin by sitting down and having a conversation with my personal strength coach, and dear friend, Billy King. 

Billy is a retired Army Veteran who writes music and is learning to produce. Long time assistant coach who recently starting taking clients of his own. He began training in December of 2014 after being retired for over a year. He was in bad shape and walking around at 293 lbs. He decided to start making changes and after two years of working on my own he learned about I3 strength and Performance where he met his Coach Brandon  and became a competitive power lifter. Billy is headed for the national powerlifting stage in June, and all the while he's composing music and strength training athletes of his own. 

Of course, everyone has a story...and hardly anyone starts out theirs by jumping right into a sense of purpose, and powerlifting. 

Join us in part a of this discussion as we start at the beginning of his story, and what brought him to this chapter of his story. 

Be encouraged as you listen and connect, understanding we are all on our own journey with a physical and mental health. 

Amy Getz believes wealth and financial freedom are for everyone and is especially passionate about helping women know their worth.  She is a financial advisor with IRC Wealth, an SEC registered investment firm in Atlanta, GA, a CPA and a CDFA® (Certified Divorce Financial Analyst).  She is also the Money & Finance Chapter Director of the national What Women Want Networking organization.  Amy is on a mission to educate women about their finances and empower them to set big goals for their financial future.  Letting go of limiting beliefs around money and facing the real numbers allows women to quiet the stress loop in their mind and elevate everyone around them.  Wealthy women change the world.   When she’s not working, Amy loves to travel with her family, connect with friends or read a good book.

And in this episode, we continue our conversation about wealth, finances, savings, and some VERY EXCITING news for entrepreneurs! 

Join us for this continuation of last week's discussion! 

In this episode, I am so excited to sit down and have a wonderful conversation with Andrea Caprio, who is the founder and CEO of Wellness methods, Master Certified Transformational Nutrition Coach, Digestive & Hormonal Health, Weight Loss and Emotional Eating Expert.  She helps busy people to overcome their emotional eating and weight loss issues permanently so they can stop yoyo dieting and feel more confident.

Interests and Accomplishments:

Master certified transformational nutrition coach and helping my clients to achieve permanent transformation are my biggest achievements professionally.  She says: "Privately I am super proud of my 2 kids and how they grew up to being the most amazing beings.  I am crazy about cats and I love skiing and diving and just live my life the best I can." 

In our conversation we talk about her personal health journey, how she came to be an integrative wellness coach, and what makes her approach so unique. 

We discuss questions like: 

What makes your way of working with clients different?

  Why do so many people have trouble overcoming weight issues

  What are some success stories of how people conquered weight issues? 

 What tips or resources are particularly helpful for people striving to overcome emotional eating, weight issues?

And many more! 

As a gift for our listeners, Andrea is  offering 

2 gifts for those who want to dive in deeper: 

In this fantastic episode, I get to sit down with fellow PN coach and friend from the "land down under", Karleen Moore. 

Karleen is an amazing soul and: a Women’s Wellness Coach; Personal Trainer; Small Group Coach, Wife, Mum, Friend & Animal Flow lover! 

Some of her interests and accomplishments include: 

The outdoors, women’s health & hormones, Animal Flow, elevating & supporting women  

Accomplishments include: - Moore 2 Fitness - PN Level 1 & 2 - Animal Flow Level 1 (working on Level 2) - Pre/Post Natal  - Gymnastics Coach - Being a Mum to 3 healthy strong little ladies - Creating my own successes

In this episode, we sit down to talk about mumlife, the effects of covid internationally, and how she's helping women and mums reconnect with themselves, self care and fitness. 

Karleen is passionate about helping women live their best lives and encourages a "go with the flow" mindset to mitigate stress. 

She's a dear friend of mine, and a greatly respected colleague. 

I'm so excited for you to hear this episode and meet Karleen! 

We're back for another functional nutrition episode! This one is what you're looking for if you are curious about thyroid, gut and your liver and how they're all connected!! 

In this episode I get to have a fantastic conversation with Jenn Malecha. 

Jenn Malecha supports busy, health-mind professionals in taking back control of their health by giving them access to the right lab tests and resources so they can find the missing pieces of their health puzzle, actually fix what is wrong, and get back to feeling like themselves again.  Using over a decade of personal training experience, training in Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, and Transformational Coaching, she creates personalized health-rebuilding programs for clients that are realistic and sustainable for long-lasting results, and that empowers clients to be the boss of their own health.  If you’re ready to look at the “big picture” of your health (not just one disconnected piece at a time), to embrace healthy as a way of being, and to stop settling for anything less than you deserve when it comes to your health and happiness then Jenn is exactly who you've been looking for!

1 in 10. Remember that number. 

In this episode, we dive deep into Sara's story. She tells us: "My story began when I was only 12 years old but some unanswered health concerns took center stage while I was in AIT for the Army in 2017. This began the long fight that has led to my becoming an advocate for women's reproductive health. 

Who or what has been the greatest influence in your personal health journey and why?

Having to fight for my health after going through many unnecessary treatments that left my body traumatized and left me with few options. I was broken and decided that I had to speak for those who didn't know what I had learned.  Advocacy and education is necessary when there are so few resources out there."

Her takeaway piece of advice is: "Advocacy and self education is key."

**Sale discussed in this episode ends Jan 20th, 2021** 

In this episode, I sit down to talk with Valarie Wingate, who is an ambassador for Tru Aura. 

Tru Aura's website explains its products as: 

" PROBIOTICS HELP MAINTAIN
A HEALTHY MICROBIOME

We use prebiotics and/or probiotics in all of our formulas. Applying these ingredients to your skin can stimulate the production of defense cells that restore your skin's natural balance and stabilize its immune system. Not only does this help your skin look healthy, young, and clear, but it may also decrease sensitivity, redness, and inflammation." 

In this episode, we discuss skin microbiomes, what they are, why it's important and relevant to your health and how you can start taking steps to improve your overall health through supporting your skins microbiome. 

If you would like to know more about Tru Aura and skin support, you can reach Valarie on Facebook or her website: 

In this episode, I am honored and honestly laughing my way through this fantastic conversation with the one and only, Ren Jones. 

Ren is a certified trainer, nutrition coach, and corrective exercise specialist who focuses on coaching moms over 30. After losing his brother, sister, and mother to lifestyle-related health issues, he left the corporate world to start his own health and fitness business and found his passion in helping clients all over the world through online coaching. 

More than this, Ren is a genuinely amazing HUMAN. He's the type of person that leaves you feeling like the world is still full of goodness, magic, and laughter and makes you feel as though you can spread some grace, love, and joy around too. 

He is pure fun to talk with, and this conversation is filled with laughter, and a metric ton of valuable advice, hard-learned lessons, poignant life experience, and a beautiful passion for helping others to live their best lives. 

Ren is a blessing to know, and you won't want to miss his content. 

In this episode, I sit down to chat with Meg Stolt, 

She is a runner and Triathlete turned coach after a variety of circumstances that showed me how much she loves teaching and coaching.  She has achieved both her BA and MS and am invested in girls (of all ages) in sports.   

Among her other accomplishments, she holds both the USA Triathlon Youth and Junior Elite Certification.

Her writing includes Continuing Education for the AEA, and presenting includes the International Aquatic Fitness Conference, as well as a variety of guest lectures and workshops. 

She says: "My emphasis is performance and I currently own the OtterTriTeam and the PinkOtters (a women’s triathlon team).  Both teams are about having fun while challenging our limits.   One of my professional goals for 2021, is to increase the growth of the PinkOtters, as well as my HighSchool Tri Team, providing more opportunities for young women to compete."

Meg has excellent advice for women, athletes, and just life in general! 

Her one takeaway piece of actionable advice?

"Eat the Cake.    Nike says, just do it.   We have all these rules for our journey.  The do’s and dont’s and we get so caught up in those, we miss the adventure.  So take a moment and eat the cake.  Laugh out loud.  Enjoy the process."

She recommends the following books and podcasts for personal growth: 

I just finished reading Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey.  I loved this book.   So many takeaways to living.

 On IG:  I love @mosssportsperformance — he shares his coaching, but also awesome posts about team culture and building character and teams.

 Podcasts:  the growth equation by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness (their books Peak Performance and Passion Paradox are on my shelf)

 And Young Heretics — I love the discussion of literature, how it may apply to today’s society and culture.

If you're interested in triathlon training, and/or would like to follow Coach Meg, you can reach her at her website: 

In this episode, I have a great discussion with Paul Levitin who is a health and fitness enthusiast, who has built his career around helping people lead healthier, happier lives. As a personal trainer, strength and mobility coach, nutrition coach, and board licensed health and wellness coach, Paul uses his unique blend of knowledge and abilities to guide clients through the struggles of day to day life.

Paul is a Certified personal trainer, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, PN certified, certified mobility specialist, Master Certified Health & Wellness Coach, National board-licensed health & wellness coach.

We talk about questions like: 

Thoughts on motivation? 

Why is mindset so key?

 3 common mindset mistakes that hold people back? 

Where the fitness industry has gone wrong?

What is important for change, vs what most people think is important/focus on?

Our December series; Reflect, Restore, Renew- is all about taking some time to connect with ourselves again. 

To sit with our feelings, especially in the uncomfortable, take time to reflect on everything this year has brought us and lessons learned. 

And to offer steps to restore and rejuvenate your mind and body during this season. I hope that these episodes will help you to find ways that you can create intentions that renew your self-care, your sense of purpose, and bring you hope as we go into the new year. 

In this episode, Jenn and I have a great conversation about the work she is doing and what she's learned through her personal and professional journey. 

Jenn is a certified personal trainer (specializing in weight loss and transformation) and holds a masters degree in counselling. Jenn’s creative approach and unique combination of skills allow her to individualize training or transformation programs specially to each client. Her philosophy of 1% better every day provides a supportive relationship with her clients in moving forward and continually improving body and mind to achieve personal success. 

You can find her at Prime Fitness Inc on social media. 

And as always you can reach me on instagram @ansleyknopf_valkyrie and if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, please send me an email at trainandflourish@gmail.com. 

*** When this episode airs, it will be preceding Jenn's Online Health Summit, which you can click the link here for a free ticket. 

In this episode, I have a great conversation once again with JC Nieves. 

JC is a beekeeper, loves to cook (hates cleaning afterwards) and considers himself a great baker. He can make a meal out of anything in the pantry or fridge.   As for accomplishments, since 2016 he has complete: GGS-1 (Women’s Coaching Specialist- Level 1) ⁣, PN1 (Nutrition Coach - Level 1), PT (ISSA Certified Personal trainer), OTA (Certified Online Trainer).

JC lives in North Carolina with his family, and in between coaching women to live their best healthy lives, he keeps his bees in his backyard. 

This discussion was fascinating and I learned SO much! 

I'm so excited for you to hear all about bees, why they're so critical to our survival, our food sourcing, as well as fun amazing facts about their bee life. 

(For instance, did you know there is a BEE RAVE inside the hive every winter?! What?!) 

If you're interested in learning more about bees, and getting connected with your local beekeepers, you can find more information at this website: 

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! 

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! 

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.

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! 

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?

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.

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. 

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. 

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.