In 2008, I opened my naturopathic clinic, Continuum Healing. The practice grew steadily until 2013 when I could feel it was time to step into something larger. I loved the work I was doing, but I was primarily practicing alone in two small offices. I had colleagues all over town doing incredible work in the natural health field. I felt like sharing space, resources, and opportunities to learn from each other was the next right step. So, combining forces in 2013 with six local practitioners, we found our home at 1324 Lake Drive in Eastown. It would have been brilliant had I drafted a grand plan, but I didn’t. I just knew doing this work together would be better for us and better for the world. I had a lot of passion and curiosity, a few friends, and a new building. 

It wasn’t long after we moved into Eastown that calls and emails started coming in. More practitioners from all over West Michigan wanted to be a part of our emerging community. Just like us, they were excited to work together and to not have to go it alone anymore. Just like us, they wanted to learn from each other, to serve the world and their clients in a bigger way with more to offer. Nearly every week, there was another counselor, massage therapist, or yoga instructor calling to inquire about getting more involved in the ever-growing community that seemed to have its own trajectory.

It was at this time that Leah Grace showed up. While we both had been working in Grand Rapids doing similar work, we had only heard about one another through clients. When Leah showed up, she showed up as she does to this day: fully. I knew her for about a week before she proposed we organize everything that was unfolding and properly launch a business. I was slightly taken aback by her boldness in suggesting such an idea so quickly, having just met. I realized, however, that she was right and, for whatever reason, trusted her right away. Leah had already been working in the coaching and development world for more than a decade, and she had started and sold multiple businesses. Her practice was full, she had a few other communities she was leading, and I could tell we were on the same page about what was emerging within our own healing community. 

So, in 2014, the Wellness Collective GR was birthed. Leah and I took on the job of organizing the practitioners and the passion that was erupting from our growing Collective. As we put our hearts and words together, this mission statement came forth:

The Wellness Collective of Grand Rapids is a community of holistic practitioners committed to cultivating physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. This collective is formed on the belief that all aspects of life are deeply interconnected and that through collaboration, education, and empowerment, we can offer a new vision of Wellness to our community. At the collective, we strive to provide opportunities for anyone wishing to deepen their relationship with body and soul in a compassionate, safe and confidential environment. Each practitioner brings a specialized approach and valuable insight into the wellness journey. We each offer individualized appointments along with providing educational classes and transformational workshops held here at our center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  

We continued to grow and built a teaching studio in 2016. The following year, we opened a new suite. As the Collective blossomed, we often compared it to a garden that took on a life of its own. Leah and I took on the roles of tending to the garden, running the business and supporting the beautiful community of practitioners we were proud to work alongside. At one point, the Collective had 15 offices, 28 practitioners, and a teaching studio hosting monthly art shows and other natural health classes 4-5 days a week. There was a lot of sacred work done at the Collective and a lot of transformation for clients and practitioners who called this place home. There have been so many beautiful moments we have shared together over the past seven years. The Wellness Collective really has been a place of growth and healing for so many, including us. 

Over the last few years, Leah and I have started to work more deeply with breath and embodiment practices. As we studied, practiced, and shared these ancient tools, we found ourselves personally and professionally growing in ways we simply couldn’t have imagined a few years prior. While western culture has relied heavily on psychology and the rational mind, our ancient ancestors understood how utilizing breath and movement creates non-ordinary states which can result in deep healing. Somatic (body-based) practices can orchestrate huge growth without some of the hang-ups of mind-based approaches to development. After decades of walking alongside clients and deeply studying the psychology and spirituality and physiology of what it means to be human in our own individual practices, Leah and I discovered we were ultimately landing in similar places. 

At a conference in Poland we attended together in 2019, we realized exactly how similar our methods of supporting our clients had become. Even though Leah started her journey through the coaching lens, and I started mine through traditional naturopathy, it was clear our paths were converging. When we returned from Poland, we started offering more healing experiences together, having discovered the depth and potency of combining our unique offerings to the world. Through breathwork ceremonies, our online breathwork membership, retreats, and the 9-month Vitalist School for practitioners, people were deeply changing. We found that with these new modalities and unified offerings, transformation was taking place with significantly better results.

It became very clear to both Leah and I that the work we are meant to do in this world is meant to be done together. Starting The Vitalist Institute of Pscyhospiritual Transformation, we are combining our lives’ work to better serve our mission of bringing as much healing to the world as possible. We are all-in and ready to dedicate the rest of our lives to this endeavor. But it requires letting go of the beautiful and vibrant garden that was the Wellness Collective. As we close the doors of the Wellness Collective GR, we are opening the same doors to the Vitalist Institute. While our name and direction is changing, our location is not. We will remain at 1324 Lake Drive, but will be transitioning our service to the community through this deeply embodied work of the soul. In NEXT WEEK’S blog, we will be sharing more about what makes our approach at the Vitalist Institute so different. THE FOLLOWING WEEK’S blog we will be taking a deeper look at all the Vitalist Institute’s offerings available to you. We are grateful to every practitioner we have had the privilege to work alongside with, as well as to those who have supported this community over the last seven years. Thank you for being a part of the Wellness Collective! We invite you to join us on the next part of our journey. We are excited to share all that we have learned.  

Micah Mclauglin and Leah Grace have been working together since 2013 and have been a bit obsessive on their healing journeys. Driven by their own deep desires for contentment and meaning, they have traveled across the world seeking out teachers and modalities of embodied transformation. With 35+ years of combined experience, they are thrilled to share what they have learned in the simplest and most profound ways they know how. Arising from their deep calling to teach the teachers, Micah and Leah have combined forces to bring this work into the world through The Vitalist Institute of Psychospiritual Transformation.