Growing up in a typical American household in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Bri Lockwood doesn’t remember hearing much about wellness.
“We ate very processed foods like Hamburger Helper and other quick meals,” Lockwood recalled. “There really was nothing about health in our family. We just weren’t mindful of it.”
And when she went to college, it was more of the same.
“I drank a lot and I smoked,” Lockwood said. “I was basically doing whatever the opposite of ‘health’ was.”
A few years after graduating with a degree in marketing and joining the workforce, Lockwood began thinking about her health for the first time. In retrospect, though, she understands that wasn’t exactly what she was doing.
“To me, ‘health’ was about weight loss,” she said. “It was about the number on the scale and what I saw in the mirror.”
When Lockwood started her weight loss journey and found success in shedding her extra pounds, she felt better but there was still something missing and she couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was.
“I still lacked in a lot of other areas,” she said. “Growing up, I had acne. I would get skin rashes. I had different fatigue-based issues. Looking back now, I realized those were all different root causes that I had to fix.”
But everything really came to a head for Lockwood after her second pregnancy.
“I felt terrible and I was losing hair like crazy,” she said. “I had extreme fatigue and bloating. It was nothing like I’d experienced with my first child.”
At that point, Lockwood decided to see a doctor who ordered a battery of lab tests to check out her hormones and see what else might be going on. The verdict?
“He told me I was fine, everything was fine and that I was ‘normal,’” she said. “And I was like ‘I don’t feel normal.’ And he said ‘this is what you’ll have to accept as your new normal.’”
Unsatisfied with that answer and unwilling to live her life feeling like something just wasn’t right, Lockwood began her holistic health journey as a hobbyist. She found different practitioners to work with and started doing her own research as a means for taking control of her body, but when her two-year-old daughter started to have seizures, she became even more committed to holistic health.
“We’d gone to the doctors and done the MRIs and the EEGs and they came back to us and said that everything was normal just like they’d once told me,” Lockwood said. “And I again was like ‘I refuse to believe that seizures are normal for a two-year-old.”
Lockwood immediately began taking her daughter to a chiropractor and got her on supplements and she’s happy to say that the little girl has never had a seizure again. She’s also using holistic methods to manage her son’s ADHD.
With so much of her focus already on holistic health, Lockwood decided to make a career shift and in 2022, she went through an educational program and received her certification as an integrated health practitioner. Now she sees clients at Oak Grove-based Meraki Wellness and Chiropractic, many of whom are seeking help with digestive issues such as gas and bloating or are trying to gain a better understanding of their hormones.
Based on the issues the client is experiencing, Lockwood will order lab tests that are designed to shed light on what’s going on inside the person versus just guessing based on his or her symptoms. Once the results come back, she goes over what they mean with the client and answers questions. She’ll also make recommendations about things like nutrition and intermittent fasting, supplements, exercise and sleep. From there, her clients can continue to meet with her on a weekly basis for wellness coaching or they can move forward on their own knowing they can reach out for support when they need it.
As she enters her second year as an integrated health practitioner, Lockwood couldn’t be happier with the path she’s chosen.
“It’s so rewarding to be able to give clarity to people on what it really means to live a holistic lifestyle,” she said. “I feel like that term is just thrown around and there’s so much information out there that it can be really confusing. I like that I have the opportunity to simplify it for my clients and the people who follow me on Instagram and that I can inspire, motivate and educate them.”
So what exactly is holistic health? Well, Lockwood said, it encompasses everything from the food we eat to the way we move our body to the spiritual aspects that are present in our lives. It’s also about our mindset.
“One thing I really like to focus on with my clients is the concept of progress over perfection,” Lockwood said. “I feel like women – especially mothers – feel like they have to make everything perfect. Like you’re either 100 percent organic or you’re nothing. Focusing on that mental aspect of the journey and teaching women how to give themselves grace can be such a game changer.”
With the start of a new year, many people are resolving to live more mindfully and pay more attention to their health. If you’re in this position, here are a few areas Lockwood suggests focusing on:
- Sleeping: Getting a solid seven to nine hours of restful sleep can help clear up many of our issues. That said, sometimes it’s easier said than done! If you’re having trouble sleeping, Lockwood recommends limiting screen time before bed and cutting off caffeine well ahead of when you plan to go to sleep. Additionally, while alcohol can seem to help you fall asleep, it can actually impact your ability to stay asleep or get that truly restorative slumber we all need. Make sure you’re not drinking it prior to bedtime. If you’re still having difficulty with sleep, you may want to consider supplements such as melatonin, CBD or THC to help your body get regulated and adjusted.
- Eating: Rather than worrying about eating an expensive all-organic diet, Lockwood advises taking a “digestive break” between meals. By having three to four meals per day with a solid three to four hours in between them, your body will have time to process and absorb the food you’re putting into it – and your digestive system will thank you!
- Mindset shifting: Lockwood encourages people to find some sort of personal development activity that will put them in the right mindset. For some of us, that could involve meditation. For others, it might be listening to a podcast, reading a book or watching some motivational videos (be sure to check out Lockwood’s YouTube and TikTok channels). Even if it’s just for 10 minutes a day – preferably in the morning – it can lead to so many benefits. All you have to do is try! “It doesn’t have to be this huge, elaborate thing,” Lockwood said. “Just do something small that gets your mind thinking positively.”
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