A Quest for Well-Being Interview with
LEOLA BROUSSARD
1. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHO YOU ARE IN THIS VERY MOMENT?
In this moment, I would describe myself as someone who is learning to live more honestly, more gently, and more intentionally. Over the years, I spent a great deal of time operating in high-pressure environments where productivity, achievement, and constant motion often became the focus. While there was value in those experiences, I eventually realized that success without inner connection can leave a person feeling emotionally exhausted and disconnected from themselves.
At this stage of my life, I feel much more drawn toward creating a life rooted in peace, authenticity, wellness, reflection, and meaningful connection. I’m no longer interested in
simply moving through life on autopilot or existing inside systems that disconnect us from ourselves and from one another. I want to feel connected to life itself — to nature, to stillness, to purpose, to creativity, and to the deeper human experience.
Through my wellness work, writing, and personal journey, I’ve come to understand that healing is not about becoming perfect. It’s about becoming more aware, more present, and more aligned with who we truly are underneath stress, fear, conditioning, and survival mode.
I’m still evolving, still learning, and still healing myself — and I think that honesty is part of what allows me to genuinely connect with others.
2. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME WHO YOU ARE AND TO DO WHAT YOU DO TODAY?
My path into wellness and reflective healing work didn’t come from a single moment — it came through lived experience, personal challenges, emotional growth, and realizing how disconnected many people have become from themselves while trying to keep up with the demands of life.
For many years, I worked in fast-paced professional environments focused on performance, problem-solving, client success, and constant responsibility. While I valued the work and the relationships I built, I also began to notice how easy it is for people to ignore their emotional well-being, nervous system, inner voice, and overall sense of balance while simply trying to survive or meet expectations.
Over time, wellness became much more than fitness or self-care to me. It became about learning how to reconnect with ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually in a more honest and sustainable way.
My own experiences with stress, transition, burnout, emotional overwhelm, and major life changes led me deeper into restorative practices, mindfulness, reflection, gentle movement, nervous system awareness, journaling, and personal healing work. What began as a personal journey eventually evolved into my books, wellness teachings, guided reflections, and the work I now share through United Mind & Body Wellness.
Today, my work is centered around helping people slow down enough to hear themselves again, reconnect with their inner truth, and create lives that feel more aligned, peaceful, grounded, and authentic.
3. IF YOU HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK, WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION, INTENTION, AND PURPOSE OF WRITING IT AND WHERE CAN WE FIND YOUR BOOK?
Writing became an extension of my healing journey and my desire to create spaces where people could reflect honestly without feeling judged, rushed, or pressured to “fix” themselves.
Many of my books were inspired by themes of emotional awareness, self-trust, burnout, inner healing, nervous system balance, mindfulness, and learning how to reconnect with ourselves in a world that often encourages constant distraction and performance.
Books such as Balanced Enough, Recognize What Resonates With You, and The Weight of Silence, along with the upcoming release Trust Yourself, were created to help readers slow down, reflect more deeply, and reconnect with their own inner wisdom. My intention was never simply to provide information, but to create experiences that feel supportive, grounding, and emotionally safe for people navigating stress, life transitions, emotional exhaustion, self-doubt, or personal growth.
A large part of my work focuses on helping people understand that healing is not linear and that wellness is not about perfection. It’s about awareness, honesty, self-compassion, and creating space to reconnect with who we truly are underneath conditioning and survival patterns.
My books are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and various online booksellers and distributors. Additional information about my work, wellness offerings, and future projects can be found at:
Website: LeolaYogaWellness.com
Books: LeolaYogaWellness.com/books
4. DO YOU CONSIDER WHAT YOU DO A CALLING, A PURPOSE, A MISSION?
Yes, I do — although I think my understanding of purpose has changed over time.
I used to think purpose had to be something large, impressive, or externally validated. Now I see purpose as something much quieter and more honest. I believe purpose is often found in the ways we help others feel seen, understood, supported, safe, and more connected to themselves.
What I do feels deeply meaningful to me because it comes from real life experience, not just theory. I understand what it feels like to carry stress for long periods of time, to push through exhaustion, to lose connection with yourself while trying to meet expectations, and to eventually realize that something inside you is asking for a different way of living.
My work is not about telling people who they should become. It’s about helping people reconnect with who they already are beneath fear, pressure, overwhelm, emotional suppression, and constant external noise.
Whether through writing, wellness practices, guided reflection, restorative movement, or conversation, my intention is always to create a space where people feel encouraged to slow down, breathe, reflect honestly, and trust themselves again. My books are available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble online, with additional distribution continuing to expand as new titles become available through broader publishing and retail channels.
5. WHAT IS HEALING TO YOU?
To me, healing is not about becoming someone new. It’s about returning to yourself.
I think many people approach healing believing they need to completely “fix” themselves before they can feel worthy, peaceful, loved, successful, or fulfilled. But true healing often begins when we stop fighting ourselves long enough to honestly listen to what our mind, body, emotions, and spirit have been trying to communicate all along.
Healing is learning how to create safety within yourself again.
It’s becoming aware of the ways stress, fear, emotional pain, burnout, people-pleasing, survival mode, and unresolved experiences can disconnect us from our authentic nature. Healing asks us to slow down enough to recognize what no longer feels aligned and to gently reconnect with what brings us back into balance.
Sometimes healing looks like rest.
Sometimes it looks like boundaries.
Sometimes it looks like grief, honesty, forgiveness, stillness, movement, reflection, or learning to trust yourself again after long periods of self-doubt.
I also believe healing is deeply connected to nervous system regulation and emotional awareness. Many people are functioning in chronic stress without realizing how disconnected they’ve become from their own needs, intuition, and inner peace.
For me, healing is less about perfection and more about awareness, compassion, alignment, and learning how to live in a way that feels more grounded, conscious, and emotionally honest.
6. WHAT ARE SOME MISCONCEPTIONS MOST PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT HEALING?
One of the biggest misconceptions about healing is that it’s linear or that there’s some final destination where a person becomes completely healed and never struggles again.
Real healing is layered and deeply personal. There are seasons where we feel strong, grounded, and clear, and there are seasons where old emotions, fears, grief, or patterns resurface. That doesn’t mean we’ve failed. Often, it means we are being invited to understand ourselves more deeply.
Another misconception is that healing always feels peaceful or uplifting. In reality, healing can sometimes feel uncomfortable because it requires honesty. It may ask us to slow down, set boundaries, change environments, release unhealthy patterns, grieve old versions of ourselves, or acknowledge emotions we’ve spent years avoiding.
I also think many people misunderstand wellness and assume it’s only about routines, appearance, positivity, or self-improvement. But true wellness includes emotional awareness, self-compassion, rest, nervous system balance, meaningful connection, and learning how to live in alignment with ourselves rather than constantly performing for others.
Healing is not about becoming perfect. It’s about becoming more conscious, more compassionate, and more connected to your authentic self.
7. DO YOU CONNECT HEALING TO SPIRITUALITY? AND IF YOU DO, WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY TO YOU?
Yes, I do connect healing to spirituality, although my understanding of spirituality is very personal and grounded.
To me, spirituality is less about rigid beliefs or labels and more about connection — connection to ourselves, to life, to nature, to presence, to compassion, and to something greater than our constant mental noise and external pressures.
I believe many people are searching for deeper meaning, peace, and belonging, especially in a world that often encourages distraction, comparison, overworking, and disconnection from our inner lives.
Spirituality, for me, is the practice of becoming more aware and more present. It’s learning how to quiet enough of the external noise to hear your own inner truth again.
I often feel spirituality most strongly through stillness, nature, reflective writing, meaningful conversations, meditation, gentle movement, emotional honesty, and moments where people allow themselves to be fully authentic without pretending or performing.
Healing and spirituality become connected because both ask us to move closer to truth — not the version of ourselves shaped entirely by fear, conditioning, pressure, or survival mode, but the deeper self underneath all of that.
I don’t believe spirituality should create separation or superiority. I believe genuine spirituality creates more compassion, more awareness, more humility, and a deeper sense of connection to others and to life itself.
8. WHAT DOES EMOTIONAL FREEDOM LOOK LIKE? AND HOW CAN YOUR WORK HELP?
To me, emotional freedom is the ability to live authentically without constantly abandoning yourself in order to meet expectations, avoid conflict, gain approval, or survive emotionally unhealthy environments.
It doesn’t mean we never experience fear, sadness, stress, grief, or difficult emotions. Emotional freedom means we are no longer completely controlled by them. It means we become more aware of our emotional patterns, nervous system responses, triggers, conditioning, and internal dialogue without allowing them to fully define who we are.
Emotional freedom also involves learning how to feel safe enough to express ourselves honestly, create healthier boundaries, trust our intuition, and make choices that align with our well-being rather than solely operating from fear or obligation.
A large part of my work focuses on helping people reconnect with themselves through reflection, mindfulness, emotional awareness, gentle wellness practices, journaling, restorative movement, nervous system support, and self-trust.
Through my books and wellness offerings, I try to create spaces where people feel less pressured to “perform healing” and more encouraged to slow down, breathe, reflect honestly, and reconnect with what genuinely resonates with them.
I think many people already carry deep inner wisdom. They’ve simply become disconnected from it through stress, burnout, emotional overwhelm, constant noise, and years of putting themselves last. My work is really about helping people return to themselves with greater awareness, compassion, and clarity.
9. TALK TO ME SOME MORE ABOUT YOUR OFFERINGS AND SERVICES... Through my writing, wellness offerings, and United Mind & Body Wellness, I focus on creating supportive spaces for emotional awareness, reflection, nervous system balance, mindfulness, and whole-person wellness.
I offer a gentle and integrated approach that combines reflective practices, guided journaling, restorative wellness techniques, mindfulness, emotional awareness, breath- centered practices, and mindful movement. My goal is not to push people into perfection or performance, but to help them reconnect with themselves in a more compassionate, grounded, and sustainable way.
Much of my work is centered around helping people navigate stress, burnout, life transitions, emotional overwhelm, self-doubt, and the growing sense of disconnection many people experience in today’s fast-paced world.
I currently offer wellness classes, reflective guidance, author talks, wellness-based discussions, and resources connected to my books and wellness teachings. My books are designed to work as supportive companions for personal reflection and emotional growth, rather than simply traditional journals or informational books.
I work with individuals both in person and remotely depending on the offering, and I’m continuing to expand my wellness-based projects, reflective courses, guided resources, and future community-centered offerings.
Some of my current and recent books include:
• Balanced Enough
• Recognize What Resonates With You • The Weight of Silence
• Morning Clarity
• The United Self-Care Workbook
Upcoming releases include Trust Yourself and My Circle, My Peace, both centered around emotional awareness, self-trust, inner peace, reflection, and reconnecting with oneself in a more grounded and compassionate way.
Many of these projects were created to help people slow down, reconnect with themselves, and create healthier emotional, mental, and spiritual balance in their daily lives.
My books are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and various online booksellers and distributors, with additional titles continuing to become more widely available through expanded distribution channels.
More information about my books, wellness work, and future projects can be found at:
Website: LeolaYogaWellness.com
Books: LeolaYogaWellness.com/books
10. ULTIMATELY, WHAT IS FREEDOM TO YOU?
At this stage of my life, freedom means being able to live in alignment with my truth rather than constantly living under pressure, fear, performance, exhaustion, or external expectations.
Freedom is having the ability to slow down enough to actually experience life instead of constantly rushing through it.
It’s being emotionally honest with yourself.
It’s having peace within your nervous system.
It’s creating a life that feels meaningful rather than simply productive.
It’s feeling connected — to yourself, to nature, to purpose, to creativity, to relationships, and to the present moment.
I think many people spend years chasing success while quietly feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or uncertain about who they truly are underneath all of the roles and responsibilities they carry.
For me, freedom is no longer about proving myself. It’s about creating a life rooted in peace, authenticity, balance, inner connection, and meaningful experiences.
It’s the ability to wake up and feel present in your own life.
And ultimately, I believe freedom also comes from self-trust — learning how to trust your inner voice enough to choose what genuinely resonates with your mind, body, spirit, and overall well-being, even when it looks different from what the world expects.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share this conversation and collaborate with your community.
BIO
Leola Broussard is a wellness author and mind-body wellness practitioner. Her work is shared through United Mind & Body Wellness, a reflective wellness concept centered on mindfulness, emotional awareness, nervous system balance, and whole-person well- being. Through her writing, guided reflection, gentle wellness practices, and restorative approaches to self-care, she encourages individuals to reconnect with themselves in a more grounded, compassionate, and authentic way.
Drawing from both personal experience and years of professional work in high-pressure environments, Leola’s writing and wellness philosophy center around authenticity, emotional healing, self-trust, and creating a more grounded and meaningful way of living. She is the author of several reflective wellness books, including Balanced Enough, Recognize What Resonates With You, The Weight of Silence, and Morning Clarity. Upcoming releases include Trust Yourself and My Circle, My Peace.
Through her books, wellness teachings, and reflective practices, she encourages others to slow down, reconnect with their inner wisdom, and cultivate greater peace, awareness, and alignment in everyday life.
Website: LeolaYogaWellness.com
Books: LeolaYogaWellness.com/books
Leola Broussard
Wellness Author & Mind-Body Wellness Practitioner United Mind & Body Wellness
Instagram: @LeolaYoga | @LeolaYogaWellness