All posts by : Shauna

I should begin with the story of my journey to my business, as its concept has been a large part of my life even prior to its founding this year. As a young girl I loved to play school with my dear friend in the neighborhood. For a significant part of my life I believed that the only profession in my future was to be an elementary teacher, teaching within the four walls of a classroom. Determined, I committed to pursuing this goal starting in high school. I taught preschool, Kids Corner, for the first three hours of my school days my Senior year. Once I finished high school, I began teaching at a preschool part time until I graduated from IUPUI with an elementary education degree. My dream was in the palm of my hand, or so I thought. Before I could secure a steady teaching job, I married who I thought would be the love of my life, started having children, and fell in love with being a mom. I made the decision to stay home with my two daughters and postpone my dream of having my own classroom. Once my youngest started kindergarten I decided it was time to get back in the classroom. While I loved helping my daughters grow, I had missed experiencing a child read for the first time and the magic of watching them learn. I believed that I would find my classroom in time, but smooth sailing into a job was just not in my future. I found that I lacked confidence during job interviews for various reasons. I was passed up and turned down for opportunity after opportunity. Family and friends watched me lose hope in my dream while my heart and soul began to fill with doubt. In every classroom I found myself in, students loved me and I worked so hard but I couldn’t land a job. A pattern began of covering other people’s classrooms, maternity and medical leaves. I was able to be in a classroom, but never able to really call it my own. The driving force in my persistence was my love for teaching, and my heart told me I needed to share my passion with students who needed to be educated and cared for. It took a lot of reflection and painful rejections to come to the day I realized that I need to follow my heart in a different direction. By that time my two little girls had reached college and high school age. With both my daughters beginning to grow up and become independent, it was  time for me to do the same and jump head first into a new path. My first leap was going back to college at Butler University, joining my less than enthusiastic freshman daughter. The experience allowed me to take a step forward while simultaneously supporting my daughter through her transition into college. My final goal was to receive an Applied Neuroscience For Educators degree from Butler University. This degree fundamentally changed the way I approached my classroom; it made me look at trauma, stress, and how it affects everyone’s learning. I never doubted that I was on the wrong path. My hands were tied in the classroom and it was time for me to take a new path. I had tried to merge my natural approach with the stressful environment of the classroom to help students focus and calm themselves. I sadly discovered that Tapping or emotional release wasn’t permitted in the classroom. As teachers we were encouraged to take a one size fits all approach and ignore the possibility of individual healing and support. I tried to take a step back and look at what methods and solutions would benefit the individual kids of my classroom, because I knew each student as an individual with their own needs and trauma they carried with them. I found that the best method for me was to leave behind the restricting nature of a classroom. Beyond the walls of a school and the generalized solutions of teaching I found that I was inspired and able to help people in the way I knew how. That same understanding and care is present as soon as you walk through the doors of Salt For Your Soul.

Fast forwarding to the present, I successfully opened a salt business with my husband and cannot wait to share our place of healing with others. From the moment we began designing our space, there were signs that this was where I’m meant to be. After an exciting week of launching our business my family decided to go out to get a bite to eat. When we walked out of the restaurant, we found the rainy sky shining with the bright colors of a rainbow. But there wasn’t just a single rainbow, there was a double rainbow arcing above my brand new shop. As usual, I started looking at the meaning for something that was clearly a sign for us. A double rainbow: “serendipitous magic is on it’s way and your path of personal magic is opening up for you. Know that the universe is conspiring on your behalf and be true to your dreams and beliefs.  It is a sure sign to trust your own vibes and your intuition is keener than you might think.” Reading the definition gave me confidence that I built a place that will allow me to fulfill my dream of healing and educating others.

I was overwhelmed by emotion because the salt room has been a dream of mine for years now, and that dream has truly become reality. If there is just one lesson in my entire journey it is to trust yourself, take risks, and be the version of yourself that makes you happy. 

I cannot wait for Salt For Your Soul to help heal and change as many souls as we can. My path has changed but I will always be a teacher, but simply a teacher in a different capacity. We all deserve to heal, and I believe I’m making at least a small effort in that. I’m on a mission to help change the world and get people on the right track to healing, so look out world here I come……