My name is Michelle Jimmink.
I am a certified Self Sabotage Coach and Pilates Specialist, specializing in chronic illness, autoimmune disorders and pre & post-natal pregnancy preparation and recovery. I am a “Lyme literate” practitioner in the area of Lyme disease and its numerous co-infections and symptoms. I provide support for clients to facilitate their healing by unlocking self-sabotaging behaviors and belief systems that have stalled their healing capabilities. I am also able to provide safe yet essential movement and exercise patterns that are appropriate for any given stage of treatment.
My prenatal clients benefit from coaching to overcome their fears about pregnancy and birthing and to empower women and their partners to advocate for the birth experience they desire, not what the medical system tells them they must accept. In postnatal coaching, I provide support to the new mother to understand and accept her body’s healing power and to ignore societal pressure and judgment regarding what the masses and media think of how a postnatal body should look or feel.
I began studying self-sabotage when, after working at a rheumatology clinic specializing in Lyme disease, I began to notice that you could take two people with similar patient profiles, the same doctor, same insurance and same access to treatments – one would heal and the other would not. These repeated observations made me question and investigate the depth of human healing and what other variables could be at play. It is my belief that self-sabotage and the subconscious programming of the patient must be addressed in the healing of chronic illness, infections and chronic pain. I have the same belief in empowering women and their partners in pregnancy, childbirth and during the “4th trimester” of bonding, breastfeeding, healing and expansion of family.
I currently teach and coach clients at an integrative medical center in San Diego, Ca. I also teach the 100-hour Pilates Teacher Training certification for mat Pilates at UCSD. I have taught multiple movement disciplines over the past 24 years including gymnastics, dance and now exclusively Pilates. I have had great satisfaction in coaching women through pregnancy into having the childbirth experience they desired and demanded.
In terms of education, I have sought out extensive training and multiple certifications with Master Pilates teachers Rael Isacowitz, Karen Clippinger and Carolyne Anthony. I hold a BA in Linguistics, Minor in Philosophy from the University of California at San Diego. I also hold the BA equivalent of Theater Dance degree through UCSD. I received my MBA from California State University at San Marcos. After graduating from the pre-med program at UCSD, I went to work as a computational linguist in healthcare technology for an AI company utilizing Natural Language Processing (this was all pre-existence of Google). My specialty was semantic disambiguation of medical language. While my work experience, education and background appear very eclectic, and I have to admit my path and journey through it all seemed disjointed and confusing to me at times – I can assure my clients that I draw from all areas of my background. Looking back, this path was not random but essential in leading me to my strengths in my coaching style today.
How has working to correct my own self-sabotage helped me?
Let me first explain my own health history. I was born with clubfeet. At 18 months of age I sustained a traumatic brain injury and skull fracture. In fact I am still missing part of my skull. At 8 years of age I was paralyzed by Guillain Barre Syndrome with complete and total shut down of my autonomic nervous system. At age 9 began the chronic and debilitating classic migraines, lasting for decades, which culminated with having 11 separate migraine episodes per month with loss of 90% of my vision for the duration of each episode. I have herniated discs, scoliosis, DISH syndrome in my upper thoracic spine, and have torn muscles, ligaments and meniscus repeatedly and with very little effort. After the birth of my daughter, I was diagnosed with Bartonellosis and subsequently with Lyme disease (positive diagnosis per CDC guidelines). And then I cannot forget to mention debilitating chronic pain since the age of 8 with GBS.
Am I cured?
I don’t know if I am “cured” but to meet me, you would never know any of these things had ever happened to me. If a physician were to examine me without knowing these details, they would never know I had ever been paralyzed before.
I can tell you that I am thriving.
None of these conditions have ever defined me. I am not the illness or the diagnosis. I am not invested in them either. Working with my own self-sabotage has helped me to uncover my own basic truths:
I am unwilling to live my life unhealthy and in pain.
I am unwilling to live my life paralyzed by perfection.
In order to heal my body, I have been and always will be relentless.
In working towards becoming my best self, I am relentless.
I am more than enough.
It would be my privilege to help you understand and embrace that you are more than enough too.
email: majimmink@gmail.com