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My Story: The Soulful Journey


The Soulful Journey was built out of love, a very deep understanding of physical and emotional trauma and the incredible toll it can place on your mind and body. Personal experience, devastating losses and furthering education has now become the very foundation of my own Soulful Journey, and using this knowledge to help others has become my passion.


Marlyn Quast-Frank

• Certified Integrative Health & Nutrition Coach
• Professional Counseling Diploma
• Professional Grief & Bereavement Diploma
• Certified Trauma-Informed Coach
• Certified Whole Life Alignment Facilitator
• Accredited Aromatherapist
• Neuroplasticity Practice Certification

"The Soulful Journey is NOT about treating or curing any specific disease or condition. It is about creating health."

As an Integrative Health & Nutrition Coach with a Professional Counseling Diploma, I see the value in an overall approach to wellness. I believe that while nutrition holds a big roll in healing our body from chronic illness and managing autoimmune symptoms, it is also equally important to take a whole body approach. This requires learning how to manage internal and external stressors, calm the mind, and find optimum balance in many other areas of our lives. Using proven counseling techniques and mind-body healing strategies along with targeted dietary protocols & specialized supplements, we can work together to create a bio-individual approach to healing and remission. Our bodies are designed to heal themselves if given the right tools.

Today it is my mission to help as many people as I can who experience health struggles, especially those that are related to autoimmune illnesses. I specialize in Hashimoto's and Fibromyalgia and offer 1-on-1 coaching, as well as group sessions.

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"As the pieces of the puzzle began locking into place, it was absolutely mind-blowing!"

In 2013, I suffered a painful accident that affected my upper neck and shoulders. Doctors sent me home with no x-rays or tests, just some pain medication and a promise that it would improve. A short time later I began experiencing vertigo, an early onset of menopause, extreme fatigue, and anxiety. I finally made a doctor's appointment and learned that I had an underactive thyroid which he believed explained my symptoms. Being on long-term medication was personally not a road I wanted to travel, so I chose to take a more natural approach. For 5 years I managed to support my thyroid with essential oils and supplements, and although my TSH numbers were only showing minor improvement, they helped to manage my symptoms dramatically. In the summer of 2019, my vertigo suddenly became more intense and I started experiencing brain fog, vision changes and my anxiety began to take over my life. I just knew that there was something else going on, but having lost complete faith in the medical system which I felt were constantly trying to push pills to suppress my symptoms rather than healing the root cause of the problem, I began searching for the answers myself.

In February of 2020, our 25-year-old son was killed in a tragic workplace accident and the entire landscape of my life changed in a split second. All of the band-aids I was using to hold myself together were suddenly ripped off, causing a very rapid decline in my health. The grief and stress set the wheels in motion and all of my symptoms became magnified while new ones quickly began emerging. Less than 9 short months later came the sudden and tragic loss of my sister. Her kidneys had begun shutting down a few years previously, but she suddenly took a turn for the worse. She was admitted to the hospital and was to be prepped for dialysis. During what should have been a very simple procedure, the surgeon clipped a major artery, and our hospital was not equipped to deal with it. She went into cardiac arrest and passed away. We were in complete shock all over again. Next to my husband, she was my best friend and the biggest support system I had during the loss of our son. I soon became a mere shell of my old self, although most people would have never known my true inner struggle.

Moving Forward

My own healing journey has not been easy. Trying to connect the dots and find the answers I needed to heal my mind and body was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. By this time, I had developed widespread pain throughout my body, chronic fatigue, poor sleep, hair loss, weight gain, anxiety, depression, headaches, TMJ pain, brain fog, memory loss, tinnitus, numbness in my hands and feet, circulatory issues, swelling, digestive issues, restless leg syndrome, dry skin, sensitivity to cold, and hair loss. Just to name a few. (*Insert eye roll). Frustration soon followed as doctors only wanted to prescribe pills to treat each of my symptoms individually, but with my long list of symptoms, let's face it, I would have required another house just to store all of my medications. Seriously. And with all of the side effects and interactions between these medications, I knew this was just not an option. I was always taught to follow my gut, and my gut was telling me that all of my symptoms were somehow connected. If indeed this was the case, then treating the symptoms separately was ridiculous. I knew I needed to find the one common link in all my symptoms so that I could find the root cause. I knew I needed to address that instead of masking the symptoms with a plethora of pills. So, in my desperate need for answers, I turned to Google, read more books than I had probably ever read in my entire life, watched podcasts and registered for information clinics. To be honest, I was so overwhelmed by all the conflicting information that it made me feel even more defeated in my quest for answers. I decided the only way I may ever get the answers I was looking for was to return to school and learn the right way. And at my age, that was a daunting thought.

I dove into my studies at IIN (Institute of Integrative Nutrition) where I completed a 1 year program and graduated as a certified health and nutrition coach. I was blessed to have been instructed by some of the world's leading functional medical doctors and alternative medicine advocates. It was through this amazing experience that I learned how everything is indeed connected, just as the dots were finally connecting for me. I took a very special interest in the field of autoimmune diseases and hormones, along with the role they play in our health. Autoimmunity happens when our body’s immune system gets confused, and it begins attacking itself. Doctors are limited in their training and treatment for this diagnosis, and therefore, they can only treat the symptoms. Due to the lack of medical treatment options available, anti-body testing is not done unless a patient insists. These tests cost the healthcare system money, and even if the tests confirmed high levels of antibodies, there are no medications that will address these conditions (except immune suppressing drugs which can cause even more side effects and problems) which means separate medications are still required for each individual symptom. Due to this, our medical system considers testing antibodies as a huge waste of time and money. I mean, "Why test for something you can't treat?" It was at this moment that a light bulb went on and the pieces of the puzzle began falling into place. It was a major A-HAH moment! My sister had several autoimmune diseases including Graves' disease and Fibromyalgia. Her life consisted of taking pills for every different symptom over the past 25+ years. Upon her passing, the realization of exactly how many medications she had been taking completely floored me! I suddenly realized that her kidney disease was not just some random freak of nature or bad luck, but rather, it was caused by the overload of prescription medications which in turn, overwhelmed her kidneys causing Acute Renal Failure. THIS became my WHY. I did not want to head down this road and I certainly did not want to lose another family member or friend to something that could so easily be prevented! Armed with this information and a newfound determination, it not only lead me to the answers I was so desperately seeking for myself, but in turn, has put me on the path to helping others to prevent the same outcome. I only wish that I had this information before I lost my amazing sister. It was especially hard on me when I realized that all of this could have been so easily prevented and she could still be here with us today if I'd have only known what I know now.

My Diagnosis

I always say be your own advocate. Tune into your gut instincts ... you know your body better than anybody. Even a good doctor will tell you that. I was finally diagnosed with 5 autoimmune diseases by a homeopathic doctor. I insisted that my medical doctor run tests to confirm and the results came back positive. Lucky for me, all of my training had taught me how to take a functional approach to address the root cause of the problems. Within weeks I was already feeling better and over time I began to notice many of my symptoms disappearing, including my hot flashes and other menopause symptoms. That was only one bonus! Also being able to control my weight (weight gain is another glorious side effect of an underactive thyroid) was so much easier. Within 1 year, I lowered my thyroid TSH from 22 down to 5 and my antibody numbers also began dropping. Today, managing my autoimmune diagnosis allows me to live my life symptom free, with so much more energy to focus on my family and my business. I definitely understand how hard the struggle can be, but I am living proof that autoimmune remission is possible.


*Awareness Regarding the Possible Overuse of Medications:
If you want more information regarding the overuse of medications and their long term side effects, please visit our resources page.

THE POSSIBLE DANGERS OF MEDICATIONS


Essential Oils

If you struggle with autoimmune conditions, essential oils are very powerful in supporting your body's needs. They can help reduce inflammation, act as a natural form of pain relief, and are also very useful in coping with stress, anxiety, insomnia, brain fog and other autoimmune symptoms. Additionally, choosing natural, safe everyday products like shampoo, deodorant & cleaning supplies, can reduce toxic overload which also contributes to inflammation.

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Coaching

1:1 coaching allows your experience to be personalized and is targeted specifically to your very own bio-individual needs. You will learn how to effectively and confidently inch forward with small weekly action steps to avoid becoming overwhelmed. The knowledge and tools you will gain through my program will allow you to continue with lifelong progress that will put you in complete control of your own health moving forward.

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Recipes & Tips

All things "Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free and Sugar-Free!" Considering a Whole Foods Lifestyle? When we struggle with autoimmune diseases, many trigger foods can cause painful or frustrating flares. I often get asked "What can I eat?" I know it seems hard, so I have complied a list of some of my favorite recipes along with some great tips to help you out. Hopefully it will give you some motivation and inspire you to be more creative in the kitchen!

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Find Us on Facebook

Join us on Facebook for a wealth of free information and enlightening conversations geared towards my fellow autoimmune warriors! We offer a wellness-based community for like-minded chats, some great tips, autoimmune related information, helpful free downloads, healthy recipes, autoimmune recovery tools, essential oil information, product recommendations and so much more! Hop on over and I hope to see you there!

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Recommended Links

Click on any of the links below to visit their websites.

  • IIN
  • FOH
  • doterra
  • NUCCA
  • TOL

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