Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep. # 129 Beyond the Physical: How Holistic Coaching Changes Lives
Jill Quinn's dance career came to an abrupt halt when she fractured her back after being dropped during rehearsal. Rather than letting this injury define her, it became the catalyst for a remarkable 25-year journey into wellness coaching. Today, as the founder of QuinnEssentials Wellness Solutions, Jill has transformed her own pain into a powerful platform for helping others overcome physical limitations and achieve holistic health.
"The body is a map. You just have to learn how to read it," Jill explains with the wisdom of someone who has devoted decades to understanding the complex relationship between physical pain and overall wellness. Through her home-based business offering Pilates, health coaching, nutrition guidance, menopause support, and Reiki, she creates personalized paths to healing that recognize we are more than just our physical bodies.
What sets Jill's approach apart is her understanding that true transformation isn't linear. While many clients come to her after failed quick-fix diets or exercise programs, she helps them embrace a more sustainable journey. She shares stories of clients who've lost over 100 pounds not through drastic measures but through consistent lifestyle changes and addressing the deeper aspects of health—emotional, spiritual, relational, and environmental. For women navigating menopause, Jill offers specialized coaching that acknowledges how hormonal changes fundamentally alter what the body needs from exercise and nutrition.
Whether you're recovering from injury, seeking to reclaim your health, or simply looking for a more balanced approach to wellness, this conversation will change how you think about your body's capabilities. Visit quintessentialswellness.com to book a complimentary 15-minute discovery call and begin your own transformation journey with Jill as your guide.
QuinnEssentials Wellness Solutions
Jill Quinn
Fort Mill, SC
jquinnessentials@gmail.com
quinnessentialswellness.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Here out of the South Charlotte area, my favorite thing to do is talk to local business owners and I came upon Jill. She is the owner of Jill . How are you today, jill Quinn?
Speaker 3:I am wonderful. How are you, Regina?
Speaker 2:Good, good, I love what you do and I think all women can be helped by the things you know and the things you share. Tell us a little bit about what Jill Essentials is, and then we'll kind of, oh, we need to start over, it's Quinn Essentials, okay.
Speaker 3:I was gonna pop in on that.
Speaker 2:When, when it was my turn to go, but we can start over. Okay, sorry about that.
Speaker 3:No worries.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're gonna just pick up right here and now. Jill, tell us a little bit about Quinn Essentials and what you guys do, and then we'll talk a little bit about how and why you got into it.
Speaker 3:Perfect. I'm so excited to be here. Thank you for having me. Quintessentials Wellness is a home-based business that does both virtual and in-person Pilates and health coaching, so I offer fitness-based coaching, nutrition, menopause coaching. I also do Reiki and a variety of other small group coaching programs. Quintessentials, I would say, was a dream born out of necessity during the pandemic. I didn't really anticipate starting a home-based business, but needs must. At the time, I was the Pilates coordinator over at Lifetime. I have 25 years now of coaching experience and sometimes life conspires for you to step forward into a dream that you only imagined, really in your dreams, but life took you down a different path. So that's how quintessentials was born in 2020.
Speaker 2:I love the name and it's holistic coaching and fitness overall wellness. So tell us how and why you got into this.
Speaker 3:I was a dancer and actress back in the day and I had an injury that brought me to a wise Pilates teacher in New York City and I was hooked right from the beginning. I said I want to be able to help people overcome what might be perceived as a life-changing injury or event. If you're an athlete or a dancer and you spend the primary portion of your life training for something and something like an injury derails you, it's not only your physical body that suffers, but you really don't have your identity set apart from that performative place. So I was hooked immediately on how I could help others find their way back, find a new path and also get back to feeling strong again.
Speaker 2:That's cool. Where was your injury?
Speaker 3:My back. I was dropped in a rehearsal and I fractured my back and you know, when you're 19, you kind of don't really understand the long-term ramifications. So the show must go on and I performed on that injury because the show was the next day and caused quite a bit of damage. That changed the trajectory of my career. Again, there are lots of things that you can say, looking back, that you would have done differently. But here I am, you know, 26 years into a Pilates career, a health and wellness career that I never really imagined.
Speaker 2:So why is Pilates an alternative for people who have aches and pains and issues like that?
Speaker 3:It is for every single body, but the primary reason why it's so helpful for folks who have injuries or issues with their joints is because it's gentle on the joints but powerful on the muscles. It's an inside out modality. What I mean by that is your core strength stabilizes you from the inside out and there's no impact on the joint, so that you can become strong and stable without really jarring your body in ways that, say, a hip workout wouldn't be appropriate.
Speaker 2:Right, right, I love that. So if it's, if you're doing a virtual Pilates class, does the person need a reformer at their home?
Speaker 3:No, not necessarily. I have some folks that do have their own personal reformer in their home studio. But we can do. I do all kinds of fitness. So we do map based Pilates, we do reformer Pilates, we do actual functional fitness. So dumbbells, trx, bosu bands all the things I started out as a group fitness instructor All the things I started out as a group fitness instructor back in the day teaching cycle and spin and group exercise, total body strength Pilates was the impetus to get me into the door, but I soon found many, many formats that were awesome to teach.
Speaker 2:So, yes, I was that cardio queen back in the day, me too. I was back in the leg. Warmer day, yes, going way back. So how do you intertwine the wellness and the coaching piece to a Pilates regimen Perfect.
Speaker 3:So I have a master's degree in exercise science and health promotion. So for me there's a deep health model that looks at multiple aspects of your health. So when someone comes to me and says I have a back pain, okay, we'll go down that road. Pilates might be a great point of entry for you. As we have our conversations or dive into other things that are impacting that back pain, we might find other areas of opportunity for coaching. It might be nutrition, it might be stress management, it might be the way in which you lift things at home. If your back pain is particular or if you have certain habits that you need help with, if your sleep is disrupted, that's gonna impact the way you show up for your workout the next day. So it usually evolves in a natural, organic way over the course of the conversations. Again, most people come thinking that they want to start with Pilates, but it evolves into a holistic coaching conversation.
Speaker 2:I see that. Do you work with men?
Speaker 3:and women. I do work with men and women. Some of the coaching programs I have, like my menopause coaching program, is specific to women, but I do work with men and women. Some of the coaching programs I have, like my menopause coaching program, is specific to women, but I have worked with men and women of every age and stage of their journey, from athletes to people recovering from injury prenatal, postnatal, all kinds and body types.
Speaker 2:So go dive in a little bit about menopause and how does that working with someone dealing with that differ from another client?
Speaker 3:Okay, perfect question, Because I again used to be a cardio queen like you and the way in which we approach fitness, perhaps in our 20s, 30s, maybe even early 40s, is not that same modality for someone who is facing a down regulation of their hormone profile, Sleep is disrupted, Mood, energy, joint pain is a significant side effect and symptom of menopause. So a HIIT workout for someone who hasn't slept or is having insane frozen shoulder as a result of lack of estrogen, you have to warm them up differently longer time, different approach, different exercise programming. It is a completely different lens through which to support the female client at that stage, that's super cool.
Speaker 2:Give us share maybe one of your clients their story, that something that really stands out, that you're super proud of their journey.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. Well, I've had quite a few clients go through significant weight loss of 100 pounds or more, and that that is not a linear journey. It can be years on that path and people often think that you're going to start out, you're going to do all the things all at once and you're going to go from A to B in 12 months. Let's say that's an oftentimes misconception. That can happen for some folks, but life happens along the way as you are set out on this goal and you are going to have setbacks and you are going to have things that throw you off course. So having a coach to support you through a big journey like that is of prime importance, because it's easy to just throw in the towel and say, well, it's too hard, it's too long, it's taking too long, I'm going to go for this quick fix. Oftentimes, yes, people think I'm going to go to Medi Weight Loss or this super caloric restriction, or I'm going to do this thing.
Speaker 3:I am a lifestyle behavior change specialist. So, although those things do work in the short term, or if you have a timeframe that you're going to a reunion or you've got a wedding, maybe, sure, those things might do the trick for that short window of time, but if you are looking to transform your life, having a coach that understands the deep health paradigm and the nonlinear process of health behavior change is of prime importance. Today I can look back at those two particular clients and be really proud of the fact that they did not give up on themselves, that they found a way to work with me by uncovering these strategies of health behavior change to create a lifestyle that suits them.
Speaker 2:So, thinking of those two clients in particular, how often do you recommend that you see or work with one of your clients to get those kind of results?
Speaker 3:To get those kind of results, people have to commit to doing a lot of work on their own. Most people do not have a coach five days, seven days a week. I had a funny conversation with my dentist when I was there the last time. She said I just need you to walk around behind me and slap the cookies out of my hand. I said no, you don't need me to do that, you need to do the homework yourself. I cannot follow you around and slap the cookies out of your hand. So it's a commitment. Coaching is a symbiotic relationship. Okay, I really am your guide and you have to commit to doing the work too. So two times a week minimum, ideally three to four. It depends on time and budget. If you are going to commit, I will create a program for you that you can follow. When you're not in front of me face to face, you have support of what to do and when, but actual one on one face time or within a group coaching model is somewhere between one to four times a week.
Speaker 2:You know, it just occurred to me. I bet most people come to you and they think they've failed, when, what you know, they tried a short term diet or exercise program. But what you just said really makes takes the pressure off that oh, this is supposed to happen in a month or two months or three months. I love that.
Speaker 3:I mean especially. I really learned to lean into that when I was coaching women who had just had children and they want to get their pre-baby body back. Man, you have just grown a human and it took you at least nine to 10 months to do this. So please give yourself the equal opportunity to recover. You are not going to sleep for probably four of those months. Like we have to learn how to approach this with grace. Your body is an absolute miracle of what it can do for you and it is so resilient If you learn to listen to it.
Speaker 3:I tell my clients often that the body is a map. You just have to learn how to read it and tune into what it is asking of you. Oftentimes we work so against ourselves by forcing certain things to happen within a certain timeframe. Yeah, sure, we want results fast because we are instant gratification creatures. It's hardwired into our DNA a bit, but this is a lifestyle that you are looking to create and it's going to take some time to implement that you are looking to create and it's going to take some time to implement.
Speaker 2:And genetically how we're made up. You know when you maybe want to look like someone it just may not even be possible.
Speaker 3:It may not be possible. Listen, I had this realization the other day. I was at the store with my girlfriend. We were shopping and I saw these giant platform shoes and I put them on and I said, oh, I'm going to be so tall she's a very tall friend and, lo and behold, the reality of my shortness showed up, because even with these giant disco platform shoes on, I was not as tall. And I said am I really that short? She goes. Do you not realize that you were that short? So the whole reason I tell this story is because, even if you want to, I am never going to be five, 10, no matter what I do, even if I wore these disco platform shoes.
Speaker 3:So you have to work with what you've got and maximize and optimize your DNA. I mean, that's a whole conversation of epigenetics. You may have a predisposition for certain health parameters or diseases, but if you adapt and adopt certain lifestyle behaviors, you can, yes, perhaps avoid those genetic predispositions. So I'm a huge fan of education. My clients definitely learn a lot when they are with me, because I want you to learn how to navigate your own body.
Speaker 2:Well, I love your website. You've got blogs, you've got recipes, all kinds of things Very, very informative. What do you wish people knew?
Speaker 3:about your business. Well, we've been touching on most of it, but I'll go a little bit further into depth with this. I do wish that people understood that health was not just the physical being healthy. I mean, I talk about this a lot with my clients. Sure, If you could squat or deadlift XPR, or if you could perform some acrobatic, phenomenal Pilates move that you see on Instagram, that's all well and good. But if your spiritual, emotional, environmental, professional, relational health is not where you would like it to be, I would consider you, yes, to be not as healthy as you could be.
Speaker 3:So one thing about my business that I take great pride in is I look at the whole human and we start, perhaps, yes, with the physical, but the physical is a top tier access point of what's really going on within you. Access point of what's really going on within you. So, for example, if you have back pain, all of that seems like it could be just muscles, ligaments, soft tissue and injury. Yes, perhaps, but there's also a lot of social and emotional stress that comes along with back pain. It shows up if you've had a lot of stress in your life. We hold it in certain areas. My yoga teacher always tells us in class that if you have hip issues, your issues are in your tissues, as it were. So you know the body. As you've heard that title, the body keeps the score. There's a lot going on within you that may appear in the physical, so I do wish that people knew about my business, that coaching is a complete, integrative, holistic approach to your overall well-being and I really enjoy being able to help people in that realm.
Speaker 2:Well, it's super cool because I can tell you know you, you educate, but then you walk side by side on the journey and that check in, having that person that knows you so well, has to be such a huge benefit. So when you're not doing all of this, what do you like to do for fun in the area?
Speaker 3:Well, I love to go to yoga. It is a way for me to receive coaching. I go to Dream Yoga Wellness here in Indian land and it is an amazing studio, super awesome instructors, so it's a chance for me to get a little bit back of what I receive, so that's fun for me. I read avidly and broadly. I'm writing fiction books at the moment, so that's a fun hobby for me. I love to go on walks, go to the Whitewater Center, the Anclos Greenway, as many opportunities as I can to get outside and enjoy nature. The most wild thing I've done in recent months is go axe throwing, because I am trying to do new things and get out of my comfort zone. I do not do well with objects that are thrown, so this was a very interesting endeavor. We had an absolute blast though, so trying to get fun things into my week that take me a little bit outside of what's comfort.
Speaker 2:I've been on that journey as well for the last few years and it's a lot of fun. You know there's things that haven't been on my bucket list that I have said I'll add it and done. I'll never do that again.
Speaker 3:I mean I would try it again. The next thing on my list is I want to try pickleball. But good luck trying to get a cork time.
Speaker 2:Oh wow. Yeah, it's very, very, very popular. Well, you have been so much fun. Jill, tell our listeners how they can find you.
Speaker 3:Awesome, much fun. Jill, tell our listeners how they can find you Awesome. It's been great to be here. You can find me on my website, at quinnessentialswellness. com, or on Instagram at quinnessentialswellness, the same for Facebook. If you go onto the website and you want to book a 15 minute complimentary discovery call, you can fill out a form there and we can have a conversation offline, and it would be a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know you.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, thank you so much, Jill, for your time today. It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:It's been awesome chatting with you, Regina. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPSouthCharlotte. com. That's GNPSouthCharlotte. com, or call 980-351-5719.