Meet Nathan Wildes of The Institute For Inner Peace

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Wildes.

Nathan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story of how I got into my career in holistic wellness is always a pleasure for me to tell because of how it reflects the awareness I have now of how everything happens for a reason and the right answer comes along at the right moment when you are open to receiving it.

First, you should know holistic wellness is my 4th career path. When I went to college I majored in International Relations with visions that I was going to find a career in what I loved most at the time which was studying and learning more about people from around the world. But having grown up with a very scarred relationship with both school and the teachers and kids I encountered along the way, my psyche was just not able to stay in that environment any longer. There were things I very much enjoyed about college. But I walked away after 3 years and found my way into the casino business.

6 years in that industry took me through nearly every key part of the casino world, all the way up to becoming a surveillance officer. That work helped me land very safely when I made the choice to move away from the friendly and familiar surroundings of Connecticut, where I grew up, and ended up in Las Vegas, NV. But, within less than a year I was out of the casino business. After floundering around for a year or so, I decided to go back to school to study film/tv production. I found a professional training school in Vegas where I was re-awakened to my passion. I love telling stories, and being part of making become an instant passion, I got my degree and headed of to LA soon thereafter.

I spent the next 10 years trying to find my way in the film/tv industry. I loved the work whenever it would come my way, but despite my passion for it, I never could find a solid foothold. Still I rose through the ranks and learned everything about the industry and love it to this day. But, then a random encounter with a woman planted a seed in me. She looked me right in the eye and said you’re a healer–her exact words.

So, in January 2020, I made the decision to sign up for massage training. At the time, I looked at it as a better part-time job to pay bills than say Lyft-driving while I still had my eyes on advancing in my career in the film/tv business. However, while I signed up for massage training in January, the first class didn’t start until April 2020. In the meantime, Covid happened, and with it, my industry career ended right then and there. Yet, what felt like the worst possible situation (which of course it was for almost everyone) turned out to be the ultimate, beneficial twist of fate. You see, Covid left me with literally nothing to do and nowhere to go. The only thing I had to focus on was my massage training. My massage school put us on Zoom from the first day. And, from the very first day, I knew I had found my calling. I loved it from day-one, and since there was nothing else to distract me, I could focus on it 100%.

Now 5 years later, I’m a holistic wellness specialist who is trained in massage, Reiki, life coaching, spirituality, and so many more modalities, combined with a deep and passionate understanding of how holistic medicine can and is changing the world. Every day as I learned more, and later practiced, the healing techniques that I have at my disposal, I healed myself just as much as my clients and customers. I now and can spread the word about how holistic medicine allows the average person to take back control of their health and wellness needs. We are the path away from dependency on doctors, psychiatrists and the Rx industry.

My mission in life now is to guide people on the path of healing from the inside; finding their inner peace. For all healing is ultimately achieved by the individual. WE heal ourselves…and as we do, we begin to heal those around us. In the end, we in the conscious community — holistic healers, spiritual guides, instructors and facilitators in yoga, QiGong, group therapy classes, and curated gatherings, workshops and retreats, and so many more — we are the path towards peace in our world. Even if the ultimate destination is never fully reached, the more people who join us on our collective path, the better our world and our global community will heal, grow, and thrive.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, I faced a great many challenges along the way to where I am now in my field. Most of them had to do with personal pain and struggles. I was an extremely depressed person at the time I began working in massage. But, I saw in myself how much *I was healing* in my work healing others. It has taken years of very difficult experiences and the release of deep internal pain for me to be here now able to answer these questions. Questions I can answer without fear or shame, allowing my story (hopefully) to resonate with others who may be somewhere along the same path that I’ve been walking these past 5 years.

That depression and the experiences of my childhood that drove me to that depression often would hinder my progress toward achieving my professional goals (which are still not fully realized). I’ve learned over these past few years that depression and shadows can arise in unintended ways leading to misguided words or actions leading to painful misunderstandings.

But, I know now, that ‘smooth roads’ are in fact not the best roads to travel when the goal is to improve yourself and become who I am really meant to be. “Too easy” can often be ‘too dangerous’. We learn and grow from mistakes, setbacks, and other obstacles that force us to face the parts of ourselves we really don’t like. Once we’ve faced them, we can make peace with them, heal them, and emerge a stronger, wiser, more empowered version of ourselves. That’s where I am now.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My company is all about providing and educating the public on healing practices and services that can help improve their lives and wellbeing.

Currently, I work as a solopreneur with a variety of outside resources I use for business development. I offer individual treatment services spanning a wide variety of modalities in the areas of bodywork, emotional healing, energy work, and more. Where I take things into a new frontier is that I curate personalized experiences for clients that combine a few modalities into a single therapeutic session. Holistic practices are complementary in nature. These experiences allow a client to experience that enhanced effect of each service without having to travel to different places to get them, and maximizing their combined benefits on your overall health.

I’m also soon to be releasing a weekly newsletter called the 5 Spheres of Wellness. The newsletter is centered around my 5 Spheres philosophy toward health and wellness. There are 5 individual spheres of your life and your being that come together to define your current state of wellness – Body, Mind, Heart, Energy, and Environment. In this weekly newsletter, paid members will receive three insightful articles per week in both text and video form. These articles will cover a limitless range of topics to keep you aware of the many facets there are to improving, maintaining, and taking control of your overall wellbeing.

I’m also announcing here, for the first time, that I am in the early stages of putting together a retreat that will bring together the very best holistic experts from around the country and the world. Centered around the 5 Spheres theme, this retreat will become the launching point for building an ever-growing network of powerful healers and mentors to spread the gift of our work around the world.

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
This industry is going to grow ever-stronger. We are really just in the beginning even though we all see how quickly it has grown to become such an integral part of our culture and society. In the US and around the world, I feel the public is becoming more and more fed up with the medical industry. While its role in our lives can never be fully out-moted, we all see that far too much of the medical and pharmaceutical business has long since stopped caring or having any interest in healing, curing, or providing any other permanent form of relief from a medical condition or situation.
The trend I’m most interested to watch, and I’m not yet sure which way is going, is where the paths of the supplement industry, the health tech industry, and the holistic medicine industry move into a healthy and sustainable synergy. All three are an integral part of the overall health and wellness industry. When they come together and move in a cohesive, aligned direction the result is greater for all involved especially the end user. Occasionally, though, I worry about when we sort of cross each others’ path and get in each other’s way. Is the supplement you’re offering meant to replace the benefits of a massage or convince someone they don’t need the positive impact of a wellness device (like an oura ring or an EMF blocker)?
In the end all shifts, trends, and changes in our industry should be met with this question: Is this shift, change, or trend going to lead to more money being made or greater impact for the end user?

Pricing:

• Newsletter Membership – $10/mo
• Individual Services (various) – $150/hr average
• Blended Service sessions start at $500
• Packages available

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instituteforinnerpeace.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instituteforinnerpeace/