Read All About It!

Jennifer was recently
featured in the Lodi News
click here to read the
article by Lauren Nelson.

Meet Jennifer

I was a 50s housewife who married 3 months out of high school. By the time I was twenty-seven I had 4 children, and was living the life I had been trained to live.

Along came Betty Friedan with her book, The Feminine Mystique, followed by Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine, and my consciousness was raised.

I was “well-liberated” when, a decade later, the first “symptoms” of midlife transition surfaced. I was picking up someone’s dirty clothes off the floor. “I’m not the maid around here,” I growled. A little voice inside said, “then why do you act like one?”

And so began my journey into becoming my Authentic Self. Some years later two very significant things happened. I entered midlife, and I met a woman who introduced me to the spiritual side of life . . . that world of subtle energies that are outside the awareness of our ordinary five senses.

By then I was in the computer business with my 2nd husband (a man who knew how to get along with a liberated woman by treating her as an equal, not a household appliance).

In retrospect I can see that the changes in perspective that come with menopause are the perfect setting for a spiritual awakening into becoming our Authentic Selves. After living 40 or 50 years in service to others the soul becomes increasingly demanding that we pay attention to our own personal and spiritual growth.

In 1991 I sold my part of the business (related to computerized accounting) and seriously began my inner journey. I was lucky. My husband completely supported my withdrawal from the business so I could focus on my own growth.

Nine years later I was back in the real world wanting to help others make the transition from living the life they were trained to live to living the life they were born to live.

I love helping women reconnect with their Authentic Self-the self that was suppressed in early childhood in order to be safe, and repressed in young adulthood in order to fit in.

I love smoothing the way, offering support and assurance that what you are experiencing is “normal” and that you are right on schedule for this transition into your Second Adulthood.

I am often asked,“So how did you become a coach? ” It is kind of a long story so I will give you the condensed version here. (You will find the full story in my book, Becoming Conscious: One Woman’s Story of Spiritual Awakening.

In 2004 I was practicing as an Energy Therapy Practitioner, helping people alleviate things like stress, anxiety, guilt, depression, fears, phobias, addictions and compulsions when I witnessed a teleclass instructor ask 5 simple questions in the space of about 2 minutes that led the person answering the questions to the core of her essential being and absolute knowing of who she was and what her purpose was. When I asked how she did that, she said it was called coaching.

The rest, as they say, is history. It was at the beginning of the second (of four) 5 day coach training classes that it just came to me—crystal clear—and I knew my path was to work with women who were on a quest to discover their Authentic Self.

When I am not teaching and coaching. . .

I like to bicycle ride, especially when the destination is someplace to eat! The longest bike ride I have taken is 32 miles. I am an avid reader, mostly non-fiction. I have been known to do a “junk book” marathon on occasion, reading 3 novels in a weekend.

I love writing as much as I do reading. My book, Becoming Conscious: One Woman’s Story of Spiritual Awakening took 8 years to write and 2 more years to rewrite with the help of a writer’s group.

I have been singing karaoke for about a year. In that time I have advanced from horrible to tolerable from a listener’s perspective. I love singing and no longer get nervous on the karaoke stage. I have a long way to go before I am truly entertaining, but until then I am having fun with it.

I haven’t watched television since May of 2002. I get a movie a week, usually a romantic comedy, to watch on Sunday evening. One of my favorites is When Harry Met Sally.

I also watch college courses, mostly history, when I do my morning exercise routine of Nordic Track, weights and stretching. That’s how I found out that a lot of “new age” ideas were as old as Socrates. One of my current favorite courses is The History of the English Language. I’ll bet you didn’t know that the original meaning of the word “silly” was blessed (pronounced as a two syllable word) as in a person whose portrait might have included a halo around his or her head.

To stay up to speed with the technology in this too-much-information-age, I take several educational teleclasses a week.

Credentials and professional training:

• Reiki Master
  
• Certified Aromatherapist
  
• Bachelor of Metaphysical Science (B.Msc.)
  
• Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist
  
• NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Practioner
  
• Certified Coach
  
• Certified Energy Coach
  
• EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
  

Affiliations and memberships:

• International Coach Federation
• Lodi Chamber of Commerce
• Stockton Women’s Network
• LWG Women’s Network
  

My favorites . . .

Chocolate . . . spring flowers . . . music . . . my home . . . my women friends . . . my children . . . ballroom dancing . . . live theater . . . gourmet dining . . . heart-to-heart conversations . . . exploring new ideas . . . watching the hummingbirds that hover in my garden . . . getting answers to questions I forgot I had asked . . . .

Contact Jennifer Grainger.

Jennifer is the author of: Becoming Conscious: One Woman's Story Of Spiritual Awakening, available directly
from Jennifer