Rozalind Joy Neil is an integrated holistic therapist, holistic coach and empowering holistic educator based in Fife, Scotland. She helps women discover their unique path to peace with a series of techniques to nurture their bodies, focus their minds, calm their emotions and revitalize their energy. She is also a Holistic Pregnancy Therapist, Integrative Wellness Coach and Empowering Birth Educator, sharing her passion and knowledge to support and educate women, helping them find the Serenity to bloom. Here Rozalind talks to The Natural Parent magazine about what inspired her to start her business, the challenges she has overcome and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to create your business?
I have been interested in women’s wellbeing since I was a student midwife in 2000 and was fascinated by the science and magic of aromatherapy for labor and birth. The hospital where I trained and worked pioneered the use of aromatherapy to support women’s choices for pain relief, relaxation, rejuvenation and contraction stimulation. I was truly inspired by the amazing benefits of holistic approaches to wellness and have spent the last 23 years exploring holistic therapies and gaining professional qualifications.
I was inspired to create my current business, Serenity to Flourish, for a number of reasons. The timing was right, I’m in a beautiful location and I had invested time and energy into business coaching and web design. I have a strong desire to help women tune into themselves, explore what uniquely helps them find peace, and empower women with training to inspire them to flourish. I wanted to share my personal and professional knowledge and experiences and create in-person and online spaces for women to find peace and flourish.
The launch: How did you get started in the first place?
My journey to becoming a holistic healer began when I trained in Reiki Level 1 & Level 2 and Angelic Reiki Level 1 & 2 and obtained a Diploma in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in 2007. The knowledge and experience I gained gave me some wonderful tools to support my own well-being as well as to begin my professional development. In 2008 I took a career break from my main job as a midwife and devoted myself to full-time training and successfully achieved my VTCT Level 3 qualifications in Aromatherapy, Swedish Massage, Reflexology and Crystal Therapy. I started working for a small holistic treatment business and am so grateful for the experience, confidence and skills I have developed. I had plans to start my own business in 2009 but also returned to midwifery and worked in research and education, and have since achieved a Cert Ed (teaching qualification) and a Masters in Education.
I moved to Scotland in 2010 and continued my professional journey in midwifery and frontline teaching, whilst exploring and developing my personal interests in holistic therapies. I was the lead midwife for teaching Aromatherapy to midwives between 2013 and 2022 in a hospital in Scotland. I have been invited to teach at other health boards in Scotland and spoke at the Royal College of Midwives conference in 2019 on perinatal mental health and aromatherapy. When my son started school in 2020, I had some space and time to invest more in my ideas for my holistic therapies business. I had an inner desire and drive to create my own brand and be innovative in developing my personalized services to share my synergy of knowledge and skills. Due to the pandemic, my main focus has been doing business coaching courses, designing and developing my websites, and creating content for my pre-recorded online courses. I have 2 sites: the main one is for all women and my pregnancy site focuses on pregnancy, birth and motherhood.
A 9-month Leadership Radiance Women’s Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program empowered, educated and inspired me to create both of my websites. I also developed knowledge and confidence in creating content for social media platforms. I’ve learned practical skills for my business and really tuned into the “why?” my. The reasons for creating and growing my business are my passion and heart-driven services for women. An Alchemical Embodied Business group mentoring program gave me even deeper insights into the meaning of my work with women and helped me explore areas of my life that I can alchemize to be more productive and effective with my soulful offerings for women.
Innovation: What has been the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I would say that the innovation and creativity I have for teaching really excites and pushes me! A big breakthrough that I’m really proud of is writing, recording and publishing my pre-recorded online lessons. There are 9 courses for My site specifically for pregnancy and 7 courses for my main website. The classes are a combination of Discovery Journeys on Holistic Self-Care Therapies, Holistic Self-Coaching for Flourishing, and 4 Keys to Compassionate Resilience. And Deepening Wonder classes, which explore aromatherapy, crystals, mindfulness, meditation and visualization more deeply. I am very proud of my Birthing Goddess: Holistic Birth Empowerment course, which includes 10 pre-recorded videos, 20 AZ pages for empowered birth, 3 pages of positive affirmations, a 13-minute guided meditation, and a 32-page course manual and 9-page aromatherapy fact sheets.
I wanted to share my passion, knowledge and experience with a wider, global audience. I taught midwives about aromatherapy in the NHS for 9 years and mindfulness and resilience for 4 years as part of my NHS role and remit. But I wanted to share more, teach more and reach more women internationally. The pandemic has given me the opportunity to increase my capacity in the online part of my business. I created the signature pre-recorded courses ‘Discovery Journeys’ and ‘Deepening Wonder’ alongside working in the NHS and being a mummy. It’s been a challenge and a breakthrough, but I’m happy with the lessons I’ve created. My online courses developed my creativity and I had to teach myself some technical skills to be able to record and host my courses on my website as a platform and make PayPal buttons!
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Space, time, self-awareness, planning, organization, self-compassion! I really value my job in the NHS and I’m very proud to be a mum, but I also need my own space and time to think. I am very conscientious and organized and like to plan ahead to ensure I get quality time with my son and loving time with myself. I’m also very compassionate and kind when life, work and work don’t go according to plan. I’m a true believer in balance, harmony and flow, but I thrive on strategy, goals and plans. I feel passionately that a fulfilling family life, professional career and business activities can be achieved with balance in each area. I have certain days when I work on my professional career as a midwife and lecturer, and days when I have appointments in my treatment room for clients. I also spend time and energy on the creativity I love to build engagement on social media. I also value personal development and enjoy balancing study with work and having quiet time to relax.
