If you’ve been following along with tuja for a while, you may be aware we were founded over a decade ago in Canmore, Alberta. If you’re a new tuji, welcome! We’re so glad you’re with us.
Since the very beginning, we’ve been committed to fluidity, adapting and shifting to best reflect what wellness looks like here and now. We began as an online wellness publication, sharing everything from recipes and guided meditations to deep-dives and interviews about anything under the vast and beautiful umbrella of holistic wellness. Now, we are pleased to introduce a new arm of offerings that we have lovingly named live well by tuja wellness.
Since we’re celebrating nearly a dozen years of existence and rolling out a new wave of offerings, we thought there was no one better to introduce them than our founder, Ed Malcolm (and we figured we might as well introduce him too!)
Ed is currently living out what he calls “Life 3.0” after retiring from a long career in Calgary. He lives between Canmore, Calgary, and Kelowna and enjoys his personal wellness practices daily.
“I am fortunate to have more time to make wellness a significant priority now that I am in the Life 3.0 phase of my life. I have a morning routine of 60 pushups, stretching, various supplements, overnight oats, and meditation,” said Ed.
“During the day, I walk our dog, lift weights every second day, practice yoga and spin a couple of times per week and enjoy some outdoor activity with friends, which, depending on the season, includes biking, hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, and water activities. I also have regular naturopath, massage, acupuncture, active release, and ionic foot baths as preventative maintenance. Also, spending time with family and friends is key, especially during the current times, to maintain social connections.”
If you know Ed, he’s likely taken you out on or spoken about his weekly mountain “Edventures.” He is extremely well versed in the Canadian Rockies and spends tons of time exploring with his friends and family.
In 2009, the inspiration for tuja wellness stuck when he “realized there was a lot of useful information available on the internet and through other sources; however, there didn’t seem to be one place to find all the health and wellness information for a particular market. We developed a directory website from coast-to-coast in Canada but realized that to keep top of mind with our audience, we needed to post regular articles, videos, podcasts, and hold challenges, which we did.”
Now, with a desire to expand both our community and our offerings, we’ve mindfully crafted the live well offering, and we’re eager to tell you more.
“A few years ago, through my observations and talking to my friends, I realized that workplace wellness programs were growing in popularity but were not achieving the desired results due to the lack of proper structure,” said Ed. This led to the creation of live well as you see it today.
“Live well is designed to help people determine their wellness issues through dedicated conversations with a hand-picked tuji who will coach, connect, cheerlead, and hold them accountable to improving the areas of greatest need. We discovered that we’ve all had coaches our whole life (parents, teachers, arts, sports, corporate), so why don’t we have a coach for the most essential aspect of our life?”
The live well journey begins with a mindfully-designed intake survey before matching you with one of our wellness connector coaches. Next, you will have a conversation that will help you select the wellness area that you could benefit most from elevating. From there, you and your wellness connector coach will identify a specific, actionable goal in that area to work towards. You will also receive practitioner referrals, if applicable, and recommendations for resources, tools, and tips to help facilitate your goal.
“As we were developing the program, we realized that having the knowledge and guidance is a significant first step. Still, without accountability, it generally breaks down somewhere along the process. Accountability is no different from what parents, teachers, sports coaches, art/music instructors, and our bosses do daily,” said tuja’s founder.
In the final phase of live well, you have the opportunity to sign-up for ongoing accountability sessions to cheer you on, keep you motivated, and support you to achieve the goal you’ve set for yourself.
Ed believes that identifying wellness goals is invaluable. “Our health and wellness is the pillar to having a fun and joyful life. If you don’t have this foundation, it’s very challenging to accomplish other life goals.”
“No one program fits everyone, so it’s essential to tailor things to your situation. Very few people have the proper knowledge to take their wellness to the next level, so we need to have a coach/connector that can guide them and hold them accountable. Our philosophy is that regardless of where someone is on the health spectrum, we can elevate them up the wellness ladder one step at a time.”
Ed himself is constantly working to uncover and work towards personal wellness goals. “Until this year, an elusive goal has been a regular meditation practice along with focused nose breathing. I’ve been fortunate that Naomi Keane, who owns the Oranj Fitness studios in Calgary and Airdrie, has been holding morning meditation sessions for the past three months that my wife and I have been attending regularly. I’m also reading a good book called Breath by Daniel Nestor that explains the importance of proper nose breathing.”
The process of selecting our wellness connector coaches is of the utmost importance to us. “This is a big challenge as the person needs to have exceptional listening skills and detect the main health issues to point the individual towards qualified practitioners that can further assist them. They need to be empathetic yet influential in holding people accountable. We have developed a set of criteria that the connector coaches need to meet to ensure our customers receive the best support possible,” the founder explained.
If you’re struggling to take the first steps on your wellness journey, Ed has some advice: “Hire a tuja wellness connector coach!!! It can be very daunting, so having someone who can guide you along the journey makes it much easier and more rewarding.”
We hold the live well offering very close to our hearts, and we are so pleased to finally be able to share it with you. If you want to learn more, head here. If you’re ready to get started, all you need to do is fill out the intake questionnaire, and you’ll be hearing from us right away!
Yours in wellness,
tuja
