When the Path Stops Nourishing You: Self-Love, Breathwork, and Choosing Yourself

What happens when the career you worked so hard to build starts to feel like a cage? For Kelli Cook — nurse practitioner, RYT 200 yoga instructor, and founder of The Yoga Plant in Chippewa Falls — the answer came down to one thing: self-love. And choosing a path that wasn't nourishing her wasn't it. In this episode, Kelli shares the story of walking away from conventional western medicine, what it felt like to be in a system she couldn't fully stand behind, and how getting laid off turned out to be exactly the push she needed. She talks about the 14-year transformation that led her to open The Yoga Plant, move into functional medicine, and build a practice rooted in the mind-body-spirit connection she always knew mattered. But this episode isn't just about a career pivot. Kelli gets practical too. She's a busy mom of four running a studio and a functional medicine practice, and she talks about why underscheduling is her biggest power move, why 15 minutes counts even when it doesn't feel like enough, and how to stop waiting for self-care to look a certain way before you let yourself have it. She also breaks down breathwork in a way that's easy to take home with you — what's happening in your body when you breathe with intention, how a simple box breath can quiet a chaotic mind, and why the words you pair with your breath carry more weight than most people realize. If you've ever felt like the path you're on stopped feeling like yours, this episode is worth a listen.