Jenn Gulbrand – Age 60

About me

Jenn Gulbrand is a builder of heart-centered communities and safe, supportive spaces for growth and healing. It all began in 1996 when she founded the SheBreathes Balance Women’s Collaborative, an education, empowerment, & advocacy collective for women to experience self-care, sisterhood, and support, both personally and professionally. There was truly nothing of the kind in existence at that time, and she quickly saw the positive impact that her community was having and how her programs were impacting so many lives for the better.

In January of 2020, she became a corporate dropout, leaving her position as Co-Founder of a Premier Sales Training Company in the Life Sciences space. After having spent 35 years leading companies in the health and wellness space, she knew she was being called to do something more.  She leased a space, three times the size across the hall from the original studio with the intention to build a more inclusive space for everyone to grow and heal, and by everyone, she meant “he/she/they/them/us/we”. She was determined to reach more people who needed a safe space to improve their well-being and feel a sense of belonging.  COVID shut her down only weeks after making the expansion official.  The next few years were hard for all small businesses, but she persevered because she believed in the mission. When people began re-emerging from lockdown, the WeBreathe Wellness Center provided the perfect place for people to gather in community and access the programs and support they needed to restore themselves – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

As an individual contributor in the communities she has built, Jenn serves as a WellBeing Coach, Spiritual Mentor, Trauma Informed Somatic Therapy Practitioner, and Holistic Healer.

Jenn published her first book Embody Your Essence in May of 2023 as a way to encourage more truth-telling and help heal the human heart.  She encourages people to push past the fear and share their stories. In a world where most of us are hiding to stay “safe,” speaking our vulnerable truth may be one of the most courageous things we can do.

After receiving such a positive response from readers expressing gratitude for making them feel less alone and “not broken.”  Jenn was inspired to create what she calls her “SheQuel”- a collection of other women’s stories who have moved through life’s challenges with both grit and grace, and that is how the concept for the SheBreathes Soul Stories was born.

And then… Jenn founded the WeBreathe WellBeing Soul Sanctuary, a 501c3 Nonprofit. Its mission is to provide a safe, supportive container for growth and healing with programs and services designed to cultivate human connection, a sense of belonging, and a commitment of service to the world. The Soul Sanctuary is seeking funding to secure its own location to cultivate immersive retreat experiences in natural surroundings for individuals and groups to gather in unity with a shared intention to raise the collective consciousness and directly combat the effects of a global mental health crisis.

What do you do and why do you do it?

I am a builder of heart-centered communities and safe, supportive containers designed to hold space for growth and healing.

I founded SheBreathes Balance Women’s Collaborative and the WeBreathe Wellness Center to help raise the collective vibration and heal the human heart.

As a Trauma-Informed Somatics Therapy Practitioner, Well-Being Coach, and Holistic Healer, I empower people to live in better alignment with their true nature. I combine positive psychology, mindfulness, meditation, breath work, movement, integrated energy and vibrational sound healing to improve client’s well-being and return them to a state of balance and alignment.

What changed for you after age 50?

Everything! I call myself a Corporate Dropout Gone Goddess. After 35 years of leading companies in the health and wellness space, I followed my soul’s calling to focus on building heart-centered communities and safe, supportive spaces for growth and healing.

What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?

• Lighten up!
• Release your burdens, and don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Stop putting so much emphasis on what everyone else thinks about you because we are not here to please others.
• Take risks. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes—simply learn from them.
• Our journey is to be here on Earth School to learn how to feed our own soul… to love and accept ourselves.
• You are enough JUST AS YOU ARE. You don’t have to prove yourself or earn it.
• Enjoy the ride and have more fun!

What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?

You made a difference in the lives of many with your loving, kind spirit.

What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?

Raise the collective vibration and radiate more joy.

Who or what inspires you and why?

I am inspired every day by the women in my community who have overcome challenges in their lives…who have worked through the healing process and kept moving forward toward the light to become the fullest expression of themselves.

Something else I’d like to share

I just published my first book, Embody Your Essence: Break Patterns of Suffering and Reclaim Your Joy.

My inspiration for writing this book came from deep contemplation regarding my own life and a desire to develop more conscious connections with the people in my life. After nearly six decades in this energy body, I realized that when we show up authentically, expose our vulnerabilities, and share our real stories. We begin to heal ourselves and one another. Henry David Thoreau said, “We are constantly being invited to be who we are,” but how many of us accept the invitation to show up authentically in our interactions with others? How often do we feel safe enough to bring our whole self to a conversation or to a relationship? Why don’t we go deeper in our interactions with one another?

In a world where people hide to stay “safe,” speaking our vulnerable truth is one of the most courageous things we can do. I want to serve as a catalyst for a movement toward being more consciously connected—to a place where we find the courage to show up with empathy, authenticity, a recognition of shared values and common experiences, and a safe, supportive container in which to share who we really are at our deepest layers. Conscious connections are made when we share the unfiltered essence of ourselves with others, including our true identities—not just our joys, but our pain, thoughts, feelings, life experiences, dreams, and desires.

Studies confirm that our brains are hardwired to reach out and interact with other people. Receptors light up when we interact intimately and honestly with friends, family, and community. When we make meaningful connections with other people, we strengthen our immune systems, recover from disease faster, and live longer. Meaningful human connection lower our rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide. So why do we keep our truths locked in a vault for most of our lives, feeling lost, alone, broken, and disconnected from ourselves and one another?

I believe we are held back by our own subconscious limiting beliefs and fears of being misunderstood, being judged, and not belonging. Here I am, showing up in my wholeness, to reveal my true essence—who I am, what I have experienced, and how those experiences have shaped my life—with the intention of helping others on their path to healing.

The shift that will lead us to deeper, more fulfilling relationships and connectedness will happen when we begin looking at our commonalities and recognizing our shared experiences. What a difference we will make when we show up authentically with a desire to listen and learn and be fully present for one another through more conscious and connected communications, receptivity, and understanding.