Dana Kelly Wellness
Companions on a Journey
The Chagrin Valley Times
by Sue Reid
It was about five years ago that Chagrin Falls resident Dana Kelly began carving out what would become her true path in life. “I went through a difficult time in my life and was seeking grounding and peace,” Ms. Kelly, a mother of three who holds a degree in elementary education, recalled. Early on in that journey of self-discovery, she turned to meditation as way to cope, listened to podcasts such as Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday “religiously,” and looked at herself in the mirror each day to simply say, “I love you.” “I was trying to get through this time,” she said. Dinner with a friend who was pursuing functional medicine coaching opened her eyes to the idea of coaching in general, and increased her desire to dive into the whole picture of balancing such areas as spirituality, relationships and more.
To that end, Ms. Kelly, 54, went on to pursue and complete a 10-month course out of New York to earn her certification in wellness and health coaching through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, or IIN. Even if she did nothing with the certification, she wanted to sign up for the class, she said. As she studied, Ms. Kelly gravitated more toward the spirituality aspect of the coursework than the nutrition piece, despite 25 years of cooking — her passion — under her belt. “I loved it so much,” Ms. Kelly said of all she gleaned from the program. “It’s about the whole picture.” That time marked the beginning of her desire to become a health coach of some kind, she said, although she didn’t think she would have the confidence to pursue it. Her passion for it, though, propelled her toward taking that first step. She began Dana Kelly Wellness in 2019, exposing her journey — and herself — to those she served.
“I’m very vulnerable with my clients,” she described. “I knew (early on) I could share what I had been through.” “I call myself a wellness coach,” Ms. Kelly, a Chester Township native and 1987 graduate of West Geauga High School, continued. But the coaching is not about the working out and nutrition piece. Rather it is about the journey — like her own — to something greater.
“I want to be about the baby steps you take through life to change your lifestyle in different areas,” she said. Pre-COVID, Ms. Kelly opened her practice in StepNorth to share that message, thinking at first she would work just with women. But through word of mouth, that demographic expanded.
“I would be talking to friends going through things and they would ask, ‘Will you work with my son or my brother?’ and it just spread,” she said. “Sharing what I had been through gave me the confidence,” she continued, not holding back her anxieties or struggles as a means of guiding others to share their own.
In addition to her practice, which she conducts virtually or in person and no longer with an office space, Ms. Kelly delves into her passion for cooking, living the same balance she shares with her clients.
“The food piece is my creativity,” she said. “It’s where I find joy and am very present.” It is also where she gravitates toward simple ingredients, such as the lemon and thyme that are among her “go-to’s” -- and the name of her other endeavor, Lemon Thyme, which took root about eight years ago when cooking for a blended family.
She began taking photos of her creations and posting them on social media, sharing their simplicity and beauty with those around her. She has gained a following as a result, and plans to open, perhaps in the fall, an E-commerce business, selling kitchen and home items under her brand.
Ms. Kelly also hopes to write a cookbook one day. “Food and cooking are my love language,” she said, adding that she loves capturing it all with pictures. “Less ingredients the better,” she said of her simple creations, some of which include bowls for easy weeknight dinners or tasty appetizers to share when entertaining a group of friends or family.
Food is beautifully connected and intricate to the balance she practices in life. “When we are more grounded, we will eat better and make better choices,” she noted. Ms. Kelly, who dubs herself a “recipe follower,” creates her dishes in her village home, which she has made cozy and warm with fires in the winter and candles burning.
“Every space in my house feels peaceful to me,” she said of her Hickory Hill Road home.
“I’m very well balanced,” Ms. Kelly continued with regard to the gifts she possesses and shares with others. “I tend to always find joy and the positive in things -- not that I don’t feel my feelings.” “People have told me I have really good energy, and that helps my clients,” she said. She differs from a therapist in that she is not a quick fix, she explained, but about “very much small action steps” to get where people need to be.
“It’s about changing the little things,” Ms. Kelly said. “Everything is a manifestation. We can manifest good things in our lives or bad things.” “I will share my stories with my clients and
what they can do, then we come up with something together,” she added of making changes.
“I’m a friend and a cheerleader to them.” Ms. Kelly also develops alongside them. “When I’m working with clients, as much as I’m helping them, they are helping me,” she said. “It’s sort of a win-win between the two and so satisfying.” She said she is helping her clients get to where they want to be faster than she did. “We’re always growing and working on things, and it takes time to really get there,” she said.
“I’m the best version of myself today than I have ever been in my entire life,” she added. “I love watching people grow.”