It all started with a bath and a blue heeler…
Sabrina’s path towards a healthy self-concept was a journey that lasted a decade, with roots spanning back a decade more still.
A curious girl fascinated with nature, Sabrina grew up reading books on everything from reflexology and traditional Chinese medicine to dreaming and philosophy, but her preoccupation with her body first expressed itself in a negative way.
Having grown up in the 90s generation of Seventeen and Cosmopolitan magazine, Sabrina turned every self-criticism into self-loathing and stagnation, which developed into an eating disorder that lasted from 2003 to 2013.
She managed it through art school, graduating with Honours, a stint in Advertising, and the purchase and DIY renovation of her first home. It wasn’t until she began practicing yoga and going for walks with her new puppy, Piper, that Sabrina began to shift from restriction towards nourishment.
With some space and success, Sabrina found herself taking baths for the first time in her adult life, and playing with skin and body care for the first time. But life marched on, and all of her hard work in her fields of design, illustration and blogging led her into the opportunity of a lifetime: co-hosting her own show on HGTV, where being “on” full-time was the job.
Without knowledge or boundaries, she began neglecting her body and ignoring her inner voice once more which took form of a diagnosis of Hashimothos Thyroiditis. Despite “having-it-all” on paper, Sabrina was unhappy and burnt out. So she did something drastic: she broke off her engagement and 9-year relationship, pursued her yoga teacher training certification, and decided to make a plan to walk away from her role as an HGTV host and television personality.
Two solo-trips to Bali, Indonesia and throughout Thailand later, she began falling in love with herself and — at the same time — her dog-sitter, and together in 2018, they moved from Milton, Ontario to Squamish, BC.
Closer to nature, Sabrina spent her first year teaching yoga at a local studio and spending more and more time away from her devices and deeply immersed in the outdoors. With a newfound appreciation of plants and her body, she stopped counting calories for the first time in over a decade and began eating and moving intuitively, not for an event or an after-photo, but for improved strength, mobility and mental toughness.
Self-care practices new and old became a regular ritual, and through it, Sabrina developed a deeper understanding of her cycle, her skin, and her mind. She began to study the healing benefits of plant oils at the same time she became enlightened about the toxic ingredients she’d been using in her home, bathroom and beauty products her whole life.
After months of research into local suppliers and clean ingredients, she began developing her own oil perfumes, chakra healing blends and body products, and in 2021, she launched Heelr as a wellness community and personal care product line with plans to expand into online healing courses and self-care classes.
