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Mother's death inspires coach to help others through mindfulness

People of Collingwood: Edie Gudaitis, mindfulness coach and yoga instructor
2022-09-14POCEdie
Edie Gudaitis is a mindfulness coach and yoga instructor in Collingwood.

Edie Gudaitis let go of the corporate ladder in 2018 and hasn’t looked back.

For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Gudaitis, 30, mindfulness coach and yoga instructor.

Q: For how long have you lived in Collingwood?

A: I moved up here in the fall of 2018.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I was born in San Diego, Calif. My parents moved to Canada when I was six. My dad is Canadian and my mom was American.

I grew up largely in Toronto and we started coming up here once my parents moved back to Canada. I went to an arts high school for dance. A lot of my childhood is connected with this area. We would come up to Blue Mountain to ski.

I moved out west to attend the University of British Columbia and got a Bachelor of Arts in human geography and art history.

I also lived in England for a year on an exchange. After I graduated, I lived in Whistler for four years.

I went back to Vancouver for a post-graduate certificate in marketing and events from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

I moved back to Toronto in 2016 and worked in a corporate (environment).

I quit corporate in 2018 to move here.

When I moved here in 2018, I totally shifted gears. At the end of 2019, I did teacher training for yoga. In 2020, I got my coaching certification in yoga for injuries.

Q: Why the shift in career when you came to Collingwood?

A: I was really set on that corporate-ladder success story.

I worked for an international insurance brokerage and was on their national marketing team.

I learned so much and was challenged and tested in so many ways. I’m grateful for all of it, but I hit burnout very quickly. By the fall of 2018 I had sciatic back pain and brain fog. I was sick a lot. My focus was a disaster. I’d been flagged for anxiety. My adrenals were shot.

That was the catalyst. I kept saying I was fine and I would power through, but my body’s signals got louder and louder.

I was introduced to yoga at 18 and really got more into it at 24. I’ve had some health complications and yoga became a landing space for me to really reconnect with my body and explore how I wanted to move through life in a new way.

While I was in corporate, I continued with those practices and I came to see just how out of alignment my body was with what was happening in my heart. I recognized that the only way for me to change things was for me to leave.

The biggest catalyst for me was the death of my mom in 2019. When I moved here in 2018, she had started showing some concerning symptoms. By January (2019) we took her to a Toronto hospital. She was given a CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) diagnosis. Within eight weeks, she had passed. She was at home for six weeks and spent two weeks in hospice.

My yoga and meditation practices helped me navigate that whole experience with some presence, grace and trust instead of running away like I wanted to.

It became apparent to me how powerful they can be.

Part of life is that it is change and it’s about learning to adapt to change. After that experience, I decided to do more teacher training.

When I returned from that training, I had a skiing accident where I shattered my ankle. I started my business while on crutches. When I finally started getting into my work, COVID-19 hit.

I retrofitted my business and turned it all into an online model.

I leaned into the fact that what everyone was experiencing on a global level with the fear and discomfort of the pandemic was something that I had experienced on a personal level with the loss of my mom the year prior.

I used that to support anyone that I could and shared the message. I built my business and expanded it from there.

I’m recovering from a pretty severe concussion. It’s been a very slow summer. I’m very grateful I work in the area I’m in because these practices have been incredibly healing and supportive in my own recovery.

Q: Can you describe your current business?

A: I’m a yoga, meditation and breath work instructor and a mindfulness coach.

I have online programming, weekly classes that I offer out of Everlove Studios. I work with corporate clients and offer workshops. I’m hosting my first retreat this weekend. It’s my main focus.

I like to share more tools with people to help them feel more inspired in their lives.

Q: What are some of the benefits of having a regular yoga or meditation practice?

A: Nervous system regulation is probably the main one. They’re different ways to challenge the body. It teaches the nervous system that it doesn’t have to be in fight-or-flight (mode) all the time.

It can also be a super powerful tool to help release limiting beliefs in the mind to move past subconscious blocks. It can help relax, soothe and ground the body.

Meditation helps focus the mind on one point. Instead of being so scatterbrained or on that hamster wheel, it allows us to just focus.

Q: Do you have any other hobbies or interests you’d like to talk about?

A: I love dancing. It makes me so happy. I love hiking, skiing, swimming, stand-up paddle boarding, golf.

I’m starting to get back into music, piano and singing. I love cooking. It’s where I feel really creative. I like reading and connecting with friends.

I run complimentary yoga sessions every month for Hospice Georgian Triangle for staff volunteers and client families. It’s a way I like to give back to honour my mom.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?

A: I’ve been told my story is inspiring. I’ve been encouraged to share it to help other people recognize the power they hold within themselves.

For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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