Share this article:
The Healing Journey: Insights from Naturopath Anna Powers
I listen to my patients, how they live, their history, their struggles. They know themselves better than I will ever will.
What a pleasure it was to get a chance to connect with Anna Powers, ND, recently and learn more about her journey as a healer. She has become such a great influencer and leader in her community.
During our conversation, Anna shared her journey into natural healing, the power of listening, and how personal health challenges shaped her career. With over 25 years of experience in the field, Anna offers valuable insights into holistic wellness, stress management, and the importance of owning one’s power.
A Path Shaped by Personal Experience
Anna’s journey into naturopathy began with her own health struggles. As a child, she suffered from chronic headaches, digestive issues, and even temporary paralysis following a medical procedure. It wasn’t until her mid-20s that a life-changing encounter with a naturopath set her on a new jouney.
“She helped me so much. She just turned my health around and I was blown away by how much better I felt,” Anna recalls. This experience not only improved her own well-being but also ignited a passion for helping others achieve optimal health.
Anna sees a lot of people who have been to their medical doctors and told everything is normal but are still struggling to get better. “I find that with adding homeopathics, supplements and sometimes additional therapies that we have at the clinic that they’re able to heal and restore their quality of life.”
The Wounded Healer: Personal Challenges as Catalysts for Growth
Throughout her career, Anna has faced her own health challenges, including mold exposure and Lyme disease. These experiences, while difficult, have deepened her understanding of and empathy for her patients.
“There's an archetype called the wounded healer. Until recently, I have been a wounded healer, but I'd like to think I'm moving out of that season of life.”
The concept of the wounded healer – someone who has walked their own health journey and uses that experience to help others – is central to Anna’s approach.
Her personal battle with Lyme disease, for instance, led her to develop expertise in supporting this condition. “A lot of times they’ve been through the traditional antibiotics, and they’re not feeling better,” she notes. By combining homeopathy, supplements, and other therapies, Anna has been able to help many Lyme patients regain their quality of life.
The Power of Listening and Pattern Recognition
One of the key skills Anna has honed over her years of practice is deep, multi-layered listening. “People don’t usually speak in succinct linear sentences. They are often all over the place,” she explains. “But if I give them the space to share their story, they feel heard, and I often start seeing the potential root causes.”
This skill to listen not just to the words, but to the core patterns and connections, has allowed Anna to make breakthrough discoveries for her patients. She recounts a story of helping a patient identify a food sensitivity causing recurring illness episodes – by recalling details from appointments a year apart.
“That was a depth of listening that I didn’t even know I could do,” Anna marvels. Those deep listening skills help her create deeper connections and better results for all of her patients.
Stress, Trauma, and the Body’s Response
A focus of Anna’s work is understanding the profound impact of stress on health. “I think a lot of the diseases can be traced back to how our body responds to stress,” she observes.
Anna highlights that stress isn’t just about external conditions, but also about our own responses to those circumstances. “You can have two people in the same situation, and one person creates a bunch of the stress hormone cortisol and the other person doesn’t.”
This understanding has led her to explore the links between early childhood trauma and stress responses later in life. Drawing on the work of authors like Bessel van der Kolk, Anna notes that “people who have a history of early childhood trauma tend to respond to stress differently and have less skills to manage stress than those who haven’t.”
When patients have a history of trauma and are struggling to heal their physical bodies, I refer them to therapists who specialize in trauma work.
Continuous Learning and the Power of Community
To stay at the forefront of her field, Anna embraces a multi-faceted approach to learning. She attends 10-12 continuing education workshops or symposiums each year. She seeks to stay current on the latest research, reads extensively, listens to podcasts, and values the insights gained from her patients and colleagues.
“I listen to my patients, how they live in their bodies. They know themselves better than I will ever know them,” Anna explains. This openness to learning from multiple sources – including her patients’ experiences – has allowed her to develop innovative approaches.
Anna also stresses the importance of building a network of trusted colleagues and resources. “I have developed a network of providers that I can call and ask questions or refer to,” she shares. This collaborative approach not only enhances her own practice but also ensures her patients have access to a wide range of expertise.
Owning Your Power: Advice for Her Younger Self
When asked what advice she would give to her 25-year-old self, Anna’s response is both powerful and poignant: “The first thing that came to mind was to not give my power away.”
Reflecting on her own journey of healing from childhood trauma, Anna admits, “I feel like I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to put myself back together again.” While this journey has given her great compassion for her patients, she also recognizes the toll it has taken.
“I wish I hadn’t spent so much energy trying to fix myself,” she reflects. “As it turns out, I wasn’t broken. I just needed to heal from some traumatic events.
This insight – that we are inherently whole and worthy, even as we heal and grow – is a powerful message Anna wishes she could convey to her younger self and to others on their healing journeys.
Anxiety, Introversion, and the Nuances of Human Experience
During our conversation, I was able to share with Anna how she had recently helped me in a way that was unexpected for me. I have always had challenges with being in large crowds and have always attributed it to my introverted tendencies. I shared some of the very physical responses I was having at a recent event.
She asked a question at that event that helped me to realize what I was experiencing might actually be anxiety instead of just being introverted. Once I was able to really think about that, it has changed how I approach those situations.
This exchange highlights the importance of professional insight in helping individuals understand and navigate their own experiences. It also underscores the value of Anna’s holistic approach, which considers not just physical symptoms but also emotional and neurological patterns.
Paths into Naturopathy: Advice for Aspiring Healers
For those inspired by Anna’s work and considering a career in natural health, she offers practical advice. “Go spend time with a naturopath, an acupuncturist or an integrative medical doctor. Ask if you can shadow them for a day so that you get a sense of the profession and if you see if you can see yourself in that role,” she suggests
The Ongoing Journey of Healing and Growth
Throughout the interview, Anna’s passion for her work and her commitment to ongoing learning and growth shine through. Her journey from a sickly child to a respected naturopath demonstrates the transformative power of holistic healing approaches.
By sharing her own vulnerabilities and growth experiences, Anna offers a model of authentic healing – one that acknowledges our wounds while recognizing our inherent wholeness. Her emphasis on deep listening, pattern recognition, and personalized care provides valuable insights for both health practitioners and individuals on their own wellness journeys.
As we navigate an increasingly stressful and complex world, the wisdom and approaches shared by practitioners like Anna Powers offer a beacon of hope. They remind us of the body’s innate capacity for healing, the power of listening deeply to ourselves and others, and the importance of addressing health from a holistic, individualized perspective.
Whether we’re grappling with chronic health issues, managing stress, or simply seeking to optimize our wellbeing, the insights offered in this conversation provide valuable food for thought. They invite us to consider our own relationships with stress, trauma, and personal power, and to explore how alternative healing methods might complement our existing healthcare approaches.
Anna is a Naturopath (ND) specializing in BioEnergetic Assessment (BEA), Neurofeedback (NFB), and Energy Healing (IEM). Using her extensive training and experience and fueled by her passion to help others in their journey to wellness, Anna supports clients by providing the necessary tools, education, and coaching along the way. She believes that the key to attaining and sustaining maximum health is multi-faceted and should address the whole person in ways that are natural, safe, and effective. Anna helps her clients improve sleep, reduce brain fog, increase energy, minimize stress, and diminish aches and pains.
Anna graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1994, followed by several graduate programs at Trinity School of Natural Health, including Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC), Certified Natural Health Professional (CNHP), and Doctor of Naturopathy (ND). She attended NewMind Academy facilitated by Richard Soutar, PhD and earned her Neurofeedback Certification in 2010.
In addition to her wellness training, Anna is committed to being her best self and helping her clients do the same. She completed 3 intensive certification programs during a 4 year-mentorship with Alison Armstrong in the areas of creating successful partnerships and understanding masculine and feminine distinctions. She is certified to lead a 3-hour program called Making Sense of Men and a weekend course for men titled The Hero’s Challenge: Becoming an Extraordinary Man. She went on to complete a 15-month INTEGRATIVE ENERGETIC MEDICINE course at WhiteWinds Institute lead by Fernand Poulin, DC studying the human energy fields and how to balance them. Most recently, she completed a Lifebook Facilitation Certification enabling her to lead a 7-module program designing and living your best life.
To connect with Anna, visit her website @ https://www.annamarshallpowers.com/
Leadership Portraits is a curated collection of extraordinary individuals who have mastered the delicate brushstrokes of influence, resilience, and vision. Each portrait is a testament to the unique leadership styles that have shaped industries, communities, and legacies. Explore the nuanced narratives behind each face, and let these captivating images inspire your own journey of leadership excellence. Join us in celebrating the diverse stories that define leadership in its myriad forms—captured, framed, and showcased for your inspiration. Learn more about Leadership Portraits.
Our community grows through great leaders like you. By growing the community we can help even more leaders gain the visibility and recognition they deserve. If you think you have a leadership story to tell and would like to be featured in a leadership portrait or know a great leader who should be featured complete the Nomination Form