If you have ever thought of changing your life for the better by understanding yourself and the factors that might be holding you back, then you may need a Personal Change Agent to help you on your journey of self discovery. Marion Nixon is just such a person, with the skills and experience to help those who feel stuck in life to find their way again.
LoA met with Marion in Cape Town at the Lioness Lean In Breakfast this month and found out more.
What does your company do?
I am a specialist in personal transformation and through my company, Marion Nixon: Personal Change Agent, I enable people who feel unfulfilled, stuck, frustrated, anxious, and unsure about the future, to get clear on what they want in life and/or their business, and empower them to take the action that will give their lives the meaning and purpose that they seek.
In our life journeys we all learn beliefs about ourselves and how the world works that become the template for how we live our lives. However, as our circumstances change these templates become outmoded and limiting. Most of these beliefs can be traced back to childhood and are entrenched in our subconscious, emotional minds. Talking about these emotional memories only accesses the conscious, rational mind, not the subconscious, emotional mind where they are stored. Transformation is most easily achieved by working directly with emotional memories which are best accessed through the way the body holds them. This limits the possibility ofemotional meltdown and the risk of re-traumatisation. It also means that my clients do not need to tell me the details of their stories - a relief for those who do not wish to talk about their experiences.
"My passion for helping people change their lives reflects my own life journey."
What inspired you to start your company?
My passion for helping people change their lives reflects my own life journey. I grew up in a large family of which I was the middle child. As I was too young to be included in my older sisters’ activities my early childhood play was with my younger brothers. We were the ‘kids’ and my sisters, ‘the girls’. Then my brothers became ‘the boys’ and I – I was in nowhere land… I learnt independence and to keep my own company, mostly in the world of books. I also learnt that I was usually invisible and my opinion was always a minority vote and so of no significance. The upside of this was that, together with all my reading, I became a thinker with strong opinions even though I kept them to myself! It was only in midlife, while writing my Master’s degree thesis that I discovered my ideas and opinions could add value to others.
Soon after completing my thesis I started studying in the field of complementary health which opened up a further journey of self-development. I started my practice with a variety of body-work techniques but soon learnt that health starts in the mind and the key to physical health is emotional health. As I ‘peeled’ my own emotional onion, healing old childhood hurts and negative beliefs about myself and how the world works, I discovered that it is possible to transform one’s life experience - and so my passion for helping others live life to the full developed. I love enabling my clients release subconscious beliefs that are no longer appropriate for their well-being, and seeing them achieve the clarity and confidence they need to live life fully gives me joy and fulfilment.
Why should anyone use your service?
I give my clients a safe non-judgemental space in which to assess themselves and their life. I help them reach acceptance of themselves and their life experience as only then can they reframe the past into a building block for the future. This is the keystone of my work. Without acceptance the past will always lurk in the shadows undermining our confidence and feeding the critical voice in our heads. I teach my clients how to turn that critical, sabotaging, voice into a supporting one, a cheerleader who keeps them going in tough times. I also give them self-help techniques to use on their own as this increases their self-confidence and embeds the new perspectives in their subconscious minds. The techniques I use work rapidly so significant change happens in each session.
My training in working with trauma together with my personal experience of the effect of trauma on self worth, self confidence, and life expectations, gives me deep non-judgemental empathy for people struggling to find meaning and fulfilment in life, or who feel that life continually sabotages their aspirations. The inability to create the life you want is often rooted in trauma. Trauma is not just about dramatic events but also the little ones that leave a lasting hurt. The latter are called Little T traumas and many childhood experiences fall into this category - seemingly insignificant experiences which create beliefs about what is possible or permissible that become part of our beliefs about ourselves, other people, and the world. I have the skill and experience to enable my clients to safely identify and release these painful experiences, and to guide them into new, empowering beliefs that support them in creating a fulfilling life. My talks and workshops are always interactive to give attendees maximum benefits. I work both face to face or online with individual clients and groups.
"I started my practice with a variety of body-work techniques but soon learnt that health starts in the mind and the key to physical health is emotional health."
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey
I don't come from an entrepreneurial background. My parents believed education was the way into a 'good job', preferably in a profession, which would last a lifetime. Because of my love of books I chose librarianship, but found it very dull until I moved into corporate librarianship. I loved the corporate world. In my late thirties the yen to be self-employed started to develop, and by my mid-forties it was a definite aspiration. After narrowly escaping retrenchment when the company restructured I trained as an aromatherapist to give myself a 'plan B' and two years later, in a similar process, I was paid to leave. Although not the financial security of early retirement which is what I had been considering, being retrenched did push me into expanding my part-time aromatherapy practice and working part-time at the High Rustenberg Hydro in Stellenbosch as a shiatsu practitioner. My six years at the Hydro gave me the depth of experience I needed to teach shiatsu which I did for 13 years.
Over the years I studied many different complimentary health modalities which have added to my knowledge base, but in my practice I chose to focus on aromatherapy and lymph drainage, shiatsu, and cranio-sacral therapy. My training in Cranio-sacral therapy introduced me to the long-lasting effects of trauma and that they can be changed. On a personal level it took me deeper into my personal journey of understanding trauma and the process of recovery from Childhood Emotional Neglect. Through this I discovered Emotional Freedom Technique and various related tapping techniques which are now my prime 'tools of trade' as research shows them to be some of the most effective methods of relieving the effects of trauma.
Today I feel very blessed to be among those who their enjoy work and I plan to keep helping people for as long as I can tap! At one time I contemplated the idea of retirement but found I have nothing I wish to retire from.
What are your future plans for your company?
I plan to collaborate with NGOs working to uplift disadvantaged people. I also want to expand my work online to serve an international clientele by developing online courses and to write a book, so as to reach more people.
"I give my clients a safe non-judgmental space in which to assess themselves and their life."
What gives you most satisfaction about being an entrepreneur?
My satisfaction is more in the process of transformation than in entrepreneurship. Seeing my clients transform in their inner and outer lives, gives me joy and deep fulfillment. Being able to help others live fulfilled lives earlier than I have been able to, gives me a sense of 'redeeming the years of the locust' to quote one of the Old Testament prophets. It is deeply fulfilling. On the business side, I appreciate working from my home as I hate rush hour commuting, and love the flexibility of being able to structure my own schedules.
What’s the biggest piece of advice you can give other women wanting to start up?
You need to believe in what you are doing - have a big why - to keep you going. Learn some basic business skills, preferably before you give up the day job. Having a vision is only the start, you need a strategic plan on how to get there, otherwise too much time is lost dithering about what the next step should be. Budget for help as there will be times you need professional skills you don't have.
Contact or follow Marion Nixon
WEBSITE | EMAIL marion@intekom.co.za
Why LoA loves it….
Finding your niche is always key to the success of any entrepreneurial journey, and in the case of Marion Nixon, she has found her niche helping others to find their life purpose and to get their emotional health in order. She is harnessing her personal life experience, together with her highly specialist therapeutic skills, to make a difference to other people’s lives. --- Melanie Hawken, founder and editor-in-chief of Lionesses of Africa