Welcome to River & Root: A Softer Place to Land

May 1

About River & Root

Hi, I’m Leah.

And if you want the honest version of who I am and why I built this space, it starts way before any of my certifications.

It started when I was a baby.

The Beginning

I was born with a rare congenital bowel disease, and in my first year of life, I was chronically ill, on antibiotics more than twenty times before I could even walk. By my first birthday, I was in the hospital, suffering from grand mal seizures and having multiple feet of my upper intestine removed due to a bowel obstruction. My parents were sent home with a very sick child and almost no guidance on how to support a gut that simply did not work the way it was supposed to.

So I grew up as the sick kid.

Every childhood illness you can think of: measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox three times, meningitis at seventeen, ear tubes, tonsillitis on rotation. My immune system was always fighting something. My gut was always struggling. My body felt like it had a completely different rulebook than everyone else’s, and for a long time, I just accepted that as my normal.

But here is the thing about growing up like that:

It makes you incredibly determined.

By fourteen, I had my first job in fitness and wellness, not because someone pushed me into it, but because I needed money to buy my own specialty food. Gluten-free, long before it was trendy or widely available. I had already figured out that what I ate changed how I felt, and I was not willing to feel bad if I could do something about it. I have been in the health and wellness industry ever since, which at this point is going on sixteen years.

I went on to compete in gymnastics for a decade and then moved into luge. I became a personal trainer and spent nearly ten years coaching in every setting imaginable: team performance sports, disability fitness, boutique one-on-one clients, and international fitness retreats where I took clients rock climbing, running, and hiking. We hosted an annual fundraising event called Train the Trainer, a two-hour event where clients could buy five-minute slots to train us, rather than the other way around. It was absolutely brutal. One year, one of my clients made me write lines. “I will not get sick.” Because even in my mid-twenties, even as a trainer in peak physical condition, I was still known as the sick kid. I laughed and wrote every single line.

Over the years, I layered on certifications and diplomas. Holistic nutrition, functional medicine health coaching, epigenetics and nutrigenomics, DNA-based health optimization. I wanted to understand the deeper roots of health, not just the symptoms sitting on the surface. I wanted to know why bodies struggle, why exhaustion lingers, why some people seem to thrive while others quietly feel like they are barely keeping up. And a lot of what I found kept pointing back to the same things: the gut, the nervous system, genetics, stress, and the profound connection between all of them.

My own body was my first teacher. It still is.

The Part That Is Less Pretty

Here is where I want to be really honest with you, because I think this is the part that actually matters most.

Despite all my knowledge, all my experience, and all my years working with clients in health, wellness, nutrition, movement, and genetics, I have still been through it. Illness. Divorce. Two kids. Single motherhood. A new relationship with children is involved. Depression. Anxiety. Work burnout was so severe that I ended up on stress leave. New jobs, new businesses, failed businesses, financial stress that kept me up at night, and seasons of life where I was carrying so much that I genuinely did not recognize myself anymore.

I am coming out of one of those hard seasons right now, actually.

Knowledge alone is not always enough.

And through all of it, the thing I kept wishing for was a soft place to land. Not another protocol or plan or person telling me what I should be doing. Just somewhere warm and honest and grounded where I could breathe for a minute and start to find my way back to myself without pressure or judgment.

I kept wishing for a soft place to land.

That is why River and Root exist.

What This Space Is

I built this for the woman who is exhausted in ways that are hard to explain. The one carrying the invisible weight of everything: her kids, her home, her relationships, her health, her to-do list, her past, and whatever season of hard she is currently in the middle of. The one who knows what she should probably be doing but cannot find the energy or the grace to actually do it. The one who is smart and capable and also really, really tired.

I built this space for her.

You will find real wellness here, evidence-based and grounded in science and shaped by years of genuine experience. But you will also find honesty. Imperfection. Warmth. Nervous system support that works inside real life, not just in ideal conditions. Nourishing food ideas that do not require a perfect kitchen or a lot of time. Resources for your family, including children’s books, printables, and gentle rhythms for overstimulated households. And a consistent reminder that healing does not require intensity.

Healing does not require intensity.

It requires steadiness and care.

I still colour with my kids. I still sing in the kitchen, dance for no reason, and drink reheated coffee because I always forget about the first cup. I hike, camp, rock climb, read, and do all the creative things that make me feel like myself. My life is not perfect, and my health journey is not a straight line.

But I keep moving forward, gently and honestly, one small step at a time.

Just like a river.