ON LIFE AND PASSION
I love to create and to inspire others to live
a life of joy, love and passion. I worked as a
biomedical naturopath for 15 years before
transitioning into the world of blogging.
I’m a mother of two children, Jade, 11,
and Jacob, nine. In just a few months I
will have been married to my amazing
husband, Bobby, for 10 years. It’s been a
wonderful journey so far and I’m grateful
every day for all these precious moments
and excited for all that is to come.
ON BEING A NATUROPATH
I always knew I wanted to help people.
My Finnish heritage has given me a
lot in the way of understanding how
important our connection to nature is.
After about 10 years of practice,
working with so many lovely clients,
I moved into a specialised area known
as nutrigenomics. I started to use my
extensive biochemical and genetic
knowledge to decipher and correlate
multiple test results for my clients and
give them an overall picture of what was
happening in their bodies. This enabled
me to tailor very specific nutritional
regimens for them. I worked with a lot
of children with neuroimmune disorders,
autism, ADHD, helping to improve
their quality of life. It was the most
rewarding work I’ve ever done.
Naturopathy has always felt right to
me, and even though I don’t practise
anymore, the tools I’ve learnt are
still keeping my family, friends and
me healthy.ON HEALING
I’ve always felt that my naturopathy work
was so much more than just prescribing
some herbs, nutrients or diet advice. I
would really sit and listen. I’d open my
heart to people and really let them be
heard. I think there might not be anything
more healing than this: to feel heard,
and create intimacy and connection with
another human being. We all crave this
and need this in our lives.
At one point I started up a women’s
healing circle and created a space for
women to come together once a month,
to meditate, feel safe, laugh, connect
and be heard. It was wonderfully
healing for so many and for myself.ON THE AWAKENING MOMENT
When my son was little I battled
with postnatal depression after a verychallenging, threatened pregnancy.
Thankfully, my precious boy made
it into the world, though I was left
exhausted from the emotional trauma
of it all. I had lost my passion and
my joy for life. I finally broke down
one day and realised everything had
to change. I began taking better care
of myself in small ways; I stopped
making excuses like, ‘I don’t have
enough time’ and I made myself a
priority. I reached out for help and
allowed my vulnerability to be seen. I
transformed my life one little step at
a time. I questioned and changed my
mindset and my beliefs about myself.
I rediscovered my self-worth; my joy,
my passion and my daily practice of
self-love began. In just a couple of years
GypsyLovinLight was born.ON LIVING THE GYPSY LIFE
I’ve always wanted to explore more
of this beautiful world; there is
just so much beauty to be seen and
experienced. The more I put myself
in these situations, the more I see my
own inner light. I feel the connection
with everything around me and I feel at
home in nature.A former biomedical naturopath and healer
turned wanderlust traveller and blogger,
HELEN JANNESON BENSE is the
creative force behind GypsyLovinLight.
She chats to Natural Health about health,
healing and being at one with nature.naturalhealthmag.com.au AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HEALTH | 71
+
LIVING WITH
Love Light