My Story
My journey home started early.
At six years old, I found myself on a plane leaving my country of birth as war began to unfold across Yugoslavia. Arriving at Heathrow, I knew - without fully understanding why - that life had shifted forever. I had left one home behind, but didn’t know where the next one would be.
Growing up between cultures, I learned how to adapt quickly. I tried to belong, to perform the role of an ‘English girl’, while quietly feeling I never belonged anywhere at all. I felt English in Macedonia, Macedonian in England - and like home was always slightly out of reach.
So I did what many people do - I tried to earn my place through achievement.
From Head Girl to a first-class degree from King’s College London and a successful career as an arts producer, life looked full on paper. Beneath the surface, though, long hours, stress and the pressure to keep performing were drawing me towards burnout, alongside a persistent belief that some part of me had become disconnected.
Then life interrupted.
When my best friend Hannah died, grief became a profound wake-up call. I knew I couldn’t continue living in the same way. I stepped away from my career and began searching for something deeper.
That search eventually led me to ten days of silent meditation. Sitting with myself, with nothing to perform and nowhere to hide or distract me, I heard something I hadn’t heard in a long time: my own inner voice.
And with it came a realisation that changed everything. I hadn’t been lost - I had simply been looking for a sense of home and belonging in the wrong places. Wellbeing wasn’t waiting on the other side of an achievement, nor was it about becoming someone new. It was about developing a deeper relationship with myself - learning to feel at home in my own mind, body, emotions and beginning to listen to what made me feel truly alive.
That realisation changed the course of my life. I immersed myself in meditation, holistic healing and inner work and reconnected with the natural world. I began to understand my sensitivity as a source of insight rather than something to overcome, and discovered a more compassionate way of living - with more presence and meaning, but also more curiosity, pleasure and appetite for life.
Later, I founded the international wellbeing events company NOW Live Events, bringing together leading voices including Ruby Wax and Claudia Hammond, and becoming the official events partner of Psychologies Magazine.
After years of creating stages for others to speak on, I decided it was time to find my own voice. I embarked on a three-year Psychosynthesis counselling diploma (BACP & PDF accredited) and went on to work as a wellbeing practitioner, facilitator, coach and meditation teacher.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve been lucky enough to work with thousands of individuals, groups and organisations around the world, helping people understand themselves more deeply and make practical, positive change.
And that brings me to Whole Woman Wellbeing.
Today, I work with high-achieving, sensitive women who may be navigating stress, burnout, motherhood or big life transitions - or simply have the feeling that the life they’ve built no longer quite matches how they feel inside.
Because sometimes nothing is dramatically wrong. We’ve simply become so caught up in living our lives that we’ve lost touch with ourselves inside them.
Together, we create space to notice what’s been lost along the way - what you need now, what matters, what you want, and what brings you energy, joy and meaning.
Through embodied wellbeing practices, coaching, seasonal ritual and honest conversation, we explore what may be getting in the way and make room for greater self-trust and a more engaged relationship with your own life.
This is the heart of Whole Woman Wellbeing: stepping out of autopilot and back into a way of living that feels more like you.
My own journey continues to shape this work. Perimenopause has become another season of listening more closely - to what I need, what matters now, and what wellbeing looks and feels like at this stage of life.
Alongside my private practice, I’m Senior Facilitator & Coach at Luminate Wellbeing, working with organisations like the NHS, Earthshot Prize, Pret A Manger, Rolls-Royce and the Australian High Commission. This continues to deepen my belief that wellbeing isn’t something separate from life. It’s woven through how we work, live, lead and relate.
Ultimately, this is the work I care about: helping women feel at home in their own lives - with more freedom to be themselves, enjoy their lives and to bring more of who they are into the world.
These days, when I’m not facilitating or coaching, you’ll find me in the wilds of Kent with my husband and son, occasionally in cold water when I’m feeling brave, or at a mum rave remembering that movement can be medicine. You can find me talking all things wellbeing @jana.nightingale.
