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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

ayurvedic

Wellness specialist walks-the-walk in health and fitness competition

May 12, 2024 | 1:54 PM

Central Alberta’s Kendra Irvine, a clinical ayurvedic specialist, has put her name in the running for Ms. Health & Fitness 2024, where the winner gets to grace the cover of the American Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine, plus pocket $20,000.

“I’m already that in real life so it is fitting to be able to make it official and register to be in the competition for this title,” Irvine says.

The first round of voting runs from May 6-16, after which the group will be reduced to the top 20. Votes can be cast once every 24 hours on her competition page.

If Irvine secures the coveted grand prize cash and title, she intends to expand her ayurvedic healing clinic so she can help more residents

“I am hoping, with the win, that I can serve more people in my community with the timeless wisdom of ayurveda. My goal is to see that more and more people who have been let down by the medical system can have access to this knowledge to heal themselves,” she says.

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Irvine’s approach to healing and wellness involves instructing clients to be in tune with their bodies by recognizing patterns and habits that may be causing their symptoms. From there, she does an assessment to better understand the state of their mind and body, before helping them develop a plan based on natural, self-healing practices.

“You have the ability to heal yourself. The biggest thing is, the better you know yourself and your body, the healthier you become,” Irvine stresses.

Although the competition and her practice are newer opportunities, her commitment to health, fitness, and wellness has been integral to her life for decades.

“I want to say I was about six years old when it really started to take off. My mom put me and my sisters in all sorts of activities so that we could try things out and see for ourselves what we liked and what we didn’t like,” she explains.

She tried gymnastics, competitive swimming, and eventually found her way to figure skating, which she did competitively across northwestern B.C. until she finished high school. From there, she came to Red Deer Polytechnic in preparation for her subsequent move to Edmonton, where she secured a bachelor’s in phys-ed from the University of Alberta.

Returning to Red Deer to work as an exercise therapist, Irvine noticed that she had better results with her clients when she changed her approach.

“Lo and behold I had much more success when I looked at helping to treat the whole person, mind, spirit, and body, and then naturally I discovered wellness and got my wellness coaching certification,” she shares.

Now, she has taken that knowledge and experience into consideration while building her practice, and pursues activities like yoga, kickboxing, and long-distance running to keep active for herself, and for her kids.

“I think the message of being able to heal yourself naturally is much stronger if you live it,” she explains. “I want to be able to develop what it is I do as an ayurvedic professional so I can not only serve myself, but with that be able to serve others better because you can’t give from an empty cup.”

She says winning the competition is another way she can show her clients her commitment to her practice and philosophy.

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