Jo-Hanna Taylor guides others to manage stress and prioritise wellness
ACCORDING TO a 2023 Cigna International Health survey, 91 per cent of Gen Z individuals report higher levels of stress compared to their counterparts in other generations. Behavioural change and stress management coach Jo-Hanna Taylor affirms that this holds true for Jamaicans as well.
Speaking with The Gleaner she explained, “There are a lot of studies that show this but it can be many things. It’s coming from a space where we are working almost 24/7. With technology, we’re getting emails at all [hours] of the night and we are constantly plugged in. [Sometimes] you are almost shamed if you want to maintain a certain distance.”
Recognising toxic patterns in her life, Taylor committed to helping others in combating stress.
“I happened to be diagnosed with chronic depression. This was in university and it was so strange to me because I am generally very happy-go-lucky until I’m not.”
After asking the all too common question, ‘Why mi such stress out?’, Taylor said she had to take a look at her life.
“I found two things that were happening,” she began. “One, I was stressed with a lot of deadlines that [I] had to hit, and the relationship was a hot mess. I found that there were a lot of things that were happening [at once]. I couldn’t find a balance, it felt chaotic.”
Deciding to take a step back from her job in corporate Jamaica, she began to prioritise ‘me time’.
Now spending more time on yoga, fitness, meditation and mindfulness, Taylor soon felt obligated to share what she was learning.
“There has to be a way to marry this and to share this because people really need this,” she reminisced.
“I officially said ‘no man mi cyah do this no more’ by 2019. And by then, I decided ‘well I’m going to fully dive into this’. I really wanted to help people to heal because I know that I was going through it. I was just like can you even imagine who else is really feeling this? Because emotional and societal demands are non-stop, enuh. I just wanted to make persons make healthier choices a higher priority.”
Under the banner ‘I Am TaylorMade’, Taylor utilises both her degree in psychology and the skills she has acquired over the years to help others unlock healthier habits.
“I think that we need to find moments to breathe. It seems simple enough but we really need to find moments to slow down and catch our breath. We need to allow ourselves to breathe deeply because, scientifically slowing down and just breathing sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax.”