Reclaim your soul from restrictive dieting through the path of the Heroine's Journey
Author—Teacher—Healer—Transformational Mentor
Food & Forgiveness Mentor for Health-Conscious Women
I'm the founder of the Women, Food & Forgiveness Academy, an online transformational mentorship program to help women like you cultivate unconditional self-love as the path to health-supportive food choices and long-term sustainable body-weight balance.
I'm also author of the book Tap, Taste, Heal: Use Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Eat Joyfully and Love Your Body, which EFT researcher Peta Stapleton called “a must-read.”
In 1994 I discovered an escape clause in the rat-race contract and left corporate America to cook for cloistered meditators at Gampo Abbey Buddhist monastery in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, under the guidance of Pema Chödrön.
When a monk remarked that I had found my “right livelihood” in cooking, I pursued a culinary-arts path that led me to certify as a natural foods chef at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, under the direction of the late Annemarie Colbin.
I cooked and taught at meditation retreat centers across North America, including Shambhala Mountain Center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, and elsewhere.
I also taught healing culinary arts at Bauman College in Northern California from 2005 to 2013.
Even though I was absolutely in love with working as a chef and culinary arts instructor, the time came around 2013 when I needed a depth charge.
I had been working with a Tapping practitioner for a few years by this time and thought, "Okay, I’m going to become a practitioner myself and help people figure out what to eat."
I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
When one of my early clients said to me, “Some women use razor blades; I use food,” I was completely stopped in my tracks.
On the one hand, as one of those rare women who’s never dieted a day in my life, I had no idea what she was talking about.
On the other hand, as a woman who has survived multiple complex trauma, I knew exactly what she was talking about.
I began to draw fearlessly on my deepest knowing—from my decades of 12-step recovery and Buddhist meditation practice, along with my Tapping training—to dive headlong into the root traumas that were causing my clients to use food to soothe themselves.
"God has definitely given Marcella a real gift for helping people heal."
"Marcella is an incredible mentor who ignites transformation in her students."
"Marcella is a beacon of spiritual transformation in the realm of mindful eating."
"Marcella is a gift to this world."
"I can't exactly explain it, but Marcella has a therapeutic effect on me, just with her presence."
"Marcella's brilliance in facilitating transformation is truly remarkable."
"My work with Marcella has left me in awe. I finally see that it can be safe to be in the body I want."
"Marcella has such a good sense of what I am saying, picking out the most important part and giving it back to me in a beautiful way."
"Marcella has wise insight and a gentle, nonjudgmental manner about her that elicits trust in her mentorship."
"Thanks to the inspiration Marcella has brought into my life I've been able to release unhealthy habits and treat myself better."
"When I think of a vital woman with good self-care practices, I think of Marcella. I admire her a lot."