Founder and CEO of The Purist (A wellness platform dedicated to investigating trends and interviewing health-focused celebrities) Cristina Cuomo, Class of 2023, sought to build her coaching knowledge from the ground up. After researching some of the highest-rated coaching schools (Harvard included), Cristina chose IIN to dive deep into holistic health, wellness, coaching, and sustaining meaningful habits.  

We were lucky enough to sit down with Cristina for an info-packed IG Live and discover how she incorporates her IIN education into her career, coaching, and daily life.  

To put it simply, building meaningful, sustainable habits can feel overwhelming. It’s filled with challenges and constant self-doubt. But striving for lasting, positive change is well worth it. 

Four key lessons resonated with us:  

Lesson 1: Healthy habits are built through simplicity and repetition. 

“Repetition is how you create meaningful habits for yourself,” she says. “Creating and following guided meditation is an amazing place to start. We have all this external stuff coming at us all day, so how do we create a safe space for ourselves? Meditation. Sometimes I would lead my group in some five-minute breath work before starting our day. This can help us keep our cortisol levels balanced, even when they drop in the afternoon. Pause. Breathe. Take a step back. Simple things like that can do so much for us.” 

Read More: How to Start a Meditation Practice 

Lesson 2: Nutrition affects every part of us. Learn about your body. 

This mom of three recommends taking courses you’re passionate about to stay connected with your body, mind, and spirit. Each serves as “a pillar of knowledge” that Health Coaches – or anyone, really – can use to guide their lives or careers.  

“I believe taking IIN’s Gut Health Course should be mandatory! Nutrition affects every part of us, and we should be knowledgeable about everything that goes into our bodies and the exact influence it can have on our mood, our skin, everything.”  

Read More: Gut Microbiome 101: Improve Your Gut Health to Improve Your Immunity 

Lesson 3: Don’t dole out advice; share your real-life experience (good or bad).  

“My team and I will often hear about some new trend and get on it to see if it’s legitimate,” she says. “And we’ll write all about it. How does it work? What does it help? What’s the science behind it? Whether you want to incorporate that information into your modality is completely up to you. I don’t ever tell a client they have to do something. I usually just say something like, ‘This is what I tried, and this is the result I got.’ I always hope this gives them agency and guides them!”   

Lesson 4: Never stop expanding. 

“Life is all about contracting and expanding. The key is to expand yourself through education. To embrace and get ahead of your health, what you need to do is learn. You do not learn these pillars of wellness in high school. So it’s important along your path of life to enroll in courses like those offered through IIN.”  

Check out more of Cristina’s health tips on our IG Live!  

Cristina is one of 160,000 and growing graduates who found inspiration and success through IIN’s courses. Here is a free sample class to help you become a student for a day. (BONUS: You can download Module 1 of our best-in-class Health Coach Training Program today!)