Few people understand the profound impact of stress on our bodies, minds, and spirits better than Louise Sanders, the founder of The Stress Experts. Based in Carman, Louise offers both virtual and in-person stress management services to organizations and private clients. She conducts live workshops in workplaces and sees clients in person at her home office.
Sanders grew up on a farm near Altamont and attended school in nearby Miami. In 2015, she moved to an acreage near Graysville with her younger sister before moving to Carman in 2020.
After becoming a licensed Physical Therapist in 2009, Sanders worked at Pembina Valley Physiotherapy until 2013, when she started her practice, Step Ahead Physical Therapy, in Winkler. However, she quickly became dissatisfied with what she perceived as a “band-aid” approach to her clients’ issues.
“I knew there was something more going on underneath the pains and complaints, a reason, a root that I was not addressing with physical modalities,” said Sanders.
Determined to find more effective solutions, she pursued additional courses and certifications, including Acupuncture for Physical Therapists, Low-Intensity Laser Therapy, Bowen Therapy, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), and BodyTalk. These studies took her across the Western provinces and into the United States.
As Sanders began to incorporate these new methods, she realized she could no longer adhere strictly to the principles of Physical Therapy, which focus solely on the physical body. This led her to relinquish her license and rebrand her practice as Step Ahead Wellness.
Despite this change, Louise still felt incomplete.
“Through these courses, I had learned that stress is a major contributing factor to any illness, disease, condition, or imbalance,” said Sanders. “I realized that if I wanted to help my clients with the root of their problem, I had to help them address stress. But what the heck is stress, really? So, off I went to learn more about stress.”
She became a Certified HeartMath Trainer at the HeartMath Institute in California, which has over 34 years of research focused on stress, resilience, emotions, and optimal performance. This institute teaches military personnel, police officers, and frontline healthcare workers techniques to reduce stress and increase resilience.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone knew these tools and became their own stress expert?’”
To embody this vision, Louise rebranded her business again, naming it The Stress Experts. Her mission is to empower individuals with the skills and tools to manage stress, so they can become their own experts in stress management.
Driven by her curiosity, Louise pursued certifications as both an Enneagram Coach and a Clinical EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)/Tapping Practitioner. She helps clients release emotional baggage and limiting beliefs that contribute to their stress.
One of Sander’s greatest joys is when workshop participants and clients express surprise at how easy it is to feel better.
“I also enjoy learning more about myself, about EFT, trauma, and neuroscience. I enjoy setting my own schedule. I enjoy working outside the system. I enjoy offering something unique (and sometimes a little strange) that really works. And you don’t even have to believe in it for it to work. But honestly, I think the thing I most enjoy is seeing the transformations in my clients, like when they have a phobia disappear, or the resolution of PTSD, or newfound confidence in themselves that they feel on a deep level, or a longstanding physical pain dissolve, or an old engrained limiting belief evaporate. The power of the human potential fascinates me.”
Sanders acknowledges that a typical session may look “weird” to an outsider, but the results are undeniably beneficial.
“I admit that it looks kind of weird to tap on your face and body. But we both do the tapping, and we look weird together; it’s not just you. For a one-on-one client, after some verbal exploration, a typical session involves tuning into how you are really feeling, not how you should be feeling or want to feel, but how you are feeling right now. Then we tap on specific acupressure points on the hands, face, and torso to calm the nervous system and settle the stress centers of the brain as you repeat after me some statements that help you stay tuned in to the feeling. And we breathe. Basically, that’s it. Your body and mind do the rest. It knows how to heal and release what no longer serves you. You just have to set up the conditions for it to do so – a calm, physiologically coherent and harmonious mind-body-energy system, and that’s what you get with these techniques.”
Most of Sander’s one-on-one clients are local or within a 1.5-hour drive. Those who live farther away usually prefer virtual sessions, though some still choose to meet in person.
If interested in learning more about reducing stress, check out Sanders website: www.thestressexperts.com.
If you would like to sign up for a session, send Sanders a message on the website’s contact form, email her at louise@thestressexperts.com, or call/text 204-825-4328.
