The beginning of a new year is an opportunity to try something new. Some people make resolutions, some people just decide they’re ready for something different.
Hallie Ringhand hears from some of those people this time of year as the owner of New U Health Coaching, a business she started 17 years ago. But when she has calls from people that she’s worked with from a New Age perspective, before 2022, “I tell them I don’t do that anymore. Now, I want to help people from a biblical perspective.”
Hallie grew up in the east side of Madison, Jewish but curious about Christ and Christmas. She was baptized and became a Christian when she got married. “I went to church but I didn’t have a relationship with Christ,” she says. “I thought I knew what my faith was but I was way off the mark.”
Though her Masters degree studies at Edgewood College were in marriage and family therapy she led a lot of group fitness and personal training on the side. As she continued in that work, and started her own business, she wanted to include more holistic health and wellness activities. That led to yoga and other New Age practices. “It seemed benign, it always does.”
What eventually happened was not benign. Quite the opposite. The face of evil showed up one day in channeled spirits during an episode with psilocybin, also known as hallucinogenic mushrooms. Dabbling in the spirit realm turned horribly scary.
“I begged God for help and he showed up,” she recalls. “The only thing that saved me was Jesus. I heard him say, ‘follow me.'”
Hallie was shocked and stunned. Turning to Lutheran pastor Jeff Meyer, the husband of a friend, and her own pastor at Blackhawk Church, Chris Dolson, she was counselled to invest in Bible study. “Dive into Scripture, swim in the Word,” they advised. She was also referred to a Christian counsellor.
Looking back, she realizes, “I wasn’t in my Bible enough to know that these things were not from God. The only way to be aware is to be in Scripture and to be in community with other believers who are willing to tell you hard things.”
She and her husband cleaned out thousands of dollars worth of crystals and occultic symbols. “It was amazing, the difference.”
She doesn’t do yoga anymore. She was a certified Enneagram trainer, she doesn’t do that either. She’s concerned that both practices have roots in occultic practices that conflict with the Christian faith.
The part of her business that continues is helping people with corrective exercise and behavior modification based on mental health. As her website says, “I coach people over 40 to be leaner, stronger, and have the freedom to mentally and physically do what they want as they age!”
She adds: “I want to help people from a biblical perspective, how to understand how to move forward in health in a balanced and biblically sound way.”