The Energiser with the House Coach Anja Lavigne

By: Aria de Lima

“It’s your birthright to be surrounded by beauty. It’s your birthright to be confident and happy and healthy and wealthy. Our homes are a reflection of where we’re at. Our spaces can foster us or hinder us but when we’re aware we can start making changes.

Growing up, I had to live in a home that was disorganized and dysfunctional. I had to have the parents that I have because, let’s just pretend Martha Stewart was my mom. It wouldn’t be the same. This would not be my thing because at three or four years old I loved my grandmother's design in Germany. I loved how her desk was positioned in a command position. I didn’t even know what the hell that was at that time! I would watch movies and look at the decor and would forget the storyline because I was focusing on the beautiful kitchen in the scene. I really connect with the furniture pieces and how things need to be placed and how the whole room kind of sings.

I didn’t know it then but it was like instead of being angry about why I had these parents, I needed to say thank you because I needed those parents. I needed a mother who was depressed, who didn’t clean the house, who couldn’t organize. I needed to be living in a space where I couldn’t have any friends over because I was so embarrassed. I needed a space where I would almost be in tears to say how bad I felt, where I had to explain that this is not who I am and that my parents' house was not a representation of me.

Before I became The House Coach, I had a business called Show and Sell. Show and Sell was a staging and design business I started in 2004. It kind of started when one day I went into somebody’s home and they were having an agent open house and I said, “Oh my God, and your place looks like this?” In 20 minutes I moved things around and he said, “Oh my God it looks so much better.” He then told me that there was a service out there and that’s when I learned about staging. It just came to me so organically. I kind of just go and do what I love doing and I have been lucky to be able to do what makes me happy. However, I also had to take a leap of faith. I left my previous job and I went with my gut. I can honestly say that I don’t think I would be a happy soul if I wasn’t doing what I was doing. I was in the staging business for 14 years. In that time I began to really see and understand the energy aspect and how important it was. This is also when I began to realize that there was a reason for the way my journey played out. I kept having these “Aha!” moments that explained how my journey had led me to where I was.

Eventually I got to a point where I knew I wasn’t loving staging anymore but I knew there was a part of it that I still loved. What I did enjoy was seeing the transformation of not only the space but also the transformation of the people. There were three things that everyone had in common. It didn’t matter if they were 65 and downsizing or about to have their second baby and bursting at the seams. The three areas that they had in common were, “I can’t believe how much stuff I have.” The second was, “I love this place, why didn’t I do this before? I don’t want to leave anymore.” Then the third was that their energy changed. Their skin even looked better! I realized, this is what I want to be doing for people that are living in their home, not just for when they are selling. One weekend I was thinking that I needed to do something different. I wanted to be more in the energy part of it. It was around this time that a couple things happened to me. I was brought up in a very catholic home but my father was Indian and he was very spiritual. After he passed away, I somehow connected with him. He was a real entrepreneur and he came through and he said, “I will work with you in your business.” He is working with me now even though he’s not here. I’m getting goosebumps now just thinking about it. The other thing I realized was that I did this in another lifetime. I knew this was what I was supposed to be doing.

As the House Coach, I’m coaching but I’m also listening and guiding, implementing and providing different ideas. When it comes to design I’m listening to what is that you want and when you don’t know what you want, I get to pull things out and find out what you do want. I’m looking to find out, how productive are you in that space? For example, let’s just say we are talking about a bedroom. We would talk about sleep or access to clothes or things like that.That’s the functionality part that comes into play. Then we look at finding where you are stuck. You might think, “Oh my God, it takes me 20 minutes in the morning to get ready

Before and After

when it should only take me 10 because I don’t know what to wear.” Ultimately, it’s coaching to be more functional, more productive and to find out what’s not working. We are looking at products and ways to organize the space. I want to make sure that when you open the closet, you’re inspired. I want you to love and enjoy all of those clothing pieces. A lot of times, people don’t even really realize that there are triggers. With triggers, someone might see a top that they never wear and then realize it’s a trigger because it’s the top they were wearing when they had a big fight with their boyfriend. They like the top but they just don’t wear it. This is when they have to either clear it or get rid of it.

Clearing your space is so important. If you clear your space, it’s clean. It’s similar to how you feel after you have taken a shower. You feel lighter. How does a room feel when it’s clean? Think about a closet or a cupboard and you’ve gone in there and you’ve organized everything. How does it feel? The process of what I do is all very feeling based.

You have to love everything you have. I know that can sound nauseating but why not? It’s not about needing to buy new things all the time. I’m definitely not about spending a lot of money. Most clients always say they were worried they were going to have to spend so much more money working with me, but it’s not about needing to go out and get everything. When it comes to the energy aspect it often comes in even when you don’t really expect it. How much it comes in just really depends on the individual and where they’re at. If they are open to it, I can really tap in and speak the language of that client. It’s kind of like going deep, deep down and bringing everything up. Even though the House Coach is all about organizing and design, if the person is open to it, we go into releasing work and all of that kind of stuff too.

When I made that switch from Show and Sell to House Coach, I knew I had to go back to school so I took a whole year of intuitive classes and an elemental clearing course to help build my intuitive skills, which I use all of the time now. For example, one client has a jewelry business and she needed help organizing her jewelry and beads and everything. She had a two hour session and we went in there and I whipped it all into action within an hour and 15 minutes. So I said, “Ok let’s go into your bedroom,” because our bedrooms are so key. I saw a mirror and I asked her why it was on the floor, thinking that it should be put up. When we moved it, behind the mirror on her husband's side

was a photograph of him and his ex wife. She’s like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe that’s there.” They had been having a lot of marital issues and had been going to counseling and this ex wife was always in the way. I told her she needed to get rid of it; it couldn’t even stay on her property. I actually took it because it didn’t affect me, and I dumped it somewhere. I called her back and I said, “Please don’t be mad at your husband. I think he just didn’t know where to put it.” When I spoke to her two months later she said that they had chipped off about two years of counseling after that picture was removed.

I also taught a course, ‘Goddess in Office’ and there was a client who was an actress and a film coach. She was telling me that she usually only gets three scripts at a time to read but after she took the course, she got 16. Overall, I think that’s the best part. I get to see people excel to the next level of them, whether it be through courses or through consultations. Like Rachel who got 16 screenplays to read or Mary Sue whose goal with her little jewelry business was to move it into a studio and because I came and helped her with her organization, she became more efficient. This meant she was making more income so then she could move to a larger space and now her jewelry is in a lot of places in Toronto.

The three areas that are impacted when you work on your space are three really important areas. We are better in our relationships, we’re better in our finances and we are better in our health and mindset. It really brings us to the next level. I always talk about how transforming your space is transforming your life and that is what I as the House Coach am there to help with.”