Anyone pondering how to live a more meaningful life can learn something from Paula Terry’s stories. The licensed Naples massage therapist and doula credits the blessings in her life to the wisdom gained from experiences that were the result of living a heart-centered life that led her to see the precious gift that she was born with, the one that life had been nurturing all along. 

After 17 years of managing the propagation area at Pine Island Nursery and growing Florida native wood ornamentals, Terry didn’t need the popular job search book, What Color is Your Parachute: A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers. She simply knew that she needed to leave her chosen career. “Although I’d made a conscious decision to get a degree in agriculture so that I could be a grower, as the amount of pesticides used in the industry increased, I was alarmed by the health risks. Not a fighter or a lobbyist who wanted to use my energy confronting the pesticide issue, I left the industry and Pine Island, one of Florida’s last fishing villages It’s a beautiful, rural community where the worst day is better than a good day anywhere else,” advises Terry. She followed an inner guidance tugging her toward doing something with living things until she could figure out exactly what it was. 

Terry went to work for a Naples health food store, Martha’s Natural Foods, now Nature’s Garden, that she had frequented since childhood. There she met the captain of a 103-foot motor yacht owned by a couple building a home in Port Royal. “The captain was looking for someone to varnish the vessel’s wood during summer months. When the couple, who wintered in the Bahamas, met me, we had instant bonding. In the two years I was with them I was treated as one of the family and participated in everything from fishing and diving to creating an elegant dinner setting on a desolate island in the Exumas.”

When the couple contracted to have another yacht built, which would take two years, Terry received excellent letters of recommendation and returned to Martha’s, where she met another gentleman that introduced her to a woman that wanted a chef and a nanny for four young children. Over the next eight years with the second couple, Terry traveled the world. “Now grown, the children have babies of their own, and continue maintaining a relationship with me,” she says.

After 10 years of service to others, Terry finally recognized her inherent gift for making people feel comfortable and good about themselves. To put the gift to optimal use, she attended Florida Health Academy to study anatomy and physiology. “I wanted to learn how to bring people and their bodies into harmony. The academy was where I met my husband. We’re still madly in love 19 years later,” says Terry, who notes that her husband, supportive of her work, encouraged her interest in midwifery. 

During the process of enrolling in a Heart Centered Touch workshop. Terry’s husband Tom suggested that she should make her trip even more worthwhile by doing something life-changing afterward. She did, and it was. Eight days with Carrie Kenner, doula educator and founder of Big Belly Services, in Seattle, changed everything and led Terry to Ina Mae Gaskin’s Farm Midwifery Center and a 10-day workshop in midwifery assistance. Tom accompanied her so they could experience communal living. “I’ve returned twice for caregiver weekends,” says Terry, who takes her continuing education (CE) seriously.  

“I annually take CE classes not to only maintain my license, but also to immerse myself in the protocols of modalities that I can use on my massage table. This January, I did a nine-day intensive with John Barnes, a physical therapist internationally recognized for myofascial release. With an excellent command of anatomy and physiology and the numerous modalities I have trained in, including lymph drainage therapy and craniosacral applications for pediatrics and obstetrics, along with my studies of cognitive behavior therapy, my clients and I collaborate to foster harmony and love in the body.”

For more information or to make an appointment, call 239-821-3088, email [email protected] or visit DoulaLove.org