Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Griffith Garland.
Hi Laura , we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I look back, my story feels like two rivers — science and spirituality — running alongside each other for years before finally merging into the work I do today.
I earned my Ph.D. in Earth & Planetary Sciences in 1998, studying the hydrothermal systems on Mars and what they reveal about the conditions necessary for life. It was rigorous, analytical, and filled with discovery — but during those same years, something entirely unexpected was happening.
From 1994 to 1997, while in graduate school, I became what I now lovingly call an “accidental shaman.” One late night, overwhelmed with research frustration, I called a friend. She drove me out to the woods outside Alton, Illinois, nearly at midnight. There, in the remains of an old basement with a small fire burning, sat a man who would become my first teacher in the energetic and spiritual world.
I visited at completely random times — with no plan, no schedule — and he was always there. For three years, we talked, learned, and did energy work. I never learned his full name, where he lived, or how to contact him. When I finally asked if he was always out there, he replied, “Only when I feel like it… or when I know you’re coming.”
He was a trained Lakota Medicine Man — and without ever intending to, I stepped onto the shamanic path.
So by the time I finished my Ph.D., the world of equations and the world of energy were already intertwined within me.
In 1998, the same year I completed my doctorate, I joined the U.S. Navy, where I spent over six years teaching Nuclear Physics and Advanced Mathematics. The Navy gave me structure, leadership, clarity, and the ability to teach extremely complex ideas in simple, grounded ways — skills that would later become essential in my entrepreneurial work.
It’s also where I met my husband, Lance, in 1998. He was already beginning to work as a clinical hypnotist, and by 2000, we started building what would eventually become our shared business. I worked behind the scenes then — designing programs, organizing systems, connecting the dots between his work and my evolving spiritual sciences — without yet realizing that this was the foundation of what would become the Charleston Holistic Center.
After the Navy, I moved into education, teaching nearly every science subject except biology. I became the Chair of a combined Mathematics & Sciences Department in a high school — a role that required leadership, problem-solving, and an ability to create structure in chaos. Those years shaped my capacity to hold space for growth, transformation, and the unexpected — something I now bring to every client I work with.
During this time, my “other life” was unfolding in parallel.
I had learned the Tarot back in graduate school entirely by accident in 1994 — and by 2002, I was working professionally. I became a Reiki Master/Teacher in 2003, and later a Shamanic Reiki Master in 2014, weaving together every layer of my intuitive, energetic, and spiritual training.
I continued expanding:
• Institute for Integrative Nutrition Coaching (2015)
• Mindvalley Life Coach & Meditation Instructor (2022)
• And since 2022, I’ve attended five Dr. Joe Dispenza Advanced & Advanced Follow-Up Retreats, which profoundly deepened my work in coherence and transformation.
By 2009, Lance’s hypnosis practice had shifted to him being a Licensed Professional Counselor and my growing body of work merged into what is now the Charleston Holistic Center. I stepped from behind the scenes into full co-leadership, bringing with me the whole tapestry: physics, shamanism, energy medicine, intuition, meditation, nutrition, coaching, and coherence work.
Today, our business is more than a practice — it’s a living ecosystem of healing and transformation. I teach meditation each week, guide clients through my Quantum Coherence Coaching Program, and help people reconnect to themselves through both science and spirit.
My entrepreneurial journey wasn’t a single leap — it was an unfolding.
From planetary science to shamanic fires…
From Navy classrooms to healing rooms…
From supporting the business quietly to becoming its co-founder and co-visionary…
It’s a path shaped by discipline and intuition, structure and mystery, research and soul.
And I wouldn’t trade any piece of it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The honest answer is no — my road has not been smooth.
It has been steep, uneven, surprising, and at times profoundly lonely.
But it has also shaped me into the woman, leader, and healer I am today.
One of my earliest challenges was learning to live between worlds — the world of hard science and the world of energy, intuition, and shamanic healing. During my Ph.D. years, I felt like I was constantly code-switching between two identities that neither community fully understood. I was publishing research on hydrothermal systems on Mars while secretly learning energy work in the woods at midnight. I spent years trying to reconcile the scientist and the mystic inside me.
Then came the Navy — another world entirely.
When I joined my command, there were over 400 instructors and staff, but only eight women instructors and just two women on staff. Walking into a room and knowing you’re the only woman — or one of a very small handful — does something to your nervous system. You learn to hold your ground, to speak clearly, to take up space even when no one hands it to you.
I loved the work — teaching Nuclear Physics and advanced mathematics — but I also had to navigate the unspoken pressure of constantly having to prove myself. There were days I questioned whether I belonged, whether I was “allowed” to take up authority in a system not built for me. That experience strengthened me in ways I didn’t appreciate until much later.
When I transitioned into entrepreneurship, I was surprised to find that being a woman in the holistic space came with its own challenges. People often expect women to be nurturing, but not visionary. Empathic, but not strategic. Intuitive, but not scientific. I had to learn how to lead a business while refusing to shrink parts of myself — the scientist, the shaman, the coach, the Navy instructor, the healer, the CEO — into any box that made others more comfortable.
Building the Charleston Holistic Center with my husband was deeply meaningful, but it wasn’t effortless. For years, I was working full-time as a Naval officer then a high school science and math department chair while supporting the business behind the scenes. I was creating systems, designing programs, raising our profile, managing the structure of the business — long before the world saw me as a practitioner in my own right.
There were financial uncertainties, growing pains, and many moments of “How do we make this sustainable?”
There were seasons when client flow slowed.
Seasons where burnout whispered from the edges.
Seasons where the pressure of being a woman balancing leadership, spiritual calling, and day-to-day life felt impossibly heavy.
And yet… every struggle became a lesson in resilience.
Being underestimated taught me strength.
Being one of the only women taught me courage.
Being split between worlds taught me integration.
Being challenged taught me coherence.
Being stretched taught me leadership.
And the women I’ve worked with over the years — clients, students, colleagues — have shown me again and again that empowerment isn’t a buzzword. It is a lived practice. It is the reclaiming of your own voice, your own intuition, your own inner authority.
So no — the road has not been smooth.
But the bumps forged clarity.
The detours built wisdom.
And the steep climbs taught me how to stand unshakably in who I am.
And now, I get to teach others how to do the same.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work lives at the intersection of science, spirituality, and personal transformation. At the Charleston Holistic Center, I help people create what I call coherence — the alignment of the mind, nervous system, heart-field, and energy body. When these systems come into harmony, people feel grounded, clear, emotionally balanced, and connected to who they truly are.
What makes my work unique is the combination of experiences that shaped it. I have a Ph.D. in Earth & Planetary Science, spent over six years in the U.S. Navy teaching Nuclear Physics and Advanced Mathematics, and have decades of experience in shamanic work, Reiki, energy medicine, and intuitive practices. Since 2002, I’ve also worked professionally with Tarot, and I’ve continued deep training in coaching, meditation, and coherence work — including five advanced Dr. Joe Dispenza retreats.
Most clients come to me because I can bridge two worlds that rarely speak to each other. I understand the science of the nervous system, heart-brain physiology, and energy regulation, but I also understand the subtle, intuitive, and spiritual dimensions of healing. My strength is translating both into guidance that feels grounded, compassionate, and immediately useful.
I specialize in Quantum Coherence Work, a system I’ve developed that integrates breathwork, somatic practices, energy medicine, shamanic techniques, intuition, and coaching. People often tell me that after a single session they feel more clear, more themselves, and more capable of navigating life — sometimes after years of feeling overwhelmed or stuck.
I’m deeply proud of the Quantum Coherence Coaching Program, because it brings all of my scientific, spiritual, and experiential knowledge together into a transformative path for clients. I’m also proud of the meditation classes I teach each week. They’ve become a community sanctuary where people can breathe, reconnect, and reset.
What sets me apart from others is the woven nature of my work:
• I can discuss HRV, coherence ratios, and neurophysiology and guide energy work or shamanic healing.
• I integrate intuition with logic, compassion with structure, grounded guidance with spiritual depth.
• And I hold a space where clients feel safe, seen, and free to transform at their own pace.
Ultimately, my work is about helping people return to themselves — not just in mind, but in body, spirit, and energy. And that’s what I’m honored to do every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happiest is witnessing the moment someone lights up from the inside — that instant when something clicks, when they reconnect with themselves, when clarity suddenly breaks through years of fog. There’s a visible shift that happens in people when they “get it,” whether it’s a moment of insight, a release, a new sense of possibility, or the first genuine peace they’ve felt in a long time.
Those moments are everything to me.
I love seeing people remember who they truly are — not the version shaped by stress, trauma, expectations, or old stories, but the version that is whole, powerful, and deeply alive. When clients tell me, “I haven’t felt this clear in years,” or “I finally feel like myself again,” it lights something up in me too.
Because every time one person’s inner light turns back on, the world becomes a little brighter.
I genuinely believe that when people heal, when they feel fulfilled, when they return to themselves, they ripple that energy outward. They show up differently in their families, communities, workplaces, and relationships. One person’s clarity creates clarity around them. One person’s joy makes joy more possible for others.
So what makes me happy?
Seeing people come alive. Seeing them transform. Seeing them reconnect.
Because each person who steps into their own light helps illuminate the world for all of us.
Pricing:
- 8 wk Quantum Coherence Coaching Program: $1295
- Shamanic Reiki Session: $195
- Tarot/Intuitive Insight: $160
- VIP/Breakthrough Session (about 4 hrs): $895
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.charlestonholisticcenter.com
- Instagram: @charlestonholisticcenter
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharlestonHolisticCenter
- Youtube: @TheSpiritualYou
