Elian Haan, Powerhouse Transformational Coach Shares New Book, “Words You Need To Succeed”
Elian Haan is a powerhouse in executive resilience, wellness, and transformational coaching. With decades of experience in fitness, leadership, and trauma-informed care, she helps high-achieving professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders break through limitations and step into their most powerful, fulfilled selves.
Elian is the author of “60 Miles from Neiman’s”, “Words You Need To Succeed” , former TV Show host of “Elian’s Joy” & current podcast host “The Resilient Rebel Show”, motivational speaker and award-winning presenter.
Elian is a trauma-informed executive coach, speaker, bestselling author, wellness strategist, and fitness studio owner. She helps midlife professionals, leaders, and high performers reset, realign, and reclaim their power—from the boardroom to the body.
Born in the Netherlands, she moved in her thirties to the USA, trained in dance, theater, arts, and fitness. She has spent most of her professional life in the fitness and wellness industry (now more than 42 years in front of exercise and yoga classes) and eventually transitioned into a career as CPC (Certified Professional Coach). She is a Fowler International Life Coach & Master Trainer with a yoga studio and private practice in Texas, but her virtual clients are all over the world.
Elian has always focused on helping people feel healthy and well, with a ‘poly niche’ expertise in transformational coaching, somatic work and executive coaching. Elian guides and assists her clients suffering from anxiety & stress, PTSD, trauma, and in the executive space with leadership skills, increased self-awareness, organizational performance, higher productivity goal setting & planning and accountability.
You can find her “Coach Approach” on national stages and virtual events presenting her own wellness programs and sharing her life lessons with a good dose of joy, humor, and energy. Her keynotes as “The Slouch on the Couch” and “The Not So American Dream” leave the audience with questions and answers, bought with a flair of edutainment and a zest for life.
Besides her studio classes and private practice, she has worked at a Texas inpatient rehab facility with mental health and addiction patients since 2015 and opened her own coaching practice in 2022. Elian is an active member of The Girl Cave Social Club in Dallas https://thegirlcave.online/community/ and a frequent-facilitator for The Boss School https://www.thebosschool.com/ and other in-person retreats and events.
Elian believes in coaching (Even as a Coach) and is proud to be a client of Eric Lofholm and Alok Appadurai. Two incredible mentors who have supported her growth as both a businesswoman and a transformational coach. Elian firmly believes that every coach needs a coach, and truthfully? Everybody needs a coach. There is no greater form of accountability or self-development than regularly checking in, with yourself, your intentions, and someone who challenges you to rise.
Coaching activates your own best self, and it holds up a mirror to your truth. And it surrounds you with like-minded souls who remind you that your vision isn’t too big and opens yours.
Her Global Book Award winning and bestselling memoir “60 Miles From Neiman’s Finding Your Way Back from Other’s Expectations.” is available on Amazon in paperback and E-book, and her new book “Words You Need To Succeed” is about to launch this fall.
You have spent your professional life in the fitness and wellness industry and eventually transitioned into being a Certified Professional Coach. Share your philosophy in life and the synergy between fitness, wellness, and coaching.
My philosophy in life is simple. I started as a dancer and later came to the states where I started my career in fitness and wellness. For me movement is healing, awareness is power, and growth is a lifelong practice. Everything I teach, whether on the mat, in a coaching session, or on a stage, comes from that belief. Coaching came early, before and after class, like that ‘bartender’ feeling where you are always asking and sharing. When I started as a wellness counselor at an in-patient addiction facility, the transition to certify as a professional coach was an organic move.
For decades, I’ve worked with people who come to me thinking they need to “fix” something: their body, their habits, their stress. But what I’ve learned is that true transformation never starts with punishment or pressure. It begins with compassion, curiosity, and connection, the very same elements that bridge fitness, wellness, and coaching. My early years were focused on looks, strong bodies, abs and the ‘exterior’, later my work focus moved ‘inwards’, where yoga, meditation and mindfulness became the tools and coping skills for my own transformation as well as for my work.
In fitness, we train the body, which is still so important to me. Movement heals. In wellness, we nurture the mindset and emotions. In coaching, we integrate them both and add awareness, the ability to notice what’s really happening within us. When those three come together, that’s where lasting change (I like to use the word growth) and transformation happens. You can’t separate them because the body keeps the score of our past experiences (including trauma), our thoughts influence how we move, and our energy dictates how we show up in life. My own 4-M method is consistent and brings results for my clients.
What I do today as a trauma-informed (I work in collaboration with clinical treatment teams for clients with severe trauma) and as executive coach (execs, C-suite, entrepreneurs, leaders, creators) is really an evolution of my early work in movement and performance. The same discipline that builds muscle also builds resilience. The same breath that steadies the body into a beautiful balance also calms the mind. The same awareness that helps you improve posture also helps you realign your life. Alignment is key.
The synergy between fitness, wellness, and coaching is what creates wholeness, and wholeness is where confidence, clarity, and true freedom begin. My goal is not to change who you are, but to help you remember the power, peace, and potential that was always there.
Your goal is to inspire one million women to turn their lives into an extraordinary journey. What are key areas that you are helping clients with today?
My mission has always been to help women not just survive their stories, but to rise and thrive through them. Every woman I meet carries incredible strength, yet so many are living on autopilot, overworked, overstretched, overstressed and disconnected from their own inner spark. The work I do today is about guiding them to come home to themselves and turn that spark into a steady flame.
The first key area I focus on is resilience, one of my favorite words! Teaching women how to regulate their stress response, reset their nervous system, and build the emotional endurance to handle life’s chaos with calm and clarity. Once we strengthen that inner foundation, everything else becomes possible, and I always say that everything is possible, but you must believe it as well.
The second area is confidence and self-leadership. So many women have spent years leading teams, families, and projects, but have forgotten how to lead themselves. Through movement, mindset, skillsets, and awareness practices, I help them reconnect with their own authority and rediscover their own voice. Confidence isn’t about perfection; it’s about presence. It is about stepping into action and being courageous, indifferent from the outcome. I made many (most) mistakes myself, especially when it comes to perfectionism, or trying to prove yourself. And don’t get me started on people pleasing, lol, that thing that we love to do except for ourselves!
Third, we work on purpose and fulfillment. Many of my clients are entering a new season of life — children grown, careers shifting, priorities changing. Together we redefine what success means now and create a plan for this next chapter to feel meaningful, exciting, and fully aligned with who they’ve become. We all like to feel needed and valued, I believe those are human needs. I don’t believe in retirement in the sense that it’s done and over. Your legacy does not end there and then.
And finally, I teach self-care as a leadership skill, not a luxury. When women learn to fill their own cup with rest, movement, and reflection, they lead with more strength, empathy, and impact, in their homes, workplaces, and communities.
I believe transformation happens when we stop chasing and start creating harmony between body and mind, work and rest, achievement and joy. When women begin to live from that place, life stops being something to manage and becomes an extraordinary journey to live.
What will people notice when working with you?
People often tell me that the first thing they notice when working with me is how they feel seen, not just as clients, but as whole human beings. My approach blends empathy, energy, and expertise. I meet people where they are, without judgment, and guide them toward where they truly want to be. They don’t need advice, they need a listening ear. I make people feel they have known me forever, they feel safe with me.
Clients notice that I don’t offer surface-level fixes. We go deep into mindset, movement, and meaning. They begin to understand how the body, mind, and spirit are in constant dialogue. Once they reconnect those pieces, they start making decisions from response and alignment instead of reactions and exhaustion.
That’s the foundation of my 12-month coaching journey, “Feel Alive in 2025.”, now soon replaced by the title “Fix my 2026”. This program is a full-spectrum roadmap to personal and professional renewal. Each month focuses on a key pillar of growth, from health and resilience to relationships, career, self-leadership, spirituality, and legacy.
It’s not just about setting goals; it’s about becoming the kind of person who can sustain them. We integrate trauma-informed awareness, nervous system regulation, and practical action steps so growth feels real and lasting. Over time, people notice they sleep better, think clearer, communicate with more confidence, and move through challenges with grounded strength.
Ultimately, what people notice most is their own transformation, the shift from running on empty to living with energy, joy, and purpose. That’s why I called it Feel Alive in 2025. It’s not a slogan; it’s a promise that life can feel vibrant, connected, and truly yours again.
It moves me every time, when a client feels they own their words, actions and step into accountability, a big one for me. Taking time to grow, to work with a coach or mentor, is a huge step and when my clients do so, I know they are truly motivated. They pay a large sum to make life interesting again, to feel joyful again, to overcome past pain, limiting beliefs, negative thinking and cognitive distortions. It takes time and work, that’s why I do not believe in a quick fix.
Over time it gets deeper, profound, intense, peeling away layers of embedded false fundamentals. I believe coaching or counseling doesn’t work when you are sent by a loved one, but when you are internally motivated and courageous enough to work on your own whole being, to trust the process of bigger and better. It moves me when a client understands and starts to see and feel long term outcomes, we are not in for a quick fix.
I have seen so many clients feel better, overcome physical and chronic pain, and overcome depression, addiction, PTSD and anxiety. The real stories stay confidential, that’s the code of ethics, but there are sweet testimonials on my website and social media sites. Sharing is caring, that’s how my work in fitness started and how I kept believing and observing exercise was the most underestimated “fix” in the world. Now, after 40 years in this business, I have many testimonials, they are all important to me.
Tell us about your book, “Words You Need to Succeed.”
Words You Need To Succeed was born from decades of coaching, teaching, and living through transformation myself. I’ve always believed that language shapes reality, the words we use every day either build us up or quietly limit what we believe is possible.
The book takes readers through what I call the ABC’s of Life Coaching, a collection of words that represent attitudes, beliefs, and choices that create a life of clarity, confidence, and connection. Each word comes with a short reflection and a practical mindset shift that helps readers move from reaction to awareness.
A few favorite takeaways:
Awareness: You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge. Awareness is the first and most powerful step toward growth and gratitude.
Courage: Not the absence of fear, but the decision to move forward anyway, to speak, to have a voice, to begin today, to believe again.
Discipline: Freedom is born from consistency. Every small daily choice is a brick in the foundation of the life you want. Repetition counts, although I used to be afraid of anything that looked ‘boring’.
Empathy: How we speak to ourselves determines how we connect with others. Kindness starts within, with self. We are often not able to be with ourselves and need others to fix or compliment us.
Each word in Words You Need To Succeed is an invitation to pause, reflect, and reset. It’s not a book you rush through; it’s one you grow through.
My hope is that readers use it as a companion on their journey, a gentle reminder that they already have everything they need inside them. Sometimes, all it takes is the right word at the right time to open a new chapter in your life.
What is the most powerful word to succeed?
The most powerful word to succeed, in my experience, is “believe.”
It may sound simple, but belief is the foundation for everything we build, in business, in health, in relationships, and in life. Without belief, no strategy, habit, or plan truly takes root.
Belief is the moment you decide that growth and transformation is possible. Joy and happiness are possible by choice. It’s the quiet strength that keeps you going when doubt tries to convince you to quit and give up. It’s what transforms a vision into a distant goal and a goal into action.
When we believe in ourselves, in our resilience, in our capacity to grow, we shift from waiting for permission to creating our own path. Every transformation I’ve witnessed begins there. I know from experience, I used to live in a framework of ‘waiting for the right time, and ‘expectations of others’, while nothing moved or ever happened, except unhappiness.
Belief, hope and faith turn fear into fuel, pain into purpose, and uncertainty into courage. It’s not something we find once and hold onto forever, it’s something we practice daily, especially on the days when it feels hardest.
So, if there’s one word that changes everything, it’s “believe.”
Because once you do, you stop surviving life and start living it fully.
Tell us about the “The Resilient Rebel Show.”
The Resilient Rebel Show is a continuation of my earlier work in television and live interviews, a space where real conversations meet transformation. It’s about people who’ve faced challenges, disruptions, or reinventions and turned them into powerful comebacks.
The show explores what resilience really looks like, not just as a buzzword, but as a lived experience. We talk about healing, leadership, mindset, and the courage it takes to rebuild your life, your purpose, and your power. My guests and I dive into stories that remind us that being a “rebel” isn’t about resistance, it’s about rising, again, in your own authentic way. Everyone’s story is unique and beautiful, that’s what I love about sharing our experiences together. I just ‘revamped’ and started this new show, before called Elian’s Joy, on Win Win Women TV, an interactive platform for women, where I hosted a live show weekly for 3 years.
Right now, The Resilient Rebel Show is available through its RSS feed on most major podcast platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and more. In early 2026, I’ll begin bringing guests onto the show, and I’m especially excited to feature thought leaders, creative souls, and everyday changemakers who have a story of resilience that can inspire others to step into their own strength.
Ultimately, the show is about connection, growth, and reminding us of all that no matter how many times life knocks us down, we always have the power to rise with more wisdom, grace, and fire than before.
You are a much sought-after Keynote Speaker. Tell us about your keynotes, “The Slouch on the Couch” and “The Not So American Dream.”
Both of my keynotes were born from what I saw every day, not just in studios or boardrooms, but how people are living, moving, and thinking in this modern society. In ‘Slouch on the Couch’ I address how in today’s world, sitting has quietly become the default. Many of us spend our days at desks, screens, and cars, moving less and holding more. The change didn’t happen overnight. The shape of our work, our homes, and our habits shifted, and moving stopped being our original instinct. I mention the key reasons for these shifts like active to stationery, technology and digital leisure, and environment and lifestyle pressures. I mention how our bodies and minds pay the price, in metabolism, cognitive decline, and elevated risk for diseases. In my work, I see the effects of this on the women and leaders I serve: the tension in their bodies, the fog in their minds, the yearning for more movement, not just in their schedules but in their lives. That’s what this keynote is about.
“The Not So American Dream” addresses the topic of anxiety, how it has quietly become the go-to disorder of our decade and how it reveals a very different society than the one I imagined when I first moved to the United States as a young woman.
I describe anxiety as both a hiding space and a mirror, a place people retreat to when life feels too heavy, and a reflection of a culture that glorifies busyness, competition, and constant comparison. It’s become a modern badge of belonging, a shared language of pressure and unrest, yet still something few truly understand.
I speak about my work with clients who struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, I help them see that anxiety is not their identity, and not a lifelong diagnosis. It is an alarm, not a verdict. Together we learn to reframe and rewire the body and mind, shifting from fear to awareness, from overthinking to breathing, and from control to connection.
In my talk, I offer practical, science-backed tools that help regulate the nervous system, anchor the mind, and bring the body back to safety, tools that empower rather than diagnose. The goal is not to eliminate anxiety (it is a healthy and normal response) completely but to understand its message, to use it as a guide instead of an enemy. When we stop running from anxiety and start listening to it, we discover what it’s really trying to tell us that something in our lives needs to slow down, soften, or simply be seen.
What has been the greatest reward of your career? What’s next?
The greatest reward of my career has been witnessing transformation not just physical or professional, but the deep inner kind. And being able to do what I love. The moment when a client looks up and says, “I finally feel like myself again.” That’s the magic. Whether it’s through movement, mindfulness, or a coaching conversation, seeing someone shift from exhaustion or self-doubt into confidence, calm, and clarity is what keeps me inspired.
Over the years, I’ve realized that my work isn’t about changing people, it’s about reminding them of their own power. When they reconnect to that truth, everything changes: the way they lead, the way they love, the way they live. That’s the real success story.
As for what’s next, I’m continuing to expand my mission of helping one million people transform their lives, through The Freedom Formula masterclass, my upcoming corporate wellness initiatives, and new creative projects that bridge storytelling, coaching, and well-being. In 2026, I’ll also be welcoming guests onto The Resilient Rebel Show to share real stories of courage, healing, and reinvention.
What’s ahead feels less like a destination and more like an evolution, the next chapter is always helping others live with more purpose, peace, and possibility.
You can find Elian, her links, services and products on her website https://www.elianhaan.net
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