Ever since she was a girl growing up in Dolores, Dyanna Hoffman wanted to help people feel better.

When Hoffman was 16, she said she’d drive to Durango and spend hours in the health food store there.

So at age 23, didn’t think twice when an opportunity to buy a health food and vitamin business presented itself.

“I just followed my heart,” Hoffman said.

It was 1981, and she renamed the business The Abundant Life and moved it. To her, the name describes the life that she wanted for herself and her customers.

“The abundant life involves body, mind and spirit,” she said. “It just meant balance in your whole life.”

And finding balance is what Hoffman does best. Her store is beautiful and serene, lined with shelves of vitamins, supplements, essential oils, teas and healthy food. She also meets with clients day and helps them find a healthful and abundant life.

“Healthy and happy goes together,” she said. “For me, I feel like this is my calling.”

Hoffman has been doing it for 33 years.

“My chances of survival were thin. I was young. I had no business degree and two small children,” she said.

But today, the business is thriving, and Hoffman’s children have returned to help out. Monique Alvarez runs the marketing end of the business, and Dylan runs the retail store and is working on his doctorate in Jungian psychology.

The family business is growing.

“I’m healing the world with nutrition and causing a ripple effect,” she said.

In today’s world, Hoffman likes to use an example. Our body’s symptoms are like fire alarms. If a fire alarm is going off – for example, you have a migraine – you don’t just go throw the smoke alarm out or take out its battery. You want to find out what’s causing the fire and stop it.

For example, a food could be a trigger and Hoffman works this out with her clients as a certified nutritionist, a certified health coach and a clinician in Nutrition Response Testing.

“I’m healing the world with nutrition and causing a ripple effect,” she said. “I am trained to find underlying root causes of conditions, and we’ve had fantastic results.”

Hoffman hopes to help people who are suffering get better. She has about 300 clients, and her initial consultant fee is $125 with follow-ups at $35.

She celebrated her 33 years in business last week by passing specials on to the customer.

“We are not just a retail store selling vitamins, we are selling a lifestyle,” she said.