Welcome back to the inspired
living with auto immunity podcast.
I'm your host, Julie Michaelson.
And today I'm joined by Dr.
Alex Swenson Ridley, and our conversation
is all about transformational healing
and how essential it is to deal with
our emotions to find true wellness.
Alex gives us a tutorial on quantum
physics and its role in healing
and health and how we need to ditch
selfless syndrome to be our best selves.
Dr Alex, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm excited to be here.
I am excited as well.
I'm looking forward to our conversation.
I love to start out with your story
because what you're doing is so important
and so unique that I'm pretty sure it
wasn't your dream when you were little to.
Be bringing this to women in the world.
So if you're willing as much of your, your
story, as you're willing to share with us,
how did you get to, to be in this field?
Yeah.
Well, there's, there's lots
of stages to my journey.
So I'll kind of summarize
the, the shorter one.
We were talking before the show, you
were asking how I ended up in Alaska
and I ended up in Alaska shortly
after I'm originally a chiropractor.
And you know, moved here for a
job and found out I was pregnant
three days before I came.
And that was kind of the start of.
Me learning about hormones
and all of this stuff.
Cause I actually had a
really hard pregnancy.
My son ended up coming five
weeks early and no one could
tell me why, cuz I was 28.
I was super healthy.
I lost weight during pregnancy
instead of putting it on, which
actually wasn't that healthy.
But ultimately like, you know, as I was
researching it and, and doing all this
stuff, you know, I, I shared with you, I,
my first marriage was, was really hard.
Has been struggled with alcoholism.
So there's a lot of toxic stress
and trauma, you know, emotional
abuse and stuff in our marriage.
And then the guy I worked for was
actually legitimately crazy and
ended up in jail for 25 years.
So I didn't share that part of
it with you, but you know, I'm,
I'm dealing like I'm in these
environments while I'm pregnant.
And so I finally doing research,
you know, learned about toxic stress
and that it impacts our hormones.
And so, you know, when you have
a baby, like either your Coone
drops and you start a period or.
It stays high and you have are pregnant.
And then when it drops, you have a baby.
And so that was kind of my first foray
into that, but I was a chiropractor.
So I was in a really different world.
And, you know, I ended up as a single
mom growing a huge chiropractic practice.
You know, we grossed over seven figures.
The busiest year.
I built all that in five years.
You know, I started it when
my son was six weeks old.
I had this moment, I just bought
this, you know, success and square
foot building and remodeled.
It spent like half a million
dollars on this thing.
And I walked up to my new, beautiful
office and just remember looking around
at me like this is not the dream.
Like I was exhausted.
My hair was falling out.
I was losing my voice at night.
I didn't have energy to even
like cook my son dinner, much
less play with him at that point.
And I knew something had to change.
And I also knew that I wasn't willing
to go down the route that, you
know, traditional Western medicine
would say, cuz chances are they
would've said, oh, you're fine.
But I knew, you know, my thyroid
a new mom.
right.
Like my, you know, my thyroid was off and
my hormones were a mess and I knew that
stress was a huge contributor to that.
So it led me on, you know, a journey
of completely shifting my life.
I.
Have a, I'm not practicing
chiropractor anymore.
I also had six tears in
my wrist from my career.
So like things just had to change.
And that really led me to.
You know where I'm at.
I know we're gonna have the quantum
physics conversation, which has been
like the newest, newest notch in what
I'm doing, but in terms of working
with women and, and really focusing on
hormones, a lot of it was my own journey.
You know, I had the experience of
waking up and my pants didn't fit and
I was too exhausted to do anything
and didn't have any men, you know,
motivation or the energy to find the
motivation and all of that stuff.
And, you know, figuring out how to
overcome that and really design life.
So that I'm healthy, which
I can finally say, I am.
Yay.
And that's how, I mean, that is,
that's how we get here, right?
Is our journey becomes the gift, not
just for us, but hopefully at least
in your place and my place for many,
many other women, people, children,
families, you know, as we shift as.
You focus on women.
And in the autoimmune world,
you know, many of my clients are
women probably most, not all.
Yeah.
but as we shift the idea of
health and wellness for women,
Mm-hmm
we're impacting future generations,
we're impacting those children.
And that ripple effect.
There's really the reward.
I had no idea about when I started my
business, you know, I was, and I'm always
thrilled, you know, the each person.
But now that I understand you know,
we're changing families, we're
hopefully eventually changing.
Healthcare wellness.
All of it.
I know.
I I'm like, ah, I said I wanted
to talk about quantum physics and
help, but I'm like, there's so
many other points in your journey.
I, I, I wanna talk about too.
I wanna highlight, I literally
just had this conversation.
With a client right before we hopped on.
Which was you, you talked about
the, not having the energy, right?
Like being the mom.
What I was sharing with this
client who has started making
amazing changes and her energy.
She's, she's actually brilliant.
She is in a better place, certainly far
from her sickest and, but was ready to
take the next up level and is finding
the like, ah, I have more energy and I
have, this is better and that is better.
And she's executing like a rock star
cuz she has the energy to do it.
And I was sharing with her a story about.
Another client who is,
could be your client.
I'm sure.
Textbook, you know, entrepreneur
business owner loves her
business, loves her children.
When we first started working
together, there was a point in which
she said to me, you know, almost
like, do you think I'm a bad mom?
Because it was easier
for her to be at the.
Yeah.
Then home with her young children
and, and she was thinking of it,
I think at the, you know, was
just, that's what I enjoy better.
And I said, which if, even if that
is the case, like absolutely not
that doesn't make you a bad mom.
Like we need, everybody
needs to be who they are.
Well, Her health is just remarkably
improved and she texts me all the time.
I'm having so much fun playing like
it used to be self-care was like, you
know, how far can I get from my family?
But now that she has energy, she's like,
I really love playing with my children.
I love.
And we don't realize that when our gas
tank is empty and we're tapped out.
It's not a decision.
It's not a, it's not a flaw.
It's not a, like, there's
only so much we can do.
And so I, I wanted to just highlight
that part of your story with the,
you know, it's, whether it's hormones
and people, it's always hormones at,
Yeah.
, they're always off.
point, just like it's always
toxins and it's always, you know
affect hormones and hormones
affect like it's all.
it's stress affects B you know, I
mean, stress chronic stress is, is
a toxin and that affects hormones.
And we get into this, this cycle.
And so kudos to you for even
asking the question at 28,
like, why would I deliver early?
Yeah.
Most people don't like, I, I asked
my, you know, I had a nurse midwife
cuz it ended up being emergency.
So I had to, you know, get away
from my births that are here.
Alaska has really weird
midwifery laws, but you know,
they're like, oh, I don't know.
And I'm like, don't you care?
Like why don't we wanna underst
and I I've always been that way.
Like, you know, But why?
Like, I'm always as when I
developed asthma and allergies
at age 12, I'm like, but why?
And they're like, oh, I know.
It just I'm like, no, actually
I was vaccine injured is how
that now I understand that
Right.
And I feel like, but why.
And should be, you know,
everybody says functional
medicine is root cause medicine.
I really think the slogan for
functional medicine should be, but
why because that's where it is.
It's like Western medicine stops.
It's not wrong or bad or whatever.
It just, it just stops at the, this is.
And usually that this is, is a
symptom with a name that they call
a diagnosis and they don't ask.
But why?
I, my middle child was still, I went
into labor two months early and was
able to cook 'em for another month.
And.
Nobody.
I didn't ask why at the time.
I, that's not true.
I did.
I got the, I don't know.
And then I got to be terrified
through my whole next pregnancy
that it was gonna happen again.
again.
Yeah,
know why it happened the first place.
So kudos to you for being know curious.
I love
Yeah.
Well, and I think it's important
in how we approach our health.
You know, we're so used to the Western
model where it's like, the doctor just
says, this is, and I like the being and
really we have to come at it with this
curiosity of looking at everything about
our lives, cuz it all impacts our health.
So
It really does.
And.
We need to retrain to
become our own advocates.
And, you know, if we don't get the answer
to, but why we keep looking, we need
to ma need to look elsewhere as well.
So I, I love that.
And you mentioned, I said, we're gonna
move away from it, but toxic stress.
I love that you use that expression as
I was talking about stress and toxins
because we all, we all live under.
Chronic stress, whether it's, you
know, big stressors, little stressors,
daily stressors that combo the layer
different toxic stress, trauma,
loss, grief, all of those things.
And I know you work.
Around all of that.
And with all of that, and it is such
an, I mean, we all do in, in, I did
an interview with a friend who's a
trauma healer and I am not certified.
I'm not a trauma healer.
I don't call.
But we address trauma.
Every, every client I work with or we,
you're not gonna get long term results,
you're not gonna get true healing.
And so I wanted to highlight
all of that because.
What you're doing it that's the
holistic part is, is helping women
not be where you were when you were
five years into practice with your
hair falling out at what should have
been a great milestone that wasn't.
Yeah, like the celebration
was, was not there.
And speaking of the trauma, you know,
like you, I'm not certified in any way
in trauma healing, but what I find so
interesting is the women I work with
and, you know, for whatever reason,
my life experience actually has led to
me working with women older than me.
So I'm 37 now who does listening,
but Most of my clients are
in their forties and fifties.
A lot of 'em, you know, dealing
with autoimmune and a lot of stuff.
But as we go through a journey where
the physical body starts to feel better,
many of them like 90% are suddenly
like, Hey, so I have this, you know,
thing that happened to me when I was
14 that I've never told anybody about.
And I feel ready to process that.
And like that is where I interviewed
a woman on my show that was
talking about this as well.
Like if we're really
looking at root cause.
Trauma is a huge piece of it.
And like how we define trauma, like
I've I have, you know, what ends up
in like what they call an, a score
or whatever on the trauma scale.
Cause I had actual abuse and you know,
I don't wanna say actual, but so many
of us experienced trauma, even if you
don't feel like, like we tend to, you
know, make this hierarchy of trauma,
kind of like we make a hierarchy
of what SIM looks like or whatever.
Different and it doesn't.
Yeah,
matter if you've had that level or not.
Like it's still
can be, it can be a, you know,
a, a bunch of little tea traumas
Yeah
it could also be that.
You experience trauma and you don't
identify it as trauma or, you know, you've
pushed it away and locked it in a box.
It's still in there.
It's still in your cells,
it's still in your body.
And so I love that you brought that
up because it can go either way.
You know, some people can't reach
that level of physical healing until.
They work on that trauma and, and
work on healing that, but also we
were talking about energy, right?
Like now I have the energy to do, like
now, once you handled all these other
things, your body, you have the energy
to also, you know, begin to look at
that trauma and, and deal with it.
So I I'm so glad you pointed that out.
Yeah.
And at some levels, so we can
start diving a little bit into
the quantum physics thing there.
So like for listeners who, you know,
you aren't familiar with me, I've been
working at a PhD in integrated medicine.
That's based in quantum physics.
So that was like part of this.
And quantum physics is
like amazing and cool.
And I'll be totally honest.
I've been studying it for two years and
I still feel like I don't completely
understand it, but I've got surfacey.
But you know, a lot of when we talk
about energy, like our body actually
stores energy in different places.
In us, you know, you can call it shockers.
I like to call it energy centers,
but we have different centers and
they've actually measured this.
And so one of the ways that I have
started working with women to remove
that and just get access to the energy
that we already have stored is we
have to deal with emotional stuff.
And I know for me, when I started
doing that work, it was like my
third center, which is kind of, you
know, you're the pit of your gut.
If you.
You will like that area.
I had it's related to
willpower as the emotion.
And I would just feel like it was dead.
like there was nothing there.
And I had been through such a high
level of stress for so many years.
It was like, I didn't have the emotional
capacity to push myself anymore,
especially as like physically any of that.
And that was a lot of
where the energy came from.
And so I've been working on just, you
know, I actually had to assign a, give
myself a, a picture of like, Dual deck
dagger is like my, you know, sort of
strength and, and work through that.
But that's been able to like, I've started
to be able to just release a lot more
energy and, and feel like that ability
to push myself again, which a lot of us,
when we're trying to get healthy or, you
know, whatnot, we tend to go, you know,
the audio is a little bit different, but
I think we try to go to the things where
we're pushing and pushing and pushing.
But first we need to go within
to really find that energy again.
And have it come out.
And so this is getting a little more in
the esoteric world, but you know, there's
well, and I love that.
I wanna actually back it all the way up.
Either from Webster or whoever, or
you quantum pH, like let's, let's
go all the way back to cuz people
are like, wait, why aren't she
talking about quantum physics today?
What is quantum physics?
Let's start there.
So yeah, let's start there.
Like in the most simplest.
Way I understand it is it's physics.
That explains the things we can't see.
It's, it's based in energy.
You know, I geeked out a lot during my
initial courses, cuz I'm like, oh my
gosh, this explains the existence of God.
And you know, all this stuff that
honestly science just either has holes.
Like I, I don't know about you as I was
going through, you know, my education.
It would be like things.
Star oneism for example, like there's
certain things that just don't make sense
about natural selection and all of that.
And quantum physics comes in and
like fills in those holes because
ultimately what it's talking about is
that there is a universal intelligence.
You can call it God, you can call it
whatever you want, but there is something
that connects us all and healing doesn't
happen from, you know, in, in the cell.
It's not like you.
Bottom up like, oh, if we fix this
thing, everything else will work.
It's top down.
So they, we call it downward causation.
So there's actually an intelligence
that exists in the world that is, you
know, where thought is organized and
where matter comes into existence.
So like, we are actually a
representation of a thought that
combines matter into something that
we see getting like really basic
No it, which is awesome.
I, I love it.
And I love, you know,
people . Think of the study.
Thank goodness of quantum physics
has become more and more popular
Yeah.
rec you know, more recently as, as
we get re enlightened, if you will.
And, and I mean, that's the beauty
of it is it's it's so is so not new.
It's not like and it what's amazing about
it is all of like the, you know, knowledge
we have from like ancient Chinese
medicine and some of the things that
have been around for thousands of years.
Essential oils.
A lot of the tools that have
been out there that have been
poo-pooed by, you know, modernized
Woo woo.
Oh, the woo
yeah.
Like all the movie stuff.
Quantum physics actually explains
how it works scientifically
Well, and that's what I love about it is.
It, it actually shows
you the science of it.
When I was studying in a program based
in ancient Chinese medicine and quantum
physics, we had so many engineers and
in the program and it was, it was,
you know, because it does explain like
there, it gives you the science, it
gives you, you know, the, the spaces.
So.
That's kind of the, like 1 0 1
or remedial almost of like, what
is, what is quantum physics?
Yeah.
you talked about healing.
Doesn't happen in the cell and
talked about this downward causation.
How, how are you utilizing, you know,
why should we care about quantum
physics when it comes to healing?
And I mean, I kind of just said it,
but, you know, tell us more about that.
With, with healing and
with quantum physics.
So to take it another step farther I'm
gonna forget the names of the guy's name.
Sheri I think is who its they've mapped.
They call it morphic genetic fields,
which is, you know, we have these morphic
genetic fields around us and essentially
all of our organs have a blueprint.
And what happens in disease is.
Somehow the wrong meaning gets
assigned to the blueprint.
So it can be from thoughts.
It can be from traumas.
It can be like, whatever it is, we
create disease essentially by the wrong
meaning get assigned, getting assigned.
So when you look at healing and
you know, when we're talking about
autoimmune stuff in particular,
like we're dealing with the bodies.
Reacting against the self, you know,
in the most simplistic words, I,
you've probably talked about this
quite a bit on your show, but to be,
and I, this is not my specialty that
I'm in whenever, wherever you want.
But when, you know, when we're
talking about healing, it's about
creating the space where the body's
able to receive the correct messages.
And so like this relates to my world
as a chiropractor, you know, part of my
chiropractic itself was geeking out cuz
we talk about innate intelligence, you
know, and then there's a couple other
like naturopathic physicians as well.
Talk about similar thing, but it's
this idea that there is an intelligence
that, you know, impacts our healing.
And so it's about clearing the
pathways and allowing that to happen.
And there's different, you know, ways
that we start to access what they
call the quantum field and hold space
for a new possibility for yourself.
But a lot of it's getting outta
your own way and dealing with.
More of the emotional side of healing.
Like so much of it is, is from that
because that's where meanings get
assigned, you know Jodi Benza I, I
mentioned him with a guest I interviewed
and she like freak out on me a little bit,
but he's someone I've learned from a lot.
And just, you know, he explains that
thoughts are the feeling like the.
Feelings of the brain and the emotions
are the feelings of the body and
you have to have the two together
and our brain and, you know, our
thoughts are kind of what connect us
to the, the quantum field as well.
So we have to be able to
like, get to that place.
I Don if I'm sense, just stop me
No, you're totally making sense.
I wanna highlight this.
The idea of which is very actually
dispense a esque holding space
for new possibility for yourself.
And I wanted to highlight that because
as my work has continued to evolve,
So that this would be something,
you know, we would always get to.
And now this is where we start, right?
Like if you want
Yeah.
to, I always say like, I was
so fortunate to be able to heal
when I didn't think I could.
I didn't know how to, I didn't.
But that, and that's the
exception, not the rule
Yeah.
we all can heal, but if you wanna
expedite that process, into a space where
you're holding that possibility is key.
I know
Yeah, I'd say it's be, be key.
Like I talk a lot about and I've had,
what's been so interesting on my quantum
physics journey is a lot of the training
I had early on where they didn't have the
language around what quantum physics was.
This is actually what they were doing.
Right.
and you know, so any transformational
process, which I talk a lot
about, you know, transformational
healing, and that is my.
Commitment to the women I work with is
like, we are transforming your life and
your hormones and everything in your
body, but it starts with who you're being.
And, you know, James clear talks
about this in atomic habits.
I learned about this and like, we, we tend
to think that we need, you know, when we
finally get healthy, then we can do these
things and then we'll be a certain way.
But you actually have to flip that around.
And it's about stepping
into who do you need to be?
In order to create that.
And that's where, you know, holding
that new possibility really comes from.
So
I love that.
I'm like, oh, do I ask, do I ask
no, do it pass away.
So if, if you can, I don't know
that there's a, you know, can
you share with us, like where,
where does one start with that?
Like, how do you even, if, if this
is something that's completely
new I find a lot of people kind of
trip into it accidentally, right?
Like they'll.
Like maybe you don't consciously
know that's what you're doing,
Right.
You know, they wanna
learn about meditation.
So they'll pick up a dispenser book
or they, you know, and then it's like,
oh wait, you know and I'd wanna circle
way back to something you said before.
As far as my experience has always
been regarding quantum physics and
this universal knowledge Is that?
Yeah.
Doesn't matter what religion you are.
It, it doesn't matter.
It just, I, I can't imagine.
Well, maybe I can't imagine some
people that, like, it wouldn't
resonate with at all, but, but nobody
that has that lives with any kind
of faith based life or spiritual.
Awareness.
It it's like kind of the
aha, like, oh, that's why.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
It, so speaking of that, and then
we can come back into this idea of
being, you know, I, cuz I identify
as a Christian and I actually came
to my faith like late in life.
I was 26 or 27 when I.
You know, I moved to the Bible belt
and Jesus found me, we'll go with that.
But
I love
I wrote a, a social media post
that I like haven't posted yet.
Cause I'm like, oh, do
I really wanna go here?
But you know, in learning about
cuz a lot of quantum physics and
integrative medicine and function,
like we start learning about things
that came out of more of the Eastern
philosophies and whatnot and you can
absolutely utilize them and be fully
within like the understanding of.
Christianity, if that's what you identify
as, and you don't have to identify there.
So, you know, it's, I was,
And I'm Jewish and I feel
exactly the same way.
And, and it, it's not just
Judaeo Christian though.
It's
right.
Like it's EV it's at
all of it.
Yeah.
know, you know, I, and I am, I
believe like those of, of faith, no
matter what you are, like so much
of a component of it is just love.
And so.
Loving each other, loving yourself.
That's a hard one for women
Yes.
you know, and it, it might
just be starting there.
Like a lot of it is about shifting the
emotions that you've been dwelling on.
Like the things we focus on
are the things that we tend to
present, like produce more of.
So if you're always focused on
your pain or your weight or that
you don't have any energy, like
you're going to create more of that.
I have experienced this
many, many, many ways.
And you know, so getting into.
The other question around, like,
how do we start accessing this
it's things like meditation?
Like I didn't meditate
until January of this year.
And I now meditate every day.
I learned a lot of how to
meditate from Joe expensive.
But before that I like his
are kind of time intensive.
So I had to learn that, oh, this is
beneficial and I should make that the
time for it, you know, before that.
But you know, just focusing
on feeling those emotions,
where do you feel in your body?
Like allowing
Which is really hard for some
really hard.
Like I sucked at this.
I'll just be honest.
it's like feelings.
What, what do you cause I'm really
Well, it wasn't safe for you for
a long time to feel your feelings.
You
Yeah.
And that was,
it through your days.
I didn't even dive into my childhood,
which was also , you know, I kind of
recreated my relationship with my mom and
who I married, but I love my mom to death.
We're still working on it.
Mm-hmm
you know, and so it's being willing
to dig into those things because
we also have unconscious patterning
and wiring in our brain that will
keep us stuck in the same pattern.
So it's finding the ways to increase
your perspective, to just allow yourself
to experience something new and then
watch for where those things show.
And I love the, what you focus on, you
know, create more of is, is so true.
I have, you know, a lot of people and,
and I do think Meditation isn't for
everybody at every time in their life.
Like, it's hard to imagine, but in,
in certain cases, but I also know
it's just something that people
are very resistant to sometimes.
And I have spent a lot of time and I've
talked on the podcast and in, in my
courses about, you know, kind of Debu.
Debunking those myths and reasons of,
you know, you don't have to do it for
an hour and you know, you're not doing
it wrong and you don't stink at it.
And all those things.
And I have a meditation practice.
It's a huge, it was a really
big part of my healing journey.
But this idea of.
You know where your attention
goes is so important that for me,
one of the things I use with all
my clients, because I love it.
And it's short, it's fast.
The bang for the buck is
there is gratitude journaling,
yeah.
because like you said, like
if you're fixating on whatever
that thing is, you wanna change.
Well, you're probably not gonna change it.
But when you start and that's the
kind of, it's just a way, it's
a tool of expanding that view.
If you will kind of pulling your
lens back, but it is amazing.
And people will say to
me, well, I'm grateful.
And I'm like, no, I know you're grateful.
I'm not saying you're.
I'm not grateful.
this should be so easy,
cuz you are grateful.
And even, you know, the people that are
clearly walk around every day in a place
of gratitude, when you just have that
practice of a writing with a, with a
handheld utensil pen or pencil to create,
you know, strengthen those neuro pathway.
Faster.
But then they'll even say like,
wow, like it's everywhere.
Like everywhere I look, I there's
something I'm like, yeah, look at that.
I know.
And you might be starting, you know,
I've had clients that I've said like as
a starting point, Hey, let's just, you
know, each day write down three things.
You're grateful for.
that's what
three, I can't three
I'm start one, but find.
We can all find three things.
And I, I have said before, you know,
if it's a really bad day, you know,
if you can pick up the, if you can
hold the pen, like there's one thing
to be grateful for right there.
Like, I mean, we, you know,
we can always, always find it.
And then I joke and I'm like, of course
you have permission to write more than
three, but the win is three and that.
That just eliminates all the resistance
for people to start to create the habit.
And then they're like
hooked and I love it.
And so I just wanted to kind
of share that as a tool.
And again, I am, I love meditation.
It was huge for me, but like,
look at where you've come and
what you've accomplished without
a dedicated meditation practice.
So it's not the only route to wellness.
that's, that's not.
And I was gonna add to that,
you know, the whole idea behind
meditation and why it's so powerful
is you're changing brain wave states.
Right?
And so we tend to live in like high
beta, which is super stress out loans.
like type a like overwhelms.
I've got all this stuff going on and
meditation is just a tool that helps you
shift from that to alpha or theta state.
And alpha is like where
creativity lies and the.
Kind of that right before you
fall asleep kind of experience.
And so I've seen cool things happen
in my life doing that, but I also
recognize there's been other ways
that I've done that throughout
my life without realizing it.
And a lot of us have those and they tend
to be things maybe we don't make time for.
So you could do it, any kind of
creative thing that you have.
Like, I actually play the violin
and whenever I play the violin,
I just don't have that music.
And it's amazing.
So, you know, you might have
something like that or you draw.
My drawing is like a fifth graders
and my son makes fun of me, but
it's something that calms me
down and gets me out of that.
It's just shifting the focus of your
brain, like from Jo Spencer talks
about convergent and divergent focus.
So both going within and without like, and
just being aware of yourself in the world.
So you can do that lots of different
ways that doesn't have to be me
you can, and well, and I feel like too,
oftentimes those things that you just
mentioned are things that adults and women
in particular have moved away from have
fallen out of their routines because,
you know, they don't take the time for
themselves and focus on themselves and.
I have so many clients and I'm like,
I don't think I'm not a painter.
I'm not an artist.
So I don't think I'm attracting people
in that way, but I have so many clients
who are painters and they're gifted
and they're or artists of some sort.
We're all creative in one way or another.
Even if we don't look at it that way.
But it is interesting.
And so for, for these particular
clients, that's become.
Part of their wellness routine
is taking the time to, to do that
because it's not just, I love
that, that you pointed that out.
It's not just a stress reliever or a,
you know, when you're changing brainwave
states really good stuff is happening.
You know, I think of it as like fit.
It's a, it's another fitness area,
Yeah, like there's, you know, that way
I actually started learning meditation.
I downloaded there's an app called
fit mind and they come at meditation
completely from the science perspective.
But you just started for one minute and
it's all about just training the muscle
of your brain to go in and out of those
states and to be able to do it, you
know, without having to close your eyes
and put on the weighted blanket and
diffuse the oils and all the things like
just you're you're, it's another way
you're building fitness and your body.
I love that.
That's amazing.
I do wanna touch on.
I know I was like, I wanna
talk about quantum physics.
Yeah.
No, it's all
but , I, I wanna talk about
everything, all the things I know.
We, we can't dig into all of it.
But I do.
Want to touch on, cuz I wanna get, give
listeners a really good idea of your focus
and what you're bringing to the world.
And so I wanna talk about selfless
syndrome cuz I feel like that was the
perfect segue as I was talking about women
who no longer do the things that you know.
So tell us, tell us about that.
The, how you see it and.
Fix it.
Haha.
In three minutes or less.
How do you fix?
or less, how do we take care of that?
Yeah.
Take some time.
So, you know, selfless syndrome,
we've alluded to it a couple
Yes.
without, I've almost been
like, Hey, I call that selfless
syndrome, you know, it's yeah.
, it's the innate desire we all have
as women to take care of everyone
and everything else except ourselves.
And, you know, we are so wired to.
Put our kids first and our family
first and our career first.
And like, everything else comes first
and I'm not necessarily, you know, I
get a lot of pushback on like, well,
isn't being selfless, a good thing.
And I'm like, yeah, but if you're not
taking care of yourself, like you're
only as good to the people around
you as you know, healthy you are.
So if you are consistently just
running yourself ragged and not getting
enough sleep and you don't have energy
and you're, you know, generally you
start getting mean to everybody.
Like I know when I'm.
Making time for what I
need to make time for.
I'm not the world's nicest mom
or wife or any of those things.
And so, you know, in, in shifting
that, I think it comes to it.
There's a couple things like as
a society, we have to really move
away from whatever it is cuz our
role is women has also changed.
I, I tend to be kind of a feminist.
So, you know, we've gone from like
more women are in the workplace or
owning businesses or like doing.
More than just being at home.
And I'm, I'm also those who are at home.
I'm not saying that's like just
a thing and you know, you should,
you know, feel like you should have
all the time in the world at all.
Like that's a three, three time job.
I would say, like for every kid
you have, it's a full time job.
, you know, whatever it is, but
it's having that willingness to
recognize, like, we are important.
And I think some of it comes
down to self-worth as well.
I'm throwing all kinds
of stuff at you, right.
With this.
But, you know, , we, we have to see
ourselves be ourselves as worthy and
realize that our selfcare is actually
one of the ways that we serve the
people and the things that we love.
Oh, say that again.
So our self-care is one of the, like
the most important way I would argue
that we serve the people and the things
that we love, because when we are full
ourselves, we have more to give that's
that is what makes us the better mom,
the better partner, the better business
owner, the better friend, daughter,
sister, whatever, fill in the blank.
You know, it, it sounds so oversimplified
to say oxygen mask on yourself first.
First.
Yeah,
Right.
But it, that is really
what it comes down to.
If you are putting yourself
last, it will catch up.
Eventually some people get away
with it for longer than others.
Yeah, which is why I probably mostly work
with women in their forties and fifties.
I just like, did you know
the crash in late years?
In five years when I was
in my mid thirties, so
Yeah.
Well, and, and.
Yeah, it depends on when the,
the hormone component steps in.
You got to experience that early too.
So many women that I see are in
that same age group also, and, or.
Symptoms came on with pregnancy or right
after a delivery or, and it's like,
yeah, nobody thought to think like, oh,
could this be triggered by hormones?
You know, why are hormones
doing that to you?
And so it's such a, it's
such an huge component.
But it takes, I see.
And I'm guessing you see the
same, it takes retraining.
Like it's not enough to listen to this
episode and be like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, oh, they must be right.
Like it's self it's important.
It's not, you know, self
care is not selfish.
It is the best gift you can
give people, not even just the
people that you care about.
Really anybody who comes
into contact with you.
Throughout your day seriously.
yeah, like you can be that person
who smiles at everyone in the store.
And like, I am now that
person, like, I feel so light
and just like happy going out
and people are now back
to the quantum physics.
People are drawn to that, right?
Like strangers come up and start
conversations because we all
realize like, we want more of that.
And, and so.
So, is this something I I'm guessing
since you coined a term, this is
something you see pretty much across
the board in your, your clients.
Yeah.
And honestly, I, when you were talking
about, you know, kids and families,
I, so my original hat, I was a
pediatric and perinatal chiropractor.
So, you know, I worked with mom's
babies and the more I worked with.
Little kids and babies in the pediatric
side of my practice, the more I saw
moms and grandmas or aunts, or, you
know, whoever who were not taking care
of themselves, they were exhausted.
They were like, you know, dying on the
couch while I'm adjusting their kid.
And I was like, that's where we need
to make the shift of the change.
Cuz you know, our kids are gonna be
more and more screwed up the less
we have available to, to give them.
And so that's kind of what,
what led to my journey, but.
And that's a perspective.
I, I try to.
Kind of share with my clients
when they're resistant.
It does feel, I wanna acknowledge,
like for anybody who's like,
oh, you know, it sounds so easy.
In theory, it's uncomfortable in the
beginning when you're starting to, to
honor yourself and prioritize yourself.
And one of the, the ways I try to
encourage people is like, what, what
would you want for your daughter?
Like would, would you encourage filling
somebody else, a friend, a child, a loved
one, you know, what would you say to
them taking a half hour a day to no, like
Yeah.
I mean, in the grand scheme of
things, it's not much time and it
makes such a difference, but you
know, I've totally been there, like
we all have
Going for a run or, you know,
whatever it is or my kid's like,
you know, no, I need you to do this.
And you know, sometimes I it's legit
what he needs and other times it's like,
Hey, mommy, it'll be much better for you.
If you let me do this first.
Habits and patterns.
And when I first started a
dedicated meditation routine, I
was, I was meditating twice a day.
So morning and afternoon, 20 minutes.
And.
The afternoon.
One was always the harder one to
get in and sometimes I'd miss it.
And if I missed it two days in a row
or more, my daughter who was then a
teenager would say, Why don't I drive
and you can meditate in the car she
would notice, and I'm pretty chill.
Like, I think I'm great.
You know, I'm not uptight, I'm
not, she could notice she could
totally notice a difference.
And so, you know, she learned like,
oh, you know, As thank goodness through
watching me that like actually taking
care of myself and, and prioritizing those
things that do work and keep me running
are, you know, are important non, I call
them non-negotiables they, they, you
Yeah.
a while to figure out what that is,
Yeah.
And when you do it
makes such a difference.
You know, same with my kids.
Like he, he watches and even Joe spon
talks about, he had three kids and
he said he would just sit down in
the middle of the living room with
headphones and a waited blanket.
And they would just play
around him while he meditated.
And my son too, you know, he
knows that in the morning,
like that's what mom was doing.
so mommy's time.
Yep.
He came up with his own
meditation and stuff and I'm cool,
I love it.
And again, see there there's the.
That trickle down of like, you know,
what we do
be in his thirties playing with
meditation for his first time or
forties or fifties or sixties, or, yeah.
I, I love that.
That is amazing.
So we kind of, because
I couldn't stay focused,
No, it's like we hit
doing is too important and I
want people to understand how
it all comes together, right.
It really if you are.
Not creating self care, studying
quantum physics, probably isn't
going to help your healing.
No like, and that you have to be
willing to take the actions too.
Cause I, I find this for myself.
Like, you know, it's, especially when
I was going through the stuff with my
ex-husband and it's like, I'm reading
everything, looking for an answer.
Cause I want someone to
just give you an answer.
And a lot of it came down to, I needed to
just a lot of times we need to go inside.
Before we can, like, we always tend
to look outside ourselves for the
solution to, especially with, you
know, disease or illness, or if you
have a diagnosis, it's always like
what, from the outside can I bring in?
And a lot of times we
need to go inside first.
Absolutely always.
you need to go inside first before any
of that, stuff's gonna make a difference.
You know, that's where like women,
you, you know, when you have hormone
issues, you can't lose weight.
Or that, that tend to be a
big one that I deal with.
And I'm like, yeah, we're gonna work
on our, how we relate to food and
stress and all this stuff first.
Cause
Well, and I always,
it's not gonna make a
difference until you do.
coaching perspective is, is heart
centered, heart based coaching.
And so my perspective is, I mean,
yes, I am an autoimmune expert.
But I'm not coaching with my expertise.
I I'm offering resources
with my expertise.
Nobody's an expert on you, but
you, and it's helping you get to
that place where you can hear it.
You can feel it, you
can learn to trust it.
And like you said, and it's always a work.
I do.
I, you know, I still discount
the voice that comes up.
That's always right.
Because, you know, I talk myself out of
it using logic or, you know, whatever
public opinion or and so it that's
just like our up-leveling our health
and our self-care and changing and
growing, adapting, all of those things.
It's the same with using our intuition and
listening to that voice and listening to
our body when we are, when our body isn't
well, It's trying to tell us something.
That's what it's doing.
That's
me.
yeah.
Yeah.
I even went so far, this is a
total side note, not a plug for
anything, but I actually got an
order ring because it gives me
on the chart.
I just put it on the charger,
I need to charge mine today.
But, you know, I love that readiness score
cuz it, it definitely, you know, most
days I can tell like, Hey, I feel good.
Or maybe no I don't.
But there's some days where I.
Like, oh, I wouldn't work out, but
my writing this score is great.
And other days where I'm like,
I totally would push myself, you
know, specifically around exercise
and then it's like, no, you rest.
Yeah,
that's just, you know, sometimes
we need that objective to.
well, and what I find is the,
I just had this conversation
on my last interview as well.
Then you get good.
You know, you can connect the
dots of then align for me.
And I've, I've, I've had an aura
ring since the first generation.
So that's about six years, I think,
Yeah.
it's longer than me.
I used it.
I used it.
To help me with certain things.
And, and I use it in coaching too, you
know, if somebody has, and it's not
a requirement, but many of my clients
have them and we'll, if we're doing
a food reintroduction or we're doing,
you know, being able to track heart
rate and HR V and things like that,
or are in readiness, is like, well,
you know, if that's the only thing I
changed was ate tomatoes yesterday and.
Wow, like, look, what's going on.
It's a, it's a great, it's a
great tool that I always say,
and it's not just ordering, there
are other good ones out there.
Any of them, it's you look for
the trends you're looking for,
but because I've been using it.
So it depends on personality.
I have people that I'll say, you know,
How did you sleep or how do you feel?
And they'll tell me their aura
score and I'm like, NNU that?
I didn't ask what aura
thinks about how you slept.
And I, I used to joke cuz
I would get really bummed.
I would wake up and be
like, oh, I slept great.
And then I would look at the aura
score and it was like terrible.
And I'm like, Oh, well now
I don't feel that good.
Yeah.
You know, like, so we just, we
got a note, but using tools and,
and having the data, I'm a biohack.
I, I came to functional
medicine through biohacking.
So I love gadgets and tools and anything
that can, that can help us for sure.
Absolutely.
So before we wrap up for listeners
that are listening on the go all of
everything will be in the show notes,
but where's the best place for them
to find you and check out your work.
Fantastic.
Yeah, so probably the best is I also
host a podcast called emerge the health
podcast for busy, high performing women.
So if you're on the go,
go listen to that one.
And then the other places, I have
a free group on Facebook where I
show up and teach live, and it's a
place to just interact and connect.
So I, I can give you both of those
links to throw in the show notes, but.
What's the group called?
So, so somebody cuz not everybody.
Oh, she doesn't know
I think it's called emergent women.
The what did I call it?
Health for women looking
for answers and results.
That's it.
Okay, but look for emergent women and,
Yeah.
It'll come.
Yeah.
I'm
on there.
And then for those of you that are
willing to take the time and look in
the show notes for links, they will
be in the show notes too, but I know
sometimes I'm listening and I'm like,
I just wish people would just tell
me cuz I'm driving or, you know so.
What is one, this is not meant to be a
trick question or throw you under the
bus, but what is one step that listeners
can take today to start to move the, the
needle to improve their health of all the
So of all.
you didn't cover.
It is something we didn't cover actually.
So of all the things like before you get
to meditation or any of these, you know,
undertakings, the easiest simplest thing
to start with is breathing and water.
Cuz most of us don't remember
how to breathe correctly.
and if you look at the hierarchy of needs,
like we can only live with air without
air for like two minutes, you know, water
it's a few days and then food, we can
actually live quite a while without, so,
you know, I teach like deep breathing.
So making sure you're getting full
diaphragmatic breaths and all that,
that can start all to your brain stuff,
state a lot of things we talked about.
So like, if that's the one thing
you do twice a day, is, you
know, take five deep breaths.
It honestly will start
to shift a lot of stuff.
And the other thing is, you know,
drinking at least half your body weight
in the ounces of water, which I find
some women either nail or are like what
So, yeah, such a big fail.
It's something we're
constantly working on.
And both of those things are so important.
We, we take them both for granted
and we don't always think about them.
And.
You know, when you look at all of
the different symptoms that could
just be from dehydration because
we're not drinking enough water.
It's, it's kind of ridiculous.
It really should be the first
thing doctors ask when somebody
comes in is how much water are you
do you drink?
Yeah.
and the, and the deep breaths is funny.
That was something that, that
when you were talking about.
We talked about kind of changing
brainwave states as an exercise.
Right.
And I was thinking about breathing when
you said that that's something that
I love to do on the spot that people
don't necessarily know you're doing
Yeah.
avoid a stress response or reset,
or so I love those answers.
That is amazing.
Well, and an idea for the breathing,
like back when I actually left my
house and didn't work from home,
you know, back in those days I used
to do, I would take three to five
deep breaths with each transition.
So like when I got in my car to leave
in the morning and then when I got to
the office and if I actually had the
time built in, I would do it in between
patients when I was the chiropractor.
I did a presentation for over a
hundred Pakistani physicians and.
That was the, the recommendation.
Some of the action items we had at the
end of the talk was I challenged them to
do, you know, we did breathing exercises
in the, in the presentation as well.
And it was, you know, do it
and they're, they are in the
typical hospital based model.
so I, that was my recommendation.
As you walk each patient out
to go get the next patient.
Just do it, do it between
Yeah.
Do it, like you said, you know, when
you're arrive in your parking spot
somewhere or whatev whatever those
things are that you can attach it to
so that you're doing it regularly.
It is something that, that, again,
just like the water people don't
think about and we all become
very shallow breathers and we're.
If you're not doing it
consciously, you're not doing it.
So there's such good advice.
Yeah.
Yay.
Make the world of
difference in your life too.
So , that's what I got.
Thank you so much, Alex, for joining us
today, you have shared amazing goals.
I had a pleasure being here.
Thank you.
For everyone listening.
Remember you can get the
show notes and transcripts by
visiting inspired living.show.
I hope you had a great time and
enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
I will see you all next week.