In this episode we discuss how the body stores energy and how it can lead to illness...and how we can reclaim wellness. Dr. Alexandra Swenson-Ridley joins us today to share how quantum physics gives us the pathway to heal.
In this episode we discuss how the body stores energy and how it can lead to illness...and how we can reclaim wellness. Dr. Alexandra Swenson-Ridley joins us today to share how quantum physics gives us the pathway to heal.
In today's episode, Dr. Alex shares her approach to healing, which includes addressing emotions, emphasizing self-worth, and using principles from quantum physics.
Dr. Alex's health journey led her to understand that toxic stress and trauma need to be dealt with, or health decline is inevitable. She went from pushing hard building a successful business to being sick, tired, and losing her hair. She knew things had to change, and she now helps others make those changes as well.
Quantum physics explains that which we can't see. There is a universal intelligence that we all have access to, and we can use that to create healing when we create a space where the body is able to receive that intelligence. We need to energetically clear the path.
We discuss the importance of holding space for a new possibility for yourself.
"What you focus on, you create more of!"
It is important to discover where you feel your emotions in your body.
Dr. Alex talks about using meditation to change brainwave states and increase your perspective.
Selfless Syndrome - the innate desire as women to take care of everyone and everything else but self. We are important! It is essential to see ourselves as worthy!
Dr. Alex's one step to take is diaphragmatic breathing. Take 5 deep breaths!
[00:00:00]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:01:00] we need to ditch selfless syndrome to be our best selves.
[00:01:04] Dr Alex, welcome to the podcast.
[00:01:08]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
[00:01:10]Julie Michelson: 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?
[00:01:38]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:01:53] 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 [00:02:00] 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.
[00:02:08] 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.
[00:02:27] 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.
[00:02:43] 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.
[00:02:58] The busiest year. I built [00:03:00] 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.
[00:03:17] 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.
[00:03:34] But I knew, you know, my thyroid
[00:03:35]Julie Michelson: a new mom.
[00:03:36]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:03:54] 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 [00:04:00] 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.
[00:04:10] 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.
[00:04:27]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:04:56]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:04:57]Julie Michelson: but as we shift [00:05:00] the idea of health and wellness for women,
[00:05:04]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Mm-hmm
[00:05:05]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:05:28] 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?
[00:05:53] Like being the mom. What I was sharing with this client who has started making [00:06:00] 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.
[00:06:16] 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?
[00:06:44] Because it was easier for her to be at the.
[00:06:47]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:06:48]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:07:00] not that doesn't make you a bad mom. Like we need, everybody needs to be who they are.
[00:07:04] 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.
[00:07:31] 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,
[00:07:48]Julie Michelson: point, just like it's always toxins and it's always, you know
[00:07:52]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: affect hormones and hormones affect like it's all.
[00:07:54]Julie Michelson: it's stress affects B you know, I mean, stress chronic stress is, is a toxin and that [00:08:00] affects hormones.
[00:08:00] 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?
[00:08:10]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:08:30] 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
[00:08:42]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:09:00] medicine stops. It's not wrong or bad or whatever. It just, it just stops at the, this is.
[00:09:06] 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.
[00:09:28] And then I got to be terrified through my whole next pregnancy that it was gonna happen again.
[00:09:32]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: again. Yeah,
[00:09:33]Julie Michelson: know why it happened the first place. So kudos to you for being know curious. I love
[00:09:41]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:09:59] So[00:10:00]
[00:10:00]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:10:29] 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.
[00:10:59] I'm not a [00:11:00] 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.
[00:11:30]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:11:45] 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, [00:12:00] so I have this, you know, thing that happened to me when I was 14 that I've never told anybody about.
[00:12:04] 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.
[00:12:22] 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.
[00:12:35]Julie Michelson: Different and it doesn't. Yeah,
[00:12:37]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: matter if you've had that level or not.
[00:12:40] Like it's still
[00:12:40]Julie Michelson: can be, it can be a, you know, a, a bunch of little tea traumas
[00:12:46]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah
[00:12:46]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:13:00] so I love that you brought that up because it can go either way.
[00:13:06] 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.
[00:13:33] So I I'm so glad you pointed that out.
[00:13:36]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:13:50] 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 [00:14:00] 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.
[00:14:08] 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.
[00:14:24] 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.
[00:14:45] 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 [00:15:00] 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.
[00:15:16] 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
[00:15:25]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:15:43]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:16:00] explains the existence of God. And you know, all this stuff that honestly science just either has holes.
[00:16:06] 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.
[00:16:23] 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.
[00:16:48] So like, we are actually a representation of a thought that combines matter into something that we see getting like really basic
[00:16:57]Julie Michelson: No it, which is awesome. [00:17:00] 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
[00:17:09]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:17:10]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:17:22]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:17:40]Julie Michelson: Woo woo. Oh, the woo
[00:17:41]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: yeah.
[00:17:41] Like all the movie stuff. Quantum physics actually explains how it works scientifically
[00:17:46]Julie Michelson: 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, [00:18:00] 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.
[00:18:16] So. That's kind of the, like 1 0 1 or remedial almost of like, what is, what is quantum physics?
[00:18:25]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:18:25]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:18:45]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:19:00] 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.
[00:19:29] 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.
[00:19:45] 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, [00:20:00] impacts our healing.
[00:20:00] 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.
[00:20:16] 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.
[00:20:33] 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
[00:20:47]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:21:00] 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?
[00:21:10] Like if you want
[00:21:11]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:21:11]Julie Michelson: 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
[00:21:22]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:21:22]Julie Michelson: we all can heal, but if you wanna expedite that process, into a space where you're holding that possibility is key.
[00:21:35] I know
[00:21:35]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:21:54] Commitment to the women I work with is like, we are transforming your life and your hormones and everything in your body, but [00:22:00] 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.
[00:22:15] 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
[00:22:26]Julie Michelson: I love that. I'm like, oh, do I ask, do I ask
[00:22:29]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: no, do it pass away.
[00:22:33]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:22:50]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Like maybe you don't consciously know that's what you're doing,
[00:22:52]Julie Michelson: Right. You know, they wanna learn about meditation.
[00:22:55] So they'll pick up a dispenser book or they, you know, and then it's [00:23:00] 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.
[00:23:18] 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.
[00:23:44]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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[00:24:00]
[00:24:00]Julie Michelson: I love
[00:24:01]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: I wrote a, a social media post that I like haven't posted yet.
[00:24:04] 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.
[00:24:21] Christianity, if that's what you identify as, and you don't have to identify there. So, you know, it's, I was,
[00:24:27]Julie Michelson: And I'm Jewish and I feel exactly the same way. And, and it, it's not just Judaeo Christian though. It's
[00:24:34]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: right. Like it's EV it's at
[00:24:36]Julie Michelson: all of it. Yeah.
[00:24:37]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:24:46] And so. Loving each other, loving yourself. That's a hard one for women
[00:24:51]Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:24:52]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:25:00] 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.
[00:25:10] 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.
[00:25:31] 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
[00:25:43]Julie Michelson: Which is really hard for some
[00:25:45]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: really hard. Like I sucked at this. I'll just be honest. it's like feelings.
[00:25:50] What, what do you cause I'm really
[00:25:51]Julie Michelson: Well, it wasn't safe for you for a long time to feel your feelings. You
[00:25:55]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah. And that was,
[00:25:56]Julie Michelson: it through your days.
[00:25:58]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: I didn't even dive into my [00:26:00] 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.
[00:26:07]Julie Michelson: Mm-hmm
[00:26:07]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:26:16] 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.
[00:26:27]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:26:56] And I have spent a lot of time and I've talked on the podcast and [00:27:00] 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.
[00:27:15] 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,
[00:27:36]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: yeah.
[00:27:36]Julie Michelson: because like you said, like if you're fixating on whatever that thing is, you wanna change.
[00:27:42] 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 [00:28:00] you're.
[00:28:00] 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.
[00:28:21] 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.
[00:28:31]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:28:38]Julie Michelson: that's what
[00:28:38]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: three, I can't three I'm start one, but find.
[00:28:45]Julie Michelson: 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, [00:29:00] 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.
[00:29:08] 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.
[00:29:30] So it's not the only route to wellness.
[00:29:33]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:29:53] And alpha is like where creativity lies and the. Kind of that right before you fall asleep kind of experience. And so I've [00:30:00] 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.
[00:30:09] 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.
[00:30:26] 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
[00:30:42]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:31:00] themselves and focus on themselves and. I have so many clients and I'm like, I don't think I'm not a painter.
[00:31:08] 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.
[00:31:32] 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,
[00:31:55]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah, like there's, you know, that way I actually started learning [00:32:00] 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.
[00:32:22]Julie Michelson: I love that. That's amazing. I do wanna touch on. I know I was like, I wanna talk about quantum physics.
[00:32:29]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah. No, it's all
[00:32:29]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:32:47] 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. [00:33:00] Fix it. Haha. In three minutes or less. How do you fix?
[00:33:05]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:33:10]Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:33:11]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:33:21] 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.
[00:33:42] 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.
[00:33:58] And so, you know, in, in [00:34:00] 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.
[00:34:19] 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.
[00:34:37] 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.
[00:34:51]Julie Michelson: Oh, say that again.
[00:34:53]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:35:00] ourselves, we have more to give that's
[00:35:03]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:35:18]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: First. Yeah,
[00:35:19]Julie Michelson: Right. But it, that is really what it comes down to. If you are putting yourself last, it will catch up.
[00:35:27] Eventually some people get away with it for longer than others.
[00:35:31]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:35:42]Julie Michelson: 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. [00:36:00] 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?
[00:36:10] 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.
[00:36:32] 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.
[00:36:46]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:36:55]Julie Michelson: and people are now back to the quantum physics. People are drawn to that, right? Like [00:37:00] 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.
[00:37:17]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:37:38] 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.
[00:37:54]Julie Michelson: And that's a perspective. I, I try to. Kind of share with my clients when [00:38:00] 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?
[00:38:23] 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
[00:38:36]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:38:44]Julie Michelson: we all have
[00:38:45]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:38:57] If you let me do this first.
[00:38:58]Julie Michelson: Habits and [00:39:00] 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 [00:40:00] call them non-negotiables they, they, you
[00:40:02]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:40:02]Julie Michelson: a while to figure out what that is,
[00:40:05]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:40:17] And my son too, you know, he knows that in the morning, like that's what mom was doing.
[00:40:21]Julie Michelson: so mommy's time. Yep.
[00:40:24]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: He came up with his own meditation and stuff and I'm cool,
[00:40:27]Julie Michelson: I love it. And again, see there there's the. That trickle down of like, you know,
[00:40:33]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: what we do
[00:40:34]Julie Michelson: 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,
[00:40:47]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: No, it's like we hit
[00:40:49]Julie Michelson: doing is too important and I want people to understand how it all comes together, right.
[00:40:54] It really if you are. Not creating [00:41:00] self care, studying quantum physics, probably isn't going to help your healing.
[00:41:05]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:41:22] 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.
[00:41:34]Julie Michelson: Absolutely always.
[00:41:37]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:41:54] Cause
[00:41:55]Julie Michelson: Well, and I always,
[00:41:56]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: it's not gonna make a difference until you do.
[00:41:58]Julie Michelson: coaching perspective is, [00:42:00] 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.
[00:42:20] 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.
[00:42:51] 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, [00:43:00] It's trying to tell us something. That's what it's doing. That's
[00:43:08]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: me.
[00:43:08]Julie Michelson: yeah. Yeah.
[00:43:10]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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
[00:43:16]Julie Michelson: on the chart. I just put it on the charger,
[00:43:18]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:43:29] 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.
[00:43:39]Julie Michelson: Yeah,
[00:43:40]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: that's just, you know, sometimes we need that objective to.
[00:43:43]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:44:00] generation. So that's about six years, I think,
[00:44:02]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah. it's longer than me.
[00:44:05]Julie Michelson: I used it. I used it.
[00:44:07] 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.
[00:44:31] 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?
[00:44:53] And they'll tell me their aura score and I'm like, NNU that? I didn't ask what aura [00:45:00] 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.
[00:45:14]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:45:15]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:45:44] Fantastic.
[00:45:44]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:46:00] connect.
[00:46:00] So I, I can give you both of those links to throw in the show notes, but.
[00:46:04]Julie Michelson: What's the group called? So, so somebody cuz not everybody. Oh, she doesn't know
[00:46:09]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: I think it's called emergent women. The what did I call it? Health for women looking for answers and results. That's it.
[00:46:16]Julie Michelson: Okay, but look for emergent women and,
[00:46:20]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:46:36] 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
[00:46:49]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: So of all.
[00:46:50]Julie Michelson: you didn't cover.
[00:46:51]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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 [00:47:00] 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.
[00:47:19] 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
[00:47:40]Julie Michelson: 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 [00:48:00] because we're not drinking enough water.
[00:48:02] 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
[00:48:10]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: do you drink? Yeah.
[00:48:11]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:48:22] 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
[00:48:30]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:48:31]Julie Michelson: avoid a stress response or reset, or so I love those answers. That is amazing.
[00:48:40]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: 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.
[00:48:57]Julie Michelson: I did a presentation for [00:49:00] 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.
[00:49:17] 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
[00:49:32]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:49:32]Julie Michelson: 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.
[00:49:45] 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. [00:50:00] So there's such good advice.
[00:50:04]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Yeah.
[00:50:05]Julie Michelson: Yay.
[00:50:05]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: Make the world of difference in your life too. So , that's what I got.
[00:50:09]Julie Michelson: Thank you so much, Alex, for joining us today, you have shared amazing goals.
[00:50:17]Alexandra Swenson-Ridley: I had a pleasure being here. Thank you.
[00:50:20]Julie Michelson: 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.
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Connect with Alexandra Swenson-Ridley
Alexandra Swenson-Ridley
Women's Health & Hormones
Dr. Alexandra Swenson-Ridley is a thought leader in outside the box and natural approaches to women's health and hormones, focusing on what she has termed Selfless Syndrome.
After suffering her own health challenges that resulted from focusing on everyone and everything but herself, her work turned towards helping other driven women navigate the world of fatigue, thyroid issues, anxiety and depression, difficulty losing weight, gut health and more without the use of medications.
She is the founder of Emergent Women Coaching & Health Consulting and is building a business that serves both her clients and her health, while helping other women do the same. She is the host of the podcast Emerge-The Health Podcast for Busy High Performing Women, the creator of the Emergent Women Method and Chrysalis Health Consulting Program, and a PhD candidate in Integrative Medicine through Quantum University.