Ep 163: From Chiro to Course Creator with Dr Ali Young

We all evolve and grow as we step into our purpose and power, and our guest on episode #163 of the Her Empire Builder Podcast is such a beautiful example of that! Dr Ali Young was one of my first members to ever join my Her Empire Builder membership, so I've been extremely lucky to have a front row seat as she's stepped into her light. In April 2022, Ali will release her new book 'Work. Mama. Life.’, helping mums navigate motherhood and their working lives to achieve their desired balance of calm and wellbeing.

Commencing private practice as a Chiropractor in 2003, and completing additional chiropractic and paediatrics degrees in subsequent years (she’s one smart cookie), Ali’s extensive work with children and their mothers has highlighted how stress in a mother’s life impacts their health and wellbeing and the level of joy they experience daily.  When Ali became a mother herself in 2012, she experienced the impact of this first hand as her responsibilities shifted between being a business owner and motherhood, providing her even greater insight into how a mother can become overwhelmed and burnt out. Drawing on her personal experience, passion for neurology, skills as a Chiropractor and gift for writing, Ali developed and wrote her amazing book, Work. Life. Mama., an essential resource for mums struggling with the challenges of motherhood and wishing to reclaim their identify and their health.

Whilst motherhood is a gift, it can often see mums putting their own needs last, at the expense of their mental and physical wellbeing. We often hear of mums, and in fact women in general, getting adrenal fatigue, anxiety, all sorts of different things, whether they have kids or not. Ali believes a perfect balance is in fact possible and achievable for the majority of women, although each woman’s approach involves considering their own personal values and working out a strategy suitable to them. Society has driven us to “work as if we don't have kids, and parent as if we don't work”; we need to move away from this sort of intergenerational patterning and idealism we bring to the motherhood journey, and adopt practices that actually work for us as individuals in the current, modern world.

Ali recognises adapting a balance of the five pillars of healthy motherhood (nourishment, movement, thoughtfulness, sleep and connection) as being an essential element to unlocking the joy of being a mum, but during the Podcast she shared with us how she uses her love of dance and listening to music as a way of quickly neutralising a stressful situation and getting her out of a funk. Movement of the spine stimulates a part of the brain that allows our system to think we’re safe. This quietens the shouty Amygdala, a tiny part of the brain in our limbic system (your stress system), so that loud, shouty guy in the back seat shuts up and allows our body to think we're not as stressed anymore. Creating and experiencing a joyful moment actually makes our brain go, “Ah, I’m okay”, in the opposite way a stressful situation triggers our body’s Amygdala.

Ali, like myself and many other successful business women, has discovered her ideal mothering journey suitable for her mental and physical wellbeing and her family’s health. As a successful working mum, she gets to spend quality time with her family and fill her joy “cup”, whilst nurturing her other baby; her extensive and expanding community of mamas who have also chosen to shake things up, reset, reclaim their lives, and approach motherhood and working life in their own individual ways.

You can listen to my interview with Ali via tinatower.com/163 and pre-order Ali’s amazing book, Work. Mama. Life., by visiting draliyoung.com/workmamalife. (She is even sharing a FREE sample chapter to help you commence your journey and provide a new outlook on motherhood, so visit her site today!)