The Pure Health Coach - This Comeback Is Personal!

Hello Beautiful Stranger!
Welcome to ‘My Story’, which also happens to be my 1^st ever blog. I’m so glad you are here… and I hope that my journey inspires you to raise the game when it comes to your Well-BEING. What do I mean by ‘game’? I mean your dreams, aspirations, actions… and ultimately your life!      

This is me, Alena, (aka The Pure Health Coach), at my favourite place in the world, The Gate of Heaven in Bali. Isn’t it magical? You can’t see me in this photo, and this is pretty much how I lived my life: unseen, hiding, going through the motions. Subconsciously, I was also running… from myself, my purpose, the truth of who I really am and therefore from life itself. The launch of The Pure Health Coach is my ‘homecoming’, and this time it’s personal!    

 

This Comeback Is Personal, It’s My Masterpiece… It’s An Apology To Myself!

 

My journey so far…

 

Driven, Ambitious… With Dreams That Scared Me

Raised modestly by a single mum, I still remember my first summer job, aged 15, picking weeds at the grounds of an exhibition centre. Straight A’s at school, dreams that scared me, I felt somewhat trapped by my surroundings. I wanted so much out of life and I was prepared to work for it. Fast forward a decade, I found myself at one of the Top US Investment Banks. 1^st class degree, post grad degree, 100+ hour long weeks, always chasing the next accolade. Constant stress, almost no sleep, a less than ideal diet, not enough exercise or time for what matters and surviving on countless coffees. They say ‘work hard, play hard’ but there was no time to sleep, let alone play!

 

My So-Called ‘Success’ Came With A Heavy Price Tag

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the prestige of Investment Banking. I loved putting in the hours, raising through the ranks… I loved acing it! I did the 100-hour weeks, I worked weekends, holidays. I recall the 2am cabs home from the office, followed by 6am cabs back to the office ahead of the 7am press release announcing a M&A deal. I enjoyed all the perks, and was making more in my 20’s than many make in their 60’s.

 

Looking back, it feels like I was living someone else’s life. I set out chasing what I thought was ‘the dream’, not realising it was ‘someone else’s dream’... and so I settled! I settled for what I thought success was:  the typical hustle + grind, fancy titles, pay rises and promotions.

 

Yet, with every new accolade, I moved further away from who I wanted to BE, the LIFE I wanted to live and the IMPACT I wanted to have. Not knowing any better, I kept going - albeit disconnected, switched off - until one fine day, life came along to shake me and dare I say break me. Thanks for that, Universe! J  Here is how my path unfolded:

 

Mid 20’s: In Hospital, Hooked Up On Heart Monitors… Thinking This Is It!

My health crisis started in my mid 20’s. While, the crazy pace was exciting, I let it go too far and it wasn’t long before my body + nervous system started giving me warning signs. Needless to say, I did NOT LISTEN. What’s worse, I ignored all the warning signs + kept grinding! I resisted all advice about changing the way I lived. I became a total adrenalin junkie… and I’m not kidding! Like if someone would as much as suggest that I meditate for 5-10 minutes, my 1^st thought would be to tell them to f**k off. It was all fun and games until one fine day, my body simply said enough. STOP!

 

A Big Panic Attack Is A Bit Like Your 1^st Love… You Never Forget It!
I still remember being hooked up on heart monitors, unable to breathe, thinking ‘this is it’. I survived (phew!) and the doctors made sure I walked away with some ‘magic pills’ to help me cope with my demanding career… and by ‘magic pills’ I mean beta blockers to slow down my heart and anti-anxiety meds to cope with what was essentially chronic stress. I took them because I didn’t know any better. Little did I know that this was only the beginning!

 

Mid 30’s: In The Worst Shape & Health Of My Life… And Nothing Could Help Me!

I was in my early 30’s, ready for motherhood and surprise, surprise, my body was having none of it! Forward on 5 years + 5 draining IVFs and I was finally blessed with beautiful twin girls. But boy, did they come with a heavy price tag… and I don’t mean just the cost of the IVFs! It was almost as if my body said: ‘Look, I can see you really want these babies so I will play ball and let you have them but after that we are done, capiche?’ It was NOT KIDDING!

 

So, there I was, late 30’s, having another health crisis, courtesy of 2 decades of corporate life, amplified by ‘the hell’ I just put my body through… and by hell, I’m referring to the 600+ injections alongside a cocktail of meds that passed through my body in the pursuit of motherhood. I felt lost, disconnected, powerless… like my body had given up on me.

 

While My Babies Were Thriving… I Was Falling Apart

I was exhausted, inflamed, bloated and in pain. The heaviest I had ever been, so sick I could barely eat yet the weight wouldn’t shift no matter what I tried. And I have TRIED IT ALL! Diets, protein shakes, ‘miracle’ supplements, ‘healthy eating, various health protocols, exercise, PTs, nutritionists, doctors + specialists (for the countless symptoms ruining my life) and health retreats. But nothing worked well enough or long enough or in fact… at all! So, I went looking for my own answers.

 

 

Early 40’s: My Search For Answers… AKA There Is NO MAGIC PILL

There is nothing quite like a doctor saying ‘I CAN’T HELP YOU’ to make you pay better attention to your health. Weirdly, I already knew this was going to be the case because let’s face it, there is no magic pill for health… YET I still felt like I should at least check, you know, because aren’t doctors supposed to have all the answers? I remember walking out of the doctor’s surgery thinking, there must be A BETTER WAY to health than the standard 10-minute doctor appointment which gave me no real answers! Or giving up everything you love and loading up on supplements, (the names of which you can’t pronounce), which was my experience when I saw a nutritionist.

 

I had no choice but to find my own way back to health, vitality & most importantly myself. And I DID! I took matters into my own hands, started to self-educate on all things health & well-being… and guess what? I did a complete 180! I stopped obsessing about my weight and focused on healing my body instead!

 

I Became Obsessed With Finding The Answers

I went back to school and qualified in the field of ‘holistic wellness’ – while still in my corporate job. 

I studied ‘integrative nutrition’, ‘functional medicine’ and ‘ancient healing wisdom.’ Then I added ‘mindset work’ and qualified as an NLP Master Coach... and I can honestly say that these studies have changed my life. Actually, that’s not true - they saved my life! They opened my eyes to what is possible and started me on an adventure of a lifetime. And it’s always when you think you know it all (well almost) that life delivers the biggest lesson!  

 

The Big Lesson = Health Is NOT Just About The Food!

After a lifetime of obsessing over my body, my diet, my weight, THE LESSON was this: no amount of ‘greens’, ‘miracle’ superfood, meditation or exercise can ever make you healthy if you are in a toxic relationship, if you haven’t healed from trauma or if your belief system and self-talk are negative. It took me decades of trial + error to finally realise that IT’S ALL CONNECTED! Here is how the lesson unfolded.  

 

Mid 40’s: Life Got Super Heavy, My Entire World Fell Apart… And I Hit Rock Bottom

What came next had nothing to do with my physical body… because what followed was the single most defining moment of my life. Even if I could share what happened, there are NO WORDS to describe what it feels like to watch your entire world come crumbling down (in front of your eyes) as you hit rock bottom. In hindsight, I can clearly see that LIFE tends to give us the greatest GIFT, brilliantly disguised as our worst nightmare!

 

This Gift Comes With A CHOICE: Breakdown Or Breakthrough
And what you choose is 100% up to you!

 

Rock Bottom = Where HEROS Are Made

Many people think rock bottom is the worst place to be. I disagree. Rock bottom is where you find who you truly are and what you are made of! So, it’s a wonderful place, because ...

 

(1) It’s where HEROS are made… and (2) The only way is UP!

Rock bottom is where I found myself… it’s where I decided to re-write my story from the inside out.

 

Awakening The Hero & Healer Within

My rock bottom delivered the biggest awakening of my life. That’s when it finally hit me that no-one was coming to save me. You see… all my life, I was waiting for someone (anyone) to come and save me, to make me feel safe, beautiful, loved, worthy… not realising that the only person that could ever do that was staring back at me in the MIRROR.

 

It was in the darkest of places that my inner rebel said: ‘This is NOT HOW THE f*****g STORY ENDS’! She refused to settle and give up on herself, leaving me no choice but to take charge and become my own Hero & Healer… and the rest is history!  

 

Surprisingly, this kind of healing had nothing to do with food!  For the first time ever, I had to consciously CHOOSE myself, go within and do what I call the ‘sacred work’. What a wild ride that was! And make no mistake, it wasn’t easy! It involved a lot of letting go. I had to let go of my old programming, my old identity, my old story and with it the old me that had protected me my entire life. had to unravel multiple layers within me and heal emotional wounds so deep that I didn’t realise were still subconsciously running my life. Not an easy task when all you know is survival, and when all you crave is certainty in the never-ending search for safety, for home, for love. 

 

Then, one day, it finally hit me that everything I had been searching for externally, doesn’t exist outside of me… and that I have to cultivate it within. And it was on the other side of what I call the ‘sacred work’, that I reclaimed my power, stepped into my authenticity and allowed my real self to be seen. Some call it ‘Ego Death’, others ‘Death & Rebirth’. I call it ALCHEMY.

 

So, WHO AM I … And Why Listen To Me?

Well… I’m NOT a Medical Doctor. And I’m NOT a Nutritionist.

I’ve chosen a different (and more powerful) path to help my clients transform.

 

I’m a Holistic Health & Wellness Coach with passion for everything that promotes true healing on all levels – Body. Mind. Heart & Soul. My approach to Well-BEING blends together ‘food as medicine’, ‘bio-hacking’, ‘ancient wisdom’, mindset work, emotional healing, functional medicine, science, and consciousness. It’s based on YEARS of study but more importantly DECADES of experience.

 

Here Are Some Of The Hats I Wear: 

• Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach
• Integrative Nutrition Health Coach
• Heal Thy Self Academy Graduate
• Student of Consciousness
• NLP Master Coach

 

The TWIST: As an ex Banker with 20+ year corporate career, I know what you WANT and LOVE but also what burnout feels like, what unresolved trauma can do to your life and how to get out of that deep, dark hole before it takes over your health & life! You could say that:

 

I See YOU.  I Feel YOU.  I Was YOU… And I’ve Got YOU!

 

WHO AM I … On A More Personal Level?

Well, underneath the accolades and fancy titles, I AM a:

 

Rebel
Dreamer
Truth Seeker

Agent of Change.

 

And I’m here to help change your world. Whether you are looking for a few lifestyle tweaks or to completely transform…

 

I Am Here To Show You The Way

You can’t go back and change the past but you can start where you are and completely change the trajectory of your life. So make YOUR COMEBACK personal, make it your masterpiece….and START! Start where you are…with fear, pain, doubt…just start and don’t stop. Picture the body, health and life you want to experience because time will pass… so when you look back 3, 5, 10 years from now, make sure that the life you are living is the life that YOU CHOSE… because the only way to fail is to live someone else’s life! Let me love you and leave you with this powerful quote:  

 

NO-ONE IS COMING TO SAVE YOU

 

Do you agree? I certainly don’t!

 

The Healed Version Of You Is Coming To Save You + Bring You Back Home

 

And while the JOURNEY is yours to take, you do NOT have to do this ALONE. Transformation is so much easier when you allow yourself to be guided. Never forget:  

 

You Are THE ONE You Have Been Searching For…

 

You Are THE ANSWER

 

You Are IT  

 

And It All Starts With A *BLISS Call*… Book Yours HERE

 

 Love, Alena x