Meet Allison Graff

We recently connected with Allison Graff and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Allison, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?

Yoga became my self-care when my daughter was born. I needed something that was mine – I needed an oasis from responsibility and the demands of motherhood. Not to escape my responsibilities, but to become a better mother, a more present caretaker, and a healthier partner. Yoga saved me from being buried by the HAVE TOs of life. That one hour once a week provided much-needed balance.

Yoga continued to be my self-care when my father was diagnosed with ALS – his care was physically and emotionally demanding. Assisting my family with the management of my father’s needs, my mom’s health, their properties, with my own personal and professional life was overwhelming. One hour a week of yoga provided a safe space to unleash the physical resistance and emotional turmoil of life.

After I had a series of mini-strokes, I wasn’t able to do yoga for self-care. I had left my husband right before COVID, and moved my daughter and I in with my mother. We were back to living on our own, but the impact of chronic stress had reached a toxic level, and my heart and brain paid the price. I was fearful of any physical excursion and day-to-day life was the minimum that I could muster. At this point, self-care looked completely different.

Self-care became meditation and mindfulness. Performing chores like dishwashing, showering, teeth brushing, and laundry became mindful acts of self-care. Being completely present with the essentials of hygiene, home management, care of my daughter, and my own basic health needs was paramount. This taught me the true meaning of self-care, health, and wellness.

Now, 2 years following brain surgery (the strokes revealed a degenerative brain condition), my self-care continues to be the practice of yoga and mindfulness. The act of staying present, no matter what I am doing, is my intentional self-care. Whether driving, chatting with my daughter, planning upcoming nuptials with my soon-to-be wife, or doing yoga – fully taking in this moment is the key to living my life most effectively.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

a. graff, mindful health coach is the product of my own health journey. From my experience with chronic heart and brain disease, my father’s battle with ALS, my divorce and resulting custody battle, and my late bloomer coming out – I developed a guide for others to chart their own mindful health journey to health and happiness.

I am a certified yoga teacher, mindfulness facilitator, and integrative nutrition health coach. I help stressed-out superwomen find balance between doing and being. The demands of motherhood, caretaking, career, and society create the perfect storm for DIS-ease in the body and mind. I have survived to help others thrive.

I offer one-on-one and group health coaching, mindful movement classes, mindfulness coaching, and employee wellness programs. Mindfulness-based health and wellness was the gateway to better health and happiness for me, and I want others to chart their journey as well.

I am looking forward to additional skill-building this fall with a mindful eating certificate program, sound healing training, recording a meditation series, and developing a series of day away retreats.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three more impactful qualities I have identified on my journey are patience, mindfulness, and resilience.

I have had the rug pulled out from under me multiple times during my 49 years, and it has taught me that life is unpredictable. You can’t be healthy without patience. Everything happens in its own time and the only choice we have is to maintain focus on what matters most. We chose our own path despite the bumps in the road; we develop our own health journey; we understand the world … each one moment at a time. This moment is the only moment we have control of. Understanding that I don’t make the world happen, but, rather, I am only part of the world. One of the most valuable lessons I ever learned from a therapist was this phrase – just because I don’t want it to rain, has no impact on whether it rains, and I can put that energy into so many more productive places. I do not control anything but myself. Patience is practiced.

Practicing mindfulness is also a priceless skill that has impacted my journey. I wasn’t able to completely understand the power of mindfulness until COVID, divorce, and preparation for brain surgery. In 2021, I suffered from four mini-strokes, which led to the discovery of a potentially fatal brain condition. I needed to wait a year for surgery and that time was agonizing. I was an active person with a young child and that life came to an abrupt halt. I was accustomed to a regular yoga practice to maintain balance, but that was no longer possible. I found myself meditating and practicing mindfulness daily. I found solace in mindfully completely basic day-to-day tasks. This present moment medicine helped me manage extreme levels of anxiety and depression. Maintaining presence in the current moment still provides such calm amidst the chaos.

Finally, resilience is a requirement for a life of chronic illness. Resilience provides us with the ability to get back up each time we are knocked down. Unfortunately, in order to build resilience, we must be knocked down…over and over again. This repetitive restart instills the belief that we are able to respond to whatever falls into our path. Many rugs have been pulled out from under my feet, and because of that, I know I have the ability to face the next fall. All is well and even if it is not, all will be ok.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

My ideal client is a stressed-out superhero who cares for others, but is suffering the effects of chronic stress on physical and mental health. This client wants more happiness and better health to live a longer life of joy with friends and loved ones. S/he has a busy career with dreams of success. They want to explore all the ups and downs of life with a positive and resilient attitude. My client wants to address the root cause of their issue/illness and eliminate it with good nutrition, mindful movement, and nourishing relationships. She wants to learn how to balance the demands of life with the needs of the body and mind. S/he is intelligent and knows all the things s/he should do, but needs guidance and accountability to get/stay on track. My clients need to develop patience, balance, focus, and awareness to move forward. Mindful health is for folks who want lifelong change, not just a quick fix.

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Photo credit: Loving My Company

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