We recently connected with Alexzandra Strickland and have shared our conversation below.
Alexzandra, so great to have you with us today. There are so many topics we want to ask you about, but perhaps the one we can start with is burnout. How have you overcome or avoided burnout?
To overcome or avoid burnout, I’ve become skilled at creating calm in my life through authentic, intentional self-care on a routine basis. It’s truly a practice that I’ve had to experiment with, commit to, and revamp. Now, I can say it’s my life’s work.
I believe self-care has been co-opted and commodified. For many, maybe even for you, the expectation of self-care is an 8-hour spa day, a nighttime skin routine, or a solo shopping trip. Although these are perfectly feasible forms of self-care, they can easily become just another stressor or grand gesture to dig yourself out of the energetic black hole that is burnout. For example – during my battle with chronic pain, I was deeply committed to my physical health, but the myriad of appointments, stressors, and lifestyle changes dissociated me from my body and fueled anxiety in my mind. At some point, I had to step outside of my responsibilities and pinpoint how to re-embody my pleasure.
True self-care is about intention and I work to sprinkle it in my daily, weekly, and monthly routine. Self-care can be anything you do with the intention and outcome of personal pleasure and stress release. A part of being embodied is holistically arriving to meet ourselves in the moment. When creating intentional calm, it pushes us back into the present moment – mentally, physically, and energetically. The work then becomes discerning our own personal and authentic wants, pleasures, and go-to centering techniques. When I’m on the road to burnout, my self-care practice is like the beacon calling me back to myself.
The point is – no matter the time or cost, pleasure and self-care are a big part of my routine to avoid burnout. My daily self-care can be as small as 2 minutes to sniff a candle or 5 minutes to breathe deeply. Somedays, it may extend to a 30-minute walk in the evening or a 60-minute dance class once a month. I remind myself that it can be as flexible as I’d like with only the requirements I prescribe to it at each moment.
To empower others and share my learnings on this journey, I offer a Soulful Self Care Exhibit to educate and empower people to manage everyday stress with simple somatic stress management techniques that support us all in examining our beliefs around stress and creating more moments of calm.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a personal development coach, my ultimate goal is to help individuals access their inherent strengths and talents, overcome challenges, and achieve personal and professional success. I founded Embodied Ally to pursue my vision of creating space and practice for you to get out of your head, into your body, and on top of your life.
I empower individuals to develop a growth-oriented mindset by transforming limiting beliefs and self-sabotaging behaviors while taming every day stress and anxiety. By focusing on the mind-body connection, we are addressing physical tension, stored emotions, and trauma within the body. Somatic stress-management helps individuals achieve emotional balance and vitality through techniques like movement, mindfulness, and breathwork. I offer somatic yoga & breathwork sessions, stress-management education, 1 on 1 coaching, and luxury wellness retreats. In fact, I’m hosting a women’s wellness retreat, Reignite Your Joy, this summer. A perfect example of an immersive self-care experience. Collectively, this approach considers holistic wellness, encompassing physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions, and provides personalized strategies for stress reduction, self-care, and lifestyle factors.
I must say – the most exciting part of my work is witnessing clients re-imagine their purpose and the possibilities for transformation. I believe what I do is special because this methodology utilizes somatic science and holistic systems as a cheat code to create calm, awareness, and ultimately a sustainable state of flow. Every practice and tool is accessible and we work together to personalize them to get clients closer to authentic embodiment quickly and easily. Our time together empowers my clients in a way that allows them to be clear-minded, curious, and vulnerable with themselves in collaboration with me. There’s something special about witnessing the immediate impacts of this type of empowerment and development.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three most important qualities I’ve developed are self-awareness, internal alignment, and gracious curiosity. By cultivating a deep sense of holistic self-awareness, I’ve been able to navigate life’s twists and turns with a sense of alignment, advocate for myself when medical doctors attempt to silence me, and save myself from the pressures of other’s expectations.
To put it plainly, my professional journey has been atypical. I graduated high school with the plan to pursue a PhD in Psychology. That was the ‘logical’ plan. Although I understood the logic, by the end of my undergraduate experience, my internal guidance system was telling me that path wouldn’t be fulfilling for me. Externally, the inner turmoil showed up as panic attacks amid application season.
After becoming more aware of my mindset and motivators, I made the decision to jump out and pivot to pursue a degree in African American Studies concentrating in Community Empowerment which has led me to somatic stress-management and professional coaching. Looking back on my undergraduate experience, I knew I wanted to use alternative forms of wellness to help those around me cope with stress and trauma. I didn’t have a shiny title for it just yet, but I had a mission. My holistic self-awareness helped me stay aligned to this mission. Gracious curiosity has enabled me to show up in the uncertainty with fortitude and acceptance.
For those starting their self-awareness journey, my biggest advice is to stay curious and make a practice of giving yourself grace. My best advice is that working with a trained coach can propel you forward exponentially. Having a non-bias expert sounding board was a game changer for me and my clients.
If coaching isn’t accessible for you right now, journaling with radical self-honesty is a big start. Taking stock of your motivators, belief systems, and environmental influences can easily expand your awareness. Additionally, revamp your self-care practice into a self-discovery practice that allows for curiosity in the present, exploration of new experiences, and reflection on old mindsets and beliefs. Last but not least, routinely get into your body. In fact, the most effective way to stop panic attacks is breathwork. Our minds and bodies are in constant communication. Our breath helps in navigating that conversation. Strengthening our holistic awareness connects us to the multiple layers of our existence and their wisdom.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
Embodied Ally was created for individuals who are seeking to enhance their overall well-being, manage stress, and unlock their full potential. My ideal clients are high achievers with moderate to high stress and anxiety who are searching for natural ways to regain their power in the face of stressors, overcome limiting behaviors, and create balance in their lives. I’m speaking to the manager who is struggling to keep up with the pressures of work and home but tells himself there’s no room for his wellness as he moves closer to burnout. I’m speaking to the mom who finds herself checking out at the office because the anxiety around her relationship with her husband is fogging her brain. I’m speaking to the creative director that can’t seem to find flow in their art and fears they’re losing a sense of themselves or their motivation.
I look for clients that are ready to discover, develop, and sustain authentic self-awareness to cultivate purpose-driven living and 360-degree success. They acknowledge the interconnectedness of physical and mental well-being, because I highlight the importance of addressing both aspects for optimal results, performance, and wellness. Many people that are under constant stress deal with interrupted sleep, an inability to relax physically or mentally, carry a sense of uncertainty in some area of their lives, and may even see their maladaptive behaviors affecting their relationship with others. Incorporating coaching, somatic stress-management, and intentional mindfulness into our routines can help combat and overcome these effects of everyday anxiety. When we work together, we will co-create your conscious relationship with yourself and others to enable balance, nurture creativity, and expand your vision – helping you live beyond your own imagination.
Contact Info:
- Website: theembodiedally.com
- Instagram: embodiedally
- Linkedin: Alexzandra Strickland
- Youtube: Ally Over Anxiety
- Others:
– Embodied Ally – https://theembodiedally.com– Reignite Your Joy – https://omnoire.com/pages/
allystrickland – Soulful Self Care Exhibit – https://youtu.be/zH11L8TYZ3A?si= WYJUdhckfaX5q30W
Image Credits
Kayla Skeete
