21/01/2026
Time to re-introduce myself for all my new followers! Welcome to Living Balance 🙏
I thought I should re-indroduce myself to all my new followers.
My name is Alex, I am 47 and have 4 children and live in Nottingham.
I have been practicing mindfulness, yoga and holistic wellbeing since a child after my father had a heart attack aged 40 and changed a lot of his lifestyle. He would come home and we would do yoga nidra, body scans and relaxation techniques. This was back in the 80's!
I became a yoga teacher many many years ago but never embraced the teaching side fully preferring to practice personally, although I am going to India in January 2026 to retrain in Kerela!
I have worked for myself most of my adult life (ADHD & PDA will do that and let's not even count the endless different jobs I've done!) so when I had my 3 older children, I became a child minder so I didn't have to send them to nursery to go back to work!
3 of my 4 children all have different levels of ASD, I then trained as a HLTA and ran PTAs and was a school governor, to try and be as involved in their education and understand the education system as much as possible, then finally took 2 of my children out of the system to home school because I realised it was not built for "different" children! I've been dealing with how my family does not conform to societal norms for the last 24 years! I've always loved children's energy, curiosity and it has been a privilege and joy to help so many of them! I still support and offer my experience to families with ASD/ADHD and to Alternative Provisions and charities.
My own real journey of self development and self care along with a need to help others started around 9 years ago. I started to study Neuroscience and took a Mindful Based Stress Reduction facilitators course and did my Reiki 1, 2 & Masters training, mainly to try and deal with a lot of personal traumas and understand my own brain and my ADHD & PDA.
At this point I also had an epiphany and went vegan, seeing it as an important role of showing myself self love and compassion - how could I demand my own freedom, love and happiness if I were to take those opportunities from other living animals?
My initial path was to start a plant based catering and events business, we then went on to open the UK's first 50's style fully vegan American Diner Shakers Dairy Free along with the first zero waste, co-operative shop in Colchester, The Ethical Emporium.
Fast forward covid, lockdown and then my path went a little askew trying to rebuild our lives and finances like so many other small businesses hit and closed down by that time and struggling to ever get back so I went and worked for other people, first in events and running a private garden and estate and then back to food and cheffing. It's been interesting to say the least as many will understand the struggles of a person with ADHD & PDA trying to conform and actually work in an organisation!
So after another burnout in March 2023 and a very special and rare opportunity to become a student to an honorary Native American Elder, I started to look back at what I had always been working on - helping myself and others holistically, with Neuroscience, mental health and well being. I studied Native American medicine, shamanism and sacred drumming, got back to another passion of mine which is music and started to connect the dots! Having been a musician since a child, this is one thing I have never stopped doing. Music is an obsession to me, I sing, hum, play songs and instruments all day, everyday. ( thank my father again - he was an amazing guitarist and played with some rather well known people and is even mentioned in a couple of music books) So it was natural to put it all together with everything I had learned and look at how sound can affect us.
I then spent the rest of the year studying after finally leaving my very stressful cheffing job. I studied the science behind sound and frequency and its impact on our bodies, I also took control of my ADHD & PDA and studied Autism and ADHD to get my Level 2 & 3 diplomas ( although nothing can give you the experience like having a family full of neurodiverse people trying to nativage life!) I looked at getting qualifications and experience in counselling therapies such as EFT, IEMT, CBT and started to build up the confidence to start helping others after seeing such a positive effect on not only myself but my family members and friends who graciously volunteered so I could gain experience and complete my qualifications!
I started offering Sound Baths in July 2023 and slowly built up the confidence to add more and more help to others over the year, mostly at conscious and holistic festivals. Autumn and winter was a strange time as I was also planning to relocate to Nottingham from Essex which took a lot longer than anticipated so Living Balance was in limbo for around 6 months.
When we finally moved in February 2024, I gave myself a month to settle and then threw everything I had to really make a go of it all. My first Sound Bath here was in March 2024 and I haven't looked back!.
Fast forward to December 2025, I now run my regular sound bath sessions with my teenage daughter Maya, who is becoming an amazing gong player and vocalist. You will also likely meet my partner & roadie Kev, so we really are a family business!
I am always building on my knowledge, growing and evolving and trained in 2024 to offer holistic massage too! I am also an advocate for sober living and am part of a sober social group locally offering alternative activities and meet ups with out the need for alcohol.
I am so grateful and happy where I am now. I still have to work on myself daily and always will. There is no quick fix and practice is the key for success of all aspects of living!
By having the right tools and techniques to navigate modern life and all of its challenges is the greatest gift and to share it with others is a great reminder to use them yourself too!
I look forward to meeting you, whether at a Sound Bath, Reiki or therapy session or even at one of my workshops, retreats or women's circles
💚✨🙏🌿🌹🦋
