Pratidana Wellness Coaching

09/30/2025

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” — Alice Walker (Author of The Color Purple)

For a long time, I felt like I was in Ann Arbor against my will. But after 13 years, I’m finally seeing this city with fresh, awakened eyes. I walk before sunrise as a reminder of what it feels like to move from darkness into light.

I’m on a mission to take back territory: our right to live in environments free from harmful substances that are insidiously promoted everywhere.

We may never get rid of alcohol entirely (that’s not my mission), but we can change the narrative. Living alcohol-free isn’t weird or abnormal—it’s powerful, courageous, and brave to choose a different path in a culture that romanticizes consuming alcohol.

If someone wants to drink,I respect that. That is their choice. But believing a toxic substance is “helping us” (relax, and connect) and pressuring others to drink it, that’s where we draw the line.

✨ If you live in Ann Arbor, I’d love for you to join Sober & Social Ann Arbor on Meetup.

✨ If you’re elsewhere in the world, join the movement by liking, following, and sending good vibes our way.

Leave the non-drinkers in peace ✌🏽🫶🏽 ❤️

09/10/2025

✨ It was so nice meeting new alcohol-free friends last night! ✨

If you’re interested in alcohol free life, our next Sober & Social Ann Arbor Meet & Greet is coming up soon, 9/17.

💛 Whether you’re sober-curious, newly alcohol-free, or years into the journey, please join us!

👉 RSVP for the next event and join the conversation!

09/09/2025

Choosing to go alcohol-free is only half the battle. Maintaining sobriety, and rediscovering who you are without alcohol is the real work of staying sober.

That’s why I created Sober & Social Ann Arbor. A community for anyone seeking connection, fun, and good company without the booze. Whether you’re sober-curious, newly alcohol-free, or years into your journey, you’re welcome here.

✨ You don’t need a “rock-bottom” story to explore life without alcohol. Millions of people are waking up to how alcohol affects our health, relationships, motivation, and potential. It’s time to normalize choosing not to drink.

Here are a few things we could do as a group:
✅ Stroll through the Arb
✅ Cooking class at Sur La Table
✅ Sourdough bread-making at Zingerman’s
✅ Swing dance lessons in Ypsi
✅ Yoga or hill sprints at Vets Park
✅ Coffee at Dozer
✅ Try a new restaurant downtown
✅ Start a book club
(and bring your own ideas too!)

👋🏼 I’m Melanie—a 47-year-old introverted, highly sensitive human navigating life alcohol-free in Ann Arbor. I couldn’t find a local AF community rooted in freedom, choice, and self-love (instead of powerlessness or rehab), so I built one. And yes, if you’re in AA or recovery, you are absolutely welcome here too.

This isn’t a support group—but community is the #1 protective factor in staying alcohol-free. If it’s your goal to live AF (or just try it on for size), join us.

✨ Let’s build connection without the hangover.

See you there! Click the link in my bio or find us on Meetup.

09/09/2025

✨ Why I Became an Alcohol-Free Lifestyle Coach ✨

As a therapist, my role is not to tell a client what to do or how to live their life, that would be unethical. My job is to listen with unconditional positive regard, notice patterns, and use specific interventions (with documentation and clinical rationale) to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning. Therapy is a unique relationship; there’s truly no other relationship like it. It requires medical necessity and is guided by strict ethical boundaries.

Coaching, on the other hand, is NOT therapy. As an Alcohol-Free Lifestyle Coach, there are no DSM-5 criteria or diagnoses required. My role is to teach, guide, and share practical tools for one very specific goal: changing your relationship with alcohol. In yoga philosophy, the coach is like a guru—shining a light on the student’s path. Coaching also allows me to share parts of my own story with alcohol, which would be unethical in therapy.

Think of therapy as detective work—exploring your history, relationships, and inner world. Think of coaching as navigation—you’ve chosen the destination, and I help prepare you for the journey with a map and compass, walking alongside you, pointing out pitfalls and offering support if you get lost.

👉 If you’re ready to reduce your drinking or break up with alcohol once and for all, coaching can help you take action by focusing on the journey ahead.
👉 If you’re experiencing clinically significant symptoms that make daily life unmanageable, therapy can help restore stability.

Therapy is not coaching, and coaching is not therapy. Both have their place—and sometimes, both can work together (but NOT with the same person, that would be unethical 😅).

P.S. While it’s rare, there are exceptional cases where a therapist may directly advise against drinking, for example, if a client poses a serious or imminent risk to themselves or others. Even then, it must be documented with clear clinical rationale.

09/05/2025

If you are in Ann Arbor, Michigan, living alcohol free, please say hello! 👋🏽

The hardest part about living alcohol free, is living in an alcohol obsessed society and culture. Even family friendly events are pushing alcohol.

As an introvert and someone who hasn’t built much of a social life at (almost) 47, I’m looking to create an alcohol free community.

Some ideas:

✅ Take a stroll through the Arb
✅ Take a cooking class a Sur Le Tab
✅ Sourdough bread making class @ Zingerman’s
✅ Take dance lessons
✅ Yoga class
✅ Run hill sprints at Vets Park
✅ Coffee at Dozer
✅ Enter Warrior Dash or Race together

If you are in Ann Arbor, send me a DM. Let’s create an Alcohol Free Community! ✨

09/03/2025

08/31/2025

As long as we’re numbing, avoiding, checking out, or skipping over the parts of life that need our attention—we’re putting a ceiling on our potential.

I wish healing and growth were as easy as wiping a glass door clean.

But it’s not.
Removing alcohol is just the starting point.

For me, going alcohol-free wasn’t about having a “problem.”
Honestly, I love tequila…
But it doesn’t love me back.
It doesn’t make me feel better like it promises.

The real reason I quit alcohol is about attuning to the parts of me that ache to make this life more meaningful. The same parts that wanted the ache to go away need me to stay awake, to problem solve, to take action and to “eat that frog” ... don’t shy away from life, Melanie.

They need me awake.
Not numbing.
Not checked out.
Not making excuses.

If the oak tree is already in the acorn, imagine what’s already inside you. You gotta make that oak tree grow! 🌳

I know I can’t be the only one who feels this way.
Let me know if it hits home.

✨✌🏽

#

08/30/2025

“Alcohol takes the edge off…”

I believed that for until recently.
Even when I heard alcohol was toxic to my body, and nervous system,
there was still a part of me that clung to the belief:

“I need it to cope.”
“I don’t drink recklessly.”
“I deserve something to take the edge off.”

That’s cognitive dissonance.
And I tried everything to eliminate it:

✖️ Restricting (just drink less)
✖️ Justifying (I’m under a lot of stress)
✖️ Rationalizing (I don’t have a real problem)
✖️ Denying (It’s not that bad)

But those strategies never brought peace. To find true congruence, I had to turn toward the parts of me that believed alcohol was the answer,
And listen.
Not shame them.
Not silence them.

When I did that, and listened for what they wanted for me, it is clear that Alcohol isn’t what they actually want for me.

They want relief, connection, calm, joy, safety.

Now that I stay conscious without numbing myself, shutting off parts of myself, I can try to give them that… in ways that don’t cost me my clarity, my health, or my spirit.

If this resonates, let me know in the comments with a ❤️‍🩹 emoji.

12/13/2023