Working with the Mind, Not Against it: Yoga, Nervous System Regulation & Alcohol-Free Living with Annie Knowles

In this episode of Sober Yoga Girl Podcast, Alexandra is joined by Annie Knowles - newly qualified yoga teacher, NLP-qualified life and alcohol-free coach, and former NHS healthcare professional with over 33 years of experience working in high-pressure clinical environments.

Annie shares her journey of choosing an alcohol-free life during the pandemic - not from crisis or “rock bottom,” but from a deep desire for calm, clarity, and authenticity. That decision sparked a profound personal and professional transformation, leading her to support high-functioning women - particularly those in healthcare and caring roles - who feel outwardly fine but inwardly exhausted, disconnected, or stuck.

Together, Alexandra and Annie explore why change feels so hard, why willpower isn’t the answer, and how real transformation happens through awareness, nervous system regulation, and identity shift. They weave together modern neuroscience, NLP, lived experience, and ancient yoga philosophy - including insights from the Yoga Sutras - to show how we can learn to work with the mind rather than against it.

This conversation is grounded, compassionate, and practical, offering listeners a refreshing perspective on alcohol-free living, recovery pathways, and sustainable change - without shame, labels, or pressure to be “fixed.”

In This Episode, We Discuss

• Annie’s transition from NHS healthcare to coaching and yoga teaching
• Choosing alcohol-free living without hitting “rock bottom”
• Why willpower fails, and what actually supports lasting change
• Nervous system regulation vs self-improvement culture
• Identity shift and self-study through the lens of yoga philosophy
• How the Yoga Sutras offer practical guidance for modern life
• The power of immersive environments like yoga teacher training and retreat spaces
• Why community and shared study matter in recovery and wellbeing
• Learn more about Annie’s work and the 100-Day Reset Programme here

Study Yoga Philosophy & Train in Bali
If you’re feeling called to deepen your understanding of yoga beyond the mat — through philosophy, meditation, and self-study — Alexandra offers Yoga Sutra Study programmes online and immersive Yoga Teacher Trainings in Bali rooted in inquiry, nervous system awareness, and lived practice.

You can learn more about upcoming trainings, retreats, and study opportunities at: www.mindfulbali.com

Listen & Subscribe

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe to Sober Yoga Girl Podcast, leave a review, or share it with someone who might need to hear this conversation.

Thank you for being here, and for walking this path with us.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:03

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Sober Yoga Girl Podcast. I was just saying to the guest that this is the first episode that I've recorded, a first interview I've recorded in like six months. So I'm really excited to be here. And I have a pretty special guest. I'm here with Annie Knowles, who recently completed the 200-hour yoga teacher training with me here in Bali. And she also is an NLP qualified life coach. She's an alcohol-free coach. She's a former NHL healthcare professional. She has 33 years of experience working in clinical environments. And now she's four years alcohol-free, and she supports high-functioning women to reduce stress and rebuild confidence and step away from unhelpful patterns. And her work blends yoga philosophy and the Yoga Sutras with modern psychology, neuroscience, NLP pool pool tools and lived experience helping women create meaningful, sustainable change without label shame, or all or nothing thinking. And she also collaborates with her husband, Professor Charles Knowles, the author of Why We Drink Too Much, which recently came out, and I'm seeing really positive reviews, and lots of people are talking about this book. So huge conversations around alcohol, well-being, and modern life. So welcome, Annie. I'm so excited to have you here. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I'm really well. I'm so glad to be here with you. Thank you so much, Alex. I didn't realize that I was your first guest after six months. That makes me feel comfortable. I'm kind of special. You are special.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

You totally are special. Yeah. And I'm so excited to hear more about your story. And maybe we can start with just sharing a little bit about like what led you to become alcohol-free.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

So um this is an interesting question because um with hindsight now I can say that I was probably always um, you know, a heavy, heavier drinker, but didn't think I had a problem. Um, but the crunch time for me came working in the pandemic in the NHS, where I just had got myself into a pattern of daily drinking and working and dealing with the stress of working within the National Health Service in the UK, um, listening to the news every day about you know COVID affecting the world. It was almost like the worst kind of negative time of my life, and alcohol was just sort of you know being thrown onto the top of all of that. Um, and so it was a turning point in the summer of 2020, um, after the first wave of the pandemic, if you like, where I realized looking in the mirror, it was vanity and this sense of um, do you know? Actually, this is a line that I think they use in AA a lot, the feeling of being sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I didn't realize that was an AA thing, and it's almost like that was my moment. I was looking in the mirror one morning, getting ready for work, and thinking, I can't do this anymore. You know, I was using alcohol as stress relief at the end of every working day, and I'd got myself into a habit of, you know, just doing that for about I think four months consistently, but actually, really now when I look back, I actually realize as well that there was probably a year that preceded that that was almost daily drinking as well, because it was my 50th birthday year, so just before COVID. Um, and so it was a pattern that I had developed that got to a point of looking in the mirror one day during the pandemic and saying, I don't want to do this anymore. And I just decided to take a detox, you know. I didn't think that it the pro it would that the alcohol was the problem. I just thought I was really not at my best, um, you know, thinking it was stress of work, thinking, you know, it was the fact that my diet had really gone to pieces because, you know, we know now, you know, drinking has that spiral effect the next day, that ripple effect of, you know, not being able to exercise, not wanting to eat well. And so I'd put weight on, I was stressed, I wasn't sleeping. I mean, I just didn't like myself and you know, looking in the mirror that day, and I just thought I need to make a change. And so I I I I took a a short break from alcohol, and that's where it all started. It was 45 days of deciding just to take a break and detox um from all things, really. Um, yeah, so that's where it all started.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Yeah, amazing. And I I can so relate to this um this decision of like, so I took a break as well. I took 28 days off alcohol, and now it's you know, it's gonna be seven years in April. Um, and and I love the way this I meet so many women in this world who they come into it a little bit unintentionally. Like they're like, I'm just gonna take a break, and then you know, it's many years, like you're about four years now. And I'm just wondering, like, okay, so you chose to step away from alcohol rather than for well-being rather than like being in a crisis. Um, and I'm just wondering, like, why do you think that story is still so important, especially for high-functioning women who feel like fine on the outside?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Um, I think it's because there is a choice to stop drinking that I was not aware of. I was, I think, like the majority of the population, that you know, we have this idea that people who drink too much are, you know, at the far end of the spectrum and are somehow broken. They've had a rock bottom, they've had to stop drinking because there was a real car crash problem in their life. But actually, you know, that's not true. And I think, you know, um my husband who's sober through AA 10 years, you know, we talk a lot about the kind of stories um that he may hear. Obviously, anonymously he never mentions names, but you know, and it's it's a similar thing. People do not have to reach a rock bottom to make a choice to feel better. Do you know? And I think um having that realization, that awareness that you want to live a happier, healthier life, you know, that to me, I think is is gold for the women that I am um, you know, coaching, because they come to me almost feeling like they're broken and that there's something wrong with them. But actually, what I want to prove to them is that what they're doing is so positive for their life, you know. So you flip the story, you actually really look at it from a different angle to say there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You know, you are choosing a different way of life, and you can choose that at any point in your life. You do not have to wait for a particular incident or something that is going to damage your life. You know, we can all all choose differently, and so yeah, I think it's just really important that people have that awareness. You know, we look at alcohol as if it well, for those of us that drank and and that enjoyed a drink, you look at it with such positive impacts on your life. I think to change your mindset to to look at it in a slightly different way and not look at it as if you are gonna be missing out on something, you're gaining so much more by by stopping drinking. So, yeah, no rot bottom needed, just a different choice. Um and yeah, anybody can do it.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

I love that. I love that. Okay, you pointed you hit on a few things that I want to come back to. Um, uh change and then also like flipping the story, but I just want to circle back and talk a little bit about. So, in the introduction, I mentioned that you worked in the NHS, which is high pressure, you know, you're there for three decades. And I just want to ask you, because I'm sure there's a lot of people listening who can relate to this, working in intensity, like intense environments. And I'm just wondering how did that shape your relationship with stress, with alcohol, with your own nervous system?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

To be honest, um, whilst still drinking, I had no idea that I was damaging my nervous system um for a start. But I think what's interesting is that um as we age, we we still kind of try and keep up, if you like. Um, and I think when you when anybody's working in any high stress environment, you want to do your best. You always want to work at your your most um you know, top performance, if you like. Um, and I think for me in particular, I kind of blurred the boundaries of you know success and resilience. The two the two things for me kind of felt like, you know, I was being resilient because I was trying to be successful through the pandemic, working to protect my patients, working to help my staff. But at the same time, I think I was totally unaware of the fact that my my my body, you know, my biology, as we get older, you know, we can't we can't meet the same kind of um you know levels that we met in our 20s or 30s, you know, when we were at our peak, our brain cells were on fire, we had more energy. And so actually you're you're damaging your nervous system by trying to keep up, if you like. And actually, what I was doing, as I said at the beginning, is just throwing alcohol on a fire. My nervous system was on fire, and I didn't, and I didn't realize, I had no idea that I was um I was trying too hard, you know, um, and I was somehow labeling that as resilience, you know, and I didn't really recognize it as stress. It was like, oh, I'm doing a great job. But then the only way I knew to calm my nervous system, I suppose, was to have a drink because it kind of shut all the noise off when you when you came home from work in the at the end of the day. And you know, that becomes a cycle. But um I think um, you know, being able to have that break from alcohol and just take that away and realizing now the effects that it did have on my nervous system, and realizing, you know, I can see what calm now feels like. I never I never understood calm while I was working. And so I think anybody in any high pressure um, you know, environment has so many jobs that all of us are in, whether you were affected in the pandemic or not, I mean, on a day-to-day basis, I think, you know, for people to understand that we've got this kind of baseline energy and to realize that we need to be plugged in, you know, you need to have your battery refilled. Um, and it's about recognizing how do you do that? And I just didn't know that in the pandemic. When I was running on a treadmill, you know, and and I literally had a cape on and I was doing this superwoman job, and I thought I was doing the the best that I could for everybody, but actually, what I was doing was I was just damaging my nervous system. I was just, you know, literally running on empty, and that battery was dead. And that was the point. I think that you know, when there was there was no charge, it was like, okay, I've got to do something. I need to to change the way that I'm doing things. So yeah, I forgot what the what the actual original question was. I think it went off on a tangent there, but I just think to be for anybody to be aware, working in high-pressure jobs, that there is so much to learn about the nervous system that I just wasn't aware of before it was alcohol that actually gave me the doorway in a way, by stopping drinking alcohol, to start to understand my nervous system. And boy, has it been life-changing.

unknown 12:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

And so I'm wondering um coming into this idea of like, so change isn't about willpower, and from your perspective, from NLP and neuroscience and yoga, like what's really happening in the mind when women feel stuck in patterns that they want to outgrow?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

So, again, this is one of the things that I really like to tell my clients that we're not broken when we're doing or conducting any unhealthy habit. It's the way that our brain is wired, you know. And I think through NLP I've realized that we're all individual, we all have this filtrated brain, you know, throughout our lives that has allowed us to filter what we want to have stored, if you like, at any time. And that's based on our our values, our beliefs, our families, upbringing, the way that we were raised, our our friends, all of the interactions we've had with people. And in a way, then our brain has a way of being able to process what it's what it's received, but at the same time, it's also able to um to develop patterns based on things that keep us safe, if you like. So it in a way our brain is is constantly looking for ways to keep us safe. And so I think um change feels so hard for a lot of ladies because we've got we've got certain patterns that have become so ingrained that we just need to learn how to interrupt those patterns and create new ones. Um and our brains are so amazing. You know, we have, it doesn't matter how old we are, you know, our brains are constantly creating new neural pathways. And this is what I just love about the neuroscience of the brain and the fact that anything is possible, any change is possible, any pattern or habit is possible. We just need to recognize it, have awareness of it, and then you know, realize that change isn't about willpower, it's actually about changing those patterns, and we've all got the ability to do it, and I just think that's so exciting, you know. It's it's been amazing because I was such a negative person pre what I like to call it pre-pandemic when I was drinking, my drinking self had such a negative mindset, but I can't do this. I you know, it's I'm not that sort of person, this is not for me, you know, they're better than me. Oh my goodness, I had such a negative mindset, and it's like I've been able to almost have a look at what what what are my brain patterns, what's my way of thinking, and then interrupt it in a way that you know I can sort of, you know, through questioning, actually, coaching's really helped me. People have helped me to change my brain patterns by um, you know, even podcasts or you know, listening, coming to to Bali to be with you. It's almost like everything that has happened to me, it's almost like my brain is now open and ready to receive new information and to help to change those those patterns and pathways to start creating new habits. So, you know, again, um yeah, NLP, yoga has just really helped me to help my clients in a way, you know, to understand that there is no failure here. This is this is just recreating new wonderful habits and new patterns of doing things.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

That's beautiful. So I'm wondering, as coming out of the yoga teacher training, you so you not only did your 200 hour last year, but you also did the online yoga sutra study, and so a lot of looking at yoga philosophy. And I'm just wondering how has studying yoga philosophy, so not just the asana, um, influenced the way you understand behavior change and self-inquiry and recovery.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Oh my god, this is huge. Um, it's almost like I feel the Yoga Sutras need to be a handbook that go alongside sobriety. Um, from the very first chapter of yoga being the stilling of the mind. Do you know something I really feel that um our brains are constantly firing with so many thoughts, and you know, like I just said a minute ago, these like this this limiting beliefs. I can't do that. I will, you know, that's not me. Um, just so many negative things are flying around our heads. It's almost like the yoga philosophy has really helped me to understand those brain patterns that I was talking about before, you know, it's like we have the ability to just calm the mind. We have the ability to be still and to think more clearly and not to think at all when you come to the state of meditation. It's just it's such a beautiful guide that fits fits perfectly. And I just love you know, the yoga philosophy um is not just about the kind of rules, if you like, for for how to get going with yoga, it's almost the the rules of life, you know, the rules of how to be a good human, even. You know, that's how I kind of really saw it, especially, you know, when you're looking at the yamas, the niyamas, the the the personal kind of you know, um ways of being that can help you but help others. Um honestly, I think if anybody hasn't you know studied or read the Yoga Sutras and you are on an alcohol-free path, it's just I imagine like the Bible is for people who um you know follow religion. Um I was also you know brought up Catholic, I I know the Bible pretty well, but this was something else. It was almost like another perspective on life, and I just feel as helped me personally with my sobriety, it's helped me to understand you know how to deal with with life and and another people and my difficult situations. It's allowed me to be still, it's allowed me to to be excited enough to show this to other people and to to try and um you know to try and explain it to other people, but I know it's a it's a big book, it's very difficult, but I have managed to incorporate some of the Yoga Sutras into my coaching programs, which has really helped other people to understand maybe the way that they're thinking, the way that meditation and breath work is is is so helpful in um in recovery, in becoming alcohol free, you know. Um all of the I I just everything in the Yoga Sutras, I know I'm kind of uh I can't find the words to describe it. It's just it's been pivotal in my own journey, but in the success of my coaching business and what I really want to help to teach others. So does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Totally, totally, and you know, I really loved seeing the way that you brought it into your coaching like immediately because that was like direct, uh, that was one of the most direct times that I've seen someone just bring the what we're studying directly into their work. And that made me so delighted because I was like, wow, that's impacted Annie so much that she wants to share it with her clients. I think that's amazing. Um yeah, I love seeing where you're going with it and and and the way that you've pushed it forward in your work. It's inspiring, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

But can I say, you know, like you said earlier, you know, how has it helped me having the the sutras um in my practice? But it's I hadn't realized until I studied with you, you know, just the relevance of, you know, in particular the Yamas and the Niamas, in terms of how it can help us to become alcohol-free and what might be stopping us. It's almost like I had these light bulb moments that that that just sort of came on. And so, you know, there are certain ones like um you know, ahimsa, nonviolence. Do you know we don't realize just the the negative effects of alcohol on our body, we do it as a as a real Routine, ritual, you know, when we sometimes a habit, we we pick a drink up and we drink it, but we don't realise how we're how much we're harming our body with alcohol. Um, and also we don't realise how our thoughts are poisoning our mind. It's like we're constantly, you know, having um this violence towards ourselves, if you like. And so, you know, just simple things like that really made me realize when I again when you when you point out something to somebody and raise awareness, all of a sudden, awareness is the first step to any kind of behavior or thought change, pattern change. And um, yeah, they were they were really, you know, taken on board by by my clients. Um, satire, truthfulness, you know, one of the things that stopped me from getting going with my my sobriety was I was like, I wasn't being honest with myself, I wasn't being honest with the people around me. I wasn't being honest enough to tell people what I was trying to do. The minute I opened up and said, Do you know what I don't want to drink? All of a sudden I had supporters, I had people who were partnering me and in wanting me to be successful in doing what I wanted to do. And so I had these accountability partners that included my husband, you know. I I I kind of hid it from him for a year that I that I was trying to stop drinking because I thought he was the one with the problem. He was the one that had gone to AA. I was still in that mindset of, you know, there are normal drinkers and there are abnormal drinkers. And I thought he was the abnormal drinker and I was the normal, but I just got myself into this terrible pattern. Um, you know, looking back on that now, it's so ridiculous, you know. But we're we were we're all drinkers. If we're drinking, if you're picking a drink up, you're a drinker, do you know? And it doesn't make a difference how much you're drinking, it's how it makes you feel. And if it starts to make you feel, you know, in a negative way and you have consequences, then you know, there's an opportunity to detect to make a change, and that's exactly what what I did. Having been truthful and being open and honest and telling my husband what I wanted to do, that was the springboard to allow me to keep going with my sobriety. So that was just wonderful. And I suppose, you know, just having the tapas, the discipline of knowing that there's gonna be some days that are really hard, but just keep going and trust the process. You know, discipline does come in sobriety because it's not easy, it's bloody hard, you know, it's one of the hardest times of your life, but my goodness, is it you know the most beneficial time in my entire life, you know, to reap the rewards I've got now. I'm so glad that I did go with the the discipline, the tapas of of just knowing that I needed to trust myself and trust the process. Um, it might sound a little simple to people that are going through, you know, being alcohol free now, but um I just think if you haven't read the Yoga Sutras, to go and have a look at the Yamas and the Niamas in particular and just see how they relate to to becoming alcohol free and how they're helping with sobriety and with recovery because they're just gold. They're gold.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Oh, I love that. I loved hearing the direct connections you made. That was um that was beautiful. And I'm wondering if there's any Yoga Sutras that you find especially helpful when it comes to identity change, like moving from I'm trying to change to this is who I am now.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

I think, gosh, this the um I mean I stopped doing the Yoga Sutras with you in October. It's now end of January. It's been a while. So I have been focusing very much on the on the Yamas and the Niyamas for my for my group, but I think, you know, again, just going straight back to the very beginning of the book, maybe 1.2 um, you know, yoga is the stilling of the mind is something that was so simple but so powerful for me that I just didn't have to believe these things that were floating around my head all the time, that I have the power to to still and to be quiet and to to calm myself and to calm my nervous system. It's almost like the beginning of the journey, it was so powerful. Um the Kriya Yoga as well. I can't remember what what what reference number that was, but the Kriya Yoga, um again, the tapas svadaya and Shvara Pradina Pradinana. I can't say yeah, you're gonna have to say it properly for me. Um but again, like I said, you know, like I I say to my ladies that I coach, being able to stay with the discomfort, the tapas, to reflect on our own patterns, the svadaya, and then to release control over outcomes, to surrender, you know, to be able to surrender to that resistance, to that thing that's stopping us, doing whatever we want to in life. I mean, I just think the Korea yoga idea, the the the philosophy, it just encapsulates, you know, how to become alcohol-free. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Totally, yeah. I love seeing the the direct connections you're making in your program. That's so awesome. And so I'm wondering, so you studied and trained in Bali with me this last summer. And I'm just wondering, like, what is it about immersive environments like yoga teacher trainings or retreats that support deeper change compared to just staying in our everyday life?

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Well, first of all, to be able to go to the most beautiful place, you know, uh like Bali, um, and just experience a life outside normal uh for me. I live in the city, I live in London, it's you know, very busy, it's noisy, um, high-rise buildings, very little nature. It's like, you know, to be able to be immersed in that 24-7, you know, to go to bed at night and hear the the um shikadas, to uh hear the frogs croaking at night, you know, and and then to wake up with the beautiful sounds, it's like all of a sudden the noise in your head stops. I think that's the thing. You know, the problem with I imagine if I'd have done yoga teacher training online from home, um I would still have the competing noise of London, the competing noise of a job in the background, the competing noise of my family, the competing noise and and and and stresses of life. It's almost like when you take yourself out of your own life and put yourself into this fully immersive experience, everything calms. It's all to do with the stilling of the mind again. You go back to kind of like this real, beautiful, baseline kind of um starting level, if you like, you know. You're you're you're there, you don't have the competing worries and stresses of life. You know, when I came to to Bali to do my yoga teacher training, we were cooked for, we were looked after, you know, you were were you created the structure for our day in terms of you know um a uh a schedule that worked for us. There was beautiful things in there that were, you know, there to make sure that we were able to recharge and and and and look after our nervous system. And so I think just having the ability to to study, to rest, to sleep, to have the most amazing friendships developed, you know, in in this beautiful place that for me it's vitamin N, it's nature, and I just don't get enough of that where I am, where I live. And so, you know, it's taking little bits of that away with me when I came back to say, where can I get these bird noises? Where can I get similar feel from nature, you know? Um, and yeah, I think being able to be in an immersive environment just gives you the ability to think and be there in that space and just be fully there rather than only partly there, if you like. Because if I was in London trying to do it, I'd only be giving you a small proportion of my brain, you know. It's like I gave you everything. I think I was fully, fully involved, fully immersed. Um, I was fully there.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Yeah, wow, that was a beautiful answer. I loved hearing the way you described even like the nature in Bali. Um just beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

You're so lucky to live there, you really are. I just like if I wasn't married and you know, and with with in-laws that I'm having to look after and everything at the moment, it's like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

You know, it's funny because every day just becomes normal when you um, you know, like because I've been here now for four years, and so it's just normal, and so it's very beautiful to hear you you talk about it and me remember the magic. Because I I experienced that exact same thing, you know. That's why I stayed for the rest of my life. Um, but then you just it just becomes normal, and so it's so um, yeah, you really painted a picture for people listening who haven't been to Bali, like how magical the the environment really is.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

It really is magical. From the moment you wake up, the sun rises to the sunsets. It's the most magical, beautiful place. I just loved it. Loved it. Yeah. I've been three times. Um I know met you three times.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

And all in at all those retreats were in Pajang, too, which is like um the neighborhood that I live in. The I was thinking that the retreat center where I met you is like a four-minute drive from my house. So yeah. Okay, so I was I'm wondering about your hundred-day reset. Um, so you could tell us a little bit about that program. Um, and yeah, how do you see it as like a practice? So it's not something that people succeed or fail at, but um a practice or um uh yeah, uh a journey for people. Just tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 33:04

So I created um a hundred-day research program, which is um aimed at helping people who are curious about an alcohol-free life, you really aimed at people who really want to go alcohol-free, and um have maybe had a a number of successful periods of being alcohol-free, but um, you know, often can't keep it going and they're not 100% sure why. And so, what my research is it doesn't really focus on alcohol at all. Alcohol is there in the background because that's the reason that the women you know want to join the group. What we do is we focus on all of the aspects of life that we're probably not aware of. So my hundred-day reset is a hundred days of really developing awareness of of who we are and why we behave the way that we behave, and patterns that we have, and really get to understand ourselves and so that we can make the changes that we do want. Because I think a lot of people think that you know, if you if you want to stop drinking alcohol, that it's just a case of making that choice and you stop, you don't, you know, there are so many things that affect the reason why we drink, and often that are those are unconscious reasons that we're just not aware of. And so my hundred-day reset helps to bring that out into the light to um, and it's going to be different for every single person, obviously. So for me, it was things like boundaries, lack of boundaries, you know, the fact that I had lack of confidence, I wasn't resilient. You know, my different definition of resilience was different to somebody else's. I had all of these, and so I've taken my own experience, and what I've done is I've actually created the 100-day reset to be um 14 weeks of a week, a themed week where we look at a particular thing that does affect us in life. So it could be relationships, it could be boundaries, it could be um our confidence, it could be um uh, you know, our our our biology, our physiology. Um, you know, I I have a week in there that really does look at the science of alcohol and what it's doing to our health and well-being. Um so there's a there's a number of ways that we can look at our lives, um, and then we can work out ourselves, you know, is there anything here that I want to improve? So the hundred-day reset is not a challenge, it's not a competition, it's not a you've got to be hundred days to, you know, to be alcohol free. It's about learning to understand why you drink, learning to understand the reasons why you use alcohol as a crutch, if you like, or as as some as some kind of solution to something else that's going on that's deeper. And it's almost uh, you know, a self-practice. So is it spadaya? Um, is that how you say it? Spadya, yeah. So yeah, so to do your daily self-practice, almost your daily checking in with yourself, your awareness of what's going on with me today. So and you often we don't know what we don't know. So if nobody's ever talked to you before about boundaries, if nobody's ever talked to you before about you know understanding that you can have a different relationship with somebody, you don't have to just have that blinkered view of being on that treadmill of life thinking this is just my life, this is just the way it works, you know, this is just the way things are. It's almost like jump off the treadmill, take the the blinkers off for a minute, let's have a look at what's going on in your life. But I do this in a group setting, so actually, it's wonderful that we have women who have a common kind of um you know desire to stop drinking. That is the the common denominator for all of us. But actually, we we bounce off each other with ideas and and conversation around you know things that are coming up for other other women. So it's just a beautiful way of having a small community of women who get each other, there's friendships that are developed, but we get to learn about themselves, they get to learn about who they are, and they come out of the reset, you know, with tools to sort of have an understanding of the way that they think, the way that they think. Um, and it's not necessarily something that's going to fix people, it's almost the the first steps to developing that that daily self-practice, that daily, you know, um study of yourself, and just know that you have got the ability every day to have the day that you want, to to have the life that you want. You know, we just we're just now aware of it. Um so yeah, that's that's really the the essence of my hundred-day reset. It's just a beautiful kind of gentle gathering of of wonderful women who are wanting to change their lives, and and yeah, we're helping each other to do it.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

I love that. Gentle gathering. That is a beautiful description. And yeah, I really love hearing about uh the the initiative that that you're taking in the work you're doing with women in initial sobriety. I I used to do um you know 30 and 60 day sober yoga challenges, which I'm not doing anymore. And I just love hearing um other people like taking over, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Do you know what? It's not like I'm taking um you have been so instrumental in my life. You have no idea. But the thing is, it's almost like you have this passion and this drive to just want to be able to give people what you've got, what you've experienced. And it's like, however you do that, do you know what I mean? It's like I just I don't, it's a bit it's the biggest kept secret sobriety and what it can do to your life. And I just desperately want other people to feel the way that I feel, just how much my life has changed, you know, for the better. The things that have come into my life, the people like you that have come into my life, it's like, wow, what a ride.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Yeah, seriously. Yeah, and I've learned so much from you too, honestly. Um, I think I said to you before uh that we had like we had the most amazing yoga teacher training group. I mean, I've had a lot of amazing groups, but the group that you had was like really solid, like very little conflict. And and I said at one point, oh, maybe Annie's been like helping them with coaching, like coaching skills. Because you're so excellent at that, like asking thought-provoking questions and just sitting with people and holding space for them to um to kind of like reframe. Like it felt like, yeah, it just felt like a very cohesive group. And I think the way that you the way that you hold space in an unofficial, like peer-supported way, you really have a gift in that in that area.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Oh, thank you. It was a beautiful group. But I think just being able to sit and listen is something that I wasn't able to do pre-pandemic, pre-drinking. Do you know? Um, I used to be a very reactive person, very knee-jerk response to everything, but it's almost like, wow, again, the nervous system, being calm in a beautiful place like Bali, you know, being able to sit and really listen to people and just absorb what what what is going on for other people and offer maybe, you know, reframes to things when when things are difficult for other people, that's been really helpful for me to understand that we can reframe anything. You know, we don't have to think in a certain way. But we were very lucky we had a beautiful, beautiful set of women anyway.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Yeah, yeah, we really did. Um, okay, so I have a question, one last question for you. Speaking of reframes, um, if you could offer one reframe to high-functioning women, especially those in healthcare or caring roles, about what success and recovery actually look like, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Do you know my um my Instagram um name is Alcohol Free Rainbow Rider and it is um something that I think is really important to me because there is no real success or um you know outcome of having of of becoming alcohol free. You know, if you think about a rainbow, we think there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You know, everybody's so fixated on the outcome. You know, the rainbow comes and there's a there's meant to be a pot of gold, but actually to enjoy the process and to to ride the rainbow and to know that the rainbow is the gold. You know, that is where the the beauty comes in becoming alcohol-free. It's learning from the very moment you make that decision to stop drinking, you're already successful. Do you know? You're you're on the process, you're on the path, you're riding the rainbow, you're starting to change the um the trajectory of your life, you know, in in the most beautiful way. So it's not about looking and focusing on the outcome of what you're doing, it's about enjoying the ride and being on that beautiful rainbow and just yeah, enjoying life. And you're doing the right thing, you know. It's not about outcomes, it's just about enjoying the process.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

I love that. Oh, I love that. It's a beautiful place to end off on. Uh Annie, it has been so amazing talking with you, hearing more about your perspectives and your knowledge. And I would love to share with everyone who's listening your hundred-day program. So I'll get the I'll make sure I have the link from you. I can't remember if I had it or not, but I'll make sure I have it and I put it in the show notes. And so everyone can check that out if anyone's listening that is curious about going alcohol-free or just wants to join the uh the gentle gathering.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

Yeah, yeah. I'm not sure when this is gonna air, but um my next research starts on the 23rd of March and we'll run to the 30th of June, uh, June 30th for American listeners. Um and also my husband and I do um free masterclasses uh to really help people to go a little bit deeper on their understanding of alcohol. We've got another masterclass that's due, I think it's on the 23rd of February. Um, and if this is aired after the 23rd of February, we will still be able, the people can access that as a free resource. Um, they just need to contact me. And uh yeah, we'll be running free masterclasses throughout the year as well. We're both on a mission to help people to understand their relationship with alcohol and to make any changes they want to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Love that you're doing that together and you both bring your different perspectives. Like we have a lot of uh great conversations about this, about the you know, the AA perspective versus you know, the sober communities, and and they really uh they don't need to be in competition, you know, they can be in collaboration.

SPEAKER_00 44:47

No, absolutely, we're all in the rainbow together.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Love that. Oh, I love that. This was so amazing. Thank you so much, Annie.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Yeah, great to be here. Thank you so much.