ALISON CANAVAN ON WELLNESS
Mindfulness guru Alison Canavan knows better than anyone that there’s no one size fits all approach to wellness, which is why she’s running workshops around the country that can help everyone find the method that works best for them
While the rest of us braved the windy, showery Irish weather this week, Dublin model-turnedwellness guru Alison Canavan, 39, was studying mindfulness on the sunny campus of UCLA, California.
‘It’s amazing. My lecturers are some of the leading people in this field. When I’m finished I’ll be a mindfulness facilitator from the Semel Institute of Neuroscience. I’ll be able to create courses for colleges and schools,’ she says excitedly, when we catch up on the phone ahead of her day in the classroom.
The year-long programme involves online learning and occasion trips to the US campus. Which means Alison has also had time to launch her wellness bootcamp The Full 360, which takes place in locations all around Ireland in the coming months. She will be in Athlone in February, Cork in March and Limerick in April.
‘It’s basically a full day that I created because all I’m hearing back from people is that we’re constantly talking about mental health in Ireland but no one has any idea how to help themselves. I do a lot of talks, I coach people, I have guest speakers on everything from yoga to meditation to breathing techniques to talks about facing fears with money to taking care of your skin. There is a gratitude workshop, a vibrate workshop, a positive language workshop. I get everyone to turn their phones on to selfie mode and say positive affirmations to themselves. This can be a deeply uncomfortable practice for people because most of us are never kind to ourselves,’ she says.
‘We did one in September, we did one in January in Dublin and the response has been incredible. One girl who follows me on social media flew in from Geneva for it. One 19-year-old who suffered with crippling anxiety has found that two of the breathing techniques have been a game-changer. People have said they thought they’d stay for only 20 minutes but that it changed their lives. I think it’s because we all need to reduce our stress levels,’ she muses – and other bonuses of the day include a goody bag worth €150 and a healthy, chef-cooked lunch. ‘It’s about ➤
giving people the tools to cope with whatever is going on in their lives, be it anxiety, depression, or maybe someone just needs to take time out for themselves or have a digital detox. Not every workshop is going to suit everyone,’ she stresses. ‘But it’s about them discovering what does work for them and taking that home and practising it in their own lives until it becomes a habit.
‘It’s about finding what works for you and what resonates with you. This is not going to work unless you’re able to wake up and put ten minutes into yourself afterwards.’
Since she began her own ‘wellness journey’, Alison has been courageously candid about everything from her postnatal depression following the birth of James, seven, to her realisation in more recent years that she had a drink problem and quit alcohol for good. Her book Minding Mum, published last year, has become a go-to for new mothers in need of advice, support and understanding.
Unsurprisingly Alison has become a touchstone for a wide range of people, from single mothers to those struggling with mental health and addiction issues. How did she do it?
‘It’s a daily process,’ she says, of her recovery. ‘Today I was up at 6am, I meditated for half an hour, I did my gratitude diary. It’s all about finding the practices that work for you. It was hard at the start to establish the routine of my practices – now it’s as normal to me as sleeping and eating. Then it’s things like eating healthily, being kind to yourself, living in a different way – and it’s so worth it. I wouldn’t go back to the way things were. And even though I’ve been well for a few years now, I know I need to keep up all my practices. I don’t take how I feel now for granted.’
Alison does not sugarcoat the amount of effort a lifestyle overhaul requires, either.
‘I work with so many people who want to change their life but don’t want to do the work. I can coach you but you have to do the work. It’s really understanding the buck stops with us. It’s about connecting with our own intuition instead of following the tribe. It’s about self-compassion and not being too hard on yourself when you fail. It’s really about watching our language and how we speak to ourselves. Most people wake up every day and they look in the mirror and say things like, “I look like crap. Oh my god, my skin is so bad.” We are starting off our day on this negative narrative and that’s what I’m trying to help people to reverse.’
Self-care is another relatively new buzz-phrase – but what does it mean, exactly?
‘Self-care is showing up for yourself every day,’ she replies. ‘It’s not avoiding yourself. It’s dealing with issues as they arise and not distracting yourself away from them. Some people think selfcare means going to the hairdresser or something like that but it’s more than that. It’s doing the work on yourself to help you become healthier and happier. And, yes, it requires work and effort, especially at the beginning. But eventually I promise the lifestyle practice and habits that make you feel better will become second nature.’
Alison has spoken out on RTÉ programmes The Late Late Show and Cutting Edge about beating her own addictions and anxiety and creating a more peaceful life for herself and her son. ‘We still have a lot of stigma in Ireland about addiction and mental health issues even if we like to pat ourselves on the back and say we don’t. People get in touch with me because they are afraid to speak to anyone else. These are people who appear to be very successful – they have good jobs and families and they are genuinely in fear of their employers finding out and of losing their jobs.
‘It’s a real fear. I lost all my work when I spoke out,’ she admits. ‘Almost everyone cancelled me when I did The Late Late Show. After James was born and I started talking about postnatal depression people also said to me, “You need to drop this depression stuff, it’s affecting your career, people don’t want to be associated with that.” I’m at the stage where I want to speak my truth. The truth does ultimately set you free.’
While in LA, Alison has been enjoying the sunshine on hikes and catching up with several friends who live in the city. ‘I used to work here for years as a model so I know loads of people here. I had lunch with one friend yesterday, dinner with another last night, dinner with someone else the night before.’
She was pleasantly surprised that none of them batted an eyelid when she eschewed alcohol at those get-togethers. ‘It hasn’t come up once that I’m sober. These are all friends who I used to drink with and not one person asked why I didn’t
“THIS WON’T WORK UNLESS YOU’RE ABLE TO WAKE UP AND PUT TEN MINUTES INTO YOURSELF AFTERWARDS”
want a drink. In Ireland you’re the topic of conversation the whole night. It’s excessive,’ she complains. ‘We’ve got to change our relationship with alcohol. We have a bigger problem than we think. I’ve been saying for the last few years that if you struggle with anxiety or depression then you are absolutely, 100 per cent making it worse if you drink alcohol. But people don’t want to hear it. I know where they’re coming from because I’ve been through it. I know how difficult it is to get sober in Ireland. It is a very isolating and lonely time. You have to really want it to persevere.
‘But if you offered me €1 million to go back to my old life now I wouldn’t.’
Alison passionately believes children should be meditating and has already introduced James to mindfulness. ‘It’s very funny, he said to me the other day: “I don’t think so-and-so meditates”. I said, “Not everyone meditates, James!” she laughs. ‘We practice gratitude every night. He has his own gratitude stone – everyone who comes to the Full 360 gets a gratitude stone too.’
Why a stone? ‘Simply because I’m a very visual person and seeing the stone beside my bed reminds me to do it. And James will pick it up, put it in his hand and list the things he is grateful for. For me it’s a way of getting information out of him, primarily,’ she chuckles.
‘And it is training his brain to see the good things that happened every day. It’s a fun practice. Instead of always training kids to be competitive and to focus on what they don’t have, it’s nice to teach them to appreciate what they do have too.’
Instead of snapping at the kids at breakfast time when everyone is sleepy and grumpy, Alison takes a different approach.
‘We have daily discos at home, that’s why I do a lot of movement at the Full 360. Movement breaks state, it breaks mood. I know it sounds silly but if James or I are struggling in the morning, we put on music and have a dance, it never fails to make us giggle.’
For anyone who thinks this mindful way of life is mumbo jumbo, Alison can recite reams of scientific evidence to back up its efficacy too.
‘I’m very much interested in the science side of mindfulness and how we can all rewire our brain and change our brain.
‘We’ve all grown up to believe that old phrase, a leopard doesn’t change his spots. The science says that’s not true at all. It is fully within your control. I’m proof of that.
‘I’ve recovered from addictions and mental health problems. So anyone else can too.’