Andrea Hayes
The wellness expert tells Andrea Byrne about her latest book
The last time I spoke to Andrea Hayes was in March 2013. At the end of the interview, we chatted about unful lled ambitions, and Andrea mentioned she’d like to try and turn her hand to writing. Fast forward to today and the a able TV presenter turned wellness expert has penned four bestselling books. e latest – Mind, Body, Soul Journal – was launched in late January in Dublin’s once notorious nightclub, Lillie’s Bordello. In fact, perhaps ironically, Andrea’s book launch marked the closure of the iconic Gra on Street haunt. It’s a place that’s close to Andrea’s heart: she worked there as a hostess in her 20s and it was where she and her now husband David went on their rst date 21 years ago. Given Andrea’s popularity in the media industry, the launch was a roaring success. “It was a joyful, happy occasion, a real celebration,” Andrea says, bearing no signs of fatigue from the previous night’s exploits. “I think I only had one drink, I was so busy signing books and talking to people,” she laughs.
Described by actor Patrick Bergin as a ‘spiritual Filofax’, Mind Body, Soul Journal provides a 12-step, month-by-month strategy that Andrea hopes will bring positivity and ful lment amidst the chaos of daily life. It certainly worked for her, as she explains: “I had a lot of miscarriages and as I was starting my new year, and I always want to lose weight, I actually thought to myself, hang on a second, I don’t want to lose anything else ever again, I just want to gain wellness, abundance, wealth, health, happiness, joy. So I switched my thinking from a lack mentality to an abundance mentality. Another thing that was very important was that I kind of switched o social media. Around two years ago everyone was really concentrated on Instagram and getting follower numbers up and I suddenly decided that was giving all your power away to an outside source. It’s like an outside yardstick of how good you are. I don’t want to measure myself by somebody else’s opinion of me, so I started on the inside and once I got the inside right, and once I stopped thinking about lack, one of the most miraculous things happened: a er three miscarriages and being told we weren’t suitable candidates for IVF, we discovered I was pregnant with our miracle child. It was so unexpected but it had so much to do with the journey that I was going on. I hate talking about journeys; it was more a switch of mindset. I started to be more mindful in my approach to everything – to work and to health. I stopped counting my likes and my followers and started counting my blessings. People are constantly looking outside to be validated, when they really only need to look inside.”
Andrea and David have two daughters – seven-year-old Brooke and eight-month-old Skylar. “I wanted to call her Grace because by the grace of God she was born,” Andrea says of her ‘miracle baby’, “but Brooke got very attached to the name Skylar when I was pregnant, so it’s Skylar Grace. She is a gorgeous blessing. Smiles every morning. We should have called her Smiler. Every time I look at her, I thank the ground I walk on. We were very dispirited when we were told we were not suitable candidates for IVF. I was saying to someone when I was writing the book that I didn’t give up the intention of wanting another baby, but I certainly gave up the attachment. Because we get so attached to outcomes, I let the attachment go but I kept the intention in my heart.”
Even though Andrea’s life as an author has been busy in recent years, Andrea remains a regular feature on TV with shows like Virgin Media’s Animal A&E. She is also coming to the end of a year-long project called Fota, which chronicles life at the Cork wildlife park. “It is probably my most challenging TV project to date, because it’s wild animals. I am used to putting collars on dogs and cats, so that is very very exciting.”
Andrea, who hails from Beaumont in Dublin, also presents a weekly radio show on Sunshine FM, which features interviews with well-known people. She brings the same warmth and sincerity to her role as an interviewer as she does when she’s on the other side of the microphone.
Andrea’s sunny disposition is a surprise, as she endured chronic pain from a very young age. It was only in recent years that she found out the cause – spinal stenosis, which was later shown to be the result of a rare disorder, Chiari malformation 1. In 2015, she was also diagnosed with a condition called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which means that her blood pressure isn’t regulated properly and she risks a sudden loss of consciousness. Plenty of explanations, but no cure and no alleviation of the pain. Determined not to let these conditions de ne her, Andrea began exploring alternative ways of managing pain. is topic provided the subject of her rst book, My Pain Free Life. In recent years, Andrea also trained as a clinical hypnotherapist.
She admits that promoting the book and the commitment that comes with it has taken its toll in recent weeks. “I have a pattern of living where I pace myself and I am very aware of my limitations, but I have pushed myself a little bit recently. Being in di erent places for interviews, photos and then with Skylar getting very heavy, I am not great at the moment, but I am working on it and I am keeping a positive outlook. I haven’t been in hospital for a long time, but
I am taking a very considered approach,” she says, chirpily. Is she currently experiencing pain? “Yes, my pain is quite high at the moment and I am going into hospital. ere is talk of brain surgery down the road, decompression surgery or spinal fusion, I have to do what is right for me, so I will work with the doctors and do my best to avoid that but at the same time I have two children and a husband who I love dearly, so I have to do what is right for my health and what is right for their future.” On days like today when her pain level is high, how does she keep smiling? “Gratitude is the rst thing I do. You have to retrain your brain. Reframe your thoughts and reverse any of that negative thinking because once it starts, you need to catch it, delete it, and say you are so lucky, you can get out of bed, you look into the eyes of your children, you see their beautiful smiles, and you say these are my reasons for living. I do a lot of gentle, mindful walking. I love walking my dog. Dash is nearly 15. I dedicated My Pain Free Life to pain su erers, My second book, Life Goals, was dedicated to Brooke because it was goal-orientated, Dog Tales was for Dash, and then Mind, Body, Soul is for Skylar. My poor husband is like ‘Hello?’” she says with a laugh. Given Andrea’s proli c output,
David won’t have long to wait. Mind, Body, Soul Journal by Andrea Hayes is published by Gill and is available in all good bookshops.
I wanted to call my “miracle baby” Grace because by the grace of God she was born