March 16, 2025 • 45 mins
Discover how Laura Valvasori transformed her life through alcohol-free living, creating the 'Still Me but Alcohol-Free' program to help others navigate sobriety without stigma. Learn about holistic wellness practices and managing social dynamics while living alcohol-free.
Through evidence-based strategies and personal experience, Laura guides clients toward sustainable lifestyle changes.
In this episode you will hear:
• Laura’s realization about alcohol and health
• The difficulties of social drinking and triggers
• The impact of mindset on quitting vs. moderation
• Statistics on alcohol-related health risks
• Overview of Laura's program and its structure
• The role of energy work in her healing journey
Managing Social Life Without Alcohol
Her approach to alcohol-free social situations emphasizes practical strategies and mindset shifts such as:
- Navigating social events confidently
- Communicating boundaries with friends and family
- Exploring premium non-alcoholic alternatives
- Understanding alcohol marketing's influence on social norms
Connect with Laura
https://www.lauravalvasori.com
Laura's Book
Instagram
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Rose Wippich bridges ancient wisdom and modern life, teaching people how to tap into their natural healing abilities. Through her work as a Qigong and Yoga instructor, Reiki Master Teacher, and Energy Alchemist, she guides others toward vibrant health and authentic self-discovery. She's passionate about helping women rewrite society's limiting narratives around aging and step into their sovereign power.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rose (00:00):
If you're sober curious, stay tuned because today I chat
with Laura Valvasori, a businessand well-being mentor, the
author of Good to Grow Cultivateyour Mindset and Habits to
Thrive as an Entrepreneur, aReiki practitioner and certified
emotion code practitioner, andthe creator of the Still Me but
(00:20):
Alcohol-Free program.
Ready to unlock your mostvibrant, authentic self, your
journey to radiant wellnessstarts now.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
I'm your host, rose Whippich,and I'm here to guide you on an
extraordinary journey offeminine healing, energy, work
and total well-being.
Get ready to be inspired byauthentic conversations with
(00:45):
leading women practitioners,wellness experts and holistic
healers who understand yourunique journey.
Subscribe to Chat Off The Matwherever you get your podcasts,
and let's create magic together.
Like many women, in her early40s, Laura started feeling like
(01:05):
alcohol was no longer agreeingwith her body and drinking was
starting to feel out ofalignment with her otherwise
healthy lifestyle.
Today, over four years later,she lives happily alcohol-free.
She's now passionate aboutsharing what she learned to
guide other women through thejourney of shifting to an
alcohol-free life.
Welcome, laura.
(01:26):
Thank you for having me.
I have been looking forward tothis conversation, so I just
want to begin by asking you tojust tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your journeyto how you got here.
Laura (01:39):
Sure.
So, as you heard in the intro,I'm multi-passionate in nature,
so I've done a number ofdifferent things For the past 11
years.
I've had a marketing consultingbusiness called Good to Grow
Marketing and more recently I'vebeen sort of shifting into
owning all of the things that Ido, and part of that being
(02:01):
guiding women on theiralcohol-free journey, based on
my own experience, along with alot of more energy healing work.
So my story, I guess, is thataround the alcohol piece is that
I was starting to experiencesome symptoms in my kind of
around 43.
I'm 49 now and maybe this willsound familiar to some of your
(02:25):
listeners.
I was starting to haveheartburn and anxiety and I
wasn't sleeping very well and Iwas starting to question whether
it was alcohol.
Kind of intuitively, I wasfeeling like it might have been
and I did not want to admit that, because it's not easy to stop
drinking was my belief at thattime and I wanted to continue to
(02:49):
fit in socially and I had a lotof fears around what it would
mean if I quit drinking.
So I did all of the otherthings went to see a naturopath,
did the supplements, did theyoga, did all the things and it
didn't make a shift and it sortof started to build in me more
this, knowing that I needed tolet go of alcohol.
(03:10):
And in July of 2020 if you'llremember back to that time we
were sort of coming out of somelockdowns from COVID.
We were in and out of all theselockdowns.
I can't even remember thetimeline right now.
Yeah, but we did a three-weekvacation, so we have a boat and
we went on a three-week vacationwith a few other families and I
(03:32):
drank every day.
So I at that time I wasdrinking socially and when we
were on vacation it was likeevery day, let's have, you know,
some cocktails in the morning,like some Caesars in the morning
or some wine or things likethat.
And over the time I started torecognize how much it was
(03:53):
impacting me and by the end ofthe three weeks I was done and
knew that something had tochange.
So I decided to take a breakand applied a lot of the mindset
work that I'd been doing toalcohol and treated it as an
experiment and, over time,started to realize the dramatic
change I was experiencing.
(04:13):
And that was the start of whathas now become an alcohol free
lifestyle.
Rose (04:19):
Wow, that's great.
I love that.
Well, you were self-aware thatyou knew that these symptoms
were possibly connected toalcohol, and you're right.
And then you started thisjourney, so you did a lot of
this on your own, basicallyright.
Laura (04:40):
Initially, the first resource I found was a book
called this Naked Mind by AnnieGrace, which is a book I
recommend to everyone as theirstarting point, and that book
came into my awareness as thesethings happen.
The universe delivers us whatwe need Right in the last few
days of that boat trip that Iwas referring to, and I started
(05:01):
reading it at the end of thatvacation and recognizing that
when I had tried to stopdrinking in the past and, to be
clear, I was a social drinker, Iwas a habitual drinker.
I was not at a place where Ihad alcohol addiction.
I was recognizing that it justwasn't connecting to my wellness
(05:22):
.
And I found that book and atthat time, none of my friends
had stopped drinking.
Everyone around me was drinking.
So I really did do it alone andknow that it was hard to do
that in many ways, which is whyI've gone on to create this
program.
And I learned so much aboutalcohol that I had no idea about
(05:45):
when I started to dive in andfelt like there should be
billboards everywhere talkingabout you know the truth about
what alcohol is and what it'sdoing to our bodies, and yeah,
so that's what I've kind of, whyI have created this course
because I don't want people tofeel alone in this journey.
Because I don't want people tofeel alone in this journey and
(06:09):
there are resources for peoplein different stages of their
journey with alcohol.
And sometimes I believe thatpeople feel like well, I'm not
at an addiction place, I'm notlooking for resources through
something like AA, but I coulduse some support because I want
to feel my best.
I just want to feel my best andage my best, and that's really
(06:31):
who I'm focusing on helping.
Rose (06:32):
I love that.
So Annie Grace's program, the30 day experiment was one of the
things I did during COVID.
So for me, I didn't drink more.
I noticed that there was goingto be a trend towards drinking
more, so I took her third a dayexperiment and I stopped for
three months, thought I couldmoderate, went back to drinking
(06:53):
and then, over a year ago, Icame across her again, this
Naked Mind, the book and theprogram.
I actually stopped drinkingright before I started the
program with her, but I I hungon and I plan on doing an
episode about this because thereare so many resources and so
much uh language around drinkingnow that's different, and and
(07:14):
and and.
The research is amazing and sheoffers, uh, offers, a lot of
that.
Uh, it's really eyeopening.
It's extremely eyeopening and,like you said, there isn't that
support.
And the thing about the wordaddiction, she doesn't even use
that.
She's like it's not.
You know.
She says we choose to drink.
We just we can drink if we want, we just choose not to.
Yes, changing that mindset,tell what are some of the
(07:39):
triggers that you had.
Besides social drinking?
You know we all have that whatare other triggers?
Was it a certain time of day?
Was it, you know, maybe whenyou started cooking dinner or
you pour yourself a drink, orwas it?
Or is it just like, was it justthe social aspect of drinking?
Because there are differenttriggers.
People.
Laura (07:58):
Yeah, yeah.
So we, we either use alcohol tounwind and celebrate or we use
it to cope with uncomfortablefeelings, and in my case, I
would say that I was mostlyusing it in the first way.
So at the end of the day, it'ssignifying the break between the
workday and the evening,especially during COVID, because
(08:19):
we were all so stuck in ourhomes that it just felt like it
was this mental shift for me,stuck in our homes, that it just
felt like it was this mentalshift for me.
And then in social situationsand again I said that we're
boaters and boating culture isvery connected to alcohol, so
for me it was more social therewere times that I was using it
when I would be like I've had abad day, I deserve a drink and
(08:41):
there's a reward right, yeah's areward, right, yeah, like a
reward, reward to help you comedown, and I thought that I
needed that glass of wine tobring myself down and recognize
that I don't now, but it is.
It is these beliefs that wehave.
It's really less about what isin your glass and more about the
(09:02):
habits we create around alcohol, the beliefs that we have
around alcohol that stays withus and keeps us tied to drinking
.
Rose (09:11):
Yes, so I wrote down habit right before you said that, and
it's true, it's breaking thosehabits.
And see, for me, I would startcooking.
And then I'm like, oh, ok, it'stime, so I would just reach for
that cabinet.
And it was just, it was, it waspart of, like you know, just
the routine, right, and youprobably didn't even ask
(09:32):
yourself if you wanted a glassof wine or a drink.
Laura (09:35):
Whatever your drink of choice was, you, you just
habitually go to it and then oneglass usually leads to a second
glass after an impression,after the wine or the alcohol
starts to do its thing and ourexecutive functioning gets
impacted.
And even if you said I'm justgoing to have a glass, that
often is a top up, and that'swhere you get into this slippery
(09:59):
slope.
And there's also you mentionedmoderation.
Also, you mentioned moderation,and I think that that is a like
a trap that we get stuck insometimes, that we believe that
we can moderate and we put theserules in place.
This is something I did.
It's like, okay, we're notgoing to drink during the week
and I'm only going to drink onspecial occasions, and then a
(10:21):
Thursday night rolls around andyou're like, well, it's almost
the weekend, or oh, I had acrappy day, and we start to blur
those lines and then we oftenend up beating ourselves up for
that, because we made acommitment to ourselves and then
we didn't keep that commitment,and then we feel bad about it
and beat ourselves up and we getin this cycle, beat ourselves
(10:48):
up and we get in this cycle.
So for me, being completelyalcohol free, I believe, is
easier than trying to moderate,because moderate makes you have
to make the decision over andover and create rules and create
parameters and use willpower toenforce them If the alcohol is
just not an option on the table.
It's so much easier.
Rose (11:03):
Absolutely Amen to that.
I totally agree with you.
The beating the selves up part,I mean, I think I did that
mostly in the middle of thenight when I had to get up,
because I was either havingthese night sweats or I had to
go to the bathroom and I'd belike, why did I drink, why don't
(11:24):
?
Did I need it?
No, no, and and you know then.
But then the cycle starts again.
So so yes.
And moderating, yeah, it was ano for me, because you, when you
try to moderate, like you said,you just go back to it.
Sometimes you drink more.
Laura (11:39):
It's interesting in the program.
So it's a six week program thatI take women through and at the
end they make a decision aboutwhat they're going to do going
forward.
So it's not about you take thisprogram and 100% you're going
to quit drinking at the end.
It's about doing an experimentmuch like the Annie Grace
experience, but an experimentand observing all kinds of
(12:00):
things throughout this time andthen making a decision.
And some women have chosen tostay alcohol-free and continue
on, or some have chosen tomoderate, and what I've noticed
is many of the ones that havechosen to moderate, when I check
back in with them, they're likeoh, I'm going to go back to
alcohol-free because I thought Icould moderate, but now I see
(12:22):
how much more difficult it isand then they'll they'll flip
back.
So it's a personal choice andit has to be something you
decide for yourself and it hasto be something I think that you
experiment with it.
It's not a one and done.
Oftentimes it's starting tobecome aware of how it's
affecting your body, starting tobecome aware of where you're
(12:43):
turning to alcohol, starting tobe aware of how you feel when
it's out of your life and thedifferences it makes, and then
making some decisions about whatyour long-term plan is.
Rose (12:54):
And it's also not beating yourself up over it.
I know one of the things shesays is you know you, otherwise
you get into that cycle to.
You know the being hard onyourself and being.
You need to have some grace andcompassion when you're going
through, because it's a journey.
The first time around maybe youhave to repeat it or maybe you
(13:19):
have to do some of the exercisesover and and and and and know
that and also finding the rightsupport system, like people like
you who are, who have thissupport and resources, like you
said there, there isn't a lotout there.
Um, let's talk about the socialaspect.
We're going to get to some ofthe ill effects of alcohol,
which there are many but um, butum.
(13:40):
When you stopped drinking, whatdid you have?
Any um concern about whatothers thought of you?
Laura (13:49):
so many concerns.
I would say that was my biggesthesitation and stopping for a
long time.
I put so much effort into whatthinking about, what people are
going to think of me and howit's going to impact my
relationships, that I didn'tmake the decision that I knew
was right for me for much longerthan I should have.
(14:10):
And the two primary areas weremy concern about my relationship
with my spouse because we drinkwine together.
We would drink wine together.
We'd go on vacations where we'dgo to wineries, like it was a
part of our relationship in away that we would connect at the
end of a work day.
And my other concern was withinmy social circle of my close
(14:34):
girlfriends and how it wouldimpact my ability to be in
social settings if I wasn'tdrinking when that's a large
part of a way that theconnection was happening.
And what I learned is thatthere's definitely a like an
adaptation period that you gothrough, but people are often
(15:00):
more supportive than you thinkthat they are and you can't find
out what's going to happen inthose situations until you give
a chance yourself a chance tofind out, right, right that's,
that's great.
Rose (15:13):
yeah, I, I too, that was my biggest concern.
What are people going to think?
But I owned, owned it.
And you know, some people thenask are you really going to do
this like forever?
I'm like right, yeah, yeah.
Laura (15:25):
There was a period where I went through that, where
everyone's like, oh, this isLaura's new thing and this is a
thing, and then it just keptkind of going on and they're
like, oh, this so much better.
I'm actually sleeping, myheartburn's gone, my anxiety
changed, my anxiety is reduced.
So many, there's so manypositives that I don't know why
(15:47):
I would go back to that.
Rose (15:50):
And yeah.
Laura (15:52):
So over time it became more normalized and now it's
just, it's not even a thing.
It's just that.
And I think a lot of the reasonthat it's not a thing is
because I never want to put myviews on someone else.
It is a very personal decisionto make.
I have made this decision forme and I can role model for
(16:12):
other people I will share when Iam asked.
But I don't go into situationstalking about all of the ill
effects of alcohol and why youshould quit drinking.
And I also have made a reallyconscious decision to still show
up and have fun in socialsituations.
So I am not feeling like I'mdeprived.
(16:33):
Yeah, I'm not going in itfeeling like I'm deprived, not
like I'm going to miss out.
I just make adaptations formyself.
So I might bring myself abottle of non-alcoholic wine and
I then have a glass in my hand.
So I feel like I'm belonging inthe social situation.
I just have something else inmy glass and sometimes people
don't know or don't care Exactly.
Rose (16:56):
And you know, I think people think we're going to
judge them because they'redrinking.
Because the first words thatpeople would say after I told
them that I stopped drinking waswell, I don't drink that much,
I just that is a hundred percentthe first thing anyone says to
me.
Laura (17:08):
they start telling me all about how little they drink.
It's a natural reaction because, they're feeling like you're
judging them, even if you're not.
It's a natural reaction.
Rose (17:18):
I don't know what you would say to them, but you could
share.
But I would say you know what?
This is my journey.
You can drink as much as youwant because 100%, yeah, yeah,
and it's all good, yeah.
So same here.
I really don't even drinkmocktails.
I find that sometimes mocktails, first of all they have a lot
of sugar, and then I taste themand I'm like, oh, this isn't
(17:40):
really tasting that good, soI'll just stick to water, I'm
good with that.
So you know, I'll just put itin a fancy glass and I'm good,
yeah.
Laura (17:50):
I do use non-alcoholic alternatives.
So I was a wine drinker and soI found some non-alcoholic wines
that I enjoy.
They are not ever going to bethe same as tasting regular wine
, for anyone who's wondering,but your palate adapts over time
, much like when you first drankwine.
You probably remember, or firsttried alcohol.
(18:11):
You're like, oh, this isterrible.
And then we muscle through andwe develop a palate for it.
The same happens when you shiftaway from alcohol.
You develop, develop a palatefor it.
The same happens when you shiftaway from alcohol.
You develop a palate for somedifferent things, and I am
conscious of the amount of sugarand chemicals or things that I
don't drink a lot of mocktailthings.
I have a few non-alcoholicwines.
I have a gin that I like as analternative, and other than that
(18:34):
I'll do like cold teas orsparkling water and different
things, and and a fancy glassoften is enough to do the trick
to make you feel like you'rehaving something fancy.
Rose (18:45):
You know, I find more and more companies are now Guinness
has a non-alcoholic Delicious,yes, right.
And more companies actually didtry a couple of non-alcoholic
mocktail mixers that aren't bad.
I think it's just finding theright blend that I need to work
with, but more and morecompanies are geared towards
(19:06):
that, because once you stopdrinking, or on that path to
stop drinking, you really noticeall the advertisement
everywhere is about drinking.
Laura (19:17):
It is everywhere.
Advertisement everywhere isabout drinking.
It is everywhere.
One of the exercises we gothrough in the first week of the
Still Me but Alcohol-Freeprogram is we take a look around
you during the week at all thetimes that alcohol comes up or
you see an ad and it is shockingwhen you start zoning in on it.
So everything fromadvertisements you see when
(19:40):
you're out and about onbillboards to birthday cards
that joke about alcohol, toreferences to alcohol in TV
shows and in song lyrics, it iseverywhere and all of that
starts to inundate oursubconscious mind.
And that's a lot of why wedrink is the connection to our
(20:00):
subconscious beliefs about whatalcohol means, because those
messages have come in over andover and over in our lifetime,
from the time that we were veryyoung to seeing how adults in
our lives interacted withalcohol.
That starts to shape ourbeliefs, to all of the
advertising, the billions ofdollars that is spent trying to
(20:22):
subconsciously read thesemessages and make it become a
normalized part of our world.
Rose (20:30):
Yeah, there's also now a sober, curious environment
culture in the celebrity world,so they're influencing people to
at least try to stop drinking.
Laura (20:42):
I think that more and more people are starting to wake
up to the reality of alcoholand when celebrities start doing
it, people start taking notice.
Even in the last four yearssince I stopped drinking, I've
noticed there's a huge explosionof non-alcoholic drink
companies or regular alcoholcompanies developing
non-alcoholic alternatives.
(21:03):
There's all kinds ofinfluencers and people talking
more openly about lettingalcohol go as a part of a
wellness focus, which is what Ithink is so beautiful and where
I'm focused.
It's not just about having tohit rock bottom to want to stop.
It's about recognizing thatthere's like a misalignment, and
(21:26):
for me it was.
There was physical symptoms andthere was this starting to be
like this feeling ofmisalignment and values as I
aged, so feeling like I'm doingthese otherwise healthy things,
like doing yoga and exercise andbeing aware of my diet and
Reiki and all of these things,and then I'm doing this thing
(21:47):
that counteracts all of that.
And from a spiritual perspective, alcohol is a very low
vibration substance and whenwe're continually ingesting it,
I believe that it impacts ouroverall vibration.
And when I took alcohol out, Inoticed that my meditations
(22:11):
changed and I've had ameditation practice for many
years and I started noticing myability to connect deeper and
more feelings of energy movementin my body and I believe that
opened up more intuition withinmyself which actually led me to
Reiki and becoming certified asa practitioner for Reiki and for
(22:35):
emotion code as a result ofpeople in my life that needed it
at that time.
But I don't know that thatwould have happened or if I
would have had that awareness tobe drawn to those things if I
hadn't stopped drinking and myintuition hadn't kind of become
stronger and I hadn't been morein tune with myself.
So I really think there's astrong argument, if you will, if
(22:57):
you're on a spiritual path, forthinking about whether or not
alcohol is serving you at thispoint.
Rose (23:03):
Yeah, you become a much more clearer channel.
Laura (23:06):
Yes.
Rose (23:07):
And that was one of the reasons why I stopped, and also
the same with the values.
I'm doing this work to helpother people and I'm drinking
and it's not really you know.
And I would say to people whoare coming in for a session you
know, try not to drink alcohol.
And then I wouldn't try todrink the night before, but
knowing it's still in my system,you know from the, from the
(23:27):
previous days or whatever, butyeah, much more clearer channel,
just feel more connected.
Things are, things just change.
We're going to get back to yourReiki and EFT in a second.
Sure, let's talk about some ofthe ill effects of alcohol
besides a hangover.
There's so many that I thinkpeople kind of dismiss, but huge
(23:51):
right Liver damage.
Laura (23:53):
It affects every system in your body, from your central
nervous system to your heart, toyour brain, to your digestion
and your gut biome, which iswhere we process a lot of the
hormones that then impact us ifwe're in our perimenopause
perimenopause menopause journey,and it also sets us up for more
(24:18):
risks that I had no idea weresomething that could happen.
So the World HealthOrganization has declared that
alcohol is a class onecarcinogen, meaning cancer
causing, and alcohol has beendirectly linked to at least nine
kinds of cancer, with breastcancer being one of them.
(24:40):
So I'm just going to refer to astatistic so I get it straight,
because this one blew my mind.
So in this recent study foundthat only 34% of the general
population knows that alcohol iseven a risk factor for cancer.
It is not something that istalked about and it is a very
(25:00):
significant impact.
So there's a link in breastcancer.
So in 2020, alcohol use waslinked to 7,000 new cases of
cancer in Canada.
So I'm referring to Canadianstatistics I'm coming to you
from Canada including 24% ofbreast cancer cases.
So a direct link in almost aquarter of the breast cancer
(25:21):
cases.
And as little as three drinksin a week, which most people are
consuming more than threedrinks increases your risk by
15% for breast cancer, and everysingle drink you have beyond
that adds another 10%.
Yeah, wow, like mind-bogglingwhen we're out raising money for
(25:42):
breast awareness campaigns andwe're doing all of these things,
yet we're not talking aboutsomething that is so closely
linked to breast cancer.
And there are so many thingsthat are not preventable for us,
that are beyond our control,with environmental factors and
things that are around us.
But this is something we canhave a direct impact on, that we
(26:04):
can make a change that candramatically reduce our risks of
cancer.
Rose (26:11):
And doctors and people in the health field can encourage
people, women, anybody, not todrink alcohol because, hey, your
risk of breast cancer increase.
You know they ask you how manydrinks do you have a week?
Right, oh, I have three.
But they never say, ok, well,maybe you shouldn't have those
three.
They just ask you.
I mean, it's everyone lies andeverybody lies anyway.
(26:33):
But I had, I had breast cancerand you did.
Yeah, I did, and which going tobe?
It'll be 13 years in Januarythat I had it.
And you know I stopped drinkingalso because my dad died of a
cancer that was linked todrinking and smoking.
So I stopped also because Idon't want to get any more
(26:58):
cancer in my life.
I'm not on any medication and Iwant to be that way for the
rest of my life.
You know that's my intention,if I can.
And I know drinking raisesinflammation in the body.
Laura (27:10):
Yes, inflammation that affects everything.
Everything joint pain.
Rose (27:15):
You know, women are like oh, I feel stiff, I'm getting
old.
Maybe it's not your age,because you need to look at your
lifestyle.
And, like you said, themicrobiome.
It dehydrates your organs andyour brain.
So many things heart disease,like you mentioned.
Yeah, there's a lot ofstatistics.
People want to, they don't wantto know it, nobody wants to
talk about it.
Laura (27:35):
Nobody wants to know it, and that's you know.
You don't want to be it.
Nobody wants to talk about it.
Nobody wants to know it.
Yeah, and that's you know.
You don't want to be the debbiedowner at the party that's
telling people all about theimpact that alcohol is having on
their body, and it's just.
And there's so much vestedinterest in the amount of money
that is created through alcoholsales and related industries
(28:00):
that nobody really wants to rockthe boat because they
understand the bigger impactthat it could have.
But there's this massive drawon our health care system too
because of all of the healthrelated implications from
drinking alcohol.
So the government brings inrevenue from those sales, but
(28:22):
there's actually an imbalanceand that there's a deficit.
In Canada.
There's some statistics I sharein the program that talk about
how it's costing us more as agovernment and society to deal
with all of the alcohol-relatedoutcomes than it is with the
generated income.
So it's just this reallystrange yeah, well, we hope that
(28:47):
changes.
Rose (28:48):
you know people like yourself making awareness, yeah,
and going on podcasts like thisand you know, and like you said
, just being an example, yeah,and I think that's all you can
do is be an example People.
Laura (29:03):
I just think that people need examples in their life of
people who have made thistransition to know that it's
possible.
And again, at the time when Iquit, no one in my friend group
or my family had quit forwellness reasons and I didn't
really have anyone to turn to toask questions.
(29:26):
And now I have people come upto me Actually, a lot of people
come up to me and will tell methat they have stopped drinking
and they haven't really talkedabout it, or they just want
somebody to connect with and whounderstands where they're
coming from.
Yeah and yeah it's not easy.
Rose (29:46):
That, yeah, it's not.
Laura (29:48):
It's a journey, it's a journey and being in community
and having the right support andthe right tools to help you
shift your mindset.
So we talked earlier about it's.
It's not just about making thedecision to stop drinking and
just it happening.
There's a lot of internal work.
I believe that has to happenfor it to be a long-term
(30:11):
lifestyle decision and thatcomes from understanding
yourself, becoming aware of yourtriggers, becoming aware of
your habits, being curious andgiving yourself grace through
the process.
Grace through the process andthen slowly, over time, you
start to shift your mindset andyour beliefs around that you
don't actually have to drink toenjoy yourself or there are
(30:32):
other ways to deal with thestress in your life without
turning to alcohol.
And then those beliefs start toshift.
The more you have experiencesthat reinforce those beliefs,
which becomes this big circlethat the belief gets stronger
and then it becomes more naturaland it starts to shift your
subconscious beliefs and overtime, there you are, four years
(30:53):
later and it feeling like anatural way of being for you now
.
Rose (30:58):
Absolutely.
I mean I don't.
I never say, oh, I really, it'sjust a part of who I am.
Now it's as if it never existed.
For me it's great.
And when people ask me aboutyou know, why did you stop
drinking?
You know, I tell them.
But then what I always say,especially women, I said I sleep
the best I've ever slept in mylife.
Laura (31:21):
I didn't realize that I was sleeping so poorly until I
started sleeping better and theindigestion was a huge thing for
me.
I was popping antacids all thetime at the end of an evening
and about probably about a weekinto not drinking, I stopped and
I literally have not had a Tumssince.
(31:42):
That was huge for me.
And also, on the vanity side, Iwas taking selfies of myself
periodically throughout thejourney and I noticed my skin
changed.
It was kind of less, had moreglow to it, but the real change
(32:03):
was in my eyes and the blue ofmy eyes got so much deeper.
It's shocking to me when I lookback at the picture.
So I think that it was justsort of like muddying everything
.
And it does have because of theinflammation in your body.
Continually it impacts yourskin, your hydration levels.
(32:23):
All of these things affect yourappearance over time as well.
Tell us a little bit about yourprogram.
So I'll just wrap up on thealcohol-free side and tell you
about.
So the program I've created iscalled Still Me, but
alcohol-free, and it's asix-week program that you can do
either as a self-guidedexperience at any time or you
can join.
Either as a self-guidedexperience at any time or you
(32:45):
can join a group experience, andthe next group I'm launching is
starting January 20th and it'sa six week program and in that
six weeks you spend time goingthrough modules and lessons and
we start by uncovering the truthabout alcohol, and I share a
lot of statistics and things tohelp you understand what alcohol
(33:08):
is really doing to your system.
We then spend a lot of time inmindset and giving you some
tools and making shifts thatwill help you in the long term.
We then look at alternativesfor dealing with stress, so I've
brought in a number of expertsfrom different modalities things
like breath work and tappingand meditation and created these
(33:30):
like mini, bite sizedexperiences that you can use.
We talk about ways to stay inthis lifestyle in the longer
term and give you some supports,and we wrap the program up by
talking about the pros and consof and we wrap the program up by
talking about the pros and consof being alcohol-free,
moderating over time.
You get to make the decisionabout how you experience life
(33:54):
after that.
And in the group experience,there's also a weekly call and a
chat group so that you're incommunity with other people and
you can ask questions, you canshare experiences, which I think
makes it really rich, becauseevery time I bring a group
through, there's differentexperiences that come up and so
we learn from each other in realtime.
(34:16):
So you can find out about thaton my website at
lauravalvasoricom, and yeah, sothat sort of wraps up.
Talking about that facet.
My journey to reiki and theemotion code started in um.
Well, I had had reiki myselffor many years.
(34:39):
I've just I've gone to a reikipractitioner at different times
in my life and found it reallyhelpful in calming my mind and
relaxing me, and I've used it asa tool in my own life.
And in December of 2022, my dadwas diagnosed with lung cancer.
(35:02):
Dad was diagnosed with lungcancer and, as a part of his
treatment plan, I was lookingfor someone locally to do Reiki
with him because I thought itmight be supportive.
And through a series ofsynchronicities, I realized that
oh, wait a minute, maybe I canbecome certified or that I can
become attuned to Reiki and thatI could work with him.
(35:24):
So I found a Reiki master and Idid my levels one and level two
and I started practicing onfriends and family and little
did I know that I thought I wasdoing it to support my dad, but
2023 became an explosive year ofa lot of things happening in my
(35:45):
life and I ended up using Reikiwith a number of people in my
life, including my nephew and aclose friend of mine that was
going through a severe bout ofdepression and just all kinds of
people and myself to getthrough this period.
And then my dad had his firstchemo treatment and he had some
(36:08):
side effects and had a bloodclot.
And I had a very upsettingconversation with a doctor one
day where we had to admit himquickly, and that evening I
developed a pain in my quadsthat I could not get rid of.
For weeks I went to physio andmassage and acupuncture and was
doing all these things and Iintuitively felt like it was
(36:31):
connected to that conversationbecause of the day that it
started.
But I didn't know what to doabout it.
And, out of the blue, a friendof mine texted me and said
someone recommended this book tome.
It's called the Emotion Code.
I feel like it was actuallymeant for you, given what you've
been doing with Reiki and allof the other energy work, and I
(36:51):
recognized the book right away.
I had read it a couple yearsbefore and not done anything
with it, and so I picked it backup and I started reading and I
started doing some of thepractices and I released the
pain in my quads and I was likewhat is this Like?
How could this be possible?
And so I started getting morecurious and experimenting with
(37:13):
more people and ended up goingon to becoming certified as a
motion code practitioner so thatI can do this work with other
people as well.
So I've been sort of practicingthose modalities more with
friends and family and justrecently have started doing some
in-person Reiki sessionsthrough my yoga studio which is
(37:34):
a beautiful experience and doingsome emotion code sessions with
people outside of friends andfamily.
So that's how the energy worksort of came into my life.
Rose (37:43):
Right, and the Reiki you could do distance as well.
And then the emotion code.
Is that more of an in-person orcan it be done?
No, it's actually done overdistance.
Laura (37:52):
So the process is that I connect.
You can do it in person or Ican act as a proxy, meaning I
can act on your behalf.
So I do the testing on myself.
Oh okay, so we would connectover a Zoom call.
So I do the testing on myself.
Oh okay, so we would connectover a Zoom call.
I would, through my intention,connect with your subconscious
mind and I start asking a seriesof questions of your
(38:13):
subconscious mind to identifyany emotional energy that is
trapped in your body, and thenwe release that energy again
through the power of intention.
We release that energy againthrough the power of intention
and when we do that, it opens upthe energy system for your
body's natural healing processesto take place, and whatever
(38:33):
needs to be healed from a mind,body, spirit perspective is what
happens.
So there's similarities betweenthe reiki energy that goes, oh
yeah healing in.
I kind of look at it as abeautiful pairing, in that the
emotion code can release thattrapped energy and then you can
bring in that beautiful Reikienergy of healing.
Rose (38:56):
Oh, that's exactly what I was thinking.
I'm like, wow, this is like apotent combination.
I'm like, well, maybe I shouldlook into it because, yeah,
opening up, releasing that thoseemotions, and Reiki does help
as well.
But you have that one technique, and when you were healing
(39:17):
yourself in your quads, what didyou do?
You did you identify with acertain emotion that was
affecting you, I did.
Laura (39:21):
I can't remember exactly.
Rose (39:22):
Was it fear?
Laura (39:25):
It was, I remember one of them being shock, which made
complete sense, because I wasshocked at that conversation,
because it was my dad's firsttreatment and I expected, like
we were at the beginning of thejourney and all of a sudden he
had this complication that wewere talking about whether he
had a DNR, and I was completelyshocked that we would be at that
place.
And that makes sense.
(39:46):
Yeah, so there was a few.
It made sense.
Whatever the emotions were thatI found made sense, and when I
released them it was almostimmediate.
So in some cases people noticeshifts right away and in other
cases it's over a little bit oftime.
For me it was almost immediate.
When I let those feelings,those emotions, released from
(40:07):
the body, the pain dissipated.
Rose (40:10):
Yeah, so we talked about traditional Chinese medicine
before.
So shock is more like theadrenals right, the fight flight
and that area of the body whichis the lower back.
So those are the kidneys andthe kidney meridian runs up
along the thighs.
Laura (40:24):
Oh really, yeah, I had no idea.
Rose (40:27):
Yes, oh that makes sense.
I love making all theseconnections.
Yeah.
When you said thigh, I'm likeoh, it has to be fear, which
makes sense.
And when you said shock, I'mlike yeah.
Laura (40:35):
It was fear, shock.
Yeah, that whole area, all ofthat.
Rose (40:40):
Oh, that's fascinating See how all this information is so
powerful when people understandit.
And a pain in the lower backcould mean that you're holding
on to fear or you know there'san emotion related to a lot of
these issues that we havephysically in the body
Absolutely and that could bereleased through this energy
(41:00):
work that we do.
Yeah, I love that.
It's amazing.
I've never had anyone talkabout emotion code on the
podcast, yet You're my first.
That's great.
Oh good, yeah.
And you know, reiki for me hasbeen really powerful too.
I used energy work with strongintention, reiki and Qigong to
help me release the control thatalcohol had on me, and it
(41:25):
wasn't an overnight thing.
It was a while before I wasable to release alcohol through
all the work I did, but thepractice, the energy practice,
helped a lot as well.
So keep that in mind.
Everyone that's listening yeah.
Laura (41:40):
And I actually bring Reiki into the program a little
bit during the weeks.
So it's a six-week program.
The first two weeks we arelearning and then we let go of
alcohol at the end of two weeksand we have four weeks together
without alcohol, and in theperiod where you're just
stopping drinking I do twosessions of distant Reiki so
(42:00):
that it helps with thetransition and bringing all of
the different kind of modalitiestogether.
The last piece I will share isI've also written a book during
the time that.
So I've had a marketingconsulting business for 11 years
Good to Grow Marketing and aswe were coming out of COVID I
was having a lot of peopleapproach me that were feeling
(42:23):
like they didn't want to go backto their corporate jobs.
They were really reflecting ontheir values and what they
wanted to do, and I've alwaysfelt like I wanted to write a
book.
I just didn't know what it wasabout and that felt like it was
what was calling me.
So I wrote the book called Goodto Grow Cultivate your Mindset
and Habits to Thrive as anEntrepreneur, and in it I share
(42:45):
a lot about the internal shiftsthat have to happen when you're
moving from being an employee toan entrepreneur.
It's not about the nuts andbolts of starting a business.
It's more about you as a personand some of the things you need
to do to set yourself up to besuccessful.
So that's another piece of whatI do as a multi-passionate
(43:05):
business and well-being mentor.
There's also a piece where I domentorship related to some of
the topics in the book as well.
Rose (43:13):
Thanks for sharing all that, and thank you for being
here today.
This has been a greatconversation.
I really enjoyed it.
I couldn't wait to connect withyou and chat about this topic
that I am also passionate about,so thank you for being here
today, laura, thank you verymuch.
Laura (43:24):
Thank you for having me.
Rose (43:27):
Thank you for joining me on Chat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewippich.
com to explore working togetherand discover free resources for
your journey.
Love today's episode, subscribewherever you get your podcasts,
(43:51):
leave a rating and share yourbiggest takeaway with me on
instagram at rosewipich.
Remember wellness warriors yourenergy is precious.
Nurture it wisely.
If you're sober curious, stay tuned because today I chat
with Laura Valvasori, a businessand well-being mentor, the
author of Good to Grow Cultivateyour Mindset and Habits to
Thrive as an Entrepreneur, aReiki practitioner and certified
emotion code practitioner, andthe creator of the Still Me but
(00:20):
Alcohol-Free program.
Ready to unlock your mostvibrant, authentic self, your
journey to radiant wellnessstarts now.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
I'm your host, rose Whippich,and I'm here to guide you on an
extraordinary journey offeminine healing, energy, work
and total well-being.
Get ready to be inspired byauthentic conversations with
(00:45):
leading women practitioners,wellness experts and holistic
healers who understand yourunique journey.
Subscribe to Chat Off The Matwherever you get your podcasts,
and let's create magic together.
Like many women, in her early40s, Laura started feeling like
(01:05):
alcohol was no longer agreeingwith her body and drinking was
starting to feel out ofalignment with her otherwise
healthy lifestyle.
Today, over four years later,she lives happily alcohol-free.
She's now passionate aboutsharing what she learned to
guide other women through thejourney of shifting to an
alcohol-free life.
Welcome, laura.
(01:26):
Thank you for having me.
I have been looking forward tothis conversation, so I just
want to begin by asking you tojust tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your journeyto how you got here.
Laura (01:39):
Sure.
So, as you heard in the intro,I'm multi-passionate in nature,
so I've done a number ofdifferent things For the past 11
years.
I've had a marketing consultingbusiness called Good to Grow
Marketing and more recently I'vebeen sort of shifting into
owning all of the things that Ido, and part of that being
(02:01):
guiding women on theiralcohol-free journey, based on
my own experience, along with alot of more energy healing work.
So my story, I guess, is thataround the alcohol piece is that
I was starting to experiencesome symptoms in my kind of
around 43.
I'm 49 now and maybe this willsound familiar to some of your
(02:25):
listeners.
I was starting to haveheartburn and anxiety and I
wasn't sleeping very well and Iwas starting to question whether
it was alcohol.
Kind of intuitively, I wasfeeling like it might have been
and I did not want to admit that, because it's not easy to stop
drinking was my belief at thattime and I wanted to continue to
(02:49):
fit in socially and I had a lotof fears around what it would
mean if I quit drinking.
So I did all of the otherthings went to see a naturopath,
did the supplements, did theyoga, did all the things and it
didn't make a shift and it sortof started to build in me more
this, knowing that I needed tolet go of alcohol.
(03:10):
And in July of 2020 if you'llremember back to that time we
were sort of coming out of somelockdowns from COVID.
We were in and out of all theselockdowns.
I can't even remember thetimeline right now.
Yeah, but we did a three-weekvacation, so we have a boat and
we went on a three-week vacationwith a few other families and I
(03:32):
drank every day.
So I at that time I wasdrinking socially and when we
were on vacation it was likeevery day, let's have, you know,
some cocktails in the morning,like some Caesars in the morning
or some wine or things likethat.
And over the time I started torecognize how much it was
(03:53):
impacting me and by the end ofthe three weeks I was done and
knew that something had tochange.
So I decided to take a breakand applied a lot of the mindset
work that I'd been doing toalcohol and treated it as an
experiment and, over time,started to realize the dramatic
change I was experiencing.
(04:13):
And that was the start of whathas now become an alcohol free
lifestyle.
Rose (04:19):
Wow, that's great.
I love that.
Well, you were self-aware thatyou knew that these symptoms
were possibly connected toalcohol, and you're right.
And then you started thisjourney, so you did a lot of
this on your own, basicallyright.
Laura (04:40):
Initially, the first resource I found was a book
called this Naked Mind by AnnieGrace, which is a book I
recommend to everyone as theirstarting point, and that book
came into my awareness as thesethings happen.
The universe delivers us whatwe need Right in the last few
days of that boat trip that Iwas referring to, and I started
(05:01):
reading it at the end of thatvacation and recognizing that
when I had tried to stopdrinking in the past and, to be
clear, I was a social drinker, Iwas a habitual drinker.
I was not at a place where Ihad alcohol addiction.
I was recognizing that it justwasn't connecting to my wellness
(05:22):
.
And I found that book and atthat time, none of my friends
had stopped drinking.
Everyone around me was drinking.
So I really did do it alone andknow that it was hard to do
that in many ways, which is whyI've gone on to create this
program.
And I learned so much aboutalcohol that I had no idea about
(05:45):
when I started to dive in andfelt like there should be
billboards everywhere talkingabout you know the truth about
what alcohol is and what it'sdoing to our bodies, and yeah,
so that's what I've kind of, whyI have created this course
because I don't want people tofeel alone in this journey.
Because I don't want people tofeel alone in this journey and
(06:09):
there are resources for peoplein different stages of their
journey with alcohol.
And sometimes I believe thatpeople feel like well, I'm not
at an addiction place, I'm notlooking for resources through
something like AA, but I coulduse some support because I want
to feel my best.
I just want to feel my best andage my best, and that's really
(06:31):
who I'm focusing on helping.
Rose (06:32):
I love that.
So Annie Grace's program, the30 day experiment was one of the
things I did during COVID.
So for me, I didn't drink more.
I noticed that there was goingto be a trend towards drinking
more, so I took her third a dayexperiment and I stopped for
three months, thought I couldmoderate, went back to drinking
(06:53):
and then, over a year ago, Icame across her again, this
Naked Mind, the book and theprogram.
I actually stopped drinkingright before I started the
program with her, but I I hungon and I plan on doing an
episode about this because thereare so many resources and so
much uh language around drinkingnow that's different, and and
(07:14):
and and.
The research is amazing and sheoffers, uh, offers, a lot of
that.
Uh, it's really eyeopening.
It's extremely eyeopening and,like you said, there isn't that
support.
And the thing about the wordaddiction, she doesn't even use
that.
She's like it's not.
You know.
She says we choose to drink.
We just we can drink if we want, we just choose not to.
Yes, changing that mindset,tell what are some of the
(07:39):
triggers that you had.
Besides social drinking?
You know we all have that whatare other triggers?
Was it a certain time of day?
Was it, you know, maybe whenyou started cooking dinner or
you pour yourself a drink, orwas it?
Or is it just like, was it justthe social aspect of drinking?
Because there are differenttriggers.
People.
Laura (07:58):
Yeah, yeah.
So we, we either use alcohol tounwind and celebrate or we use
it to cope with uncomfortablefeelings, and in my case, I
would say that I was mostlyusing it in the first way.
So at the end of the day, it'ssignifying the break between the
workday and the evening,especially during COVID, because
(08:19):
we were all so stuck in ourhomes that it just felt like it
was this mental shift for me,stuck in our homes, that it just
felt like it was this mentalshift for me.
And then in social situationsand again I said that we're
boaters and boating culture isvery connected to alcohol, so
for me it was more social therewere times that I was using it
when I would be like I've had abad day, I deserve a drink and
(08:41):
there's a reward right, yeah's areward, right, yeah, like a
reward, reward to help you comedown, and I thought that I
needed that glass of wine tobring myself down and recognize
that I don't now, but it is.
It is these beliefs that wehave.
It's really less about what isin your glass and more about the
(09:02):
habits we create around alcohol, the beliefs that we have
around alcohol that stays withus and keeps us tied to drinking
.
Rose (09:11):
Yes, so I wrote down habit right before you said that, and
it's true, it's breaking thosehabits.
And see, for me, I would startcooking.
And then I'm like, oh, ok, it'stime, so I would just reach for
that cabinet.
And it was just, it was, it waspart of, like you know, just
the routine, right, and youprobably didn't even ask
(09:32):
yourself if you wanted a glassof wine or a drink.
Laura (09:35):
Whatever your drink of choice was, you, you just
habitually go to it and then oneglass usually leads to a second
glass after an impression,after the wine or the alcohol
starts to do its thing and ourexecutive functioning gets
impacted.
And even if you said I'm justgoing to have a glass, that
often is a top up, and that'swhere you get into this slippery
(09:59):
slope.
And there's also you mentionedmoderation.
Also, you mentioned moderation,and I think that that is a like
a trap that we get stuck insometimes, that we believe that
we can moderate and we put theserules in place.
This is something I did.
It's like, okay, we're notgoing to drink during the week
and I'm only going to drink onspecial occasions, and then a
(10:21):
Thursday night rolls around andyou're like, well, it's almost
the weekend, or oh, I had acrappy day, and we start to blur
those lines and then we oftenend up beating ourselves up for
that, because we made acommitment to ourselves and then
we didn't keep that commitment,and then we feel bad about it
and beat ourselves up and we getin this cycle, beat ourselves
(10:48):
up and we get in this cycle.
So for me, being completelyalcohol free, I believe, is
easier than trying to moderate,because moderate makes you have
to make the decision over andover and create rules and create
parameters and use willpower toenforce them If the alcohol is
just not an option on the table.
It's so much easier.
Rose (11:03):
Absolutely Amen to that.
I totally agree with you.
The beating the selves up part,I mean, I think I did that
mostly in the middle of thenight when I had to get up,
because I was either havingthese night sweats or I had to
go to the bathroom and I'd belike, why did I drink, why don't
(11:24):
?
Did I need it?
No, no, and and you know then.
But then the cycle starts again.
So so yes.
And moderating, yeah, it was ano for me, because you, when you
try to moderate, like you said,you just go back to it.
Sometimes you drink more.
Laura (11:39):
It's interesting in the program.
So it's a six week program thatI take women through and at the
end they make a decision aboutwhat they're going to do going
forward.
So it's not about you take thisprogram and 100% you're going
to quit drinking at the end.
It's about doing an experimentmuch like the Annie Grace
experience, but an experimentand observing all kinds of
(12:00):
things throughout this time andthen making a decision.
And some women have chosen tostay alcohol-free and continue
on, or some have chosen tomoderate, and what I've noticed
is many of the ones that havechosen to moderate, when I check
back in with them, they're likeoh, I'm going to go back to
alcohol-free because I thought Icould moderate, but now I see
(12:22):
how much more difficult it isand then they'll they'll flip
back.
So it's a personal choice andit has to be something you
decide for yourself and it hasto be something I think that you
experiment with it.
It's not a one and done.
Oftentimes it's starting tobecome aware of how it's
affecting your body, starting tobecome aware of where you're
(12:43):
turning to alcohol, starting tobe aware of how you feel when
it's out of your life and thedifferences it makes, and then
making some decisions about whatyour long-term plan is.
Rose (12:54):
And it's also not beating yourself up over it.
I know one of the things shesays is you know you, otherwise
you get into that cycle to.
You know the being hard onyourself and being.
You need to have some grace andcompassion when you're going
through, because it's a journey.
The first time around maybe youhave to repeat it or maybe you
(13:19):
have to do some of the exercisesover and and and and and know
that and also finding the rightsupport system, like people like
you who are, who have thissupport and resources, like you
said there, there isn't a lotout there.
Um, let's talk about the socialaspect.
We're going to get to some ofthe ill effects of alcohol,
which there are many but um, butum.
(13:40):
When you stopped drinking, whatdid you have?
Any um concern about whatothers thought of you?
Laura (13:49):
so many concerns.
I would say that was my biggesthesitation and stopping for a
long time.
I put so much effort into whatthinking about, what people are
going to think of me and howit's going to impact my
relationships, that I didn'tmake the decision that I knew
was right for me for much longerthan I should have.
(14:10):
And the two primary areas weremy concern about my relationship
with my spouse because we drinkwine together.
We would drink wine together.
We'd go on vacations where we'dgo to wineries, like it was a
part of our relationship in away that we would connect at the
end of a work day.
And my other concern was withinmy social circle of my close
(14:34):
girlfriends and how it wouldimpact my ability to be in
social settings if I wasn'tdrinking when that's a large
part of a way that theconnection was happening.
And what I learned is thatthere's definitely a like an
adaptation period that you gothrough, but people are often
(15:00):
more supportive than you thinkthat they are and you can't find
out what's going to happen inthose situations until you give
a chance yourself a chance tofind out, right, right that's,
that's great.
Rose (15:13):
yeah, I, I too, that was my biggest concern.
What are people going to think?
But I owned, owned it.
And you know, some people thenask are you really going to do
this like forever?
I'm like right, yeah, yeah.
Laura (15:25):
There was a period where I went through that, where
everyone's like, oh, this isLaura's new thing and this is a
thing, and then it just keptkind of going on and they're
like, oh, this so much better.
I'm actually sleeping, myheartburn's gone, my anxiety
changed, my anxiety is reduced.
So many, there's so manypositives that I don't know why
(15:47):
I would go back to that.
Rose (15:50):
And yeah.
Laura (15:52):
So over time it became more normalized and now it's
just, it's not even a thing.
It's just that.
And I think a lot of the reasonthat it's not a thing is
because I never want to put myviews on someone else.
It is a very personal decisionto make.
I have made this decision forme and I can role model for
(16:12):
other people I will share when Iam asked.
But I don't go into situationstalking about all of the ill
effects of alcohol and why youshould quit drinking.
And I also have made a reallyconscious decision to still show
up and have fun in socialsituations.
So I am not feeling like I'mdeprived.
(16:33):
Yeah, I'm not going in itfeeling like I'm deprived, not
like I'm going to miss out.
I just make adaptations formyself.
So I might bring myself abottle of non-alcoholic wine and
I then have a glass in my hand.
So I feel like I'm belonging inthe social situation.
I just have something else inmy glass and sometimes people
don't know or don't care Exactly.
Rose (16:56):
And you know, I think people think we're going to
judge them because they'redrinking.
Because the first words thatpeople would say after I told
them that I stopped drinking waswell, I don't drink that much,
I just that is a hundred percentthe first thing anyone says to
me.
Laura (17:08):
they start telling me all about how little they drink.
It's a natural reaction because, they're feeling like you're
judging them, even if you're not.
It's a natural reaction.
Rose (17:18):
I don't know what you would say to them, but you could
share.
But I would say you know what?
This is my journey.
You can drink as much as youwant because 100%, yeah, yeah,
and it's all good, yeah.
So same here.
I really don't even drinkmocktails.
I find that sometimes mocktails, first of all they have a lot
of sugar, and then I taste themand I'm like, oh, this isn't
(17:40):
really tasting that good, soI'll just stick to water, I'm
good with that.
So you know, I'll just put itin a fancy glass and I'm good,
yeah.
Laura (17:50):
I do use non-alcoholic alternatives.
So I was a wine drinker and soI found some non-alcoholic wines
that I enjoy.
They are not ever going to bethe same as tasting regular wine
, for anyone who's wondering,but your palate adapts over time
, much like when you first drankwine.
You probably remember, or firsttried alcohol.
(18:11):
You're like, oh, this isterrible.
And then we muscle through andwe develop a palate for it.
The same happens when you shiftaway from alcohol.
You develop, develop a palatefor it.
The same happens when you shiftaway from alcohol.
You develop a palate for somedifferent things, and I am
conscious of the amount of sugarand chemicals or things that I
don't drink a lot of mocktailthings.
I have a few non-alcoholicwines.
I have a gin that I like as analternative, and other than that
(18:34):
I'll do like cold teas orsparkling water and different
things, and and a fancy glassoften is enough to do the trick
to make you feel like you'rehaving something fancy.
Rose (18:45):
You know, I find more and more companies are now Guinness
has a non-alcoholic Delicious,yes, right.
And more companies actually didtry a couple of non-alcoholic
mocktail mixers that aren't bad.
I think it's just finding theright blend that I need to work
with, but more and morecompanies are geared towards
(19:06):
that, because once you stopdrinking, or on that path to
stop drinking, you really noticeall the advertisement
everywhere is about drinking.
Laura (19:17):
It is everywhere.
Advertisement everywhere isabout drinking.
It is everywhere.
One of the exercises we gothrough in the first week of the
Still Me but Alcohol-Freeprogram is we take a look around
you during the week at all thetimes that alcohol comes up or
you see an ad and it is shockingwhen you start zoning in on it.
So everything fromadvertisements you see when
(19:40):
you're out and about onbillboards to birthday cards
that joke about alcohol, toreferences to alcohol in TV
shows and in song lyrics, it iseverywhere and all of that
starts to inundate oursubconscious mind.
And that's a lot of why wedrink is the connection to our
(20:00):
subconscious beliefs about whatalcohol means, because those
messages have come in over andover and over in our lifetime,
from the time that we were veryyoung to seeing how adults in
our lives interacted withalcohol.
That starts to shape ourbeliefs, to all of the
advertising, the billions ofdollars that is spent trying to
(20:22):
subconsciously read thesemessages and make it become a
normalized part of our world.
Rose (20:30):
Yeah, there's also now a sober, curious environment
culture in the celebrity world,so they're influencing people to
at least try to stop drinking.
Laura (20:42):
I think that more and more people are starting to wake
up to the reality of alcoholand when celebrities start doing
it, people start taking notice.
Even in the last four yearssince I stopped drinking, I've
noticed there's a huge explosionof non-alcoholic drink
companies or regular alcoholcompanies developing
non-alcoholic alternatives.
(21:03):
There's all kinds ofinfluencers and people talking
more openly about lettingalcohol go as a part of a
wellness focus, which is what Ithink is so beautiful and where
I'm focused.
It's not just about having tohit rock bottom to want to stop.
It's about recognizing thatthere's like a misalignment, and
(21:26):
for me it was.
There was physical symptoms andthere was this starting to be
like this feeling ofmisalignment and values as I
aged, so feeling like I'm doingthese otherwise healthy things,
like doing yoga and exercise andbeing aware of my diet and
Reiki and all of these things,and then I'm doing this thing
(21:47):
that counteracts all of that.
And from a spiritual perspective, alcohol is a very low
vibration substance and whenwe're continually ingesting it,
I believe that it impacts ouroverall vibration.
And when I took alcohol out, Inoticed that my meditations
(22:11):
changed and I've had ameditation practice for many
years and I started noticing myability to connect deeper and
more feelings of energy movementin my body and I believe that
opened up more intuition withinmyself which actually led me to
Reiki and becoming certified asa practitioner for Reiki and for
(22:35):
emotion code as a result ofpeople in my life that needed it
at that time.
But I don't know that thatwould have happened or if I
would have had that awareness tobe drawn to those things if I
hadn't stopped drinking and myintuition hadn't kind of become
stronger and I hadn't been morein tune with myself.
So I really think there's astrong argument, if you will, if
(22:57):
you're on a spiritual path, forthinking about whether or not
alcohol is serving you at thispoint.
Rose (23:03):
Yeah, you become a much more clearer channel.
Laura (23:06):
Yes.
Rose (23:07):
And that was one of the reasons why I stopped, and also
the same with the values.
I'm doing this work to helpother people and I'm drinking
and it's not really you know.
And I would say to people whoare coming in for a session you
know, try not to drink alcohol.
And then I wouldn't try todrink the night before, but
knowing it's still in my system,you know from the, from the
(23:27):
previous days or whatever, butyeah, much more clearer channel,
just feel more connected.
Things are, things just change.
We're going to get back to yourReiki and EFT in a second.
Sure, let's talk about some ofthe ill effects of alcohol
besides a hangover.
There's so many that I thinkpeople kind of dismiss, but huge
(23:51):
right Liver damage.
Laura (23:53):
It affects every system in your body, from your central
nervous system to your heart, toyour brain, to your digestion
and your gut biome, which iswhere we process a lot of the
hormones that then impact us ifwe're in our perimenopause
perimenopause menopause journey,and it also sets us up for more
(24:18):
risks that I had no idea weresomething that could happen.
So the World HealthOrganization has declared that
alcohol is a class onecarcinogen, meaning cancer
causing, and alcohol has beendirectly linked to at least nine
kinds of cancer, with breastcancer being one of them.
(24:40):
So I'm just going to refer to astatistic so I get it straight,
because this one blew my mind.
So in this recent study foundthat only 34% of the general
population knows that alcohol iseven a risk factor for cancer.
It is not something that istalked about and it is a very
(25:00):
significant impact.
So there's a link in breastcancer.
So in 2020, alcohol use waslinked to 7,000 new cases of
cancer in Canada.
So I'm referring to Canadianstatistics I'm coming to you
from Canada including 24% ofbreast cancer cases.
So a direct link in almost aquarter of the breast cancer
(25:21):
cases.
And as little as three drinksin a week, which most people are
consuming more than threedrinks increases your risk by
15% for breast cancer, and everysingle drink you have beyond
that adds another 10%.
Yeah, wow, like mind-bogglingwhen we're out raising money for
(25:42):
breast awareness campaigns andwe're doing all of these things,
yet we're not talking aboutsomething that is so closely
linked to breast cancer.
And there are so many thingsthat are not preventable for us,
that are beyond our control,with environmental factors and
things that are around us.
But this is something we canhave a direct impact on, that we
(26:04):
can make a change that candramatically reduce our risks of
cancer.
Rose (26:11):
And doctors and people in the health field can encourage
people, women, anybody, not todrink alcohol because, hey, your
risk of breast cancer increase.
You know they ask you how manydrinks do you have a week?
Right, oh, I have three.
But they never say, ok, well,maybe you shouldn't have those
three.
They just ask you.
I mean, it's everyone lies andeverybody lies anyway.
(26:33):
But I had, I had breast cancerand you did.
Yeah, I did, and which going tobe?
It'll be 13 years in Januarythat I had it.
And you know I stopped drinkingalso because my dad died of a
cancer that was linked todrinking and smoking.
So I stopped also because Idon't want to get any more
(26:58):
cancer in my life.
I'm not on any medication and Iwant to be that way for the
rest of my life.
You know that's my intention,if I can.
And I know drinking raisesinflammation in the body.
Laura (27:10):
Yes, inflammation that affects everything.
Everything joint pain.
Rose (27:15):
You know, women are like oh, I feel stiff, I'm getting
old.
Maybe it's not your age,because you need to look at your
lifestyle.
And, like you said, themicrobiome.
It dehydrates your organs andyour brain.
So many things heart disease,like you mentioned.
Yeah, there's a lot ofstatistics.
People want to, they don't wantto know it, nobody wants to
talk about it.
Laura (27:35):
Nobody wants to know it, and that's you know.
You don't want to be it.
Nobody wants to talk about it.
Nobody wants to know it.
Yeah, and that's you know.
You don't want to be the debbiedowner at the party that's
telling people all about theimpact that alcohol is having on
their body, and it's just.
And there's so much vestedinterest in the amount of money
that is created through alcoholsales and related industries
(28:00):
that nobody really wants to rockthe boat because they
understand the bigger impactthat it could have.
But there's this massive drawon our health care system too
because of all of the healthrelated implications from
drinking alcohol.
So the government brings inrevenue from those sales, but
(28:22):
there's actually an imbalanceand that there's a deficit.
In Canada.
There's some statistics I sharein the program that talk about
how it's costing us more as agovernment and society to deal
with all of the alcohol-relatedoutcomes than it is with the
generated income.
So it's just this reallystrange yeah, well, we hope that
(28:47):
changes.
Rose (28:48):
you know people like yourself making awareness, yeah,
and going on podcasts like thisand you know, and like you said
, just being an example, yeah,and I think that's all you can
do is be an example People.
Laura (29:03):
I just think that people need examples in their life of
people who have made thistransition to know that it's
possible.
And again, at the time when Iquit, no one in my friend group
or my family had quit forwellness reasons and I didn't
really have anyone to turn to toask questions.
(29:26):
And now I have people come upto me Actually, a lot of people
come up to me and will tell methat they have stopped drinking
and they haven't really talkedabout it, or they just want
somebody to connect with and whounderstands where they're
coming from.
Yeah and yeah it's not easy.
Rose (29:46):
That, yeah, it's not.
Laura (29:48):
It's a journey, it's a journey and being in community
and having the right support andthe right tools to help you
shift your mindset.
So we talked earlier about it's.
It's not just about making thedecision to stop drinking and
just it happening.
There's a lot of internal work.
I believe that has to happenfor it to be a long-term
(30:11):
lifestyle decision and thatcomes from understanding
yourself, becoming aware of yourtriggers, becoming aware of
your habits, being curious andgiving yourself grace through
the process.
Grace through the process andthen slowly, over time, you
start to shift your mindset andyour beliefs around that you
don't actually have to drink toenjoy yourself or there are
(30:32):
other ways to deal with thestress in your life without
turning to alcohol.
And then those beliefs start toshift.
The more you have experiencesthat reinforce those beliefs,
which becomes this big circlethat the belief gets stronger
and then it becomes more naturaland it starts to shift your
subconscious beliefs and overtime, there you are, four years
(30:53):
later and it feeling like anatural way of being for you now
.
Rose (30:58):
Absolutely.
I mean I don't.
I never say, oh, I really, it'sjust a part of who I am.
Now it's as if it never existed.
For me it's great.
And when people ask me aboutyou know, why did you stop
drinking?
You know, I tell them.
But then what I always say,especially women, I said I sleep
the best I've ever slept in mylife.
Laura (31:21):
I didn't realize that I was sleeping so poorly until I
started sleeping better and theindigestion was a huge thing for
me.
I was popping antacids all thetime at the end of an evening
and about probably about a weekinto not drinking, I stopped and
I literally have not had a Tumssince.
(31:42):
That was huge for me.
And also, on the vanity side, Iwas taking selfies of myself
periodically throughout thejourney and I noticed my skin
changed.
It was kind of less, had moreglow to it, but the real change
(32:03):
was in my eyes and the blue ofmy eyes got so much deeper.
It's shocking to me when I lookback at the picture.
So I think that it was justsort of like muddying everything
.
And it does have because of theinflammation in your body.
Continually it impacts yourskin, your hydration levels.
(32:23):
All of these things affect yourappearance over time as well.
Tell us a little bit about yourprogram.
So I'll just wrap up on thealcohol-free side and tell you
about.
So the program I've created iscalled Still Me, but
alcohol-free, and it's asix-week program that you can do
either as a self-guidedexperience at any time or you
can join.
Either as a self-guidedexperience at any time or you
(32:45):
can join a group experience, andthe next group I'm launching is
starting January 20th and it'sa six week program and in that
six weeks you spend time goingthrough modules and lessons and
we start by uncovering the truthabout alcohol, and I share a
lot of statistics and things tohelp you understand what alcohol
(33:08):
is really doing to your system.
We then spend a lot of time inmindset and giving you some
tools and making shifts thatwill help you in the long term.
We then look at alternativesfor dealing with stress, so I've
brought in a number of expertsfrom different modalities things
like breath work and tappingand meditation and created these
(33:30):
like mini, bite sizedexperiences that you can use.
We talk about ways to stay inthis lifestyle in the longer
term and give you some supports,and we wrap the program up by
talking about the pros and consof and we wrap the program up by
talking about the pros and consof being alcohol-free,
moderating over time.
You get to make the decisionabout how you experience life
(33:54):
after that.
And in the group experience,there's also a weekly call and a
chat group so that you're incommunity with other people and
you can ask questions, you canshare experiences, which I think
makes it really rich, becauseevery time I bring a group
through, there's differentexperiences that come up and so
we learn from each other in realtime.
(34:16):
So you can find out about thaton my website at
lauravalvasoricom, and yeah, sothat sort of wraps up.
Talking about that facet.
My journey to reiki and theemotion code started in um.
Well, I had had reiki myselffor many years.
(34:39):
I've just I've gone to a reikipractitioner at different times
in my life and found it reallyhelpful in calming my mind and
relaxing me, and I've used it asa tool in my own life.
And in December of 2022, my dadwas diagnosed with lung cancer.
(35:02):
Dad was diagnosed with lungcancer and, as a part of his
treatment plan, I was lookingfor someone locally to do Reiki
with him because I thought itmight be supportive.
And through a series ofsynchronicities, I realized that
oh, wait a minute, maybe I canbecome certified or that I can
become attuned to Reiki and thatI could work with him.
(35:24):
So I found a Reiki master and Idid my levels one and level two
and I started practicing onfriends and family and little
did I know that I thought I wasdoing it to support my dad, but
2023 became an explosive year ofa lot of things happening in my
(35:45):
life and I ended up using Reikiwith a number of people in my
life, including my nephew and aclose friend of mine that was
going through a severe bout ofdepression and just all kinds of
people and myself to getthrough this period.
And then my dad had his firstchemo treatment and he had some
(36:08):
side effects and had a bloodclot.
And I had a very upsettingconversation with a doctor one
day where we had to admit himquickly, and that evening I
developed a pain in my quadsthat I could not get rid of.
For weeks I went to physio andmassage and acupuncture and was
doing all these things and Iintuitively felt like it was
(36:31):
connected to that conversationbecause of the day that it
started.
But I didn't know what to doabout it.
And, out of the blue, a friendof mine texted me and said
someone recommended this book tome.
It's called the Emotion Code.
I feel like it was actuallymeant for you, given what you've
been doing with Reiki and allof the other energy work, and I
(36:51):
recognized the book right away.
I had read it a couple yearsbefore and not done anything
with it, and so I picked it backup and I started reading and I
started doing some of thepractices and I released the
pain in my quads and I was likewhat is this Like?
How could this be possible?
And so I started getting morecurious and experimenting with
(37:13):
more people and ended up goingon to becoming certified as a
motion code practitioner so thatI can do this work with other
people as well.
So I've been sort of practicingthose modalities more with
friends and family and justrecently have started doing some
in-person Reiki sessionsthrough my yoga studio which is
(37:34):
a beautiful experience and doingsome emotion code sessions with
people outside of friends andfamily.
So that's how the energy worksort of came into my life.
Rose (37:43):
Right, and the Reiki you could do distance as well.
And then the emotion code.
Is that more of an in-person orcan it be done?
No, it's actually done overdistance.
Laura (37:52):
So the process is that I connect.
You can do it in person or Ican act as a proxy, meaning I
can act on your behalf.
So I do the testing on myself.
Oh okay, so we would connectover a Zoom call.
So I do the testing on myself.
Oh okay, so we would connectover a Zoom call.
I would, through my intention,connect with your subconscious
mind and I start asking a seriesof questions of your
(38:13):
subconscious mind to identifyany emotional energy that is
trapped in your body, and thenwe release that energy again
through the power of intention.
We release that energy againthrough the power of intention
and when we do that, it opens upthe energy system for your
body's natural healing processesto take place, and whatever
(38:33):
needs to be healed from a mind,body, spirit perspective is what
happens.
So there's similarities betweenthe reiki energy that goes, oh
yeah healing in.
I kind of look at it as abeautiful pairing, in that the
emotion code can release thattrapped energy and then you can
bring in that beautiful Reikienergy of healing.
Rose (38:56):
Oh, that's exactly what I was thinking.
I'm like, wow, this is like apotent combination.
I'm like, well, maybe I shouldlook into it because, yeah,
opening up, releasing that thoseemotions, and Reiki does help
as well.
But you have that one technique, and when you were healing
(39:17):
yourself in your quads, what didyou do?
You did you identify with acertain emotion that was
affecting you, I did.
Laura (39:21):
I can't remember exactly.
Rose (39:22):
Was it fear?
Laura (39:25):
It was, I remember one of them being shock, which made
complete sense, because I wasshocked at that conversation,
because it was my dad's firsttreatment and I expected, like
we were at the beginning of thejourney and all of a sudden he
had this complication that wewere talking about whether he
had a DNR, and I was completelyshocked that we would be at that
place.
And that makes sense.
(39:46):
Yeah, so there was a few.
It made sense.
Whatever the emotions were thatI found made sense, and when I
released them it was almostimmediate.
So in some cases people noticeshifts right away and in other
cases it's over a little bit oftime.
For me it was almost immediate.
When I let those feelings,those emotions, released from
(40:07):
the body, the pain dissipated.
Rose (40:10):
Yeah, so we talked about traditional Chinese medicine
before.
So shock is more like theadrenals right, the fight flight
and that area of the body whichis the lower back.
So those are the kidneys andthe kidney meridian runs up
along the thighs.
Laura (40:24):
Oh really, yeah, I had no idea.
Rose (40:27):
Yes, oh that makes sense.
I love making all theseconnections.
Yeah.
When you said thigh, I'm likeoh, it has to be fear, which
makes sense.
And when you said shock, I'mlike yeah.
Laura (40:35):
It was fear, shock.
Yeah, that whole area, all ofthat.
Rose (40:40):
Oh, that's fascinating See how all this information is so
powerful when people understandit.
And a pain in the lower backcould mean that you're holding
on to fear or you know there'san emotion related to a lot of
these issues that we havephysically in the body
Absolutely and that could bereleased through this energy
(41:00):
work that we do.
Yeah, I love that.
It's amazing.
I've never had anyone talkabout emotion code on the
podcast, yet You're my first.
That's great.
Oh good, yeah.
And you know, reiki for me hasbeen really powerful too.
I used energy work with strongintention, reiki and Qigong to
help me release the control thatalcohol had on me, and it
(41:25):
wasn't an overnight thing.
It was a while before I wasable to release alcohol through
all the work I did, but thepractice, the energy practice,
helped a lot as well.
So keep that in mind.
Everyone that's listening yeah.
Laura (41:40):
And I actually bring Reiki into the program a little
bit during the weeks.
So it's a six-week program.
The first two weeks we arelearning and then we let go of
alcohol at the end of two weeksand we have four weeks together
without alcohol, and in theperiod where you're just
stopping drinking I do twosessions of distant Reiki so
(42:00):
that it helps with thetransition and bringing all of
the different kind of modalitiestogether.
The last piece I will share isI've also written a book during
the time that.
So I've had a marketingconsulting business for 11 years
Good to Grow Marketing and aswe were coming out of COVID I
was having a lot of peopleapproach me that were feeling
(42:23):
like they didn't want to go backto their corporate jobs.
They were really reflecting ontheir values and what they
wanted to do, and I've alwaysfelt like I wanted to write a
book.
I just didn't know what it wasabout and that felt like it was
what was calling me.
So I wrote the book called Goodto Grow Cultivate your Mindset
and Habits to Thrive as anEntrepreneur, and in it I share
(42:45):
a lot about the internal shiftsthat have to happen when you're
moving from being an employee toan entrepreneur.
It's not about the nuts andbolts of starting a business.
It's more about you as a personand some of the things you need
to do to set yourself up to besuccessful.
So that's another piece of whatI do as a multi-passionate
(43:05):
business and well-being mentor.
There's also a piece where I domentorship related to some of
the topics in the book as well.
Rose (43:13):
Thanks for sharing all that, and thank you for being
here today.
This has been a greatconversation.
I really enjoyed it.
I couldn't wait to connect withyou and chat about this topic
that I am also passionate about,so thank you for being here
today, laura, thank you verymuch.
Laura (43:24):
Thank you for having me.
Rose (43:27):
Thank you for joining me on Chat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewippich.
com to explore working togetherand discover free resources for
your journey.
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