Success Archives - Alexandra Roach

MyEmpoweredWorld Blogtalk Radio Interview with Alexandra Roach

November 22, 2015 By Alexandra Roach Leave a Comment

MyEmpoweredWorld Blogtalk Radio Interview

Alexandra Roach is a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner (AADP), Integrative Health Coach, and Author of “Healing the Military Soul,” which was published in 2014. During the past decade, she works not only with personal clients but also active duty military members and veterans who are ready to approach their healing process through integrative measures.

Currently, Alexandra is embarking with her family on the “Journey of a Lifetime,” which brings them for one year across North America. You can follow their trip journal and connect with her: Journey of a Lifetime.

Alexandra is also a registered Yoga and Tai Chi Instructor, Personal Trainer, Meditation teacher, and Reiki Master. She devotes herself to creating awareness around these topics and the ‘love of her life’ – nutritious food. WWOOFing along the way, Alexandra is now learning more about the source of organic food, farming, and sustainable agriculture & living. Find out more about Alexandra’s work & travels on her website.

Red Light, Green Light

May 28, 2015 By Alexandra Roach Leave a Comment

Life is constant anticipation of what our future will hold in store for us. It is like sitting at a red traffic light waiting for the signal to turn green. We find ourselves in this starting position, yet waiting there for a long time.
Waiting for the weather to be better to set out on the hike that we wanted to take for the past 10 weekends. Waiting for one morning that we aren’t too tired to get up early and attend the yoga class that we had planned on going to for months. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to call our best friend who we have not spoken to in forever. Waiting for just the right time to have that dinner date with our spouse, for starting a healthier lifestyle, for switching jobs to a position we actually like, and so on.
We are sitting and waiting. Of course, not literally. Instead we fill our lives with almost artificial busyness. We are trained to measure our reputation and standing by how stressed we are and how many things we can successfully multitask. We find ourselves in this rat-race of accomplishments, prosperity, wealth, achievement, profit, and fame. Yet, we keep ourselves excessively busy, making it difficult to enjoy any of it at all.
Lately, I found myself taking a step back from my life, trying to view it from an objective perspective. Yes, my family is definitely a well-acclimated participant in the rat-race. My husband leaves the house latest at five in the morning, not to return before eight at night. The children get up early to make it to school on time, after which they participate in their athletic or musical extra-curricular activities only to complete mountains of homework in the evening. I call myself the ‘full-time cab-driver’ because between managing my business and seeing my clients, I need to juggle running family affairs and handling household tasks. Come to think of it… I am not sure when we took that last family-hike ourselves.
To be honest, I ask myself: “What are we waiting for?” We need to get out of the starting position, not only hearing the gunshot and seeing the green light as our signals to go, but realizing that the time is now.
Many years ago, my husband and I asked ourselves if it was the right time to have another child. Both of us knew that we did want to have another baby, but was it the right time? In the end, we decided to just go for it because we figured that there is never a perfect time to be pregnant. Within the nine months of a pregnancy, so much could change, which we would not be able to forecast. Obviously, we are so happy we did take the chance for the continued joys of parenthood.
Currently, we are finding ourselves in a similar situation. My husband will retire from his active-duty service in the military. After 20 years of complete dedication to our country and the many hardships that our family had to endure throughout, we are now at a crossroads in our lives. What’s next? We are not sure! All we know is that we do not want to wait anymore. No more waiting to play that board game with the children because important work has to be completed first. No more waiting to go on that next camping trip because a weekend-work call makes it impossible. No more waiting to rekindle our lives to fill them with smiles, communication, silliness, joy, amusement, inspiration, awe, love, serenity, gratitude, and time.
Yes, filling our lives with time! Time truly seems to be one of the most valuable commodities these days. That is why I would like to encourage all my readers – you – to do the same. Take a break, step back and take a good look at your life. Are you waiting at the red light, in the starting position, ready to go? Think about where you would head to if you actually started going? And make that destination one of your next goals – because personal fulfillment and happiness are not only measured in success, dollar bills, and sleepless nights.
There is more to life – go for it!

Find this article also on MyEmpoweredWorld.com

What My Heart Beats For

April 10, 2015 By Alexandra Roach Leave a Comment

I am an immigrant. I naturalized in 2011 at the height of Operation Enduring Freedom. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan and I felt as if I was sitting between two chairs. We were stationed in Germany at the time; my home country. Yes, I was home, but my heart was far away. It beat for him and all American service members in the desert. That was when I decided to apply for the American citizenship.

The process was easy and short. They had a special offer for military spouses who were already married for a certain amount of time. In as little as four weeks, I found myself driving to the American consulate in Frankfurt, Germany.

Earlier, during the many military ceremonies that I had attended, I often asked myself if I should place my right hand on top of my heart during the Star Spangled Banner. When I drove to Frankfurt that day to become an American, I knew it was time. I knew where my heart belonged and I knew that my hand would always be placed over my heart when I swore the oath.

That day something changed. I asked the lady at the consulate if I had to surrender my German passport. She told me just to keep it. A few years later, I would find out that it was not as easy as just to keep it. That was when I was revoked my birthright to be German. They took my German citizenship away, which completed my transformation of becoming an American. My husband would always joke that I was American as soon as I liked to eat peanut butter, but it was not that easy and continues to be a struggle for my family on the other side of the ocean. They do not quite understand why my heart beats for this country and the men and women who fight for its freedom.

Freedom – the American freedom. Do so many people not dream of it? As an immigrant, I ask myself often what this freedom means and why I can feel it. Can I feel it? Yes, I can. I can when I drive on the highway and think of all I have gone through during my husband’s military career. I can feel it when I think about the choice I had when we homeschooled our three children. Coming from a country where home education is illegal, this was quite the stretch. Moreover, I can feel it every time I go to the store and people are friendly, ask you how you are doing, chat with you – stranger or not, just because they are American and it is in their nature.

However, over the years I have seen change. Maybe I see the change better than Americans do because I am an American by choice. I know the difference and I see it when it unfolds in front of my eyes. That is when I ask myself questions like: Why is it that the most powerful nation in this world is also one of the sickest nations in the world? Why are we not the leading country in education, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and environmental conservation? Why is it that we have statistics like 22 veteran suicides per day? Why is it that our politicians seem to care more about themselves, their income, and the corporations that fund their next campaign than for the American people they are supposed to serve?

This morning when I drove my children to school, we listened to a song by Toby Keith, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.” I am not a die-hard country fan, but there are a few songs that really strike me to the bone. This is one of them. When he sings about us Americans always recognizing and saluting Old Glory flying and our fight for peace and freedom, I get all teary-eyed. That is when I feel my heart beat again for this country. That is when I feel more patriotic than many Americans ever will. That is when I know that my choice was right and that my hand belongs over my heart when I sing the Star Spangled Banner.

So many people stopped flying the flag in their yards. It is sad, because that was what I admired so much when I first visited this country with my fiancé in the 1990s. In Germany, after WWII patriotism is almost non-existent. However, is this not what makes us or brakes us? Our social bonds, our communities, our beliefs, belonging, and what we stand for?

I want to see this nation of my choice stand tall. I want Americans to unite and stand strong together. I want us to take care of one another, be respectful and responsible not only for our families, but for friends, neighbors, and the lonely stranger on the street. I want our American service members and veterans to be honored by all and treated for what they are, the best asset this country has to offer.

I want, I want, I want… my mother would say: “Dear child, you can’t always have what you want.” But, this is what I believe in and this is what I will fight for. A strong American military, a strong American veteran community, a strong American society, because that is what my heart beats for.

Warrior-Yoga – Wonderful Training in May 2014 (recap)

September 23, 2014 By Alexandra Roach Leave a Comment

Dear Friends of Holistic-Ways,

Quotes are wonderful, simply because I seem to be able to always find the right one that matches perfectly for what I want to point out just at that moment. Of course, many brilliant minds were/are out in this world, which in addition makes it even easier.

One of those brilliant minds developed the Yoga-Fit for Warriors training series. This is the yoga class for instructors who work with, or want to get involved with, individuals and groups who “got hurt” including, but not limited to, military active duty personnel and veterans). So, during a weekend in May of 2014, I was fortunate enough to be part of a wonderful group of people who are leaders (yoga instructors) that are passionate about teaching and healing others. Many times during the training we would say that class practice is not about us but about every single being in the room. It is about their progress, their goals, and their successes.

Relating it to the work of a Health Coach, it is actually very similar. And this is what makes me absolutely LOVE what I do. I cannot tell you how tremendously rewarding it is to put a smile back on someone’s face. By doing so, you empower those individuals to take once again charge for themselves. So: “When you are a leader it is all about growing others.” … how wonderful!

So “Thank you!”

Thank you for letting me be in your lives, for letting me write this newsletter to you, accepting it, and maybe even reading it. This is what I chose to be my purpose in life and I couldn’t do it without you – those people who like to be lead, grown, and healed.

From my heart to Yours,

~ Alexandra

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