Photo by Killian Pham on Unsplash

Update:

Since writing this post, I’ve had a realisation that’s shifted how I view my work. I don’t need to abandon the terms Female Health Awareness or Women’s Integrative Wellness. But instead, I’m expanding to include Authentic Alignment as a natural evolution of what I do. These layers all work together to create a more complete picture of how I help women.

I’ve shared more about this realisation—and what it means for my work—at the end of the post.

Original Post

For the last four years, I’ve used terms like 'Women’s Integrative Wellness' and 'Female Health Awareness' to explain what I do. And for a while, those terms worked really well. They helped me transition from biomechanics and remedial therapy to specialising in women’s health.

I helped women understand their hormones more:

• How things change through the menstrual cycle

• What the hell happens during perimenopause

• Why female biology means things are different for women than men

But something still felt off. Like, despite knowing my stuff and helping women, there was this nagging feeling that I wasn’t quite hitting the mark. That I was missing something for me.

Feeling Stuck and Lost

I've been feeling, well, kinda lost. Stuck. There was this resistance to my writing, my creating, my work. I absolutely believed that hormones were the missing piece of the puzzle when it came to women's health and wellness.

And maybe they are if we're just looking at the biological pillar. But I've come to realise - and if I'm honest, this has been in the background of my own health journey for many years now - that health and wellness isn't just about the biological side (I know, right? No shit!).

This is also something I wrote about in The Perimenopause Puzzle: What's Missing?

My Focus on the Biological Pillar

And yet, my entire career has been built on the biological pillar—the physical side of things. I started off in fitness, moved into nutrition, then dove deep into medical conditions with physical symptoms. From there, it was hands-on treatment like massage, anatomy, injuries, and biomechanics. And then, of course, I got deep into the hormonal side of things—understanding the menstrual cycle, perimenopause, and all the lovely physical symptoms that come with them.

So, yeah, my whole career has been focused on the body. The biological. The physical.

Now, before anyone says, “But it’s all connected, right?”—first of all, that’s my line. And second of all, I know it’s all connected. But the truth is, sometimes the body isn’t the way in.

Realising I Need a Shift

As I said, my focus has always been on the physical. Even with the term 'Women’s Integrative Wellness' guiding my work, the focus was still on the body. (In honesty, I was trying to introduce non-body stuff in there with the ‘integrative’ bit).

Now let’s be honest, that term probably means fuck all to anyone but me. It was more like a personal intention—like a ‘word of the year’ kind of thing. It was a way for me focus on women’s health and what I wanted to talk about, write about, and coach around.

But here’s the thing—that term doesn’t serve me anymore. It had it’s place, and I’m grateful for it. It allowed me to talk about women’s health, anatomy, and hormones in a way that made sense for me and the work I wanted to do. But now? It doesn’t fit who I am anymore or what I want to bring to the world.

This is exactly what happened when I moved from being ‘The Body Mechanic’. They were words to help guide me initially but then just became restrictive as I evolved.

Enter: Authentic Alignment

So, I started playing around with words that could help me create a new intention, something that better reflects where I’m at right now. And the words that came to me were Authentic Alignment (actually I found these words in a journal from 2 years ago when things began shifting).

Again, these words might not mean a whole lot to anyone else, but for me, they feel like home. They bring a sense of purpose, a guiding intention. Again, it’s like when people set a “word of the year”—ever done that? It just sits there, quietly in the background, helping guide decisions and giving you a sense of focus. That’s what having a phrase does for me - and right now Authentic Alignment is where I’m at.

Beyond Anatomy and Biology

I no longer want to focus solely on women’s anatomy or biology. Don’t get me wrong, I will still have that knowledge, and it’ll always be in my toolbox when I need it. Just as everything else I’ve ever learned. But it’s no longer the only thing I want to focus on.

Because if I’ve learned anything over the last 22 years of coaching women, it’s this: we’re complex, unique, and beautifully imperfect. We don’t just tick one box. If we’re in physical pain, it affects every part of who we are—our relationships, our work, our creativity, how we see ourselves.

And the opposite is true. If we’re not happy, if we’re out of alignment with who we are, it affects the physical side of things too—how we move, what we eat, the pain we feel in our bodies and so on.

I’m not saying it’s a direct, cause-and-effect relationship. But we’re this web of complexity. And sometimes the way into that web isn’t just through the physical body.

Finding My Own Authentic Alignment

I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately, and here’s what I’ve come to realise: the stuff that truly lights me up, the stuff that makes me feel alive, isn’t the surface-level stuff. It’s the deep shit. The stuff we hide from other people and ourselves.

I’m talking about emotions. Limiting beliefs. The fears, judgments, and comparisons that hold us back. The darkness we carry but don’t want to look at. Our dreams, desires, and past experiences that shape who we are. Connecting to our true selves, following our intuition, being present, and getting curious about what’s possible.

This is the stuff that sparks something in me when I talk about it. It’s the stuff I want more of in my life and the work I do. It’s what I want to share with the world.

I’ve always said that I want to share, and continue to share, everything I have learned. But honestly, I’m no longer on about the stuff I’ve learned from books, courses or research papers. I want to share the stuff that I know. I mean really know. Deep within me. The stuff I know becauseI have experienced it. Because I have felt it.

How Does This Change Things?

Honestly? I’m not 100% sure yet.

Yesterday, I took the day to reflect on what I need to do next. I grounded myself, got quiet, and waited for the nudge, the knowing feeling of what to do next. And what came to me was 'Authentic Alignment' — and this post.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten for now. But here’s what I know for sure: when I’m truly aligned with my authentic self today, tomorrow will take care of itself. I have faith in that. And I know that future me? She’s gonna be just fine. She always is.

So, I’m putting this out there, not because I have it all figured out, but because it feels like the next right thing. And that? Well, that’s enough for now.

Update:

I’ve had a realisation since writing this post. I don’t need to abandon the terms Female Health Awareness or Women’s Integrative Wellness in favour of Authentic Alignment. Because the truth is, all of these concepts are deeply woven into my work. And each represents a unique facet of what I offer.

So rather than discarding one for the other, I’ve decided to expand. Evolve. Grow.  Authentic Alignment isn’t replacing the others—it’s actually an additional layer that complements and deepens my approach. It reflects how I bring all the pieces together: the science of female health, the holistic integration of wellness, and now, the personal, emotional, spiritual and intuitive journey of alignment. Authentic alignment.

So, instead of choosing one, I’m embracing them all. After all, they each speak to different aspects of how I help women. Whether it’s navigating the biology of hormones, menstrual cycles and inner seasons. Or integrating thoughts, beliefs, and emotions into pain and perimenopause. Or finding that deeper connection to who they truly are.

This shift isn’t about leaving anything behind; it’s about adding to the richness of what I do. Because, at the heart of it, my work is about meeting women where they are, right now, with all these tools at the ready (all these tools that I have gathered over the last 20 years), to guide them toward their own version of, well, authentic alignment.