Hi, I'm Alison.
This is my story.
Have you ever Felt Incomplete?
Almost like something is missing but you don't know what it is and you don't know how to find it?
If the answer is yes, that's a relief because it means you are human!
You see that’s exactly how I felt for most of my life. We are brought up in a world that makes us feel incomplete. We are programmed to feel less than enough. As a model, I travelled the world for 18 years searching for happiness and what I have come to realize is that I was looking for it in all the wrong places.
I used to think that my happiness would come from my next big job, relationship or party I attended. What I soon discovered was that I was always looking outside of myself when what I really needed was inside me all along.
For many years I had spiritual teachers telling me to look within. In a world where your perceived worth is based on what you do and what you have, I found this very difficult.
Having spent my life running, when I became a mum, I simply couldn’t run anymore as someone else depended on me and I had to face my problems.
I had a history of addictions, depression, anxiety, and trauma and now it was time to show up and do the work. I also suffered from postnatal depression after I had my son. On my journey back to full health, I discovered that my years of escaping from life through any means possible was simply not going to work anymore.
When I reached this point, I also had nothing left materialistically so I began to look within for resources and I have never looked back.
Something truly incredible happened to me one day when I was sitting on my old childhood bed back in my Mum’s house. I was scared, broke and a single mum and even though I didn’t know which way to go, I experienced a shift like never before.
In today’s world, we all succumb to valuing material wealth. As I sat on my bed I had a sudden realization that while I had never had less, I had actually never had more.
I felt genuinely content and happy for the first time like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders, which I realized made me rich – rich beyond my wildest dreams.
I WAS DETERMINED TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO HANG ONTO THAT FEELING FOREVER.
Official Biography
Alison Canavan is a UCLA trained Mindfulness Facilitator from The Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behaviour. She is an award-winning author, an integrative health coach, Master NLP Practitioner, Heartmath facilitator and International motivational speaker. Having travelled the world as one of Ireland’s most successful international models for nearly two decades, in recent years she has devoted her time to her greatest passion: true health and wellbeing.
Helping people to join the dots with their health and wellbeing is Alison’s primary goal and passion. Her interest in nutrition began in 2009 and she graduated with distinction in Nutrition and Health Coaching from the Irish Institute of Nutrition and Health (IINH). She holds an Advanced Diploma in Diet and Nutrition therapeutics.
Alongside that, she has a Raw Foods Mastery level 3 where she studied at The Life Change Health Institute.
She also holds a diploma in PR, Marketing and Sales management from DBS and has studied business in The National College of Ireland NCI. She is currently continuing her studies at The Life Mastery Institute.
Alison has become a highly sought after motivational speaker, regularly being invited to deliver talks and workshops on health, wellbeing, meditation, mental health and sobriety at conferences, festivals and events for both the general public and corporate clients. She spoke at The Mindful Life Conference in Washington in April 2017. She has lectured in Trinity College in Ireland on the module of Motherhood and Mental Health. She delivers talks on stress in the workplace to CEO’s and business leaders across the country and in June 2014 she chaired and spoke at the first-ever Barnardos Parental Mental Health Conference in Ireland at Croke Park.
Alison has a weekly wellness column called ‘NIRVANA’ in The Sunday Independent and a column in Positive Life Magazine. She has contributed to numerous publications through the years including You Magazine, VIP Magazine, The Daily Mail, Pregnancy and Parenting and many more. She is also a regular contributor and guest on radio, TV shows and podcasts worldwide.
Alison was catapulted onto the international stage at the tender age of 15 when she represented Ireland in the Supermodel of the World competition in Las Vegas and had the privilege of presenting ‘Entertainment TV’ for the event. This has spawned a nearly 17-year career in the fashion industry which has taken her to the main fashion capitals of London, Paris, Milan and New York and as far around the world as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. After spending 7 years in London, she moved to the States. She spent 8 years based in New York working all over the US where her career diversified into TV, Film, voice-over work and most recently into writing.
Alison returned home to Ireland to have her first baby, James who was born in September 2010 and her presenting, radio and writing career continued to grow. Today she is based in California and travels all over the world delivering talks and workshops. She is a passionate humanitarian devoting a lot of time to various charities particularly those concerning children and families.