WellSpring: a guided 8-week programme for women over 40 seeking more vitality, strength and wellbeing.
Journey with other wahine, like you, to learn how to be physically and mentally strong now and in future, ease menopausal symptoms, and feel a wellspring of energy and confidence.
WellSpring is a holistic, and nurturing educational approach to wellness, designed especially for women in the second half of life, applying modern science to accelerate and potentiate your results.
Wellbeing education programme
for 8 women, 40-60+ years
from Wellington or Kāpiti Coast, NZ
30+ mins per day for 8 weeks
Powerful learning: mostly self-paced & 1 weekly group session & 4 x 1-on-1 coaching sessions
Applications now open for May 2024
Next cohort of 8 women to be announced
Hey, wahine miharo, let me ask you, how are you feeling today?
If you feel constantly tired or burned out, always juggling, rushing from commitment to commitment, running on empty, feeling depleted, I know you.
Thank you for giving so much of yourself to the people you love and support.
You are awesome.
As wahine, we have to prioritise work and the needs of others, and this can mean quietly putting our own wellbeing and self-care on hold until life magically frees up.
If you're like me, life trucked along pretty nicely for a good long while — a couple of decades in fact — until all of a sudden, when I hit perimenopause, and I experienced unexpected speed wobbles.
Menopause is a turning point. How we manage it, can set the stage for future health outcomes and positive aging. WellSpring helps you set your course towards positive aging for the decades ahead.
Much like cleaning your teeth, the body and mind need daily doses of TLC.
While much of the WellSpring programme would benefit any human being, it focuses on the unique journey of perimenopause, menopause and beyond, and the wellbeing of Kiwi women from 40-60+ years.
That's because menopause is a poignant period (no pun intended!) of physical and mental change. and it presents a precious opportunity to revise and rebalance your lifestyle.
It's also a journey I know and can share. I have put my heart and soul into this programme. (You can read more about my personal journey and the WellSpring story below if you wish.)
While each cis female has a unique menopause experience, many of us find this time incredibly strange and challenging, experiencing unfamiliar symptoms from migraines to hot flushes, exhaustion, insomnia, anxiety, anger, weight gain, hair loss, gut issues, and inflammation.
A burning tongue? Yup, for some, including me, that too! The list goes on.
You might be one of the lucky ones, who appears to sail on through, but your body and brain are changing — perhaps, seemingly only in small ways at first. For example, you might start to notice that you are losing muscle, have more body aches and stiffness, brain fog and memory blanks, and are less able to cope with stress and multi-tasking.
All considered 'normal' changes but not altogether pleasant, I'm sure you agree.
You may feel constantly tired or feel like you're not firing on all cylinders like you used to. Your strategy might be to survive the week on coffee and adrenaline, holding on until wine o'clock or the weekend to recover.
Or perhaps you can hardly tolerate alcohol anymore. Again, this is super common at this life stage.
You may choose to use hormone replacement treatment (HRT) and get great relief from it. With your doctor, you can decide if it's a good option for you. However, HRT alone, as a single strategy, does not set you up for positive and active aging long-term.
I wish I had been more prepared for menopause
If you're through the other side of menopause, some of those intense symptoms may have eased off.
But at this stage, you might notice that it is significantly harder to maintain muscle condition, bone density, posture, cardio fitness, a healthy weight, full and deep breaths, quality sleep, and good energy levels.
You may be carrying more weight than feels right for you, and every attempt to shift it, has made no lasting difference. You may feel resigned or sick of dieting (good), and you simply want to make peace with your body (hooray).
What's worse, many fad or processed diets accelerate muscle and bone depletion. Loss of muscle and bone density can become serious problems, and left unchecked, can lead to debilitating conditions, such as sarcopenia and osteoporosis.
What no one really explained to me in my early 40s is how important it is to spend time rebalancing your health during perimenopause and menopause. The cis female body is a finely calibrated biochemical ecosystem, and at transitional times of life, it is prone to going haywire, especially if you have high cortisol levels, adrenal fatigue, or other system imbalances.
How you manage menopause and invest in your wellbeing at this critical stage of life, goes a long way to setting you up for better health outcomes as you age.
Dates
4 May - 29 June
8 weeks
Time
30+ mins/day in your time
1 x 1 hour online/wk
4 x 1-on-1 coaching
Plus your own food prep
8 women max
40-60+ years in the Wellington and Kāpiti regions of New Zealand
From the age of 30, muscle mass begins to decline by as much as 3-8% per year! Sarcopenia and osteoporosis are the leading causes of disability in elderly populations. Research shows you can dramatically slow down sarcopenia and declining bone density if you know how. In WellSpring, you'll learn a quick and powerful method that takes 2 x 15 mins per week.
Exercise and nutrition science have evolved
WellSpring offers you a holistic system and educational framework that you can build into your life in as little as 30 minutes per day: it offers a suggested menu of lifestyle strategies and daily doses of TLC for your body and mind.
WellSpring combines modern exercise and metabolic health science, along with simple, proven techniques that vastly improve your energy and mental outlook, ease menopausal symptoms, and set you up for positive aging.
Exercise science has evolved since the '70s and '80s, which espoused long hours of sweating in the gym or running marathons to reach your fitness goals. WellSpring gives you a revolutionary science-based approach to muscle tone and fitness that takes 2 x 15 minutes per week. Exercise alone will not improve metabolic and hormonal health, as you age.
Many fad diets deplete your muscle mass and bone density, and stuff up your metabolism. Many health disorders and diseases relate to our modern lifestyles. Marketers and big food manufacturers, selling fad diets and ultra-processed foods, have confused us about what to eat. Although not as settled as exercise science, our understanding of metabolic health and nutrition science has come a long way since the food pyramid of the '90s.
The latest research (BMJ 2018) shows that common processed foods, such as snacks, soft drinks and many ready-made meals, cause high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and cancer. Essentially, ultra-processed foods are like sugar-coated, salty, fatty cigarettes.
Over 8 weeks, you will learn how to build and maintain muscle mass, bone density and cardio fitness, while going on a gentle cleanse that fires up your metabolism, and dramatically increases energy, hormonal balance, and wellbeing.
Guided by Alice, your certified health coach, the WellSpring programme is a high-tech education programme, which involves tracking several health biomarkers, that demonstrate measurable and real results.
If you take on a daily commitment of at least 30 minutes and make systematic lifestyle changes, you'll see increased levels of cardio fitness, muscle mass, sustained energy, and better sleep, as evidenced by the data we track.
As well as tracking your biomarkers, another unique feature of WellSpring is the buddy system. You'll be matched with an accountability buddy, ideally a local friend who is committed to WellSpring too, making the journey more fun, achievable and sustainable.
Done with intention, WellSpring initiates an exciting transformation, improving your health across the board, including your gut health, sleep, strength, mobility, kidney function, liver function, immunity, hormonal health, metabolism,, and mental wellbeing.
When your body functions well, your mind becomes your friend and you become more in tune with your higher purpose. Adopting the WellSpring practices that work for you and your lifestyle beyond the 8 weeks, sets you up for positive aging in the decades ahead.
"My body has completely transformed. Over 3 months, I have increased strength and muscle tone, and shed inches from my waist. I can even see my abs without doing a single sit-up or ab crunch. I feel so good in my own skin." A.P, New Zealand
WellSpring includes
✓ the top 5 things that made the biggest positive difference to my wellbeing in the least time
✓ daily self-practice of 30 mins
✓ 4 x 1-on-1 personal training/coaching sessions
✓ 1 weekly educational podcast or video of 15-30 mins
✓ 1 weekly group catchup online
✓ a buddy system
✓ my fav delicious recipes
✓ tracking of biomarkers
"An evidence-based approach using tech to track my data and my progress was illuminating and motivating. It helped me stay committed to my health goals." T.D, New Zealand
Together over 8 weeks... WellSpring's learning curriculum
Combining science, sense and support, WellSpring is founded on 6 pillars of functional health and positive aging:
metabolic health, gut health and energy
strength, flexibility and fitness
sleep and circadian rhythms
breath, posture and balance
mindset and purpose
the power of community & support.
WellSpring helps you build the lifechanging habit of daily doses of self-care, as important to positive aging as cleaning your teeth.
Each week, you'll learn 2-3 new techniques that build on the previous week. No matter your 'ageotype' (kidney, liver, immunity, metabolism: New Scientist Aug 23), WellSpring presents simple, achievable lifestyle strategies and green prescriptions designed to complement conventional medicine.
WellSpring is an education programme, so you learn how to 'fish' so to speak, and how to listen and apply health-giving resilience protocols, lifestyle medicine strategies, green prescriptions and nutritious recipes into your life.
Week 1: the journey begins with walking & water
Our exciting journey together begins.
Water is the source of all life. Water has life-giving properties. The human body is 55-60% water.
Learn the importance of hydration for kidney function, energy and general health.
Start a powerful walking routine. Walking is a relatively simple exercise, but this is no ordinary walk, ladies!
Choose your main wellness goal and a reward to inspire you over the 8 weeks.
Complete the onboarding process and meet our group of 8 wahine online.
Week 2: reboot your metabolism and energy
Poor metabolic health is associated with poor energy, early aging and many lifestyle-related diseases
Learn about metabolic health and how to fire up your metabolism with a powerful routine on waking.
Metabolic health creates the conditions for vitality, easier weight loss, and positive aging.
WellSpring teaches how to reboot mitochondrial function at the cellular level to increase energy production, much along the principles espoused by leading Kiwi neurologist, Dr Matthew Phillips.
I have found that when your metabolism hums all sorts of amazing things start to happen:
access to more energy, and better states of mind and mental clarity
ability to digest and process foods and 'treats' better, such as alcohol
increased focus, motivation and greater willpower
improved sleep and libido (major bonus!), and
a deeper connection with authentic self and spirit.
Body and mind work in synergy to create more energy. Let's explore potent mental fitness techniques.
Learn powerful techniques, adapted from sports psychology & ancient cultures, that enable you to harness and enlist both body and mind on your wellbeing journey.
Discover lovely calming techniques, designed for people who have had no prior success with meditation.
Week 3: choose the best macronutrient mix for you
Most fad diets deplete bone density and muscle mass and worsen long-term health outcomes.
Let's not go there!
Learn the fundamental principles of how to nourish, rebuild, and fuel your body for optimal health.
You'll be surprised to learn what macronutrients, science shows, your body needs for optimal health, and how your needs change with age.
Begin engineering your nutrition to support the renewal of your muscles, bones, and hormones, learning concepts espoused by world-leading anti-aging doctor, Dr Peter Attia (author of the book, Outlive).
Enjoy recipes that support health and wellbeing. Discover my two fav secret ingredients for turbo-charging nutrition, satiation and flavour of many of my dishes — ingredients also loved by the French and other European cultures.
Week 4: maintain mobility & breath capacity
Breathing does so much more than circulate oxygen and nutrients around the body.
How we breathe informs our posture (true!), balance, physiology, nervous system, and mental states.
Learn how to breathe properly and increase your breath capacity.
Learn restorative techniques that help you maintain mobility in each of your major body parts/joints and prepare your body for strength training next week.
This week, we explore food choices and recipes that maintain health and give you energy.
Aim to step up your daily self-care ritual to 45 minutes, for those who are willing and able.
Continue to let go of what no longer serves you
Week 5: build strength, tone & cardio in 15 minutes bursts
Exercise outperforms any other health strategy or drug, science shows. Muscle tone and fitness underwrite your metabolism and safe weight loss.
Getting into your body, even for a short time, enables you to get out of your head and you'll enjoy more peace of mind.
Learn Mighty6, the revolutionary routine that tones muscle, and improves posture and fitness in 2 x 15 minutes per week (that's all I have done).
Mighty6 progressively changes your body composition from body fat to lean muscle.
Enjoy the first of 4 personal training sessions included in the WellSpring programme (live or online).
Mighty6 is designed for people from 16 to 80+ years old, can be tailored to suit your level, and is doable at home or the gym.
Even if you don't like exercise or struggle to stick with it, you'll love the simplicity and phenomenal benefits of the Mighty6 routine.
After 4 one-on-one or buddy sessions, you will likely be proficient in the fundamentals of Mighty6. These sessions are included in the programme.
Week 6: reset your sleep circadian rhythms
Learn the value of light and resetting circadian rhythms to enhance sleep, digestion, and mindset.
We all know sleep deprivation is a form of torture!
Lack of sleep affects every function across the board, including poor mood, anxiety and weight retention.
By week 8, your sleep will have hopefully improved a lot, but this week we explore more useful strategies.
Learn about the sleep 'window', and other valuable tools and techniques that enhance sleep quality.
Opt to deepen your cleanse this week.
Start envisioning and journaling about how you'll live with more energy and confidence in your own skin.
Week 7: foster the gut-mind connection & hormonal health
Chronic inflammation underlies many conditions associated with early aging and poor wellbeing.
Body inflammation is linked to low mood, depression, poor brain function, psoriasis and many other aggravating skin conditions, arthritis, and even painful sex. Chronic inflammation is linked to chronic disease.
Learn which foods cause an inflammatory response in some people, and which foods soothe your gut.
Learn which foods to eat at different times of the month to build and reset your hormones.
Learn about other endocrine disruptors and chemical sensitivities.
Week 8: design your wellbeing blueprint
With the support of the group, steadily integrate all you have learned and experience benefits, from more motivation, confidence, energy, weight loss, increased muscle tone and cardio, better stress management, and more.
Complete the programme by designing your personal blueprint for wellbeing and positive aging.
Friends and loved ones will start to notice the change in you now.
Celebrate your success with your cohort of 8 wahine and enjoy your reward.
Reflect on how far you've come and decide which practices you'll adopt into your lifestyle.
"I used to be really fit but an injury and a demanding work schedule meant that I stopped making time for my wellbeing. Once learned, this system takes 15-30 minutes per day. My family is noticing the change in me." A.H, New Zealand
WellSpring is for you if...
✓ Are 40-60+ years from Wellington or Kāpiti Coast
✓ Are curious to learn and apply the top 5 things that made the biggest difference to my health and wellbeing in the least amount of time (i.e. good return on time investment)
✓ Want more energy, fitness, tone, mental clarity, and confidence in your own skin
✓ Are interested in reversing seemingly innocuous but annoying symptoms that may actually be precursors to lifestyle-related diseases
✓ Love the idea of holistic and science-based lifestyle medicine strategies, resilience protocols and green prescriptions for both body and mind
✓ Are keen to learn which foods to eat and cook for health and longevity, and learn simple nutritious recipes
✓ Are excited about daily doses of self-care of 30+ minutes over 8 weeks (at times to suit your schedule)
✓ Know you can do more to take care of your own health and wellbeing, to complement conventional medicine
✓ Want support with re-establishing rewarding habits that are essential for positive aging in the long-term
✓ May be struggling with digestion issues, food sensitivities, menopausal symptoms, sleep issues, post-viral/chronic fatigue, or burn-out.
Did you know that humans and a few types of whale are the only species where females live beyond reproductive years into menopause? It's a precious life stage that enables us to share our experience and wisdom with family and community.
So, how do you want to spend your precious time?
Time is our most precious non-renewable resource.
You can never live today again.
There are 1,440 minutes in each day.
How do you want to spend them?
Who with?
WellSpring invites you to invest at least 30 of your 1,440 daily minutes purely on you and your wellbeing — and mostly, you can choose those 30+ minutes when it suits you.
Small daily investments in your wellbeing will provide huge returns on your investment — more future physical and mental capabilities, and hopefully, more quality time with the people you love on this wondrous Earth.
No matter where you start your WellSpring journey, you will gain ground. I am here to tell you regular small changes can make a massive, positive, and enduring impact and can ease, and even reverse, pain and other uncomfortable symptoms.
I've met quite a few people who dream about quality time in retirement — time spent in the great outdoors with family, or travelling the world, only to find their health or their partner's health scuppers their retirement plans.
I also talk to a good number of people who think aging well is not really possible or is entirely down to genetics, and so is out of their hands. Science now shows that lifestyle choices can switch on and off our genes (epigenetics), and that positive lifestyle choices significantly influence health outcomes and can even ward off lifestyle-related illness and disease.
I invite you to reflect on how you'd like to live in the decades ahead.
I invite you to take a moment to think about how often you put your wellbeing first.
I know you're busy and it's hard to carve out time for yourself.
I hear you.
The paradox is the more wellbeing you have, and the more you invest in your self-care, then the more energy and brain power you have to do good work or care for others.
It's time to gift yourself and your body the same care and attention, that you've afforded others for decades, wahine miharo.
How you spend today, how you live now, creates your future body, future capabilities and the types of future adventures you have with loved ones.
So let's toast this New Year to a new you.
Imagine what amazing things you would do during those precious last decades if you had mobility, energy, a strong body and bones, and a happy gut and mind!
"I was confused about how to live healthily. There is so much confusion and marketing hype out there. It's good to learn a simple system, based on sound principles." B.Z., Australia
The wahine behind WellSpring wellbeing
Hi my name is Alice Hearnshaw. I am a certified health and wellness coach, and executive coach/consultant with the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and a certified restorative yoga and meditation instructor.
I left my job as a corporate lawyer, and went out on my own at the age of 27, running my own strategic consulting and e-learning business with government and corporate clients all over the Commonwealth.
When Covid hit, I took the opportunity to dial back corporate life to pursue other passion projects and other sides of my creativity and personality that took a backseat while juggling business and family life.
This sparked a new way of living — living with more intention, more mindfulness, more variety, more self-care, and more trust in my internal compass.
Having practised many of these profound techniques privately for over two decades, I started sharing them with small groups over the last 3 years when I could see other wahine were benefiting like me.
This inspired the WellSpring education programme and day retreats at my farmlet, Arcus, on the Kāpiti Coast.
Read more about my journey & the WellSpring Story
When I approached my 50s, I sensed an exciting new chapter of creativity and reinvention on the horizon, a new path that would weave together all the threads from across my life that were truly important to me — meaningful work and hobbies, family and friends, travel, community and connection. I see the same wellspring of creativity and passion, and the desire to shed things that no longer serve, in many other wahine at this time of life too.
On the one hand, I had this desire to live more consciously, more purposefully, and on the other, I started feeling completely out of sorts — not my usual, confident self at all. I was able to function in the world okay but things took more effort.
I had been expecting some physical changes with age, but not such a dramatic mental and emotional ride. It dawned on me that unfamiliar feelings of anxiety, self-doubt, overwhelm, and anger were not triggered so much by external factors, but more related to the onset of perimenopause and the natural decline of female hormones.
Along with mental stress, I experienced many unexpected physical symptoms such as persistent migraines, brain fog, bouts of insomnia, body aches and stiffness, heavy periods, and weirdly, breathlessness and new sensitivities to certain foods, I also noticed my body was less responsive to the exercise routines I had relied on, and it seemed like I had to work harder to maintain fitness, strength, weight, and muscle tone.
While most of my life, I considered myself generally quite healthy, my quest to reverse my perimenopausal symptoms, took me on an unplanned journey to find and feel true wellness on a day-to-day basis.
My goals were simple. I just wanted to feel good, feel well, and feel strong and capable again — feel like myself, at least most of the time. I wanted to head into my 50s in good mental and physical shape, able to keep up with my kids and a busy life, and feel better equipped for the decades ahead. One thing I knew for certain, was I could no longer prioritise other things over my wellbeing or ignore my self-care anymore. The pain of doing nothing was simply greater than the pain of moving into positive action.
And so began an interesting and immersive learning process, where over 3+ years part-time, I completed three world-leading certifications, canvassing interesting topics from modern nutrition and exercise science, positive psychology, mental and physical resilience, restorative yoga, breathwork, meditation, and health coaching.
I put what I learned into practice, and discovered what worked best for me, and in particular, for women at this age and stage of life. I saw myself as my first client and I started to feel amazing — more like myself — experiencing more energy, mental clarity, positivity, and confidence. I experienced improvements in every area of my life.
Working out only 30 minutes maximum each week, plus walking with friends, I completely changed my body composition in 3-4 months, gaining strength and tone, and shedding stubborn inches, even though this was not my plan. Seemingly unrelated mobility issues, like hip clicking (related to an old injury), an arthritic toe, and other body quirks have virtually gone.
I am just as strong, if not stronger, than I was in my 30s. All this, without going hungry or going backward, while travelling through the States and Europe. In fact, I eat just as much as I did before, but I choose foods that nourish me and give me energy all day long — and of course, I enjoyed my fav French delicacies when in France in June 2023.
I have adopted positive lifestyle changes that have eased and even reversed many menopausal symptoms or sings of aging, such as muscle wasting, pain and stiffness, exhaustion and insomnia, migraines, gut pain, allergies, bleeding gums, anxiety, and a low mood. I have radically reduced inflammation, water retention and bloating. I am well on my way to fully healing gut biome and my mouth biome (both critical for brain health) and all other biomes.
Having more mental fitness and resilience has been the biggest return on investment for me personally. I have my good days and my not-so-good days, like any human being, but many more good days, than not. If I get out of balance, I know how to step back and this is what I call resilience — being able to step out of and return quickly to equilibrium. I am finding the healthier I get, the more I can step in and out of balance with less consequence. Each month that goes by, I notice that my body's metabolism is becoming more efficient with less effort, and I am less sensitive to stressors.
Most of all I gained this incredible body of knowledge, based on the latest in scientific thinking and positive and enjoyable lifestyle choices, not fads and false promises. Some of the practices and tools made such a difference to me, and gave me such a good feeling, that it was surprisingly easy to assimilate them into my daily life as genuine habits.
I also discovered a passion for health and wellness, and a healthy desire to help others on their journey towards wellness. The bonus is I fell in love with being creative in the kitchen again and cooking delicious recipes, which I'll share with you.
I took the gems from what I learned, trialed them on myself and others, and packaged them into WellSpring, the holistic women's wellness education programme that I personally wanted a few years ago. The feeling of wellbeing is so good it is worth sharing.
If I can do this, so can you. I was not an athlete or a health nut in my past life. I worked on a computer 5 days a week and was fairly inconsistent with exercise and self-care.
And so, as life would have it, the detour becomes the new path...
"Alice is an amazingly supportive coach. She is patient, knowledgeable, and cares about my health goals as much I do." B.Z, Australia
Happy bellies and lots of belly laughs
I am excited about sharing WellSpring with you, and my hope is we will have lots of fun together, finding more balance and wellbeing in our lives. I find it flows both ways and my clients inspire me too.
WellSpring's real power lies with the group. Healthy habits are easier to learn and integrate with a hybrid approach to learning, combining in-person & self-paced learning, and group & buddy support online.
Together, we will have happy bellies and lots of belly laughs. After all gut health and mental wellbeing strongly co-relate. (Warning: changing food choices can invoke hilarious sound effects for a week or so.)
I would be honoured to be your wellness guide over 8 weeks, starting this in Feb 2024.
I invite you to connect with me to discover if WellSpring is right for you. Book a free discovery call if you are keen or curious.
New Year and a New You.
(One-on-one wellness coaching packages, couples packages, and remote/online packages also available on request.)
Price
$888 incl GST for 8 weeks
Early bird
Take $100 off if you book before 20 April 2024
Payment plan
1) Payment plans available
OR
2) Enjoy 10% off if you join with a friend
Are you ready to journey towards wellness with 8 wahine?
The next intake dates are to be announced.
This integrative education programme comprises
a powerful hybrid approach to learning: in-person & self-paced learning, and group & buddy support online
8 weeks of learning, support and coaching
4 x personal training/coaching sessions (online or in person)
a time commitment of minimum 30+ mins per day (mostly at times you choose)
a bond repayment promise if you successfully complete the programme (very motivating).
Please take a look at the curriculum above.
Book a free discovery call to discover if WellSpring is a good fit for you and/or your friend.
Friends each enjoy 10% off the price.
"Even after 2 weeks, I began to experience better energy levels and a new lease on life, and I am loving what I am learning." T.D, New Zealand
Buddy up for more fun
One unique and powerful feature of the WellSpring education framework, is the buddy accountability system and the bond repayment promise.
We can flip-flop with our own self-promises, but we don't like letting others down.
Working with a buddy allows you to share knowledge and give each other support when needed.
Plus it's way more fun!
You'll be matched with a buddy in the circle of 8, and you can decide how best to support each other by checking in at least once or twice a week (by simple text or a call).
If it feels right, join with a local friend and share this special journey together. You'll be empowering each other to create lives you love even more.
Book a free discovery call to discover if WellSpring is a good fit for you and/or your friend.
Joining with a local friend, entitles you both to a 10%.
"My brain fog has gone. I function better at work. I no longer suffer from the mid-afternoon energy dip and I feel ready to take on new goals." N.P, New Zealand
Price
$888 incl GST for 8 weeks
Early bird
Take $100 off if you book before 20 April 2024
Payment plan
1) Payment plans available
OR
2) Enjoy 10% off if you join with a friend