Alli Waddell Wellness

Illumma's new group KAT cohort for MOMS starts 9/21.

As Gabor Maté says, women are the "shock absorbers" of society, often carrying the weight of stress and emotional labor. But this doesn't have to be your story. You deserve a space to heal, to connect, and to reclaim your inner strength.

Introducing Bright Horizons: Mothers' Healing Circle—a seven-week, small group program that goes beyond ketamine-assisted therapy. This comprehensive experience integrates preparation, medicine, and integration sessions, providing a supportive and nurturing environment for moms to embark on a transformative healing journey. With 30 hours of carefully curated therapy, including ketamine-assisted sessions, this program is designed to foster deep connection, personal growth, and lasting healing.

This isn’t just a treatment; it’s a path to profound personal and collective transformation. Join us and find the support you need to release what you’ve been holding onto, empowering you to show up fully for yourself and those you love.

✨ Take the first step on your healing journey. Limited spots available—reserve yours today. ✨

Another great reason to watch the Olympics…

If you have ever struggled with body dysmorphia, like me, it’s great to remind your brain of the diversity of the human body, and elite athleticism comes in all shapes and sizes.

I LOVE the Olympics!!!

By 8a I’ve watched, beach & indoor volleyball, basketball, water polo, field hockey, tennis & cycling.

It’s so fun to watch humans being their max physical humanness!

This app is genius!!

Too Good To Go is an app that connects you to restaurants to buy their leftover food before they throw it away for a deep discount.

It includes a lot of baked goods (which I typically don’t eat) but also premade foods for Whole Foods & Honest Mary’s and produce from some grocery stores for as little as $5 for a mystery bag, which I think makes it even more fun.

Too Good To Go: End Food Waste

What a severe disappointment! Yet again, our BS, antiquated FDA approval system fails the American people. The FDA has no interest in healing, it’s a rackets that is only interested in keeping us sick, buying expensive prescriptions & making Big Pharma money.

FDA advisors reject M**A therapy for PTSD, amid concerns over research A panel of advisors to the FDA voted against the potential use of M**A for treating PTSD.

All in a days work…

Walking desk for the win!

Recommendations for retreat spaces in central Texas with lodging of 15-20 people.

I'm not crying, your crying...😭

Giving parents their kids back is one of the most moving experiences I have had at Illumma. Kids are struggling at a level that we have never seen, and if you are a parent, please know you are not alone and there are alternatives to standard mental health treatment.

Here's another amazing review:

My 14 y/o daughter just completed ketamine assisted therapy here and I couldn't recommend it more. I honestly wish I could sing it from the rooftops. She has been severely depressed and anxious for the past 2.5 years and no mental health medication or inpatient/partial/outpatient program has been able to touch her depression or anxiety. It was like she was stuck, and now she is unstuck. She has a much more mature and resilient way of handling difficult situations in only 7 sessions. I had been reading about alternative treatments for anxiety and depression for quite some time before I decided to go for it and the reason I chose ketamine over TMS is because I felt like TMS was more geared towards depression only whereas she had severe anxiety(school refusal and self isolation) and depression. I had been reading about a procedure called a Stellate Ganglion Block that has been used many years for the treatment of pain but has shown promising results in veterans with PTSD. From there I found articles on ketamine where the studies mentioned neural plasticity and this is what I was looking for. I feel that it's urgent that our society should dedicate itself to solving the issue of depression and suicidality in teens while they are in a very crucial stage of development where they are forming the very core of their identity. If there is something that can help their brains have better neural plasticity so those ridges in their brains are forming good ridges, then I think it's pretty imperative that this treatment be offered first by the medical community over antidepressants and anti psychotics which have side effects such as weight gain, sleeping all the time, sugar cravings, and emotional blunting to name a few. All of the staff at Illumma were extremely compassionate and helpful and I feel like they really care about my daughter and her future.

After a vacation week in the mountains, my squirrel 🐿 has consumed at least an 🎱

Omg my mom got me the best bday present ever!! A painting of Mr Snowy at his fluffiest painted by my second cousin Ellen.

Too cute & I’ll cherish it forever!!

When all else fails, it’s time to surrender & remember that you are actually in control of very little in this world. The one thing you’re ALWAYS in control of is how you respond.

So going into this first holiday week, where can you accept what IS & focus on how you show up your BEST?

Just set me free…

In the past three days, I’ve had four people reach out to me struggling with their mental health - family, friends, friends of friends, all feeling alone and looking for tools and support. This song came on & it brought me to tears, we all want to be free, and it is possible but not alone.

For over a decade, I suffered in silence, telling myself that I could somehow get ‘better’ without anyone knowing. I would read the books, do the self-care, get my s**t together & no one would need to know I was ‘crazy.’

But here’s the truth, you can not heal alone & you can do it secretly. That doesn’t mean you need to air your struggles for the world to see, that’s another issue, but it does mean you need to reach out and find support. You need to explore tools, you need to treat it like a job, and you need to be honest with yourself that being OK is not good enough.

I stand as an example that the struggles you swore would never leave you can lift, that the burden you always carried can lighten and that the life you never thought you deserved can become your reality. But I’m also the example that it’s hard, ugly work, that healing is not linear, and that there is always more to work on and work through.

This post is just a reminder that YOU ARE NOT ALONE & you deserve freedom. If you ever need to talk, I am here.

Bring awareness to those that are dimming your shine! ✨

Glow bright bi***es

At first, the universe taps you on the shoulder, then it grabs you by the arm, and if you’re still not listening, it may hit you over the head with a sledgehammer. 🔨

Remember, your intuition is a tool that needs to be honed over time. See if you can tune in to see & hear what the universe is trying to tell you today.

*cautionary note: your inner critic is NOT the universe, so if what you hear is hateful BS, ignore that s**t

I mean maybe those shoes look good on you…

👠😂👠🧐

Bonus Parent Addition

Weirdly I always had a feeling I’d be a , but as the years & relationships passed, that dream started to fade.

Then Ken entered my life & for a bit, I wondered if being a stepmom would be enough. Did I really need bio-kids to make me feel like a parent? Would I grieve the what if's of my choice? So I waited, did psychedelics, integrated, and built a life with Ken. Always knowing the answer would surface.

Ken & I were together almost a year before I met the boys because our worst fear was it going badly. That year was challenging. I physically moved out of our shared apartment weekly to give them space. Many times I chose them over myself & my own needs even when it was lonely. Basically, I started my parenting training which for me stemmed from balancing putting other first without losing yourself.

When we finally met, it went well. Of course, there was still awkwardness, still underlying emotions, but there was also respect and the seeds of love.

Over the past five years, those seeds have grown and bloomed into the relationship I’ve always wanted to have. We have so many commonalities that sometimes it’s hard for me to believe they aren’t mine. That being said, them not being mine allows us a relationship that we could not have otherwise.

Having kids and starting a business are two of the biggest personal growth experiences you can have. They will be mirrors for ALL of your s**t and remind you daily of both the joy & struggle in being a human. Luckily for Ken & me, it brought us even closer and has allowed the boys to have a model of a truly loving & connected relationship. The gratitude I have for Ken (& the boys) for allowing me to be a parent is overwhelming. They didn’t have to let me in and love me the way they do. But they did, and I’m so grateful for my crazy, teen, boy mom life.

I think it’s essential to be transparent & to share the whole story, though. The choice not to have kids is still filled with grief, but so would be the option to have them. So I still struggle & get sad when I see a friend’s pregnant, but that doesn’t lessen my love for my life. It just shows that I’m getting to be human.

Happy Friday you weird lil’ monkeys!!

✨🐒✨

Monday reminder…

Most people are walking trigger reactions, so it’s rare what they are throwing on you has anything to do with you.

3 Things to Try:
1. Never assume malice - most people are unaware and not out to harm you, and even if they are, you will be less of an as***le if you believe they aren’t one
2. You are only in control of your reactions - you can not control others, so focus on yourself
3. You are in charge of your triggers - no one knows your trauma or experiences, only you can state your needs and boundaries. Know yourself & own it

Happy ‘Merica Day!

F**K YA!

🗽❤️🤍💙🇺🇸

Stagnation leads to s**t getting FUNKY & no one wants that.

And remember, changing your mind is the ONLY way to change you life, so do it on the daily.

*I’m a commando girl myself, so if the pantie reference doesn’t land, pick another

Who’s with me?
🙄🤨🧐🥺😑🥱

Thanks sign for the reminder this morning that people can see my face while they are speaking to me!

A ring 30 years in the making & damnnnnnnn, it was worth the wait.

When I was 12, my Grandma Hazel, my dad’s mother, decided to divide up the diamonds in a tennis necklace amongst her four granddaughters. Her idea was for all of us to make a piece of jewelry to cherish after she was gone.

I was supposed to make mine when I was 18, but I was too busy. Then after college in 2003, my father and I took the diamonds to his favorite Austin jeweler, Clay Copeland of . Then life happened...

About two months ago, Clay called my dad & said he was cleaning out the safe and found my diamonds. Luckily now I’m not too busy with jewelry & we designed this insane ring.

The fire opal was a stone Clay had & opals my father's birthstone. The ring is a perfect tribute to two of the people that are me who I am. I love how it honors the unique, artistic beauty of our family.

Thank you, , for everything you have done to allow me to be the weirdo I am. My only regret is that my grandmother didn’t get to see it but I know she’d love it.

Me & my vag can take a pounding but keep on trucking...it’s called resilience, MFer!

*image quote lovingly lifted from the great & powerful

Getting a mammogram at the same age that my mother was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer is a sober experience. Luckily I am all clear, but it’s a reminder of those that haven’t been so lucky.

My mom is 25 years in remission, but she was a lucky one. To all those who have been through breast cancer or lost loved ones, my heart goes out to you.

Thank you, for creating such a beautiful, caring & empathetic place for women. You staff is wonderful and they make something that can be very scary doable.