Magic Spotlight: Kelley Hoag of Root to Rise Health
Here on the Little Scraps of Magic Blog, I like to spotlight special mamas & thought leaders who will inspire you, motivate you, & help you realize you’re not alone on this motherhood journey.
Meet Kelley, a Behavioral Health Advisor and the Founder of Root to Rise. Originally from New York, she earned her Master's in Applied Behavior Analysis and is also certified as an Integrative Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. After years of working with children with Autism, Kelley decided to bridge the gap between behavior analysis and integrative health to create Root to Rise. She now utilizes her behavioral approach to help clients create sustainable, healthy habit change. Kelley also founded Morning Magic Collective, an expansion society for curated health and wellness events.
Kelley, you’re the founder of Root to Rise-- tell us about your business and who you serve.
I work with high-achievers! Men and women who are craving more ease and less stress. This includes 9-5ers, side-hustlers, wellness practitioners and students. If you want to turn overwhelm into alignment, Root to Rise is for you!
As a Health Advisor, you join science-- applied behavior analysis, with intuition and holisticism. How do you blend the two to create lasting change for your clients?
Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA is a focus on how behavior works, how our environment impacts our behavior, and how behavior is learned. Integrative health is the well-being of mind, body and spirit. I bridge these two modalities to create sustainability in a really fluid way. Most importantly, it’s a formula that works! When we get stuck in cycles of frustration when it comes to bad habits, it’s really not our fault! We’re not taught how behavior works or the way in which we can listen to and act upon our intuition. So, by learning these tools, we’re able to get to the root of the problem and therefore create more balance and a long-lasting change.
In your work with moms, do you find there are common themes in terms of where they experience overwhelm in their lives and what they hope to achieve in their work with you?
It makes sense for moms to be overwhelmed, of course! They’re typically juggling so many moving pieces. One of the biggest challenges for new moms especially, is mom-noise and guilt. There are so many shoulds about how to mother, what your baby needs, etc and it can be difficult to crowd out. I teach moms to find accessible balance, which means flexibility, while also learning to act from their gut, rather than external sources such as podcasts or stories from friends.
Can you suggest a daily or weekly ritual that mamas can easily incorporate into their busy lives?
I love rituals because I find them grounding. For example, I start my morning with journaling and meditation 6-7 days a week. This helps me ease into my day rather than spiking my stress hormones, scrolling and taking in outside information as soon as my day begins. Rituals and routines also help us reprogram our behaviors and thought patterns which can lead to such incredible empowerment. For moms specifically, I’d recommend pairing a new ritual with an old one to cultivate more mindfulness since it’s easy to just go go go. A quick, accessible way to do this is stacking gratitude with food.
Pick one meal, and before you eat it, take a breath (helps you become present) and express gratitude for your food/meal, and anything else that comes to mind. This will root you down and help you take the time to breath without actually adding something unattainable to your already busy day.
You’ve mentioned that mantras can be helpful in times of stress or overwhelm-- what’s a tip you can share with us we can select our own?
The word “mantra” comes from manas (mind) and tra (tool) in sanskrit, and the more tools we can add to our tool-kit, the better, especially ones which help calm our minds.
For a quick way to adapt this ancient practice into your modern life, choose an affirmative statement, such as “I am calm.”, “Today, I will move slowly.” or “I trust my intuition.” Select a statement, word, or sentence that resonates best with you, and one that can be repeated daily. The repetition is what leads us to an embodiment. Once you have your mantra, you can think it, whisper it, chant it, write it down. Having a positive mantra as a mother can be a grounding way to root into the present and acknowledge your strengths! Again, it’s accessible. It’s not asking for a 20 minute meditation practice or hour long walk. It’s simple and integrative. When you find yourself feeling frustrated by another mess you thought you just cleaned up, dealing with an absurd circumstance during potty-training, being completely confused by your child’s math homework, or wanting to eat a pint of ice cream to calm down once everyone has gone to bed, remember your mantra!
