First Rooted

Aoife Murphy is a wellness coach, Reiki practitioner, and sound healer based in Dublin, Ireland. She spent over 15 years in corporate and tech before leaving to build Empower Wellness & Coaching, a practice rooted in everything that has worked for her on her own decade-long journey of inner transformation.In this episode, we cover:What Aoife spent 15 years running from and what she found when she finally stoppedWhy fulfillment doesn't come from careers, countries, or achievements and what it actually requiresWhat Reiki is, how it works, and how Aoife responds to the scientific skeptics (as someone with a chemistry degree herself)The difference between sound healing and Reiki and why she sometimes tells clients to wear earplugs in a sound bathThe distinction that stopped Martin mid-conversation: most people know how to relax, but not how to restorePractical tips for emptying the mind in a world that never slows downWhat it's really like to build a wellness business solo, the content pressure, the operational overwhelm, and finding your rhythmA message to wellness coaches who are questioning whether the work is worth itFind Aoife: Instagram: @empoweredbyaoife Website: empowerwellnesscoaching.ie Substack: @empowerwellnesscoaching LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aoifemmurphyConnect with First Rooted: Instagram: @firstrooted Podcast booking: https://cal.com/otingamartin/first-rooted-podcast-sessionAre you a women's wellness coach building something meaningful? Martin would love to have you on the show. Reach out via Instagram or book directly at the link above.

Jalene Szuba spent 20 years producing high-stakes corporate events, including the Olympics, before burnout and a personal health crisis forced her to stop and ask a harder question: what did she actually want her life to look like?At 50, she went back to school, became a board-certified health and wellness coach, and built Happiness Anchor, a practice focused on sleep, energy, and sustainable behaviour change. She now works with Tulane University on clinical research into how people actually change their habits, not just their intentions.In this conversation, Jalene and Martin cover the difference between a doctor and a coach and why you need both, the hidden commitment framework that explains why willpower is almost never the real problem, what your brain is physically doing while you sleep and why consistently skipping it is more dangerous than most people realise, why you can't make up for lost sleep on weekends, what sleep paralysis actually is and why it's nothing to fear, and a simple 30-second breathing technique that resets your nervous system anywhere, anytime.Jalene also talks openly about losing her mother suddenly, navigating serious debt, and how shifting perspective, not positive thinking, but genuinely reframing the story, was what got her through.Calm, grounded, and full of things you'll actually use.