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This episode unpacks the identity crisis many chiropractors face: feeling squeezed between Western medicine’s expectations and the original chiropractic philosophy. Dr. Alex draws parallels between Indigenous cultural revitalization and chiropractic’s need to reclaim its unique voice—rather than trying to mimic medicine for legitimacy. She explores how bureaucracy, insurance systems, and professional politics erode practitioner worth, creating burnout and disillusionment. Listeners are invited to consider reciprocity—how the profession gives back—and to experiment with new ways of practicing that honor core values. The episode closes with an open invitation to connect, reflect, and generate more creative, coherent choices for practice. To connect with Dr. Alex find her on social media or send an email to [email protected]. You won't end up on an email list and she won't try to sell you anything.

Dr. Alex digs into a core problem many chiropractors face: a fractured professional identity built reactively in response to critics, insurance systems, and contextually charged and confusing (but not lacking merit) language like “subluxation.” Using personal stories—from her son’s toe injury to building and losing a clinic—she contrasts reactive identity (shaped by outside pressure and fear) with generative identity (built from internal values and clear boundaries). She challenges listeners to stop borrowing legitimacy and instead design practices and lives from the inside out. The episode closes with a practical challenge: identify where you’re reactive versus generative and start choosing who you want to be. Referenced in this episode: Glucina, T. T., Krägeloh, C. U., Spencer, K., & Holt, K. (2023). Defining chiropractic professional identity: A concept analysis. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 35, 75–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2023.04.047 The Practice Beneath the Practice on Substack Let's connect! [email protected]

This episode challenges chiropractors to let go of the need for external validation—particularly Western medicine’s version of ‘evidence’—and to reclaim their original purpose: supporting the body's ability to heal. Dr. Alex draws on her PhD work in the humanities and research methods to critique the gold-standard obsession, explain qualitative versus quantitative approaches, and highlight creative research avenues that align with chiropractic philosophy. She encourages practitioners to take responsibility, engage in research on their own terms, and consider what truly defines chiropractic value rather than trying to fit a square hole that may never accept them.

Dr. Alex explores why chiropractors often turn on each other—rooted in long-standing identity wounds, scarcity mindsets, and external skepticism. She connects personal stories (including a chaotic early-career job in Alaska) with current institutional stressors—school closures, accreditation shifts, and merger news—that threaten the profession. Drawing on her academic work in positive psychology, organizational change, and a qualitative study of women chiropractors, she argues we must move from reactivity to coherent, heart-centered action. She outlines practical steps for “unhooking,” fostering curiosity and compassion, and building a shared vision that can sustain chiropractic beyond crisis.

We learned the iceberg in chiropractic school as a way to picture the nervous system: symptoms above the surface, root cause below. What most of us were never told is that the model didn't start there. It started in organizational change theory, and it maps almost exactly onto why our practices keep circling back to the same problems no matter how many times we try to fix them. In this solo episode, Dr. Alex traces that iceberg back to Otto Scharmer's Theory U and uses it to unpack three of her own practice pivots: the insurance contract that cost her half her income overnight, the $12,000 virtual offer that succeeded and still didn't fulfill her, and the current pull toward niching down to pediatric-only care that she keeps almost, but not quite, committing to. What you'll hear in this episode: Where the iceberg model actually came from, and why chiropractic school only ever taught the surface version of itHow an insurance audit in Alaska forced a change Dr. Alex had wanted to make for years, and why external crises are usually the only thing that moves usWhy a successful $12,000 virtual care package still left her repeating the exact burnout patterns she thought she'd escapedThe real reason so many chiropractors resist niching down, and why it's a worth conversation more than a marketing oneHow a coaching program that didn't fit her practice preempted her eventual bankruptcy, and what that reveals about outsourcing your own discernmentThe four layers beneath the surface of the iceberg, and which one actually has to move for change to stickConnect / Resources [Links to be added by user] CHAPTER SUMMARY1. The Iceberg Isn't Just a Chiropractic Metaphor Dr. Alex revisits the iceberg most of us met in school and reveals where it actually came from: Otto Scharmer's Theory U, a model built to explain how organizations change. She sets up the rest of the episode by asking what's really underneath our own practices. 2. When the Insurance Company Made the Decision For Her She tells the story of contracting with Blue Cross Blue Shield in Alaska, the audit that erased more than half her income in a weekend, and the 90-day contract that wouldn't let her leave even after they stopped paying. It took that crisis to finally move her toward the cash-based model she'd wanted from day one. 3. The $12,000 Package That Still Wasn't It After burnout forced her out of insurance, she built a successful virtual functional medicine offer and sold it well. But she packed her coaching days so tightly she didn't have time for the bathroom, the same pattern that had broken her body in the first place. Success didn't equal fulfillment. 4. Niching Down and the Worth Conversation Underneath It She names why chiropractors resist serving one population: not a business problem, but a fear that saying no means the practice won't survive. She uses her own pull toward pediatric-only care, and the men who keep walking in anyway, as the live example. 5. Why the Coaching Model Didn't Fit, and What That Cost She unpacks joining a three-year coaching contract that didn't match her own strengths or vision, and how trying to force her practice into someone else's model preempted the bankruptcy that came later. 6. Four Layers Below the Surface She walks through the full iceberg: the reactive events we see and put out like fires, the repeating patterns and cycles underneath those events, the structures and rules that produce the patterns, and the unconscious beliefs at the foundation that actually have to shift for anything to change and hold. 7. The Practice Beneath the Practice She closes with a challenge: notice one repeating pattern in your own practice this week, download the free iceberg graphic, and reach out with what's surfacing for you as she steps more fully into her emerging work as a change consultant for practice owners.

A chiropractor I've never met posted on Facebook this week: she's done. Not looking for how to fall back in love with the profession — just how to leave it. Over two hundred comments later, it was clear she isn't alone. This episode is about what that post cracked open in me, and what I believe we actually have to do if we want our profession to stop losing good people to burnout. What you'll hear in this episode: Why a viral "leaving chiropractic" post told me more about our profession's missing vision than about one person's burnoutThe story behind my own license renewal battle, and the blunt advice from a colleague that's stuck with me since: "If you don't like it, join the board"What my chiropractic college's "global paradigm shift" mission taught me about the gap between the vision a profession preaches and the reality it practicesA model from organizational change theory for how two opposing sides of a profession actually merge into something newWhy acknowledging the current reality, without shame or spin, is the first real step toward changeThe limiting belief I'm actively dismantling in my own practice this week, and what it means to stop being the product Connect / Resources: [email protected] SUMMARY[00:45] The Post That Started This Episode I read an anonymous "leaving chiropractic" post that drew over 200 comments — and most of them weren't advice. They were other practitioners quietly admitting they're barely surviving too. That's the moment this episode became necessary. [03:21] What This PhD I'm Working On Is Actually For I connect my organizational development research directly to our profession's crisis, and name the real problem underneath the burnout: we don't have a shared vision for where we're going. [05:36] The License Board and the Reprimand That Stuck A frustrating renewal battle with my state board leads to a comment from a colleague who'd served on the board herself — one that reframed how I think about complaining versus stepping in. [08:27] Funnel Cakes and the Global Paradigm Shift I tell the story of my chiropractic college's lofty mission colliding with vending machines and deep-fried candy bars on campus, and what that taught me about the cost of preaching a vision you're not living. [13:13] Two Things We're Missing: A Vision and the Courage to Face Our Current Reality I introduce a dialectical model of organizational change, where opposing sides eventually merge into something new, and name why our profession keeps avoiding the mirror instead. [17:28] Leading Yourself First I share the limiting belief I'm actively working through this week — "I have to show up to make money" — and what it's looked like to stop being the product in my own business. [21:09] What Comes Next I close with an invitation: acknowledge current reality without shame, take radical responsibility instead of blame, and I preview the action research I'm planning as part of my dissertation.

How you price your practice is not a business decision. It's a worth decision. Most chiropractors don't see it that way — and that's exactly the problem. We dress up our scarcity in generosity. We call it patient-centered. We call it accessible. But underneath the frustrations with insurance, fears around charging cash, big care plans or heavily discounted rates is programming our whole profession struggles with: I don't fully trust that what I offer is enough. This week Dr. Alex shares what happened when she asked her patients a simple question — what could make this better? — and what the answer revealed about the worth work she still had to do. What you'll explore in this episode: Recognize when your pricing structure is driven by worth wounds rather than valuesUnderstand what "giving it all away" or staying trapped in the insurance racket actually signals about your relationship with your own legitimacySee how the insurance system trains chiropractors to outsource their sense of worth — and what it costsHear how one small feedback conversation shifted an entire pricing model without drama or discountingUnderstand why spiritual grounding isn't optional if you want to set your fees with convictionBegin to notice the difference between serving from fullness and serving from need Resources + Community: practicebeneaththepractice.substack.com Find Dr. Alex on Substack at The Practice Beneath The Practice for deeper conversation between episodes We'd love to hear what comes up for you on this episode: [email protected] CHAPTER SUMMARYThe System We Keep Fighting to Be Part Of [00:45] Drawing from a Kabbalah training where two healthcare providers in completely different worlds both said the same thing — the system's broken, so I've been doing my own thing — Dr. Alex names the undertone that runs beneath chiropractic's worth wound: why are we still trying to belong to something that we were never designed to fit into? The Pediatrician With Three Practices [04:19] A real example of what happens when a servant heart runs the business instead of a grounded one. A pediatrician with a traditional clinic, a mental health program, and a mobile practice — the one he was most passionate about getting the least of him. The dilution that comes from trying to fill every need is not generosity. It's a worth problem wearing a mission statement. The Dark Side of the Servant Leader Heart [06:07] Most chiropractors were taught to give, serve, and pour out. The problem is almost none of us were taught to fill back up first. Dr. Alex names the shadow side of servant leadership — when giving comes from emptiness rather than fullness — and connects it directly to how that dynamic shows up in the structure of our practices. The Unlimited Trap [09:57] The teaching case at the center of this episode. Dr. Alex walked her subscription patients through a simple feedback question — what could make this better? — and what she heard back cracked something open. Nobody needed the unlimited visits she thought made a subscription "appealing". Nobody was using them. The option was never for them. It was a mirror to her own worth conversation. What You Give Away When You Take Insurance [12:41] A frank account of what it actually cost to be inside the insurance system — not just financially, but in terms of power, integrity, and identity. When a company can reach back one to three years and reclaim money already spent, you don't have a billing arrangement. You have a relationship built on someone else's terms. The Even Exchange [15:38] What it looks like when pricing comes from worth rather than fear. Not a dramatic overhaul — small, clear corrections from a steadier place. And the deeper truth underneath all of it: your fees can only be held with conviction if your sense of worth is rooted in something that can't be taken away. Worth Has to Come From Somewhere [16:25] The close. A real conversation about why the external world — the economy, the patients, the profession — will never be a stable source of worth. And why the spiritual dimension of this work isn't a luxury add-on, but the foundation everything else is built on.

There's a chiropractor in a parking lot hut in Maui who told a second-year chiropractic student to get out. She wrote him off at the time. Twenty years later, she understands exactly what he meant. This is the first episode of a new season — and a new focus. Dr. Alex is done talking around the elephant: chiropractors are carrying a legitimacy wound that has shaped how we build our practices, set our fees, design our intake processes, and decide what we're worth. And most of us don't even realize we're doing it. What you'll hear in this episode: - Why a practice that looks like success from the outside can still feel like something vital is disappearing — and what that's actually telling you - How to tell the difference between a clinical decision made from values versus one made from fear of not being taken seriously - The real cost of defining chiropractic worth through the lens of Western medicine's acceptance - What your new patient process reveals about where your decisions are actually coming from - Why asking your patients what they need might be the most radical act of leadership you can practice right now - What it looks like to co-create a practice model that is genuinely congruent — not borrowed from someone else's success story Connect on Substack Email Dr. Alex: [email protected]

You passed the boards. You opened the practice. You adopted the “fake it till you make it” approach to practice everyone told you to do in school. You did everything right. And still — there’s this voice that follows you everywhere. It says you’re not quite legitimate. You have to prove something. That you have to work twice as hard to be taken half as seriously. That you’re a third rate doctor who will never have a seat at the table. And the reality is you’re slowly losing your soul to a profession you love but feel let down by. That voice is a wound the entire profession holds — and very few talk about. I’m Dr. Alex. I’m a chiropractor, a PhD researcher in organizational development and change, and a practice owner who built a seven-figure practice, lost it all, and am now on a journey of rebuilding it with an entirely new foundation. The Rooted DC is where we go beneath the surface of chiropractic practice — into the identity questions, the legitimacy wounds, the conflicting values, the gap between who you were trained to be and who you actually are as a practitioner and a person. This isn’t a clinical skills podcast. It isn’t a business tips show. It’s about you. The DC who chose this profession on purpose and is looking to reconnect to why that choice still matters. This is the show where we keep it short, but go deep in talking about the things our profession tends to ignore or sweeps under the rug. Join me on: The Rooted DC: Reclaim Your Legitimacy.

IIn this episode, Dr. Alex explores how your relationship with yourself, your team, and your patients directly impacts your energy, leadership, and sustainability as a practice owner. What You’ll Learn:Why over-responsibility leads to burnoutHow boundaries shape sustainable leadershipThe difference between caring and losing yourself in the processHow your internal patterns show up in external relationshipsKey Takeaway:Burnout often lives in your relationships—not just your workload.Resources:Leadership Energy Audit → rootedpractice.co/audit

Dr. Alex Swenson-Ridley delves into the often unacknowledged struggles faced by healthcare professionals who venture into entrepreneurship. This episode sheds light on the contradiction of seeking to help others while feeling constrained by the business models inherited from previous mentors. The discussion revolves around the concept of 'reinventing the wheel' in healthcare, promoting creativity and autonomy over conforming to outdated norms. Dr. Alex shares her personal journey of overcoming a lack of self-worth and the necessity of establishing clear boundaries to prevent burnout, ultimately advocating for a redefined approach to healthcare business leadership.

In this episode of the Rooted Health Practice Podcast, Dr. Alex Swenson Ridley explores the concept of self-worth and the challenges it presents in business ownership. She delves into the idea of the 'upper limit problem' from Gaye Hendricks' book 'The Big Leap,' discussing four fundamental fears that often inhibit our growth and success. These fears include feeling fundamentally flawed, being a burden to others, leaving others behind, and outshining others. Dr. Alex shares personal experiences, including a battle with illness, which reflects how these fears manifest as self-sabotage, hampering both personal and professional development. Referenced in this Episode: The Big Leap, by Gaye Hendricks Download the Leadership Energy Audit Here

In this episode of the Rooted Health Practice Podcast, Dr. Alex Swenson Ridley shares her compelling journey from an unexpected pregnancy and a tumultuous job in Alaska to opening her own chiropractic practice. Despite facing significant challenges, including a chaotic and traumatic work environment and a high-stress pregnancy, she persevered to build a successful business. This story underscores the importance of understanding the true driving force behind one's entrepreneurial pursuits, whether it's necessity or opportunity, and emphasizes the significance of aligning one's business with personal values to achieve sustained wellbeing and fulfillment. Articles referenced in this episode: Gilstrap, C. M., Weber, T., & Gilstrap, C. A. (2024). Navigating the Unknown: How Healthcare Entrepreneurs Manage Uncertainty. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 29(2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946724500146 Kearney, C., Dunne, P., & Wales, W. J. (2020). Entrepreneurial orientation and burnout among healthcare professionals. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 34(1), 16–22. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhom-09-2019-0259 Manchiraju, S., Akbari, M., & Seydavi, M. (2023). Is entrepreneurial role stress a necessary condition for burnout? A necessary condition analysis. Current Psychology, 43(5), 4766–4778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04704-z Ryff, C. D. (2018). Entrepreneurship and eudaimonic well-being: Five venues for new science. Journal of Business Venturing, 34(4), 646–663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.09.003 Take the Leadership Energy Audit As always, feel free to reach out to Dr. Alex with any questions, deep thoughts or support: [email protected]

In this episode, Dr. Alex Swenson Ridley delves into the complexities of leadership for healthcare entrepreneurs. Exploring insights from the book 'The Six Types of Working Genius,' she highlights the importance of aligning work roles with personal strengths to prevent burnout. Dr. Alex shares her personal journey of discovering her creative strengths, emphasizing the significance of understanding one's unique leadership style. By embracing personal strengths, entrepreneurs can lead practices more authentically and effectively. This episode offers thought-provoking perspectives on developing positive leadership and reshaping practice roles for genuine entrepreneurial success. Resources from this episode: Working Genius VIA Character Strengths Leadership Energy Audit Aligned Authority Workshop--Available 2/16 Connect Call with Dr. Alex

What happens when you do everything “right”—and still burn out? In this first full episode of The Rooted Practice Podcast, Dr. Alex Swenson-Ridley introduces the core idea behind the show: the practice beneath the practice—the internal foundation that shapes how we lead, work, and sustain ourselves, often without being named or supported. This episode explores why so many capable, committed practice owners and leaders find themselves exhausted despite external success. Why following the rules, applying the strategies, and doing what you were taught can still lead to burnout—not because you failed, but because the model you were following never included the whole human. Through reflection, lived experience, and a grounded reframe, this conversation invites you to pause and consider what’s been happening beneath your leadership and your work. This is not an episode about fixing yourself. It’s about understanding what’s been missing. In This Episode, We Explore:Why burnout isn’t always caused by doing too muchWhat “the practice beneath the practice” actually meansHow leadership, nervous system capacity, and self-worth intersectWhy external success can coexist with deep internal exhaustionHow a different foundation makes sustainable leadership possibleA Personal ReflectionDr. Alex shares part of her own journey—building a successful practice by every traditional measure, and slowly realizing that something essential was missing. Not as a story of failure, but as context for why so many leaders reach a breaking point while doing exactly what they were taught to do. This episode is an invitation to see your experience not as a personal shortcoming, but as a signal that a different way of practicing and leading may be needed. Who This Episode Is ForPractice owners who feel successful on paper but depleted in real lifeLeaders questioning whether this is what success is supposed to feel likeThose who’ve outgrown hustle but don’t yet have language for what’s nextAnyone sensing that the real work begins underneath the strategyA Gentle InvitationIf today stirred something, the Leadership Energy Audit offers a gentle place to reflect, without urgency or expectation. About the PodcastThe Rooted Practice Podcast explores inside-out leadership, practitioner wellbeing, and building a sustainable, aligned practice rooted in what matters most. Through reflective conversations and evidence-informed insight, this podcast supports leaders who want alignment—not just achievement.