A little peace of mind

about us

nicola bird

Over twenty years ago, at university, I started to experience anxiety and then panic attacks. I had no idea what started them off, all I knew was that I would suddenly find myself with a tight chest, sweaty palms and a racing heart for what seemed like no reason at all.

I have always pushed myself to be a massive over-achiever so I put it down to exam pressure as I studied for my Psychology Degree. I ended up being prescribed medication and needing my own examination room to get through the final exams.

But then they continued after I finished my studies. The gnawing sense of anxiety would vanish for months on end and then reappear when I was least expecting it.

I landed myself a corporate job but then after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US found myself unable to travel on trains or tubes. I was unable to get to work and often had to make up excuses and lies about why I couldn’t attend my Psychology Masters Degree lectures – they were in the centre of London and impossible for me to get to.

My world started to shrink in size.

Eventually, when I became pregnant with my first child, I found myself unable to even leave the house for weeks at a time. Not even to put the bins out at the end of the driveway.

I tried medication, seeing a psychiatrist, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, various other well-known methods, NLP, time-line therapy and tapping. I studied more psychology, got into personal development and trained as a coach – I just wanted my anxiety to be gone.

Nothing worked. I’d find myself back to ‘normal’ for a while, and then I’d go through months of feeling panicky all the time.

 

I still kept pushing myself, started my own business so I could work from the safety of my own home and took it from zero to seven figures in just under four years before I finally burned out, fully consumed with agoraphobia and migraines.

Then, in 2013, I stumbled across a completely new way of understanding how human beings create their experience of anxiety and how to dissolve it almost effortlessly.

A completely revolutionary approach that I had never come across before in all my years of training.

I have spent the last six years travelling all around the world (yes me, the agoraphobic!)  studying with the pioneers in this field to gain a deeper understanding of this thing that had completely transformed my life in a matter of just a few weeks.

And now my life’s work is to share what I’ve learned that made such a huge difference to me and the lives of the people I love.

Qualifications: BSc Psycholgy, MSc Psychology, Master Transformative Coach, author of the book A Little Peace of Mind and personally now completely free from anxiety.

advanced certified little peace of mind practitioner

laura white

A Little Peace of Mind Advanced Certified Practitioner

Laura experienced panic attacks and depression on and off for the last 15 years and as life has happened; infertility, losing jobs, numerous failed relationships, her symptoms worsened. 10 months ago, Laura found herself out of work and unable to leave the house as she was paralyzed with fear and anxiety.

That is when she came across A Little Peace Of Mind and the programs here and in her own words, is ‘amazed at how much my life has transformed!’

Laura finds herself living life fully with a successful job at LinkedIn, traveling to foreign countries, new friends and a new relationship all with the knowledge that even if these things had not happened, then she would still have peace of mind.

Laura works with clients that are stuck in their incessant thinking and believe life circumstances cause their anxiety. She offers hope by helping navigate through life much easier and she can point you to where clarity and peace of mind really resides. Laura can do that because she has been there too.
To find out more about working with Laura, please visit

Ruth Harris

A Little Peace of Mind Advanced Certified Practitioner

Ruth struggled for most of her life, with feelings of insecurity and anxiety;  never feeling good enough, constantly searching for ways to be a better version of herself and keeping herself small. 
Ruth had been holding on so tight to “controlling” all aspects of her life, being afraid of her experience, believing this to be the only way to get her through each single moment of the day.  
In fact, Ruth describes herself as a recovering control freak.. “If there was a control freaks anonymous, I would have certainly been one of their founding members!”.
Ruth created a world, so perfectly curated that those around her did not notice that inside, she was panicking! The physical signs would be; the heart palpitations, sleepless nights, continuous worrying, constant mood swings, which ultimately led to a more serious health diagnoses.
So Ruth went in search of an answer and having always been fascinated in how the mind works, graduated in Psychology and spent her corporate career focused on how the mind works and human behaviour.
That learning triggered Ruth’s continued curiosity in how life is experienced, eventually leading her to the work of Sydney Banks and the three principles. 
What Ruth discovered in that understanding is that she had “innocently” been making it all up!. What she saw was that her whole experience of life was like a fictional story, no more real than the storylines in Harry Potter.  
What Ruth now knows, is that there is an easier way to life;
One that allows us to grab hold of new opportunities, letting go of the need to feel in control. To not be afraid of our experience. To live with more ease and calm, more humour and loving relationships, more creativity and productivity and to know that no matter what the circumstances, no matter what life may throw at us, we will be alright. 
Ruth truly believes this understanding can change the world. Huge statement she knows, but if we all knew the true nature of thought and where our experience comes from, it would not make sense to look for the separation, not make sense to divide people based on past experiences or where they come from or what they believe. 
Ruth has actively searched out the leading practitioners in this field and trained under Nicola Bird to become an ALPOM practitioner. 

Bronwen Warner

A Little Peace of Mind Advanced Certified Practitioner

Grief happens and sometimes life really sucks!

In 2014, I had my second baby girl, just 6 weeks after my brother was murdered and 4 months after my dad passed away unexpectedly following emergency surgery.

Turns out, my older daughter who was 2 at the time, has sensory processing difficulties and is neurodiverse (autistic/ADHD).

I just thought I was crap mum – shouting, struggling and eating my way through those first few years, on a mission to find something, anything, that would help me not feel so desperate.

After many years of believing I had to be better, do better, change myself, blah blah, blah, it was a relief to uncover the truth that I was not broken and didn’t need fixing. No one does!

That we all have an inner wisdom and resilience that is 100% reliable was so freeing and hopeful, I had to learn more.

Now I am aware of how we work, it never ceases to amaze me how resilient and creative we are as humans – mums in particular!!

I qualified as a 3 Principles Practitioner with One Thought and am proud to be A Little Peace of Mind Practitioner.

Having worked as a kids physiotherapist for the last 20 years and after witnessing (and experiencing first hand) the struggles that parents, carers and children face, I now help people (mums in particular!) who are going through tough times and struggling with depression, grief and stress to find hope, love and a little peace of mind again too.

My aim is for parents to have a lot less FFS and a lot more LOL in their lives! 

Renee Zulich

A Little Peace of Mind Advanced Practitioner

I was there, too.

I never would have thought that I’d be in a position to help educate others on a cure for anxiety.  

Growing up, I was what they would call a “sensitive child”.  I had a “nervous stomach.”  I missed over a month of school in grade 6 due to stomach upset every morning.  I also had OCD tendencies.  

I knew, even then, that there was a mind-body element at work.  

I thought it was interesting that if I simply worried or thought about having an upset stomach, that it would happen!

Needless to say, for the next 35 years, I knew where all of the bathrooms were located on every route and if I didn’t, I was loaded with medication to paralyze my bowels.  I always had to drive everywhere, organized every outing to the finest detail and if things went off plan, I was not fun to be around.  

Two weeks after I quit my job as a busy office manager, I had my first panic attack! I was downtown in a big city, and hungover from celebrations the night before.  I felt a bang in my head, my hands clenched up like claws, and I had difficulty swallowing.  For pretty much every day after that, I endured tingling in my hands and face and light-headedness.

I used medication to sedate myself so that I could be relaxed leaving the house.  And I never left the house without my purse, which had all of my security measures, such as tissues, medication and my cell phone.

I did every program that I could get my hands on.  Every therapy, technique and practise.  I even sourced out the best self-help gurus in the world that I could find (Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay, to name a few).  I had the loving support of my husband and family, no matter what I needed.  One day, I came across a free audio by Nicola Bird on Facebook that changed my life.  I signed up for the 6-week course, and I never had another panic attack again.

The Three Principles taught me how my thoughts create my reality.  More importantly, that all of my thoughts are neutral— they do not mean anything about me, until I believe that they do!  Therefore, I can treat every thought as neutral, and don’t have to get attached to anything I think, specifically, those fearful thoughts.

How different would YOUR life be if fearful and negative thoughts had no more bearing on your life?  Who would you be? I now leave the house forgetting my purse entirely.  And I don’t decide to turn back to get it, because

I KNOW THAT I AM WELL.

Let me help you to SEE your innate wellbeing and that the answers are available within you right NOW. 

certified little peace of mind practitioners

Nicola provides 1:1 coaching and the details of those packages can be found here.

In addition, we also have a small number of certified Little Peace of Mind Practitioners who have completed an intensive training program with Nicola and now support our Little Peace of Mind clients as independent coaches. Please find a short introduction to each of them below and contact them directly to find out more about their coaching arrangements and rates.

They all come highly recommended 🙂

Vicki Montague

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

Vicki recalls being a worrier from an early age. During her time at University it got worse and led to a racing heart and insomnia that were managed with medication.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other symptoms such as headaches, eczema and food intolerances followed.

She continued to live life fully but the self-doubt and worry that had plagued her life came back with vengeance.

There was nothing in her external life to cause anxiety or worry. She had created her own business, the Free From Fairy, and lived within the limits she had placed on herself in order to not become stressed and overwhelmed.

But something still felt wrong.

After many years of searching and studying (NLP and counselling) she finally came across the Three Principles.

Immediately she felt lighter, although she didn’t fully understand why for many months afterwards. Finally she realised that she no longer needed to take her thoughts seriously. Her life immediately became more peaceful

Since then she has trained with Nicola Bird and John El Mokadem to become a Three Principles Practitioner/coach. She works with children and adults who have restricted their lives, either physically or mentally, to reconnect them to their innate wisdom. This in turn allows people to live a life of freedom, love and peace.

To learn more about Vicki and her coaching, please click here.

julie cluley

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

For most of her adult life Julie experienced the world as a very very busy place, full of things that “should” be done and “needed” to be done, usually with an underlying sense of urgency. 
As she reached her mid-thirties she was happily married with 2 gorgeous kids and a job she absolutely loved as a dog behaviour coach. 

To anyone who knew Julie then, they would think she had it all. However, for much of the time she was really struggling with feelings of being constantly busy, overwhelmed, and this ever present sense of urgency. It was awful and seemed to be getting progressively worse as she entered into peri-menopause. 

Julie would love to help you put the joy, fun and laughter back in your life.
Have you ever noticed how dogs live for now and never let anything get them down for long? This is what is on offer for all of us.  Exploring this understanding, perhaps with your dog to guide you, is truly the most magical of journeys. Julie is here to help you to live your life exactly the way you want to.

Julie tried everything from a variety of different supplements, improved diet, more exercise, a million different self help books and counselling sessions. All of these did help to some degree, but she still seemed to be on a downward spiral until she realised there was literally no joy left in her life. Julie was thinner, fitter and had pretty much everything she had ever aimed for, but still felt awful. Then the guilt kicked in; how could she have all those things and still be so miserable? She started to suffer from insomnia, panic attacks, paranoia that her friends no longer liked her, feelings that she was an awful mum, arguing with her husband and even the job she loved so much had started to become a chore.

Julie couldn’t understand what was ‘wrong’ with her and genuinely thought she was going mad.

In September 2018 she bumped into the ALPOM website and the 3 principles.  Julie’s experience of life changed almost overnight. She now lives life from a much calmer, relaxed and joyful place. The best thing for Julie is that nothing actually changed. She still has the same lovely husband, same gorgeous kids and the same amazing job helping clients improve their relationship with their dogs.

To find out more about working with Julie – please visit 

Ryn bonney

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

Life is hard.
You will never be happy.
This is the best you will ever get.
Accept it, change is not possible.
The answer is outside of you.
 
These are the beliefs that Ryn Bonney lived under for the first 40 years of her life.
From that level of consciousness, everything was personal and an attack.
Depression and anxiety were constant companions, as well as habitual paranoia and suicidal ideation. The suffering of her life was constant. She identified the problem as herself, and looked at every possible avenue for healing, only to be disappointed.
It was hopeless.
 
Until she got courageous and asked for help.
In a single moment, she found the willingness to believe it could change, and asked to see it differently. Her heart cracked wide open.
She felt hope.
 
The first insight was transformative.
“What if the only thing wrong with you, is the thought that there was something wrong?”
But for the thought of brokenness, she had always been whole.
It changed everything.
 
Five years later the beliefs have completely shifted.
Ryn knows the truth.
Recognizes the innocent misunderstandings and sees what is possible.
Understands where our experience comes from and how to see it clearly.
 
That is the feeling of her coaching and what she shares.
Wisdom is alive in her, and alive in you.
It can be trusted to point in the direction of healing and a beautiful feeling.
 
Life is simple.
Happiness is available in every moment.
The best experience is found by being present to the moment.
Change is helpful, transformation is what is possible.
You are all that is ever needed.
 
Are you willing to see it differently?

susana vilmer

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

Susana was born in Mexico and moved to the US on her own after high school. Her studies took her to various places in the US  like Nevada, Texas, California, New Jersey and New York, where she received her bachelor’s in Social Work and master’s in Public Administration.  From an early age Susana pushed herself to be an overachiever and she suffered a great deal of anxiety as she advanced in her career. 

 

She spent a lot of time feeling worried, stressed and fearful about the future.  It just seemed that nothing ever satisfied her and it was difficult to stay grounded. She constantly felt self doubt and insecure thinking, which kept her stuck in her life for many years.

For years, Susana trained with many mentors and coaches in the spiritual and human development field to address her anxiety and gain a deeper understanding of the world of energy and spirituality.

She became a Certified Spiritual Practitioner and Energy Mindfulness Master Coach; and obtained several  other certifications throughout her  journey.

However, while these training programs  helped her a great deal, there was still that feeling of dissatisfaction that  kept her seeking for answers.

That’s when Susana came across the 3 Principles and was profoundly touched by working with Nicola Bird and other 3 Principles mentors.

Susana started to feel content in her life again  and her anxious and scary feelings started to dissipate.  These series of events inspired her to become A Little Peace of Mind Practitioner.

Susana knows how hard it is to move forward in life when you’re filled with worry, fear and uncertainty because she has had these same experiences.

Unfortunately, Susana  missed so many great opportunities in life because of her insecurities, which turned into a vicious cycle that kept her stuck.

That’s why Susana is so passionate about helping others who are scared about their life path and are unable to answer their true calling.

With her coaching programs, Susana guides women how to connect with their own wisdom in order to release fears that prevent them from living on purpose and have more confidence and success in life.

To learn more about working with Susana, please visit: 

Deany judd

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

When I had my children my head became a very busy place.

After all, there was a lot of danger out there and a lot to worry about – not just stories of danger, but stories of how I wanted the future to look for my children, stories of what success looked like and stories of the past too and what they meant.
 
All of them stories!
 
And of course believing that I was in control, I had to fix everything and cling on tight and manipulate and organise….it was exhausting!
 
Once I came across this understanding everything changed. I saw that they were all stories, movies playing in my head all day long. And I believed them all and thought they were all real.
 
Once I saw what was happening…well, everything changed.
 
The stories keep coming but when you know they’re stories you don’t take them seriously, they drop quickly and you have so much more space in your head to be creative and at peace.
 
I LOVE sharing this understanding with other people.
 
Teens see this understanding very quickly and parents of anxious teens (which I was) are desperate to find a solution and pick this up quickly too.
 
Click below and we can talk through the stories  holding you back.

Heather Glover

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

I have spent my life struggling with anxiety and depression.  From a very early age I was labelled shy and sensitive and I believed that was who I was.  

From my early 20s I experienced bouts of depression and anxiety that it seemed I could only manage with anti-depressants.  I’ve heard from doctors that I would need to be on medication all my life.  

There was a part of me that knew different.  I’ve had so many people trying to help me in so many ways and people showing me different ways to manage my anxiety, but at some level I knew that I didn’t need to manage it.

What I didn’t really see was that it was that simple, there was nothing to do, I wasn’t broken.  I didn’t see that I was okay, with or without anxiety.  I fought so hard not to have anxiety and to not be depressed and I didn’t see that it was this fighting and stressing that was causing my suffering.  I couldn’t see that I had simply created a story in my head that I believed that said I was broken and needed fixing.

As I came into this understanding I began to really see what was happening.  I started to understand the way life works and the fact that our thinking creates our feeling.  

I joined Nicola’s 6 week program at the beginning of the first lockdown, 2020 and what a blessing that was. It took a while but I truly started to see that our thinking is how we experience the world and that is all that is ever going on.  

Nothing outside of me can cause me to feel anything.  Anxiety is caused by anxious thinking.  

This continues to blow my mind.  The thinking in my head is not me.  The times when I am anxious and have a lot of anxious thinking, I now see that this doesn’t actually stop me from doing anything or mean anything about me.  

I don’t have to feel the fear and do it anyway, I simply know at some level, even when I’m feeling really anxious, that I’m okay and that I don’t need to pay too much attention to the noise in my head.  But it’s really such a beautiful conversation because I now see that there are no rights and wrongs.

Whether I am peaceful and living in the moment, or caught up in my thinking and believing whatever is going on in my head, I am always okay, and at some point I always come back to peace.

Peace is who we truly are and our natural default, and then there is all the thinking that we do that says that this isn’t true.

If you are interested in learning more about me and my coaching, please email me at:

[email protected]

Donna Noble

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

Around 16 years ago I suffered with Bell’s Palsy, after working in a stressful corporate role.  Working long hours and catering to the demands of my stressful job with very little time for me, meant I did not have the balance I desired in my life.

It was yoga that initially allowed me to heal and to transform my life.  Leaving the corporate life and travelling to American for what should have been 9 weeks but ended up staying for 6 months. Starting to go with the flow of life. 

Does this resonate with you feeling stressed managing your life this way, feeling you have very little control of your life?  Are you overwhelmed trying to find a way that will help achieve the life that you desire and do the things you are passionate about?

Do you find that you are on a perpetual cycle of attending countless self-development, mindfulness classes/coaching or trying out the next craze of how to relax and reduce stress?

That was me too – even becoming a Master NLP Practitioner until one day in 2014 when Nicola Bird reached out to make me aware of an approach that was different.  This one conversation started me on the amazing journey to where I am today. 

With this simple understanding, a transformational new approach I was finally able to trust my innate wisdom and can say that my life has been totally revolutionised.  I was able to see that I was already unconsciously living from my innate wisdom.

No more stress and my need to control my life has fallen away organically.  I am in such a better place!  Comfortable in my own skin and engage with life more mindfully. 

Since then, I have become an ALPOM Practitioner/Coach training with Nicola Bird and John El Mokadem. 

I am so fortunate to be able to share the gift of yoga and this transformational understanding with those that are willing to discover something that will allow them to navigate life with simplicity and ease.

Click below to contact Donna for a free consultation.

emma jo mcdonald

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

My name is Emma Jo McDonald.  I am a 3 Principles/ Innate Health/ A Little Peace of Mind Practitioner. 
 
I live and I work in South Wales. 
 
I have worked in social care for many years and am a Social Worker working in a leadership role.  I am really interested in working with staff- particularly social care and health staff, to help them reconnect to the joy of their work and of life. 
 
I’m interested in working with people who have experienced burnout, who may have had a mental health diagnosis in the past or who identify as neurodivergent. 
 
I am also really interested in working with people around relationships.  If you would like to explore working with me, please get in touch.
 
 
Ring me if you need to speak to me quickly- 07967095346

 

Gerard Bradbury

A Little Peace of Mind Certified Practitioner

For many years I have travelled around in the fog of anxiety.  I could never really shake the thoughts of my addiction to alcohol at a young age.  It was a youth completely lost to that addiction.

I stumbled through what I thought was a normal life after that addiction but anxiety kept me limited in my ability to enjoy life fully and what it was offering.  Anxiety and nervousness it seemed followed my everywhere.  I had no idea that I was creating all the complexities in the world I was living.

I participated in studies on CBT.  I tried transcendental meditation hypnosis – you name it I tried it.  And finally I stumbled across Nic and ALPOM.  With Nic’s guidance I went deeper into the 3 Principles.

I am proud to say that I am a graduate of the ALPOM Practitioner Program.  I now share the simplicity of the 3 Principles with others who struggle with anxiety, stress and nervousness, in particular those with anxiety that forms around addictions.  My hope is that when people work with me, they can see and find peace at the end of the tunnel.

Click below and book a free consultation.

and the rest of the team

anna baldock

A Little Peace of Mind Community Manager

Anna experienced panic attacks and anxiety in her 20’s and started to have trouble sleeping. The anxiety and insomnia would come and go, managed by medication and avoiding certain situations and activities, but in 2011, after the birth of her daughter, both came back with a vengeance. She stopped sleeping altogether and was treated by her doctor for Post Natal Depression and chronic insomnia. She was prescribed anti depressants and sleep medication and began the long search for a cure for her insomnia. After managing her sleeplessness for years with medication, bedtime routines and rules, counselling, CBT, hypnosis, herbs, meditation and avoiding a never ending list of activities that might interfere with her ability to sleep, she stopped sleeping again in March 2019. After a week of no sleep, she was eventually taken to hospital by her husband. Unable to cope with life, she ended up living at her parents house away from her family too anxious to sleep, eat or hold a conversation.

Out of the blue she was recommended a book called ‘The Inside Out Revolution’ by Michael Neill and then stumbled across Alpom through a video of Nicola she saw on her Facebook feed. She signed up for the Little Peace of Mind program and after years of struggling to fix herself she began to gradually gain insights into how life worked and who she really was. The rules and routines that had been in place for years to control her sleep gradually began to fall away and her belief that she was somehow broken was replaced with a knowing that she was not and never could be. She is now medication free and enjoying the excitement and freedom of living a full life, no longer limited and controlled by the fear and anxiety of not sleeping. She lives happily in London with her husband and daughter, is back in her job teaching primary children and is finally fulfilling her lifelong dream to take classes in ceramics.

terri homyard

A Little Peace of Mind Customer Support

After struggling with anxiety and a severe sickness phobia on and off for 23 years, Terri wishes that she had come across Nicola sooner.  Since working as part of the ALPOM support team and being introduced to the 3 Principles via Nicola – it feels like the final part of the puzzle fell into place for her.  She now feels that she has the tools that she needs to navigate her day to day life and is enjoying her new freedom.

When Terri is not working, she loves to spend time with the people that she loves – her husband, her three terrific children, her mum and her friends.  If you ask her where her happy place is – it’s either sunbathing by a pool or at the cinema. 

Education is extremely important to Terri and she believes we should never stop learning.

sam trim

A Little Peace of Mind Operations

Sam heads up the ALPOM Operations and has been ‘around’ the 3 Principles since 2013, however, never really paid attention to how it could really help until a few years later.

As a wife and a mother of three, the Principles have helped Sam to be more understanding, to take a step back during times when her mind is busy and struggling to focus, and to trust that when she is presented with something, that she will know what she needs to do in that moment.

Sam  loves to spend time with her husband, three children and a glass of pinot noir!