Alexander Rodriguez is an accomplished counsellor & life coach with a passion to help people connect to their true purpose. Following a nervous breakdown in 2017, Alexander embarked on a personal journey of self-discovery and self-empowerment, testing the limits of his mind, body and spirit. This ultimately helped Alexander find his purpose in life. He has since dedicated his life to helping others overcome their unique challenges so they can unleash their life's purpose. To this end, Alexander works closely with people individually, in group workshops and through his podcast. His motto: Change the world one person at a time.
Alexander Rodriguez, Counsellor/Life Coach
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
Thank you for having me. I am excited to be here and I am thrilled to be part of the Brainz Magazine family. So about me, I’m Alex, counsellor & life coach, engineer & business owner, here on a mission to raise consciousness and change the world one person at a time.
I have a graduate degree in electrical engineering, and I worked as an electrical engineer for 16 years, while also working as a counsellor and building by counselling and life coaching business. I have always had a passion for self-development and, since 2017, have experimented with my mind, body, and spirit to systematically see what works and what does not work for my peak performance and maximum well-being. Having an engineering and scientific mindset helps me to find real-world, proven tools that I can use every day to be my best self. Paradoxically, I am also very spiritual and have a lot of trust in Universal flow and creation. The field of quantum mechanics is starting to bridge the gap between science and spirituality. In particular, the whole idea around manifestation and mind over matter is starting to get some scientific traction, which I am very excited about because this validates that each person is the master of their destiny.
I also have a diploma of counselling. In 2023 I finally took the plunge to move away from corporate life to running my own business as a full-time counsellor, life coach & entrepreneur. I still consult as an engineer, but my primary focus is now on helping people to overcome life’s challenges, and turn these challenges in to opportunity for growth and well-being.
Since 2021 I have had my counselling and life coaching business, however since leaving my engineering profession I have been expanding my business, learning all about being an entrepreneur and adapting to accelerated life changes.
Even though running a business has its challenges, I would not change this decision for anything. Every day, I get to work with people and help them connect with their magnificent selves.
I have 3 beautiful children. I have been divorced since 2018 and my ex-wife is one of my closest friends. Our separation was a mutual decision and very peaceful.
I am optimistic by nature and I see the best in everyone and everything, which is why I love being a counsellor, life coach and a positive change for the growth of humanity.
I am big on self-development and spend my waking hours climbing the mountain of life so that I can constantly and consistently move in to the best version of myself. I celebrate my successes, learn from my failures, and permit myself to take a break. Afterall, I cannot help anyone unless I help myself first.
In my downtime I enjoy listening to podcasts, spending alone time in quiet solitude (coffee in hand), reading (yes, I read a lot), exercising and watching science fiction or fantasy movies.
Could you share more about your journey from being an electrical engineer to becoming a counsellor and life coach? What inspired you to make this transition?
Ever since I can remember I have always wanted to help people, so I think it was always inevitable that I would move in to a healing profession. In school I wanted to be a psychologist, but I also loved technology and computers. I failed high school so I could not get in to university. I ended up getting a diploma in network support, and found a job in computer support. I never set out to do electrical engineering. While I was working in computer support, I met someone who was an electrical engineer and we became good friends. He invited me to his work (he designed televisions), and that was the first time I was introduced to engineering. I would have been around 20 years old at the time. I helped him with his designs and I found the work very interesting. I also realised that I was good at it. I love to learn new things, and by then had developed an interest in mathematics and science. Being a huge science fiction fan, I wanted to join NASA and help take humanity to the stars, so I decided to do electrical engineering.
I was 21 years old when I started university to study electrical engineering, which in Australia is old enough to get into university as a mature aged student. I remember even applying to NASA when I was studying my degree but did not get a response. I never pursued NASA, so clearly, I did not want it bad enough. When I graduated from university in 2007, I started working as an electrical engineer in building services which involved designing electrical systems for building and cities. I did not realise it at the time but this was the point when I started questioning whether engineering was the right fit for me started to be planted in my mind. The reality of the construction industry, the importance of money over quality and sustainability, the constant stress to meet deadlines and the general attitude of people around me was not inspiring. I held on until 2017 at which point I decided to completely change careers and move in to mental health. There is quite a lot behind this story, including some very pivotal moments and awakenings which happened to me that led me to this path, but those are stories for another time.
Your bio mentions that you experienced a nervous breakdown in 2017, which led you to re-assess your life and ultimately find purpose. How did this pivotal moment shape your approach to counselling and life coaching?
Yes, there were a few elements in my life at the time which led to my breakdown. I was working for an engineering consultancy company at the time that I felt was micromanaging every part of my working life, to the point where they wanted to know what I was doing in 10-minute intervals. On top of that our clients that were getting increasingly difficult to work with. I was married at the time with three young children, so I was the main support for my family and felt trapped in my work. I wanted to change careers but at the time I simply did not know how. At the same time things also started to shift between my wife and myself. Something in me was changing, or maybe to put it better, something in me was ready to be unleashed. Tension started growing at home as well. So now I felt like I had no escape from work, and no escape from home. I knew that a massive shift was about to happen in my life, I could feel it in my very core, but I had no idea what it was. Then one day I just broke down. I cried for hours, trying to understand how I got here and what I could do to escape. I distinctly remember that my wife saw me and gave me huge loving hug. This was the precise moment that I knew everything was going to be okay. I surrendered to the universe. I distinctly remember saying to myself “Okay Universe, if this what you want for me then I accept it. If this is to be my life then I will surrender to it, come what may.”
I kid you not, the very next day an opportunity came for me to change jobs and work at a different company. I went to the job interview the following day, met the owner of the company, and we got on like a house on fire. I knew that this was the best and last place I would work at as an engineer. Even now I consult for this company on the side.
After my breakdown I start thinking about a plan of action to move away from engineering. I was considering going back to university to study psychology, but that is a 6-year degree and I did not want to wait that long. I booked in to see a career counsellor to assess my options and it turned out that counselling and life coaching were real possibilities for me. All I needed to start practicing was a diploma which I could get within 18 months, and to register with the Australian Counselling Association. This was much more achievable, so I began formal counselling training.
When I started training as a counsellor, my whole world shift. I stopped seeing engineering as career and started seeing engineering as a stepping stone to move in to my true calling in life, which is to empower people and elevate human consciousness.
In 2018 it started to become very clear to both my wife and myself that we were growing apart, and we both knew it was not good enough to stay together for the sake of the children, so we decided to divorce. We both knew that this was the right decision and that we could be great friends and fantastic co-parents. I want to give a shout out my ex-wife, Liz, because she is an amazing human being, a wonderful mother and generally just a good person.
Our divorce turned out to be a blessing because we are now both living our best lives aligned with our purpose.
As someone with a background in engineering and entrepreneurship, how do you integrate creativity with practical strategies in your counselling and coaching sessions to help clients achieve tangible results?
I have a natural curiosity about life, the universe, and existence in general. I like to dive deep to understand things from first principles. This is my engineering and scientific mind. I am a strong believer that you need to be able to back up your intuition with evidence, even if that evidence is based on personal experience alone. Let me give you an example. For over 100 years (maybe longer) therapists, psychologists and coaches have known that thoughts, intentions, and emotions can manifest in to physical reality. Maxwell Maltz wrote about this in his book, ‘Psychocybertics’, which from memory was written in the 1950s. Napoleon Hill also writes about this in his famous book ‘Think And Grow Rich’, which he wrote in the 1930s. At the time there was no scientific evidence to support manifestation, however the power of manifestation was a common experiential theme with all success people. By this, I mean they all claimed to manifest their success (be it wealth, fitness or however they defined success), by starting with a success mindset.
We now know that manifestation is a real phenomenon and that thoughts, intentions, and emotions can in fact materialise in to physical reality. The placebo effect is an example of this. In quantum terms, we would call this the collapse of the probability wave function from a quantum field of infinite possibilities. Manifestation has been tested in labs by thought experiments with random number generators which quantifiably and measurably shows that mind over matter is a real thing. This is my engineering mind wanting to understand the how things work. Once again paradoxically, I am also a strong believer in intuition and that there are some things that we know work, but simply cannot explain. For example, I intuitively know that everyone is born with a purpose, and is also born with everything they need to fulfill their purpose. I also intuitively know that there is a consciousness bigger than my own from which I am a unique part of, just like every other person (and living creature) in the universe. How do I know this? Well, I cannot explain it, I simply know it, feel it, have personally experienced it and trust that what I know is true to me, even if I cannot completely understand it. Even though I have an engineering and scientific background, I am completely comfortable with the part of me that creates, understand, and intuits without scientific evidence.
So, to answer your question, the way I blend creativity with practical strategies for my counselling and life coaching clients is to wing every session I have. I do very little planning. I trust within myself that I have the knowledge, skills, and experience to help my client, so I find leaving the session open to change allows my creative juices to flow. While I do have a little structure, for example if I am dealing with anger management clients, I will go over the basic principle about how triggers can lead to certain behaviours, but for the most part I am bending the principles to the client’s reality and experience, while mixing in my own intuition and knowledge. I find this works very well because my clients will always feel heard and feel like the session is all about them. This makes their experience much more memorable and increases their likelihood to make real life changes, and it also gives me the freedom to adapt to my client’s needs. I also give a lot of practical suggestions to my clients, things that they can take home and use in everyday life.
Your work encompasses both individual sessions and group workshops focused on overcoming challenges and instilling a growth mindset. Can you elaborate on your methods and techniques for facilitating personal growth and development in these different settings?
Great question! Yes, techniques I when working with individual compared to working with groups are different. This is primarily because when I work with individuals, I can ‘tap’ in to the individuals psyche and work on a level that has a direct and personal impact on the individual. This is a little more challenging in group settings because every person is unique. What works for one person may not necessarily work on another person. So, in group workshops I take a broader approach around facilitating personal growth. Let me give you an example. I give my individual clients homework after every session so they can incorporate real work activities in to their daily lives to facilitate real change. It also holds them accountable to make real change because it is on them to do the work. In my first session with new clients a typical homework activity I give them is journalling.
Journalling, and the act of writing is a proven and effective way to release pent up emotions, feeling and thoughts. Now, journaling is not for everyone, and when I see client individually, I can pick up on whether journalling will work for them or not, and if it will not then I will give them other homework more aligned with who they are (for example listening to podcasts, creating a vision board, or even just going for a 10 minute walk each day). In group settings I am not able to ‘tap’ in to everyone individually, so my techniques for facilitating personal growth is broader. For example, I know from experience that journalling works for about 80% of my clients, so in groups I will recommend and work with journalling, but I will also include other techniques such as vision boards and even breathwork and ice baths so that if journalling does not resonate with someone, then they have other options they can try.
I also use more experience-based methods in group setting than in individual settings. For example, when I run my gut heath workshop, at the end of the workshop I do a mindful eating exercise with the group. This involves giving them a piece of fruit or almonds, and practising mindfulness as they eat it. That way they can get a first-hand experience of mindful eating, share their experience with the group, and facilities the likelihood for the individuals in the group to continue mindful eating in their daily lives. While I do incorporate experience-based activities with individual clients, I tend to use more experience-based methods in groups. Another reason is that I generally have a larger financial budget when working in group settings because I have multiple people paying rather than an individual paying, so I can afford to get more of the tools I need to bring growth and development experiences in to my client’s lives when working with groups.
You host a YouTube podcast covering various topics related to mental health, self-development, business, and leadership. What inspired you to start this podcast, and what do you hope viewers gain from tuning in?
I started my podcast in 2023 for two reasons. The first is that I want to reach a wider audience. I enjoy working with my individual and group clients, but I am limited by geography in these settings. A podcast allows me to reach a global audience so that I can help people all around the world.
The second reason is because I want to give free knowledge to people. Most of my own personal growth happened because of generous people like Andrew Huberman, Wim Hof, and Tom Bilyeu, among other great people who share content freely to the world through their podcasts, so I want to do the same. I have a lot of knowledge and experience to give and I want people to have access that knowledge and experience.
What I hope viewers gain from tuning in to my podcast is inspiration, knowledge, and tools to make real life changes. In my experience no one wants to feel depressed and unworthy, so I want to give people the tools to feel at peace with a sense of self-worth that will make them unstoppable.
How do you balance the blend of spirituality and science in your approach to counselling and life coaching, and how does this unique perspective contribute to the transformational experiences of your clients?
What a great question! Personal growth and self-development are something that needs to be experienced to be understood. It is easy to read about other people’s success, and how other people have overcome depression and suicide to now live their best selves, but fundamentally taking the steps to make real change in your own life is so much more difficult. The simple reason behind this is that most people do not have faith in themselves. It is easy to talk about making real change through meditation, journalling, removing toxic people from your life, spending at least an hour a day reading, changing diet, exercising and so on. It is also easy to talk about manifestation and how your thoughts, intentions and emotions can manifest in to your physical reality. But deep down most people do not believe it because they have not experienced it. This is where the science comes in. In my experience when I can talk people though the science of manifestation, and how there is now scientific evidence supporting manifestation, and talking people through that evidence step by step, all of the sudden things become more real to my client. The part of them that did not believe in manifestation begins to shift in to the possibility that yes, this stuff is real. That is the point when people will generally start to make real world changes because they want to ‘test’ the science for themselves. It is amazing to see how peoples lives begin to transform when they start to experience the life they want by tapping in to their inner power.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
Hmmm, that is a tough question because I do not look at my career in terms of achievements, but as a constant progression of growth in line with my life’s purpose, which is to raise consciousness and help people. When I was working in engineering, I was a fantastic engineer, possibly one of the best in the industry. I worked on thousands of buildings, across dozens of cities in countries all around the world, including a couple of landmark projects such as the Harbour Bridge in Sydney and the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart. I am quite proud of the work I did in engineering, but I think my greatest achievement so far in my career would be moving away from engineering to making real change in peoples lives through my counselling & life coaching business. This was a huge challenge for me so seeing my business take off, and seeing firsthand the difference I am making in people’s lives is the greatest achievement I have done to date. There is a lot more to come so watch this space.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
The one thing I would change would be to limit the amount of medication prescribed for mental health. While medication has its place in short term remediation, there is way too much medication being prescribed for conditions such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD to the point there many people are afraid to give up the medication because they are afraid of the repercussions and falling back in to the black hole. I do believe that medication does play a part in mental health recovery, but only as a short-term solution until the client can make real changes to their life to be able to sustain their own inner peace without needing medication. If you think about it, the human body is the ultimate pharmacy, and produces everything a person needs to maintain healthy emotional and mental regulations. I have personally had tremendous success weaning clients of medication (some of them have been on medication for over 5 years) by, for example, helping them tap in to their bodies endocrine system (hormonal regulation) with techniques such as ice baths. There is so much more research and evidence available now to support alternatives to medications to facilitate people overcoming conditions like chronic depression so that they can take back control of their lives. Unfortunately, the medical industrial complex is still playing catchup on this evidence, and are still giving out copious amounts of medications. Unfortunately, the longer it takes for the medical industry to change, the longer people will continue to feel unnecessarily helpless, suffering and relying on medications.
