The Holy Work of Integration: Radical Honesty as Nervous-System Healing

There comes a point in a woman’s inner work where she must ask herself whether she’s healing… or hiding.

When she has to consider if “working on herself” is quietly becoming another form of self-abandonment.

It happens subtly —
in the journaling,
the analyzing,
the spiritual language she’s learned to speak fluently,
the beautifully written insights that never quite turn into embodied change.

For a while, it feels like healing.
But eventually she realizes:

She’s processing instead of expressing.
Circling instead of claiming.
Understanding instead of living.

And her body knows the difference.

Because here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud:

Radical honesty is the doorway to nervous-system healing.
Not more insight. Not more processing.
Honesty.

Not the intellectual kind — the embodied kind.
The kind that shifts her breath, softens her jaw, and makes her voice tremble.
The kind that risks being real.

 
 

🌿 Spiritual Bypassing Disguised as “Self-Work”

Let’s name something audaciously:

Much of the modern self-help world encourages women to stay safe inside their minds —
processing, analyzing, writing, interpreting, assigning meaning —
while avoiding the very thing that would actually liberate them:

Telling the truth.

Truth-telling is embodied.
It involves risk.
It changes relationships.
It disrupts patterns.
It collapses the fantasy that “one day I’ll be ready.”

And processing — especially journaling — feels safer than that.

But there’s a limit to what you can heal in private.

The nervous system doesn’t regulate from another insight.
It regulates from expression, from voice, from allowing reality to be spoken.

Spiritual bypassing isn’t just “skipping the hard stuff.”
It’s using the language of healing to avoid the experience of it.

And the experience of healing is almost always… truth.

🌑 Why Your Body Doesn’t Believe Your Journal

You’ve probably felt this:

You write something deeply honest —
something raw, painful, or clarifying —
and for a moment, you feel relief.

But then nothing changes.

Your relationships don’t shift.
Your boundaries don’t hold.
Your energy doesn’t come back.
Your patterns recycle.

It’s not because you’re broken.
It’s because your nervous system hasn’t received the truth yet.

The body believes only what it hears and experiences —
not what it reads.

Talking around the truth isn’t the same as speaking it.

You can write:
“I’m exhausted.”
“I’m unhappy.”
“I’m lonely.”
“I’m done performing.”
“I want more.”

But until your body hears your voice say it —
even quietly, even once —
your system will continue bracing for the world you’ve outgrown.

Integration requires honesty.

And honesty requires expression.

🌙 The Radical Act of Speaking What You’ve Been Carrying

There is nothing more regulating than truth.

Not calming.
Not soothing.
Regulating.

Because regulation isn’t relaxation —
it’s alignment.

It’s your body saying:
“Yes. Finally. That’s what’s real.”

Honesty reorganizes your internal world
the way lightning electrifies a night sky —
sudden, illuminating, impossible to unsee.

It frees the breath.
It softens the fascia.
It settles the vigilance.
It returns you to yourself.

That is integration:
The moment your truth is no longer inside you alone.

🔥 A Body-Based Practice for Safe Truth-Telling

If your system has been trained to associate truth with danger
— conflict, abandonment, judgment, backlash —
your body may freeze at the very thought of expression.

So we begin gently.
Slowly.
Somatically.
In a way that signals:
“You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

Here is a simple, powerful practice:

1. Sit somewhere private.

The body needs secrecy before it is ready for exposure.

2. Place one hand on your chest, one on your lower belly.

Signal presence.
Signal anchoring.
Signal, “We’re doing this together.”

3. Say the truth out loud — but in a whisper.

Not the whole truth.
Not the polished truth.
Just the truth that’s been circling you.

A whisper counts.
A tremble counts.
A single sentence counts.

Your nervous system doesn’t need loud.
It needs real.

4. Notice what shifts.

Breath?
Heat?
Tears?
Softening?
Relief?
Nothing at all?

Everything is data.
Nothing is wrong.

5. Then say this: “My truth is allowed here.”

Because this is the one truth your system doesn’t yet believe —
and the one it is most desperate to learn.

🌹 Why Honesty is Integration

Integration is not the merging of old and new selves.
It is the dissolving of the false self
so the true one can stand without apology.

That requires honesty.
Not performative honesty.
Not digestible honesty.
Not spiritualized honesty.

Radical honesty.
Nervous-system honesty.
The honesty that begins in your bones
and makes its way into the air.

This is the moment where healing becomes transformation.
This is the moment where insight becomes embodiment.
This is the moment where you stop writing a life you never get to live.

🌕 THE INVITATION

There is a version of you who doesn’t whisper.

She doesn’t circle her truth; she inhabits it.
She doesn’t brace through her becoming; she is held through it.
She doesn’t analyze her power; she practices it.

If you’re reading this with a tightness in your chest or a softening in your belly…
your truth may already be trying to rise.

If you want a space where your truth won’t break you —
where it will be held, honored, and integrated —
this is the heart of REWILDED.

A sacred, steady container
for women returning to their wholeness
by telling the truth they’ve avoided
and becoming the woman their body remembers.

Explore REWILDED
The waitlist is quietly open.

You don’t need more processing.
You need more honesty.
Your body is ready for the real thing.

 

Before the Breakthrough: Why Power Isn’t Found — It’s Practiced

There’s a lie women have been fed for generations —
the lie that power arrives when we finally feel ready.

When we’re confident enough.
Healed enough.
Quiet enough.
Contained enough.

A lie that keeps women waiting on the sidelines of their own lives, whispering, “One day I’ll be brave.”
But here’s the truth your bones already know:

You will not find power without practicing it.
Power isn’t discovered. It’s embodied — one small act at a time.

This truth is not glamorous.
It isn’t the kind of “feminine empowerment” that gets wrapped in soft gold fonts and sold as instant transformation.
It is quieter.
Truer.
More honest.
And more revolutionary.

Because real power is not a performance.
It is a nervous system skill.

🌿 Power Isn’t a Personality Trait — It’s a Capacity

Most women think power is something you either have or don’t —
a confidence trait, a charismatic presence, a gift given to the chosen few.

But confidence is a byproduct, not the root.
It’s what blooms after the practice — not before.

Power is something your body learns through repetition.
It lives in your voice, your breath, your boundaries, your willingness to be seen.
It grows like muscle and memory.

You don’t wake up one day “empowered.”
You wake up after months of telling the truth in small moments,
and suddenly you realize —
your voice holds.
Your body doesn’t collapse.
You don’t apologize for existing.

That’s power.
Not the noise of it — the knowing of it.

Why Most Women Feel Powerless (and it’s not their fault)

Powerlessness isn’t a character flaw.
It’s a cultural conditioning.

We live in a world that benefits when women stay fragmented, agreeable, and self-doubting.
We were taught to be nice instead of honest, small instead of sovereign, pleasing instead of powerful.

So it’s no wonder so many women are waiting to “feel ready” before they step into their fullness.
We were trained to believe readiness precedes expression —
when in truth:

Expression is what creates readiness.
Practice is what creates power.

Power Lives in Micro-Moments — Not Grand Gestures

You don’t build power by giving a TED Talk.
You build it by telling the truth to yourself in the bathroom mirror.

You build it by saying,
“I actually don’t want to do that,”
even when your voice trembles.

You build it by noticing when your body tightens and choosing alignment over approval.

You build it when you stop abandoning yourself to keep a relationship comfortable.

Power grows in the smallest moments —
moments most people overlook
but your body remembers.

Because every act of power, no matter how tiny, tells your nervous system:
“It’s safe to be me.”

That safety is the soil.
Power is the bloom.

Practicing Power Isn’t About Being Loud — It’s About Being True

Some women equate power with aggression, dominance, or volume.
But embodied power rarely shouts.
It doesn’t posture.
It doesn’t perform.

Embodied power is presence.
It’s the electricity of a woman who has stopped abandoning herself.
It’s the quiet certainty of someone who no longer needs external permission to inhabit her own life.

Power isn’t loud.
It’s undeniable.

A Simple Practice: One Act of Power Today

Choose one of these micro-practices to begin:

• Tell the truth about what you need — even if your voice shakes.
• Say no without cushioning it.
• Take up space in a conversation.
• Pause before agreeing.
• Let someone be disappointed in you.
• Ask your body: “What do you want?” — and actually honor it.

Don’t underestimate these small actions.
They are the doorway to a different life.

Each one is a reclamation.
Each one strengthens your capacity.
Each one tells your system, “I’m allowed to live as myself.”

That is where power comes from.
Not from waiting.
Not from wishing.
From practice.

🕯 The Breakthrough Isn’t a Bolt of Lightning — It’s Accumulation

Power grows the same way trust does — quietly, consistently, through lived experience.
Your power will return the moment you stop looking for it
and start living it.

And when that moment arrives, you won’t question it.
You’ll recognize it as something ancient,
something that was never gone,
something that belonged to you all along.

 

✨ Ready to Practice Power in a Way That Changes Your Life?

If this stirred something awake in you, you’re not alone.
Most women feel the ache of their own unrealized power long before they know how to claim it.

REWILDED exists for exactly this reason.

A 6-month descent into identity reclamation, nervous system safety, and embodied authority — so you stop abandoning yourself and start inhabiting your whole life.

→ Explore REWILDED (Waitlist now open)
→ Book your Uncaging Strategy Session
→ Or read: The Radiant Authority Manifesto

Because power isn’t found.
It’s practiced.
And your practice can begin today.

The Radiant Authority Manifesto

The Radiant Authority Movement: A Sacred Revolution in Feminine Leadership

I stand for women stepping into their Radiant Authority –

a profound embodiment of leadership that emerges when a woman reclaims her full spectrum of being. This is the journey from fragmentation to integration, from performing wholeness to embodying it. This isn't just about personal transformation; it's about healing the profound wound created when women's complete expression has been systematically dimmed.

The Movement's Essence

This is a movement of women who:

Embrace both their fierce and their flowing nature. Honor their shadow and light as equal teachers. Bring their disruptive wisdom alongside their healing presence. Lead from integrated wholeness rather than fragmented perfection. Transform systems through their authentic embodiment.

The Power of Wholeness

When a woman steps into her Radiant Authority, she accesses a leadership presence that transforms everything it touches. This isn't about domination or control – it's about the natural authority that emerges when you stand fully in your truth, embracing every facet of your wild nature.

This integration of shadow and light creates a leadership presence that is:

  • Naturally magnetic rather than forcefully persuasive.

  • Boundaried without being rigid.

  • Compassionate without being depleted.

  • Disruptive where systems need challenging.

  • Nurturing where healing is required.

Sacred Leadership

The Radiant Authority movement reclaims servant leadership from its watered-down interpretations. True servant leadership – the most evidence-based effective paradigm for creating lasting change – emerges naturally from a woman who has integrated her shadow, honored her light, and stands in her sovereign power.

This leadership isn't about self-sacrifice or boundaryless giving. It's not about giving more—it's about giving from the right place. Burnout doesn't come from giving too much; it comes from giving what you don't possess. This is the profound expansion that occurs when a woman leads from her natural wholeness, creating containers where others can safely transform.

Energetic Stewardship

At the heart of Radiant Authority lies a profound truth: a woman who walks in this power takes energetic responsibility for stewarding what is uniquely hers to bring life to in the world.

This sacred stewardship means:

Recognizing the specific gifts she's been entrusted with. Taking full responsibility for nurturing her vision into being. Honoring the energetic agreement she has with her purpose. Seeing her leadership as a sacred covenant with life itself. Understanding that her voice carries medicine the world needs.

This isn't the heavy burden of perfectionism or the scattered energy of trying to be everything to everyone. It's the clear, aligned commitment to tend what has been placed in her care – to bring her particular medicine with the full force of her integrated being.

The Ripple Effect

As women step into their Radiant Authority:

They model integration for those they lead. Their authentic presence creates permission for others' wholeness. Their boundaried compassion transforms systems of power. Their sacred witnessing unlocks the shadow cages of those they guide. Their wild wisdom creates new possibilities for collective transformation.

The Sacred Invitation

This movement is built on five core principles:

Integration Over Fragmentation – We refuse to compartmentalize ourselves to fit into others' comfort zones. All parts of us—shadow and light, fierce and flowing, wild and wise—are sacred.

Cyclical Over Linear – We honor our natural rhythms in a world designed for constant output. We trust organic timing over manufactured urgency.

Embodied Over Performed – We show up in our authentic complexity rather than curated perfection. Our presence is our power.

Wholeness Over Worthiness – We don't prove our value through productivity or perfection. We claim our inherent wholeness as our birthright.

Wild Knowing Over External Authority – We trust our bodies, our intuition, our cyclical wisdom over experts telling us how we "should" be.

This is the journey from fragmentation to integration, from performing wholeness to embodying it. From living in acceptable fragments to standing fully in your sacred nature.

The Movement's Promise

As women step into their Radiant Authority, they create leadership paradigms that honor both service and sovereignty, disruption and nurturing, shadow and light. This integrated leadership becomes a powerful force for transformation – not just in individual lives but in communities, organizations, and systems that have long been shaped by fragmented power.

This isn't just about women becoming leaders – it's about redefining leadership itself through the embodiment of wild, sacred, radiant authority.

 

Ready to step into your Radiant Authority? Explore how the REWILDED coaching experience guides women through this profound transformation, or join the conversation in Root & Ritual where women are reclaiming their complete expression together.

What If Everything You're Feeling Is Your Medicine?

Note: Episode 30 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

What if everything you've been trying to control, manage, and perfect about yourself is actually an invitation?

What if the rage you're working so hard to calm is medicine? What if the grief you're trying to transcend is a portal? What if the sensations you've learned to override are actually your body speaking its most sacred wisdom?

In our culture, we're taught to treat our bodies as projects. Something to optimize, discipline, improve. We learn early that feeling too much makes us weak, dramatic, uncontrolled. We're rewarded for keeping it together, for pushing through, for being in control.

But what if the real power lies not in being in control, but in being with?

The Descent

There's a word I recently learned from Raphaëlle Normandin that keeps echoing in me: descent.

Not the kind of descent that means falling or failing. The sacred kind. The kind that cracks you open and unravels who you thought you had to be so you can become who you actually are.

Raphaëlle describes her own descent beginning the moment her first son was born—time stopping, everything softening, being cracked wide open not just physically but spiritually. For the first time, she slowed down enough to listen to her body, her baby, her instincts.

Many of us have experienced these threshold moments. Birth, loss, illness, heartbreak—times when our carefully constructed armor simply couldn't hold anymore. Times when we had no choice but to feel.

And in those moments, we discover something revolutionary: our bodies are not problems to fix. They're portals.

From Control to Presence

We spend so much energy trying to be in control. Control our emotions, control our responses, control how others perceive us, control the outcomes.

But Raphaëlle invites us into something different: the power of being with.

Being with our rage instead of trying to transcend it. Being with our grief instead of rushing to heal it. Being with the trembling in our bodies instead of calming it down.

She offers a practice so simple it almost sounds too easy:

Lay on the floor. Breathe. Let your body tremble. Don't try to calm it. Ask: "What wants to be felt right now?" And then... feel.

This is sacred work.

Not because it's elaborate or requires special tools or training. But because it requires us to release the one thing our culture has trained us to grip most tightly: control.

Everything You're Feeling Is Your Medicine

In this week's episode of Moon & Fire, Raphaëlle shares something that stopped me in my tracks: "Even our rage can be devotional."

What if the feelings we've been taught to suppress—rage, grief, raw desire—are not evidence that something is wrong with us, but invitations to come home to ourselves?

What if your body isn't betraying you when it trembles, when it resists, when it refuses to perform? What if it's actually guiding you toward what you most need to feel, to know, to become?

Raphaëlle describes the body as a "sacred calendar"—with its own rhythms, its own seasons, its own wisdom about when to expand and when to contract, when to feel and when to rest.

When we honor this, we stop betraying ourselves. We stop pushing. And we begin to belong to ourselves in a way the world can't touch.

The Invitation

If you're exhausted from trying to fix yourself, from managing and controlling and perfecting, this conversation is for you.

If you're ready to discover your body as a portal rather than a project, this is your invitation.

Listen to my full conversation with Raphaëlle Normandin on Moon & Fire: "Sacred Descent: The Power of Being With, Not In Control." (Check it out below 👇)

Because maybe—just maybe—the way forward isn't through more control. It's through the sacred descent of finally letting yourself feel.

 

What would shift if you stopped trying to fix yourself and started listening instead? I'd love to hear your thoughts—share them with me via email: emily@wholeandwild.com

Listen to Episode 30:

EPISODE 30 SHOW NOTES

Episode #30: "Sacred Descent: The Power of Being With, Not In Control with Raphaëlle Normandin”

Brief Description:

In this powerful conversation, Emily sits down with Raphaëlle Normandin to explore what it means to initiate back into our bodies—not through performance or perfection, but through sensation, slowness, and shadow. Raphaëlle shares her journey of being cracked wide open at her son's birth, describing it as a sacred descent and unraveling from who she had been into who she was becoming.

You'll discover why everything we're feeling is not too much but our medicine, how to shift from being in control to being with what arises, and why even our rage can be devotional. Raphaëlle guides us through her simple floor practice—laying down, breathing, letting the body tremble, and asking "what wants to be felt right now?"—revealing why allowing the trembling rather than calming it is sacred work. She opens up about releasing her armor and discovering that true strength doesn't hustle but trusts.

This conversation offers permission for women ready to feel what they've been taught to suppress—rage, grief, pleasure—and meet themselves there with reverence. Perfect for anyone who's tired of treating their body as a project and ready to discover it as the portal it truly is.

Key Quotes:

Invitations from this episode:

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The Exhaustion of Independence: Why We're Starving for Village

Note: Episode 29 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

There's an exhaustion I keep witnessing in the women around me. Not just the tired-from-a-long-day kind. The deeper kind. The kind that comes from carrying everything yourself.

Managing the household, showing up for work, being present for relationships, maintaining your wellness practices, handling the emotional labor, remembering all the details, holding it all together.

We're so good at it. We've learned to be efficient, capable, independent. We pride ourselves on not needing help, on figuring it out, on handling our own stuff.

But here's what I keep wondering: What if we were never meant to do it all ourselves?

The Individual Paradigm Is Breaking Us

We live in a culture that worships independence. Self-made. Self-sufficient. Self-reliant.

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Don't be a burden. Prove your worth through what you can accomplish alone.

These messages run so deep we don't even question them anymore. We just keep pushing, keep managing, keep trying to be consistent and show up the same way every single day regardless of what our bodies, our cycles, or our souls are asking for.

And we wonder why we're so tired.

But what if the problem isn't that you're not doing enough or not strong enough or not disciplined enough?

What if the problem is that you're trying to thrive in a paradigm that was never designed for collective beings living cyclical lives?

We Were Meant for Village

Our ancestors lived in villages. Not because they were less capable or more dependent, but because they understood something we've forgotten: we are not meant to do life alone.

Raising children, caring for elders, managing households, creating and working, celebrating and grieving—these were always communal experiences. There were hands to help, eyes to witness, hearts to share the load.

The village wasn't a luxury. It was how humans were designed to live.

Somewhere along the way, we lost this. We traded village for isolation, collective wisdom for individual achievement, interdependence for independence.

And now we're drowning in the effort of trying to be everything to everyone while our souls are starving for genuine connection.

From Doing to Being

Here's what struck me most in this week's conversation on Moon & Fire: calling village back into being is less about what we do and more about who we're being.

It's not another thing to add to your to-do list. It's not about organizing more events or joining more groups or forcing community to happen.

It's about releasing the grip on control and trusting sacred nudges. It's about shifting from relational mistrust to openness. It's about honoring cyclical rhythms rather than forcing constant productivity.

It's about remembering that the constructs of proving our worth through forceful pushing, of having to do everything ourselves, of being valued only for what we produce—these don't serve us. They never did.

What Becomes Possible

When we begin to shift from the individual paradigm to remembering our village nature, something magical happens.

Ease. Freedom. Relaxation. Magic.

Not because life suddenly becomes perfect or simple, but because we stop carrying everything alone. We stop betraying our cyclical nature to fit into linear expectations. We stop forcing ourselves into boxes we were never meant to inhabit.

We remember that we're allowed to need each other. That interdependence isn't weakness—it's wisdom.

The Invitation

If you're exhausted from trying to do it all yourself, if you're craving deeper connection, if some part of you remembers that there's another way to live—this conversation is for you.

Listen to this week's episode of Moon & Fire: "We Were Meant for Village: Creating Community Through Being, Not Doing" with Emily Race-Newmark (check it out below 👇)

Because maybe what you're craving isn't just rest or a better schedule or more discipline.

Maybe what you're craving is village.

 

What's your relationship with community right now? Are you trying to do it all alone, or are you finding ways to call village back into being? I'd love to hear—share your thoughts with me by email - emily@wholeandwild.com.

Listen to Episode 29:

EPISODE 29 SHOW NOTES

Episode #29: "We Were Meant for Village: Creating Community Through Being, Not Doing with Emily Race-Newmark”

Brief Description:

In this inspiring conversation, Emily sits down with Emily Race-Newmark to explore "revillaging"—the practice of returning to a village paradigm and creating the community connection we're truly meant for. Emily shares her beautiful story of trusting intuition to find their home, including the moment she felt nudged to make muffins for neighbors, which led to discovering their perfect house through prayer, ritual, and following sacred inner wisdom.

You'll discover why community building is more about who we're being than what we're doing, how revillaging is a creative, relational, and spiritual practice that honors our cyclical nature, and what her "moon school" experiment looks like—gathering families around new and full moons. Emily helps us understand why the constructs of doing it all ourselves or proving our worth through forceful pushing do not serve us, and how releasing relational mistrust opens us to the village life we're destined for.

This conversation offers guidance for women feeling isolated and overwhelmed by trying to do everything alone, and provides a vision for calling community back into being through cyclical wisdom, ritual practices, and feminine receiving. Perfect for anyone feeling called to build community but unsure where to start, or ready to shift from the depleting individual paradigm to collective connection.

Key Quotes:

  1. "We were meant to live, age, raise children, and be part of a community, a village, and this isn't something of a far away country or time."

  2. “If you want the village, if you want community, you actually don't have to do a bunch of things. It's not about more action steps and to-do lists. It's more about honestly shifting to the state of being a villager."

  3. "Village is this thing that we actually have around us right now and we just need to kind of tap into that frequency and that existence that's already here."

  4. "What I need is what the earth needs and I can actually just like make this my lifestyle to address all of my values and what I care about."

  5. "That was rebillaging kind of in a nutshell—what would have been a transactional experience became this really relational experience."

  6. "An experimental mindset is a really helpful paradigm shift—everything doesn't have to be perfect. If only two people show up that wasn't a failure. What did I learn in that process?"

  7. "The shift she made was I'm actually going to pause, say hi, make eye contact with my barista. Maybe ask their name. That does nothing. It's not additional work. It's just a shift in who she's being."

  8. "We're trying to live within an individual paradigm when we're actually meant for a collective one."

  9. "We now are like parenting together. Our children are not siloed. We're all jumping in as like one collective parent body."

  10. "There's great loss when we miss out on the wisdom that can come through our differentness and the perspectives that we wouldn't have accessed."

Invitations from this episode:

Practice Being a Villager This Week Choose one daily routine moment (getting coffee, grocery shopping, walking the dog) and shift from doing mode to "villager being" mode—make eye contact, say hello, ask someone's name, be present with the people already around you.

The Experimental Mindset Challenge Try one small revillaging experiment this month without attachment to outcome—bake something for a neighbor, start a conversation at the park, leave a note, host a simple gathering—and observe what you learn, regardless of the result.

Answer the Question: Who Am I as a Villager? Journal or reflect on what you would offer your village (not based on your job title, but on what lights you up, what you want to learn, what you love to share).

The Sacred Pause Practice After planting any intention or seed (whether for community, a project, or a dream), practice the pause—trust what you've planted before rushing to the next action step.

Connect with Emily Race-Newmark

  • Follow her on Substack (Emily Cares) or Instagram (@RevillagingMama)

  • Explore Emily’s one-on-one offering "Revillage Your Life"

  • Join The Third Space community for group revillaging practice

Check out Emily's offers here

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The Ancient Art of Making Magic from What You Already Have

Note: Episode 28 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

When I was seven years old, I spent entire afternoons in the backyard making "soup."

Not the kind you eat, mind you. The kind you make with whatever you can find - dandelion stems, flower petals, interesting rocks, water from the hose, maybe some dirt for texture. I'd gather my ingredients with the seriousness of an alchemist, mixing and stirring with complete absorption, convinced I was creating something genuinely magical.

My mother would watch from the kitchen window as I crouched in the grass, lost in this work of combining, transforming, infusing ordinary things with intention and wonder.

Looking back now, I realize I wasn't just playing. I was practicing something ancient and essential - the fundamental human impulse to take what we have and create something meaningful from it.

The Question I Know You're Asking

Over the past few weeks, I've been sharing about resonance work on my podcast - the practice of attuning to your deepest purpose, learning to recognize your body's wisdom about what truly aligns, and trusting your resonant yeses and dissonant nos.

The teachings have resonated deeply. Women are waking up to the truth that this work isn't luxury - it's actually the most productive thing we can do.

But I also know what happens when we hear about practices like this. There's a voice that immediately shows up - sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly - asking:

"This sounds beautiful, but when am I supposed to do this? I can barely keep up with what's already on my plate."

I know this voice intimately. I've heard it in my own head countless times.

We've been taught that meaningful spiritual practice requires carved-out time. A meditation cushion. A quiet room. Thirty uninterrupted minutes. Ideal conditions that most of us never actually have.

So we wait. We tell ourselves we'll start when things calm down, when we have more space, when circumstances align.

But what if everything we've been taught about how to do this work is keeping us from actually doing it?

The Soup-Making Wisdom

That little girl making soup in the backyard understood something crucial: you don't need special ingredients to create magic. You need presence with what you already have.

She wasn't waiting for the "right" materials or the "perfect" recipe. She was working with dandelions and dishwater and discovering what happened when she brought intention to the ordinary.

This is exactly what I want to invite you into with your resonance work, your spiritual practice, your connection to purpose.

Not as something separate from your life that requires special time and space, but as something you weave into what you're already doing.

You're already brushing your teeth. Making tea. Driving to work. Preparing meals. Washing your face. Moving through transitions between activities.

These aren't interruptions to your sacred work. They're the ingredients.

The Myth We Need to Release

There's a pervasive belief that transformation happens in grand gestures - in weekend retreats, in elaborate rituals, in dedicated practice time that we carve out from our "regular" lives.

And while those experiences can be beautiful and powerful, they're not where sustainable transformation actually lives.

Sustainable transformation happens in the accumulation of small moments of consciousness, woven consistently through your days.

It happens when you stop treating your spiritual work as something separate from your life and start infusing your life with spiritual presence.

It happens when you bring a different quality of attention to what you're already doing, rather than waiting for the perfect conditions to begin.

What Layering Actually Looks Like

I call this practice "layering" - taking something you're already doing and adding a layer of intentionality, awareness, or meaning to it.

You're already making your morning coffee. What if, while the water heats, you placed a hand on your heart and asked: "What does my purpose need from me today?" What if you stirred an intention into that beverage - literally visualizing a quality you want to embody dissolving into the liquid like honey?

You're already brushing your hair. What if you used that repetitive, rhythmic motion to consciously braid in what you want to call forward and brush out what you're ready to release?

You're already brushing your teeth twice a day for two minutes. What if that became your built-in time for a resonance check-in about a decision you're facing?

You're already moving through transitions all day long - between home and work, between tasks, between activities. What if those threshold moments became opportunities for one conscious breath, one brief check-in with your alignment?

You haven't added anything to your schedule. You haven't created a new obligation. You've simply brought more of yourself to something you were doing anyway.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Here's what I've discovered in my own life and witnessed in the lives of the women I work with:

The practices that stick aren't the ones we do in addition to our lives. They're the ones we weave into the fabric of our days.

When we stop waiting for ideal conditions and start bringing presence to the moments we already have, something shifts. Our ordinary activities become doorways. Our daily routines become rituals. Our mundane tasks become vehicles for transformation.

The tea you're drinking becomes a reminder of your intention. The drive to work becomes an opportunity to attune to your resonance. The act of washing your face becomes a ceremony of releasing what isn't yours to carry.

You're not just going through the motions. You're creating meaning. You're practicing presence. You're strengthening the very muscles of consciousness that allow you to recognize and honor your deepest alignment.

The Invitation

This week on the Moon & Fire podcast, I'm diving deep into exactly how to do this - sharing specific practices for braiding resonance into your hair, stirring intention into your tea, brushing awareness into your teeth, and weaving consciousness into every ordinary moment of your day.

These aren't vague concepts. They're practical, accessible practices you can begin using immediately, without adding a single thing to your already-full schedule.

But more than that, I'm inviting you into a fundamental reorientation:

Your sacred work doesn't require more time. It requires more presence in the time you already have.

You don't need to wait until life calms down or circumstances align. You can begin right now, with what's in your hands, with the very next ordinary moment.

That little girl making soup in the backyard? She knew that the magic wasn't in having special ingredients. The magic was in the attention she brought, the intention she held, the consciousness she wove into the act of gathering and combining and creating.

You have everything you need already. The raw ingredients are all around you.

The question isn't whether you have time for resonance work. The question is: are you willing to bring resonance to the time you already have?

Ready to learn the specific practices? Listen to this week's Moon & Fire podcast episode: "Braiding Resonance Into Your Days: Making Sacred Work Accessible" (check it out below). I share detailed practices for layering consciousness into your morning beverage, hair care, transitions, meals, and more - all without adding a single minute to your schedule.

And if you're navigating a major life transition right now - if you're at a threshold between who you've been and who you're becoming - these layering practices become even more essential. They're how you maintain your connection to yourself and your purpose while everything else is shifting.

 

What's one activity you already do every day that could become a vehicle for your sacred work? I'd love to hear what you discover when you start bringing consciousness to the ordinary.

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Listen to Episode 28:

EPISODE 28 SHOW NOTES

Episode #28: "Braiding Resonance Into Your Days: Making Sacred Work Accessible”

Brief Description:

What if your most powerful spiritual practice didn't require carved-out time, but instead happened while you're brushing your teeth, making your morning tea, or driving to work?

In this episode, I explore the practice of "layering"—bringing intention and awareness to the activities you're already doing every day. Drawing on my childhood love of making "soups" from gathered ingredients, I share how to take the raw materials of your ordinary moments and infuse them with meaning.

You'll learn specific practices for stirring intention into your beverages, braiding awareness into your hair, weaving resonance into transitions, and creating consciousness from the breath between activities. These aren't additions to your already-full life—they're ways to transform what you're already doing into sacred practice.

Plus, I share why these practices become especially essential when you're navigating major life transitions, and invite you to tomorrow's free Sacred Passage workshop.

Key Quotes:

  1. On the fundamental human impulse: "We're all born with this capacity. Watch any toddler with a spoon and a bowl, and you'll see them naturally stirring, mixing, combining. There's something deeply satisfying about taking ingredients - whether they're herbs and water or moments and meaning - and creating something that's more than the sum of its parts."

  2. On the myth of separate practice: "We treat our most important work as something separate from our daily lives, something that requires special conditions we don't currently have. But the most sustainable, transformative practices aren't the ones we do separately from our lives. They're the ones we weave into the fabric of our days."

  3. On what layering means: "Layering means bringing conscious intention to that moment - maybe stirring in a quality you want to embody that day, maybe using those few minutes while the water heats to check in with your resonance. You haven't added anything to your schedule. You haven't created a new obligation. You've simply brought more of yourself to something you were doing anyway."

  4. On stirring intention: "This isn't just metaphorical. You're programming your nervous system, creating an embodied association between this daily act and the quality you're invoking. You're making meaning out of the mundane."

  5. On braiding awareness: "Hair has long been associated with power, intuition, and connection to the divine feminine. When you tend to your hair, you're tending to these energies. With each cross of hair, you're creating a physical manifestation of what you're calling in."

  6. On transition moments: "These transition moments are already happening dozens of times a day. We're not adding anything - we're just bringing consciousness to the spaces between, turning them into opportunities for attunement rather than mindless rushing."

  7. On the breath between: "This single breath becomes a reset button. It's a micro-pause that interrupts the momentum of unconscious rushing and creates a tiny space for presence. You're no longer careening from one thing to the next on autopilot. You're creating conscious transitions, tiny doorways of awareness."

  8. On the accumulation of small moments: "Transformation doesn't happen in grand gestures. It happens in the accumulation of small moments of consciousness, woven consistently through your days. These aren't frivolous add-ons to your 'real' work. These are how the real work happens - not in addition to your life, but infused into the fabric of your life."

  9. On taking raw ingredients: "You're taking the raw ingredients of your ordinary day - tea, hair, teeth, transitions, breath - and creating something nourishing, something that feeds your soul while you're feeding your body, that attunes you to purpose while you're moving through practical tasks. This is the soup-making impulse grown up."

  10. On the core invitation: "Your resonance work doesn't require more time. It requires more presence. It doesn't need special conditions. It needs your willingness to bring consciousness to what you're already doing. You don't have to wait until life calms down or circumstances align. You can begin right now, with what's in your hands, with the very next ordinary moment."

Call to Action:

Choose one layering practice this week and notice what happens when you bring consciousness to something you're already doing.

TO ACCESS EPISODE RESOURCE GUIDES 👇

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The Quiet Revolution: When Your Most Important Work Looks Like Nothing

Note: Episode 27 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

There's a particular kind of exhaustion I witness in the women I work with—not the tiredness that comes from hard work, but the bone-deep depletion that arrives when we've been moving in directions that don't actually align with who we are.

These are capable, accomplished women. They're doing all the "right" things. Their calendars are full. Their to-do lists are color-coded. They're showing up, delivering, performing.

And they're dying inside.

Not from laziness. Not from lack of discipline. But from a profound disconnection from what I call their resonance—that deep internal knowing about what truly aligns with their purpose and what doesn't.

The Productivity Trap

We live in a culture obsessed with visible productivity. We measure our worth by our output, our value by our busyness, our success by what we can point to and say "I did that."

This creates a particular trap for women: we learn to prioritize what looks productive over what's actually generative. We choose the impressive opportunity over the aligned one. We say yes to what makes sense on paper while ignoring the quiet "no" in our bodies. We chase achievement while our souls are whispering "this isn't your path."

The result? We expend enormous energy moving in directions that take us further from ourselves rather than closer to our purpose.

What Is Resonance?

In physics, resonance happens when something vibrates at its natural frequency. Strike a tuning fork, and another tuning fork of the same frequency will begin to vibrate too—without being touched. They're in resonance.

Your being has a natural frequency too. It's the unique vibration of your authentic essence, your true purpose, your soul's calling.

When an opportunity, relationship, or direction matches that frequency, you feel it in your body—not as excitement or preference, but as a deeper, quieter certainty. An expansion. An opening. A sense of "yes, this is mine to do."

When something is misaligned, your body contracts. There's a tightening, a sense of something being off, even if you can't articulate why.

Most of us have learned to override these signals entirely.

The Work That Looks Like Nothing

Here's what resonance work actually looks like:

  • Pausing before responding to an opportunity to ask "does this align with my purpose?"

  • Sitting quietly to feel into whether something expands or contracts your energy

  • Saying no to something lucrative because it doesn't match your soul's frequency

  • Choosing the path that feels right in your body over the one that looks best on paper

In a productivity-obsessed world, this looks like doing nothing. It looks like being indecisive. It looks like a luxury we can't afford.

But I want to challenge this entirely: What if resonance work isn't a luxury at all, but actually the most productive thing you could possibly do?

Why This Matters More Than You Think

When you skip the work of attuning to your resonance and just push forward with what seems productive, several things happen:

You waste enormous amounts of time and energy on things that don't actually serve your purpose. You pursue opportunities that look good but leave you feeling hollow. You build a life that's impressive on the outside but misaligned on the inside.

Most critically, you disconnect from your internal compass—the very thing that could guide you toward what you're actually meant to do in the world.

But when you learn to recognize and honor your resonance:

  • Your energy becomes renewable rather than depletable

  • Your impact exponentially increases because you're working from genuine alignment

  • You make better decisions because you're listening to your body's wisdom

  • You attract opportunities that actually match your frequency

  • You navigate life's transitions with clarity rather than confusion

This isn't theoretical. This is how transformation actually works.

The Challenge of Real Barriers

I want to be honest about something: while resonance work is essential rather than luxury, there are real systemic barriers that make this work incredibly difficult for many women to access.

When you're in survival mode—working multiple jobs, unsure how you'll pay rent, every decision constrained by immediate economic necessity—the ability to pause and attune to resonance faces genuine obstacles. These barriers aren't in your head. They're material, structural, and deeply unjust.

I've spent years working alongside families navigating what researcher Ruby Payne calls "the culture of poverty," and I've seen how economic marginalization creates very real constraints around this essential work.

But here's what I've also witnessed: even in survival contexts, the capacity for resonance remains alive. It might express differently—choosing which of two necessary jobs leaves you slightly less depleted, noticing which relationships drain versus nourish you even when you can't immediately change circumstances. The work becomes harder, but your body's wisdom about alignment doesn't disappear.

Resonance work belongs to all of us, regardless of our economic circumstances. Your purpose doesn't care about your bank account. Your body's knowing about what aligns with your truth isn't reserved for women with financial cushions.

The practice might look different based on your circumstances, the pace might vary, the support needed might differ—but your resonance? That's yours, and it's calling you home.

Beginning the Practice

You don't need elaborate rituals or extended meditation sessions to begin reconnecting with your resonance. You need moments of conscious attention woven into choices you're already making.

Before your next decision—whether it's accepting an invitation, pursuing an opportunity, or simply choosing how to spend your afternoon—try this:

Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly. Take three deep breaths. Bring the decision to mind and notice: Does your body expand or contract? Does your breath deepen or shorten? Does energy move toward this option or away from it?

Trust what you feel before your mind starts analyzing.

This simple practice—repeated consistently—begins to recalibrate your internal compass. What once felt subtle becomes clearer. What seemed uncertain becomes trustworthy.

The Sacred Passages Connection

This work becomes especially crucial during life's major transitions—those threshold moments when we're crossing from one chapter into another.

Whether you're stepping into motherhood, changing careers, ending or beginning relationships, or entering a new season of life, these passages require a kind of discernment that goes beyond logic. They demand that we attune to what's resonant, trust what our bodies know, and follow a path that can't always be justified on paper.

Resonance work is how we navigate these sacred passages with wisdom rather than just willpower. It's how we release what no longer serves and receive what's trying to emerge. It's what transforms transitions from something to white-knuckle through into initiations that deepen our power.

The Invitation

Your resonance is not a luxury to get to eventually, after all the "real" work is done.

It's the most real work there is.

It's the work of coming home to yourself. Of trusting the wisdom your body already carries. Of aligning your outer life with your inner truth. Of moving through the world in ways that feel generative rather than depleting.

The world doesn't need more of your exhausted, misaligned hustle.

It needs what you came here to offer when you're operating from genuine alignment rather than should-driven obligation.

It needs your resonant yes.

Want to go deeper into this work? I explore resonance in much greater depth in the latest Moon & Fire podcast episode, including:

  • The actual science of resonance and why your body knows what your mind doesn't

  • How to create energetic boundaries that protect your alignment

  • The connection between resonance work and navigating major life transitions

  • A complete Resonance Check-In ritual you can begin using today

  • Why this work is productive rather than indulgent (and how to explain that to the skeptics in your life)

And if you're sensing you're at a threshold—approaching or moving through a significant life transition—join me for a free workshop on Sacred Passage where we'll explore how resonance work becomes the key to navigating these moments with clarity and power. Learn more and register here →

 

What's one decision you could bring to the Resonance Check-In practice this week? I'd love to hear what you discover when you start trusting your body's wisdom about what aligns with your deepest purpose.

Listen to Episode 27:

EPISODE 27 SHOW NOTES

Episode #27: "The Resonance Within: Why Your Most Productive Work Feels Like Doing Nothing”

Brief Description:

You've been taught that real work is measurable, visible, productive. But what about the work of attuning to your deepest purpose? What about pausing to ask "does this resonate?" before saying yes?

In this episode, I explore why resonance work—the practice of recognizing your body's wisdom about what aligns with your purpose—isn't a luxury but the most productive work available to you. I address the real systemic barriers that make this work harder for women in survival contexts, while affirming that your capacity for resonance belongs to you regardless of your circumstances.

You'll learn why your dissonant nos matter as much as your resonant yeses, how this work moves you through life's sacred passages, and a simple Resonance Check-In ritual you can begin using today. Plus, I share how resonance work connects to navigating major life transitions with clarity and power.

Key Quotes:

  1. On the misconception of productivity: "We've been taught to believe that resonance work is a luxury. We think it's something we can get to eventually, after all the 'real' work is done. But what if this belief is not just wrong, but backwards?"

  2. On recognizing resonance: "Resonance is quieter, deeper, more certain. It's the difference between 'I think I should do this' and 'I cannot not do this.' It's the difference between 'this would be good for my career' and 'this feeds something essential in me.'"

  3. On the cost of skipping this work: "When we skip resonance work and just push forward with what seems productive, we end up exhausted, depleted, and often moving in directions that don't actually serve our deepest purpose. We expend enormous energy doing things that don't align with our true work in the world."

  4. On systemic barriers: "The barriers aren't in your head - they're material, structural, and deeply unjust. When you're exhausted from working multiple shifts, when every choice is about immediate survival rather than alignment, when the capacity to honor your dissonant nos when you need any income at all is your reality - it might honestly take a kind of bone-deep courage that requires being surrounded by a supportive community to enact."

  5. On universal access to resonance: "The truth is that resonance work belongs to all of us, regardless of our economic circumstances. It's not reserved for women with financial cushions or flexible schedules. Your body's wisdom about what aligns with your purpose doesn't disappear because you're navigating survival."

  6. On renewable energy: "Work that aligns with your resonance might be challenging, but it doesn't drain you in the same way that misaligned work does. You can sustain it longer. You recover faster. You don't wake up dreading it."

  7. On the productivity paradox: "Resonance work is productive because it's how we navigate the sacred passages of our lives. It's how we move from where we are to where we're meant to be. It's how we discover and step into our true work in the world."

  8. On energetic boundaries: "When you honor your resonance and create boundaries that protect it, you don't become selfish or closed off. You actually become more generous and open - because you're giving from a place of genuine alignment rather than depleted obligation."

  9. On navigating transitions: "Resonance work is what allows us to move through these sacred passages with grace rather than resistance. It's what helps us release what no longer serves and receive what's trying to emerge. It's what transforms transitions from something to survive into initiations that deepen our power and clarity."

  10. On the core invitation: "The world doesn't need more of your depleted, misaligned hustle. It needs your resonant yes. It needs what you came here to offer when you're operating from genuine alignment rather than should-driven obligation."

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The Exhaustion You Can't Explain: Why Your Beautiful Routines Aren't Saving You

Note: Episode 24 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

You have a morning routine. Maybe it's beautiful—candles lit before dawn, journal pages filled with gratitude, a meditation cushion that knows the shape of your body. You're doing the things. The right things. The things that successful, spiritual, grounded women do.

So why are you still so tired?

This is the question that keeps showing up in my work with women. They arrive with elaborate self-care practices, color-coded calendars, and impressive discipline. They've read the books, taken the courses, optimized their visible habits down to the minute. And yet, something fundamental still feels off.

Here's what I've discovered: The problem isn't your visible habits. It's the invisible ones.

The Habits Running Underneath

Visible habits are easy to identify. They're the practices you track, the routines you follow, the behaviors you can measure and adjust. Morning meditation. Evening walks. Meal prep Sundays. These are important, and I'm not suggesting you abandon them.

But underneath these visible practices, there's an entirely different layer of habits operating—patterns so automatic you might not even realize they're there:

  • The way you override your body when it signals for rest

  • How you force rhythms that worked for a past version of you but don't fit anymore

  • The performance of productivity instead of the honoring of presence

  • Saying yes before you check in with what's actually true

  • Making yourself smaller to keep others comfortable

These invisible habits are running the show. And no amount of optimizing your morning routine will touch them.

The Pattern I Keep Witnessing

A woman comes to me depleted. She's tried everything—better boundaries, more self-care, stricter routines, looser structures. Nothing creates lasting change because she's trying to solve an invisible problem with visible solutions.

We sit together, and I ask her to notice what's happening beneath the exhaustion. Not what she's doing, but how she's doing it. Not her schedule, but her relationship to it.

That's when we discover it: She's been overriding her body's signals for so long she doesn't even register them anymore. She's forcing a rhythm that served her five years ago but doesn't fit her current life. She's performing wellness rather than actually experiencing it.

The visible habits looked perfect. But the invisible ones were the real problem.

Why Awareness Changes Everything

Here's the paradox: you can't change what you can't see. But the moment you become conscious of an invisible habit, it begins to lose its power over you.

I'm not suggesting you need to immediately transform every unconscious pattern. That's neither realistic nor necessary. What I am offering is this: What if the first step toward the ease you're seeking is simply learning to see what's actually running your life?

In this week's Moon & Fire podcast episode, I walk you through:

  • How to identify your own invisible habits in real-time

  • The most common unconscious patterns I see in women (and why they developed)

  • A simple practice you can begin using today to interrupt these patterns

  • Why awareness itself is transformative medicine

This isn't another productivity hack or self-optimization strategy. It's an invitation to stop fighting your intuitive flow and start trusting it. To stop performing your life and start living it.

The Invitation

Some of my bread and butter as a ritual and rhythm coach is the power that gets unlocked when women stop fighting their intuitive flow and allow themselves to navigate their lives with the ease of natural presence rather than performed productivity.

Your beautiful morning routine isn't the problem. Your discipline and dedication aren't wrong. But if you're exhausted despite doing everything "right," something deeper is asking for your attention.

Listen to the full episode to discover what might be running underneath your visible habits, and learn the simple practice that can begin to shift everything.

Because you deserve to feel as good as your routines look.

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 24:

EPISODE 24 SHOW NOTES

Episode #24: "The Habits You Can't See: Why Your Invisible Patterns Are Keeping You Exhausted”

Brief Description:

You meditate, journal, meal prep, and follow all the wellness advice. You're checking every box. So why do you feel so depleted? In this episode, I explore the crucial distinction between visible habits (the routines we track and optimize) and invisible habits (the unconscious patterns that are actually exhausting us). Through examples from my work as a ritual and rhythm coach, I reveal how women unknowingly override their body's wisdom, force rhythms that no longer serve them, and perform productivity instead of honoring their natural presence. You'll learn how to identify your own invisible habits, why awareness is the first step toward transformation, and what becomes possible when you stop fighting your intuitive flow and start trusting it. This episode offers both understanding and permission to stop forcing what doesn't fit.

Key Quotes:

  1. "The problem isn't your visible habits - those obvious practices you track and optimize. The problem is your invisible habits - the unconscious patterns running underneath everything you do."

  2. "You can't change what you can't see. But the moment you become conscious of an invisible habit, it begins to lose its power over you."

  3. "She's been overriding her body's signals for so long she doesn't even register them anymore. She's forcing a rhythm that served her five years ago but doesn't fit her current life. She's performing wellness rather than actually experiencing it."

  4. "These patterns developed for intelligent reasons. They helped you survive, belong, or cope during times when you needed those strategies."

  5. "You're performing productivity instead of honoring your natural flow. You're saying yes before checking in with what's actually true for you. You're making yourself small to keep others comfortable."

  6. "What if the first step toward the ease you're seeking is simply learning to see what's actually running your life?"

  7. "Your body's needs are not inconvenient interruptions. They are sacred information."

  8. "The power that gets unlocked when women stop fighting their intuitive flow and allow themselves to navigate their lives with the ease of natural presence rather than performed productivity."

  9. "Awareness is not the same as immediate change. Simply noticing an invisible habit is profound work. You don't have to fix everything at once."

  10. "If you're exhausted despite doing everything 'right,' something deeper is asking for your attention. The visible habits looked perfect. But the invisible ones were the real problem."

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The Science of Sacred Touch: Why Some Hugs Heal While Others Don't

Note: Episode 20 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

A reflection on the profound medicine hidden in plain sight

This past Monday, I attended my grandmother's funeral. As I moved through that sacred threshold of grief and remembrance, I was struck by something both simple and profound: the way humans instinctively reach for each other in moments of deep emotion.

Without thinking, without planning, we opened our arms to hold and be held. In the midst of loss, our bodies knew exactly what medicine was needed.

The Electromagnetic Heart

What if I told you that your heart generates the strongest electromagnetic field of any organ in your body? This field is so powerful it can be measured several meters away from your physical form. When we embrace someone with genuine presence, we're not just making physical contact - we're bringing two electromagnetic fields into proximity, creating an opportunity for what researchers call "entrainment."

Think of two grandfather clocks placed side by side. Initially, their pendulums swing at different rhythms. But over time, they begin to synchronize. This is what happens with our hearts during conscious embrace - they find a shared rhythm, creating measurable coherence.

The Biochemistry of Connection

But the magic goes deeper than electromagnetic fields. When we're held with genuine care, our bodies release oxytocin (the bonding hormone), serotonin, and dopamine, while cortisol (our stress hormone) decreases. This isn't just "feeling good" - it's measurable medicine that affects our physiology for hours after the embrace ends.

The Lost Art of Conscious Touch

Here's what I've come to understand: not all hugs are created equal. The brief, distracted embrace we often give in social settings - while pleasant - doesn't create the same transformative effects as what I call "conscious embrace."

The difference lies in presence, intention, and time. Healing touch requires us to slow down, breathe together, and offer our complete attention to the moment of connection.

A Simple Practice

The next time you hug someone, try this: pause for a moment before approaching. Set an intention to be fully present. Allow your heart centers to connect. Take at least three deep breaths together. Notice how different this feels from casual social hugging.

The Medicine We Carry

In our increasingly digital world, we're experiencing what I call a "crisis of touch." We're more connected than ever through technology, yet many of us are starving for the kind of physical connection our nervous systems need to thrive.

But here's the beautiful truth: we all carry the medicine. Your arms are instruments of healing. Your presence can literally change someone's biochemistry. Your willingness to offer conscious embrace is a form of sacred service.

Want to dive deeper into the science and practice of conscious touch? In my latest Moon & Fire podcast episode, "Holding Space: The Forgotten Power of Conscious Touch," I share the full research behind why hugging heals, plus a step-by-step ritual for bringing more transformative touch into your daily life.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and discover how to become someone who hugs with sacred intention.

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 20:

EPISODE 20 SHOW NOTES

Episode #20: "Holding Space: The Forgotten Power of Conscious Touch”

Brief Description:

Following my grandmother's recent funeral, I was reminded of humanity's most ancient healing tool - the transformative power of conscious embrace. In this deeply personal episode, I explore the fascinating science behind why some hugs feel life-changing while others feel perfunctory.

Discover how your heart generates an electromagnetic field measurable several meters away, why 20 seconds of genuine touch can rewire your nervous system, and how conscious embrace triggers a biochemical symphony that reduces stress hormones while increasing connection. I'll share the Coherence Embrace ritual - a simple practice for bringing more healing touch into your daily life.

In our increasingly digital world, we're experiencing a crisis of connection. But the medicine is simpler than we think: understanding that your arms carry healing power and learning to hug with sacred intention.

Includes practical ritual, scientific research, and an invitation to transform your relationships through conscious presence.

Key Quotes:

  1. "In the midst of loss, our bodies knew exactly what medicine was needed."

  2. "Your heart is literally broadcasting an energetic signature that extends well beyond the boundaries of your skin."

  3. "When we hug someone, we're not just making physical contact. We're bringing two powerful electromagnetic fields into close proximity."

  4. "This isn't just 'feeling good' - this is measurable medicine."

  5. "The stress-buffering effects of touch extend well beyond the moment of contact."

  6. "There is something about being held by those we love that makes the world feel safer, more manageable."

  7. "When we embrace with conscious intention, we're creating an energetic circuit that allows for the sharing of vitality, peace, and healing presence."

  8. "This energetic exchange is why some hugs feel transformative while others feel perfunctory."

  9. "The real magic isn't in quantum mechanics but in the measurable, repeatable ways that conscious touch rewires our nervous systems."

  10. "Not all hugs are created equal."

  11. "Healing embrace requires time - at least 20 seconds for the full biochemical response to occur."

  12. "Your arms carry medicine, that your presence can literally change someone's biochemistry."

  13. "In our increasingly digital world, we're experiencing a crisis of touch."

  14. "We can become people who hug with intention, who offer embrace as sacred medicine."

  15. "Your willingness to offer conscious embrace is a form of sacred service."

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The Sacred Spectrum of Anger: Reclaiming Your Righteous Fire

Note: Episode 19 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

There's something many women have been taught to suppress, smooth over, or apologize for—our anger. We've learned that nice girls don't get angry, that rage makes us ugly, that expressing fury makes us difficult or threatening.

But what if your anger isn't something to be ashamed of? What if it's actually one of your most powerful tools for creating positive change in the world?

I believe deeply that all emotions are sacred messengers carrying vital information about our experience. Anger, in particular, has gotten an unfair reputation in women's lives. We've been conditioned to believe that expressing rage makes us less feminine, less lovable, less worthy of respect.

Yet some of the most transformative moments in history came from women who were willing to channel their righteous fury toward justice, protection, and positive change. The fierce protection of a mother whose child is in danger. The prophetic anger of women who refused to accept systems that diminished human dignity. This is anger in service to love, fury that serves something greater than the self.

The Medicine of Disruption

Here's what I want you to understand: anger is meant to be disruptive. It arises precisely when something needs to be shaken up, when boundaries have been crossed, when truth has been suppressed. The question isn't whether you should feel anger—it's how you steward this powerful energy when it moves through you.

Not all anger is created equal. There's a profound difference between rage that serves justice and fury that simply wants to tear down. Learning to recognize this distinction is one of the most important skills we can develop as women stepping into our power.

Reclaiming Your Sacred Fire

In this week's episode of Moon & Fire, I explore the often-misunderstood medicine of anger and how to work with this intense energy in ways that serve your highest good and the good of those around you. I share why the world actually needs your righteous fury and how to distinguish between sacred rage and destructive venting.

I also offer a simple ritual practice for when anger arises, helping you honor this powerful emotion while channeling it toward positive transformation.

Your anger isn't something to suppress or apologize for. When stewarded wisely, it becomes a fierce ally in creating the changes this world desperately needs.

May you trust the wisdom that moves through your righteous fire
May you steward your sacred rage with consciousness
May you never apologize for the holy fire that burns for justice

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 19:

EPISODE 19 SHOW NOTES

Episode #19: "Sacred Fire and Shadow: The Medicine of Holy Rage”

Brief Description:

In this powerful episode, I explore the profound difference between holy rage and petty anger, and why understanding this distinction is crucial for women reclaiming their complete wholeness. Discover how anger exists on a sacred spectrum—from righteous fury that disrupts unjust systems to petty irritation that simply wants to vent without purpose.

I share why all emotions, including our fiercest ones, are valuable messengers and how the parts of ourselves we've been taught to suppress are often exactly what's required for our most potent joy and flourishing. Learn to distinguish between sacred rage that serves love and justice versus destructive anger that tears down without building up.

This episode includes a practical ritual for locating your holy fire and channeling it toward positive change, plus guidance on the mature versus immature expression of this powerful emotion. If you've ever been told your anger makes you "too much" or if you struggle with guilt about feeling furious when you witness injustice, this episode offers permission to honor your righteous fury as sacred medicine.

Discover why your anger isn't something to apologize for—when stewarded wisely, it's one of your most powerful tools for creating the changes this world desperately needs.

Key Quotes:

  1. "All emotions are sacred messengers carrying vital information about our experience."

  2. "The question isn't whether we should feel anger - it's how we steward these powerful energies when they move through us."

  3. "There's a profound difference between what I call holy rage and petty anger, and learning to discern where our anger falls on this spectrum is crucial for our growth and impact."

  4. "Anger is meant to be disruptive. That's not a bug in the system; it's a feature."

  5. "The question isn't how to make your anger less disruptive. The question is how to ensure that your anger disrupts what needs disrupting rather than what should be protected."

  6. "Sacred fury says: 'This is not acceptable. This ends now. Something better is possible, and I will not rest until we create it.'"

  7. "Holy rage disrupts unjust systems. It challenges deceptive constructs. It refuses to accept harm masquerading as normal."

  8. "When anger arises, take a moment to ask: 'What is this anger trying to protect? What injustice is it highlighting? What boundary has been crossed?'"

  9. "The world needs your holy rage. It needs women who are willing to feel the full force of righteous fury when injustice occurs, who can channel that energy into positive change."

  10. "Your anger isn't something to be ashamed of or suppress. When stewarded wisely, it's one of your most powerful tools for creating the changes this world desperately needs."

GET YOUR EPISODE 19 RESOURCE GUIDE 👇

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What If You Believed Your Hunger Was Holy?

Note: Episode 16 Show Notes are available at the end of this entry.

What if the very thing you've been taught to suppress, control, and fear is actually sacred?

For most of us, hunger feels dangerous. We've been conditioned to see our appetite as something untrustworthy—too much, too demanding, too risky to honor fully. We measure it, manage it, override it. We've learned to disconnect from one of our body's most primal forms of communication.

But what if your hunger is actually holy?

What if those sensations aren't your body betraying you, but your body speaking its ancient wisdom? What if your appetite—for food, for pleasure, for life itself—is a sacred guidance system that's been waiting patiently for you to remember how to listen?

Consider this: the same body that knows how to heal a cut without your conscious direction, that orchestrates the intricate dance of your menstrual cycle, that can create and sustain life—this body also knows what it needs to be nourished.

When we disconnect from our hunger, we disconnect from something far deeper than food. We disconnect from our ability to trust our own inner knowing. We fragment our relationship with the wisdom that lives in our bones, our belly, our cells.

What becomes possible when you stop fighting your hunger and start honoring it?

What if the mental energy you spend calculating macros, following food rules, and battling your appetite could be redirected toward creating, dreaming, connecting? What if trusting your hunger was actually a pathway back to trusting your intuition in all areas of life?

This isn't about abandoning all structure or throwing health out the window. It's about recognizing that your body's intelligence is far more sophisticated than any external system trying to tell you how to nourish yourself.

Your hunger is not your enemy. It's your guide.

In my recent conversation with Carolina Forman on the Moon & Fire podcast, we dive deep into these questions and so much more. Carolina shares why reclaiming the sacredness of our hunger is revolutionary work, how disconnection from our appetite connects to larger systems of oppression, and practical ways to begin reconnecting with your body's wisdom.

[Listen to "Your Hunger is Holy: Reclaiming Body Wisdom & Sacred Appetite" below 👇 ]

Because maybe—just maybe—the very thing you've been trying to control is the key to coming home to yourself.

What would shift in your life if you trusted that your hunger was holy? I'd love to hear your thoughts—share them with me on [social media] or hit reply if you're reading this in your inbox.

 

Listen to Episode 16:

EPISODE 16 SHOW NOTES

Episode #16: "Your Hunger is Holy: Reclaiming Body Wisdom & Sacred Appetite”

Brief Description:

In this powerful conversation, Emily sits down with Carolina Forman to explore the revolutionary idea that our hunger is not something to fear or control, but something sacred to honor. Carolina shares her journey into body liberation work and how disentangling from diet culture is part of breaking free from larger oppressive systems that disconnect women from their innate wisdom.

You'll discover why reconnecting with your hunger is a primal, ritual experience that connects you to your body's intelligence, how to distinguish between cultural messaging about food and your body's actual needs, and what becomes possible when your brain isn't consumed with macros and food rules.

Carolina opens up about her pivotal moment while nursing her baby—when she realized the profound power of a body that creates and sustains life—and challenges the deeply held belief that our appetite is dangerous. This conversation offers a gentle yet radical invitation to trust your body's wisdom and reclaim your right to nourish yourself according to your own inner knowing.

Perfect for the woman ready to stop fighting her natural rhythms around food and hunger, and start honoring the sacred intelligence of her body.

Content note: This episode discusses diet culture, body image, and food relationships in a liberation-focused context.

EPisode resources

  • Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia by Sabrina Strings

  • Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

  • The Body is Not an Apology: The Radical Power of Self-Love by Sonya Renee-Taylor

  • 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating:

    • Principle 1: Reject Diet Culture

    • Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger

    • Principle 3: Make Peace with Food

    • Principle 4: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

    • Principle 5: Feel Your Fullness

    • Principle 6: Challenge the Food Police

    • Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness

    • Principle 8: Respect Your Body

    • Principle 9: Movement - Feel the Difference

    • Principle 10: Honor Your Health - Gentle Nutrition

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Story-Hopping: Why Your Old Logic Might Be Sabotaging Your New Chapter

Note: Episode 15 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes what used to work brilliantly in your life suddenly feels forced, inauthentic, or even counterproductive? You're doing everything that should work according to your past experience, but instead of flowing forward, you're hitting walls at every turn.

You might be story-hopping—carrying the operating system of your old narrative into the landscape of your new one.

A college mentor once told me something that has stayed with me for decades: "Something is only logical within the context of its home narrative." He would give examples from literature—how it would be completely illogical for animals to talk in our everyday world, but place those elements in Narnia, and suddenly they make perfect sense within that story's framework.

The same principle applies to the real transitions we navigate as women. When we cross thresholds—into motherhood, a new career, a different relationship with our bodies, or any significant life passage—we often try to apply the logic of our previous chapter to our current reality. And it simply doesn't work.

The Intelligence of Old Patterns

Before exploring how to navigate this phenomenon, it's crucial to understand that the behaviors you're ready to release weren't random or neurotic. They were intelligent responses to the story you were living at the time.

Consider the woman who developed perfectionist tendencies in an unpredictable childhood household. In that context, controlling every detail she could was brilliant survival strategy. It gave her agency in chaos and earned approval from overwhelmed adults. That perfectionism wasn't pathology—it was intelligence.

But thirty years later, when she's building a business that requires innovation and risk-taking, that same perfectionism becomes paralyzing. What was once protective adaptation has become creative limitation.

This pattern appears everywhere: The fierce independence that helped you survive an unreliable family system might now be preventing you from receiving the support that would allow your business to thrive. The hypervigilance that kept you safe in a previous relationship might be creating anxiety in your current, healthy partnership.

Recognizing the Story Shift

How do you know when you're story-hopping? Here are some telltale signs:

Persistent struggle despite right actions. You're working harder but achieving less. Strategies that used to be effective now feel forced or inauthentic.

Internal resistance to your own desires. You find yourself wanting things that feel "wrong" according to your old operating system. The ambitious woman raised to be accommodating feels guilty about her leadership desires.

Old fears about new opportunities. You're being invited into experiences that align with your new chapter, but they trigger terror based on your old story's rules. The invitation to lead feels dangerous because in your previous narrative, visibility meant vulnerability.

Energy drain from natural expression. Activities that should energize you in your new story feel exhausting because you're fighting your old programming. Leading feels draining because you're trying to lead while being invisible.

When you're in the right story with the right logic, there's flow even when things are challenging. When you're story-hopping, everything feels like swimming upstream.

The Sacred Art of Logic-Letting-Go

Once you recognize that you're carrying outdated operating systems, how do you actually let them go? This requires both practical steps and mystical surrender—what I call the sacred art of logic-letting-go.

First, honor the transition as sacred. Recognize that you're in a liminal space where old logic is dying and new logic is being born. This isn't a problem to solve quickly; it's a transformation to move through with reverence.

Next, practice discernment over demolition. Rather than bulldozing old patterns, discern which aspects still serve and which need composting. Maybe your previous story's emphasis on preparation remains valuable, but its attachment to perfection doesn't.

Finally, experiment with new behaviors in low-stakes situations. If your old story said "never take up space," try speaking first in a casual conversation. If your previous narrative demanded "always have a plan," follow an intuitive impulse for an afternoon.

Your New Story's Logic

Here's what I've discovered about new logic: it often feels wrong before it feels right. The operating system of your emerging story might contradict everything you were taught about what's appropriate, safe, or good. That discomfort is often a sign you're moving in the right direction.

New logic often includes paradoxes that would have been incomprehensible in your old story. Rest becomes productive. Slowing down creates more time. Saying no opens more opportunities. Taking up space makes room for others.

The key is approaching this new logic with curiosity rather than judgment. Instead of "This feels wrong," try "This feels unfamiliar." Instead of "I shouldn't want this," explore "What if wanting this is right for my new story?"

An Invitation Deeper

In Episode 15 of Moon & Fire, I dive much deeper into this phenomenon of story-hopping. I share personal examples of my own logic shifts, explore how to identify the specific rules of your old and new narratives, and offer a practical Story Inventory tool for navigating this transition.

I also discuss the courage required for this kind of transformation—because story-hopping isn't just about changing behaviors; it's about questioning the fundamental assumptions that have organized your entire life.

This episode is for anyone who suspects they might be applying yesterday's logic to today's opportunities, or who feels stuck between who they were and who they're becoming.

May you honor the wisdom of your old stories while embracing the calling of your new ones
May you trust the intelligence that guides you across every threshold
May you move with grace between what was and what's becoming
May you discover the sacred logic that serves your authentic becoming

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 15:

EPISODE 15 SHOW NOTES

Episode #15: "Story-Hopping: The Sacred Art of Leaving Old Logic Behind”

Brief Description:

Explore the fascinating phenomenon of "story-hopping" - what happens when we cross from one season of life into another but continue operating with the logic of our old narrative in the landscape of our new one. I share how to recognize when you're applying outdated patterns to new circumstances and offer practical guidance for discerning the emerging logic that will serve your authentic becoming. Discover why the behaviors that once served you brilliantly might now be limiting your growth, and learn the sacred art of releasing old operating systems with gratitude while embracing the intelligence of your new chapter.

key quotes

  1. "Something is only logical within the context of its home narrative."

  2. "When we move from one chapter to the next, we often try to apply the operating system of our old story to the landscape of our new one. And it simply doesn't work."

  3. "The behaviors you're ready to release weren't random or neurotic - they were intelligent responses to the story you were living at the time."

  4. "This is what I call story-hopping - that liminal space where we've crossed a threshold but are still carrying the beliefs, behaviors, and operating systems of our previous chapter."

  5. "What was once intelligent adaptation has become creative limitation."

  6. "When you're in the right story with the right logic, there's a flow to life even when it's challenging. When you're story-hopping, everything feels like swimming upstream."

  7. "This isn't about abandoning our dreams or desires. It means releasing our attachment to exactly how they must manifest and on what timeline."

  8. "New logic often includes paradoxes that would have been incomprehensible in your old story. Rest becomes productive. Slowing down creates more time. Saying no opens more opportunities."

  9. "The key is to approach this new logic with curiosity rather than judgment. Instead of 'This feels wrong,' try 'This feels unfamiliar.'"

  10. "Story-hopping requires tremendous courage. It's not just about changing behaviors; it's about questioning the fundamental assumptions that have organized your entire life."

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The False Gift That's Burning You Out (And why your exhaustion might be the most honest thing about you right now)

Note: Episode 14 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

I used to think burnout meant I was giving too much. That I was too generous, too caring, too devoted to others' needs. There was almost a nobility in my exhaustion—a badge of honor that proved my goodness.

I was wrong.

The truth about burnout hit me like a lightning bolt when I encountered Parker Palmer's words: "Burnout does not result from giving all I have: it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place."

The nothingness from which I was trying to give.

Suddenly, everything shifted. My burnout wasn't evidence of my generosity—it was evidence that I had been offering false gifts. Gifts that looked like love but were actually born from my desperate need to prove my worth. Gifts that depleted me because they weren't mine to give in the first place.

Here's what I've discovered: when we give from our authentic essence—from what Palmer calls our "organic reality"—the gift renews itself. We don't deplete. We don't burn out. We flow.

But when we force ourselves to give what we don't naturally possess? When we offer services from our wounds rather than our wisdom? When we say yes from fear rather than love? That's when we create what Palmer calls "dangerous gifts"—offerings that look caring but ultimately harm both giver and receiver.

The woman constantly saying yes when her body screams no. The mother giving from exhaustion rather than abundance. The leader offering solutions she doesn't truly believe in. The friend providing advice from her anxiety rather than her wisdom.

These aren't acts of love. They're acts of desperation masquerading as nobility.

Your burnout isn't a character flaw—it's your body's fierce protection, preventing you from continuing to offer false gifts that diminish both you and those you're trying to serve.

But here's the beautiful truth: when you stop giving what you don't possess, space opens for you to discover what you actually do have to offer. And those authentic gifts? They're renewable. They're sustainable. They're sacred.

What would change if you only gave gifts that grew naturally within you?

In this week's Moon & Fire podcast episode, I dive deep into this revolutionary understanding of burnout and guide you through discovering the authentic offerings that are truly yours to give—the ones that will renew rather than deplete you.

Because the world doesn't need your false gifts, beautiful woman. It needs your true ones.

 

Listen to Episode 14:

EPISODE 14 SHOW NOTES

Episode #14: "Burnout as Sacred Messenger”

Brief Description:

What if burnout isn't about giving too much, but about trying to give what you don't actually possess? In this episode, I explore Parker Palmer's revolutionary insight that burnout reveals "the nothingness from which we were trying to give in the first place."

I'll share why burnout signals we've been offering false gifts - presents that look like love but come from our need to prove ourselves rather than authentic care. We'll explore the difference between giving from our organic reality versus forcing gifts that aren't truly ours to give, and why only gifts that grow within us can renew both ourselves and others.

You'll discover how to recognize when you're violating your own nature in the name of nobility, and I'll guide you through an exercise to uncover the unique gifts that are truly yours to offer - those sacred offerings that emerge from your authentic essence rather than depletion.

This episode is for the woman who's exhausted from trying to be everything to everyone and ready to discover the renewable offerings that flow naturally from her true nature. It's time to give from fullness, not emptiness.

key quotes

  1. "Burnout does not result from giving all I have: it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place." - Parker Palmer

  2. "When I give something I do not possess, I give a false & dangerous gift, a gift that looks like love but is in reality, loveless." - Parker Palmer

  3. "When the gift I give to the other is integral to my own nature, when it comes from a place of organic reality within me, it will renew itself - and me - even as I give it away." - Parker Palmer

  4. "The world doesn't need your false gifts, sacred woman. It needs your true ones."

  5. "When we give from our authentic essence, the gift renews itself. We don't deplete. We don't burn out. We flow."

  6. "What you have to offer right now is not only enough, but is actually the most powerful thing you have to offer your world if you will show up believing it is a gift."

  7. "Your medicine often emerges not despite your struggles, but because of how you've learned to navigate them."

  8. "Only when I give something that does not grow within me do I deplete myself and harm the other as well." - Parker Palmer

  9. I’m learning to trust that my presence holds my power.

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The Sacred Dance: Balancing Feminine and Masculine Energies

Note: Episode 12 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

There's a dance taking place within you—a sacred partnership of energies that, when balanced, creates a profound harmony in how you move through the world. I'm talking about the dance between feminine and masculine energies, between what I often call "flow" and "go," between receptivity and action, between being and doing.

This dance isn't about gender. These energies exist within each of us regardless of how we identify. They represent universal principles that flow throughout nature and the cosmos—complementary forces designed to work in partnership, each enhancing and balancing the other.

Yet our culture doesn't value these energies equally. We live in a world that overwhelmingly privileges masculine qualities while dismissing or even demonizing feminine ones. This imbalance affects everyone, but often impacts women in particularly painful ways as we're asked to suppress the very energies that are often most natural to us.

Understanding the Energetic Dance

Masculine energy—the "go" energy—is directional and focused. It moves in straight lines. It knows where it's going and creates a direct path to get there. It builds structures, establishes boundaries, and creates order from chaos. It's the energy of the warrior, the builder, the protector.

Feminine energy—the "flow" energy—is receptive and cyclical. It moves in curves and spirals. It doesn't rush toward a destination but unfolds in its own perfect timing. It connects rather than separates, feels rather than analyzes, trusts rather than controls. It's the energy of the priestess, the creator, the visionary.

In nature, we see this partnership everywhere. The seed (feminine) requires the structure of the shell (masculine) to protect its vulnerable potential until it's ready to emerge. The flowing river (feminine) needs the containing banks (masculine) to channel its movement toward the ocean. The expansive night sky (feminine) is balanced by the focused light of the stars (masculine).

The Wisdom of Both Energies

Many of us have been taught—either explicitly or through cultural osmosis—that feminine energy is somehow less valuable than masculine energy. We've learned that directness is better than receptivity, that focus is more productive than openness, that certainty is superior to mystery.

But what if both energies carry equal wisdom?

Feminine energy brings irreplaceable gifts: the ability to receive and gestate new life (literally and figuratively), to nurture growth, to sense what isn't visible to the analytical mind, to move with rather than against the natural rhythms of life, to create from an empty space rather than constant doing.

These qualities aren't "soft" or "weak" as our culture often portrays them. In fact, feminine energy holds immense power—not the power of force, but the power of attraction, creation, and transformation. It takes profound strength to remain open and receptive in a world that values only assertion and action.

Masculine energy brings its own essential gifts: the capacity to act decisively, to protect what we love, to create structures that support growth, to move forward with clarity and purpose. Without these qualities, we would struggle to bring our visions into form, to establish healthy boundaries, to create meaningful change in the world.

Signs of Energetic Imbalance

How do you know if you're experiencing energetic imbalance in your own life? Here are some signs I've observed both in myself and in hundreds of women I've worked with:

  • You feel constantly exhausted but can't slow down because your worth is tied to your productivity

  • You notice that you can easily make plans and set goals but struggle to actually enjoy the journey

  • Your calendar is meticulously organized, but you rarely leave space for spontaneity or rest

  • You find yourself stuck in your head, analyzing and overthinking, while feeling disconnected from your body's wisdom

  • You push through your natural cycles rather than honoring their different energies

  • You measure success by external achievements rather than internal fulfillment

If these patterns sound familiar, you're not alone. You've simply been living in a culture that has trained you to operate primarily from one type of energy while suppressing the other. The good news is that your feminine essence hasn't disappeared; it's simply waiting to be remembered and reclaimed.

A Simple Practice for Balance

Here's a practice you can begin using today to cultivate more balance between your feminine and masculine energies. I call it the Sacred Pause, and it takes just a few moments at transitional points in your day.

When you're moving from one activity to another—perhaps from work to home, or from sleep to waking—take three conscious breaths. On the first breath, notice where you feel tension in your body and allow it to soften slightly. On the second breath, place a hand on your heart and ask, "What energy is needed now?" On the third breath, consciously choose which energy you want to lead in the next activity.

This tiny ritual interrupts the default pattern of masculine dominance and creates space for conscious choice. Over time, these small moments of awareness build new neural pathways that allow for more fluid movement between energies.

An Invitation Deeper

In Episode 12 of Moon & Fire, I explore this sacred dance of energies in greater depth. I share how our cultural conditioning has created profound imbalance, how suppressed energies emerge in distorted forms, and how we can reclaim the full spectrum of our energetic expression.

The episode includes additional practices for reconnecting with your feminine essence while maintaining a healthy relationship with your masculine energy. I also share my own journey of discovering what becomes possible when these energies dance in balance within us.

This exploration isn't about rejecting masculine energy but about creating space for the feminine to lead more often. It's about remembering that we contain both the mountain and the ocean, both the arrow and the spiral, both the fire and the water. Our wholeness embraces all of these energies in their perfect dance.

May you honor both the go and the flow within you
May you recognize the sacred partnership of these primal forces
May you rediscover the power of your feminine essence
May you move through the world as the whole, integrated being you truly are

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 12:

EPISODE 12 SHOW NOTES

Episode #12: "The Sacred Dance: Understanding Masculine and Feminine Energy”

Brief Description:

In "The Sacred Dance: Understanding Masculine and Feminine Energy," I explore the essential balance between "go" and "flow" energies that exist within all of us, regardless of gender. Discover how masculine pathways—characterized by action, drive, and linear progress—complement feminine pathways marked by mystery, soul time, and intuitive trust. Learn why suppressed energies don't disappear but emerge in distorted forms, and how our Western culture's imbalance affects our wellbeing. This episode offers practical ways to invite more balance into your life, honoring both the fire and the moon within you. Includes a simple daily practice to help you consciously choose which energy needs to lead in any given moment.

key quotes

  1. "The moon embodies feminine energy - cyclical, reflective, intuitive, and mysterious. Fire represents masculine energy - direct, transformative, action-oriented, and illuminating. These two forces aren't in opposition but in beautiful partnership."

  2. "Masculine pathways are all about action, drive, strength, measurable progress, and following a linear or chronological path forward. Feminine pathways are marked by mystery, soul time, wonder, and an intuitive trust in the unseen."

  3. "We in the Western world are significantly bent toward living life according to masculine pathways. We see it in how we 'make' life happen, and how we often muscle our way through life, focused more on fixing what is broken than stewarding well-being."

  4. "Because the way of feminine pathways is characteristically slower, full of mystery and deep rhythm, they are regularly overlooked as passive or viewed as a luxury to be embraced once the 'real' work has been done."

  5. "To dismiss feminine pathways is to overlook the great power that is born through stillness and open hands."

  6. "When we try to suppress either energy, it doesn't simply disappear. Instead, it finds alternative pathways to express itself, often in distorted or shadow forms."

  7. "When either masculine or feminine energy operates in isolation—cut off from its balancing counterpart—it grows in a malformed way, like a plant reaching for light through a crack in concrete."

  8. "Our sacred work is to reclaim the balance between these energies, to honor the fullness of who we are made to be."

  9. "The goal isn't to swing from one extreme to another, but to develop a fluid relationship with both the go and the flow, allowing each to lead when appropriate."

  10. "You contain both the mountain and the ocean, both the arrow and the spiral, both the fire and the water. Your wholeness embraces all of these energies in their perfect dance."

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The Alchemy of Everyday Practice: How Rituals Shape Your Becoming

Note: Episode 11 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

Have you ever noticed how you're always practicing something?

Whether you're aware of it or not, each day contains dozens of rituals that are quietly but powerfully shaping not just what you do, but who you're becoming.

That morning scroll through social media before your feet touch the floor? That's a practice. The way you rush through breakfast while checking emails? That's a practice too. Even how you respond to fatigue—pushing through or honoring your need for rest—is a practice that's writing itself into your being.

I discovered this truth in my own life when I realized my morning "routine" was actually training me in scarcity and urgency. I would wake up, immediately check my phone, scan through emails with growing anxiety, and launch into my day already feeling behind. This wasn't just affecting my mood—it was shaping what I believed about time, about my capacity, about what was possible.

That practice was writing a story: "There's never enough time. You're always behind. You have to hustle to be worthy." And because I practiced this story every morning, it became the lens through which I experienced everything.

The power of practice goes far beyond habit formation. Your practices literally shape your desires. What you repeatedly do becomes what you love, what you long for, what feels natural. And as your desires shift, your very being transforms.

This is what I call the slow magic of rhythm—it works the way seasons change or flowers bloom. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, but with inevitable power. You don't see a plant growing day by day, but tend it with consistent care and one day you're amazed by the blossom.

So what if you chose just one unconscious ritual in your life and transformed it into a sacred practice?

Perhaps it's creating a threshold moment between sleep and waking—placing hands on your heart, taking three deep breaths, and asking "What does my soul need today?" before reaching for your phone.

Or maybe it's transforming your commute by spending the first five minutes in grateful reflection rather than immediate planning.

The beauty is that you don't need special tools or perfect circumstances. You just need the willingness to begin, the patience to continue, and the trust that your consistent practice is quietly working its transformation even when you can't yet see the results.

Your practices are portals to power. Small sacred acts create profound shifts. And you have everything you need to begin this transformation right where you are.

 

Want to explore this sacred alchemy more deeply? In episode 11 of the Moon & Fire podcast, "The Slow Magic of Rhythm," I share the complete framework for transforming your practices, the three doorways to conscious change, and a practical guide for creating your own sacred liturgy. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen to Episode 11:

EPISODE 11 SHOW NOTES

Episode #11: "The Slow Magic of Rhythm: How Sacred Practice Shapes Your Becoming”

Brief Description:

In "The Slow Magic of Rhythm," I explore how our daily practices quietly but powerfully shape not just what we do, but what we desire and who we become. I reveal how unconscious routines create hidden "liturgies" that form our lives, and share how intentional ritual rhythms can transform our deepest longings and sense of self. Join me to discover the sacred alchemy of practice—how small, consistent rituals create profound shifts over time through what I call "the slow magic of rhythm." I'll guide you through creating your own transformative sacred liturgy and entering the eternal cycle of becoming.

key quotes

  1. "Have you ever noticed how you're always practicing something? Whether you're conscious of it or not, every day you're engaged in rituals and rhythms that are shaping your desires and, through them, your very being."

  2. "Every environment you inhabit carries its own liturgy. Your morning scroll through social media is a liturgy. The way you rush through breakfast while checking emails is a liturgy. These unconscious rituals are constantly forming your desires and your being."

  3. "Our practices don't just shape our actions - they shape what we love, what we long for, what feels possible for us."

  4. "Like water wearing away stone, consistent practice creates profound transformation. You don't see a plant growing day by day, but tend it with consistent care and one day you're amazed by the blossom."

  5. "Your practices are portals to power. Small sacred acts create profound shifts. Rhythm creates the container for magic."

  6. "What if you chose just one unconscious liturgy in your life and transformed it into a sacred practice? What if you trusted that this simple shift could begin reshaping not just your days, but your desires and your very being?"

  7. "Your environment influences your practice, which creates rhythm, which shapes desire, which transforms being, which opens you to new practices, and the cycle continues eternally."

  8. "When you choose consciousness, you become an active participant in your own becoming."

  9. "Each repetition is like water on a seed, nurturing something that will eventually break through the soil of your current reality and bloom into new possibility."

  10. "The slow magic of rhythm is available to you right now. You don't need special tools or perfect circumstances. You just need the willingness to begin, the patience to continue, and the trust that your consistent practice is quietly working its transformation even when you can't yet see the results."

Research Sources:

On Surrender

  1. Sease, T. B., Andersland, M., Perkins, D. R., Sandoz, E. K., Jean, C., Sudduth, H., & Cox, C. R. (2024). Surrendering to thrive: Evaluating the psychometric properties of the State of Surrender (SoS) scale and its relationship with well-being. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 33, 100815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100815

  2. Sease, T. B., Cox, C. R., Wiese, A. L., Sandoz, E. K., & Knight, K. (2024). The impact of State of Surrender on the relationship between engagement in substance use treatment and meaning in life presence: a pilot study. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1331756. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1331756

On Gratitude and Contrasting Emotions

  1. Howells, K. (2022). Trying to find gratitude rather than resentment when in chronic pain. Kerry Howells. https://kerryhowells.com/trying-to-find-gratitude-rather-than-resentment-when-in-chronic-pain/

  2. Psychology Today. (2025, February 3). Gratitude. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude

  3. Mindful. (2025, February 10). The Science of Gratitude. https://www.mindful.org/the-science-of-gratitude/

On Health Benefits of Gratitude

  1. Chen, Y., VanderWeele, T. J., et al. (2024). Association of gratitude with mortality risk among older adults in the US. JAMA Psychiatry. [Referenced in Research.com]

  2. Fahkry, T. (2024, January 10). The Power Of Gratitude In An Unfair World: Appreciation As An Antidote To Bitterness. https://www.tonyfahkry.com/the-power-of-gratitude-in-an-unfair-world-appreciation-as-an-antidote-to-bitterness/

On Gratitude Practices

  1. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389.

  2. Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.

  3. Harvard Health. (2021, August 14). Giving thanks can make you happier. https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

On Synthetic vs. Natural Happiness

  1. Gilbert, D. (2006). Stumbling on happiness. Knopf.

  2. Gilbert, D. (2004). The surprising science of happiness [TED Talk]. TED Conferences LLC. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_the_surprising_science_of_happiness

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The Paradox of Surrender: How Letting Go Helps Us Receive What We Truly Want

Note: Episode 10 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

Have you ever noticed how the things you grasp for most tightly seem to slip through your fingers? How the relationships, opportunities, or experiences you try hardest to control often feel the most chaotic?

There's a profound wisdom I've been sitting with lately that runs counter to everything our achievement-oriented culture teaches us: sometimes, the path to what we most deeply desire runs through surrender, not force.

In our latest episode of Moon & Fire, "The Sacred Surrender: Opening to What You're Longing For," I explore this counterintuitive truth. As a threshold walker and coach who helps women navigate life's significant transitions, I've witnessed firsthand how loosening our grip on exactly how things must unfold often creates the very opening needed for our deepest longings to find us.

This isn't about passive resignation or giving up on our desires. Rather, it's about recognizing when our white-knuckle striving is actually blocking the very thing we seek.

Recent research confirms what many wisdom traditions have long taught: a state of surrender—our willingness to accept whatever comes without resistance—is strongly correlated with psychological well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction. Meanwhile, gratitude practices have been scientifically shown to shift our nervous system out of stress response and into receptivity, allowing us to recognize opportunities we might otherwise miss.

In this episode, I share:

  • How to distinguish true surrender from giving up

  • The neuropsychology behind why surrender works

  • A simple gratitude practice that can shift your relationship with control

  • Practical rituals for sacred surrender in life's threshold moments

If you've been pushing hard for something that feels stubbornly out of reach—or if you're simply exhausted from constantly orchestrating every aspect of your life—this episode offers a refreshing perspective and practical tools for a different way forward.

Sometimes the most direct path to what we're seeking is to release our grasp on how it must arrive. I invite you to listen and discover what might be waiting for you on the other side of surrender.

With wild grace,

 

Listen to Episode 10:

EPISODE 10 SHOW NOTES

Episode #10: "The Sacred Surrender: Opening to What You're Longing For”

Brief Description:

In this transformative episode, I explore the counterintuitive wisdom of surrender as a powerful access point to what we're truly longing for. Drawing from my experience as a threshold walker—someone who helps women cross from one season of life to the next—I share how surrendering isn't about giving up, but about opening to a larger reality beyond our own striving. Discover how gratitude practices can shift your relationship with control, creating space for unexpected gifts to enter. Learn why neuroscience shows that loosening our grip on specific outcomes actually expands our perception and creativity. Through practical rituals and embodied practices, this episode offers a pathway to experience the paradox at the heart of sacred surrender: sometimes the most direct route to what we desire comes through releasing our attachment to how it must arrive.

key quotes

  1. "True surrender is an opening, a softening, a remembering that we are held within something larger than our individual striving."

  2. "Surrender doesn't mean abandoning our dreams or desires. It means releasing our attachment to exactly how they must manifest and on what timeline."

  3. "Think of surrender as the exhale after a long, deep inhale. Both are essential to the breath cycle, but many of us have been taught to value only the inhale - the gathering, the accumulating, the achieving."

  4. "Sometimes the most powerful action we can take is to surrender. Sometimes the most direct path to what we're seeking is to release our grasp on how it must arrive."

  5. "When we're in a state of striving and stress - what we might call 'making it happen' mode - our brain activates its threat-response networks. This narrows our perception, limits our creativity, and actually reduces our ability to recognize opportunities."

  6. "Gratitude reminds us of a simple but profound truth: many of the most precious things in our lives are not there because we manufactured their presence through force of will."

  7. "Even a few minutes of genuine gratitude practice each day can begin to shift our relationship with control and open us to the possibility of surrender."

  8. "There are moments for clear direction and purposeful movement. And there are moments for softening, for listening, for allowing ourselves to be moved rather than always being the mover."

  9. "Research shows that a state of surrender is strongly correlated with psychological well-being, including thriving, happiness, flourishing, and life satisfaction."

  10. "When we surrender to this greater holding, we don't diminish our power - we actually access a more profound source of it."

Research Sources:

On Surrender

  1. Sease, T. B., Andersland, M., Perkins, D. R., Sandoz, E. K., Jean, C., Sudduth, H., & Cox, C. R. (2024). Surrendering to thrive: Evaluating the psychometric properties of the State of Surrender (SoS) scale and its relationship with well-being. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 33, 100815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2024.100815

  2. Sease, T. B., Cox, C. R., Wiese, A. L., Sandoz, E. K., & Knight, K. (2024). The impact of State of Surrender on the relationship between engagement in substance use treatment and meaning in life presence: a pilot study. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1331756. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1331756

On Gratitude and Contrasting Emotions

  1. Howells, K. (2022). Trying to find gratitude rather than resentment when in chronic pain. Kerry Howells. https://kerryhowells.com/trying-to-find-gratitude-rather-than-resentment-when-in-chronic-pain/

  2. Psychology Today. (2025, February 3). Gratitude. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gratitude

  3. Mindful. (2025, February 10). The Science of Gratitude. https://www.mindful.org/the-science-of-gratitude/

On Health Benefits of Gratitude

  1. Chen, Y., VanderWeele, T. J., et al. (2024). Association of gratitude with mortality risk among older adults in the US. JAMA Psychiatry. [Referenced in Research.com]

  2. Fahkry, T. (2024, January 10). The Power Of Gratitude In An Unfair World: Appreciation As An Antidote To Bitterness. https://www.tonyfahkry.com/the-power-of-gratitude-in-an-unfair-world-appreciation-as-an-antidote-to-bitterness/

On Gratitude Practices

  1. Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377-389.

  2. Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5), 410-421.

  3. Harvard Health. (2021, August 14). Giving thanks can make you happier. https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

On Synthetic vs. Natural Happiness

  1. Gilbert, D. (2006). Stumbling on happiness. Knopf.

  2. Gilbert, D. (2004). The surprising science of happiness [TED Talk]. TED Conferences LLC. https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_the_surprising_science_of_happiness

GET YOUR EPISODE 10 RESOURCE GUIDE 👇

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Join our sacred circle and receive weekly emails with links to the latest episodes, companion blog posts, and exclusive access to episode resource guides. These practical tools will support your journey of remembering your sacred cycles, reclaiming your radiant fire, and unleashing your intuitive magic.

The Hidden Cost of Fragmentation: Reclaiming Your Scattered Powers

Note: Episode 8 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

I laid in bed this morning in a brief moment of stillness, breath moving gently through my body. As I settled into the solitude of the moment, I felt it again – that familiar tension between different parts of myself.

The part that wanted to sink into deep presence.

The part anxiously reviewing my to-do list.

The part judging both of these other aspects.

And I smiled, recognizing an old pattern.

For most of my life, I've experienced these internal divisions as normal. Haven't we all? We fragment ourselves into the professional self, the mother self, the creative self, the spiritual self – each one often disconnected from the others, sometimes even at war.

This fragmentation isn't something that happens overnight. It begins gradually, often in childhood, when we receive messages about which parts of ourselves are acceptable and which aren't.

Perhaps you were told your anger was inappropriate, your sadness was burdensome, your exuberance was too much, or your needs were selfish. Maybe you learned that your cyclical nature – with its ebbs and flows, darkness and light – wasn't compatible with a world that values consistent productivity and perpetual pleasantness.

So what did you do? You did what all of us do when faced with rejection – you began to fragment. You created internal walls between the parts of yourself that were welcomed by the world and the parts that weren't. You developed sophisticated systems to keep certain aspects hidden – even from yourself.

This fragmentation served you once. It was a brilliant survival strategy that allowed you to maintain connection, to belong, to function in environments that couldn't hold your full radiance.

But the cost of maintaining this fragmentation is enormous.

Think about the energy required to continuously monitor yourself, to keep parts of your nature locked away, to maintain these internal divisions. It's exhausting. And it creates a profound sense of disconnection – from yourself, from others, from the natural world.

When we're fragmented, our intuition becomes clouded because it can't draw from our complete knowing. Our creative expression becomes limited because it can't access our full range. Our cyclical wisdom becomes muted because we've lost access to parts of ourselves that would guide this dance.

And perhaps most painfully, fragmentation scatters our power.

Every wall we build inside ourselves requires energy to maintain. Every part we reject carries power that becomes unavailable to us. Every internal battle drains the very life force we need to create the lives we desire.

This is where the medicine of rewilding enters.

Rewilding isn't about becoming something new. It's about remembering who you've always been beneath the layers of conditioning and fragmentation. It's the return to your natural essence after domestication – like a garden that's been carefully manicured suddenly allowed to grow according to its own wisdom again.

In this week's episode of Moon & Fire, I share my personal journey of reclaiming a fragmented part of myself – one that carried enormous power that had been unavailable to me for years. I explore the phases of the rewilding journey and offer a simple but profound practice for welcoming home an exiled aspect of your being.

Because here's what I know to be true: Your power lives in your wholeness.

Not in perfect balance. Not in spiritual bypass. Not in toxic positivity. But in creating a home within yourself where all aspects of your sacred being can reside together in harmony – your fierceness alongside your tenderness, your shadows next to your light, your wild nature in conversation with your structure.

This journey of reclaiming your scattered powers is at the heart of The Rewilded coaching experience that I've created. The doors are open now for a limited time, and I'd be honored to guide you through this sacred process of coming home to yourself.

Whether The Rewilded experience calls to you or not, I invite you to consider: What would become possible if you stopped fighting against your complete nature and instead created a sanctuary for it to flourish? What power might be waiting to return to you?

What aspect of yourself are you ready to welcome home? I'd love to hear in the comments below.

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 8:

EPISODE 8 SHOW NOTES

Episode #8: "Reclaiming Your Scattered Powers: The Medicine of Rewilding”

Brief Description:

In this intimate episode, I explore how the fragmentation of our authentic selves leads to scattered personal power and disconnection from our deepest wisdom. Through sharing my own journey of reclaiming a fragmented part of myself, I reveal how limiting beliefs create internal divisions that separate us from our wholeness. You'll discover how the rewilding process creates a sacred container where all aspects of your being can return home, transforming "either/or" thinking into "both/and" wholeness. I offer a simple yet profound practice for welcoming a fragmented part of yourself back into the sanctuary of your being, and share how The Rewilded coaching experience provides a transformative container for this sacred reclamation work. This episode illuminates how reuniting your scattered powers is not about becoming something new, but remembering who you've always been.

key quotes

  1. "Your power lives in your wholeness - in creating a home where all aspects of your sacred being can reside together in harmony."

  2. "Fragmentation isn't something that happens overnight. It's a gradual process, often beginning in childhood, when we receive messages about which parts of ourselves are acceptable and which aren't."

  3. "Rewilding isn't about becoming something new. It's about remembering who you've always been beneath the layers of conditioning and fragmentation."

  4. "The cost of maintaining fragmentation is enormous. Think about the energy required to continuously monitor yourself, to keep parts of your nature locked away, to maintain these internal divisions."

  5. "When we're fragmented, our cyclical wisdom becomes muted. We struggle to honor the natural rhythms moving through us because we've lost access to parts of ourselves that would guide this dance."

  6. "Each time we welcome home an exiled part, we strengthen our relationship with ourselves. We become a safer place for all aspects of our being to exist."

  7. "This isn't a process of addition but of recognition - not becoming more, but acknowledging what's already there."

  8. "Rewilding transforms 'either/or' thinking into 'both/and' wholeness - recognizing that we can be both fierce and tender, both structured and wild, both autonomous and connected."

  9. "The parts of you that have been deemed 'too much' or 'not enough' haven't disappeared. They've been waiting patiently for you to create space for their return."

  10. "What waits on the other side of fragmentation is a life of unprecedented authenticity, power, and joy."

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Emotional Healing as Sacred Pathway: Reclaiming Your Natural Rhythms

Note: Episode 7 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

Have you ever felt like your emotions were too much to handle? Or found yourself stuck in patterns that disconnect you from your natural wisdom and cyclical nature?

Our emotions aren't just random feelings to be managed or suppressed—they're sophisticated messengers carrying vital information about our experience. Yet many of us have learned to override these signals, creating a profound disconnection from our intuitive knowing and cyclical wisdom.

In this week's episode of Moon & Fire, I'm thrilled to be in conversation with Jessy Pearson Cheney, who helps women process stored emotions and regulate their nervous systems so they can break free from unwanted patterns and reconnect with their inner wisdom.

What I find especially powerful about Jessy's approach is her understanding that healing doesn't have to be painful or time-consuming. There are simple, effective ways to process emotions without reliving trauma. As she beautifully puts it, "You don't have to relive your pain to release it."

When we carry unprocessed emotional experiences, our nervous systems remain stuck in patterns that override our natural cycles. This creates a constant state of sympathetic dominance—our stress response stays activated, disrupting our hormonal balance and pulling us away from our body's inherent rhythms.

Through our conversation, Jessy shares how emotional processing creates space for us to return to our natural state—one where we can flow with our cyclical nature rather than fighting against it. She offers practical tools that help us recognize when we're responding to old triggers rather than present reality, allowing us to release what no longer serves us.

This integration of emotional healing and cyclical living represents a powerful medicine for women seeking to reclaim their intuitive magic. When we clear the emotional static, we can hear the whispers of our inner knowing with greater clarity.

Join us for this illuminating conversation where we explore:

  • How emotional healing supports cyclical living

  • The connection between your nervous system and your natural rhythms

  • Practical tools for processing emotions without reliving trauma

  • How clearing emotional blocks creates space for intuitive wisdom

This episode offers a beautiful complement to our ongoing exploration of living in harmony with our sacred cycles.

Explore Jessy's Work

May you hear the wisdom in your emotions
May you release what no longer serves your becoming
May you return to the natural rhythm of your being
May you trust the healing that flows through you

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 7:

EPISODE 7 SHOW NOTES

Episode #7: "Emotional Regulation as Sacred Practice: A Conversation with Jessy Pearson Cheney”

Brief Description:

Join me in this illuminating conversation with Jessy Pearson-Cheney about the intersection of emotional healing and cyclical wisdom. Discover how our bodies store emotions, why processing these feelings doesn't require reliving trauma, and practical techniques for nervous system regulation. Learn how emotional healing creates space for reconnecting with your natural rhythms and intuitive knowing. This episode offers compassionate insights into transforming stored emotions into doorways for greater self-understanding and embodied wisdom.

key quotes

  1. "Your body tries to tell you something. It's just, like, emails from your body saying, 'Hey, by the way, I don't know if you realize this, but we're clocking the fact that there's terror happening right now.'"

  2. "Emotions are just data. They're not problems to solve but wisdom to integrate."

  3. "You're fighting against your body who does not want you to do this. Because your nervous system is now familiar with being in trauma and is familiar with coping in these ways."

  4. "Trauma is when something's too fast, too soon, too much, and we're alone and feel unsupported. And so in that moment, your brain and your body's like, 'I can't be here right now.'"

  5. "When you give yourself permission to feel things in your body, you create space where it's safe for you to sit there and realize that it usually takes a few seconds to maybe minutes to feel that and let it just be gone."

  6. "Think of it like having a bunch of computer tabs open... As you close those tabs out, your nervous system can reset and can regulate."

  7. "It's that last piece of the stress cycle where if you don't complete it, that's where the trouble is. There's no trouble of having a response to a stressor. The trouble is if you don't complete that stressor and reset."

  8. "Your body takes it a step further because then it's going to be like, 'Well, I still feel stressed out and we're in this together, so I'm going to start creating some dysfunction in your body because that energy has to go somewhere.'"

  9. "The healing doesn't have to be as bad or as painful or as hard or as long as your brain is telling you it's going to be."

  10. "I don't think we're broken. If your body is in fight-flight, that's a good sign that you have a functional nervous system. You're supposed to go into that and pump all these stress hormones into your system to prepare you to do what you need to do to survive."

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At Home in Your Wholeness: Creating Space for Your Full Feminine Expression

Note: Episode 6 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

I've noticed a recurring theme in my conversations with women – a subtle undercurrent of yearning that surfaces regardless of their life circumstances. It's a hunger to reconcile the divided parts of themselves, to bring together what has been separated, to finally exhale completely in their own skin.

This journey toward wholeness became real for me during a transformative moment sitting alone in prayer in my car. In that unexpected sanctuary, I experienced a profound shift – a dissolving of the internal walls I'd built to separate the "acceptable" parts of myself from those I'd learned to hide. That moment changed everything about how I understood what it means to truly inhabit my life.

The Divided Self

Many of us move through life with invisible lines drawn through our being. The professional self separate from the emotional self. The maternal self disconnected from the sensual self. The public persona distinct from the private truth. We've inherited these divisions, absorbed them from a culture that has long asked women to present only selected aspects of themselves while keeping others carefully contained.

This internal segregation exacts a heavy toll. It requires constant vigilance, draining energy we could direct toward creation and connection. It fragments our wisdom, causing us to second-guess our knowing. It creates a persistent sense of performance rather than presence, leaving us feeling like visitors rather than rightful inhabitants of our own experience.

The most painful cost might be the loneliness – the sense that no one truly knows us because we never fully reveal ourselves, even to ourselves.

The Whole Home

Imagine a home with rooms that have been locked for years – spaces you've paid to heat and maintain but never allowed yourself to enter. What treasures might be waiting there? What resources have you been supporting but not accessing?

When we begin to open these inner doors, to create space for every aspect of our nature, something remarkable happens. We discover that what we feared might be too much, too intense, or too difficult to integrate actually carries essential medicine. Our righteous anger holds our fierce protection. Our deep grief carries our profound capacity for joy. Our wild sensuality contains our creative force.

As we welcome these exiled aspects home, our external world begins to shift in response. Relationships deepen because they're finally with all of us, not just our curated parts. Work becomes more aligned as it flows from our complete knowing. Our very presence becomes more powerful because it's no longer diluted by division.

Your Invitation Home

In Episode 6 of Moon & Fire, I explore this journey of inner homecoming – what prevents us from welcoming our whole selves and what becomes possible when we do. I share practices for expanding your internal sanctuary to include every aspect of your being, not just the parts that have received external validation.

The episode includes a guided practice for creating this internal sanctuary – a place you can return to whenever you notice yourself contracting away from parts of your experience.

This journey toward wholeness isn't just personal – it's revolutionary. In a world that continues to ask women to fragment themselves, choosing wholeness becomes a radical act of reclamation.

I invite you to join me for this exploration of what becomes possible when you truly inhabit your complete, magnificent being.

As an extension of this work, I'm hosting a free virtual workshop on April 16th at 10 AM Eastern called "Storm Truth: The Unshakable Voice of a Truth-Speaking Woman." Once you've created space for your whole self, your voice naturally emerges with new clarity and power. The workshop will help you harness this authentic expression, especially during challenging times.

REGISTER FOR THE STORM TRUTH WORKSHOP

Create a sanctuary for all your expressions
Honor both shadow and light as your teachers
Feel the relief of your complete emotional landscape
Remember that wholeness is your natural state

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 6:

EPISODE 6 SHOW NOTES

Episode #6: "At Home in Your Wholeness: Reclaiming the Full Spectrum of Your Being”

Brief Description:

What does it truly mean for a woman to be "at home in herself"? In this episode, I explore the radical journey of creating a sanctuary for your complete self—honoring both your light and shadow, your full emotional spectrum, your authentic desires, and the unique dance of feminine and masculine energies within you. Discover why this homecoming is the essential foundation for living from your truth, and learn a practical ritual for welcoming all aspects of your being. This episode offers both deep wisdom and immediate practices to help you reclaim your wholeness and experience the profound liberation that comes from inhabiting your full self.

Episode Highlights

0:05 - 1:15

  • Welcome and introduction to the concept of being "at home in yourself"

  • Announcement of the April 16th workshop

1:15 - 3:00

  • Personal story about experiencing a profound sense of homecoming

  • Emily shares feeling permission to contain multitudes and be both fierce and soft

3:00 - 5:30

  • The longing for wholeness that many women experience

  • How fragmenting ourselves costs us energy and disconnects us from our wisdom

5:30 - 8:00

  • Exploring what it means to be "at home in yourself" as a place of safety and belonging

  • The difference between expanding in comfortable spaces versus contracting in uninviting ones

8:00 - 11:15

  • The full range of feminine being: embracing both light and shadow

  • Understanding emotions as sophisticated messengers, not problems

  • Reconnecting with authentic desires after years of prioritizing others

11:15 - 13:30

  • External and internal barriers to wholeness

  • The inner critic, fear of rejection, and habits of self-abandonment

13:30 - 16:15

  • The pathway home through sacred reconnection and embodied wholeness

  • Creating intentional space to hear all parts of yourself

16:15 - 20:00

  • The "Homecoming Practice" guided visualization

  • Creating an inner sanctuary where all aspects of yourself are welcomed

20:00 - 23:00

  • Closing thoughts on the courage it takes to create a home for your complete self

  • Invitation to the "Storm Truth" workshop on April 16th

  • Final blessing and farewell

key quotes

  1. "This homecoming to our complete selves is one of the most radical and healing journeys we can undertake as women."

  2. "Being at home in yourself means creating space for your complete being – not just the parts that are easy to love or socially acceptable, but every aspect of who you are."

  3. "Home represents safety, belonging, authenticity, and rest. It's where we can exhale completely, where we don't need to hold ourselves together or present a curated version of who we are."

  4. "When we disown aspects of ourselves, we expend enormous energy maintaining these internal boundaries. We lose access to our full resources, our complete wisdom, our most authentic power."

  5. "Our culture has conditioned women to showcase only our most acceptable qualities – our nurturing, our compassion, our accommodation. But what about our fierce protection, our righteous anger, our wild sensuality, our uncompromising boundaries?"

  6. "Integration, not elimination, is the path home. Your shadow qualities aren't problems to solve – they're powerful aspects of yourself waiting to be reclaimed."

  7. "Your emotional range flows naturally with your cycle. There are times when you're designed to feel more deeply, to process more thoroughly, to sense more acutely."

  8. "Many women have a complicated relationship with wanting. We've been taught that our needs should come last, that our desires are secondary, that our will should bend to accommodate others."

  9. "With gentle curiosity, move toward one of these spaces that calls for your attention. As you approach the door, take a breath and set the intention to welcome whatever you find inside."

  10. "When you're at home in yourself, you become unshakable in your truth, unstoppable in your purpose, and unlimited in your expression."

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The Sacred Medicine of Ritual: Reclaiming Ceremony in Modern Life

Note: Episode 5 Show Notes & Resource Guide are available at the end of this entry.

In our rush toward productivity, our obsession with efficiency, and our celebration of constant doing, we've lost something essential—the sacred art of ritual. This loss disconnects us from our own rhythms, from meaningful transitions, and from the ceremony that once marked pivotal moments in our lives.

I discovered this truth while meticulously managing a significant life transition. I had the spreadsheets and to-do lists, but something vital was missing. One evening, feeling this disconnect deeply, I created a simple altar with objects representing what I was releasing and calling in. As I lit a candle and burned a paper carrying what I needed to let go, something profound shifted. I was no longer just managing a change in my head—I was deeply honoring a threshold.

This is ritual medicine—creating a bridge between the mundane and the sacred, between what is and what is becoming.

The Lost Art of Ceremony

Throughout history, cultures worldwide used ritual as medicine for the soul. From ceremonies marking seasons to rites celebrating pivotal moments, ritual helped communities process grief, celebrate joy, and honor transitions.

But in our modern world that values speed over ceremony and productivity over presence, many of us have lost this medicine. We rush through days, transitions, and cycles without marking their significance. This costs us our connection to our bodies' wisdom and the sacred rhythms that could guide us.

For women especially, this disconnection undermines our naturally cyclical nature. When we lose our ritual practice, we lose a powerful tool for honoring these cycles and creating intentional space for our full selves to exist.

Why Ritual Works

Ritual medicine operates at the intersection of body wisdom and sacred ceremony. From a neuroscience perspective, ritual engages our full brain—activating diverse neural networks through multisensory experience. This bypasses our analytical mind and speaks directly to our deeper consciousness.

Research shows that ritual significantly impacts our nervous system regulation, helping shift us from fight-or-flight into rest-and-digest. This physiological shift allows our hormonal systems to function more optimally—particularly important for honoring women's cyclical nature.

The Power of Simple Practice

Ritual doesn't need to be elaborate to be effective. Even the simplest ceremonies can create profound shifts:

  • Lighting a candle before work

  • Placing hands on your heart upon waking

  • Creating small ceremonies to honor where you are in your cycle

  • Marking transitions intentionally rather than rushing through them

What matters isn't the complexity but the presence and intention you bring. A five-minute ceremony done consistently holds more power than an elaborate ritual that feels overwhelming.

An Invitation

In Episode 5 of Moon & Fire, I dive deeper into the Sacred Rhythms Ritual Medicine Framework—a complete approach to creating transformative ceremony through remembering, restoring, reclaiming, and rising. I share practical guidance for creating rituals that honor your cycles, mark transitions, and create containers for your becoming.

I invite you to begin with one small ritual this week. Notice what shifts when you create sacred space for your experience. Remember, you already have everything you need—your body, your breath, your intention. The most potent ceremonies are those that resonate with your authentic expression.

May you remember that ritual is your birthright
May you trust the wisdom that lives in your bones
May you create sacred containers for your becoming
May you walk in the beauty of your own wild knowing

Remember the sacred cycles. Reclaim your radiant fire. Unleash your intuitive magic.

 

Listen to Episode 5:

EPISODE 5 SHOW NOTES

Episode #5: "The Sacred Medicine of Ritual: Honoring Transitions and Awakening Wisdom"

Brief Description:

In this episode, I explore the transformative power of ritual medicine—the intentional practice of creating sacred ceremony to honor life's transitions, restore natural rhythms, and awaken dormant wisdom. Discover the four-pillar Sacred Rhythms Ritual Medicine Framework that guides you through remembering your cyclical nature, restoring sacred rest, reclaiming your power, and rising into your fullest expression. Learn how ritual creates profound neurological and physiological shifts, and gain practical tools to create simple yet powerful ceremonies that support your cyclical wisdom. This episode offers both ancestral knowledge and modern science to help you reclaim the medicine of ritual in your everyday life.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

0:05 - 2:30

  • Welcome and introduction

  • Personal story about creating a ritual during a significant transition

  • Overview of episode focus on ritual medicine

2:30 - 5:15

  • What is ritual medicine?

  • How modern society has lost connection to ceremonial practices

  • The cost of rushing through transitions without marking them

5:15 - 9:00

  • The Sacred Rhythms Ritual Medicine Framework™

  • Four pillars: Remember, Restore, Reclaim, Rise

  • How each pillar guides us through transformation

9:00 - 12:00

  • Why ritual medicine works

  • Neuroscience behind ritual's effectiveness

  • How ritual impacts our nervous system

12:00 - 14:30

  • Three essential elements of effective ritual

  • Creating sacred space

  • Designing intentional practice

  • Embodying transformation

14:30 - 17:15

  • Aligning ritual with your cycles

  • How to create rituals for different phases

  • Alternative approaches using moon phases

17:15 - 19:30

  • Creating your own ritual practice

  • Starting with micro-rituals

  • Building a personal ritual vocabulary

19:30 - 21:30

  • Guided "Allowing Practice" ritual demonstration

  • Simple four-step ritual framework anyone can use

21:30 - 22:35

  • Closing thoughts

  • Invitation to begin with one small ritual

  • Preview of next episode

  • Final blessing and farewell

key quotes

  1. "Ritual medicine is the intentional practice of creating sacred ceremony to honor life's transitions, restore our natural rhythms, and awaken dormant wisdom within the body."

  2. "This is the medicine of ritual – creating a bridge between the mundane and the sacred."

  3. "We live in a world that values speed over ceremony, productivity over presence. We rush through our days, our transitions, our cycles, rarely pausing to mark their significance."

  4. "Every effective ritual integrates three essential elements: Sacred Space – the physical and energetic container; Sacred Practice – the intentional ceremony or action; and Sacred Integration – how we embody the transformation."

  5. "When we create intentional ceremony around our cycles, our transitions, our celebrations, and even our grief, we give ourselves the time and space to fully metabolize our experiences."

  6. "Perhaps most powerfully, ritual creates containers for natural unfolding. Rather than forcing transformation through willpower, ceremony creates space where change emerges organically."

  7. "The multisensory nature of ritual is key to its effectiveness. When we involve multiple senses—touch, smell, sound, sight—we activate diverse neural networks simultaneously, creating a more robust encoding of the experience."

  8. "A common ritual is to write down negative self-talk or old habits that are getting in your way, and then rip them up or burn them, signifying a release of their old energy."

  9. "In our modern world, we need ritual medicine more than ever – ways to slow down, mark moments as sacred, and create bridges back to ourselves and our innate knowing."

  10. "Remember, you already have everything you need – your body, your breath, your intention. Trust what feels right for you. The most potent ceremonies are those that resonate with your authentic expression."

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Join our sacred circle and receive weekly emails with links to the latest episodes, companion blog posts, and exclusive access to episode resource guides. These practical tools will support your journey of remembering your sacred cycles, reclaiming your radiant fire, and unleashing your intuitive magic.